Occupy skirts the MSM – movement attempts to build its own media infrastructure so it doesn’t need to rely on traditional outlets

The stitching together of independent journalists, citizen journalists, livestreamers and tweeters into a cohesive and popular platform seems to be a priority for occupiers over the next few months, as Occupy looks to remain in the headlines (even if they might be their own). “I saw a great sign that I believe sums up what we’re doing,” [independent journalist Sam] Lewis told me. “It said: Don’t criticize the media, organize journalists.”

http://tinyurl.com/764dfn2

A May Day alert for the Occupy movement

So, Occupy got it together for May Day – at least, in New York City. You would never know it, though, from mainstream news: those reports were full of what I call the “erectile dysfunction” narrative, the default narrative in American new coverage of mass protest. “Why Occupy May Day Fizzled”, as CNN had it: flaccid efforts, always in “drenching rain”, that may be well-intentioned but have no staying power.

But if you click onto the new site Occupy.com – or if you actually went to the rally held in the late afternoon in Union Square – it was a very different story: thousands of euphoric protesters, a massive sound stage, edgy hip-hop artists who had created Occupy anthems that were euphorically received by the crowd, and representation by dozens of community groups and unions in Manhattan. In other words – if built on further – a power base. Maydaysolidarity2012.org showed a coalition of what must be 30 unions and community groups, ranging from the Domestic Workers United, to New York Immigration Coalition, to Veterans for Peace Chapter Three, to the journalists’ union, the National Writers’ Union.

http://tinyurl.com/c5dbs5s

Occupy buries capitalism – Rest in pieces

Seattle Occupiers threw bricks through windows. Oakland anarchists got tear-gassed. Chicago protesters shut down five Bank of Americas. And tens of thousands of students in New York flooded Wall Street. Yet Boston’s mild May Day actions ended with the tamest protest of all – one that was slow and solemn, bizarre and symbolic: an elaborate funeral procession mourning the death of capitalism.

Probably fewer than 100 anti-capitalist activists from Occupy Boston and beyond met on the steps of Copley Square’s Trinity Church around 7 pm Tuesday for this radical act of street theater. They came armed with elaborate costumes (hats, gloves, face paint), giant puppets, masks, instruments, and candles.

“This is a funeral,” said one facilitator via people’s mic, before the procession departed from Copley. “There will be no running, no jogging, no skipping . . . Unless you’re partying with Sacco and Vanzetti.”

http://tinyurl.com/cscwnvs

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 5/3/12” »

Workers express anger, gloom, elation on May Day

With Europe’s unemployed denouncing austerity measures, Asia’s laborers demanding higher salaries and U.S. protesters condemning Wall Street, Tuesday’s demonstrations by hundreds of thousands were less a celebration of workers’ rights than a furious venting over spending cuts, tax hikes and soaring unemployment.

In Boston, activities are being planned that will include a noon rally at City Hall, and a “Death of Capitalism Street Theater Funeral Procession” later in the evening, according to CBS Station WBZ Boston. Occupy Boston called for people to skip work and school, strike and not shop. (CBS News)

http://tinyurl.com/7d33hm5

Boston Phoenix photo album: Occupy Boston’s May Day rally

http://tinyurl.com/7boxeqk

Occupy Boston Marks May Day With Rallies, ‘Funeral’

It’s May Day, an international labor holiday, and demonstrations of varying size and message are under way around the world, as NPR and other outlets are reporting.

Here, Occupy Boston planned “A Day Without The 99%,” as it urged “the 99% to strike, skip work, walk out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking, and business.”

The group began its schedule of area events this morning in Boston’s Financial District, where, as WCVB-TV reports, “[a] small group of Occupy Boston protesters braved the rain and marched.” Demonstrators then gathered at Copley Square and Boston City Hall Plaza. (WBUR)

http://tinyurl.com/c4moc3p

Occupy Boston protesters return to rally (NECN)

(video)

http://tinyurl.com/cg7r58r

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 5/2/12” »

May Day for Occupy Boston

Claiming to be bigger and more powerful than ever before, Occupiers in Boston – site of the country’s longest continuous occupation – join a nationwide May Day movement today aiming to show the economic muscle of the 99 percent by staying away from work, banks, school and shopping.

“I expect to see a large number of people participating,” said Rita Sebastian of Occupy Boston. “I’m going to take part in a lot of the actions. It’s a day to coalesce and come together as the 99 percent.” (Boston Herald)

http://tinyurl.com/86d8u9s

Occupy Boston ramps up for May Day protests

After a mostly quiet few months for Occupy Boston, the movement’s local contingent has a day of protests planned for May 1, as part of a call for global demonstrations by the group.

According to OccupyBoston.org, the group will mark May 1 – a day that celebrates workers internationally – with a call for people to strike, skip work, walk out of school and abstain from shopping and banking in support of the ’99 percent.’ ” (Boston Business Journal)

http://tinyurl.com/7roldkm

U.S. May Day protests planned, may disrupt commutes

May Day protests may disrupt the morning commute in major U.S. cities Tuesday as labor, immigration and Occupy activists rally support on the international workers’ holiday.

Demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience are being planned around the country, including the most visible organizing effort by anti-Wall Street groups since Occupy encampments came down in the fall.

While protesters are backing away from a call to block San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, bridge district ferry workers said they’ll strike Tuesday morning to shut down ferry service, which brings commuters from Marin County to the city. Ferry workers have been in contract negotiations for a year and have been working without a contract since July 2011 in a dispute over health care coverage, the Inlandboatmen’s Union said.

http://tinyurl.com/7fv5e3r

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 5/1/12” »

The Occupy Movement Reemerges, With Growing Impact

As I write this it’s May Day week, an unofficial celebration time for popular causes. While most people associate May Day with European-style socialism and communism, in fact May Day, like most modern era populism, has its roots in American Labor’s fight for the 8 hour day, overtime pay, safety regulations and child labor laws.

This week’s Occupy actions are in that tradition. The big banks, where the financial meltdown and Occupy’s reaction to it both began, are likely to continue as the Occupy movement’s main target. But much has changed since the first tents went up in Wall Street’s Zuccotti Park.

The Washington Post recently documented the Occupy movement’s behind-the-scenes involvement in the fight for tough regulations to enforce the Volcker Rule, a creation of the Dodd-Frank law aimed at tamping down big bank’s addiction to gambling billions of investor—and taxpayer—dollars.

Training sessions for public actions have been going on in New York and elsewhere for weeks, attracting an ever-growing cadre of volunteers.

http://tinyurl.com/ch3bqr6

NYC Braces for New Protest

The loosely-organized group has called for a popular strike, a goal that isn’t supported by its allies in labor, which must comply with a host of laws and internal rules governing walkouts. New York unions have marched for the past several years on May Day.

“What happens is anyone’s guess,” said Occupy organizer Drew Hornbain, 25 years old. He said many insiders are galvanized by a popular perception that “Occupy has been a series of failures.”

http://tinyurl.com/d2pno87

May Day protests could affect bridge, ferry commutes

Commuters who use the Golden Gate Bridge or take ferries from Marin County should brace for possible disruptions of the morning commute Tuesday as part of a daylong schedule of labor-oriented rallies throughout the Bay Area, activists and officials said.

Union members who work for the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District are planning rallies and picket lines at several sites around the North Bay and near the bridge, union officials said. They plan to announce the exact sites Monday morning.

Late Monday, union leaders said, they’ll announce whether they will strike, a move that would could potentially stop ferry, bus or bridge traffic for at least 24 hours.

http://tinyurl.com/bnorqtq

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 4/30/12” »

Brandeis: Activists hold ‘teach-in’ to educate about Occupy movement

Students for a Democratic Society joined with their peers in a group led by Professor Gordon Fellman (SOC) hosted a teach-in in the Shapiro Campus Center atrium on Tuesday. This teach-in incorporated a series of speakers as part of the group’s Occupy Brandeis Spring Week.

Fellman’s team spent six weeks organizing the teach-in. The idea of a teach-in originated in a conversation Fellman had with Provost Steve Goldstein.

“Since the ’60s and ’70s, I have been taken with that form of education and stimulating awareness and thought, and this seemed like a rich and complex enough topic to warrant dusting off the old teach-in template and seeing where we might be able to go with it now,” Fellman said. “I hope it raised awareness among people who attended of the realities of U.S. society that Occupy addresses, of some of the movement’s actions and ideas, and of the General Assembly method of discussing and moving forward.”

http://tinyurl.com/898d9k3

Banks cooperate with police to track Occupy protesters

The world’s biggest banks are working with one another and police to gather intelligence as protesters try to rejuvenate the Occupy Wall Street movement with May demonstrations, industry security consultants said.

http://tinyurl.com/85n8r2t

Using social media to monitor Occupy movement

Facebook and Twitter are now essential tools for protest movements like Occupy Wall Street. Nine in 10 law enforcement agencies say they monitor social media. CBS News correspondent Tony Guida reports they are using what they find to make cases against demonstrators.

When Occupy Wall Street occupied the Brooklyn Bridge last October, police arrested 732 protesters, virtually all charged with disorderly conduct — neither a crime nor a misdemeanor — but a violation, like loitering.

“It’s a whole lot of fuss over a politicized traffic ticket,” said 23-year-old Malcolm Harris, who was among those arrested. However, he was one of just a handful whose Twitter account was subpoenaed. The D.A. maintains that Harris’ public Tweets prove his intent to defy police orders to disperse.

http://tinyurl.com/7znszgo

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 4/29/12” »