(04-01) 17:57 PDT San Francisco — A group of marchers led by Occupy movement protesters has entered a vacant building at Turk and Gough streets in San Francisco, claiming the property as a “permanent occupation” and refuge for homeless people in the city.
The…
The people of Greece continue to fight against their technocratic, unelected government. In this video from the streets, an indy filmmaker captures public school teachers chanting “fight, rupture, overturn! History is written when you don’t follow the rules!”
via adbusters.org
(Source: thepeoplesrecord)
A comrade needs help raising money to replace what she had to pay for bail after an unlawful arrest.
On January 28th our friend Laura was swept up in the mass arrest of an Occupy Oakland march. Laura was one of the 30-40 out of 400 arrests that night to get charged with a felony charge of Burglary, because she was caught inside the YMCA desperately attempting to escape the outright brutality displayed by OPD that night. Not only did she get bogus felony charges, she was cruelly denied her medication by Santa Rita for over two days.
I was with Laura that night, and was arrested inside the YMCA as well. I witnessed the suffering Laura experienced. She was first told that she would be able to take her medication if she brought it with her to Santa Rita but once she got there it became clear that she would be without medication for at least a week, that is, if she’d get access to it at all. For someone who suffers from anxiety and clinical depression, having her medication withheld from her added layers of emotional suffering and distress to Laura’s stay in jail.
A few days into our arrest, Laura and I were both transferred to general population. Laura found the psychological stress extremely difficult to deal with. She was forced to either face serious withdrawal and panic attacks in jail without her medication, and no real promise that she’d ever get it, or she could put up bond and get out as soon as possible.
Because Laura was charged with a felony, her bail was posted at 50,000 dollars, which meant that Laura had to pay $4,000 dollars of her own money to get out of jail. She decided to practice self care and post bond for herself, which means she will never see that money ever again.
So all in all- Laura was forced to pay $4,000 dollars for bogus charges that would have been dropped had she been able to stay in jail. She was not able to stay in jail because she had special needs for her medication, which she was cruelly denied.
Laura is a tireless organizer and has been for many years. She has spent hours and days and weeks organizing on the Oakland Anti-Repression committee. She has spent so much of her time caring for others who have faced state repression. She has organized support outside of jail, she has helped write letters, figure out people’s bail situation, communicate with the NLG, throw fundraisers, etc. Laura is a feminist who has been an invaluable source of support for me and countless other women. She is the kind of person who is always there for other people, who is a consistent foundation of support in many radical communities.
We cannot let the OPD and the “justice” system get away with this kind of abuse to our sister, comrade and friend Laura. As activists who understand the ways in which this system enacts special punishment by not meeting the needs of people who are differently abled, we have to take a principled stand and not allow Laura to suffer and pay this money back by herself. We should stand in an act of solidarity and distribute this burden equally among ourselves and make sure Laura is not punished by the state for having special emotional and psychological needs.
Laura needs to pay rent, to be able to continue to live and organize under this system, this means we need to raise this money with urgency and purpose. We can’t let the state damage our movement by isolating people to face undue burden. DONATE NOW!
Send this to everyone you know! Donate $5, $10, $15, $20 dollars. Anything you can! Please. This is not right!
An aerial view of the Million Hoodies march for Trayvon Martin earlier via.
Estimates now are more than 2,000 people.
(Source: thepeoplesrecord)
"When we talk about people who spray-paint and break windows and start bonfires in the street and shove people and scream and run around,… let’s keep one thing in mind: they didn’t send anyone to the hospital, drive any seniors from their homes, spread despair and debt among the young, snatch food and medicine from the desperate, or destroy the global economy."
— From The Truth About Violence at Occupy (via themuckofages)
“A full plastic water bottle lobbed at police in full riot gear, whether it hits one of them or not, is enough to legally warrant the shooting of less lethal, rubber-coated steel bullets at a crowd. Occupiers, of course, threw more than just water bottles on January 28 - glass bottles, bricks,…
(Source: alternet.org, via fifteenminuteslater)
TalkBack: Occupy Oakland
Do you support the Occupy Oakland movement?
Total Votes = 7190
Yes 6750 Votes, or 93.88 %
No 440 Votes, or 6.119 %
(Source: insidebayarea.com)
On January 30, in an act of supreme arrogance, you, Mayor Quan (!), declared that you would “call” on the “national leadership” (!) of the Occupy movement to help you split (!) our movement.
You want Occupy nationally to denounce people within Occupy Oakland who you describe as the ones advocating violence. In short, unable to break our movement in the streets and ports, you now want us split, divided and turning against ourselves.
What hypocrisy!
You who unleashed wave after wave of police terror on Occupy Oakland?
You who sent the police who shot anti-war Iraq veteran Scott Olsen in the face with a tear gas canister and nearly killed him?
You who presided over the police department that murdered Oscar Grant in cold blood?
You want to preach to us about violence?
You now demand we denounce those you targeted?
You want us to help you demonize those who dare challenge you?
What cartoonish world of double-think are you from?!
You even went on to claim that “what they are doing against the city economically is not nonviolent either.”
Really?
And what about the economic violence you were part of? What about disruption and suffering imposed on students though relentless budget cutsand austerity measures?
What about the gentrification of Oakland, and the police violence that enforces it?
We see you very clearly. You serve the machinery of money-making: the 1%, the banks, the developers, the co-opters. It was your thugs who attacked Occupy Oakland on Saturday.
So our message to you now is: Get real.
Your attempts to divide us from the people of Oakland will not work. Our movement is diverse ethnically, politically and tactically. We are united in purpose. Every one of your attacks brings us, the 99%, closer together.
Your arrogance continued: “Every Saturday they are doing demonstrations and in my city that is my night of highest police need. They are taking away resources from my city…”
Your city?! Your night?! No, Mayor Quan, Oakland doesn’t belong to you or the 1%.
Oakland, its streets, its parks, its ports, its future will belong to the people. The society we’re modeling shows how beautiful it can be when we are free, including free of the violent hacks (like you) from this empire’s Democratic Party.
Love to the people and defiance to you,
Eric Ribellarsi
(Source: occupiedmedia.us)
On the day when crime dons the apparel of innocence — through a curious transposition peculiar to our times — it is innocence that is called upon to justify itself.
- Albert Camus, The Rebel
(Source: violentopinions)
"
7. How will the building be a safe and welcoming space for the Occupy Oakland Community?
After much discussion, the Move-In Assembly has decided on Guidelines for Exclusion from the building as well as Suggested Community Standards inside the building.
"—
http://occupyoaklandmoveinday.org/content/move-day-frequently-asked-questions
"
6. Will there be families with children there? What about their safety?
This is a family friendly event. The Occupy Oakland Children’s Village will be on the Move-In March. Before we reach our target they will brake-off and hang out at a nearby location. Once the building has been secured and the festival begins the children, their families and allies will come and join us.
"— http://occupyoaklandmoveinday.org/content/move-day-frequently-asked-questions
"
4. How can we help with the taking and setting up of the building?
It will be obvious when we reach our intended target and we will try to enter the building all together but of course there is no predicting how it is going to look. There will be announcements made about where to be depending on your comfort level. Once we take the building, the working groups of the move-in assembly will be available to join, and help set up our new social center.
"— http://occupyoaklandmoveinday.org/content/move-day-frequently-asked-questions
"
Move-In Day Frequently Asked Questions
1. How long will we be able to hold the building, won’t the police just come and evict us?
We believe that a successful, long-term occupation is contingent on a high number of occupants and supporters. Therefore, please prepare to stay overnight, at least throughout the festival. The first two days, will give us an opportunity to self-organize and determine the future of the building. There has been lots of discussion about how to hold the building (refer below to the question of defense), but obviously we won’t be able to hold it unless we can deter the cops and the city from throwing the full weight of the police state against us. Since this is a mass, public action, we are counting on large numbers to enter the building, and solid numbers to STAY in the building 24/7 until we get guarantees that there will be no raids.
"You know you’re not doing anything else this weekend! FREE FOOD! ARTS ‘N CRAFTS! BIKE REPAIR!
Occupy Oakland will be holding a weekend long festival starting this Saturday, January 28 with the takeover of an empty building where it will host workshops, panels, a film festival, live music, assemblies…
