The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy | Naomi Wolf | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Wonkette and Washingtonsblog.com reported that the Mayor of Oakland acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security had participated in an 18-city mayor conference call advising mayors on “how to suppress” Occupy protests.
To Europeans, the enormity of this breach may not be obvious at first. Our system of government prohibits the creation of a federalised police force, and forbids federal or militarised involvement in municipal peacekeeping.
I noticed that rightwing pundits and politicians on the TV shows on which I was appearing were all on-message against OWS. Journalist Chris Hayes reported on a leaked memo that revealed lobbyists vying for an $850,000 contract to smear Occupy
Here’s some more from later in the article
The mainstream media was declaring continually “OWS has no message”. Frustrated, I simply asked them. I began soliciting online “What is it you want?” answers from Occupy. In the first 15 minutes, I received 100 answers. These were truly eye-opening.The No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. Most often cited was legislation to blunt the effect of the Citizens United ruling, which lets boundless sums enter the campaign process. No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law, done away with by President Clinton, that separates investment banks from commercial banks. This law would correct the conditions for the recent crisis, as investment banks could not take risks for profit that create kale derivatives out of thin air, and wipe out the commercial and savings banks.
No 3 was the most clarifying: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.
sigh
not only do i have this queued to reblog every day but i am going to reblog every variation of it that comes up on my dash
because this is fucking HEINOUS and people need to know this.
what is being done to oppose the OWS movement is so, so blatantly illegal on every level. There is a reason there are laws against this kind of thing. The fact that those laws are being broken to try to suppress the protest against those laws being broken is the reason why the protests are happening! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK PEOPLE.
Showing posts tagged occupy wall street
psdo:
I’ve been pretty passive over the past month in regards to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Not because I’m an asshole or part of the 1%, I’m neither, but because honestly, I’ve grown pretty used to the world being ruled by bankers, corporations, corrupt politicians and the select few who are terribly rich, and can also double as felons. I applaud the efforts of protestors fighting an incredible cause, but I am jaded beyond return and hate the greedy aspect of our society so much, I feel like it would make me sick to try and fail, and in turn become even more jaded.
Then, the UC Davis incident occurred.
I have never in life been so outraged by the actions of police in my life, as my feelings are only rivaled by the Rodney King beating and the shooting of Sean Bell. The King and Bell incidents were insane violations of human rights and police protocol that infuriated me, and a nation, and this moment when a horrendous police officer decided to pepper spray a dozen or so peaceful protesting students, linked arm in arm quietly, will find its place in history besides them.
I won’t link the video of the incident, as you’ve obviously seen it 100 times, but I wanted to write about it on my blog purely to remind people, non-violent college organized protests have been vital throughout history, especially during the Civil Rights Movement and the fight for women’s rights. When I went to USC, political action, and the forming of political beliefs, was not only commonplace and an important part of growing up, it was encouraged by the University. Letting your voice be heard, while it grows, is part of your paid education. Obviously, you can’t be insane, violent or violate other people’s rights in the process, but that was not the case in the UC Davis quad Friday when Officer John Pike decided to douse these kids with pepper spray from 3 feet away, sometimes aiming intentionally inside of their mouths. These students continue to dry heave throughout the weekend, while one student has incurred nerve damage from how tight these excessive cops handcuffed him. Pike, much of the responding riot unit, and the the UC Davis administration, performed a horrific act and many of them should be fired for their decisions. I also believe Officer Pike should be criminally charged.
I encourage you to write to Officer John Pike and without stooping to his level, explain how disappointed you are what went down at UC Davis. I have. His email is japikeiii@ucdavis.edu. You can also call 530-752-3989 and vocalize your disgust at the school police force’s process for dealing with these non-violent student protestors. I did.
Yesterday, at 2 pm, the Chancellor of UC Davis, Linda Katehi, who should, and will, probably take the biggest fall for these events, held a press conference where she announced that a committee made up of administrators, teachers and students will examine the use of force and action will be taken if warranted (which they will be if I know Public Relations at all). She also said she believes the actions taken by some of the police officers were “unacceptable.”
The weirdest, and greatest, part of yesterday’s press conference though was that protesting students surrounded the building, again peacefully, and seemed to expose how guilty the Chancellor must really feel inside. Now explained as confusion, Chancellor Katehi would not leave the building for 5 hours, as word spread she felt she was being held hostage. Students who stood around her eventual walk of shame, ready to let their voices be heard in this press conference, chanted “We are peaceful” and “Just walk home,” again trying to show the safe manner of their protest. Eventually student representatives convinced the Chancellor to go home, and above is video of the walk of shame to her car, as students sat silently, with arms locked, to let her understand exactly who was viciously attacked by Officer Pike just a day prior. This makes me happy to be a human and I can not applaud its effectiveness enough.
Obviously this incident has forced me to become more active with the current protests happening worldwide, and I’m sorry to have been so nonchalant and jaded in the past. The focus of the UC Davis protest, while still being under the umbrella of OWS, was based on an upcoming 85% hike in the University of California system tuition (which is insane). We all have different focuses, but our goals are the same. Mine have become human rights and the Freedom of Speech, which are both being violated currently in the United States.
Please let your voice be heard about Officer Pike’s criminal act and let’s all stay current about what’s going on with this movement, as I have the feeling it’s going to affect all 99% of us very soon.
The silence of these students says it all.
Powerful.
“Are Cameras the New Guns?”
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/headline/are-cameras-the-new-guns/
“In response to a flood of Facebook and YouTube videos that depict police abuse, a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states (Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland), it is now illegal to record an on-duty police officer even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists.”
“
(Reblogged from hellokriti)
Today you ordered police onto our campus to clear student protesters from the quad. These were protesters who participated in a rally speaking out against tuition increases and police brutality on UC campuses on Tuesday—a rally that I organized, and which was endorsed by the Davis Faculty Association. These students attended that rally in response to a call for solidarity from students and faculty who were bludgeoned with batons, hospitalized, and arrested at UC Berkeley last week. In the highest tradition of non-violent civil disobedience, those protesters had linked arms and held their ground in defense of tents they set up beside Sproul Hall. In a gesture of solidarity with those students and faculty, and in solidarity with the national Occupy movement, students at UC Davis set up tents on the main quad. When you ordered police outfitted with riot helmets, brandishing batons and teargas guns to remove their tents today, those students sat down on the ground in a circle and linked arms to protect them.
What happened next?
Without any provocation whatsoever, other than the bodies of these students sitting where they were on the ground, with their arms linked, police pepper-sprayed students. Students remained on the ground, now writhing in pain, with their arms linked.
What happened next?
Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-sprayed directly in the face, holding these students as they did so. When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood.
This is what happened. You are responsible for it.
UC Davis Assistant Professor Nathan Brown, in an open letter to UCD Chancellor Linda Katehi demanding her resignation after police brutality against students engaged in peaceful protest on campus. (via hellokriti)
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(Reblogged from negacrow)
I was there to take down the names of people who were arrested… As I’m standing there, some African-American woman goes up to a police officer and says, ‘I need to get in. My daughter’s there. I want to know if she’s OK.’ And he said, ‘Move on, lady.’ And they kept pushing with their sticks, pushing back. And she was crying. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he throws her to the ground and starts hitting her in the head,” says Smith. “I walk over, and I say, ‘Look, cuff her if she’s done something, but you don’t need to do that.’ And he said, ‘Lady, do you want to get arrested?’ And I said, ‘Do you see my hat? I’m here as a legal observer.’ He said, ‘You want to get arrested?’ And he pushed me up against the wall.
Retired New York Supreme Court Judge Karen Smith, working as a legal observer after the raids on Zucotti Park this Tuesday, via Paramilitary Policing of Occupy Wall Street: Excessive Use of Force amidst the New Military Urbanism. (via lukehackney)
(Source: seriouslyamerica)
This is Lt. John Pike. 530-752-3989. japikeiii@ucdavis.edu (via: motherjones)
“I am writing to tell you in no uncertain terms that there must be space for protest on our campus. There must be space for political dissent on our campus. There must be space for civil disobedience on our campus. There must be space for students to assert their right to decide on the form of their protest, their dissent, and their civil disobedience—including the simple act of setting up tents in solidarity with other students who have done so. There must be space for protest and dissent, especially, when the object of protest and dissent is police brutality itself…”
I am reposting a link to the short (8 min) film “I am not moving” which contrasts the words of President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton with regard to the importance of freedom of assembly, speech, and the free press abroad with their silence on the violent, militarized police response to the U.S. protests.
The film was released on October 10, 2011 - and it is worth noting that since then, the amount of police violence which has become iconic has not made it into the movie (or has even become sufficiently mainstream). The NYPD dragging the beautiful dreadlocked girl by her hair across a street. The NYPD stomping and stripping Brandon Wyatt in full view of eyewitnesses. The Seattle Police Department pepper-spraying 84 year old Dorli Rainey. The Oakland Police Department firing a projectile at the head of Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, fracturing his skull. Or the countless images of baton-wielding thugs punching unarmed protesters.
This is what a police state looks like.
But this video shows what hypocrisy looks like.
I encourage you to watch it and share it.
When the NYPD performed a militarized raid of Zuccotti Park on November 15, 2011, they threw the 5,554 books in the People’s Library (and the tent, donated by author Patti Smith) into a trash compactor. In response to the outrage over the destruction of books, Bloomberg’s office tweeted a disingenuous picture of the books and laptops being “safely stored” at the Department of Sanitation. However, when #OWS librarians arrived with an inventory of the books, they confirmed that most of the books were missing or damaged or soiled beyond use because of the trash compactor.
This is what a police state looks like.
Bloomberg must go.
What the NYPD and Michael Bloomberg think of donated books.
Emotionally intense images of retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis - who has joined the #OccupyWallStreet protests - being arrested by the NYPD.
Captain Lewis has been outspoken against the NYPD’s wrongful use of violence against peaceful protesters.
From what I have seen, Ray Lewis’ conduct defines honor, bravery, and dignity.
There is a media blackout on images of his participation in the protest, and on his arrest:
It’s proved impossible for me to get this shot of former Philadelphia Police Cpt. Ray Lewis being arrested, published anywhere. I was adamantly rebuffed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, NYT, local NY papers, and Newsweek, before even looking at the photograph. One of the only published photos of this paradoxical and intense event is located here at the NYC Observer:
http://www.observer.com/2011/11/former-philadelphia-police-captain-ray-lewis-arrested-ows/
Make this viral and they will come.
Ray Lewis gets 2 posts this morning, because this needs to be seen. I’m not even sure why, but this pair of photos made me cry hysterically.
oh my god. so much props to this man. this country has turned into utter fucking insanity.
For decades, UC Berkeley has had a reputation for activism and social progressivism. It’s supposedly a haven for socially-minded students who want to see change in old, corrupt systems.
Supposedly.
In response to the public outrage over police brutality at Wednesday’s Occupy Cal movement, Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau released the following statement:
“It is unfortunate that some protesters chose to obstruct the police by linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents. This is not non-violent civil disobedience.”
Spot on, Birgeneau. Spot on. Linking arms? Those 18-year-old kids were clearly out of control.
