| resources | contact | about | volunteer | tv news | video | radio | questions |
| |||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||
      regionstopic pagesgenresactionsall action pages >> resourcesglobal imc
|
features archive
The 'Occupy' movement is one of several in American history to be based on anarchist principles.
London, UK - Almost every time I'm interviewed by a mainstream journalist about Occupy Wall Street I get some variation of the same lecture: "How are you going to get anywhere if you refuse to create a leadership structure or make a practical list of demands? And what's with all this anarchist nonsense - the consensus, the sparkly fingers? Don't you realise all this radical language is going to alienate people? You're never going to be able to reach regular, mainstream Americans with this sort of thing!" If one were compiling a scrapbook of worst advice ever given, this sort of thing might well merit an honourable place. After all, since the financial crash of 2007, there have been dozens of attempts to kick-off a national movement against the depredations of the United States' financial elites taking the approach such journalists recommended. All failed. It was only on August 2, when a small group of anarchists and other anti-authoritarians showed up at a meeting called by one such group and effectively wooed everyone away from the planned march and rally to create a genuine democratic assembly, on basically anarchist principles, that the stage was set for a movement that Americans from Portland to Tuscaloosa were willing to embrace. [...]
PAINTING BANNERS SIGNS
Thrown away into dumpsters by riot police. Like of remains of soldiers killed in Iraq, for the ideas of Amerika's ruling class. It all ends up in a landfill somewhere. Bring the Troops home, throw the dead ones in the trash. Workers at the Port weaponize a bulldozer, smash the ground with its garbage plow. Threaten the people, disenfranchised. They treat the people like garbage. Whether anyone has a job or not, these actions are happening. These protests will continue. A riot cop pushes me down, I jump up and I push back. Even days later, I fell the sting of his stick, a reminder of the ones he's paid to protect. I am a worker, reduced to a beggar. Whether anyone wants my help or not. So a Union Worker looses a day of pay. So those out of work lose a day of pay everyday. And the worker becomes one of those bums in the park, that the riot police have to deal with, blue rubber gloves. They throw your tents and blankets, your protests, your ideas into a dumpster. They hire a trucker, to weaponize their trucks and send your remains to a landfill somewhere. Unity, Solidarity is dead, so society falls apart. General Assembly consensus says, "Sell your comrade out!, Let that soldier, stopping business get run down. Throw her under the wheels of capital." The General Consensus says, "Better her than you. Let her stand up and get run down." Block the tracks, get crushed up, it's all bad press, as society rips itself apart. Another Union Leader's day of pay. I won't sympathize with any worker that can weaponize a bulldozer. To use a workers equipment, against desperate people, trying anything they can to save the world. I have no sympathy for the General Consensus, to let a person be run down by a workers truck. A worker's locomotive, a workers bulldozer. These actions are not a personal attack. These actions will continue, whether any one person, one Union Leader, or one spokes council likes it or not. Long will live people's struggle. For we are becoming workers reduced to beggars.
Coinciding with the International Day of the Migrant, immigrants and allies will take to the streets in a permitted, family-friendly rally and march. This will be an opportunity to join with the Occupy movement, and send a strong message against the racist laws, policies and institutions that are systematically targeting immigrant communities, such as Secure Communities, E-verify, wage theft, free trade agreements and increased detentions and deportations.We reject the scapegoating of immigrants in the same way we refuse to blame Muslims, the poor, public sector workers, women, and other victims of this recession. We blame the recession on those who caused it, the most wealthy 1%. The 1% want immigrants to have zero rights so that they are easily exploitable and can be paid slave wages, thus lowering the wages of all working people. When: Saturday, December 17 | 10 am Rally & 11 am March Where:South Park Blocks between SW Salmon and Main homepage: http://www.pcasc.net Related Video Post
The statement from Occupy's unnamed "media team" says a 4 p.m. march and 10 p.m. assembly are planned "for camp defense and witness." It also says:
The Occupy Movement manifested as a direct response to the social and economic injustices caused by a corrupt and heartless financial system. Occupy Olympia did not create the problems faced at camp. These are the same problems faced in communities around the country. Occupier Kyle Tanner states, "It's disappointing that the state chooses to continue to sweep the realities of budget cuts under the rug rather than face the systemic inequities." Since the early days of the occupation, Occupy Olympia has provided the community with free medical services, food, and shelter, all of which are needs the state has failed to meet. "While Occupy Olympia has been offering social services, it's important to remember that the Occupy Olympia encampment is, and continues to be, a political encampment. Any attempt to discredit that would be a false representation of what the Occupy movement is all about," states Occupier Owen Prout. Though the future of the physical camp may be uncertain, the community that camp has built will continue to fight the atrocities committed to benefit the 1%.
On December 12, 2011, an autonamous group, in solidarity with the West Coast Port Blockade, successfully shut down a BNSF railway. The flow of commerce headed for two of the blockaded ports, Seattle and Vancouver, was effectively stopped. This action was in solidarity with the Bellingham community's fight against earth-destroying industries including the struggle against the Gateway Pacific Coal Terminal. We are in solidarity with #Occupy and union actions from San Diego to Anchorage. Our allegaince to oppressed humans and non-humans is foundational to our struggle.
We draw inspiration from the five-hundred + years of ongoing Indigenous resistance to the corrupting agents of colonization. We recognize that we are living on stolen land, and that the railway industries have always facilitated genocide against the native peoples of this land through land theft, displacement, and habitat destruction. In the coming months and years, we call upon communities from the Powder River Basin to the Pacific Coast to take direct action against SSA Marine's proposed Gateway Pacific Coal Terminal. Only through sustained and coordinated community opposition and direct action, can we permanently disable this arm of the capitalist machine.
We are the front-line workers who haul container rigs full of imported and exported goods to and from the docks and warehouses every day. We have been elected by committees of our co-workers at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, New York and New Jersey to tell our collective story. We have accepted the honor to speak up for our brothers and sisters about our working conditions despite the risk of retaliation we face. One of us is a mother, the rest of us fathers. Between the five of us we have 11children and one more baby on the way. We have a combined 46 years of experience driving cargo from our shores for America's stores.
We are inspired that a non-violent democratic movement that insists on basic economic fairness is capturing the hearts and minds of so many working people. Thank you "99 Percenters" for hearing our call for justice. We are humbled and overwhelmed by recent attention. Normally we are invisible. Today's demonstrations will impact us. While we cannot officially speak for every worker who shares our occupation, we can use this opportunity to reveal what it's like to walk a day in our shoes for the 110,000 of us in America whose job it is to be a port truck driver. It may be tempting for media to ask questions about whether we support a shutdown, but there are no easy answers. Instead, we ask you, are you willing to listen and learn why a one-word response is impossible?  link to cleanandsafeports.org
Hundreds of Occupy Portland protestors, activists and workers blocked entrances to shut down Terminals 5 & 6 around 6 AM today. This was a collective effort by the Occupy movement to shut down "Wall Street on the Waterfront" on the west coast.Hundreds of Occupy Portland protestors, activists and workers blocked entrances to shut down Terminals 5 & 6 around 6 AM today. This was a collective effort by the Occupy movement to shut down "Wall Street on the waterfront" on the West Coast including ports in Seattle, Tacoma, Longview, Anchorage, Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego. This action was meant to show solidarity with ILWU and longshore workers in Longview and the other port cities on the west coast in their fight against corporate bosses, including Goldman Sachs, for the right to organize, and for fairness, safety and real democratic workplaces. However, protestors in Portland had agreed at planning meetings prior to the action to allow workers and vehicles to cross the picket line, if they chose to do so. On Monday morning, a few trucks and cars were allowed to pass, including trucks delivering supplies for Millbank Materials, after the general manager talked to protestors and convinced them that his company was not doing any business with the ports. Shortly before 8 AM, protestors cheered when they learned that Port of Portland officials had already shut down the terminals, and that the ports in Oakland had been closed. However, according to Mike Gardner, ILWU Local 8 in Portland, ILWU workers had been sent home without pay by Port officials. Port Blockade Related Video Posts: Video 1: Port Blockade at 6:15 PM Occupy Portland Video 2. Occupy Portland Port Blockade West Coast on 12.12.11 - Gate 5
Filmed at the "Stop the F-ing War" protest on Friday, Mike stops by to tell us about the West Coast Port Blockade and hand out fliers for the Monday protest/strike.This is a short informative video about the Monday protest / strike at a dozen west coast ship yards. Mike (who just lost his job due to union organizing) tells the Individuals For Justice protesters, on the Hawthorne bridge, what the Port Strike is about and how to get more information. Mike tells about West Coast Port Blockade in Portland on 12/12/11 And Mike had one more thing to say about organizing and union solidarity around labor justice and injustice at OSPRIG. Mike starts a Union and gets fired - Portland Rally planned for 12-15-11 A 2 minute video clip. He was fired from his job, after 4 years, for organizing a union at OSPRIG.
A 15 minute video from the press announcement outside of the World Trade building on 2nd street. A half dozen speakers talk about the upcoming West Coast Port Closing on Monday 12/12/11. Members of the press and community attended this, and one police officer.Occupy Portland: West Coast Port Shut Down on 12-12-11 This was recorded on 12/9/11 "Press Announcement for WEST COAST PORT BLOCKADES in Portland Oregon ((( i ))) @occupytheport http://westcoastportshutdown.org/
Close the Ports this Monday! Meet up at 6am at Kelley Point Park. The #16 goes straight there. Stop the first shift, which starts at 8am. Meet up again at 4pm to stop the evening shift, which starts at 6pm. Workers show up half an hour before shifts start. There will be meet up points for folks to car pool and catch buses from SE and NE. Also, bike swarms leaving at 2pm from all sectors of Portland. Check the shutdowntheport website for details. We need numbers! Come out! UPDATE: On Friday, 12/9, at 11 AM, Organizers will be hosting a press conference in front of the World Trade Center at SW 2nd Avenue and Salmon Street in downtown Portland. Workers, veterans, occupiers, and other community members will speak out about shutting down Wall Street on the Waterfront. For more information, please contact Kari at 503-567-8694.
Early this morning I recieved a call from "US GOVERNMENT" which I recieved and was one of those chosen to attend a live town-hall teleconference with Congressman Earl Blumenauer. This live session was part of a move by congress to gather public perspective of decisions that are being made behind closed doors in Congress.
Here in this video podcast, I confront him on the issue of Occupy Wall Street and the local Occupy movement and stress the similarities of Blumenauers' ideology of taxing the 1% and the views of the 99%. VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQZTfYngVEA&feature=colike
Friends, neighbors, and comrades gathered early in the morning on Saturday, December 3rd to transform a vacant lot on the south-end of Santa Cruz's main street into a vibrant community park. Folks worked throughout the day breaking up hunks of concrete, created five large raised garden beds (with plans for three more), filled them with soil, and planted dozens of plants. Curious people passed by asked questions, offered up complements, and even joined in. By the end of the day, approximately 40-50 people had helped in creating North America's newest squatted park. At the end of the day, a statement was released. It described the process of construction and explained the motivations behind it.
On Monday morning, a worker from Datum Construction came across the street into SubRosa (the anarchist infoshop) to say that if they knew the gardeners, let them know they only had a few hours to remove the plants before he bulldozed the newly erected park. He said he "didn't want to be the bad-guy," but he had orders from Datum Construction HQ to destroy the park.
A few photos of today's Re-Occu-Fest March, starting at Salmon Springs Fountain, winding through downtown Portland and finishing up at Shemanski Park.... The March began much later than scheduled, and left Salmon Springs in high spirits with no law enforcement in sight. I don't think that the march stuck with the advertised route, possibly because of the late start. The crowd marched along the river and then headed into downtown Portland with the bike swarm in the lead. Though they immediately took to the streets, the marchers were extremely respectful of buses and the Max train, which, unfortunately, forced a break in the march at several occasions. There was absolutely no police in attendance, at least within sight of the March. The energy remained high and gathered momentum as they walked up the hill to Shemanski Park, where folks spread out, some setting up tables and tents. It was only here at the Park that law enforcement showed their faces. Salmon and Park re-re-occupied at 11:19PM
There were no broken windows. So that particular liberal defense is off the table. Those who have decided to side with the state instead of this new and radical social movement will find that it is now their illusions that have been shattered. The conditions of social life in Santa Cruz involve a visible homeless population, and they have not been absent at Occupy Santa Cruz... It's easy for the media to dismiss occupations as a collection of bums, but the truth is that the homeless need a place to sleep; and now, with chilly nights and fierce winds, the activists at the occupation, like the homeless every year, need more than tents. This morning a comrade stood on the roof of the new occupation looking out for police, who he had seen hovering around the encampment at City Hall. He doubted that they would make a scene in daylight. "Downtown business is too important." But every indication is that they will return at night, in greater number and with more instruments of violence. They will return to literally do the bidding of Wells Fargo, draining public funds to pay for repression, adding to the $13 million spent in other cities. Occupy a building near you. [Related: Building Occupied in Santa Cruz! Riot Cops held off! - From Indybay ]
We've all seen the recent images of the police brutality against Occupy, but this conduct hasn't occurred overnight. For years, US police abuse has been spiralling upwards, this article sharing a uniquely insightful vision of what that's meant, how it's occurred, and an amazing effort to awake America. Excerpt: When we see these brutally nightmarish visions of police violence against innocent protesters, we're shocked because we haven't been aware that our police have behaved this way for many years now. Of course, that's also why we see -- despite the video evidence -- some people blaming the Occupy supporters for their own brutalization, refusing to believe that our police could do such harm without good reason. Even worse though, our 'authorities' are well aware of this tendency, and play upon it, i.e., the claims that the UC Davis police felt 'threatened' in an attempt to legitimize the brutal pepper spraying videotaped there. Attempts to somehow 'demonize the victim' are an old story, and it's far easier to blame most victims than face the far harsher reality of what our society has become, how empty some of the assumptions about our police, about our own safety, are. Continue Reading: link to www.opednews.com
November 30th is the 12th anniversary of the week long World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle. Attended by tens of thousands of people from all over the world, this event began the process of putting a face on the 1% seeking to control the trade, the economies, the food, the energy sources of the planet. Not from the streets of Seattle, but a similar protest here in Portland.
Here's a couple videos I edited of my experiences in the streets of Seattle, taken from a six part series produced through Portland Public Access stations soon after the event. Watching the videos now, I could easily mistake the action for current nationwide Occupation events. Though perhaps some of the names have changed, it is the same resistance, with the same desire for a true Democracy, being met with the same brutal response by corporate power, law enforcement and governments. And nothing has changed in the demands of the people of this planet: PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS. Each is about 7 minutes in length...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V86yfGCeqdM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyCuDGVRFcg
Watch the video and comment!
I believe this is what is in Americas future soon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exuGv3HsV-U [One comment: "Just like these people were fooled so is majority of america. Until you learn that Federal Reserve is the problem the problem want never go away. Look up 1913 federal reserve Act. They cause the depression and the "economic bubble's."]
A first person account of the Nov 14th raid on Occupy Oakland on November 14...
We expected a raid that night, most likely just before dawn. So after concluding our General Assembly of the evening, the Events Committee announced an emergency dance party, calling it "The Occupocalypse." http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupocalypse.html
Portland Copwatch asks City Council to improve oversight and policies of the Portland Police Hearing today at 2pm at City Hallsummary of the show that is on now is at: http://kboo.fm/node/32101#comments Dan Handleman's opinion of how this has been going is at: www.theskanner.com [The KBOO Audio Recording of this is now available here]
On Friday night he was talking into the camera for OP's livestream internet channel, confidently inviting the audience to drop by Chapman and Lownsdale squares the next day for festivities that included a planned potluck dinner and live music in support of the movement. On Saturday evening he was playing in the rain for the assembled protesters on the amphitheater steps at Terry Schrunk Plaza. By Sunday night, Bridges was bedridden at Legacy Emanuel Hospital, recovering from alleged police brutality earlier that day during the final sweeps by authorities of the last Occupy holdouts. And on Monday, he addressed the now homeless Occupy Portland General Assembly in Pioneer Square from a wheelchair.
The Occupy Movement couldn't have come along at a worse time, from the viewpoint of the Democrats. Election season is just getting started and Occupy has thrown a giant wrench into the political machinery. Some labor leaders too are sensing "politics as usual" shifting under their feet; the "get out the vote" for the Democrats may elicit blank stares from the rank and file.
Occupy has the potential to create earthquakes within the labor movement and labor's relationship to the Democrats, if it approaches the subject intelligently. This seismic shift could permanently change politics in the United States, much for the better. Many commentators have noted that the Occupy Movement can be only poison for the Democrats. Unlike the Republicans, who benefited from the corporate sponsored far-right Tea Party, the Democrats have no intention of moving - or even flirting - with an independent movement to its left. Long before the corporate Presidency of Bill Clinton, the Democrats have moved only to the right, with the leftist talk reserved strictly for election campaigns. This evolution is now to the point where President Obama stands to the right of President and arch-Conservative Richard Nixon on most economic and social issues. Times have certainly changed. http://www.workerscompass.org
Poets from around the world have been sending poems to the People's Library in an effort to create a living/breathing poetry anthology in solidarity with the Occupy Wall St. movement. All poems are accepted into the anthology. The anthology is updated on a weekly basis. If you'd like a poem added to the anthology email stephenjboyer@gmail(dot)com and please include "occupy poetry" in the subject.
All poems are welcome to be added to the anthology.
A 9 part video set from the Occupy Portland Eviction at midnight on 11.13.11 - Occupy Portland Faces an Eviction at Midnight. It didn't happen. This video set starts just before midnight and runs till about 6 am The police attempt to remove the protesters using Horse cops charging into the crowds (didn't work and almost caused a riot) and as well as threats of chemical weapons and the use of riot cops with sticks and non lethal weapons. Nothing worked as far as trying to scare or hurt the protesters from the Occupy Portland camp.1. Arriving Occupy Portland Saturday Eviction 11:30pm Nick Fish
This is the 6 part video set from the 4Pm Chase Protest in Portland Oregon. This is the one where the police ram their horses into the peaceful crowd (again) who were legally protesting, the police shoved the citizens dangerously into the streets. Then the cops sent in hundreds of ROBO dressed Riot cops ... and yelling over loud speakers for next 30 minutes to "get out of the street"? ...So then (next) they start pepperspraying people and hitting them with sticks (and or jabbing protesters with their sticks)and then they do some more MAJOR blocking the street. Then they (hundreds of police) for no reason (?) leave and everything is peaceful and back to normal. 6. N17 Hundreds of Riot Cops In Street (video 13 minutes)
Dynamic speakers from the October 15, 2011 Portland 10 Year Anniversary of War in Afghanistan Rally and March. Rally was held at the South Park Blocks, where a large crowd gathered and then marched through the streets of downtown Portland, cruising by the Occupy Portland sites. Speakers addressed the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the immoral and illegal actions of the United States regarding drone attacks on Pakistan and Yemen. The many reasons for the Populist Occupy Wall Street Movement were also enumerated. This 1984-ish Endless War is only one reason among many demonstrating how our country has been moving in the wrong direction for decades, swerving from a Democracy into Empire. Most remarks are brief, under ten minutes in length. Shahid Buttar, Portland 10 Year Anniversary of War in Afghanistan Wael Elasady, Portland 10 Year Anniversary of War in Afghanistan IVAW Speakers at Portland 10 Year Anniversary of War in Afghanistan Meredith Reese at Portland 10 Year Anniversary of War in Afghanistan
Proposal for a Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown, Passed With Unanimous Consensus by vote of the Occupy Oakland General Assembly 11/18/2012: In response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on workers across the nation:
Occupy Oakland calls for the blockade and disruption of the economic apparatus of the 1% with a coordinated shutdown of ports on the entire West Coast on December 12th. The 1% has disrupted the lives of longshoremen and port truckers and the workers who create their wealth, just as coordinated nationwide police attacks have turned our cities into battlegrounds in an effort to disrupt our Occupy movement. We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port. Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT. Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs. http://www.occupyoakland.org/
Occupy Cozmic!
featuring flat-picking rabble-rouser David Rovics, folk rock dance band Brass Tacks, plus Occupy Eugene speakers, 8-11:30pm, Nov. 26, Cozmic Pizza, [In Eugene} $0-$20 sliding scale. http://occupyeugenemedia.org/
At 4:30 a.m. on November 14th, a group of anarchists broke out the windows of the Umpqua Bank at NE 18th and Alberta. Umpqua Bank tries to sell itself as "green" and a "community" bank, and we wanted to shatter that illusion. Umpqua Bank has been known for financing timber giants all over Oregon that are responsible for the destruction of our precious temperate rainforests, and with them the possibility of a livable future.
Alberta Street has been incredibly gentrified in recent years, and Umpqua Bank is a big part of that. Forcing People of Color out of one of the few neighborhoods they were historically allowed to live in is racism, plain and simple. Repost From: http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/1090
On the night of monday the 14th 9 windows of a bank of america where smashed out with rocks. This was a gesture of solidarity for our comrades in oakland and chapel hill. For an indefinite general strike, an occupation of territory and the permanent conflict with the existing order.
repost from: http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/1097
|