Occupy Wall Street 3: Now What?

next big event: CASSEROLE MARCH

http://ht.ly/1mwaA1

#O13 update

http://occupywallst.org/article/160-cities-joining-globalnoise-o13-get-banging/

Last weekend we shut down or delayed the opening of every Bank of America in DC to help this guy in the fight to save his home: start2.occupyourhomes.org/petitions/stop-bank-of-america-from-evicting-a-reverend

hm

http://start2.occupyourhomes.org/petitions/stop-bank-of-america-from-evicting-a-reverend

Boots Riley · 11,015 subscribers

8 hours ago ·

The use of the blac bloc tactic in all situations is not useful. As a matter of fact, in situations such as the one we have in Oakland, its repeated use has become counter-revolutionary.

Yesterday in Oakland was a good illustration of this, in which the blac bloc kids- besides busting up bank windows- also busted windows of parked cars and threw stuff at another car- to which the Black driver of said vehicle got out looking to fight the crowd.

Similarly, the crowd of folks at Somar were there for the end of Matthew Africa's memorial- DJs and artists, and generally a group of folks who collectively probably know everybody in Oakland- I'm not exactly sure what or if anything happened before I saw the scene, but folks poured out of the club en masse to protect it, yelling at the march and telling folks to go home.

If "the job of the revolutionary is to make the revolution seem irresistible", the use of blac bloc has been making a revolutionary movement pretty damn resistible in Oakland, CA.

When almost every conversation I have with folks from Oakland about Occupy Oakland, has the smashing of windows brought up as a reason people don't like that grouping, scientifically it means the tactic is not working. It doesn't matter that technically it's only smashing corporate windows. It matters that people don't want to join because of that. It's not about violence/non-violence. The truth is that it's not always corporate windows. I'm for certain tactics that would be classified as violent- even ones that have to do with fighting human beings. But what it's about is a tactic that is detrimental in this situation. I would like to win, thank you. Not just lose with style. A style that the people around you don't understand.

Many folks bring up Greece when debating these things. I've been to Athens. What I witnessed there was that the movement was tied in with the people. Most of those involved grew up in Athens, they also are part of militant campaigns that happen throughout the year, which the people support, moreover, they just know the people of the city of Athens. And, perhaps due to this situation, there are way more of them.

It's not due to lack of outreach that Saturday's "West Coast Anti-Capitalist March"- meaning, one that not only reached out to the whole west coast- was only able to draw 150-300 people. It's because it's not what the people care about- not framed in that way- and because others are either bored with the tactic or scared of being arrested because some kid breaks the window of some used car that probably costs less than their own Honda Civic. But, that was in SF. Most of the folks doing this don't know anyone from Oakland, and- I believe- don't plan on doing any sort of base building to find out where the pulse of the people actually are.

If you ask most people in East or West Oakland what their problems are- they'll say being broke is there number one problem. Campaigns that use militant mass movement tactics to achieve changes in that situation are ones that have a revolutionary potential.

I've talked to many a person in Occupy Oakland and even in some anarchist collectives who agree with me on this, but the idea is that to criticize this publicly is to make the movement look divided. But, the public non-critique of this has the effect of making the movement look monolithic, hegemonic and uninviting. Instead, people talk shit about each other behind their backs, split and divide into smaller and smaller affinity groups. All the while, not critiquing the counter-revolutionary bullshit that's making them irrelevant in the minds of the people they ostensibly want to organize.

Let's get this shit right and win.

Unlike · · Share
532 others like this.

all that otm i think, partic the bit about, if everyone is complaining about it, it is by def not working

i had another in an endless and numbing series of court appearances the other day. (going on a year now!) my lawyer showed up, said hi, told me she had to run over to another courtroom and she'd be right back, ran over to another courtroom, and never came back, so i at least got to say "your honor, my lawyer has disappeared". then i just said what she'd said she was gonna say, so i guess i represented myself. trial was pushed back again; i believe it's now scheduled for the same week we fix our electoral system.

Wish I was limber enough to do some pot-banging tomorrow, or go out to Hofstra for the next circus on Tuesday.

http://occupywallst.org/article/ows-updates-week-october-10th/

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 to both of those posts

tangentially related at this point but cops in oakland will be disciplined, some might be fired, and some might face criminal charges over their response to occupy protests.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Oakland-to-punish-cops-in-Occupy-clashes-3943773.php

austin set up an ad hoc homeless shelter outside highland mall to mark their one-year, were immediately torn down by APD.

also not specifically occupy-related but definitely a product of the occupy climate:

http://www.freeleah.org/

i was genuinely surprised/dispirited/freaked out by that pnw anarchist stuff, partic because she says it was Joint Terrorism Task Force agents who broke down the door (portland refused membership in the JTTF under a police-chief-cum-mayor several years ago but has reversed this under lovable portlandia cast member sam adams) and that's, is it not, another example of the increased militarization/federalization of police in response to the Terrorism spectre + its implications for domestic political dissent. i might write her a letter or something. it's a shame the prison doesn't take used books.

v minor thing but it's where i spent my morning so

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/10/15/occupy-portland-wins-right-to-jury-trialswill-dismissals-follow

good news, but it's totally ridiculous that a bunch of people (including me) who were basically well-treated are getting our jury trials (or dismissals) while liz nichols, who got peppersprayed in the face, cuffed, and then sat with us in jail for eight hours making do w wet napkins, still isn't, since her charge is only Interfering With A Peace Officer, which is code for "getting peppersprayed". basically, she doesn't get a jury because unlike us (we were inside chase; she was outside) she wasn't doing anything wrong, except being interfered with by a peace officer. and yelling, i guess. she can yell p loud.

ugh

good news tho yes

leah is out, and among other things, has this to say:

“I went against the advice of several people and did what one should never do, I read the comments. I read the comments on support pages, articles, and photos. While a lot of the messages were wonderful, so many of them were about how attractive or unattractive the commenter thought I was. They thought that because my face is all over the internet, they had the right to dehumanize me and reduce me to an object, just like the fucking state did. I am not number #42611-086 and I am not a number on your 0-10 scale of hot or not. They thought I would enjoy the attention if I knew about it. I am glad that many came to my defense and confronted the blatant misogyny, however it was mostly met with ‘stop being so serious.’ Someone even went to the extent to Photoshop my tattoos from photos in order to make me appeal more to the mainstream. I will say now, and let me be clear: I do not care what anyone on this planet thinks about how I look. I do not appreciate comments about my appearance. I do not want your compliments. I do not owe anyone a curtsy, a sweet smile and a ‘thank you so much.’ I do not have to be gracious about it, I do not owe respect to those who do not show respect to me. I also saw how people made a lot of casual references to me getting sexually assaulted. This is extremely disrespectful, especially because that is something I have dealt with too many times in my life as is. I am more than a face, a body, a (former)prisoner, a number. To anyone who reduces me to those things: you are my enemy, not my ally, you are not my friend, not my comrade, not my supporter and I do not appreciate you. I have despised sexism/misogyny my entire life and I have confronted it at every opportunity, as I am doing right now. If you support someone for something they do, just say that. What you think about their appearance is irrelevant. Keep your opinion to yourself because if you are furthering one kind of oppression while trying to fight another, you aren’t actually accomplishing anything.”

— Leah’s official quote on seeing the internet’s response for the first time after being released.

righteous

Letting that one soak in for a while, it's so good.

that is fucking awesome

I know it is wrong but after reading that just now I gis'ed her.

so great

I am not number #42611-086 and I am not a number on your 0-10 scale of hot or not.

enjoyed this v much

def

Boots and Leah OTMFM.

http://www.fwweekly.com/2012/10/17/drawing-line-tar-sand/

^^ some odc folks have been regularly traveling down to texas to work with this, disappointed i can't afford a trip myself yet, but highly rec this article.

On Aug. 28, several activists showed up at a work yard in Livingston, Texas, where pipe slated for the Keystone was being loaded onto flatbeds. Four of the activists locked themselves onto the axles beneath a truck. One was Tammie Carson, an Arlington grandmother who’d never been an activist before.

“I had no idea what the Keystone Pipeline was … but after investigating and realizing the potential of environmental damage the tar sands could do, well, I needed to get involved,” she said. “Somehow I found the Tar Sands Blockade website and saw they were having a weekend training session, and I went. And about a month later I got a call saying there was going to be a direct action and would I like to participate. I said yes.”

The truck to which Carson and the others locked themselves was at the entrance for the lot. Since it took police several hours to cut the protesters free, the action closed down that lot for a full day.

(New York, NY, October 24)—Alarmed by the billions of dollars of secret money flooding into the political system to influence voters this election cycle, three high school students sat in at JPMorgan Chase in lower Manhattan today, demanding full disclosure of the bank’s anonymous political expenditures. The students, who delivered a petition to the bank over three weeks ago articulating their demand, refused to leave the bank’s premises until the requested information was handed over to the public. The bank instead chose to shut down the entire 60 floor building and have them arrested.

http://www.99rise.org/press_release_october_24_2012

blaming the victims again, I see

damn yo

if you guys haven't had a chance to hear the weekly radio work i've been involved with, you should check us out--download or stream, as you like. here's tonight's show.

http://www.mixcloud.com/MariahBlank/1028-vof99-i-cant-stand-the-rain-hurricane-companion/

mm.

Less than a week after she was incarcerated, Leah requested a way out of prison from her lawyer. Her lawyer returned with a subpoena for October 17, 2012. She entered that grand jury, spoke, and was released from prison that day.
The exact content of what Leah said is unknown. After leaving prison, she told very few people she was out. Leah did not inform known targets of the investigation of her release. When she did let people know that she was free, she asked for space from any questions. Those who did ask questions were rebuffed and told that she needed to recover before she could talk about what happened.
After delaying giving any answers to people, Leah left Portland. Most people do not know where she went. She has since made one statement to CAPR, in which she said safety concerns prevented her from saying what happened during the grand jury at which she appeared.
Leah did tell people that she answered “an anarchy sign” when asked what a circle-A means and described some man as “a neo-Nazi” who had attempted to infiltrate anarchist circles before being outed. According to Leah, when the prosecutor asked her about various things, she answered “I don’t know,” or “I don’t remember.” Beyond those questions, what Leah said remains unknown. Due to the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, short of information coming out in discovery, there is no definitive way of knowing what was said in the grand jury chamber.

http://notyrcisterpress.tumblr.com/post/34625748003/leah-lynn-plante-cooperates

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md6qivQVrK1r47bpd.jpg

yesssssssssssssssssssss

also i would be remiss in ignoring occupy sandy, obviously:

http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/nyregion/where-fema-fell-short-occupy-sandy-was-there.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/occupy-sandy-easy-give-victims-hurricane-article-1.1197605

http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/News/occupy-sandy-latino-soul-activism/story?id=17667896#.UJ3VSeTO36U

i gotta say, man

occupy sandy--among other things, very much in the lineage of Common Ground Relief after Katrina

occupy our homes

the rolling jubilee

there have been a lot of moments, especially in the last 8 months, that i've wondered how much i wanted to invest myself in whatever you want to call this thing, this project, this notion, this movement. still: for brief seconds of elation, like these, where i see and sense our collective momentum--so often hidden and so often unknown--as we press forward with our spirit of righteous anger and riotous joy, i can't help but think that a victory will come. the shape of that victory eludes me now, and i can only hope that the children of children i might bear find themselves in a better world than our own, but for this moment our moment will suffice. a breath is a breath, a win is a win, a step is a step. tomorrow is tomorrow.

Hoos, are you doing Sandy stuff at all? I think it's an incredible phenomenon.

The People's Bailout / Rolling Jubilee is really exciting and interesting.

Occupy Sandy has been getting a lot of great coverage - New York TImes, Wall Street Journal, CNN.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/nyregion/where-fema-fell-short-occupy-sandy-was-there.html

looking fwd to occupation of unspecified North Jersey Walmart on Black Friday

climate solidarity actions (Bryant Park next Saturday)

http://ht.ly/2tb1kD

Black Friday event source

http://www.corporateactionnetwork.org/campaigns/black-friday/events

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeQNbyxWNtM&feature=youtu.be

this is a lot better than the orientation I got, fwiw

Kind of interesting to see the social media response to Occupy with all the media attention from Sandy -- lots of "right on, government SUX, individuals RULE" comments from conservatives. Which I guess probably overlaps with some of the views of some of the more anarcho elements of Occupy but for slightly different reasons?

Also, can anyone give me a little more info on the rockaway pipeline? I tend to think replacing more oil heat with natural gas is better than NOT doing so, and my approach to fossil fuels is that we kind of need to pursue short-term and long-term solutions at the same time and that we're not going to get everything running solar overnight (if ever).

Nice to see that these sites still exist:

http://occupywriters.com/

Went on a date with a nursing student who's working with Occupy Sandy on the weekends; those people are doing the best work. I'm incredibly impressed and excited by the way Occupy has, in many places, switched gears to a politically charged public service movement instead of just one of protest. I mean, I know that was a part of it from the beginning, but it seems in many places to now be the main focus of the movement, which I think is both generally incredible and politically more effective.

PS Big up HOOS for all your work in this area.

just realized that on tonight's Voices of the 99% broadcast i refer--accidentally, i swear to god--to "goldman sack"

goldman slacks, new from dockers.

v impressed with strike debt/rolling jubilee. Hearing Graeber talk about it on the radio actually did shift the way I think about consumer debt, although I don't agree with all of his ideas about debt.

PS Big up HOOS for all your work in this area.

― ENERGY FOOD (en i see kay), Sunday, November 18, 2012 4:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

occupy art, occupy museums

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/11/19/occupy-art/

I have a hard time taking seriously people who are entirely creatures of the art market who say they are "fed up" with the art market.

why not?