Occupy Oakland holds its first General Assembly after retaking Oscar Grant Plaza in front of City Hall Tuesday evening and votes for a General Strike on Wednesday, Nov. 2.
Liberate Oakland! GENERAL STRIKE!Shut down the 1 percent Wed. Nov. 2
Protect OccupySF by packing hearing on the Avalos resolution Mon, Oct. 31, 10 a.m. Room 250, SF City Hall
by Occupy Oakland
Oct. 27, 2011
Below is the proposal passed by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. In reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza, 1,607 people voted – 1,484 voted in favor of the resolution, 77 abstained and 46 voted against it, passing the proposal at 96.9 percent. The General Assembly operates on a modified consensus process that passes proposals with 90 percent in favor and with abstaining votes removed from the final count.
PROPOSAL
- We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1 percent.
- We propose a citywide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.
- All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.
While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self-organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.
The whole world is watching Oakland. Let’s show them what is possible.
The Strike Coordinating Council will begin meeting every day at 5 p.m. in Oscar Grant Plaza before the daily General Assembly at 7 p.m. All strike participants are invited. Stay tuned for much more information, and see you next Wednesday.
OCCUPY OAKLAND RETAKES OSCAR GRANT PARK, OCCUPY SAN FRANCISCO THWARTS POLICE RAID
The 99 percent have continued Occupy Oakland and protected Occupy San Francisco. After a devastating early morning raid and a night of police repression and brutality, people did what they had to do: They returned to the site by the thousands.
This time the police stood down. In a triumphant return to Oscar Grant (Frank Ogawa) Plaza, 3,000 members of the 99 percent held their General Assembly. It was powerful. It was peaceful. And it could not be stopped.
Update, Oct. 27, 5pm Pacific: Olsen will undergo brain surgery "within the next one or two days." In the photo above, Veterans For Peace member Scott Olsen, who is identified as a former U.S. Marine and Iraq war veteran, lies on the street after being struck in the head by a police projectile in Oakland, California, during eviction of the Occupy Oakland encampment.
Injustices that mandate the continuation and growth of the Occupy movement abound. Oakland spent several million dollars on its campaign Tuesday to shut down free speech in Oakland – a campaign so brutal that Scott Olsen, 24, a Marine veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq who had been staying at Occupy Oakland, is hospitalized in critical condition, his skull fractured by a police projectile.
Meanwhile, despite parents’ impassioned testimony and the attendance at a School Board meeting of a crowd of 300, bolstered by occupiers, the board voted Wednesday to close five schools: Lakeview, Lazear, Marshall, Maxwell Park and Santa Fe.
Across the Bay in San Francisco, hundreds gathered to stop a planned raid ordered by Interim Mayor Ed Lee. Community organizations, labor unions and progressive members of the Board of Supervisors came down to defend the camp and risk arrest.
Supervisor John Avalos sits in support of Occupy San Francisco with thousands of protesters Wednesday night, Oct. 26, to prevent a raid threatened by Interim Mayor Ed Lee and Police Chief Greg Suhr. The presence of Avalos, who stayed until 4 a.m., along with several more supervisors, Public Defender Jeff Adachi and other elected officials, helped thwart the raid. – Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP
“We have a responsibility to protect the legacy of this city as a haven for free speech, as well as to protect the residents,” said Supervisor John Avalos, who stayed at the camp until 4 a.m. along with four other supervisors. They were responding to calls from labor and community groups to join the peaceful protest in a show of solidarity and an attempt to head off a violent clash as San Francisco police marshaled forces to raid the encampment. Avalos is also a candidate for mayor.
Periodically, he reported, they heard reports of police heading to the area and amassing in two different locations. Avalos says he did not receive any response from repeated calls to Interim Mayor Lee, Police Chief Greg Suhr or Suhr’s deputies. Helicopters began hovering over the protest site at 9 p.m., adding to the tension among protesters after the violent conflicts the night before in Oakland.
Occupy Oakland participants restore banner to Oscar Grant Park
This comes days after Avalos introduced a resolution supporting the goals of Occupy Wall Street and the right to peaceful assembly in San Francisco. The resolution, co-sponsored by Supervisors David Campos, Jane Kim and Eric Mar, would put the San Francisco Board of Supervisors officially on the record in support of the growing protest movement. It also explicitly called on the interim mayor to halt the crackdown on protesters and prevent further violence.
Supporters from Occupy Oakland streamed across on BART to stand with San Francisco – until BART shut down three stations in Oakland at 11 p.m. With hundreds picketing, chanting and rallying all through the night, the city wisely called off the raid.
“I have no doubt that the broad show of solidarity last night from the people of San Francisco is what prevented the police raid. I am proud that my colleagues and I were there to be a part of this small but significant victory.”
Community organizations, labor and faith leaders worked throughout the day yesterday, pushing both mayors to back off and let the encampments continue and calling people to come out and support. The mayors were told the movement would not be deterred and the people would come back.
Calls are being heard for the recall of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. This movement is now too big to fail.
If you haven’t already, sign the petition to permanently prevent the raid in San Francisco.
Go visit your local encampment. Stay a while. Let’s find even more ways to connect Occupy, community organizing, labor and all of the 99 percent to keep this movement growing.
This story is based on a report from Causa Justa :: Just Cause, with additions by Bay View staff.
During the police raid by 500-600 officers from Oakland PD and 16 other jurisdictions on the Occupy Oakland camp in front of City Hall, the brutality by cops against peaceful protesters was crazy.
http://sfbayview.com/2011/call-for-general-strike-nov-2-%e2%80%93-plus-occupy-updates/
How to help Scott Olsen : Iraq Veterans Against The War has a link here and Veterans for Peace has a link here where you can donate to help cover Olsen’s medical expenses.
