Occupy Wall Street 3: Now What?

The Galway one got closed down at 4.30am at the beginning of the week, think that might have been about the last one still standing. Though I think 2 others were shut at pretty much the same time.

― Stevolende, Sunday, May 20, 2012 11:50 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but where is the utility data

bless

if you need to decamp to mpls HOOS I got room

https://t.co/XJcFvbcR

Police state alright

Hoos: you could also try to contact Léo Bureau-Blouin or Martine Desjardins, representatives of the other 2 students federation. they are making common front. Talking to Amir Khadir could be of interest , too:
" MNA Amir Khadir of the left-wing Québec Solidaire as he suggested a campaign of civil disobedience may be necessary.
“This is a bludgeon law imposed by an illegitimate, corrupt government,” Mr. Khadir said. “I call upon all citizens to respect the laws. But we have to ask ourselves the question: Must we obey a law that takes away fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution? Can we be justified to disobey?”"

also, check this cool gesture from lolarcade fire
http://voir.ca/voir-content/uploads/2012/05/arcadefire-428x285.jpg

they were wearing the red square on SNL, symbol of the strike

thx for the suggests, i'll try to reach out for sure.

also lol @ arcade fire

been shitty watching my friends get kettled on livestreams all day since the medal throwing

otoh watching a dozen afghanistan & iraq vets, including scott olsen, throw their medals back was pretty moving.

also this happened, which, kind of lol but mostly awesome

https://twitter.com/#!/BoingBoing/status/204334358864199680

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/05/21/bank-accountability-advocates-show-up-at-geithners-house/

https://t.co/XJcFvbcR

Police state alright

― Steve Youngblood (dan m), Sunday, May 20, 2012 7:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this chicago?

yup

other photos

march yesterday that led to scott olsen & a dozen other vets throwing back their medals
https://p.twimg.com/AtYDbIyCIAEpjBb.jpg

another angle
https://dwoq5s27enw2w.cloudfront.net/uploads/manual_img/12/05/nonato.jpg

black bloc stands guard outside a church housing protesters for the night
https://p.twimg.com/AtcG0d1CEAIwcuP.jpg:large

"moe," now widely believed to be the undercover informant in the nato3 (5, now that two more have been arrested) case
http://truth-out.org/images/052112mo_.jpg

also this
http://p.twimg.com/AtYVbnOCEAEydvr.jpg

for fuller context on the above: see the black officer without a helmet in the background? a few seconds earlier someone had hit him in the head with a stick. a second stick gets raised in the crowd, and officer rageface decides to go ham, no pun intended.

so all of this is now completely under-the-rader more or less, no...? I don't see any mention of recent OWS activities anywhere in mainstream media outlets, not even negatively.

It's been all over Chicago news, though mostly w/ praise for the 'restraint' the cops showed in face of protesters.

Lots of talk on the news about CPD "facilitating" marches.

Five men have been accused of planning to bomb President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's home and other targets. Defense lawyers for some of the suspects, however, charged that it was undercover officers who brought the explosives to the apartment where the men were arrested.

Smith was discussing the case with analyst Judge Robert Napolitano on Monday. "That's entrapment, isn't it?" he asked, referring to the activists' allegations.

Napolitano described the practice as the normal course for the FBI. He said the only difference was that federal agents left the case, and that the suspects were being charged just to scare other protesters.

"But the Chicago folks want to make a case out of it, because they want to make an example out of these kids to deter other people from expressing their political opinions in the streets," Napolitano said.

"You've got to be kidding me," Smith said. Later, he asked, "How do we have stories like this, two or three times a week, and no one in the nation seems to care?"

“Because the American public has been deluded into thinking that when the government finds a dope and persuades the dope to say bad things and think he’s assembling a bomb and then he eventually pleads guilty, somehow we are kept safe by that happening,” Napolitano said.

“That’s a load of it!” Smith cried. “Somehow we are made to feel like maybe they're doing something for us, and what they’re really doing is trampling on our liberty.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/21/shep-smith-nato-summit-arrest-liberty_n_1534074.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=3265216,b=facebook

i admit a lot of my anger is at the black bloc folks who make it so damned easy for the media to ignore the substance of the marches and focus on "chaos," "scuffles," etc. there's got to me a way to make those kids go away.

damn black bloc kids

amateurist your anger is more appropriately directed at the media and it seriously enrages me that you can't seem to wrap your fucking head around that relatively simple equation.

i don't know if you were disagreeing or agreeing with me there, but yeah the weathermen were bullshit as well.

why are you on this thread again?

amateurist your anger is more appropriately directed at the media and it seriously enrages me that you can't seem to wrap your fucking head around that relatively simple equation.

― sleeve, Monday, May 21, 2012 10:27 PM (49 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my anger is definitely directed at the media. the tribune's "coverage" of this has been beyond appalling, throwing out any standards of what i used to think of as "journalism."

that said, am i allowed to be mad at _both_ the media and the selfish thrill-seeking black blockers as well? it isn't a zero-sum game.

why are you on this thread again?

― sleeve, Monday, May 21, 2012 10:29 PM (13 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wow, you are really being not-nice. why is that? can i not criticize the black blockers on this thread?

I understand your frustration but I think it is tragically misdirected. there will always be at least one stupid person at any rally, it is not the responsibility of everybody else there to prevent the media from using them as the quote.

I mean, a lot of this "oh these horrible black bloc kids" handwringing reads as indirect criticism of the entire movement/everybody who was present and I am really seriously not down with that.

amateurist your anger is more appropriately directed at the media and it seriously enrages me that you can't seem to wrap your fucking head around that relatively simple equation.

― sleeve, Monday, May 21, 2012 10:27 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't know if you think i'm stupid or your inability to imagine that i might be enraged at the media _and_ critical of the "black block" types is indicative or your own small-mindedness (or perhaps just the heat of the moment). but you are being amazingly ungenerous here, for no discernable reason.

"there will always be at least one stupid person at any rally" does not really capture the concerted efforts by groups of young folks (in varying numbers, but sometimes in the dozens or 100s) to show up at every recent demo and systematically ignore the principles on which those who organized the rallies intended to carry it out -- indeed even showing contempt and even hostility to those in the rally itself.

does that make you frustrated? i don't have a limited supply of anger, i'm willing to share it with the tribune too. ;-)

I mean, a lot of this "oh these horrible black bloc kids" handwringing reads as indirect criticism of the entire movement/everybody who was present and I am really seriously not down with that.

― sleeve, Monday, May 21, 2012 10:33 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

!!!!!!!!

i have been a part of many of these rallies themselves (not to mention being deeply involved in the madison stuff last year).

the idea that you cannot criticize these dumb-ass lifestyle anarchists without somehow being guilty of tarnished the entire idea of organized protest is kind of o_O. take a step back and think about how reactionary your response is.

or do i have to establish my bona-fides first before i can criticize them?

seriously your initial reply basically assumes that i am a fucking idiot and you can't blame me for getting a little upset at that.

amateurist otm, though i think tolerance for black blockers within activist/anarchist/OWS circles is fair thing to criticize, too

Amateurist's posts throughout the Wisconsin protests were golden

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/how-fbi-entrapment-is-inventing-terrorists-and-letting-bad-guys-off-the-hook-20120515

The main thing I get from this article is not just national coverage of entrapment, but the fact that the CIA actively plotted a media event timed to hit on May 1 to associate occupy with domestic terrorism

i was at the courthouse at 26th and california in chicago on saturday doing prison support for the three guys charged with terrorism. it hit really close to home for me and the people i was with—bridgeport, where the apartment that was raided is, is just a neighborhood over from where we live, and the friend i was with has beer brewing equipment and was hosting like a dozen protestors from out of town. i'm still not clear on the alleged situation (the NLG defense lawyers are claiming entrapment but i've seen other statements by NLG lawyers that completely deny the charges) but the whole thing seems fucked and too pat. everyone there was pretty shocked when the $1.5 million per defendant bond was announced

yeah that is fucking awful

obviously the stuff now happening in the chicago w/ the supposed molotov cocktails is equally fishy, if that's a strong enough word. which is isn't.

xpost

actually it works w/o the xpost

is there a good article the summarizes what's happening w/ those arrested in chicago? i've followed it in bits and pieces.

the idea that you cannot criticize these dumb-ass lifestyle anarchists without somehow being guilty of tarnished the entire idea of organized protest is kind of o_O. take a step back and think about how reactionary your response is.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, May 21, 2012 8:36 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark

well I apologize for trying to think this stuff out while typing, and I wasn't trying to accuse you. what I'm trying to get at here is that, as invested parties, we feel too much of a sense of responsibility about dumb-ass black bloc posturing, and we take on a sense of failure when that kind of stupid shit ruins rallies and grabs headlines. but I don't think that it should be this thing we take on as a burden - and maybe I am speaking only for myself here, having had this conversation over and over for like 20 years now. we just need to ignore it, do whatever damage control is necessary, and move on. i'm wary of magnifying it to be emblematic of the failure of the "movement"" as a whole. the struggle has weird ripple effects, the stuff that grabs headlines now might not be what ends up having an impact five years down the road.

i disagree. i think it's really important to at least try to think of ways that the whole black bloc can be neutralized or distanced. that doesn't mean the press will suddently right itself, far from it. but i still think it's important.

i don't think its emblematic of any "failure" of the movement, it's just a persistent problem. i wish i had good answers for it but i'm not a good tactician.

i think kevin gosztola has been the best source for information for me at least. there's another two people who were arrested on terrorism charges yesterday (also accused of making/having molotov cocktails)
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/05/19/nato-3-came-to-chicago-to-commit-terrorist-acts-of-violence-cpd-fbi-secret-service-claim/
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/05/21/the-preemptive-prosecution-of-the-nato-5/

at least one of the chicago guys arrested was a livestreamer as i understand it, and another was reportedly anarchist black cross? i mean these people are A) recording and sharing what they're up to and B) trying to avoid arrest so they can help everyone else at a protest out. so i figure they're the least likely to get involved in something more legally shady since they have a direct interest in obeying the law the better to do their job. which means the whole thing to me stinks of frame-up and not just entrapment.

obviously the stuff now happening in the chicago w/ the supposed molotov cocktails is equally fishy, if that's a strong enough word. which is isn't.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 4:22 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, same entrapment techniques. "green is the new red" is a pretty great (if now apparently dated) book on the utilization of this stuff against the militant greens in the late 90s/early aughts.

btw i support the black bloc and the vast majority of their ("their", like they're a singular entity...) actions aren't about fucking with police or escalating conflicts—i think there was some discussion about this upthread. wholesale condemnation of them is buying into stereotypes that are promoted by the police and media

my eyes roll out of my head whenever someone (like my mom) says the phrase "violent anarchists"

re: cleveland 3 & nato5 this ran today in truthout

http://truth-out.org/news/item/9286-entrapment-of-cleveland-5-and-nato-3-is-nothing-new

btw i support the black bloc and the vast majority of their ("their", like they're a singular entity...) actions aren't about fucking with police or escalating conflicts—i think there was some discussion about this upthread. wholesale condemnation of them is buying into stereotypes that are promoted by the police and media

― 1staethyr, Tuesday, May 22, 2012 4:42 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thank you x 1 million

i have friends who're happy democrats excited to vote against romney in november, and they were tweeting their appreciation for the black bloc's defense throughout this weekend. bloc'ers stayed up all night throughout the weekend to stand watch at the convergence center guarding against raids too, as i hear it.

also, in the midst of frame-up bs like these guys in chicago are getting subjected to for basically livestreaming video and being outspoken and trying to provide first-aid in dodgy situations, to say "oh no anarchists with their streetfighting ways" is pretty much throwing them to the wolves.

Let's not forget that, unless the trolls who tend to come at me with damning shit have missed it, this weekend saw a lot of cop violence and next to no property destruction I can find report of. There are practical reasons to criticize the black bloc tactic--it's exceedingly difficult to root out provocateurs when anonymity is part of the raison d'etre, for example, and some (wrongly I think) view smashy smashy as an end in itself bcz they expect it to be tinder to light revolt--but I think to use those reasons to tar people who put themselves in harms way to safeguard other demonstrators & ongoing direct actions is at the least narrow-minded.

the folks i spoke to from the marches didn't feel safeguarded by those folks. and i certainly haven't in rallies i've attended. in fact they described and i recall a number of kerchief'd young folk actually pushing their way through lines of the march, shoving other protestors etc. this is commonplace.

i also think those folks are totally tone deaf (to mix senses) in terms of how their swagger and costuming is going to be perceived by the vast majority of folks including many folks in the rallies. this probably seems like small potatoes but it actually seems significant to me.

xp yeah, the only "property damage" i know of is the ripping down of a nato banner on friday. the guy who did that was dearrested that day (by whom i wonder...) and arrested again later i think

i realize we have fundamental disagreements on this stuff.

the guy who did that was dearrested that day (by whom i wonder...)

otm

i realize we have fundamental disagreements on this stuff.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 5:12 AM (22 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sure and i think you're right on about the cultural/signaling issues

like, that's part of why i was so excited about the "clown bloc" when i got word of it--people making defense look jaunty! p disappointed when it turned out they were either A) a joke all along or (more likely) B) unable to get the numbers they wanted and ran a "it was a joke" press release.