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Oakland Protesters Call for General Strike Against City
An Iraq war veteran badly wounded in clashes between protesters and police remained in hospital on Thursday morning as activists called for a general strike against the Bay Area city.
Occupy Oakland protester Scott Olsen, a former U.S. Marine and Iraq war veteran, is carried away after being injured during a demonstration in Oakland, California October 25, 2011. (Credit: REUTERS/Jay Finneburgh) Occupy Oakland organizers said they had voted to stage the strike next week, intending to shut down the city following what a spokeswoman called the "brutal and vicious" treatment of protesters, including former U.S. Marine Scott Olsen.
Olsen, 24, has become a rallying cry for the Occupy Wall Street movement nationwide.
"We mean nobody goes to work, nobody goes to school, we shut the city down," organizer Cat Brooks said. "The only thing they seem to care about is money and they don't understand that it's our money they need. We don't need them, they need us."
Here's the full Occupy Oakland statement, that was passed by their General Assembly with a 96.9% majority:
We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.
We propose a city wide 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 everyday at 5pm in Oscar Grant Plaza before the daily General Assembly at 7pm. All strike participants are invited. Stay tuned for much more information and see you next Wednesday.
Spokeswomen for the city of Oakland and Mayor Jean Quan could not immediately be reached for comment.
Brooks said a general strike was a "natural progression" following a crackdown by the city of Oakland early on Tuesday morning in which protesters were evicted from a plaza near city hall and 85 people were arrested.
Protesters sought to re-take that plaza on Tuesday night and were repeatedly driven back by police using stun grenades and tear gas. It was during one of those clashes that protesters say Olsen was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired by police.
A spokesman for Highland General Hospital in Oakland has confirmed Olsen was listed in critical condition from injuries sustained during the protest, but could not say how he was hurt.
Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan told a news conference his department was investigating the incident.
Olsen is believed to be the most seriously wounded person yet in confrontations between police and activists since Occupy Wall Street protests began last month in New York.
News of his injury ignited a furor among supporters of the protests. Activists in Oakland and elsewhere took to Twitter and other social media urging demonstrators back into the streets en masse.
More than 1,000 protesters moved onto the streets of Oakland again on Wednesday night as police largely kept their distance.
Friends say Olsen had been active in several anti-war veterans groups and had joined Oakland protesters in a gesture of solidarity after learning of the police crackdown there.
Keith Shannon, 24, who said he served with Olsen in Iraq, told Reuters his friend suffered a two-inch skull fracture and brain swelling and had been sedated and placed on a respirator in the hospital's emergency room trauma center while neurosurgeons decided whether to operate.
Olsen served two tours in Iraq from 2006 to 2010 with the 3rd battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Shannon said, adding that he and Olsen deployed together and were assigned to a tactical communications unit.
(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb, Ben Berkowitz, Emmett Berg and Mary Slosson; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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82 Comments so far
Show AllBoycott and strike against everything except medical and fire facilities.
SHUT THE SYSTEM DOWN - PULL THE PLUG ON OAKLAND - OAKLAND YOU ARE THE FIRST TO GO DOWN...
Oakland being the largest port between LA and Puget Sound, shutting down the Port of Oakland is essential to the success of a strike.
Exactly it's way past time for a national non violent general strike, may the Bay Area start that wave into action.
Just an FYI, I remember a couple years back that CD would ban people for even mentioning the words, "general strike," the times the are a changing!
That's true Guitar man, remember when they used to allow your favorite quote to automatically show up at the bottom of all your posts?
I've been banned so many times for my NATIONAL BOYCOTT, NATIONAL STRIKE signoff, that I don't even know my screen identity any more.
Oh, darn, I've gone and done it again....
I still don't understand this term "nonviolent". That may be a wish that people have, but obviously these things will never be nonviolent. The police will always attack, because that's what police do. At that point, it is not nonviolent. The question is whether it is legitimate to push back.
I long for - LUST for - the opportunity to strike back physically. BUT I know, absolutely, that we will buy into a fight we cannot win. The corporate state has mercenaries they WILL deploy. Moreover, the non violent path always wins in the end. We will follow Ghandi and King in this. Police departments all over the country are saying NO to their bosses, standing for the Constitution against the corporate rulers. They will join, slowly, inevitably, as our military active duty brothers and sisters are already doing. As a member of Veterans for Peace, I MUST remain non violent, even though all of us were trained in another manner entirely. See the video of the hero standing in full naval uniform in front of the Oakland police, wreathed in tear gas smoke, holding a copy of the Constitution and waving a Veterans for Peace flag. THAT, my friends, is a hero.
+ 1
So right on, Oaktown first; then shut fascist amerika... Total Power to the PEOPLE; this IS the Big Uprising, no one, nothing, can stop it !!!
Nothing?? Has not Mr Obama promised to use reaper drones, to defend his children? Why would he not allow their use to maintain the status quo? as he has used the tresury of this nation to build up the banks to maintain the status quo? as the Greeks just sacraficed their people to maintain the status quo. In any kind of fight we lose. try standing in front of a tank in Jack London Sq you'll lose! >^^<
Rosemarie: Absolutely! Way to go!
Oakland will be first, then 99% ers in other cities and towns will boycott and strike.
The movement is growing as the public realizes how much they are being screwed over by the ruling-class.
The really weird thing that will happen as the system shuts down inch by inch, is how much fun we will have playing with each other than with abstract mathematical programs, tv shows, video games and social networks. You will find people to touch, and to kiss and children who need to be played with (whole ARMIES of kids which need to play and run around) and it will be life changing. You will begin to see just how little people need to actually be happy and that the image of "happiness" which has been sold to you is just that, a commercial product. So much wonderful love and sex to be had with each other with no mediation needed or asked for. The actual flow, uninterrupted of human energy allowed to fully extend itself will be a wonderful thing to watch.
Alan, your post brought tears to my eyes. This is about dialogue on a global scale. The brothers and sisters in Egypt, and Greece, and Spain, and everywhere will be watching. The wonderful physicist David Bohm said, "Dialogue is swimming together in a pool of common meaning."
The global solidarity among the various peoples of the world is in fact quite heartwarming:) Maybe this is the death of life as it used to be as predicted by the Mayan calander? Welcome to a new age of peace and world harmony! A world where people matter and friendship and love are the common denominator rather than an abstract fiat currency.
The reason the whole human race faces this terrible fate today is what can easily be called evolutionary reversal of culture, whereas Andrew Whitan, British evolutionary psychologist has written "Culture Evolves." In this case the opposite has happened among those on Wall Street, London's financial district, Anglo/US/Israeili military industrial, national security complex as they move into the Neanderthal or dinosaur mode of dominating all others to all's ever lasting sorrow and destruction.
May the good Lord be with the "peoole's revoluton" and keep it marching on.
Amen AD!
Nov. 25 the day after Thanksgiving is International Buy Nothing Day :-P
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Amen, AlanWatts4Ever: Beautiful post!
I wouldn't work next Wed. if they offered me triple time, and I'm going to join my brothers and sisters and OCCUPY OAKLAND. History will be made and and general strikes to shut down this corrupt, unequal system will be spreading all over the U.S. and to other countries around the globe.
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
"The only thing they seem to care about is money and they don't understand that it's our money they need. We don't need them, they need us."
Finally, this seldom mentioned fact of life surfaces. It really is that simple when it comes to Corporations--just don't purchase their goods and services. It's also a good bet that Oakland PD got its newest "toys" during Brown's tenure as mayor, and that his fiscal mismanagement is the reason schools are being closed.
I await this slogan: Boycott the corporatized/consumerized spectacle known as Christmas: Make gifts of Love and Kindness, not immaterial goods.
Be strong Occupy Oakland. Be resistant. Be peaceful. Thank you!
To contact Oakland City offices:
Office of the Mayor
phone: (510) 238-3141
fax: (510) 238-4731
Contact Form: http://www.oaklandnet.com/contactmayor.asp
To schedule an appointment with Mayor Quan:
mayors-schedule@oaklandnet.com
City Administrator’s Office
cityadministrator@oaklandnet.com
phone: (510) 238-3301
fax: (510) 238-2223
Deputy Mayor for Policy & Program
Email: LCohen@oaklandnet.com
Phone: (510) 238-7577
Ironic and sad - this veteran fought for his country for years, managed to survive unscathed for not one but TWO tours of Iraq, only to come "home" to the wonderful Shining City On The Hill and then get seriously injured by his own fellow Amereichans, exercising his "guaranteed" constitutional right to peacefully assemble.
Amereicha - the Land of the Hypocritical Fascists.
Lets be careful though it's the power structure who are fascists, not the American people as a whole. There are many ex-MIlitary soldiers showing up like Scott himself, and the cops who refused to arrest the occupation in Albany NY. We need everyone to non violently fight the 1%, the 99% ARE America, not the 1% of actual fascists, fascism being the melding of finance/big business power and the state.
to guitarist
Thanks guitarist EXTREMELY POWERFUL POINT U MAKE, I SECOND THAT without hesitation.
There is enough WATER IN THE RIVER TO DRINK at least for now, we don't slay the gazelles at the edge of the river because they misbehave, we stop the CROCKS from controlling it for no reasons, they may have to EVOLVE & become vegetarian it'll give ALL SOME TIME FOR A TRANSITION & SOME WATER FOR NOW to drink CONSCIOUSNESS TO SEA A NEW VISION.
ITS NOT YES WE CAN ITS YES LETS DO IT.
Your comment is incomprehensible, gibberish.
Indeed.
Perhaps your poetic license has expired? Needs updating? I understood it just fine. Solidarity. Not everyone speaks from the left brain.
Good call, Inb.
"The only thing they seem to care about is money and they don't understand that it's our money they need. We don't need them, they need us."
This is about as powerful a thing as any person can say. The people have borne the burden of the parasitic elites since the beginning. Civilization in the true sense has not been realized fully as long as the parasites remain on the people's backs. Full emancipation is in order now.
But here's a little philosophy. How do we justify a shift of wealth away from the elites and toward the people, further than the outright crime booty? What about the inheritance of fortunes by innocent progeny? Do the people have a right to take that back too?
Yes. Our premise is that the mass production model (and the rest of the "supply-side" models) only works under a certain limit. That limit is where mass production helps pull us out of certain entrenched beliefs that keep us toiling in inefficiency. Once we've discarded those beliefs, mass production loses its utility.
We find that beyond a certain limit, mass production makes us into cogs in the elites' machines for no benefit in return. Cogs in the machine, both production cogs and consumption cogs. We have to break away. This is what localism is all about. Breaking out of the elites' machines (mass production and all the rest), and taking back control of industrial production, public policy and our self-determination. We don't NEED mass production. We don't NEED the "supply-side". We don't need endless petro-conveniences at the endless expense of the biosphere. Elite parasites off our backs, NOW.
And 3/4 of all the idiotic university curriculum into the compost heap along with 3/4 of the plunderous production we now konsume thru the Matrix feeding tubes.
A fairly bizarre post. Mass production? Where does that take place any more? China and India, here and there in Mexico, a few other Asian locations, and that's about it. Mass production in the US was phased out by NAFTA and the global economy. I'm with you concerning localism, but it's still in the Good Idea phase, with a smattering of practical application. Local economies are about as realized as alternative energy, which means, not so much. But we do need both.
This is still focused on money, not fairness, peace and justice. Law has served well. We have permitted democracy to unravel by our minimal participation. There will always be people who achieve their needs at someone elses expense. At least half of this painful lesson is the 1%'s.
"We have permitted democracy to unravel by our minimal participation."
Very true, well said.
My heart goes out to Scott Olsen and any other protesters who were assaulted. Finally, a general strike has been called! This is what I've been waiting for for the whole country. It will be interesting to see how successful the general strike is in Oakland. I hope they shut the entire place down. Best of luck to all! Keep it peaceful and strong! We are all with you!
'This is what I've been waiting for for the whole country.'
Me too! This is what serious activism is all about and one of the few forms of protest (in addition to boycotts of goods and services) that will have the oligarchs shaking in their calfskin boots.
The Oakland, Calif. police department's vicious brutality against peaceful protesters, who were asserting their former constitutional rights, is just a sample of the ruling elite's crackdown against the coming revolution.
Finally, people are in the streets and taking direct action against the criminal war profiteers and banksters. General strikes and boycotts are the next logical step. Shut down the fascist government. NOW!
So where do you stand on the 2nd Amendment? You support that right without abridgment of course?
Oh, stop. We've heard it before.
I imagine if the pigs in black fatigues in Oakland observed any of the protesters carrying firearms, like the wacko tea partiers were packing at their rallies, they would have brought out heavy machine guns. Those Second Amendment justifications would have been drowned out by police gun fire.
Probably they would have, Oakland being Oakland. But the next time? Would there have been a response like that? Did you see two Wacos? Did you see two Ruby Ridges? I am for non-violent protest and someone bringing a gun to a rally is... well... teaparty, but my point is that if you are out there asking for your civil rights to be upheld, then you have to be FOR civil rights. You don't get to cherry pick.
Where I stand on the Second Amendment is with the preamble of the amendment, "A well- regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state,...." Any member of a well-regulated militia (the modern version of which is the National Guard) may own and carry "arms" while on duty.
After all, that's what the text of the Second Amendment says. Doesn't it say the same thing in your coloring book version of the US Constitution?
Yes the Supreme Court for 70 years has not held that interpretation. You really do know your law sir!
I might add that the congress used confiscation of private arms as a primary cause for the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Support rights or not, but you don't get to snip the Constitution up into your own snowflake.
Great idea but wonder how much it is going to hurt...
Government with their furloughs here in CA have been on General Strike against the public, what, 13 days a year? I don't know that many people notice.
How many people will strike? 10%? 50%? 100%? I would bet it will be on the low side.
I live near Oakland. If you can't get to a safeway in Oakland, You go to Hayward. You can't get a starbucks in Oakland, you go to Berkeley. What is the meat here? How will a general strike really do anything other than piss off a lot of small businesses that don't have branches anywhere else.
Another question. If you strike, will you go spend your money on the same things the day before? The day after? What good is a general strike if all the money not spent that day is simply divided up on the day before and the day after?
Nice idea and I support it, but how does it really *do* anything?
John,
You just posted all the questions that were running through my mind...Now a national general strike..... (just dreaming)
The numbers are just not big enough...But..I wish them all the best..
Thomas Gilbert-
Dear John,
Your negativity is an anchor. If schools and businesses shut down, in whatever number, the effect will be noticed by all. Ten percent of Oakland? Significant. 20%? More than attention-getting. 30%? A bite they won't forget. More than that and you've got headlines around the world. Go with the flow of humanity, man.
Tipping point is 5-15%. It's very possible we are nearly there. The Force is clearly with us. :-)
They're good questions.
I know that a couple days ago there was a "Day without a Mexican" here. The result? A large block party.
I am worried that if the turnout is 10 or 15% that that same thing will happen. I live in a small town near a big city. The only person I know that even mentions a general strike followed his statement of support with, "...and I can go fishing!"
A general strike to be effective has to BE general and it has to not just be an unanticipated holiday.
Sorry my *negativity* is an anchor, but you need to think about the real results or lack there of.
Are you old enough to remember the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism"?
I don't think you're seeing the whole picture. This is the BEGINNING of something much bigger and broader than Oakland. Look back a few months! If the first protest (in the middle east, or where ever it actually started) had never happened because of pessimistic thinking, where would we be today?
Maybe you could go to Hayward or Berkeley for your coffee, and tell everyone there that Oakland is closed due to a general strike and WHY Oakland is closed!
John Shady: Why don't you go down to the protest and find the answer to your questions. You have been educated out of the ability to think.