Posts Tagged ‘oakland’

Christian Hartsock

#OccupyBeverlyHills: Black Bloc and the Devolution of a Revolution

by Christian Hartsock

Now that the Occupy movement has been coat-tailed and co-opted by big labor and big government forces that should by definition be their targets of dissent, the shuffled miscellany of loose-cannoned conniptions that’s become the movement is conspicuous even to ultra-left-wing social critics.

The protests of last week from Oakland to Portland to the Super Bowl to CPAC were testament to this, but perhaps a rally planned today in Beverly Hills will signal a healthy shift.

During the Ohio fight over Issue 2, which would have curbed collective bargaining “rights” of public sector industries including Ohio police forces, Occupy Columbus protesters took to the streets in defense of cops. Meanwhile in Oakland, Portland, and Washington, D.C., Occupiers last week took to the streets to chant “Fuck the police!” “All cops are bastards!” “No pigs!” and to throw bricks in cops’ faces.

The #OccupyOakland rally dubbed their march the “Fuck the Police Rally,” noting to its attendees: “If you identify as peaceful and are likely to interfere with the actions of your fellow protestors in any way…you may not want to attend this march. It is a militant action. It attracts anti-capitalists, anti-fascists and other comrades of a revolutionary bent. It is not a march intended for people who are not fully comfortable with diversity of tactics.” So apparently Occupy protesters have cops’ backs, that is until they’re reminded that cops are hired by the public specifically to stop people just like them.

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MRC TV

Occupy Oakland Burns American Flag While Reciting Anti-Semitic ‘Pledge of Allegiance’

by MRC TV

As an American flag burns at Occupy Oakland, the man capturing the videos recites the following:

“I pledge allegiance to a flag of the imperialistic, capitalistic dictatorship. And to the plutocracy for which it stands, privately owned central bank, under the Jews. With inequality and injustice for the 99.” (h/t Moonbat Tracker)

In late October, we at MRCTV went to Zuccotti Park in New York City and ran into this guy.

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Publius

Protesters Set to Occupy West Coast Ports

by Publius

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Anti-Wall Street protesters up and down the West Coast are joining an effort to blockade some of the nation’s busiest ports fromAnchorage to San Diego.

Demonstrators are scheduled to gather at 5:30 a.m. to march on the Port of Oakland, which Occupy protesters successfully shut down in November. Marchers expect to descend even earlier on the sprawling port complex spanning Los Angeles and Long Beach as the work day begins. In Portland, Ore., the protest will get under way at 6 a.m.

Occupy groups in Seattle, Tacoma and the Canadian city of Vancouver are also planning blockades.

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Lee Stranahan

Occupy Leader Says Union ‘Opposition’ to Planned 12/12 West Coast Port Shutdown Is ‘Just A Game’

by Lee Stranahan

In another sign of the #Occupy movement flying off the tracks of relevancy, the movement’s next major campaign – a planned shutdown of shipping ports on the entire west coast – is explicitly opposed by International Longshoreman’s Union, the union that the shutdown is purporting to support. However, statements from an Occupy leader indicate that the Union may be bluffing in order to avoid further legal trouble in an ongoing dispute they have with a Portland grain export facility.

The website WestCoastPortShutdown.org says that the planned direct action on December 12th is being coordinated by at least ten different Occupy movements, including the recently decamped Los Angeles, Oakland and Portland movements as well as scrawny groups like Occupy Oxnard. More specifically, the Port Shutdown is being spearheaded on by Occupy Oakland and activist / artiste Boots Riley.

The site lays out some big goals…

On December 12, the occupy movements in different cities will stage  mass mobilizations to march on the ports, create community pickets, and effectively shutdown the hubs of commerce, in the same fashion that Occupy Oakland shut down the Port of Oakland on November 2nd, the day of our general strike.

And their raison d’être is, as always, ‘solidarity with the 99%.’

We present this call to you because we believe it is time the occupation movement begins to work together to carry through coordinated, pinpointed actions. We want  to disrupt the profits of the 1% and to show solidarity with those in the 99% who are under direct attack by corporate tyranny.

But apparently the anarchy loving Occupy movement didn’t clear all of this with the heads of the unions theey are supposed to be in solidarity with. A Portland Trubune article headlined Unions: We don’t support Occupy port shutdown and subtitled Longshoremen say they will not participate in planned Dec. 12 West Coast protest appears to lay out a case for conflict between Occupy and the ILWU.

“We support the goals of the Occupy protesters but we are not supportive or participating in the shutdown of the West Coast ports,” says Jeff Smith, president of the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union Local 8. The union represents workers who load and unload ships at the port, and also move freight in and out of it.

And the same article later quotes ILWU Local 8 president Smith saying succinctly…

“This is a third-party strike. We have to go to work,” says Smith.

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Publius

#Occupy Protest Costs Cities at least $13 Million

by Publius

From the Associated Press:

During the first two months of the nationwide Occupy protests, the movement that is demanding more out of the wealthiest Americans cost local taxpayers at least $13 million in police overtime and other municipal services, according to a survey by The Associated Press.

The heaviest financial burden has fallen upon law enforcement agencies tasked with monitoring marches and evicting protesters from outdoor camps. And the steepest costs by far piled up in New York City and Oakland, Calif., where police clashed with protesters on several occasions.

The AP gathered figures from government agencies in 18 cities with active protests and focused on costs through Nov. 15, the day protesters were evicted from New York City’s Zuccotti Park, where the protests began Sept. 17 before spreading nationwide. The survey did not attempt to tally the price of all protests but provides a glimpse into costs to cities large and small.

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Publius

#OccupyEconomy: #OccupyOaklandCalls for Shutdown of all West Coast Ports

by Publius

From #OccupyWallSt.org:

We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port. Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT. Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs.

Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in their ongoing struggle against the EGT. The EGT is an international grain exporter led by Bunge LTD, a company constituted of 1% bankers whose practices have ruined the lives of the working class all over the world, from Argentina to the West Coast of the US. During the November 2nd General Strike, tens of thousands shutdown the Port Of Oakland as a warning shot to EGT to stop its attacks on Longview. Since the EGT has disregarded this message, and continues to attack the Longshoremen at Longview, we will now shut down ports along the entire West Coast.

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Education Action Group

Union Wants Money Earmarked for Students

by Education Action Group

While the teacher unions of Oakland, California are enjoying the Occupy protests, just down the road in the Alameda school district, the teachers union has been busy working on behalf of its top priority.

Surprise, surprise – students are not at the top of the union concern list.

It seems the district was in the rare position of having $1.1 million left over from last year’s budget.

Alameda school board members, being the student advocates they are, voted 4-1 on Oct. 25 to use the money to purchase textbooks, fund programs aimed at boosting math, reading and writing skills, pay for after-school programs at two underperforming schools and establish a program designed to encourage parents to be more involved in their kids’ education.

That certainly sounds like a reasonable use of school funds, particularly during a period of economic distress and lackluster student performance.

But the Alameda Education Association, the district’s teachers union, objects to that plan. Union leaders want the money spent on bonuses for teachers.

School board members say they will take care of the teachers in the next round of contract negotiations, which are scheduled to begin in January. But that’s not good enough for the union.

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Publius

Police Clear Out #OccupyOakland Camp

by Publius

From the Associated Press:


OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Riot-clad law enforcement officers cleared out a weeks-old anti-Wall Street encampment in Oakland just before dawn Monday after issuing several warnings to Occupy demonstrators.

Protesters appeared to put up little resistance to the raid and officers could be seen leading some handcuffed demonstrators away from the downtown plaza where the camp had been set up. Warnings from Oakland authorities had been similar to those issued before officers raided the encampment on Oct. 25 with tear gas and bean bag projectiles.

The action came a day after police drove hundreds of anti-Wall Street demonstrators from weeks-old encampments in Portland, arresting more than 50 people.

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Publius

Cities Struggle to Cope with Rising #Occupy Chaos

by Publius

From the Associated Press:


Oakland officials had issued written warnings similar to Saturday’s eviction notice before officers raided the encampment on Oct. 25 with tear gas and bean bag projectiles, arresting 85 people. Oakland became a rallying point for demonstrators when an Iraq War veteran was injured during the clash.

Tensions were also high in Portland, Ore., where protesters with the movement dismantled large sections of their encampment amid a heavy police presence Saturday. Demonstrators faced a midnight deadline to clear out of two downtown parks following a month-long protest.

Mayor Sam Adams ordered the camp shut down by midnight Saturday, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampment’s attraction of drug users and thieves. Paramedics treated two people suffering from apparent drug overdoses, one on Friday and one on Saturday, bringing to four the number of nonfatal overdoses inside the camp, police said.

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Lee Stranahan

Anarchist Video Reveals Dark Side of #Occupy Movement

by Lee Stranahan

We’ve been talking about the anarchist faction behind #Occupy Wall Street for weeks now but despite the mounting evidence, liberals and the mainstream would like you to believe that it’s just some right-wing fantasy and that the #Occupy movement are a well meaning bunch of idealists.

The MSM and liberals really don’t want you to listen to what the revolutionaries themselves have to say. This video is from radical #Occupy supporter stimulator.tv and it’s a frightening yet entertaining montage of news clips, movie scenes, rap music and cursing.

Interestingly enough, they might hate mainstream liberals even more than you do.

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Publius

#OccupyOakland Protests Wells Fargo, then Opens an Account

by Publius

From The San Francisco Examiner:

Last week, one or more Occupy Oakland protesters smashed the windows of a Wells Fargo branch.

This week, the group’s general assembly agreed — in a near-unanimous vote Monday — to temporarily place $20,000 of the group’s money in an account at the country’s fourth-largest bank holding company, Wells Fargo Bank.

Whether the decision was an abandonment of the movement’s opposition to big banks or an ominous affirmation of the hold that big banks have on Americans, Twitter was ablaze with outrage last night, as news spread about the 162-8 vote, from which 16 people abstained.

“I am so disgusted right now. the hypocrisy of it all is just amazing,” wrote @GiveMeThatJuice.

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Publius

Oakland Police Respond to #OccupyOakland, City Officials

by Publius

From the Oakland Police Officers Association:

We represent the 645 police officers who work hard every day to protect the citizens of Oakland. We, too, are the 99% fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families. We are severely understaffed with many City beats remaining unprotected by police during the day and evening hours.

As your police officers, we are confused.

On Tuesday, October 25th, we were ordered by Mayor Quan to clear out the encampments at Frank Ogawa Plaza and to keep protesters out of the Plaza. We performed the job that the Mayor’s Administration asked us to do, being fully aware that past protests in Oakland have resulted in rioting, violence and destruction of property.

Then, on Wednesday, October 26th, the Mayor allowed protesters back in – to camp out at the very place they were evacuated from the day before.

To add to the confusion, the Administration issued a memo on Friday, October 28th to all City workers in support of the “Stop Work” strike scheduled for Wednesday, giving all employees, except for police officers, permission to take the day off.

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Publius

#OccupyOakland Calls for City-wide General Strike on November 2nd

by Publius

From #OccupyWallStreet:


We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.

We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

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Publius

Dem Mayors in Atlanta, Oakland Use Riot Police to Clear #Occupy Protesters

by Publius

ATLANTA (AP) – Police guarded newly-cleared plazas early Wednesday in Atlanta and Oakland, Calif., after clearing Occupy Wall Street protest camps in both cities. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested in swift crack-downs by riot squads after local authorities lost patience with the rallies.

Helicopters hovered and trained spotlights on downtown Atlanta as police in riot gear moved into a small city park just after midnight and arrested more than 50 protesters who had been there in tents for about two weeks.

Police and some neighbors in cities around the country have started losing patience as protesters prepare to settle in for winter in camps without running water or working toilets. Businesses and residents near New York’s Zuccotti Park, the unofficial headquarters of the movement that began in mid-September, are demanding something be done to discourage the hundreds of protesters from urinating in the street and making noise at all hours.

In Oakland, riot police cleared protesters from in front of City Hall on Tuesday morning, leaving a sea of overturned tents, protest signs and trash strewn across the plaza. Hundreds of officers and sheriff’s deputies went into the two week-old encampment with tear gas and beanbag rounds around 5 a.m., police said.

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Bret Jacobson

Unions: Getting The Munchies After Smoking A Bowl

by Bret Jacobson

Over at Forbes I recently wrote about the union plan to organize your neighborhood fast food joint, which could turn the process of ordering a Number 3 with Coke into a culinary trip to the DMV. Well, maybe now we know why: they have been laying the groundwork to organize the entire food chain, as it were, since they have organized a pot shop in Oakland. Now you can Super Size it and smoke a spliff without ever crossing a picket line.