Occupy URI Begins (University of Rhode Island)
Students and faculty at the University of Rhode Island have set up their own Occupy Wall Street protest group.
So far, the group has had two organizational meetings and plans to put up a tent on campus as a symbol of their efforts.
A teach-in is scheduled for later this month and there’s a rally planned for March.
http://tinyurl.com/7a8qa3s
700 gather outside San Quentin for Occupy protest
As many as 700 peaceful Occupy demonstrators gathered outside San Quentin State Prison this afternoon as part of a nationwide effort to call for prison reform.
Among the reforms protest organizers are calling for are elimination of solitary confinement, a ban on the death penalty and an end to California’s “three-strikes” law. The protest was one of about 15 taking place at prisons across the country today.
Occupy movement stages day of protests at US prisons
Occupy demonstrators participated in a nationwide day of action to protest against the US prison system on Monday, with demonstrations carried out at over a dozen sites across the country, including prisons in California, Chicago, Denver and New York.
The call to protest was issued by activists with the Occupy Oakland movement and was co-ordinated to coincide with waves of prison hunger strikes that began at California’s Pelican Bay prison in July. Demonstrators denounced the use of restrictive isolation units as infringement upon fundamental human rights. The hunger strikes followed a US supreme court ruling in May which stated that overcrowding in the California prison system had led to “needless suffering and death.” The court ordered the state to reduce its overall prison population from 140,000 to 110,000, which still well-exceeds the state’s maximum prison capacity.
Sarah Shourd, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer – the American hikers who were held for over a year by Iranian authorities – took part in demonstrations outside San Quentin prison in Marin County, California. Addressing the crowd, Shourd described the psychological impact of solitary confinement, saying her 14 and a half months without human contact drove her to beat the walls of her cell until her knuckles bled. Shourd noted that Nelson Mandella described the two weeks he spent in solitary confinement as the most dehumanising experience he had ever been through.
Church pension fund divests from private prison corporations
Early this year, the United Methodist Church Board of Pension and Health Benefits voted to withdraw nearly $1 million in stocks from two private prison companies, the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).
“Our board simply felt that it did not want to profit from the business of incarcerating others,” said Colette Nies, managing director of communications for the board.
“Our concern was not with how the companies manage or operate their business, but with the service that the companies offer,” Nies added. “We believe that profiting from incarceration is contrary to Church values.”
Occupy movement targets corporate interest group with ties to legislators
Co-ordinated protests are planned in some 60 cities later this month against a right wing group which activists say has an unfair hand in writing state legislation that favours corporate interests.
Working under the banner Shut Down the Corporations, activists plan to target corporate members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) with nationwide protests on 29 February.
Organisers say Alec, a nonprofit free-market policy group whose membership includes some 2,000 state legislators, wields undue influence by drafting legislation beneficial to its corporate members, which in some cases is then used as a model for legislation in states across America.
‘Occupying’ the suburbs [CO]
When you think about the Occupy movement, you might not picture a group of people sitting in a quiet suburban library, most of whom have mortgages, jobs and at least a few gray hairs.
But that’s exactly who the members of Occupy Littleton are – parents, even grandparents who remember joining hands to encircle Rocky Flats in 1983.
“Rather than just sitting here in the suburbs and feeling depressed, we’re trying to get people together,” said Claire Hanley during a meeting at Southglenn Library Feb. 20. “Let’s change the system. That’s very empowering.”
http://tinyurl.com/8aaphac
Attacks paid for by big business are ‘driving science into a dark era’
Most scientists, on achieving high office, keep their public remarks to the bland and reassuring. Last week Nina Fedoroff, the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), broke ranks in a spectacular manner.
She confessed that she was now “scared to death” by the anti-science movement that was spreading, uncontrolled, across the US and the rest of the western world.
“We are sliding back into a dark era,” she said. “And there seems little we can do about it. I am profoundly depressed at just how difficult it has become merely to get a realistic conversation started on issues such as climate change or genetically modified organisms.”
The Secret, Corporate-Funded Plan To Teach Children That Climate Change Is A Hoax
Internal documents acquired by ThinkProgress Green reveal that the Heartland Institute, a right-wing think tank funded by the Koch brothers, Microsoft, and other top corporations, is planning to develop a “global warming curriculum” for elementary schoolchildren that presents climate science as “a major scientific controversy.” This effort, at a cost of $100,000 a year, will be developed by Dr. David E. Wojick, a coal-industry consultant.
. . .
Right-wing ideologues, fueled by the fossil fuel industry, have been increasing their efforts to pollute science education in elementary schools. These attempts to hijack children’s education piggyback on the religious right’s war on biology education and the science of evolution. The National Center for Science Education, which has long led the defense of evolution education in elementary schools, has begun a new program to fight global warming denial in textbooks and classrooms.
http://tinyurl.com/6oxyyxs
Occupy Continues to Declare Victories
Recent raids on the Occupy movement’s major camps have led some mainstream media outlets to declare that all the camps are “gone,” a claim easily disproven by visiting any one of the dozens of cells still operating in smaller towns and cities all across the country.
Not only are many camps still in operation, but the offshoots of Occupy are not only surviving, but securing real, meaningful victories, which should interest media players who bemoaned that Occupy was too ideologically scattered and too flighty to fight for lasting policy changes.
Occupy oftentimes plays a supportive, inspirational role in ongoing protests. For example, parents and students occupied Brian Piccolo Specialty School on Chicago’s West Side for nearly twenty-four hours in opposition to a proposal that would result in the firings of Piccolo’s entire staff under the tutelage of a private operator, a dramatic gutting process the city refers to as a “turn-around.”
http://tinyurl.com/7dv79j6
Occupy the SEC: Moving From the Campsite to the Weeds of Regulatory Reform
The reaction in the media was generally positive, if not a little condescending. Felix Salmon of Reuters, in an article headlined “Occupy’s Amazing Volcker Rule Letter,” concluded with the proclamation, “This letter is many things, but inchoate it is not,” which, of course, implies one should expect a less-than-sophisticated document from Occupiers.
But why should such an intelligent, sober response to a serious issue come as such a shock? The Occupy Movement is arguably one of the most successful political forces of the last decade. It has undoubtedly changed the trajectory of the national discourse since September, and a movement like that doesn’t achieve such momentum without having some serious intellectual horsepower behind it.
What should have come as more of a surprise than the cogency of the response was the fact that Occupy the SEC is willing to petition it’s government through official channels – the very same channels that Occupy Wall Street alleges have been completely hijacked by corporate forces. There’s nothing explicitly contradictory to its parent’s published beliefs in Occupy the SEC’s chosen method of protest. Though Occupy Wall Street governs itself without hierarchy, it doesn’t promote anarchy or the overthrow of capitalism. But Occupy does imply that the official channels of protest and reform have been so corrupted that extraordinary action – like permanently taking over public spaces – is necessary.
Unions fight cuts with rally at Oregon Capitol
Hundreds of public employees asked the Oregon Legislature maintain funding for schools, prisons and workers who provide in-home care to seniors, using the Presidents Day holiday to rally at the state Capitol on Monday.
Public employee unions were joined by environmental groups, Occupy organizations and other activists in a demonstration that was more a general display of liberal discontent than a show of solidarity behind specific demands.
http://tinyurl.com/76hohba
Occuparty Solidifies Local PA Groups
Representatives from several area Occupy groups gathered at the Thomas Paine Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Collegeville, PA this past Saturday night for a pot-luck dinner billed as a Suburban Occuparty: Getting Together to Work Together.
“It’s a way for us to solidify our horizontal networking in advance of some bigger events being planned for spring and summer 2012”, says Leon Obler, an organizer with Occupy Norristown. “We had representatives from Occupation groups in: Phoenixville, Lansdale, Pottstown, Reading, Allentown, Easton, some even came in from Occupy Harrisburg to meet up and tell us what’s going on out there”, he adds.
The evening was highlighted by the attendance of Nathan Klineman, “the first Occupation candidate to run for congress” who is challenging Allyson Schwartz in the 13th district of PA. In his brief remarks, Klineman made it clear that he knew he had an uphill battle. Regardless, Klineman refuses any corporate donations. Instead, he raises awareness of his candidacy by traveling to various Occupy events in the area.
Occupy Maine starts own TV show
Less than 10 days after being evicted, Occupy Maine is using its own television show to get its message out.
OccupyME TV, on its website, http://www.occupymetv.org/, features young and old supporters championing the movement.
In the latest episdode, the panelists show footage of the group’s final general assembly, where the group decides to heed the judge’s decision and leave the park.
“This was never about taking the park indefinitely. It was about drawing awareness to these issues” of wealth inequality, corporate greed and unfair rules that favor the rich, said one Occupy member, who says he is homeless.
Occupy Fundraiser Nets $2000 for San Diego Patient who Lost Medi-Cal Funding
A fundraiser Saturday night at Balboa Park’s Centro Cultural de la Raza netted over $2000 to benefit Raul Carranza in his fight to restore Medi-Cal funding to pay for treatment related to muscular dystrophy, a disease that has left him in need of round-the-clock medical support.
The event was organized by Occupy San Diego’s Labor Solidarity Committee and featured musical performances and speeches from those involved in the Occupy movement as well as a silent auction with items donated by community members.
Philadelphia may require soup kitchen permits
In less than a month, Philadelphia kitchens that distribute food might be required to obtain permits to continue doing so.
On February 9, the Philadelphia Board of Health adopted a draft regulation that requires permits from places where food is prepared and given to three or more people. The board will vote on the measure after a 30-day public comment period.
While training and permits will both be free of charge, members of Food Not Bombs – an organization that serves vegetarian food to protest war and poverty – and the Occupy movement view the proposal as an attempt to drive away the homeless. In fact, only four of the nation’s 250 largest cities require these food permits, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Occupy Petaluma to Urge County to Conduct Audit of Foreclosed Properties
Councilwoman Tiffany Renee and members of Occupy Petaluma are meeting with Sonoma County Recorder-Assessor Tuesday to urge the office to conduct an audit of foreclosed residential properties which they hope will keep local families from losing their homes.
The group was inspired to hold a meeting with County Assessor Janice Atkinson after learning that San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting had ordered an audit of mortgages of all foreclosed properties in his county.
That investigation, conducted by an outside firm, found that 80 percent of loan applications were missing owners’ signatures or showed that lenders had not contacted borrowers to discuss their options before issuing a notice of default, as required by law.
http://tinyurl.com/82lh8gk
Summer students get taste of Occupy movement at Maryland community college
Students in ninth through the 12th grade attending summer programs at a community college outside Washington, D.C., will get a taste of the Occupy operation in a new course that aims to get them interested in “the movement for justice.”
“Occupy MoCo!,” one of the newest courses at Montgomery College in Montgomery County, Md., is part of the Summer Youth program offered for 2012.
“Take advantage of this interactive opportunity to learn critical thinking skills that will help you in college and gain insight into becoming a global leader of the 21st century. Learn about the Occupy Wall Street movement and explore real-life human rights implications. Review social justice concepts and explore human rights issues related to current events. Young people hold the power to change their community, their schools, their future — are you ready to join the movement for justice?”
French steel workers occupy ArcelorMittal plant
Workers at an idled ArcelorMittal steel plant in north-east France occupied the site on Monday, seeking to put their plight on the political map ahead of a presidential election where industrial decline is a central theme.
Some 200 workers invaded management offices at the factory in Florange, in the Moselle region close to Belgium and Germany, after ArcelorMittal announced last week it was prolonging the temporary shutdown of its two blast furnaces.
http://tinyurl.com/77yg2sv
Occupation of Crafar farm into second day [NZ]
A group of King Country Maori continue to occupy a site at a Crafar farm which they say was stolen in the 19th century.
Edward Moana-Emery of Ngati Rereahu says the farm was taken from his people in 1886 and a claim for the land had been lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal.
About 20 people had set up on Monday at the farm near Benneydale, 35km southeast of Te Kuiti, and Mr Moana-Emery said it was a peaceful occupation.
“We’re not going to go and tell the farm manager that he can’t milk his cows … we just want to occupy the most sacred spot for Rereahu.”
One Response to “The OB Media Rundown for 2/21/12”
on February 21st, 2012 at 12:26 am #
[…] posted here: The OB Media Rundown for 2/21/12 This entry was posted in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and tagged business, chicago, […]