Tomorrow’s cover today: Are you keeping a close on on what’s happening with Occupy DC?
True story about this one: We had to be super-careful with the headline treatment, because of what some of the buttons said. The positioning of the text — not accidental. — Ernie @ SFB
Whenever journalists are arrested/detained for reporting the news, everyone’s freedom is at risk.KGO Radio reporter Kristin Hanes • Discussing her arrest late Saturday as the Occupy Oakland protests flared up. She and Gavin Aronson of Mother Jones were among the over 200 people placed into custody Saturday night, as the Oakland protests reached a new breaking point — including the burning of an American flag. Both mayor Jean Quan and the police were quick to pin negative attention on the protesters: “The Bay Area Occupy Movement has got to stop using Oakland as their playground,” Quan said in a statement. However, it’s important to keep in mind the nature of the police actions — including violence towards protesters and the use of tear gas grenades. An OpenSalon writer has a pretty informative first-person piece worth reading, which describes both the nature of the protesters (not as bad as reported) and why things flared up Saturday. source (via • follow)
uproarsyouronlymusic asks: A few questions. First, do you know where I can access the full text of Herman Cain's Tea Party rebuttal? I'd really appreciate it. Secondly, I know that a text of what is supposed to be the Occupy rebuttal is floating around. (I found it on Huffington Post.) Do you know if the human mic delivery actually happened and if there's a video? I haven't been able to find anything on the DC movement's official UStream. Thanks so much!
» SFB says: I haven’t spotted a full text of Cain’s speech — I really get the impression, having watched it, that he improvised off a set of notes — but the video’s over here. I’ve yet to see an actual mic check video, but the text is here. So we have a dual-pronged problem: A response without text, and a response without video. Heh. I’ll keep an eye out for both! — Ernie @ SFB
He didn’t run for president, but … the Indiana governor will be offering up some tough statements against Obama tonight as he makes the GOP’s official State of the Union response. Herman Cain will also offer a response for the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street will also make their own response. Here’s an excerpt from Daniel’s speech:
No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others. As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat. If we drift, quarreling and paralyzed, over a Niagara of debt, we will all suffer, regardless of income, race, gender, or other category. If we fail to shift to a pro-jobs, pro-growth economic policy, there will never be enough public revenue to pay for our safety net, national security, or whatever size government we decide to have.
Read some more excerpts over this-a-way.
So Newt had to cancel an appearance today … because some apparent Ron Paul supporters (who may have been Occupy sympathizers) swarmed the entrance of his New Hampshire campaign HQ. Here’s a pic of them in action, via Capital Tonight.
We’re here because we got pushed out of New York, but we’re also here because this is the heart of where all politics happen.An Occupy Wall Street protester • Discussing why he made the move to one of D.C.’s two Occupy encampments. It appears the encampments stand a good chance of sticking around for a while longer, though — as the National Park Service considers the movement’s McPherson Square location a “24-hour vigil” and has applied the most liberal interpretation of the laws to the movement, and recently offered an extension of the permit for the Freedom Plaza encampment — which was initially supposed to end with the new year. So as a result, protesters who started hanging out at Zuccotti Park have started making their way to the encampments, which have recently passed the three-month mark. source (via • follow)
#OTRP - Mitt Romney makes an appearance at Occupy the Rose Parade.
Looks like Jayel Aheram made an appearance at the parade. He has a few shots over at his blog. The L.A. Times, meanwhile, says that the occupiers who showed up got a mixed reaction from the crowd: “A group of onlookers on an apartment balcony cheered and waved, while some people in the grandstands booed. One man walked past some protesters and said, ‘You guys had your 15 minutes.’” Ouch. Wait, were they looking for 15 minutes?
My Friends of OWS,
My message will have to be brief. But let not this brevity take from it, its strength.
You are the central movement of the hour. You’re raising questions that are in the hearts of millions. Your motto, “We are the 99%,” has been heard, heeded, and responded to by millions. You can be certain that the 1% have heard you clearest of all.
Your work, however, is just beginning. You must deepen, strengthen, and further your work until it truly reaches the 99%, almost all of us: workers, black folk, Latinos and Latinas, LGBTs, immigrants, Asians, artists, all of us, for we are integral parts of the 99%. I salute you and hope fervently that you will grow beyond number.
Though I speak to you today by proxy, I’m confident that you will hear my voice soon.
Love, fun and music,
Mumia Abu-Jamal
A fascinating letter. Abu-Jamal effectively had his death sentence commuted to life in prison recently, as prosecutors chose to long longer pursue the case.
Also under investigation: Victor Garcia, the officer who, as can be seen in this video, fired the projectile at Scott Campbell, an unarmed protester filming the November 3rd protests. Garcia has already been removed from the SWAT team, and Joyner has been placed in a “bureaucratic job” while the investigation is carried out.
imwithkanye says: I’m actually quite annoyed by this. It’s one thing to protest but it’s another to disrupt a TV set (& people’s jobs - the crew? the 99%). L&O always uses headlines as back drops and would it be so bad to shine light on the rape that’s been happening?
» SFB says: That’s a fair point. They could’ve taken this energy in a different direction for sure. Certainly it’s not the most bizarre thing the Occupy movement’s been involved in. I think though, that there’s an effort not to get their movement co-opted by anyone, least of all a TV crew. But certainly a TV show that airs 12 times a day on TNT and makes clear that it’s ripped from the headlines isn’t really the enemy. — Ernie @ SFB
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There are certainly some folks who feel really offended by the attempt to kind of use this very real, very living movement, this economic justice movement that’s making real change for working families in this country, to use it in some kind of story line in this dramatic cop show. There are probably other folks among us who think it’s just a fun excuse to get together and share in public.Occupy Wall Street press team member Ian Shan • Explaining why Occupy protesters raided the filming of a Zuccotti Park-themed “Law & Order: SVU” episode late last night. The actual Occupy protesters heard about the protest and decided to stage a “mockupy” protest at the event, which sounds like an amazing idea. And much like a real Occupy protest, police cleared out the scene around 1 a.m. last night. This sounds like the most amazing idea, ever — hopefully most did it with a sense of humor instead of malicious intent. source (via • follow)
Was this necessary? Via Tumblr user eggznrice, who told us, “Please get on this as soon as you can! Craziness!” The Occupy Melbourne protester in this video, a young woman named Sarah, was wrapped in a “tent dress” when police chose to pull it off of her, using knives to cut it off. (The protesters were told that Tents were considered structures that would be removed, hence the interesting clothing choice.) Three other protesters complied with police in Monday’s incident; Sarah did not. In the end, she was wearing nothing but her underwear. The Victoria police’s Ethical Standards Department says it’s investigating an assault incident, and Occupy Melbourne is trying to encourage other Occupy movements to wear tents in solidarity. source
A rare flash point, in wood form: Unlike most of the Occupy movements across the country, the Occupy DC movement has largely remained fairly quiet, in part because of the city’s protest-heavy history and in part because McPherson Square is managed by the National Park Service, not the city. So, as you might imagine, they would have to do something special to draw police scrutiny. Here it is, according to the movement’s Web site: “A prefabricated wooden structure that had been designed by professional architects and engineers to provide shelter, warmth and space for General Assemblies during the winter months.” If they wanted to draw police scrutiny, it worked. If they were trying to hold General Assemblies, not so much. The structure — and the National Park Police’s attempt to get it removed — has brought about some fairly interesting moments tonight. This is one of the most fascinating moments of the whole Occupy affair. source
» However … In a major difference between the end of a number of other protests (most notably Occupy Oakland), police did not have to pull out pepper spray to end these protests. The LAPD was very careful with their strategy in this department. Despite the mayor calling for the closure of the camp early Monday, the police department held off two days, giving protesters time to leave on their own. That thinned out the numbers. As for those that remained, they had some minor scuffles with police at first, but those eventually faded, and protesters only got arrested after they didn’t immediately leave the park. Only a handful of major Occupy encampments remain at this point, most notably in DC and San Francisco. (EDIT: Updated Occupy Philly arrest count; the protesters left the encampment peacefully but were arrested for disturbances outside of the encampment.)
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