It’s now “about building self-sufficient communities that can support themselves without the government,” he said. “It’s no longer political. It’s social.”
The Occupy movement, Kirkland says, teaches people how to cope with the absence of government. As social programs, school offerings and health and pension benefits get cut, working-class people will have to learn to take charge of their own communities.
Because of the movement, “they’ll be prepared for when there is no government to serve them,” he said.
UPDATE 03/01:
More proof that cops are trained liars and somehow get away with perjury each and every single day. As per The Village Voice:
In the first jury trial stemming from an Occupy Wall Street protest, Michael Premo was found innocent of all charges yesterday after his lawyers presented video evidence directly contradicting the version of events offered by police and prosecutors.
UPDATE 10/14:
Good news for Occupy Oakland participants, after 1,127 complaints were filed during last years protests some actual changes were made to the police force as The Chicago Tribune reports:
Forty officers have been disciplined by the department so far, with two officers fired, 15 suspended and others receiving a mix of written reprimands, more training and one demotion.
UPDATE 9/17:
Happy Birthday OWS! The New York Times reported this morning on the march and subsequent arrests which have added up significantly:
Police officers repeatedly warned protesters that they could be arrested if they did not keep moving. Most of those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct, the police said.
At one point, at Broad Street and Beaver Street, a police commander grabbed a man from a crowd. Protesters tried to pull the man free, but officers surged forward and wrested the man back and placing him in handcuffs.
One of the more tense episodes took place as several hundred people marched slowly along Broadway. As part of the group passed Wall Street, a line of officers separated the marchers into two parts. A few moments later, officers approached a man who had been objecting loudly to the metal barricades that cordoned off Wall Street. The officers grabbed the man, who yelled “I did nothing wrong,” then removed him. As they were leading him away, a line of officers pushed a crowd, which included news photographers, away from the arrest.
One officer repeatedly shoved photographers with a baton and a police lieutenant warned that no more photographs should be taken. “That’s over with,” the lieutenant said.
By midday, 124 people had been arrested. The arrests were mostly on disorderly conduct charges “for impeding vehicular or pedestrian traffic,” according to Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. On Saturday and Sunday, the police arrested 43 people in connection with the protests, Mr. Browne said. While most of those arrests involved charges of disorderly conduct, he said that some were on assault and resisting arrest charges.
UPDATE 9/16:
The number of arrests have risen over night to 25 thus far. Far from the hundreds of arrests last fall, but so far the only provocation according to the New York Daily News has been:
By late afternoon, tensions between activists and cops led to arrests, as a procession of protesters chanting “F--- the police!” marched down Broadway bound for Zuccotti Park, the movement’s old base.
UPDATE 9/15:
With just two days to go until the one year anniversary of OWS a few hundred people began the weekend by marching down Broadway Ave this afternoon toward Zuccotti Park. According to The New York Times:
At two different points along the way, police officers plunged into the crowd and made arrests.
There doesn't seem to be any information on what prompted these arrests but in typical NYPD fashion:
A commander wearing a white shirt grabbed one man and threw him forcefully face down on the sidewalk. Some in the crowd said that officers appeared to be pointing out specific individuals for arrest.
Sounds to me like some officers may have recognized faces from previous rallies that may have been involved in devious activities. The officers most likely felt they had missed their opportunity to arrest these people in the past so they went ahead and nabbed them today.
Then again I could be completely off course and these individuals could have dome something as nefarious as step off the side walk for a moment, in that case they definitely deserved to have their face smashed in to the pavement.
UPDATE 8/5:
Awesome news out of the Huffington Post this morning:Anthony Bologna-- the NYPD Deputy Inspector caught on video pepper-spraying two women Occupy Wall Street protesters in Union Square last fall-- could have to dig into his own pockets to pay for the damages in the women's civil lawsuit against him. New York City has opted not to defend Bologna in court, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The decision indicates the city finds the 29-year NYPD veteran's defense of his actions inadequate, and is a stark contrast from NYPD spokesman Paul Browne's initial remarks on the incident in September.
UPDATE 6/18:
Yesterday thousands of protesters from all walks of life and differing "political" groups came to the streets to protest NY Police stop and frisk policies. Of course OWS had their fair share of demonstrators and one arrest being decribed in Fox News I think perfectly explains MANY of the arrests made over the past year during these protests.
One woman was seen wrestling with an officer who had leaped across a barricade, chasing her before she was arrested. Police said nine people were arrested on various charges including assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
I've personally seen numerous videos of similar actions being taken by brutal and forceful police officers around the country. For instance, maybe a protester was shoved by someone behind them and they knocked in to a police officer accidentally, what does the officer do, they throw them to the ground and arrest them. If the person tries to get away they are chased and now detained under even worse charges of resisting arrest. Hundreds if not thousands of arrests based on one singular officer being offended at having his uniform touched by a disgusting hippie, so they take it upon themselves to jump barricades and chase them down instead of standing their ground and doing their job. Too many cops truly and utterly disgust me, I feel sad for the good ones who have to be stuck in the same boat.
UPDATE 6/16:
Officials in Oakland are finally taking steps to decreasing the militarism of their police force in actions taken against protesters. If we never have to see tear gas and flash grenades used on US citizens by their own police officers again then OWS has achieved a great feat. Reuters ends their article on the subject by stating:
Oakland police officials announced in April that the department was making significant changes to how it trains officers to control large crowds following criticism of its handling of the Occupy protests. It received more than 1,000 misconduct complaints during those protests.
UPDATE 6/9:
After nearly 8 months, those OWS protesters awaiting sentencing for their part in the Brooklyn Bridge incident have been justified in their actions as Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled that police did not give sufficient warning that entering the road way would be cause for arrest. The Guardian goes on to say:
The decision clears the way for a class-action lawsuit accusing police officers and officials involved in the arrests of violating the protesters' constitutional rights by leading them into a trap. The lawsuit calls for all arrest records stemming from the incident to be cleared, an injunction to end the police practice of trapping and detaining demonstrators, and damages to be awarded to those who were arrested.
UPDATE 6/3:
With article after article being written about the failure of OWS and how their lack of leaders and less than enthusiastic approach towards party politics will lead to their eventual demise, it is great to see that one man in NY has the guts to show that those editorials and opinions are just the very loud voices of people who have not done anything themselves to promote the movement and quickly lose interest if their ideal version of how events are supposed to take place doesn't occur. Huffington Post published an article about George Martinez, just days after also being one of those publications blasting OWS for not attempting to win political seats.
George Martinez, who can be seen in full hip-hop flow in a YouTube video backing the Occupy movement, is not just a gadfly candidate, however.
An adjunct professor of politics at Pace University, he is also a cultural ambassador for the State Department.
Whereas a handful of other Occupy activists have either tried and failed to make the ballot (Nathan Kleinman in Pennsylvania’s 13th district), or will run on third-party tickets (Colin Beavan, who will run as the Green Party candidate in New York’s 8th district), Martinez collected enough signatures to get on the Democratic Party primary ballot.
Although it will be an uphill battle against an incumbent whose been in her seat for two decades and two other tough Democratic challengers the article shares an optimistic thought for future OWS candidates:
She also added that even a modestly impressive showing for Martinez — getting more than 10 percent of the votes cast — would be enough to encourage other Occupy activists to run elsewhere, and to lay the groundwork for a future bid.
“George is a viable candidate,” she insisted. “If not now, then two years from now.”
UPDATE 5/23:
Bill O'Reilly calls OWS terrorists, truly demeaning the definition of the word and attempting to create domestic panic and fear, which is in and of itself terrorism.
We have now spent six months without a central place for our movement to thrive, for us to work and meet one another, for new people to know where to come to get involved, or for us to provide services to the community. Those long, hard months have taught us that the police state will never tolerate public occupations again, having seen the strength of our alternatives. Like the model for an Oakland Commune emerging out of Occupy Oakland, a New York Commune would be a way for the movement to live, grow and thrive. For this, we need to find a way to acquire space, whether it’s by defending a new indoor occupation, or purchasing one through a fundraising campaign, which OWS is more than capable of mounting.
In a New York Commune, we can practice mutual aid by providing a place for a free school, a really really free market, meeting spaces, food-banking, time-banking — the possibilities are endless. Renovating a large building would give us an ongoing community project to which thousands of people can apply their unique skills and talents. We can offer rent-free workspace to a variety of horizontal worker co-ops emerging from the Occupy movement, like the OccuCopy print shop. Our community center can put on display alternatives to the state and capitalism, and give people a way to envision a world without these forces of oppression, as Liberty Square once did.
This 99-track Occupy benefit shows how far beyond Sixties folk lefty rabble-rousing has come, with hip-hop, electronica and indie rock sitting alongside Pete Seeger and Joan Baez. The comp's high point is unexpectedly ambivalent: the slow-build amp howl of Mogwai’s “Earth Division” leading into the battle rattle of the Occupy Wall Street drummers – a one-two punch designed to strike at the rotten heart of capitalism.
No comments:
Post a Comment