Occupy Oakland: Journalists Are Put In Jail As 400 Arrested In Protests

 

 

Once again Oakland became the battleground for the Occupy Movement. Apparently the mayor or no one else in city government can control the police or maybe even care to control them. As protesters were gathering police lobbed tear gas and fired rubber bullets. After creating total chaos, the police then boxed in the demonstrators and proceeded with the mass arrests.

Recently, the international agency that protects journalists moved the United States down to number forty-seven in 'press freedoms.' The main reason given by the organization was that journalist were by large numbers being beaten and arrested during the Occupy demonstrations despite clearly identifying themselves to law enforcement officials. Not since 1968 have we seen so many journalists being rounded up by the police and arrested.

The only reason to arrest reporters who show identification is to intimidate them from covering the news. Either by making them reluctant to get close to the event or making it almost impossible for them to cover the news.

Here is an excerpt from Mother Jones magazine by journalist Gavin Aronsen about the arrests of six reporters:

On Saturday, Occupy Oakland re-entered the national spotlight during a day-long effort to take over an empty building and transform it into a social center. Oakland police thwarted the efforts, arresting more than 400 people in the process, primarily during a mass nighttime arrest outside a downtown YMCA. That number included at least six journalists, myself included, in direct violation of OPD media relations policy that states "media shall never be targeted for dispersal or enforcement action because of their status."

After an unsuccessful afternoon effort to occupy a former convention center, the more than 1,000 protesters elected to return to the site of their former encampment outside city hall. On the way, they clashed with officers, advancing down a street with makeshift shields of corrogated metal and throwing objects at a police line. Officers responded with smoke grenades, tear gas, and bean bag projectiles. After protesters regrouped, they marched through downtown as police pursued and eventually contained a few hundred of them in an enclosed space outside a YMCA. Some entered the gym and were arrested inside.

As soon as it became clear that I would be kettled with the protesters, I displayed my press credentials to a line of officers and asked where to stand to avoid arrest. In past protests, the technique always proved successful. But this time, no officer said a word. One pointed back in the direction of the protesters, refusing to let me leave. Another issued a notice that everyone in the area was under arrest.

I wound up in a back corner of the space between the YMCA and a neighboring building, where I met Vivian Ho of the San Francisco Chronicle and Kristin Hanes of KGO Radio. After it became clear that we would probably have to wait for hours there as police arrested hundreds of people packed tightly in front of us, we maneuvered our way to the front of the kettle to display our press credentials once more.

When Hanes displayed hers, an officer shook his head. "That's not an Oakland pass," he told her. "You're getting arrested." (She had a press pass issued by San Francisco, but not Oakland, police.) Another officer rejected my credentials, and I began interviewing soon-to-be-arrested protesters standing nearby. About five minutes later, an officer grabbed my arm and ziptied me. Around the same time, Ho—who did have official OPD credentials—was also apprehended.

As I waited in line to be processed and transported to jail, Ho approached me with an officer who had released her from custody. The two explained to my arresting officer that I was with the media. "Oh, he's with the media?" the officer replied, although I had already repeatedly told him as much and my credentials had been plainly visible all night. He appeared ready to release me, until a nearby officer piped in, without explanation: "He's getting arrested."

LGBT: Now Our Straight Friends Can Go To Prison With Us!

 

 

You might consider forwarding this story to your straight friends so they are fully informed because they are now at risk!  The massive epidemic of hate against LGBT people continues unchecked in Africa. The latest is Nigeria. In all their wisdom, the Nigerian senate just passed legislation that would send not only their LGBT citizens to prison for marrying BUT also send any straight friends who supported them in their marriage to prison too!!!!

Yep, that is right, there is a new twist happening in some of the homophobic legislation that is being passed. Straights who support a same sex marriage go directly to jail with us for ten years. You read it right.  Ten years in jail for witnessing our marraige!  Wonder if they will allow us neighboring cells so we can stay in touch?

The Washington Post in article about the situation in Nigeria writes:

Under the proposed law, couples who marry could face up to 14 years each in prison. Witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be sentenced to 10 years behind bars. That’s an increase over the bill’s initial penalties, which lawmakers proposed during a debate Tuesday televised live from the National Assembly in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.

Other additions to the bill include making it illegal to register gay clubs or organizations, as well as criminalizing the “public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly.” Those who violate those laws would face 10-year imprisonment as well.

The Post also cited the atmosphere of hatred directed at their LGBT citizens that is taking over the country:

“Such elements in society should be killed,” said Sen. Baba-Ahmed Yusuf Datti of the opposition party Congress for Progressive Change, drawing some murmurs of support from the gallery.

Gay sex has been banned in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people, since colonial rule by the British. Gays and lesbians face open discrimination and abuse in a country divided by Christians and Muslims who almost uniformly oppose homosexuality. In the areas in Nigeria’s north where Islamic Shariah law has been enforced for about a decade, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning.

Five Possible Actions For The Occupy Movement

 

 

The parks are slowly being cleared out by the police and the movement is moving more unto university land. Many are wondering what is next for the economic justice movement. Those who have put their bodies, resources and safety on the line are having long and serious discussions about what are the next logical steps. While not participating in those decision making circles, would love to throw out five ideas for possible action by the movement. Maybe it is possible to do one or two of these ideas. Do you have some ideas for action? Leave them in the comment section!

1. Congressional Offices: Pick a time every week to get dozens if not hundreds to stand outside (or inside) Congressional offices around the country demanding jobs. If people can't make it to the offices then every week thousands should send their resumes to their Congressperson or just a simple email that said "jobs and economic justice" Flood their offices with these emails. Special focus should be given to those in leadership positions in Congress who are not creating jobs, coming to terms with poverty or reforming America's financial system. Make sure the press and media understand it is about their failure to accept leadership or responsibility for our current status in America.

2. Boycotts: Pick a corporation that hasn't paid any taxes or one that is making obscene profits while America is suffering and have an all out boycott. You can only boycott one or two to be effective. But an all out boycott say of General Electric or Exxon would have a powerful effect. Americans will only buy from those who are standing by our sides and attempting to put America back to work and end poverty. There is no room in today's America for corporate tax-dodgers.

3. March of the Unemployed: Organize Marches of the Unemployed to the State Capitols around America. Have the hundreds/thousands without jobs line up single file and present to their government their resumes and demand jobs.

4. Reach Out America: Pick one day next spring and have people all over America go door to door to ask them to join us in our effort to make the country great again by putting people to work, ending poverty and reforming our financial system. Have one thing you can ask them to do when you knock on your neighbors' doors. Especially canvass in the districts of those politicians who have refused to hear our demands.

5. March on Washington For Jobs: Next spring, working with all of our allies including LABOR, have a massive march on Washington for jobs. Go all out and attempt to have over a million people demand governmental action for 1. Jobs, 2. Ending Poverty and 3. Financial Reforms.

American Students Respond To Occupy Movement

The video above is one of the most powerful I have seen in quite some time. In response to the horrendous and disgusting pepper spray attack on University of California Davis students on Friday, thousands of students went to Chancellor Linda Katehi's office. Creating a small path for the Chancellor to leave the office, the students sat down and allowed her to exit the building in a 'silent walk of shame.' Their silence was deafening.

The UC Davis incident was just the latest as the fight against economic injustice starts moving from the parks to the campuses. Thousands of students gathered in Sproul Plaza in Berkeley (see photograph below) listening to former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Such a gathering in the plaza had not been seen since the 1960's. All over America, demonstrations have been gathering steam on campuses. Who knows more about economic insecurity than our young who are saddled with huge student loans and have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country?

Far from fading, the Occupy Movement is gathering steam but starting to take new forms. The size of the crowd at the Brooklyn Bridge last week was amazing (second photograph below). Labor is increasing its involvement, students are taking the message to the universities and some are getting politically active to force the Democratic Party into more populist issues. What is clear.is that the dialogue in America has changed dramatically these last two months.

The Assault On Occupy Wall Street

 

 

Without a doubt one of the most exciting political developments this year has been the "Occupy Movement." A diverse group of people determined to have a voice created a new movement that literally brought the issues of the poor and powerless before the nation. Making great sacrifice by sleeping in the cold (and even the snow) and being arrested for the cause is not an easy path for anyone. Hundreds have been arrested across the country in perhaps the greatest demonstration of civil disobedience since the 1960's. They inspired a movement that has spread around the world and earned the scorn of some but the admiration of millions.

The ability to keep this momentum going has reached a turning point. Over the years I have seen others seeking economic justice have their just issues changed by the action of those that would like them to disappear. The OWS movement must be extremely careful that the issue of economic injustice they raised so brilliantly isn't shifted to fighting for the right for an encampment at a particular place or time. Of course they have the Constitutional right of free assembly and speech and every right to express it. However, the ability to shift strategies and not allow the actions by the police to obscure the voice they are giving the poor, unemployed and powerless is critical to the survival of this movement.

Let us be very clear: The amount of planning and coordination to dismantle these encampments is astounding and a disservice to America. The mayor of Oakland Jean Quan has admitted to the BBC that she participated on conference calls with officials from at least 18 cities on how to quash the movement in those cities. That's right, our local governments spent all that energy not on the issues of taking care of their poor but how to remove those delivering the message. In city after city from San Diego to Denver to New York we have seen police actions, at times verging on the brutal, attack these encampments, beat protestors and destroy all their belongings.

To see squads of police in riot gear move into these encampments late at night or early in the morning to avoid press and witnesses is outrageous. Press were kept at a distance so they could not record the movements and actions of the police. Many members of the press in different cities were arrested with the protesters for attempting to monitor the actions of the police. In many cases, including New York, the police went in with a vengeance. The pictures of some policemen assaulting those peacefully resisting arrest was disturbing.

This last weekend of coordinated police actions against those simply attempting to give a voice against those who have spent billions to pay for their voice is not one of America's finest hours. Shame on those who felt the need to quash this movement in the same old fashion brutality instead of seeking innovative and creative ways to embrace, enhance and amend it.

Now the OWS folks and those to whom they have given voice must decide if the stand should be about the park or about the issues of economic justice. If I was in the discussion circles I would vote to regroup, figure out new tactics and not allow the oppressors by their violence to determine the public debate yet one more time. It would be tragic after so much success and so much sacrifice to be silenced one more time by our inability to strategically keep our issues to the fore.

History on Film: Anti-War Demonstrators Storm Pentagon (October, 1967)

 

 

Norman Mailer's Pulitzer Prize winning novel "Armies of the Night" made this one of the most famous anti-war demonstrations in the history of America. After about 20,000 had picketed the White House in 1965 to protest sending troops to Vietnam, this march was a dramatic escalation in the protests against the war. Over 100,000 protesters marched from the front of the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon where many attempted to gain access to the building. Speakers at the rally at the Memorial included Dr. Benjamin Spock, author Norman Mailer and poet Robert Lowell.

Over the course of the protest, 681 protesters were arrested including Mailer. President Lyndon Johnson had called out 2,500 Army troops to confront the thousands of protestors who attempted to place flowers in the barrels of the troops guns. Troops fired tear gas into the demonstrators and beat back those attempting to enter. Blood stained the steps of the Pentagon.

Be sure to pay attention in the video the tone of the coverage at the time.

Really Oakland? Really?

 

 

You don't expect to hear news coming out of Oakland that is reminiscent of the era of Governor Ronald Reagan and the peace marchers of the Sixties. Yet that is exactly what happened this week at "Occupy Oakland." Because somehow in their minds public officials decided that they had to show their toughness, they decided to banish the non-violent protesters violently.

That was Oakland's first stupid move.

Then as angry protesters - who had been forcibly removed and their possessions destroyed -attempted to come back to the park, the City of Oakland sure showed them who was in charge. Opening fire with tear gas and rubber bullets all hell broke lose in the city. One Iraq veteran was shot directly in the face and is in critical condition.

This continues the trend around the country to arrest and break up these 'dangerous encampments' of protesters. Just exactly what is the problem with them remaining? By confronting peaceful protests with violence our local governments are rapidly radicalizing an otherwise positive protest.

Really, Oakland, was this necessary? Just what exactly required you to make these horrible moves in the name of your citizens? Did you learn nothing from the protests at Berkeley in the late 60's? Your actions are shameful. Your judgment is worse.

Review: "Sing Your Song"

 

 

Not sure when it is permissible to nominate someone for next year's Nobel Peace Prize. High on the list of possible nominees should be entertainer, activist, writer and civil rights crusader Harry Belafonte. By the time you are finished viewing HBO's "Sing Your Song," the documentary on the life of the amazing Belafonte, you will be in awe of what this man has accomplished in one lifetime.

This documentary should be shown in every classroom in America to illustrate how a person can live a principled and successful life and change the world. Even if you are of the age where you grew up with the singer, you will find yourself stunned at all his work when it is placed back to back in this film. The man lived, shaped and loved this planet for his entire time on earth and stunningly he is not yet done.

"Sing Your Song" is so right on so many levels. Educationally it teaches the history of the civil rights and peace movements. You get to hear the horrific stories of the red-baiting era. The massive censorship of the networks of his television shows. His refusal to bend or blink in the face of injustice. The story of Sidney Poitier and him traveling to Mississippi in the summer of 1964 has you on the edge of your seat and wondering how in the hell they ever survived that trip.

The film shows his friendships with Bobby Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt and Nelson Mandela. He is a walking history book and thank God they made this splendid film brilliantly directed by Susanne Rostock. For the next weeks, I am sure HBO will be rerunning this documentary and you should find it, watch it and sit back in awe of this astounding individual.

Can't wait to see what he does next!

Author Naomi Wolf's First Person Account Of Her Arrest At Occupy Wall Street

 

 

Author, journalist and feminist Naomi Wolf was attending a Huffington Post event in New York City. Suddenly she found herself, unintentionally at first then embracing it, swept up in the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Writing for The Guardian in London, she relates the details of her experience. Here are excerpts and for the full article click here.

"Let me explain; my partner and I were attending an event for the Huffington Post, for which I often write: Game Changers 2011, in a venue space on Hudson Street. As we entered the space, we saw that about 200 Occupy Wall Street protesters were peacefully assembled and were chanting. They wanted to address Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was going to be arriving at the event. They were using a technique that has become known as "the human mic" – by which the crowd laboriously repeats every word the speaker says – since they had been told that using real megaphones was illegal."

She continues:

Then my partner suggested that I ask the group for their list of demands. Since we would be inside, we thought it would be helpful to take their list into the event and if I had a chance to talk with the governor I could pass the list on. That is how a democracy works, right? The people have the right to address their representatives.

We went inside, chatted with our friends, but needed to leave before the governor had arrived. I decided I would present their list to his office in the morning and write about the response. On our exit, I saw that the protesters had been cordoned off by a now-massive phalanx of NYPD cops and pinned against the far side of the street – far away from the event they sought to address.

She describes the circumstances of her arrest:

I went up and asked them [the police]why. They replied that they had been informed that the Huffington Post event had a permit that forbade them to use the sidewalk. I knew from my investigative reporting on NYC permits that this was impossible: a private entity cannot lease the public sidewalks; even film crews must allow pedestrian traffic. I asked the police for clarification – no response.

I went over to the sidewalk at issue and identified myself as a NYC citizen and a reporter, and asked to see the permit in question or to locate the source on the police or event side that claimed it forbade citizen access to a public sidewalk. Finally a tall man, who seemed to be with the event, confessed that while it did have a permit, the permit did allow for protest so long as we did not block pedestrian passage.

I thanked him, returned to the protesters, and said: "The permit allows us to walk on the other side of the street if we don't block access. I am now going to walk on the public sidewalk and not block it. It is legal to do so. Please join me if you wish." My partner and I then returned to the event-side sidewalk and began to walk peacefully arm in arm, while about 30 or 40 people walked with us in single file, not blocking access.

Then a phalanx of perhaps 40 white-shirted senior officers descended out of seemingly nowhere and, with a megaphone (which was supposedly illegal for citizens to use), one said: "You are unlawfully creating a disruption. You are ordered to disperse." I approached him peacefully, slowly, gently and respectfully and said: "I am confused. I was told that the permit in question allows us to walk if we don't block pedestrian access and as you see we are complying with the permit."He gave me a look of pure hate. "Are you going to back down?" he shouted. I stood, immobilised, for a moment. "Are you getting out of my way?" I did not even make a conscious decision not to "fall back" – I simply couldn't even will myself to do so, because I knew that he was not giving a lawful order and that if I stepped aside it would be not because of the law, which I was following, but as a capitulation to sheer force. In that moment's hesitation, he said, "OK," gestured, and my partner and I were surrounded by about 20 officers who pulled our hands behind our backs and cuffed us with plastic handcuffs.

We were taken in a van to the seventh precinct – the scary part about that is that the protesters and lawyers marched to the first precinct, which handles Hudson Street, but in the van the police got the message to avoid them by rerouting me. I understood later that the protesters were lied to about our whereabouts, which seemed to me to be a trickle-down of the Bush-era detention practice of unaccountable detentions.

The officers who had us in custody were very courteous, and several expressed sympathy for the movements' aims. Nonetheless, my partner and I had our possessions taken from us, our ID copied, and we were placed in separate cells for about half an hour. It was clear that by then the police knew there was scrutiny of this arrest so they handled us with great courtesy, but my phone was taken and for half an hour I was in a faeces- or blood-smeared cell, thinking at that moment the only thing that separates civil societies from barbaric states is the rule of law – that finds the prisoner, and holds the arresting officers and courts accountable.

Occupy Wall Street: In One Month The Nation Changes.....

 

 

Denver

This is the one month anniversary since the first visionary young citizens set up camp in Zuccottti Park just off Wall Street. The world has changed in just this single month by the acts of courage of a few folks. Certainly the politics has changed here in the United States with at least progressive issues being discussed, fought for and put on the table. For two years, Americans have abdicated the direction of America to the Tea Party. Now at least our concerns about the future of our country are part of the dialogue.

Just a few words about the recent spate of coverage on several 'anti-Semitic' signs that have recently appeared at the demonstrations. Of course they are hateful and should be condemned and if possible removed. However, we are talking about five to ten signs out of thousands. Interestingly to me is that people rightfully get worked up about these signs but ignore how corporate America does business (even when sometimes forbidden) in places like Iran, Zimbabwe, Libya, the Congo, etc and no one accuses all corporations of being anti-Israel, anti-human rights or selling blood diamonds. Let's keep this in perspective folks.

Who knows how long in reality the protesters will last at their current location? Who cares if they have too many issues for citizens to absorb them all? And lets stop the endless conversation about when they will start fighting internally. And for God sakes stop talking about the signs they are carrying and the appearance of some of these dedicated individuals.

What counts is that people in America overwhelmingly support their battle for economic justice and fairness. Americans wants the rich to pay their fair share, to be held accountable for immoral (and maybe illegal) actions and to create jobs. People want their government to lead them out of this economic crisis in order to help other citizens in need and not negotiate for more corporate tax breaks.

No matter what you think or believe this is truth: the protesters at Occupy Wall Street have started a new movement heard around the world. If the camp disappears, the passion won't. If a few attempt to tarnish the majority, the movement won't be intimidated by provocateurs and those that would use them to discredit the issues. These issues are here to stay. Campsites or not, demonstrations or not - what the protesters have created has outgrown even their own groups. Now that these issues have been brought to the fore no amount of effort by the Republicans can make them disappear.

My hat is off to these brave, visionary and courageous protesters of Occupy Wall Street who has brought us to this point. Now it is up to all of us to step forward give our talents where we feel we will be the most productive and that could be in the streets, in politics, in shareholder meetings or at the polls.

(The pictures are from Boston.com's Big Picture and are from this past weekend's demonstrations around the world. Please click here to see the rest and the all important photographer credits)

South Korea

Times Square