MBTA fare hikes are just a Band-Aid
Occupy Boston has spawned a related movement called Occupy MBTA with the goal of pressuring government officials to back off the proposed changes to public transit. Their view echoes the view of many Boston area residents – that neither cutting transit lines nor raising rates is an acceptable solution to the MBTA’s budget shortfall.
http://tinyurl.com/74s729j
Menino, Advocates Urge Alternatives To MBTA Cuts
“Riders should not be forced to shoulder the entire weight of this debt,” said Mayor Menino in a letter to MBTA General Manager Richard Davey, as quoted in this article in the Boston Globe.
The Mayor also came out in favor of a gas tax or “another levy” to close the T’s revenue gaps, and recommended that the Big Dig debt that the T is carrying be forgiven, a stance that is also popular with some members of the Occupy Boston group, Occupy The T.
In an article from the Boston Occupier, writer Doug Greene says that several present at a recent Occupy The T meeting, “argued that the banks should cancel the T’s debt.”
http://tinyurl.com/8a2go6a
Activism in 2012: SDS founder discusses Occupy movement
The man credited with founding the Students for a Democratic Society, the movement that came to symbolize the radicalism that swept the 1960s, hasn’t thrown down the gauntlet [sic]. Alan Haber, now 75 and living in Ann Arbor, continues to fight the fight, from Occupy Ann Arbor and Wall Street to lobbying for development of an urban park on the downtown Library Lot on Fifth Avenue where an underground parking structure is being built.
Ultimately, the couple said, Occupy Ann Arbor fell victim of splintering groups. Haber summed it up: “There was difficult interfacing between activists and homeless.” Things grew petty with who would clean and straighten the tents, he said. These kinds of “human relations/cross classness” issues will be discussed at Crazy Wisdom Thursday night, Haber said.
Occupy Ann Arbor was never a big event, not compared with those in Boston and New York City, which Haber attended. “Here we had a little park and a few tents and a not-very-together general assembly,” Haber said. “But I was blown away at Occupy Boston. There were hundreds of tents and a library and a spiritual tent.”
Northeastern Students Try & Knock Out Barstool Sports, Garners Support From Occupy Boston
The bros over at Barstool Sports are known for their crude commentary, slights at women and incredibly offensive stereotypes. Some students at Northeastern have had enough, however, and are retaliating against the site “by the common man for the common man” by creating their own called Knock Out Barstool!
In an editorial posted by The Huntington News, the University’s independent student newspaper, a group of four Northeastern undergraduates spoke out against Barstool’s Blackout Tour – which involves the team visiting college campuses around the nation with “lasers, extremely loud music and extremely hotter smoke shows,” throwing a party and having a good time. On February 2nd, the party’s expected to come to Northeastern, and will be held at the House of Blues.
. . .
So far, the group’s received a lot of hate mail, but a lot of encouraging mail, as well. Siembor said members of Occupy Boston will be rallying in solidarity with the students on Thursday. Starting at 6:30 p.m., the students will start in Northeastern’s freshmen quad and march to the House of Blues, where they’ll begin protesting at 7:30 p.m. You’ll be able to find them having an “alterna-party,” in which they asked people on Facebook to bring their glow sticks, whistles, noise makers, girl-power songs and dancing shoes as they “demonstrate fun parties don’t have to come at the expense of personal safety.”
Huge Victory for OCCUPY DC: Judge Halts Eviction!
In a rare victory for both America’s civil liberties and Occupy DC, a federal judge issued a Preliminary Order of the Court stopping the evictions of the two Occupy camps at our nation’s capital on Tues., Jan. 31.
In a tentative ruling, which the judge will confirm within 48 hours, the US Park Service will be restricted from arbitrarily enforcing requirements it imposed on campers at McPherson Park and Freedom Plaza on Friday.
Transgender Americans may face increased risk of mistreatment in Occupy crackdowns
As reported by Gay City News, transgender people have been central figures from the beginning of the Occupy Movement, adding to a long history transgender people participating in direct actions.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, expressed concern for transgender people.
“Because of this historical participation by transgender people in direct actions, NCTE wants to make sure trans people are well informed as they exercise their free speech and political power,” Keisling said.
A Crazy Republican Attack That Obama Himself Agrees With
Imagine if a bunch of the craziest war-hungry Republicans in the House filmed themselves in a nutty bat-guano video packed with lies addressed to the President of the United States. And then imagine President Barack Obama almost immediately agreeing with them. I can think of two ways in which such a series of events could go unnoticed, as it just has.
First, it could be about something insignificant. But this was about undoing the automatic cuts to the military mandated by the failure of the Supercommittee (remember, the top news story of a few months back?). The military, across various departments, swallows over half of federal discretionary spending, and there’s no greater obsession in the corporate media than the great Spending vs. Cuts issue. This is NOT insignificant.
Second, it could be about something that the elites of both major parties agree on, the media therefore ignores, most Republican voters love, and Democratic voters pretend not to notice because the President is a Democrat and an election is less than a year away.
If you’re guessing the second option, you are right. (Tell them what they’ve won, Leon!) You are now the proud owners of the most expensive military ever seen, plus coming increases that will be presented as “cuts.”
http://tinyurl.com/86wksdy
Judge: Oakland Police in “serious violation” of court order
A federal judge found the city’s police department in “serious violation” of court-ordered standards and procedures related to a decade-old misconduct scandal for allowing one if its officers to cover his name badge during an Occupy Oakland protest and then not reporting the act to Internal Affairs.
U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson ruled late last week that Officer John Hargraves and his supervisor Lt. Clifford Wong were in serious violation of a negotiated settlement agreement created in 2003 after the city was forced to pay millions of dollars to West Oakland residents who were mistreated by a band of rouge police officers.
That agreement, which stemmed from the “Riders” police misconduct scandal, mandates certain policies and procedures that must be followed to ensure the department does not repeat the misconduct it allowed to occur in the past. The city has struggled to comply with the agreement and is on the cusp of having its police department taken over by the federal government.
Hargraves concealed his nameplate with black tape during a Nov. 2 Occupy Oakland protest. A video recording posted on the Internet shows two protesters approaching Hargraves and asking why he had concealed his name which is a violation of police procedures.
http://tinyurl.com/754junk
Occupy Oakland inmates at Santa Rita attacked – developing story
In the aftermath of the mass arrests of Occupy Oakland protesters– and whoever else happend to be on the wrong street at the wrong time– on Jan. 28 in Oakland, there have been loads of reports and rumors about brutality inflicted on those arrested. Most of those arrested were held in Santa Rita jail.
My observations: I spent 20 hours in jail, and I saw some cruel treatment. I saw people suffering after being denied medication. I saw people with allergies to the food that was provided refused any substitute and unable to eat, sometimes for more than 24 hours. I saw people crammed into holding cells meant for groups a third their size, so that some people had to remain standing, sometimes for more than 24 hours. As many arrestees were wearing clothing coated in tear gas and pepper spray, those chemicals continued to waft through cells and affect all present.
http://tinyurl.com/7s2f77a
Judge issues ‘stay-away’ orders to 11 protesters arrested during Occupy Oakland event over the weekend
Eleven people who were arrested during the weekend’s turbulent Occupy Oakland protests have been ordered to stay away from the plaza outside Oakland City Hall that serves as the movement’s main staging area.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said two judges granted her office’s request for the stay-away orders during the demonstrators’ arraignments Tuesday. O’Malley says her office is reviewing police reports with an eye toward charging additional protesters.
http://tinyurl.com/7byq5j7
Occupy Wall St. nonviolence: Is Oakland the exception or the future?
As Occupy groups in Washington and Oakland generate contrasting images of Dream tents on the one coast and flag burning on the other, it’s becoming clear that the four month-old protest movement is facing its Hamlet moment: to be or not to be nonviolent.
This is the question groups throughout the now global movement have been tackling urgently – and, increasingly – formally.
But despite pleas from many, including the movement’s earliest members, there is no unity on this thorny, even decisive, issue.
Occupying a burning debate – Will the torching of an American flag scorch support for the Occupy movement?
MANY in the crowd outside City Hall in Oakland, California, shouted, “Burn it! Burn it!” as masked protesters readied to set fire to an American flag. That’s when a woman emerged from the scrum, screaming for them to stop, that it would hurt the cause.
Moments later, the flames began, and suddenly a movement that seemingly vanished a few weeks ago was back in the spotlight, this time for an act of protest that has long divided Americans, and now, the movement itself.
The images of the flag-burning went viral in the hours after Saturday’s demonstrations on Oakland’s streets, with Occupy supporters denouncing the act as unpatriotic and a black mark on the movement. Others said it was justified.
http://tinyurl.com/6t8dpwr
Occupy participant arrested for alleged firebombing acted alone and violated group’s nonviolence pact, say protesters
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept. arrested 23-year-old UCSB senior Keith Keiper in connection with the Molotov cocktail attack on the Isla Vista Foot Patrol station on New Year’s Day.
. . .
According to Sugars, the Santa Barbara Police Dept. arrested Keiper – a transfer student from Mira Costa College in Oceanside – on Oct. 5 during the Occupy Santa Barbara demonstrations. Keiper was charged with two misdemeanors for refusing to leave De La Guerra Plaza after hours and refusing to fill out a citation, but authorities say the outcome of that case remains uncertain.
Marshall Getto, an Occupy SB protest organizer, said the local movement is entirely unaffiliated with Keiper’s attack on the police facility. “I do not personally see any connection between this incident and the Occupy Movement at all,” Getto said.
According to Getto, the Occupy SB general assembly’s foremost statement of purpose is a declaration of non-violence and demonstrators have maintained their commitment to peaceful assembly.
Occupy Cracks Down on Cameras As Secrecy Replaces Transparency
One of the ways Occupy Wall Street has spread its message so broadly is through live streaming video, but after a well-known live-stream operator got accosted on Sunday, it’s starting to look like some Occupy protesters are becoming pretty touchy about who controls that live feed. After Sunday’s dust-up, one of the movement’s best-known documenters now finds himself branded a “snitch” and receiving what he sees as threats. The changing relationship between the movement and the guy dedicated to portraying it reflects the movement’s own change from a radically transparent “model community” — in which members advocate for change by living it as they did in Zuccotti Park — to a much more secretive network of activists who plan direct actions.
http://tinyurl.com/7zl9qo3
Cameras no longer welcome at Occupy Wall Street? Attack highlights conflict
The face of Occupy Wall Street for many of those who’ve never made it to New York City says he’s under increasing attack from other protesters, and was assaulted recently during a march.
Tim Pool, a mini-celebrity for giving OWS the Walter Cronkite treatment through his nonstop web-based, TimCast live video stream, was involved in some kind of scuffle at around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night — there is, of course, video evidence. On other occasions, marchers have been seen harassing him and yelling for him to turn off his camera. And there are ominous statements directed at him online, like this one: “I suggest you stick by his side because unfortunately he’s probably going to need protection.”
For his part, Pool doesn’t mince words about his predicament. “I probably will get severely injured in these next coming months,” he said. “…I pretty much expect to wind up in the hospital. The threats I’m hearing, with words like ‘protection’ in them, sound awfully Mafioso.”
http://tinyurl.com/74zgh86
Newspaper Guild Blasts Mayor Jean Quan Over Arrest of Reporters at Occupy Oakland
Plenty of people are unhappy all around about what happened in downtown Oakland Saturday evening — journalists included. Hundreds of police in riot gear descended on a planned Occupy Oakland rally over the weekend, which escalated into another violent scene where more than 400 people were arrested.
Despite having press credentials, at least five of those who were hauled off to jail were local reporters covering the event, including journalists from the San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones, The East Bay Express, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
CNN’s Erickson revels in Occupy tasing
CNN commentator and conservative blogger Erick Erickson described the tasing of an Occupy D.C. protester as “hilarious” and “made of awesome” on his radio show yesterday.
“Watching a hippie protester get tased just makes my day,” he said.
Adbusters Calls for Mass Bank Withdrawals Before NATO/G8
The activist website that helped spur the Occupy Wall Street movement is urging its readers to withdraw all of their money from banks in advance of the G8/NATO summits in Chicago in May.
Homeland Security apparatchik fearmongers about terrorism in rural America
Just because small towns like those in northeastern Louisiana are considered tucked away from terrorist activity, that doesn’t mean there’s never a chance for it to hit home.
That’s according to Joe Stewart, Region 8 coordinator with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, who spoke Tuesday at the Downtown Monroe Lions Club meeting.
On the national level, Stewart said in addition to tracking down terrorist cells and potential foreign threats, domestic movements sometimes can cause concern for homeland security officials.
“We’ve had Occupy New Orleans and Occupy Shreveport and Occupy Lafayette but we haven’t had an Occupy movement here in Monroe. I am not saying the Occupy movement is good or bad, but it’s the type of situation that spreads, and when it spreads throughout the country we begin to receive information about the movement and some of the things going on in the movement,” Stewart said.
http://tinyurl.com/86glrcz
Interview: ‘Where Is the Uprising from the Left?’
SPIEGEL: The latest financial crisis was often compared to the Great Depression: Why did we not see another case of the left wing rising up against the rich?
Fukuyama: I am at a loss, too. Where is this uprising from the left? This is a crisis that began on Wall Street. It really was rooted in the particular American model of liberalized finance. It hurt ordinary people tremendously, and it benefited the richest part of the country — the finance sector — which came through the crisis very well, thanks to government bailouts. You would have thought that this would pave the way for a rise of left-wing populism as seen in the 1930s. A Tea Party on the left, so to speak.
SPIEGEL: Could the Occupy Wall Street movement fill this void on the left?
Fukuyama: I really do not take this movement seriously, because its social base is extremely narrow. It consists mostly of the same kids that were protesting in 1999 in Seattle against the World Trade Organization — anti-capitalists. The big problem sociologically for the left in the United States is that the white working class and lower middle class, that in Europe would be reliably social democratic in their political behavior, tends to vote Republican or is easily brought into the Republican camp. Until the Occupy Wall Street people can connect up with that demographic group, there is not going to be a big left-wing populist base of support in the US.
http://tinyurl.com/7gwb3ep
Occupy U.: Roosevelt offers class on social movement
Thirty-two undergrads are enrolled this semester in “Occupy Everywhere,” a three credit political science course offered at Roosevelt University that takes a look at the movement and the issue of social inequality in the United States.
“I study social movements and this was something unfolding right in front of us,” said Jeff Edwards, who is teaching the class. “We can take advantage of being in Chicago.”
Last fall, Edwards watched Occupy Chicago’s General Assembly gather outside his classroom to meet in Grant Park. The idea for the course was born, though he first wanted to make sure the movement had some staying power.
http://tinyurl.com/7quw8qb
Occupy Tulsa protesters reject plea deal for violating city park curfew in November
Dozens of Occupy Tulsa protesters, including those who were doused with pepper spray, have rejected plea deals in municipal court.
About 30 of the protesters vowed through their attorney, Oliver Arbogast, Tuesday to fight the complaints in court, maintaining that the First Amendment trumps city ordinances such as ones that regulate curfew violations.
More Occupy protesters attended the hearing to present a united front, clogging the halls of the court building.
http://tinyurl.com/7f5cf5h
Occupy Nashville threatens to occupy Tennessee Capitol, Pilot restrooms
Occupy Nashville protesters are putting Gov. Bill Haslam, state lawmakers and the highway patrol on notice that, if they are if evicted from Legislative Plaza, they will seek to occupy the state Capitol, vacant housing and even restrooms at the Haslam family-owned chain of truck stops.
Retirees Occupy Century Aluminum
On Dec. 18, a dozen retirees, men and women in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, began occupying a median strip along Route 33 in front of the closed Century Aluminum smelter in Ravenswood, W.Va. In tents and under tarps, a small group stays overnight, despite hypertension, arthritis and other old age ailments. One has suffered a stroke.
These vulnerable people expose themselves to weather extremes although some have no health insurance at all. Century cancelled it. That’s why they’re occupying Century.
The retirees labored their entire lives for wages and pensions comparably lower than those of other aluminum workers. They did it believing they made those sacrifices in exchange for good, lifelong health coverage. Over the past two years, however, Century evicted them, about 540 retirees altogether, from the insurance plan.
Though small in number, Occupy Fairbanks has no plans of leaving
Occupy Fairbanks protesters have been considerably less comfortable since the borough removed their chemical toilet from Veteran’s Memorial Park last month, but the rotating group of protesters still plans to keep the Fairbanks wing of the Occupy Wall Street movement going into the spring.
Protesters, now a core group of about 15 people with a larger group of supporters, take shifts ranging from a few hours to 12 hours.
http://tinyurl.com/72z4rzx
In Massachusetts, The One Percent Mocks Occupy Wall Street Via T-Shirt
Clothing company Vineyard Vines (of rich person vacation island Martha’s Vineyard) makes fun of Occupy Wall Street very directly with a new t-shirt meant to be worn by rich assholes. (No, not all rich people are assholes, but the ones who’d wear this shirt certainly are.) The shirt says “occupy” under its preppy pink whale logo and depicts someone lying in a tent on the beach alongside signs like “more ice for the cooler!” and “more cheeseburgers!” Looks like some folks are mighty confident they’re never going to be skinned and worn as pelts by revolutionaries.
Whatever you think of the OWS movement, you have to admit that the issues they’re addressing are very real and serious: poverty, lack of jobs, lack of access to healthcare, and a lack of proper safeguards against investment banks screwing up the economy, to name a few. People are actually dying because of some of these things. To make light of this on a t-shirt meant to be worn by members of the monied classes seems like rubbing it in unnecessarily. A “let them eat cake” moment, if you will.
http://tinyurl.com/7sdrbtp
Fascists behind the English Defence League and British Freedom Party threatened to attack UK Occupy camp last year
EDL thugs like to pretend they are “peaceful protesters”. But nothing could be further from the truth. The EDL is a group of violent racists led by Nazis.
The EDL threatened to attack the Occupy Leicester camp last year. They also threatened to attack public sector workers who struck on 30 November.
http://tinyurl.com/7tjd8hf
In UK, victims of domestic violence being told to sleep in Occupy camps after cuts to social services
Victims of domestic violence at risk of further abuse are being advised to sleep in Occupy camps, in police stations and accident and emergency departments because of sweeping cuts across the sector, according to domestic violence charities.
On an average day last year 230 women were turned away by Women’s Aid, around 9% of those seeking refuge, because of a lack of space, the organisation has revealed.
And as further cuts begin to bite more women are likely to be put in danger, said Nicola Harwin, chief executive of Women’s Aid, the largest national organisation for domestic and sexual violence services.