*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 27, 2011*
Contacts: OccupyBostonMedia@gmail.com
Twitter: @occupyBOS_media
MEDIA BLACKOUT ENTERS SECOND DAY AS IRAQ VETERAN SCOTT OLSEN REMAINS IN SERIOUS CONDITION, OCCUPY OAKLAND CALLS FOR GENERAL STRIKE NOVEMBER 2
Scott Olsen, 24—a former member of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and a veteran of two tours in Iraq—remains in serious condition at Highland Hospital in Oakland with a fractured skull and brain swelling. Riot police fired a projectile into Olsen’s face on Tuesday before throwing flash grenades at his fellow protesters while they attempted to move him to safety. Despite the severity of Olsen’s injuries, local and national media have largely ignored the story. As of Thursday morning, The Boston Herald and FOX 25 had no definite plans to cover the incident, nor had Oakland’s citizen review board opened an official inquiry.
Videos posted to YouTube depicting a member of the riot police throwing a flash grenade at protesters attempting to help the injured Olsen have stirred international outrage, but coverage remains minimal.
Last night, thousands marched to retake Oscar Grant Plaza for Occupy Oakland before calling for a general strike on November 2, saying:
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 that 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.
Occupy Boston stands in solidarity with Scott Olsen and with Occupy Oakland as we continue our peaceful pursuit of international economic justice. We are the 99%, and we are no longer silent.
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Occupy Boston is the beginning of an ongoing discussion about reforming Wall Street and removing special interests from government. The continuing occupation of Dewey Square—located outside of South Station in the heart of Boston’s Financial District—is just one of more than 120 separate Occupy encampments in cities across the nation and a symbol for “Occupiers” everywhere who support real and lasting change.
36 Responses to “Press Release: Resounding Silence, General Strike Over Marine Injured by Oakland Police”
You realize students probably won’t get that class time back, right? And that they’re *paying* to go to school? That essentially by leaving the school, they’re only hurting themselves? They aren’t going to get their money back if the classes are cancelled, and they aren’t going to have their school year extended to make up for that lost time.
Many of us have been, or currently are, students ourselves.
Certainly none of us should inconvenience ourselves to draw attention to the system’s problems and create a groundswell for change. We should only do things that require no sacrifice or commitment to perform, like complain in the comments sections of websites.
I’m sorry but I disagree.
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I think we should be infiltrating companies like McGraw Hill to get their Social Studies textbooks changed.
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They’re currently wrong and teaching our children the ways of the extreme right.
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They are biased against communism and that is completely unacceptable.
We need to consider our next steps.
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If he dies, god forbid, we must press this story as hard as possible.
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Young child, fought for system, killed by system.
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We are lucky to have such perfect martyrs on our side.
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Revolution is never easy.
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The time for Communism is now!
i honor his military service, but he was part of group throwing bottles at cops, hours after he was told to leave. he got what he deserved. Martyr, please?
You cannot in your right mind justify what happened to Scott Olsen. Nor the policeman throwing a flashbang at his helpers. It was barbaric and inhuman and not fitting for a democratic country. But then your not a democratic country are you. The mask is slipping and the hypocrisy is breathtaking. Your country is a right win dictatorship hands down no argument. The facade is crumbling.
yes he was part of group assaulting police with dangerous weapons; Bottles and explosives. Cops were justified to shoot him. Any time a cop is enforcing a lawful order and is assaulted with deadly force, i expect them to use deadly force. Moral of story, don’t assault cops when they are carrying out orders. Your parents should have educated you on these things, but you must have progressive parents. You have many hard lesson to learn in the future. The handout days are over, we are broke
So far there has been no convincing evidence provided of protesters “assaulting police with dangerous weapons.” And they were not using “deadly force,” they were supposedly using “less than lethal” weapons. They are not in that circumstance supposed to shoot someone directly with, say, a tear gas canister, nor should they hurl flashbang grenades at people clearly trying to help an injured individual. It’s sad that you feel the need to justify the actions of the system that oppresses us, including you.
I do not believe the police in this case. Police do lie, and this is a case where it seems highly likely that they are lying. Police lied blatantly about a march i was in ten years ago, in which nobody threw a thing, but they wrote in the police reports that we were throwing bottles at them. If anything, I find it likely that people would tosds back tear gas cannisters when they were gassed with them. I have seen this happen in a demonstration in Nepal, as well as in the U.S. This is *not* attacking the police, but rather defending and saying “Here, we really don’t want this gas cannister that you just lobbed at us”. This is not attacking the cops, who have their gas masks on as well as polycarbonate face shields and helmets, etc. That is not “throwing bottles at the police”. It is sad that you seem to assume that cops are right, and have all the rights, and the unarmed people have none.
from watching media on your channels: msnbc for 1, Larry o’donnell and ed schultz both had protestors on that admitted to throwing bottles and m80s at cops. Both o’donnell and shultz tried to prompt the kids to say no, . Several youtube videos with nothing but bottles breaking around cops. You guys are flat earthers conspiracy nuts. Every bit of evidence shown you will have a new theory of how to dispute the evidence. Kind of like the huge percentage of 9/11 truthers in your movement. I am calling on the cops to use more use of fgorce against the occupiers.
Send link, okay?
Actually what the police did last night in Oakland is a sort of victory of communism over the rule of law, democracy, and control by the rich. The wealthy productive class really do not have a fine level of control over the police. They can tell the police to go in and remove people from the streets but the actual way the police do it is up to local conditions and police union politics. The wealthy owners of the political system will not tell us this because to admit to any lack of control leads to a weakening of their position.
Who do you think started Communism you fool? The same Elites that you are supposedly fighting.
If the rest of your protest is this ignorant – you might as well just all go home.
Ask those not staying at the sites to start letter writing campaign with real letters to media and to local and national politicians & help show support for letter carriers. Sending the message matters.
If he dies, this message becomes so much more powerful.
None of us are hoping for that.
Nor am I, but it is true.
There are two stories on CNN about this. And have been since yesterday afternoon.
I also watched two wealthy people come on CNN tonight to say that OccupyWS should direct their anger at Washington (a CEO and Trump) – yeah, they wish! The reason the people are on the streets is both Washington, and the bankers and some of the WS execs (the greedy overpaid CEOs and the boards that allow for pay for non-performance to take place). Everyone should watch the documentary “Inside Job” http://vimeo.com/25142692 — this so we gain back that perspective of why people are out there jeopardizing their lives.
Most of the comments on this story make me sick. This young man is a two-tour veteran of war, and a family member, and a person with friends, hopes, dreams, loved ones …
Whether or not he threw a stone — and I am willing to be he didn’t — and for sure that he didn’t do it first — this is a ridiculous use of lethal force — whether or not the munitions are called “non-lethal” — against a group for protesting in a way that did not have the polite respect that power wants. We live in a country where we are told that we have the right to assemble and speak our voice, yet when we do assemble in that spirit, they find an excuse, some small law that we’re violating, and use this to shut us up. They also can say that people were throwing bottles or rocks, and then shut the whole thing down. If one person did throw something, this is not an excuse to shut down a whole group of people. Go find that one person, arrest them. This is a kind of warfare — this is group against group — and one of those groups has a monopoly on the use of force. The police should NOT be making war on protestors. They are making this into a war. This is a protest, sometimes a “rude” protest and sometimes that is what is needed. Sometimes people do things that are not aesthetically appealing to you or to others, but that’s their right. Homeless people sleep in the street all the time. You don’t see police arresting them for this, usually. No, they step right past. But when a group of people sleep in the street as a protest, this disturbs power, and they sweep in and start a war against those unarmed people, and then say “they were throwing bottles at us”. I know that police are able to lie, just as well as any protestor is able to lie about police. So … think for yourself. In the meantime, honor this young man. Don’t make it a feather for your dogma about communism. Don’t insult him and try to paint him as a loser in any way. Just take a moment of silence and contemplate what happened.
Sage is right, the police is rioting against the people and it is a shame. We should all contemplate what happenned to that young man. That’s not right – we don’t live under dictatorships, we should not see videos of even ONE person hurt so badly by the POLICE. That’s not right…what will it take to outrage folks enough to stand up for our rights to free speech and peaceful protests. And finally, here it is. I LIVED for 16 years under Communism with phones tapped because I had relatives in the US so enough with the “Commi” propaganda.
I am not religious because I lived under Communism and was not ALLOWED to be – but I “prey” that young man will not only survive but will return to a normal life with his family and friends.
“Bobby”
I too noticed the lack of media, press coverage for anything regarding the occupations. In general I think these days takes a huge amount of curiosity to find out what’s happening beyond what’s being cover on your typical newscast. ALjezeera, rt, democracy now etc are some of the media outlets where I find sources of information about this movement, and other uncovered interest I have. I often find that the work of individuals who report as eye witness on their status updates in social media are very helpful too.
For mainstream media to pick up on tragic events such as what took place in Oakland, there has to be some sort of political scandal or something of that short. It occurs to me that there’s money being donated to our movement, and it also occurs to me that that money should be put to good use, such as paying for a press release such as this one on the Boston Glove, how much would it coast to run it, that I don’t know, but it would be a good idea to find out.
We have the resources we need to make it happen, winter time comes I am not sure how our movement will keep alive. At least, in this part of the country, so places such as CA, AZ, and other places where the occupations are not affected by weather need to know that they have our support, even if that means paying for our own way to make it to the media outlets, after all, they will publish anything that’s paid for. So let’s shove a little bit of our money down their throats and shame them for not taken the initiative to cover matters like this.
Cheers !
people are beginning to not care, that is why the lack of news coverage. your protests are sinking to a level of complete anarchy. there are NO leaders standing with a voice and saying what you are protesting. there are no plans being put forth to fix what you think is wrong. there is no avenue for a win for any of you. please, for the love of everything holy, find someone to speak your plan and get it out there so we dont have to ask you the same question over and over again: what the fuck are you doing in our cities? what are you trying to accomplish? why wont you come up with a plan to fix ANYTHING… ONE plan and i will shut up and begin to listen again. you fools have no idea how to fix any of this and it appears to the world that you dont want a plan, you just want to yell and throw things at police because you are pissed off at the world. i am 100% behind civil disobedience, as long as there is a reason for it. saying you want corporate greed to end is not a plan or a complaint, it is stating an annoyance. DO SOMETHING!
I noticed that the Boston Metro had a cover story about honoring the fallen police “heros” who died in the line of duty, and not a word about Oakland. I don’t know if it was past their news deadline but it was highly ironic. I also wish to honor police who died in honorable duty, but I would also honor people who were killed by police brutality like David Woodman, and also people who died from community violence, like Kenneth Soto who was just stabbed in JP. Odd that the first police officer to die in the line of duty in Boston was knocked from his wagon by a low-hanging branch and fell to the ground, and died some months later of injuries sustained in the fall. I wonder what’s in the Metro today .. any word about Oakland or not.
Before passing judgement and spinning this outta control in an attempt to use this to your advantage in the media, why not wait until the whole story becomes know. Isn’t spinning something up for propaganda the same thing that the “anti-commies” did to the above’s relatives? If you throw things at the cops bad things will happen to you. And being a veteran should be an excuse. Tim McVeigh was a vet too and one who actually saw combat.
A blogger posted this from their local news…the report was that one of the protesters simply tossed a tear gas canister back to the police. To me there was an obvious overuse of force.
“I’m from the Bay Area – many of my friends are involved in Occupy Oakland, are experienced activists, and peaceful.
If you look at the reports and the footage, the police clearly employed violent means to try to disperse a largely-peaceful encampment. There’s tons of video footage of the peaceful protesters – nurses, teachers, young and old alike, being gassed and violently arrested- and I couldn’t find a single image of the supposed rock-throwing. That’s not to say it didn’t happen, but it’s a gross exaggeration (and an obvious attempt to justify an overuse of force by the police) to say that that was the main thing happening. The first several uses of tear gas were to break up a peaceful protest – period.
Yes, protesters must be peaceful to keep their cause legitimate.
Police should be held to the same standard.
Here is a local TV news clip:
http://www.ktvu.com/video/29587140/index.html”
AGREED:
“Yes, protesters must be peaceful to keep their cause legitimate. Police should be held to the same standard.”
Before you trash the Herald I happened to find a copy today and was surprised to read an editorial that was in favor of the Occupation, and it actually stated that the majority of Americans will come to recognize that the core message against Wall Street and corporate power is the right one.
This campaign against FOX as being the Evil One is immature. They may suck but so does CNN, NBC, NPR, etc. Occupy seems to be fixated on FOX which really means that FOX has all the power of the 1% behind it, while all other media are somehow exempt of their influence. But, go on… rage, rage against the dying light… take comfort in consensus if it helps you sleep at night…
The Herald wants to hate Occupy, but can’t help but like this homegrown messy revolutionary crew. I may have read the same editorial where it says “They may be dirty smelly hippies atc but the secret is that THEY ARE RIGHT” … anyway, Herald is like a funny uncle who picks you up by the ears to show you how he loves you.
What we’ve got here is… failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it… well, he gets it. I don’t like it any more than you men
This is exactly what you want. Violence. Why do you think the powers that be have been moving your camps and arresting people. Perhaps they have more experience in mob mentality and know it’s going to turn violent. Yeah yeah yeah shame on police. Whatever. If a riot squad tells to move then move. Or expect to be moved. I’m not shedding any tears for this fellow veteran. That man created his own situation by defying the coppers.
True, we should never question authority, no matter how ludicrous or unjust their orders. We as Americans must always obey, never resist. And if we do, whatever is done to us is our fault, not that of the system or its agents. If we would all just do what we are told to do everything would be fine.
What we have here is a failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it… Well he gets it. I don’t like it anymore than you men.
This is exactly what you want. Violence. Why do you think the powers that be have been moving your camps and arresting people. Perhaps they have more experience in mob mentality and know it’s going to turn violent. Yeah yeah yeah shame on police. Whatever. If a riot squad tells to move then move. Or expect to be moved. I’m not shedding any tears for this fellow veteran. That man created his own situation by defying the coppers.
The occupy movements have been largely very peaceful, and they seem to be making a big effort to stay that way.
On the other hand, this country was founded with violence- the revolutionary war, later the civil war- and somehow we forget that the first one started with people throwing tea into a harbor- a crime I’m sure, but now called the Boston Tea Party, and I think another protest movement was named after this crime.
Name one country that hasn’t been founded on some sort of violence? Or maintained their independence through peaceful means? You must own a car that has two bumper stickers: “War is not the Answer” and “Free Tibet”… Or are you rilly, rilly, like, superior to the Tea Party n stuff?
What are you people talking about? Lack of media coverage? Are you kidding me… it’s all over network television, local TV, cable TV… newspapers, etc…. There’s no shortage of coverage. You guys ever listen to the radio? There was a marked media blackout the first few weeks of Occupy Wall Street… after that, it’s become a major story.
What do you expect? That every time someone stubs their toe in a tent you should get media coverage. There was an article about the library in the New York Times, for cripes sake!
And I also saw plenty of news coverage on Oakland… network and cable news shows while dining at a Chinese restaurant… the food was only so-so, so I’m not naming names…
Footage of Scott Olsen being shot by Police at Occupy Oakland(2:26): http://vimeo.com/31187119