Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

[Gunnarr]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

A government that has set its mind to something will not change unless there is a majority of people against them, future votes sway governments not minority occupations, no matter how impassioned they are.

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

For all posters:
Yes, it is. But that doesn't mean that we need to do our best to denigrate it into a morass of bitchiness. Either be civil and state your case, opinion, etc in a respectful manner (this is where the use of "I" statements come in handy, and posting links to where you are getting your information come in) or just move on. If you can't make your point without making it an argument, don't bother.

Looking again I realized something.

You need to back up a RANT with links to where you're getting your information from?

I guess everybody who's ranted in here about a family member, or a personal encounter needs to stop being we now need evidence on the internet to back up every single thing right?

[thalassa]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but this is Rants & Decline of Humanity.

Since this became a DISCUSSION, and is not in fact a RANT, yes...I (speaking for the rest of the staff) expect for people (particularly adults) to engage in civilized DISCUSSION--using techniques such as stating that their opinion is infact their opinion, or providing evidence for it being more than opinion. Rather than an arguing bitch-fest.

[Medusa]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

I'm occupying this thread in protests.











*someone fetch my my latte please.

[Caelia]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

I'm occupying this thread in protests.











*someone fetch my my latte please.

Mighty Ziltoid? Is that you?




Ok, back to the seriousness. Is there any follow up to the Occupy Oakland protests?

[kijani]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

Not that I've seen, no, although I'd be interested in hearing more about it. I personally still don't think that it will work because a great deal of the people involved aren't in any way aware of the original purpose, but we'll see.

[cesara]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

Not that I've seen, no, although I'd be interested in hearing more about it. I personally still don't think that it will work because a great deal of the people involved aren't in any way aware of the original purpose, but we'll see.

I'm not sure that matters? The passion is real, regarless of where it stems from.....and, personally I am starting to reassess my original theory that many people don't know what the original purpose was.....it seems that it's getting more and more clear that people know the banks, based on fraudulent activities, are the reason the recession has hit, and that they are stlll lining their pockets while 'the people' foot their bill -- not to mention they are pissed that no one -- not one person/bank/corporation -- has been called to account in the justice system.....

I'm thinking people....at the very least.....are getting that....

[Crimson Horizons]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

Although I am hesitant to post in this thread given the lack of decorum I am stepping into, I do have a question. Is this thread about the Occupy Oakland movement? Is this thread instead about the Occupy movement as a whole from which the Oakland movement is just a portion?

I was under the impression that is was the later since I have seen more posts about the Occupy movement than the OO movement in particular. However, now that two moderators have stated that it is, in fact, dedicated solely to the former, I find myself thoroughly confused. Given that even moderators have posted in this thread about movements other than the one taking place in Oakland, I would very much like to know what topic is and is not acceptable in this thread.

[Medusa]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

I'm guessing this:

Post about any occupy.
Don't be a douche when posting.

amirite?

[Gwen]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

Gorrammit, the intarwebz just ate a long post. Aright.

Occupy Oakland is still going strong, though they've had to move their tents several times. You can track them here on their website. Lots of my seminary classmates and professors are involved in the Interfaith Tent there, and several have been arrested. There's some coordination among Occupy camps in Oakland, San Francisco, and on the UC-Berkeley campus. There's a multi-port-city protest in the works for mid-December along pretty much the entire west coast of the USA.

A few weeks ago the AAR (American Academy of Religion, THE peer review organization for religious studies in the US) had its annual conference in San Francisco. Many conference presenters worked with Occupy SF to hold vigils, rallies, etc.

I can also tell you that reports of police brutality at UC-Berkeley are not exaggerated. I haven't been down myself but a number of my seminary classmates and professors have. Many of them have been part of human chains with linked arms around the tents. (Y'know, standard Civil Rights Era civil disobedience? After the UCB Chancellor inexplicably declared that this was "not nonviolent behavior," apparently photos sprung up all over campus of Martin Luther King, Jr., leading protestors doing the exact same thing.) Several of my classmates and professors saw police advance on these human chains and beat students. One of my teachers saw a UCB professor kneel and offer her wrists, saying, "Please arrest me." The policeman grabbed her hair, yanked her up, threw her face-forward on the ground, and began to beat her. My professor saw the same thing happen to several students beside her.

On I think a different day, my professor saw a woman who found herself in the midst of an area that was heating up. She started shouting, "I'm pregnant, let me out," and moving toward an edge of the crowd. A policeman looked right at her and kicked her (twice, as I recall) in the stomach. My prof was later told that she had miscarried.

I understand that the politics of Occupy are divisive, and we can respectfully disagree about them. But please know that police brutality here is very real.

[thalassa]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

However, now that two moderators have stated that it is, in fact, dedicated solely to the former, I find myself thoroughly confused. Given that even moderators have posted in this thread about movements other than the one taking place in Oakland, I would very much like to know what topic is and is not acceptable in this thread.

I don't think any of us said it was only about Occupy Oakland, regardless of the title. If anyone implied that somehow, the rest of the thread is indication that it just generally on the Occupy movement. The warnings have been (repeatedly) about the tone of comments in this and other threads on topic, one of which is closed and the other of which isn't visible (of which there is now only this thread for that reason). Its possible to have an adult conversation in which people disagree with one another, but only if people aren't taking potshots and making incinerary comments without some evidence or being upfront about it being their personal opinion...but without that, its just going to descend into one big POS again. There are just too many people involved with strong opinions on the matter to make it about trying to get everyone to un-bunch their panties.

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

Gorrammit, the intarwebz just ate a long post. Aright.

Occupy Oakland is still going strong, though they've had to move their tents several times. You can track them here on their website. Lots of my seminary classmates and professors are involved in the Interfaith Tent there, and several have been arrested. There's some coordination among Occupy camps in Oakland, San Francisco, and on the UC-Berkeley campus. There's a multi-port-city protest in the works for mid-December along pretty much the entire west coast of the USA.

A few weeks ago the AAR (American Academy of Religion, THE peer review organization for religious studies in the US) had its annual conference in San Francisco. Many conference presenters worked with Occupy SF to hold vigils, rallies, etc.

I can also tell you that reports of police brutality at UC-Berkeley are not exaggerated. I haven't been down myself but a number of my seminary classmates and professors have. Many of them have been part of human chains with linked arms around the tents. (Y'know, standard Civil Rights Era civil disobedience? After the UCB Chancellor inexplicably declared that this was "not nonviolent behavior," apparently photos sprung up all over campus of Martin Luther King, Jr., leading protestors doing the exact same thing.) Several of my classmates and professors saw police advance on these human chains and beat students. One of my teachers saw a UCB professor kneel and offer her wrists, saying, "Please arrest me." The policeman grabbed her hair, yanked her up, threw her face-forward on the ground, and began to beat her. My professor saw the same thing happen to several students beside her.

On I think a different day, my professor saw a woman who found herself in the midst of an area that was heating up. She started shouting, "I'm pregnant, let me out," and moving toward an edge of the crowd. A policeman looked right at her and kicked her (twice, as I recall) in the stomach. My prof was later told that she had miscarried.

I understand that the politics of Occupy are divisive, and we can respectfully disagree about them. But please know that police brutality here is very real.

Can you please post links backing up your word of mouth that there were beatings of students.

[Gunnarr]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

http://99percenters.tumblr.com/post/13143919856/miscarriage-at-occupy

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

http://99percenters.tumblr.com/post/...iage-at-occupy

That is Seattle, not UC-Berkeley.

Also, pepper spray does not cause miscarriages. Pepper spray is capsaicin, if capsaicin caused miscarriages anybody that ate spicy food while pregnant would miscarry.

[Dez]

Re: Police fire on Occupy Oakland protesters.

Footage of police beating protesters in Berkley, as well as their silent response the night after : http://morallowground.com/2011/11/10...rkeley-campus/

http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/berkeley-students-file-suit-over-beatings-occupy/vFLmr/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BmQ-zx-IHM&feature=player_embedded

Notice the professor offering her hands, and then getting grabbed by her hair. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNHXu...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPW0214z2Vk&feature=related

And as for other protests--

Ydanis Rodriguez, New York City Councilman, Beaten Bloody & Arrested During ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Eviction Raid: http://morallowground.com/2011/11/15...eviction-raid/

A U.S. Marine and two tour Iraqi war vetran was in critical condition after being shot in the head with a rubber bullet at close range in Oakland: http://morallowground.com/2011/10/26...kland-protest/

and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1062698.html

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/11/the-berkeley-beatings/

Kayvan Sabehgi, Army Ranger and Iraq/Afghan War Vet, Hospitalized with Ruptured Spleen after Police Beating and Arrest During ‘Occupy Oakland’ Clash: http://morallowground.com/2011/11/05...oakland-clash/

And here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...eating-veteran

This girl in Seattle was pepper sprayed, and kicked in the stomach, after trying to get out due to pregnancy and miscarried: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...bBlN_blog.html

Judge Karen Smith, who was working as a legal observer when Occupy Seattle was cleared, was pushed up against a wall after trying to intervene when police started beating an unarmed woman trying to find her daughter: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/...py_wall_street

84-Year-Old Dorli Rainey, Pepper-Sprayed at Occupy Seattle: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...XKUN_blog.html

Please also see my previous link about journalists being repeatedly targeted by police. While Occupy NYC was being cleared out, news choppers were not allowed in lower Manhattan, press who identified themselves as such were moved to a "holding pen" so far away they couldn't see anything, and those who stayed were targeted, one man even having a metal barrier thrown at him. This is STILL happening.

Also, here is the former Seattle police chief talking about how and why the situation there escalated, including the horrific abuse of tear gas. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/magazine-15929017