Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/16/11


9:15 AM: Apparently, all the crackdowns were coordinated with the help from--surprise!--the FBI, Homeland Security, and other federal agencies. According to the Examiner's piece Occupy Crackdowns Coordinated with Federal Officials: 
"Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict "Occupy" protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night's move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies."


9:35 AM: YouTube video of Zuccotti Park Eviction: LRAD used; journalists denied access.




10:00 AM: Robert Reich, who gave the Mario Savio Memorial Lecture last night at UC Berkeley entitled "Class Warfare in America," has a new article: "Occupiers Occupied: The Hijacking of the First Amendment." The irony of the police cracking down on the students in the very square where http://www.savio.org/who_was_mario.htmlMario Savio gave his rousing speech in defense of free speech is lost on the defenders of the status quo ante.
Robert Reich
Oh, the irony:
"A funny thing happened to the First Amendment on its way to the public forum. According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech and corporations are now people. But when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political consequences of this, they’re treated as public nuisances and evicted." - Robert Reich







10:20 AM: Democracy Now! Interview with Arundhati Roy on why OWS is so crucial to the movement:
"What they (OWS) are doing becomes so important because it is in the heart of empire, or what used to be empire." - Arundhati Roy


10:50 AM: Unlike its detractors, Occupy has a sense of humor!
New York, NY — The NYPD have been occupying Liberty Square since 1:00am Tuesday morning, with the brand new occupation now set to enter its second day in just a few short hours. But will anyone listen to them when their message is so incoherent? "What are their demands?" asked social historian Patrick Bruner. "They have not articulated any platform. How do they expect to be taken seriously?" 

11:15 AM: According to Think Progress, federal prosecution of financial fraud is at 20 year low:
In other news, water is wet...

11:51 AM: Status of the OWS Library. The Occupy Wall Street library, which comprised literally thousands of books, and which had become a neighborhood resource, was essentially looted by the NYPD the other night. The OWS librarians were allowed to pick up what remains of an increasingly renowned facet of the OWS world in Zuccotti. Here's the latest status on the People's Library, which is being live blogged at the Occupy Wall Street Library web site.  Sadly (and no surprise here), apparently, all is not well:

There are only about 25 boxes of books; many of the books are destroyed. Laptop;s here but destroyed. Can't find tent of shelves.

So Mayor Bloomberg: where is the People’s Library?
  • Between 2,000 and 4,000 books (we’ll know if it looks right when we see it ), this includes five boxes of “Reference” materials many of which were autographed by the authors;
  • Our custom made “OWS library stamps;”
  • 5 (4?) laptop computers;
  • Our wifi device;
  • miscellaneous paper supplies;
  • A round portable table;
  • a rectangular portable table;
  • 6 metal shelves (five of which had been set up in two pieces);
  • three sets of wooden drawers;
  • a periodicals spinning rack;
  • Approximately 60 plastic tubs/bins of varying sizes (most small, but several big);
  • archival materials (I was starting to collect some stuff in the library);
  • posters (including many original posters created by OWS participants);
  • two lamps;
  • four solar lights;
  • 7 (or so) chairs;
  • a wooden dinner table (that was our’s right?);
  • periodicals/newspapers/zines (not counted in our book total);
  • our awesome tent;
  • signage;
  • personal belongings of librarians;
12:15 PM: New Chris Hedges Post:  "This Is What Revolution Looks Like"

12:45 PM: Master Bloviator and Co-Architect of "Occupy Iraq" and "Occupy Afghanistan" Karl Rove gets mic-checked by #Occupybaltimore. In response to the "We are the 99%" chant, Rove, apparently a stranger to irony, like most of his followers, replied "You wanna keep jumping up and yelling that you're hte 99%? How presumptuous and arrogant can you think your are." (Something that Turd Blossom oughtta know a thing or two about.) Gotta smile at this...


1:15 PM: By the Numbers. Interesting animated summary of the data behind 1% vs. 99%. According to the Guardian, 1 in 7 Americans, or 46.2 million live below the poverty line. 1 in 6 have no healthcare. 1 of every 17 working Americans earn below the minimum wage.




1:50 PM: BREAKING: Members of the Occupy Boston movement have been granted a temporary restraining order against removal by the City of Boston from Dewey Square Park. Kevin Gosztola reports via twitter:

Philip Anderson, media volunteer, discussing the TRO in Boston. He's 24. (Who cares how old he is? Apparently one of the reporters covering this...) Anyway, thanks again to Kevin Gosztola for posting this.




3:57 PM: An OWS call for help:
Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park), home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months and birthplace of the 99% movement that has spread across the country, was evicted by a large police force in full riot gear. NOW is the time to help. If you feel as deeply about the Occupy movement as we do, show your support by taking real steps today! We are counting on people all over the country to come out and support us to keep this movement going!
For those who are in the NYC area, here's how you can help:
Come to GENERAL ASSEMBLY tonight at 7pm in Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park): They can kick us out, but they can’t stop us from reassembling. Let’s show them that truth by showing up at Liberty Square with the biggest General Assembly yet! Come to GA tonight at 7pm! 
Help the Occupiers Get their stuff back: Supposedly, all the stuff that was taken by the police from the square will be available for people to pick up at noon EST today. WE NEED PEOPLE TO GO TO MIDTOWN MANHATTAN AND HELP THE OCCUPIERS GET THEIR STUFF BACK TODAY! If you can help gather the stuff, especially if you have a van or can rent a U-Haul for the effort, please call or text 617-406-8299 
Support the Occupiers by giving them a place to stay: Live in New York City? Want to support the Liberty Square arrestees? We are looking for safe spaces where folk who have been arrested can go after they are released to rest, tend their wounds, take a shower, have a meal, etc. If you can offer your house, call Hannah at 802.359.3628. Tell us how many people you can have over, for how long, where you live, and a return number. Thanks!  
 For those who aren't in the NYC area, here's how you can help:
Medical Needs Supplies: The medics lost all of their supplies last night along with everyone else. We urgently need all basic medical supplies. Things such as gauze, bandages, bandaids, vitamin C, heat packs, cold packs, gloves, asprin, AND ANY OTHER THINGS THAT YOU CAN THINK MAY BE NECESSARY FOR MEDICAL NEEDS!Medics ALSO need new tent, headlamps, cots, battery-powered lanternsPlease bring supplies to S.I.S (OWS Shipping and Storage) at 52 Broadway, NYC. Mailing Address:118A Fulton St.PO Box 205New York, NY 10038 
Call assistant Attorney General with the Civil Rights Division: http://interoccupy.org/CivilRightscomplaint.pdf is a complaint submitted on behalf of the Occupy Movement to the Department of Justice in response to the increasing antagonism of police against peaceful protesters. It was formally submitted to the Department of Justice on 11/10/2011. It is addressed to a Mister Thomas Perez, the assistant Attorney General with the Civil Rights Division. Mr. Perez’s office number is (202) 514-4609. Let us call, tie up his lines, and demand that every citizen has a right to peaceably assemble without the threat of police violence.
4:56 PM: Reminder: Tomorrow is an International Day of Action:
Official OWS Poster of the National Day of Action

From the OWS post: 
"High-quality, print-ready versions (11x17, 15x24, 23x36) are available as a freely downloadable .zip file. Let's get these posters everywhere! The artist's only stipulation is that they cannot be sold, only given away. Props to r.black for his amazing work!"


5:35: Sanders on the Super Committee--and its democratic members--are a threat to social programs. Bernie Sanders is one of the few senators who clearly qualifies as an honorary Occupy member. He's been leading the good fight against corporate corruption in politics, the increasing disparity between the haves and have nots, and ensuring that the needs of the most vulnerable are not budgeted into obscurity ever since he arrived in the US House of Representatives. Unfortunately, he has often been a lone and laughed at/ignored voice in the legislative wilderness, but today? He's the conscience of an increasingly less than conscionable Congress. Here he is talking about the importance of protecting critical social programs from  republican and democratic, budget axes on the so-called super committee:






Posted by groobiecat at 11/16/2011 07:15:00 AM

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