In JP, anarchist writer Cindy Milstein speaks on Occupy’s roots
Anarchist principles provided the framework for the Occupy movement, she said, drawing from her experiences at Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Philly. As the Phoenix outlined in October, “Many of the national Occupy movement’s organizational tools – the lengthy general assemblies, the finger-waggling exercises in consensus-building, the free food and clothing available throughout camp – come from anarchist models of direct action, horizontal organizing, and gift economies.” That article also pointed out that Occupy Boston specifically drew from local activists, anarchists, and DIY enthusiasts who have “long organized non-hierarchically in collective houses and radical book shops.” The Lucy Parsons Center — founded in 1969 and recently re-opened on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain — is one of those shops.
Gingrich Cancels Event in Face of Protesters
Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich canceled an appearance at his New Hampshire campaign headquarters after protesters swarmed the entrance.
About 40 protesters showed up Monday evening carrying placards reading “Ron Paul” and “Occupy.” One played speeches by presidential candidate Ron Paul from a loud speaker.
Gingrich says anarchists steal his right to free speech, but Ron Paul supporters are just ‘noisy’
“Some of the Occupy Wall Street people frankly have a touch of anarchism in them. I think, ultimately, the society’s going to have to say there are limits to those kind of folks blocking people from having their right to free speech,” Mr. Gingrich said. “We decided it wasn’t worth risking some kind of big confrontation, so we, frankly, decided to skip past that particular event.”
Mr. Hannity originally thought Mr. Gingrich had an issue with Ron Paul supporters. Mr. Gingrich set the record straight.
“I think our challenge was with Occupy Wall Street people, I’ve generally found that the Ron Paul people, while theyre sometimes noisy, they’re pretty civil and pretty decent,” said Mr. Gingrich.
Occupy New Hampshire stages die-in at Obama headquarters
“Currently in progress, and getting cold treatment from the office rep blocking us from getting inside,” Occupy Worchester wrote on its Facebook page, underneath a photo of protesters lying down on the headquarters’ front steps and pretending to be dead. “Equal opportunity protesting, both major parties do not represent us.”
Romney’s Last Rally in New Hampshire Disrupted by Occupy Protesters
Occupy protesters interrupted former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s final speech before primary day in New Hampshire, shouting, “We are the 99 percent!” before being escorted out of the room by security guards.
One woman who was near the front of the room — and therefore tougher for security guards to reach quickly — continued chanting after the others, and Romney decided to engage with her.
http://tinyurl.com/6w2jwbu
Interviews with Occupy protesters who ‘mic checked’ Santorum on Saturday in Amherst
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http://tinyurl.com/7tlf93g
New Hampshire, On a Rough Road Riding High
With the rest of the candidates taking Saturday off to prep for the debate, I headed to downtown Manchester. The brutalist Radisson tower is the primary’s hub. Across the street from the hotel is a park where Occupy had set up. There were a dozen tents, some signage, and a guy playing an extended solo on a full drum kit. His message? “Fuck drum circles.” Also there was John Ford, age 29, a “cult-hero” of Occupy Boston, according to the Boston Globe. “Wanna smoke a joint?” he asked. “Might make the debate interesting.” Occupy had maybe a 100 folks in town. They were doing some “actions,” Ford said, but nothing too disruptive or illegal.
Occupy Oakland event raises awareness about sexism, homophobia within Occupy protests
As with Liberty Plaza, at Oscar Grant Plaza (Occupy Oakland’s name for Frank Ogawa Plaza), some women and queer-identified occupiers said they experienced sexism or were the target of slurs by fellow campers when the vast tent city took over the plaza. On Sunday, Occupy Oakland’s feminist and queer bloc hosted an “Occupy Patriarchy” event that drew at least 200 people over the course of the day at the lot at 19th Street and Telegraph Avenue.
Throughout the day, several canopies hosted a number of workshops covering such topics as conflict resolution, the politics of sexual and intimate violence, empowering women and ensuring political and social equality. Artists played guitar and spoke poetry on the open-mic stage. Many families brought their children, who kicked soccer balls around and played with a large parachute.
Economics, voting rights, death penalty among top Black stories of 2011
10. Occupy Protesters Win Support, Alliance from Civil Rights Leaders: What started as a group of mostly young white protesters on Wall Street late last summer, quickly spread to cities across the nation as protesters set up tents in public parks to decry unjust economic policies against the 99 percent of Americans who are not considered rich. Despite winter, the Occupy Movement caught fire and is increasingly winning the support and involvement of traditional civil rights leaders. Most recently, a group of Black clergy, led by former NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Chavis and the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, pastor of the Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, announced the formation of what they call “Occupy the Dream”. Starting Monday, Jan. 16, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday holiday, Chavis says the group will hold protests at Federal Reserve Banks in 10 cities around the nation with hopes to spread “the message of income equality, economic justice and empowerment.” The mission aims to diminish Black unemployment by strengthening and promoting Black-owned businesses as an extension of Dr. King’s “Poor People’s Movement cut short when he was assassinated April 4, 1968. Chavis says, “Now that we have the monument, it’s time to rekindle the movement that the monument represents.”
Occupy neighborhood groups say protest provision will chill political speech of communities of color
Occupy neighborhood groups have sent out a stern letter to their local aldermen about Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new protest provision, saying the measures will keep low-income communities from speaking out against budget cuts hurting their neighborhoods.
“It is difficult to overstate the contrast between celebrating the life and work of Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] on Monday, and codifying the suppression of dissent on Wednesday,” said Occupy Rogers Park and Occupy the South Side in their press release, which called on aldermen to sign their names against the rule, which the groups say will permanently chill democratic rights in Chicago.
http://tinyurl.com/7yauped
Activists from earlier movements weigh in on Occupy
[Jesse Jackson] “Occupy is a new name for an old struggle for justice. Occupy means take space. It does not have a head you can assassinate. It’s a spirit. That’s why you can’t tear gas it away. It’s a spirit that refuses to be denied.”
“I was talking with some business leaders, a few days ago in Washington,” Jackson continued. “They were working on a merger, which involved merging two big companies…they had bonuses for the leaders and more job loss for workers, but then they said ‘if we do this, I wonder what Occupy would think about it? What would they do?”
Jackson says that Occupy has changed the conversation, but now the challenge is for more people who support the group to join the movement.
http://tinyurl.com/7p2ssll
A Movement Evolves to Occupy the Future
With its encampments mostly destroyed, the nascent Occupy Movement in thousands of communities across the U.S. and dozens more around the world has not faded away.
Instead, it has rebounded in multiple forms, reclaiming foreclosed homes, occupying banks, shutting down ports, interrupting university trustee meetings and political speeches at the Iowa Caucuses, and forcing people on the streets, in Congressional corridors and at city halls to address how the one percent’s wealth and power has created a stranglehold on the 99 percent.
http://tinyurl.com/6r2snrj
Protest hits dangerous welfare office conditions in Philly
A group of caseworkers, recipients, union activists and their supporters from Occupy Philly marched into the North Philadelphia welfare offices on Dec. 21 to demand better conditions.
Layoffs of welfare caseworkers have reduced the assistance available to those in need, while increasing the burden on existing staff. In an atmosphere akin to a pressure cooker, people are forced to wait in long lines for hours on end. To make matters worse, 150,000 Pennsylvania residents – including 43,000 children – have recently been denied Medicaid, and the closing of Employment Advancement Retention Network centers has left welfare recipients without help to find employment.
Backing up the charges of high tensions at the office, one caseworker reported to the protesters that a fight among applicants had taken place that morning. As security personnel were trying to expel us, a fistfight broke out not far away.
Illinois teacher commits suicide citing working conditions
Mary Thorson, a 32-year-old physical education teacher at Cottage Grove Upper Grade Center in Ford Heights, Illinois, took her own life on November 24, 2011. The note she left at the scene of her death was devoted almost entirely to the conditions in the Ford Heights school district, closing with, “We must speak up about what’s going on! This life has been unbelievable.”
More than 98 percent of students in the Ford Heights school district live below the poverty line. In her final statement, Thorson wrote of extreme hardships faced by the students, the school administration?s disregard for teachers, and the lack of resources available in the district.
Occupy protesters join strike at licorice factory, block entrances and turn away delivery trucks
UNION CITY, CA – Tensions flared at the American Licorice factory Monday as protesters associated with the Occupy Oakland movement joined the month-old factory workers’ strike, blocking entrances and turning away delivery trucks.
According to protesters, about 100 protesters were onsite between 5 and 6 a.m. and had helped turn away three freight delivery trucks in the morning before local police were sent to escort vehicles into the factory lot. Many of the protesters had dispersed by noon, when only a dozen remained on scene.
http://tinyurl.com/6v78fyx
Jacob Lew, Obama’s New Chief-of-Staff, Will Not Please Occupy Wall Street
Here are some fun facts about Jacob Lew:
Prior to his appointment as a deputy secretary at the Department of State, Mr. Lew was Chief Operating Officer of CitiGroup’s Alternative Investments group.
Do you know what Alternative Investments are? They’re things like hedge funds, who buy things like credit default swaps! Credit default swaps are essentially the ability to buy insurance on someone else’s house in one hand as you hold anything else-the adjustable-rate mortgage you know they can’t pay off, or the capacity to sell that mortgage and therefore generate more mortgages like it, or a gasoline can-in the other hand. This is what Jacob Lew invested in!
In 2008 and the beginning of 2009, Mr. Lew took in $1.1M from CitiGroup. This included a $900,000 bonus.
Mr. Lew doesn’t think financial deregulation was one of the problems adding up to the financial crisis that has persisted since 2008.
Real Financial Regulators Love Prosecutions of Fraudulent Bank CEOs
Senior former regulators are willing to be quoted by name asserting that Obama’s (not Bush’s) financial regulatory leaders are blocking lawsuits against fraudulent financial elites and their anti-regulatory co-conspirators because they fear embarrassment. That would be a disgraceful policy. Indeed, it is hard to think of a worse reason for granting the elite white-collar criminals that caused the crisis and the Great Recession immunity from prosecution. The fact that Obama has no response rebutting this grave charge against his administration’s integrity sounds loud, but not proud.
http://tinyurl.com/7cxa62v
National nurses union releases new ad calling for a financial transaction tax
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First the Batman movie, now video game makers trying to cash in on elite-fraud vengeance fantasies
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Occupy Protesters Overwhelm the Court System – Large Number of Arrests Leads to a Consolidation of Cases
Police have made nearly 2,000 arrests related to the Occupy Wall Street movement, and a picture began to emerge Monday of how the most common of those cases-disorderly conduct-will proceed through the criminal justice system.
In a courtroom crowded with mostly young people, prosecutors and defense attorneys sparred over motions related to the violation, which is normally pleaded out with the promise that it will be cleared if the defendant stays out of trouble for six months.
Much to the delight of some, 21 of the 69 cases on the calendar were dismissed after prosecutors said they couldn’t prove them beyond a reasonable doubt. Judge Neil Ross accepted the dismissals, often with a friendly farewell: “Thank you. Good luck to you.”
Groups: Barricades at NYC Ex-Occupy Camp Illegal
Barricades surrounding a New York City park that was the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street movement are a violation of city zoning law because they restrict public access to the space, civil rights groups said Monday.
The New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild filed a zoning complaint with the city’s buildings department, urging officials to remove the metal barricades that have surrounded Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park since Mayor Michael Bloomberg evicted the protesters Nov. 15 in an early-morning police raid.
“The barricades have all but ended Liberty Plaza’s role as a functioning public plaza,” the letter says.
http://tinyurl.com/6mnz9qs
Successes Elsewhere Inspires Occupy Elk Grove [CA] Activists to Ask City to Divest from Bank of America
The activist group Occupy Elk Grove is circulating an online petition urging the Elk Grove City Council to take taxpayer money out of Bank of America, citing the bank’s legal troubles and what they view as unfair lending practices.
Public agencies’ contracts with major banks are increasingly coming under fire from protesters identified with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Last fall, the trustees of one Bay Area community college district voted to transfer its money from large financial institutions to community banks and credit unions. The Seattle City Council in November passed an ordinance saying the city would “review its banking and investment practices to ensure that public funds are invested in responsible financial institutions that support our community.”
http://tinyurl.com/7rym2mj
Health Director Compares Occupy D.C. to Refugee Camps in Middle East and Africa
Akhter, who is originally from Pakistan and has worked for the District government for over 20 years, said that the situation in the two parks is reminiscent of refugee camps he has toured overseas in the Middle East and Africa during his public health career. He said he fears disaster could strike during a severe winter storm.
“Going down to these camps, it’s no different than refugee camps,” Akhter said. “People are living in very primitive conditions and they’re doing it by choice. They are very brave and thoughtful people, but my concern is that they should also take care of themselves. When the weather goes bad suddenly we’re watching a tragedy unfold in the middle of Washington, D.C.”
Brainerd [MN] police stumped by monopoly banker graffiti on local banks
“We’re not exactly sure what this is,” Brainerd Sgt. Mike Bestul said Monday of the vandalism. “I’ve never seen anything like this. This is different than the casual taggers around town or where you have the teenagers or young adults doing it. This is a more thought out plan.”
Bestul said whoever placed the Monopoly bankers around town had to put some thought into it. He said the suspect or suspects had to have a reason why they chose the banker and then put the work into blowing the banker characters up, making copies of them and then gluing them onto the buildings.
Bestul could not say if the Occupy Wall Street movement had anything to do with the graffiti. Occupy Wall Street movement is a national protest movement which began in September. Occupy protests have been held in Brainerd and the protests have been against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed and corruption.
http://tinyurl.com/88u7gcj
Elderly West Virginia retirees carry on with ‘Occupy Century Aluminum’ after having health care benefits they paid for taken away
From Occupy Wall Street to occupy Century Aluminum. These protesters aren’t fighting for jobs though, they’re retired. they’re fighting to get their benefits back.
“We’re trying to get our insurance back they took away from us. They just wrote us a letter and said we got none, and they promised us for life,” retiree, Charles King says. Insurance that’s crucial to the health of these retired workers, especially King.
“I had a stroke and had cancer and a couple mini-strokes. I ain’t too good of health, but I’m still here kickin.”
http://tinyurl.com/74lp84v
Three Protesters Killed as Nigeria Paralyzed by ‘Occupy’ Strike Over Gas Prices
Oil-rich Nigeria ground to a halt, Monday, amid mass demonstrations and strikes protesting a government decision to end billions of dollars in fuel subsidies that saw pump prices double overnight. At least 20 people were wounded and at least three demonstrators were reported killed as police opened fire on protests in the country’s business capital, Lagos, as well as in the largest northern city, Kano. Witnesses said police also attacked protestors with batons and tear gas overnight in the capital, Abuja. Banks, airports, gas stations and markets were closed throughout the country on Monday, as streets in some of Africa’s largest cities, normally blocked solid with traffic, were quiet but for the sound of protests. And the violence against protesters comes in a security climate already clouded by mounting Muslim-Christian tensions that have seen an upsurge of sectarian violence in the north.
http://tinyurl.com/7nxe9on
Victoria’s [BC] Occupy movement launches community outreach
The People’s Assembly of Victoria may have faded from the spotlight, but the local leaderless Occupy movement remains active, with assemblies aimed at attracting student protestors throughout January.
“We’re trying to open up a space for discussion, space for dissent and space for finding solutions,” said Anushka Nagji, a People’s Assembly of Victoria participant and law student at the University of Victoria. “(We’re exploring) ways to empower and access students, to hook them into the movement.”
“They’re interested in issues we’ve been fighting for for a long time,” said Camosun College Student Society external executive Madeline Keller-MacLeod. “Lots of our students are supportive of the movement, so we definitely welcome it.”
http://tinyurl.com/7x9sgfp
Bankers can wait. Targeting protesters is much more Cameron’s cup of tea
When governments seek to protect the rich from the poor, they act swiftly and decisively. When they undertake to protect the poor from the rich, they fanny about for years until the moment has passed.