Something to address the issue of The Port of Oakland not being able to "afford" the strikes.

Boots Riley

Regarding the full page ad that the Port Of Oakland took out to write a letter against the December 12th West Coast Port Shutdown.

The Port Of Oakland does NOT represent the workers at the port.
They represent the corporations.
The Port Of Oakland are the ones whom the workers battle with over pay and benefits.

When The Port Of Oakland says: "We cannot afford to be shutdown again", the "we" they are referring to are international shipping companies, like SSA, half-owned by Goldman Sachs.


If the 1% can't afford shutdowns like this, we're on to something.

The 1% co-ordinated nationwide brutal attacks on the Occupy Wall Street movement. We are taking the battle to them.

This is in solidarity with Longshoremen in Longview, WA, who are battling against the international grain exporter, EGT, who is using union-busting tactics against the workers.

Longshoremen will not lose pay with the blockade. We will create a "safety issue" by being there. The arbitrator will rule it unsafe for workers, since this is an action not "officially" sanctioned by ILWU. Therefore, the longshoremen will go home with pay.

This is also in solidarity with the underpaid, largely immigrant truck drivers, whose fight for higher wages and benefits have been thwarted by Goldman Sachs.

The big bosses will always tell you that it's against your own best interest to fight them. Don't believe the hype.

The Voices of Occupy!!

Now before anyone gets all anxious, I'm not claiming to be the voice of Occupy, but I think that all the signs that are at an Occupy event show the voices of the people. Things that they have been saying for far too long with hardly any representation. People are tired of being quiet and/or screaming out but not being heard. Have you had any similar thoughts?

Occupy Oakland - General Assembly 11/11/11

Alrighty so on www.ustream.tv/channel/bellaeiko there is live coverage. Please forgive me because I got a couple texts and phone calls so it's in clips but I have majority of the meeting filmed. Now my little phone doesn't have night vision so I wasn't able to see much with my little flashlight. I did try to film all of the meeting up until the end. I did hand over the phone so that I could call into a radio station that I NEVER got to speak on because I was on hold for too long.

As a brief overview of the meeting there were a few proposals, one to present a new type of software for the election process. Some people had a problem with this because it means that the movement legitimizes the current government and that does not seem to be what the people want. This response served as a reminder that the power is in the hands of the people, not the current corrupt governmental system that we are working with (or under actually). This proposal was tabled.

Another resolution was to have a solidarity march with the unions on November 19th I believe. There is major support from several unions so needless to say this proposal passed. It is interesting that I remember this one woman who said we should march in wealthy neighborhoods so that we can let the public and the wealthy know that they are not only residences but also work places for some of the 99%. This comment also received a lot of verbal support from the crowd so I wouldn't be surprised to see if there is a resolution for this idea soon.

The finance committee also came and provided some copies of a proposal that passed. I'm sorry I was on the phone so I can't tell you all the specifics. I do know that the resolution included something about transparency of all financial donations to guard against fraud. I skimmed over some of someones copy and saw something about needing to submit certain paperwork to request money. I also saw something about asking permission to have some money as petty cash. I remember someone yelling about the money being in Wells Fargo, but remember that I was on the phone and cannot tell you what the response was. I do think I caught it on film so I suggest clicking on the above link or keeping an eye on the Occupy Oakland website www.occupyoakland.org to see if there is live footage from tonights GA.

So, I'm incredibly tired and I'm not going to watch my entire video tonight so that I can recap and I probably won't tomorrow because I will be at the March in Solidarity with Egypt. I will be updating my blog as soon as possible though, but please forgive me as I am trying to keep up with an ever growing movement as much as I can =)

Calendar

Occupy Oakland Calendar

I thought that posting this would help some people to understand that these are not riots that the police are attacking. They are peaceful, organized citizens with a strong political message.

However, as you can see from the screenshots, or by clicking the above link, that there is much more going on. For instance there is free yoga, meditation and free food just to name a few of the things that are going on. Today there is a Veterans March, many are showing up in support of Scott Olsen. Here is the community coming together to make change. The thing is, first we still need to spread awareness. There are people in Oakland who still don't know anything about the movement, or don't realize how it has anything to do with him. The more that the movement spreads the more there will be strikes and organizing. 

Anyway, just figured I would put up the calendar so that people can see some of the organization for themselves.

Occupy Cal Berkeley Gets some Oakland Treatment From the Police!

Ok so seems like Oakland isn't the only city to exhibit excessive force and promote the newly accepted police brutality as a form of infringing on my INALIENABLE rights! Like really? Beating students on campus with batons?! Way to go!!! You're officially worse than all the police presence at Laney Junior College. Here is real in your face evidence of the criminalizing of students. Here is a school that is pretty famous for it's liberal status and support of on campus political protests, and yet I see students being hit. Totally unacceptable. 

I would like to take the time to mention that I was at Cal from about 12 to 2am and I saw many police officers there. They seemed to be standing around waiting for orders, and while some looked bored and ready to go home others looked anxious. I wonder how many of them had to report for work but they really support the occupations on their own time. Anyway... I say this to let whomever is reading my blog that the police are people too and just as much as the entire movement can't be held responsible for the actions of a few people, neither can the police be generalized as enemies of the movement. Many of them are 1 budget cut away from being on the other side of the line. Many of them have to take orders and execute them accordingly for fear of not being able to keep their jobs or maintain their lives and families. Now that I have given my rationalized perspective on the police. Let's turn our focus back on what NOT to do to peaceful protesters in AMERICA! 

The people should recognize their strength at this point and time. Every attack on our encampments and events simply brings in more support. This is why even in the face of police brutality we must stand strong. We see footage on youtube and ustream that is eerily uncanny with the 1960's and the Civil Rights movements. This cannot be acceptable in this day in age. If we as a country wanted Git Mo shut down, surely we will not continue to endure our own government to victimize us when we pay their salaries and gave them their positions. We as a people need to come together and show the "officials" that they have officially overstepped their boundaries with actions like the one above.