The aim of #OCCUPYWALLSTREET is to draw protesters to New York's financial district in a non-violent protest to spark a mass movement against corporate dominance. While the corporate media ignores the protest, Reader Supported News will continue to report on the latest developments.
A demonstrator holds a sign during an Occupy Wall Street protest in lower Manhattan. The protests moved into their third week on Monday. (photo: Reuters)
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Occupy Worldwide
23 November - 30 November
This page is an archive. Future OWS updates will go on the new page.
Occupy Protesters Mobilize for Obama's Visit
30 November 11
More than 100 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched to a Midtown hotel on Wednesday night to protest a fund-raising event for President Obama.
Escorted by police vehicles as they helped snarl traffic across the Times Square area, beginning at Bryant Park, the group settled in front of barricades on the southwest corner of 53rd Street and Seventh Avenue, in view of the Sheraton hotel at which Mr. Obama was expected to appear by 9 p.m.
Demonstrators held signs that leveled some of the Occupy protest’s most pointed criticism to date of the president. “Obama is a corporate puppet,” one said. “War crimes must be stopped, no matter who does them,” read another, beside head shots of President George W. Bush and President Obama.
Police Move In On Occupy Santa Cruz
30 November 11
Police in riot gear have moved in to clear a vacant building taken over by members of Occupy Santa Cruz.
A Week at Occupy DC
30 November 11
What's next? That's the question being asked as cities close down Occupy encampments and winter approaches.
After months of watching Occupy via livestream, I had to see for myself what exactly was going on. Early Thanksgiving morning I arrived at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. I knew Freedom Plaza would be different than the other encampments since it was organized by experienced organizers and supported by traditional peace groups like CodePink and Veterans for Peace.
Although Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers remain, many of the original organizers have moved on.
Still, those who've decided to stick it out are doing amazing work. Among those who are in it for the long haul are some vets and a few Code Pink members. They are joined by a mix of long-time activists and first-time protesters. The encampment is also providing much-needed services to the area's homeless population. While the median age of the group is older than most Occupy encampments, a section called "Camp Lexington" is home to a predominantly younger crowd. On balance, the encampment is functioning quite well, and my survey of "what exactly was going on" is as follows:
Occupy Elections, With a Simple Message
30 November 11
What's next? That's the question being asked as cities close down Occupy encampments and winter approaches.
The answer is simple. Just as the Tea Party gained power, the Occupy Movement can. The Occupy movement has raised awareness of a great many of America's real issues and has organized supporters across the country. Next comes electoral power. Wall Street exerts its force through the money that buys elections and elected officials. But ultimately, the outcome of elections depends on people willing to take to the streets - registering voters, knocking on doors, distributing information, speaking in local venues. The way to change the nation is to occupy elections.
Whatever Occupiers may think of the Democrats, they can gain power within the Democratic Party and hence in election contests all over America. All they have to do is join Democratic Clubs, stick to their values, speak out very loudly, and work in campaigns for candidates at every level who agree with their values. If Occupiers can run tent camps, organize food kitchens and clean-up brigades, run general assemblies, and use social media, they can take over and run a significant part of the Democratic Party.
City Moving to Remove 'Occupy Boston' Protesters
30 November 11
The city of Boston is taking the first steps to move out the dozens of "Occupy Boston" protesters camping out in Dewey Square across from South Station.
In a 200-page court filing obtained by NewsCenter 5, Boston police and the Boston Fire and Health Departments argue the camp is a public safety problem -- violating health and fire codes. The paperwork calls the encampment a "tinderbox."
Re-Occupy Main Street: Entrepreneurs Revive Down-and-Out Business Districts
30 November 11
This year, small businesses across the country are harnessing the spirit of the Occupy movement in the hopes of reclaiming the spirit of the holiday season. If you plan to shop, they say, buy local, buy independent, support your community. Their mantra: Re-Occupy Main Street.
Occupy LA Eviction: Is LAPD Restricting Coverage With Last-Minute 'Pool Media'?
30 November 11
Awesomely, the "pool" reports turned into a sort of crowd-sourced feed; LA Weekly reporter Gene Maddaus says he received constant email updates throughout the night from news outlets with soldiers in the pool. So it seems the chosen ones didn't adhere to the LAPD's silly, unenforceable idea of how media should work at the eviction. As it should be. However, police did manage to force out all indie reporters/photogs from the park with threats of arrest, and Dakota Smith at the LA Daily News Tweeted this morning that "LAPD didn't want us interviewing protesters.... handful times we could talk to people."
Police in LA, Philly Raid Occupy Camps
30 November 11
Los Angeles Police raid the OccupyLA protest encampment near City Hall, arresting hundreds, 11/30/11. (photo: Sterling Davis/flickr)
Police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia stormed Occupy Wall Street encampments under darkness Wednesday to arrest or drive out some of the longest-lasting protesters since crackdowns ended similar occupations across the country.
Dozens of officers in riot gear flooded down the steps of Los Angeles City Hall just after midnight and started dismantling the two-month-old camp two days after a deadline passed for campers to leave the park. Officers in helmets and wielding batons and guns with rubber bullets converged on the park from all directions with military precision and began making arrests after several orders were given to leave.
The raid in Los Angeles came after demonstrators with the movement in Philadelphia marched through the streets after being evicted from their site. About 40 protesters were arrested after refusing to clear a street several blocks northeast of City Hall, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. They were lined up in cuffs and loaded on to buses by officers. Six others were arrested earlier after remaining on a street police that police tried to clear.
War Profiteers Meet Today In NYC. They Won't Be Alone
30 November 11
The Aviation Week and Credit Suisse will be holding their 17th annual Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference in NYC. These war profiteers export death in the name of defense. They have obscene influence over our democracy with politicians in their pockets and hundreds of lobbyists working congress. They sell arms to to the 1% so that war can be waged against the 99% in efficient and technologically advanced ways. #OWS will not stand silent as these dangerous parasites take our tax dollars and turn them into arms and profit.
WHEN: Wednesday, 11/30, two rallies/marches--6:30am meet up and rally to non-violently interrupt business as usual as delegates enter the conference, and 4:30pm to rally against militarism.
WHERE: Both rallies are In Madison Sq. Park near the intersection of 24th and Madison. The Conference is being held at One Madison Avenue 12th Floor (Park Ave South between 24th & 23rd streets).
Occupy UC Davis Is Occupying Dutton Hall and Releases Demands
29 November 11
Occupy UC Davis had a tremendously successful general strike yesterday. After the public comments section ended, and the Regents tried to move ahead with their meeting, a group of students at Davis stood up, and formed their own "people's regent meeting", this was followed with occupy protestors at the other UC campuses also disrupting their meetings. The Regents finally shut down their meeting, and moved to other rooms to finish.
This dramatic end to the Board of Regents meeting was followed by a march of hundreds of students from the campus' quad to Dutton Hall. Students and professors occupied Dutton Hall, holding their General Assembly there that evening. At that General Assembly, Occupy UC Davis approved the following demands: the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi, cops removed from campus and replaced with an alternative safety group, and a freeze on all tuition increases. Occupy UC Davis promised to occupy Dutton Hall for at least the next two weeks.
Police Move In to Enforce Occupy LA Eviction Order
30 November 11
Police in riot gear closed in on anti-Wall Street activists in Los Angeles early on Wednesday, determined to enforce the mayor's order to evict protesters who have camped outside City Hall for the past eight weeks.
Hundreds of Occupy LA activists, joined by supporters streaming into the area in a show of solidarity, stood crowding the lawn, sidewalks and streets around City Hall as throngs of helmeted officers moved into the encampment. They were followed by a separate line of police in white biohazard suits. Live local television news footage showed police shoving one man to the ground and arresting him as he confronted a line of officers.
The Los Angeles encampment, which officials had tolerated for weeks even as other cities moved in to clear out similar compounds, is among the largest on the West Coast aligned with a 2-month-old national Occupy Wall Street movement protesting economic inequality and excesses of the US financial system.
Interview With Iraq Vet Scott Olsen About His Injury and Occupy Oakland
Occupy LA Stays Put After Eviction Deadline
29 November 11
The city of Los Angeles was still "occupied" last night, as protesters defied an official deadline to clear an encampment where they have been demonstrating since October against America's widening wealth gap.
Riot police descended late on Sunday on the public space surrounding City Hall, where about 400 tents and 800 members of the so-called "99 percent" have spent the past seven weeks, but officers withdrew after six hours.
They had hoped to enforce an order by the Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, for the site to be cleared by midnight. But unlike their pepper-spraying counterparts in other US cities, they were not willing to use extreme force.
An Open Letter to Police on the Occasion of This Eviction
29 November 11
Dear Police, upon the occasion of the eviction of Occupy Philadelphia and Occupy LA:
It is not my place to say whether what you are about to do is right or wrong, and it doesn’t matter what I believe either way. You are going to evict this occupation, and all the resistance this ragtag band of sleep-deprived community organizers, volunteers, and chronically homeless could put up might, at best, delay you by a matter of hours. You, the occupiers, and we in the media: we all know these conflicts can only have one outcome.
What I am asking you to change is your demeanor. I have seen you be confrontational, frivolous, spiteful, insulting, self-righteous, and even at times, solemn.
Mic Check'd: Gas Industry at Ohio State University
29 November 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jQXop_6RiU&
The gas industry convened a panel discussion and job-focused networking event at Ohio State University, intending to promote shale development and horizontal hydro-fracking across Ohio. Here's a student response to the gas industry presentation.
Chilean Student Protests Spread Throughout Region
29 November 11
The Latin American March for Education was called by the Chilean students' confederation, and demonstrations were held in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hon duras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Some 10,000 protesters - accord ing to the organisers - marched through the streets of Santiago once again demanding reforms of the educational system. And again, there was a crackdown by the anti-riot police, who arrested some 60 people. The demon strations in other cities in the region were peace ful, with the exception of an incident in Bogotá, Colombia where the police fired tear gas.
"Today is a very special day because we are marching throughout Latin America," Esteban Miranda, president of the University of Chile law students centre, told IPS.
LA Protesters Defy Eviction Efforts, Go to Court
29 November 11
Occupy Wall Street protesters who defied a deadline to remove their weeks-old encampment on the Los Angeles City Hall lawn stood their ground Tuesday as they faced uncertainty over when or if police would push them out of the park - and if an eviction could happen without the kind of violence that has engulfed the removal of protest sites in other cities.
Protesters in the nation's second largest city have turned to the federal courts to keep officers away after disobeying a city-imposed 12:01 a.m. deadline Monday to take down their camp. They argue that the City Council passed a resolution in support of the movement and that the city's mayor and police did not have the authority to evict them.
Policed State at Zuccotti Prison
29 November 11
When I arrived at Zuccotti Prison one afternoon last week, the “park” was in its now-usual lockdown mode. No more tents. No library. No kitchen. No medical area. Just about 30 leftover protesters and perhaps 100 of New York’s finest as well as private-security types in neon-green vests in or around a dead space enclosed by more movable police fencing than you can imagine. To the once open plaza, there were now only two small entrances in the fencing on the side streets, and to pass through either you had to run a gauntlet of police and private security types.
3 Protesters Hit With Taser at Occupy Protest at State Capitol
28 November 11
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Thousands of protesters greeted lawmakers beginning a 30-day special session to address the state's budget woes, with a rowdy group disrupting a hearing Monday and police later using Tasers in a skirmish as a large crowd refused to leave the Capitol building at the end of the day.
By 7 p.m., a crowd of several hundred that had gathered in the state Capitol building had thinned to about 100 people. State troopers let people leave voluntarily but began physically removing those who refused to go after the building was closed to the public at 5:30 p.m. Troopers picked up several people by their limbs and removed them from the building. The remainder of the protesters left the building on their own accord shortly after 8 p.m., slowly backing out of the building while singing "whose side are you on?"
Protesters Get Naked
23 November 11
John Lennon and Yoko Ono did it. Legendary German communard couple Uschi Obermaier and Rainer Langhans did it. And now political activists around the world are stripping off to express their displeasure too.
Forty years on, naked protests are back. It seems that no matter what social or political conflict you look at, people are getting their kit off as a form of civil disobedience against the oppressive system.
The protest organization Femen, a group of young Ukrainian women who originally demonstrated against sex tourism and prostitution, but who are now targeting sexism in general, have long been making headlines with their naked protests. In Egypt, art student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy is fighting for the right to freedom of expression by posting nude photos of herself on her blog -- and has triggered an uproar from Islamic conservatives as a result.
Meanwhile in China, hundreds of supporters of Ai Weiwei have been posing naked to demonstrate against the actions of the authorities against the artist.
Photo Gallery: Get Your Kit Off for the Cause
Occupy Oklahoma City Now Facing Eviction
28 November 11
The coordinated crackdown on free speech continues. While Occupations in Los Angeles and Philadelphia are still holding strong (as of 11pm EST) and Washingtonians are occupying their State Capitol, the encampment at Occupy Oklahoma City is now under threat of eviction.
City officials declined to renew a permit application and announced that overnight encampment will no longer be "tolerated" at Kerr Park, where the Occupation is currently centered. Officials also stated that the Occupiers will not be granted a permit at any other location. OccupyOKC had previously been paying $55 per day for the permit. After the city refused to accept payment for a renewal, the police department told the Occupiers in a letter to expect eviction between 11 p.m. to 5 a.m tonight. Several Occupiers have stated they are prepared to be arrested nonviolently.
UC Students Voice Anger About Pepper Spraying, Budget Cuts
28 November 11
The UC Regents on Monday got an earful of criticism from students angry about the recent pepper spray incident at UC Davis and worried about the possibility of another tuition hike next year. However, massive demonstrations did not materialize at the four UC campuses where the regents were meeting, linked by teleconference.
At UCLA, about 50 students were at the James West Alumni Center and about 50 more were outside, including some who had set up about 15 tents nearby. UC officials said about 50 protesters attended the meeting at UC San Francisco and about 35 were at UC Merced. Several hundred students and others were at UC Davis for the meeting. Student leaders said turnout was relatively light because of the timing, the first morning after the Thanksgiving break.
Occupy L.A. Protesters to Seek Court Order to Block Eviction
28 November 11
Protesters plan to file for a federal injunction that would prevent police from dismantling the Occupy L.A. encampment around City Hall.
The complaint, which was to be filed at 10 a.m. Monday in federal court, names the city of Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, alleging that the protesters' civil rights were violated. The three protesters who planned to file the suit would be seeking a court order to prevent the city from evicting the camp from the City Hall lawn.
Occupy LA Protesters to Seek Court Order to Block Eviction
28 November 11
Protesters plan to file for a federal injunction that would prevent police from dismantling the Occupy L.A. encampment around City Hall. The complaint, which was to be filed at 10 a.m. Monday in federal court, names the city of Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, alleging that the protesters' civil rights were violated.
The three protesters who planned to file the suit would be seeking a court order to prevent the city from evicting the camp from the City Hall lawn. The complaint accuses the city of engaging in "arbitrary and capricious action in violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments by first approving the Occupy presence for 56 days before suddenly revoking permission through the unilateral action of defendants."
Streets Reopened After Occupy LA protest
28 November 11
Los Angeles police have reopened a downtown street where hundreds of Wall Street protesters held an early morning protest. Capt. Andy Smith says the protest was mainly peaceful but four people were arrested for failure to disperse and a few people tossed bamboo sticks and water bottles at officers. No injuries are reported.
Police are withdrawing and cars are moving as the morning commuter rush begins.
Protesters have been camping out near City Hall for nearly two months and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had given a midnight deadline for them to leave. But protesters began flooding into the streets before the deadline and some are declaring a small victory, saying they'll remain for now.
Occupy LA: LAPD Makes Arrests, But Camp Still Standing
28 November 11
The Los Angeles Police Department arrested several people Monday morning as it worked to deal with a swelling crowd that came to protest the planned eviction of Occupy L.A. campers on the lawn of City Hall. When the LAPD announced that it wanted the campers out by midnight Sunday, officials hoped many protesters would leave voluntarily. Instead, the deadline prompted hundreds of people to converge on the area.
An estimated 1,000 protesters blocked streets around City Hall, creating a standoff with authorities. Shortly after 5 a.m., police issued an order to disperse to demonstrators gathered at the intersection of 1st and Main streets. Most people complied, but a few refused to leave.
Deadline Passes for Occupy Philly to Dismantle
28 November 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNzAX23XaL8
Occupy DC's Black Friday
27 November 11
While Americans were pepper-spraying each other during fights over on-sale merchandise on Friday, Occupy DC at Freedom Plaza had a free store. There was no pushing and shoving, no pepper spray ... nobody was shot. Plans are under way to make it a weekly event in the lead-up to Christmas.
Occupy DC also held a quick flash-mob-type event at a local shopping mall, where their focus was on Target. When the group arrived at the store they first delivered gifts to the Target employees, thanking them for their sacrifice of showing up at work late Thanksgiving night to prepare for Black Friday hours.
Many Vow to Stand Their Ground at LA Encampment
27 November 11
The protesters whose tents line the lawn of Los Angeles City Hall made it clear that they received the eviction notice issued by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Whether they'll heed it is much less certain.
With hours left before the Monday at 12:01 a.m. deadline the mayor and the police chief gave for Occupy LA, very few of the occupiers were packing, and many were instead were making plans for what to do when they stay.
Some handed out signs Saturday mocked up to look like the city's notices to vacate, advertising a Monday morning "eviction block party."
Map: How Occupy Wall Street Chose Zuccotti Parkv
27 November 11
This week in the magazine, I write about the origins of Occupy Wall Street, including an explanation of how New York’s general assembly decided on Zuccotti Park as the site of original encampment. After discussing possible sites at the G.A.’s weekly Tompkins Square Park meetings, the decision was ultimately left to a small group known as the Tactical Committee, who narrowed the choice down to eight candidates.
America Has Become a Fascist Police State
26 November 11
George Orwell's "1984" wasn't meant to be an instruction manual.
One word that emerged from the novel was the word "doublespeak," where truth is deliberately obfuscated through clever wording. In some cases, the meaning of a word is reversed entirely. Oceania, the totalitarian regime in Orwell's book, used doublespeak as a matter of course.
Would Jesus Join the Occupy Protests?
26 November 11
In the holiday season, many Christians take pride in helping the poor – by donating food and toys – but U.S. religious leaders have stayed in the background of challenges to an inequitable economic system, leaving that Jesus work to mostly secular young people of the Occupy movement, the Rev. Howard Bess observes.
When the Martin Luther King Jr. monument was dedicated recently in Washington DC, I was reminded that the civil rights movement in America was led not by a politician fulfilling campaign promises, nor by a popular evangelist bent on saving souls, but by a highly trained theologian who put his religious teachings into practice with a demand for justice for those who had suffered at the hands of the rich and the powerful.
Villaraigosa Announces Impending Shutdown Of Occupy L.A. Camp
26 November 11
The City Hall park where Occupy Los Angeles protesters are camped will be closed at 12:01 a.m. Monday, according to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, triggering what officials hope will be an end to the nation's largest remaining Occupy camp.
But police might not immediately begin removing protesters who linger, the mayor said at a news conference Friday with Police Chief Charlie Beck. He said officials hope in the coming days to help protesters move their belongings and to find beds in homeless shelters for those at the camp who need them.
The two officials would not say whether police were prepared to use tear gas or rubber bullets to clear protesters who refuse to leave, tactics officers in other cities have turned to while clearing Occupy encampments. "The goal is to do this as peacefully as possible," Beck said.
Pepper Spray Developer Denounces Use By UC Davis Police
25 November 11
Kamran Loghman helped develop pepper spray into a weapons-grade material while working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1980s. After seeing how his invention was used against student demonstrators in Davis, Loghman said police violated his original intent. “I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents,” Loghman told The New York Times.
We Are the One Per Cent
26 November 11
We, too, have mobilized. We come from near and far, by any means necessary, some on private jets, others on extremely large private jets.
But you will not find us sleeping in a park and waiting in line at a Burger King to urinate. Have you heard of Mustique? Because that's where we have mobilized. Don't bother trying to Google Earth us, though, because we have proprietary military software that prevents you from doing so.
OWS to Get Soundtrack: David Crosby, Jackson Brown, Others to Create Benefit Album
26 November 11
While the Occupy Wall Street movement is mostly known for its drum circles, some legendary musicians are adding some real talent with a musical compilation called "Occupy This Album." But fear not. This isn't an effort to capitalize on the Occupiers like MTV and Jay-Z have done with TV shows and t-shirts.
The album, which will feature the likes of David Crosby, Jackson Brown, Devo, Third Eye Blind and Yo La Tengo among others, will benefit the movement looking to call attention to wealth disparity.
Inside Occupy Wall Street's Growing Student Protests
26 November 11
A wide swath of New York City students are angry about debt, tuition hikes and what many consider to be a lack of openness from the administrations of public and private colleges. Students have been a major force in Occupy Wall Street, dating to its first General Assembly on August 2 in New York City. But in the past week, they've been intensely directing the movement back to campus, at the same time that Occupy protests have become big news at both UC Berkeley and UC Davis.
On Monday afternoon, a contingent of a several hundred students marched from Madison Square in Manhattan to a Board of Trustees hearing across town at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. CUNY, as it's called, was formerly a mostly free network of colleges, funded by the city and the state. But since the city's financial meltdown in 1975, it has charged tuition for some students. However, according to a CUNY spokesperson, 58.8 percent still pay nothing, due to their financial eed.
Occupy Protests Discourage SF Shoppers
26 November 11
Occupy protesters from San Francisco and Oakland came face to face with shoppers and police as they marched around San Francisco's Union Square area Friday. Although the protesters did not interfere with the Macy's Christmas tree lighting ceremony, at times they blocked access to stores, trying to keep people from shopping.
The Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy
26 November 11
US citizens of all political persuasions are still reeling from images of unparallelled police brutality in a coordinated crackdown against peaceful OWS protesters in cities across the nation this past week. An elderly woman was pepper-sprayed in the face; the scene of unresisting, supine students at UC Davis being pepper-sprayed by phalanxes of riot police went viral online; images proliferated of young women – targeted seemingly for their gender – screaming, dragged by the hair by police in riot gear; and the pictures of a young man, stunned and bleeding profusely from the head, emerged in the record of the middle-of-the-night clearing of Zuccotti Park.
But just when Americans thought we had the picture – was this crazy police and mayoral overkill, on a municipal level, in many different cities? – the picture darkened. The National Union of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a Freedom of Information Act request to investigate possible federal involvement with law enforcement practices that appeared to target journalists. The New York Times reported that "New York cops have arrested, punched, whacked, shoved to the ground and tossed a barrier at reporters and photographers" covering protests. Reporters were asked by NYPD to raise their hands to prove they had credentials: when many dutifully did so, they were taken, upon threat of arrest, away from the story they were covering, and penned far from the site in which the news was unfolding. Other reporters wearing press passes were arrested and roughed up by cops, after being – falsely – informed by police that "It is illegal to take pictures on the sidewalk."
An Occupy Thanksgiving
25 November 11
I arrived at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, just after midnight on Thanksgiving Day, where most were already asleep in their tents. I made my way to the info table where two volunteers were there to welcome me. They showed me to my tent, which was provided by a kind woman named Crystal who was home visiting her family for Thanksgiving.
I decided to head to McPherson Square to check out the Occupy K Street encampment before calling it a night. It was much livelier, the protesters are younger there and they are located near some hip DC nightclubs.
I finally settled into my tent around 3 am and got a few hours sleep. I awoke to a busy park; there was a charity run for hunger relief in the area. The real heroes of the day were busy in the kitchen making breakfast and preparing to cook the Thanksgiving meal for the Freedom Plaza community.
After Feeding Thousands, OWS Sits Down in Liberty Square
25 November 11
Today, Occupations across the U.S. have shown that the 99% Movement can do more than protest—we can also take care of one another. Across the world, people still reeling from homelessness, poverty, foreclosures, and economic inequality have a lot less to be thankful for. But today, we reminded ourselves -- and the world -- that we can still be thankful for our mutual solidarity. From D.C. to Oakland and everywhere in between, Occupiers sat down for communal meals.
In New York, Occupy The Hood dropped off hundreds of meals at shelters across Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. The OWS kitchen cooked enough warm meals for 4000 people and handed them out at Liberty Square. Meals were also delivered to churches that have sheltered displaced residents from Liberty Square and to the Occupations at New School and Rockaway. Following dinner, there was a spontaneous sit-in in solidarity with the many people who lost their place of rest when OWS was raided on November 15th.
Demonstrators Plan to Occupy Retailers on Black Friday
23 November 11
Some demonstrators are planning to occupy retailers on Black Friday to protest "the business that are in the pockets of Wall Street."
Organizers are encouraging consumers to either occupy or boycott retailers that are publicly traded, according to the Stop Black Friday website.
The goal of the movement is to impact the profits of major corporations this holiday season.
We Are the 99.9%
25 November 11
“We are the 99 percent” is a great slogan. It correctly defines the issue as being the middle class versus the elite (as opposed to the middle class versus the poor). And it also gets past the common but wrong establishment notion that rising inequality is mainly about the well educated doing better than the less educated; the big winners in this new Gilded Age have been a handful of very wealthy people, not college graduates in general.
If anything, however, the 99 percent slogan aims too low. A large fraction of the top 1 percent’s gains have actually gone to an even smaller group, the top 0.1 percent — the richest one-thousandth of the population.
And while Democrats, by and large, want that super-elite to make at least some contribution to long-term deficit reduction, Republicans want to cut the super-elite’s taxes even as they slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the name of fiscal discipline.
A Statement from the General Assembly of Occupy Portland
25 November 11
In Tahrir Square, citizens calling for a civilian government are being maimed and murdered by those same forces which helped them in their struggle for freedom. Many of the weapons used by these forces are imported from an American company, Combined Tactical Systems. We call on this company, which openly deals with tyrants, to cease this trade, and for the people of Jamestown, PA, home of CTS, to call for the same.
In Davis, CA, Lieutenant John Pike used pepper spray at close range on peaceful, seated students. We stand with those students and faculty who call for a system-wide strike on the UC campus, and who call for the resignation and punishment of Lieutenant Pike and the chancellor of UC, Linda Katehi.
In New York City, the NYPD has destroyed the free-speech encampment of Liberty Plaza, detained and arrested journalists unlawfully, and acted, generally, like brutes. We condemn these actions and remind the NYPD and mayor Bloomberg that the people will not abide peacefully so long as they are not free.
Police Captain Ray Lewis Joins in OWS Think Tank
24 November 11
On Monday night, a student protest at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY), began as a peaceful march and demonstration against tuition hikes. But it quickly escalated into a situation where police were pushing students and faculty out of a public forum of CUNY’s Board of Trustees. The incident was terrifying for many of us present, though it fortunately did not result in any serious injuries. The greater damage, perhaps, was emblematic of a pervasive problem in the Occupy movement: the police became a proxy for the “one percent,” and instead of protesters finding ways to directly challenge the powerful elite, they ended up taking their anger out on police officers.
At Baruch, the Trustees were expected to vote on a five percent tuition hike—which they approved almost unanimously. The protesters, who included CUNY students, faculty, and supporters from other universities, learned once they arrived at Baruch that they would not be allowed into the public forum. (Only people who had registered in advance would be permitted, and even then, only 150 spots were allotted. It seemed to me that someone should have looked into this in advance.)
Occupy Wall Street: Civil Society's Awakening
24 November 11
Last week I awoke in Zuccotti Park to the whirring of helicopters overhead, a war-zone sound that persisted all day and started up again early the next morning. It was one of the dozens of ways you could tell that the authorities take Occupy Wall Street seriously. If you doubted whether the movement was powerful or mattered, just look at the reaction to people camped out in parks from Oakland to Portland, Tucson to Manhattan.
Of course, "camped out" doesn't quite catch the spirit of those who have come together to bear witness, to make clear how wrong our economic system is, to begin the search for a better way. Consider it an irony that the campsites are partly for sleeping, but they are symbols of the way those of us in civil society have awoken.
Think of civil society and the state as joined in a marriage of necessity. You already know who the wife is, the one who is supposed to love, cherish and obey: that's civil society. Think of the state as the domineering husband who expects to have a monopoly on power, on violence, on planning and policymaking.
The Creators of Occupy Wall Street
24 November 11
Kalle Lasn spends most nights shuffling clippings into a binder of plastic sleeves, each of which represents one page of an issue of Adbusters, a bimonthly magazine that he founded and edits. It is a tactile process, like making a collage, and occasionally Lasn will run a page with his own looped cursive scrawl on it. From this absorbing work, Lasn acquired the habit of avoiding the news after dark. So it was not until the morning of Tuesday, November 15th, that he learned that hundreds of police officers had massed in lower Manhattan at 1 A.M. and cleared the camp at Zuccotti Park. If anyone could claim responsibility for the Zuccotti situation, it was Lasn: Adbusters had come up with the idea of an encampment, the date the initial occupation would start, and the name of the protest—Occupy Wall Street. Now the epicenter of the movement had been raided. Lasn began thinking of reasons that this might be a good thing.
Lasn is sixty-nine years old and lives with his wife on a five-acre farm outside Vancouver. He has thinning white hair and the small eyes of a bulldog. In a lilting voice, he speaks of “a dark age coming for humanity” and of “killing capitalism,” alternating gusts of passion with gentle laughter. He has learned not to let premonitions of apocalypse spoil his good mood.
Occupier Hands Note to Obama
23 November 11
We know why those protesters heckled President Obama yesterday in New Hampshire.
After the president's speech, one of the hecklers handed Obama a note criticizing his "silence" over the arrest of "over 4,000 peaceful protesters" at Occupy Wall Street-type movements across the country.
Thanks to Associated Press photographer Charles Dharapak, we can read the entire note:
Why We Must Occupy Democracy
23 November 11
You've been seeing this across the country … Americans assaulted, clubbed, dragged, pepper-sprayed … Why? For exercising their right to free speech and assembly — protesting the increasing concentration of income, wealth, and political power at the top.
And what's Washington's response? Nothing. In fact, Congress's so-called "supercommittee" just disbanded because Republicans refuse to raise a penny of taxes on the rich.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court says money is speech and corporations are people. The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision last year ended all limits on political spending. Millions of dollars are being funneled to politicians without a trace.
Occupy UC Davis Calls Nov. 28 General Strike to Shut Down CA Campuses, Block Regents' Austerity Vote
23 November 11
The UC Board of Regents, who not only represent but actually are this state’s richest one percent, has repeatedly shown itself to be utterly unfit to manage and represent the interests of the students, faculty, and workers who constitute the University of California.
Following two successive years of sharp tuition increases, accompanied by millions in department and resource cuts, layoffs, and furloughs, the board had the audacity to propose a new 81% fee increase and drastic budget reductions.
Undergraduate student fees have tripled over the past ten years, as we have seen an unprecedented explosion of student debt; and departmental budgets have shrunk, as academic and non-academic workers experience diminishing benefits, swelling workloads, and non-existent job security.
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