| NYC; UC Davis |
[Nov. 21st, 2011|12:23 am] |
I happened to be awake and watching the live stream when Occupy Wall Street was evicted from Freedom Plaza, so I went up to New York for the Thursday actions. I was a late getting to Wall St. Thursday morning, so didn't actually participate in the shut-down. But I found an intersection with people telling their stories via people's mic -- how they came to be at Occupy Wall St. Some had foreclosed mortgages, some had massive student debt, some were unemployment and some under-employed. Some were none of those things but came anyway. Then we marched back to Freedom Plaza, where I ran into some other Richmond folks. They'd had no sleep the night before, starting up to New York at 2am. We hung out for a while, then went to Foley Square for a solidarity rally and march.
The square was jam-packed, an entire city block full of people elbow to elbow. My entirely unscientific reaction was that it looked like about 100,000 people. I heard later of estimates around 30,000 from police. At any rate, an enormous number of people. There were unions like the United Auto Workers, Service Employees International, PSC-CUNY (for workers at the City University of New York), and the musician's union. All seemed to be enthusiastically joining the Occupy/99% narrative and in the story-telling (this time with amplification). Eventually we started slowly toward the Brooklyn Bridge -- so slowly we suspected that the police had set up barricades. But while they were out in force, it seemed mostly that we were so many that we just couldn't go any faster. It seemed to me that almost everyone in the square decided to march with us. (We happened to be on the end nearest the march, though -- I don't know what people on the other end did).
On the way, we cheered as projectors flashed "99%", "We are unstoppable/Another world is possible" and other slogans on the buildings we passed. On the bridge, we saw a much higher-powered projector painting the Verizon tower with slogans -- here's an interview with one of the people behind that. On the bridge we found people from other occupations who had also come in solidarity, from Long Island to Tennessee. We heard about Occupy Denver, whose mayor insisted they appoint a leader to deal with officials. They elected a dog. We finally reached the end of the bridge. My friends (with no sleep since Wednesday morning, remember!) elected to march back over the bridge. I took a subway back to Daphne and Rose's apartment.
Since I returned I've been a bit obsessed with what happened at UC Davis, with one video in particular that shows both what we're up against and our power. From 0:08 to 0:24 Lieutenant John Pike pepper-sprays the seated students, calmly and methodically walking the line from right to left, then making a second pass from left to right. People are booing and screaming, settling at about 2:15 into a chant of "Shame on you! Shame on you!" Police continue kneeling on people and hauling them off for some minutes, but at about 3:20 we see them start to form a circle facing out toward the crowd. About a third of the officers are carrying what look like rifles, presumably loaded not with bullets but with less-lethal weaponry -- tear gas or pepper spray. At 6:13 nervous officers are raising and lowering their weapons. We hear "Mic check! MIC CHECK!", and then "We are willing WE ARE WILLING to give you a brief moment TO GIVE YOU A BRIEF MOMENT of peace OF PEACE that you may take your weapons THAT YOU MAY TAKE YOUR WEAPONS and your friends AND YOUR FRIENDS and go! AND GO! Please do not return! PLEASE DO NOT RETURN! We're giving you a moment of peace. WE'RE GIVING YOU A MOMENT OF PEACE. You can go! YOU CAN GO! We will not follow you. WE WILL NOT FOLLOW YOU." As the crowd speaks, Lieutenant Pike starts shaking his pepper spray canister, and grabs a second from another officer. Then he seems to change his mind, and give the order to leave. They are followed out by chants of "YOU CAN GO!"
Love,
-Yarrow
P.S.:
A video of the students, the next day, sitting silently, arms locked, as the chancellor walks from her office to her car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8775ZmNGFY8
A picture of Lieutenant Pike in action: http://i.imgur.com/J3AE5.jpg
Other videos of the pepper-spraying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuWEx6Cfn-I and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxaLKsFdcjk |
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| Occupy Wall St raided; #N17 call to action for Thursday |
[Nov. 15th, 2011|03:50 am] |
Early this morning the New York police invaded Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park), ripping up tents, destroying the 5000-book People's Library, and beating city council member Ydanis Rodriguez (and many others), and using pepper spray and tear gas. The livestream just went dark, and restarted on someone talking on a cell to a person in the park -- they're dragging people off one by one. They had previously shut down nearby subway stops, cordoned off the park, and closed the airspace above the park to prevent news helicopters from filming them.
There is call to action for Thursday, November 17: http://occupywallst.org/action/november-17th/ .
I'll be there.
P.S. Call City Hall (212.788.3058) and NYPD 1st Precinct (212.334.0611). I got through to the City Hall number after about 25 minutes; the 1st Precinct number has been busy every time I've tried; so lots of folks are calling. Let's keep it that way.
P.P.S. Livestream from outside Liberty Square also went off air, but resumed briefly. We're being told that people who were holding space in the OWS kitchen were teargassed, wrestled to the ground, and arrested; and that all protesters remained peaceful. |
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| Last week in Occupy Richmond |
[Nov. 10th, 2011|02:57 am] |
Wednesday, Nov 2: Sur, Greg, and Josh H. have a bail hearing. (They'd been held without bail since Sunday's arrests). They are released on $500 bond.
Thursday, Nov 3: Josh K also released on $500 bond. The March (pre-OWS) Monroe Park occupiers have a trial in circuit court, defending themselves on first amendment grounds without a lawyer. Ruling to be done Nov. 21.
Saturday, Nov 5: General Assembly reaches consensus to occupy Monroe Park on Wednesday Nov 11.
Sunday, Nov 6: General Assembly empowers the bugout working group to pick a backup site in case of massive police presence in Monroe Park. About 30 people attend a post-GA direct action working group meeting.
Tuesday, Nov 8: About 300 people attend a faculty-organized Why Occupy? forum at Virginia Commonwealth University. That's about as many as at the largest General Assemby I've seen, before the occupation proper started.
Wednesday, Nov 9: 300 people can't fit in Gallery 5 to view All Night, All Day (about Richmond) and other videos of the occupation movement. But they're in the streets afterward. Bicycle scouts report 50-odd police cars and buses at Monroe Park. We split into three groups -- mine marches to Festival Park, where we meet a second group, then march to Kanawha Plaza and finally back to Festival. After a few minutes, the third group arrives, easily as large as the first two combined. They've been to Monroe, where we had either two or four arrests. The count for General Assembly is 290. Festival Park is open until 3am, and we discuss things for a while, eventually using a sort of sotto voce People's Mic so the cops in the distance can't hear our decision. Eventually we decide to move to a new location. I need sleep, so I walk back toward Gallery 5 and my car to go home, type this up and go to sleep. |
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| Occupy Tuesday |
[Nov. 2nd, 2011|12:03 am] |
About 100 people at General Assembly tonight, a little down from last night. Maybe 30 in the direct action working group meeting after GA. About 50 at the nightly 9pm-til-late candlelight vigil at the jail. We found out today that Sur, Greg, and Josh H. will have bail hearings Wednesday at 9am, and Josh K. will have one 9am Thursday. Also Thursday, a 2pm hearing for the appeal of some convictions for the March occupation of Monroe Park. There's hope that those convictions will be thrown out, which will give a boost to our own jailed occupiers and make jailing us for future occupations harder. May it be so.
The break in the occupation has increased energy for demonstrations, vigils, courthouse visits, etc. We'll be supporting our folks in court, protesting at the Mayor's office, protesting at banks, etc. |
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| Samhain raid on Occupy Richmond |
[Nov. 1st, 2011|12:41 am] |
At 1am Samhain morning 175 police brought in floodlights and bulldozers to destroy the Occupy Richmond encampment in Kanawha Plaza. They gave folks 15 minutes to move their belongings, then moved in.
There were 10 arrests. Some folks were given summons and released, and two we've bailed out; but Sur, Greg, Josh and Josh are being held without bail (on misdemeanor charges!) because the magistrate believes they'll occupy again if released. Their trial is set for late November.
In November, most likely, their trespassing charge (a class one misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail) will be thrown out, and they'll be convicted of being the park after dark (a traffic-ticket type of offense, theoretically punishable by a $250 fine, in practice $25).
In other words, not only is Richmond violating the First Amendment by abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble, it is also persecuting these four under color of law by jailing them without a trial -- not because they might flee a $25 fine but because they might commit free speech.
We're going to continue the occupation, more fluidly and perhaps more assertively. We hadn't marched much so far, but tonight we marched far enough that my feet still hurt, waving at Halloweeners, singing Solidarity Forever, and chanting All Night! All Day! Occupy RVA! as well as less local chants.
Thursday my Central Virginia community had a Samhain ritual, visiting the land of the dead. Saturday night my regional community had a Samhain ritual, visiting the land of the dead. Tonight my Richmond community had a Samhain ritual, too. We've got four still to bring back, in token of the thousands, millions, billions of us we need to restore to freedom in the years to come.
If you're in Richmond, come on down to the General Assembly Tuesday at 6pm, on the inlaid compass outside of VCU's James Branch Cabell Library at Park and Linden streets. |
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| #OccupyRichmond begins |
[Oct. 16th, 2011|12:53 am] |
Friday
======
The big question Saturday will be where to occupy -- the very first planning meeting, way back in the mists of beginning on October 5, had decided to defer the choice of location until the day of action. There's energy around two main choices, Kanawha Plaza near the banks, and Monument Avenue near the "statues of dead white assholes". The police have promised either a permit or an informal hands-off for sleeping in Kanawha Plaza, and discourage Monument Avenue. The newly involved and excited folks at the core of the #OccupyRichmond group are attracted by the idea of targeting the banks around Kanawha and are inclined to trust police assurances that we won't be arrested for sleeping there. (It's illegal to be in a park after sunset in Richmond, punishable by a fine). Long-term local activists have proposed Monument Avenue partly because it has wide grassy medians that aren't parks.
I'm worried about trying to make such a choice by consensus -- or modified consensus: we use a 90% rule. In practice that means that if there is a 90% preference for a proposal, it's acted on without much discussion. Dispreference is signaled by wiggling downturned fingers (the opposite of the wiggling upturned fingers of agreement). Our signal for a true block is crossed arms, hands in fists. Then there is discussion.
Yesterday's meeting got bogged down in blow-by-blow consensus readings on ten or fifteen points of process, and folks got restless and jumped stack with direct responses way too often. We decided to use a technique from the People's Assemblies and take a stack of folks speaking to the strength of each proposal and a stack of folks with concerns. And perhaps to ask for consensus to take a preference vote.
At the 4:30 facilitation working group meeting I hear of another facilitation meeting with an entirely different set of folks, to happen around 9:00 after an 8:00 event involving "stuff with herbs and scents". I'm worried about having two sets of people making decisions, so I decide to go to that one too.
Besides, the stuff with herbs and scents sounds intriguing. It turns out to be, well, magic -- we speak our intentions, we sing songs, we laugh, we cast herbs onto a 300-year-old Turkish prayer rug, gather them up, and take them out to spread over the city. It's a bit weird doing magic with monotheists -- they keep saying things like "we're all the same" where I'd say "there's room for all of us". Still, there's ecstasy. We start with "I am opening up in sweet surrender to the luminous love light of the One", and later folks take up "We are rising up like the phoenix from the fire -- children of the earth, spread your wings and fly higher" to the same tune. I'd learned the phoenix chant in jail in 2000 (though "children of the earth" was new to me until I heard eddy sing it in DC). It's nice to have that thread return.
We don't finish until 10:00, and there's no energy for talking about facilitation. We do find out that the police officer who's been talking to us says the mayor has decided to enforce all the clear-the-park laws after all, and grant no permit.
Saturday
========
There are about 300 people here, maybe half new. We have an outside facilitator, a woman who's trying to take a break from activism but has been persuaded to come back just this once. She's excellent, at first letting the occasional person with an inappropriate direct response finish before pointing out that it wasn't in process, and later as the crowd becomes more educated stopping people earlier.
The local Occupy Richmond man working with her, who'd been a bit tentative at a previous meeting, steps out and covers her back with great confidence.
As people speak, its clear there's more energy for Kanawha Plaza than Monument Avenue, but neither gets 90%. We finally consense to take a vote between them, with one true block that turns out to be not a block of this current preference vote but a strong concern about doing the same in the future.
Folks march to Kanawha, where there's more discussion about taking the park (despite the sunset law) or staying on the sidewalk. The eventual decision is the sidewalk. Folks seem to have the idea that sleeping on the sidewalk is also illegal, though I can't find a reference in the city code. I'm willing to sleep in the park or on the sidewalk, with or without the risk of arrest, but I do need to sleep sometime! I give another oldster a ride to his car, bring back some water, and go home. But do I sleep? No, I send you this!
/Now/ I'll sleep.
Love,
-Yarrow |
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| #OccupyDC adopts consensus |
[Oct. 5th, 2011|11:40 pm] |
A few of us are at the #OccupyDC General Assembly, witnessing the assembly adopt consensus as its decision-making process.
We strain to hear the participants. Cars come and go honking their support, heartwarming and ear-splitting. Clearly many here are well-versed in consensus, but they are cutting no corners. Someone compliments the facilitators on their respect for freedom of expression and asks for a similar respect for time. Shortly thereafter the consensus process is adopted by a sea of twinkles and we hoot and holler.
The slow process continues. There is a call for concerns, standasides, and blocks on the question of how much time to spend discussing the hot question of the last few days: how to handle relations between #OccupyDC and the October 2011 group. That discussion is passionate and generous: these folks are from DC; most of October 2011 is not. That truth is spoken. As is the truth that goals of the two movements are the same.
We're not DC residents either, so we witness. The meeting is awkward, long, and slow. And it touches the heart. The care taken here, and the patience of the assembly with that care, with each other, is an opening to a better world. |
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| We Don't Forsake Her [Tar Sands Action] |
[Sep. 5th, 2011|11:06 pm] |
Saturday: I am waiting to be arrested at the Tar Sands sit-in, whose purpose is to pressure the Obama administration to reject an oil pipeline from the Canadian tar sands plants (think of a combination of mountaintop removal and fracking) to refineries in Texas. The pipeline would pass through the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides drinking water for people in eight states and irrigation water for a third of the irrigated land in the U.S.
There's always a point in an action where the energy flags and I start wondering why in the world I got myself into this. The Tar Sands action is an old-style civil disobedience sit-in, with heavy emphasis on "civil" and on dignity, which suits my personality better than my politics. So I stand in the hot sun, guiltily happy to be bored rather than scared, but missing the giant puppets and outrageous costumes and anarchist youth and spiral dances of a carnival of resistance. Still, it's an impressive turn-out, particularly since it will be the first arrest for almost everyone I talk to. (243 are arrested Saturday, 1252 over the two weeks of the action.)
And standing there bored I get a drive-by mystical hit, the kind that comes in a flash and changes your perspective for a long time. The words for this one are "it's the second person /plural/" -- which is less inscrutable than it sounds. It's a reference to something a goddess had said to me a long time ago, in a period of great personal pain and despair: "You don't forsake me." Not a promise that /she/ won't forsake /me/ -- an observation that I don't forsake her, as if she'd turned to the back of the book to see how it turns out. The hit I get Saturday is that it's us: /we/ don't forsake her. Implicit in this mass of people waiting patiently to be arrested is a long chain stretching back to the beginning and forward to whatever the end of the book may be, made of heroes, yes, and martyrs, and also ordinary people like me and the others waiting here. We don't forsake her. Not now, not in the future. That's the message.
Does that chain include the entire human race? The cops counting out their plastic handcuffs too? The people who plan to profit from the pipeline too? Eventually? I don't know. I don't know.
The rest of the day: The women are arrested first, then the men; and within each (apparent) gender, the (apparently) old before the young. Lisa and others, many arrested on previous days, cheer us as we get photographed and put on paddy wagons and buses. I'm number 118, at 60 the youngest in my paddy wagon. The woman who fills out my ticket doesn't check off the "offense" box -- maybe they didn't bust me for "failing to obey a lawful order" but "improper refrigeration of food"? The folks filling out the tickets are annoyed with the folks who brought us in because we're not in numerical order; the man who fills out my receipt is annoyed with me because I put my hand on the table. Police are bureaucrats with guns, David Graeber says, and I think he's right.
Still, I hope they don't forsake her. When she looks at the end of the book, I hope she sees they don't forsake her. |
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| Dao De Jing, 12 |
[Apr. 18th, 2009|11:16 pm] |
We’re blinded by color,
deafened by sound,
numbed by flavor,
maddened by gallops and hunts.
When we get what’s hard to get,
we get stuck.
That’s why the wise act from the belly,
not the eye.
So let go that and pick up this. |
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