Ash writes: "Scott Olsen and Joshua Shepherd were trained - they thought - by the Marine Corps and the Navy, respectively, to defend freedom. Both served overseas until they realized that the real fight for American freedom is, and really has been, here in the land we call home. So they stood side by side facing down freedom's oldest enemies: fear, ignorance and authoritarianism. The police opened fire on them and Scott Olsen fell critically wounded. Not in Iraq or Afghanistan, but here."
The scene in downtown Oakland, California, on the afternoon of October, 25 2011. (photo: Andrew Kenower/flickr)
Remember What They Did in Oakland
29 October 11
Reader Supported News | Perspective
t will take some time before what happened in Oakland, California, on October 25th, 2011, sinks in. It happened in the blink of an eye. I was there and I can tell you that no one really saw it coming. We should have. All the components were in place. Waiting. Ticking.
Civil unrest, civil resistance, a paranoid, uneducated - and far too heavily armed - police force, governmental officials with no experience in managing para-military forces under their control. It was all there, flame lit, waiting to boil over.
Can anyone see it still? It's there, right there in the picture ... look closely. It's an Oakland police officer standing in broad daylight in the middle of an American city leveling a shotgun at American citizens and firing at them as they run for their lives. Think Kent State, think Chicago 1968. This happened. Mark the day, rue the day.
To the credit of the protesters, they provoked but did not engage or reciprocate in the violence. The Oakland Police Department, however, gave the United States an abject lesson in why compromising civil liberties for the sake of national security is a decision that will eventually blow up in your face.
Scott Olsen and Joshua Shepherd were trained - they thought - by the Marine Corps and the Navy, respectively, to defend freedom. Both served overseas until they realized that the real fight for American freedom is, and really has been, here in the land we call home. So they stood side by side facing down freedom's oldest enemies: fear, ignorance and authoritarianism. The police opened fire on them and Scott Olsen fell critically wounded. Not in Iraq or Afghanistan, but here. He is now in an Oakland hospital fighting for his life. He and all of those who were there with him that night in Oakland, and every city in America now occupied by Americans standing up to injustice, need our support.
What are they fighting for?
Like all revolutionary political movements the Occupy Movement is a spontaneous eruption. It was not scripted or planned in advance. It is rather, the stifled voice of the oppressed, silent no more. To understand what they want we must ask, what do we want? And we must listen to what they say, and to what is in our hearts.
The common theme is "justice." Economic justice, earth environmental justice and social justice. Do those goals sound familiar? They should. They have been at the forefront of every political demonstration in history. However, on a slightly more specific note, if you are looking for things to watch for you will probably be hearing more about the abolishment of the Federal Reserve System in the days, weeks and months to come. Perhaps growing demands for legal prosecution of financial industry managers, maybe some - real - healthcare reform, a little solidarity with our fellow citizens of earth who do not want an American military base in their back yard. Stuff like that.
General Strike
In response to the events that occurred on October 25, Occupy Oakland and its supporters have called for a "GENERAL STRIKE & MASS DAY OF ACTION - NOVEMBER 2." Saying: "We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%. We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city. All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them." If that works the Occupy Movement gains tremendous power. It's no longer just sleeping in the park, it's the first step to shutting down the machine, without violence of course.
Barack Obama, during his campaign for the US presidency, promised that his time in office would mark a time of "change." It's a promise that may yet be fulfilled, whether he likes it or not.
Marc Ash was formerly the founder and Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
 24 May 2013
|
 23 May 2013
|
 22 May 2013
|
 23 May 2013
|
 23 May 2013
|
 22 May 2013
|
 24 May 2013
|
 22 May 2013
|
 22 May 2013
|
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
Now THAT would be something to behold!!!!
From your mouth, to God's ear!
It is possible that the "Occupy" movement will generate some enthusiasm for enduring political organization. It might even prompt an attempt to take back the Democratic Party. It is also possible that it will provoke much greater repression. The options are plentiful and could turn out to be important - one way or another.
But revolution?
A one-day General Strike does not a transformative and emancipatory moment make: if people are interested in real and enduring change, this is just the opening whistle. The hard stuff including the daily grind of organization, the creation and maintenance of a common front among environmentalis ts, labour unions, feminists, human rights advocates, anti-poverty groups, aboriginal peoples, gay and lesbian communities and so on and so on need to be built.
All of this is quite charming and doubtless delightful, but it could end as quickly as an Obama smile, and there would still be work to be done.
It is difficult to aknowledge someone's HUMANITY
when they have reduced themselves to BEASTS.
... the Universal Soldiers unleashed to do the Brutality Work for the State®.
NEED TO REMEMBER GANDHI AND MLKING WON BY PERSISTENCE AND NON-VIOLENT OPPOSITION. Violence gives these neo-brown shirts an excuse to up the violence and grab the moral high ground.
However, insofar as the non-violent protests in Denver, Oakland, and in so many cities both nationwide and worldwide grow more focused and determined with each overt and covert police brutalization incident, more near deaths and actual deaths loom, with the reality of a non-violent revolution turning into a very violent revolution.
We can look to the suspension of civil rights created by the enactment of the “patriot Act”, the militarization of our civilian police departments, but first each of us must consider our own humanity.
I am a professor; I plan to do no work on November 2 in solidarity with Occupy Oakland.
I ask all of you to think of doing the same in your places of work, your towns or cities, your banks and schools.
And, Mr. Obama, it's time you took some executive action before your ship sails with only the 1%, the democracy thieves, aboard.
American democracy is about to be reclaimed.
Bravo!
N.
out at work or everywhere.
Forty two years after the attack of protesters in Berkeley, the young
movement "OCCUPY WALL STREET" is sending to all of us an strong message,let's never forget: REMEMBER,REMMEM BER!!
You believe you can suppress the deeply rooted opposition against your merciless regimes. However, in reality you only accelerate your own dismissal, at last.
Keep in mind that citizen sensibilities have changed since Kent State, and citizens have been divided in their attitude toward civil behavior and standards. There is no way of knowing who will support these protests and who won't. Those who don't are almost always for the use of police/military in putting down the "riffraff" or are totally indifferent. We can hope for the best, though.
Are you counseling demonstrators? You are probably needed.
Kent is in eastern Ohio, only slightly less red-neck than the Cincinnati area. Locals who had armed themselves and were heading for Kent to "get themselves a hippie" were being stopped at the city limits by State Police (very good and professional people). Many of these same locals later took out an add in the Akron paper apologizing for wanting to harm protestors.
I now live in AZ, and protestors here know to go unarmed. The cowboy types here all carry weapons, AZ is an "open carry" state, and armed confrontation is a no-win option.
Arizona has its own set of issues, also, which highlights the differences in states and the approach to citizens and their grievances. Interesting that state police and highway patrol can often be a bit more sane than urban enforcement. It is the same in my state.
At Kent State, the troopers used live, lethal ammunition and killed protesters. At Oakland, the cops have been using tear gas, non-lethal
projectiles, and, arguably depending on whom one believes, flash-and-bang cannisters. And it is pretty clear that the protesters were throwing bottles and rocks at some points at least during this confrontation.
Additionally, while Olson was undoubtedly seriously hurt, it is not at all clear how he incurred his wounds or who threw or fired the object that caused his wounds. We will need to wait for forensic analysis to discover the facts.
The violence needs to be de-escalated before the protesters expectations can be adequately presented and responded to. This report seems designed to build righteous indignation which can only fuel further violence and create more casualties and therefore seems to me to be destructive rather than constructive.
Lee Nason
New Bedford, Massachusetts
I participated in the May Day events in New Haven CT and the bottle throwers and incitors of the "riots" that occurred were shown to be infiltrators from Nixon's government, not thrown by by those of us exercising our right to free assembly. NH Green was cicrcled by tanks, and armed marksmen on the government building roof tops. SWAT teams have become the rage and thier are a lot of itchy fingers by th eboys who want to play with thier big toys. The 99% OWS movement will only win by numbers not violence.
Folks MUST be careful in who they trust to participate with them. The U.S. does have true anarchists who have also infiltrated peaceful protests, bringing down the wrath of skull busters.
The Occupy where ever has the potential to create change so watch out!
Wealth and power, especially power, does not surrender without a struggle.
It is worth noting that the mayor pulled the police back. But that's Oakland.
But it is also true that the hard work of persistently acting to organize, to focus, and take what individual and collective measures one can where one is lies ahead.
Random example, I moved my banking last week from Chase to a local credit union. One small step repeated many times provides serious power to the underpowered 99%.
Everyone catch that? Wouldn't it be great if it went global. We can all support Oakland by participating in the general strike no matter where we live. It is a start. It makes each of us a participant. We can't just watch from the sidelines anymore.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/use-your-junk-mail-to-occupy-wall-street-video.html
Thanks Pierre, I'm sending this to everyone I know. If the people on reader supported news do this too we will surely have an impact on the banksters.
Myself I am not able to join the protesters but this is something I can do and will do !
The absolute genius of non-violence is twofold: 1) It refuses "to play the game by the rules". This game (power) is an illegitimate & corrupt system. "The State" is "State Power" maintained by "violence & threat of violence". These are the ONLY two rules of the game.
2) Non-violence ultimately makes participants see each other at the most basic level, human beings freed of ideology & state control. To succeed, that compassionate understanding MUST start with us.
In successful revolutions, individuals wielding state power must ultimately ask themselves "Why am I hurting/killing my brother/sister? " Their conditioning fails & they get the message of compassionate human understanding. They stop wielding state power &/or come over to our side. Then we must forgive.
Every military-politi cal analysis of these protests begins & ends with state violence. Their greatest fear is a widespread non-violent movement. To stop this, they will do everything possible to provoke violence
Right now the majority of the people are behind the movement but many would recoil from supporting us if we allow ourselves to react violently .
Two wrongs never make a right, as my mother used to say and she was right.
Right now the world is behind us lets keep it that way !
RSS feed for comments to this post