November, 02 2011, 01:05pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
* Oakland General Strike * "Veterans of the 99%"
AP is reporting this morning: "Oakland prepared Wednesday to again become the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street movement as local organizers aided by labor unions and advocacy groups finalized plans for a broad-based call to action that was expected to include marches, pickets outside banks, school shutdowns and an attempt to close the nation's fifth-busiest port." For more, see: OccupyOakland.org
WASHINGTON
AP is reporting this morning: "Oakland prepared Wednesday to again become the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street movement as local organizers aided by labor unions and advocacy groups finalized plans for a broad-based call to action that was expected to include marches, pickets outside banks, school shutdowns and an attempt to close the nation's fifth-busiest port." For more, see: OccupyOakland.org
SCOTT CAMPBELL, angrywhitekid at gmail.com
Campbell is a social media officer at a nonprofit who was arrested during the police raid on Occupy Oakland on Tuesday morning, when former Marine and Iraq War vet Scott Olsen sustained a skull fracture when he was hit by a police projectile. For more, see his website Angry White Kid and his twitter, @AngryWhiteKid
MELVYN DUBOFSKY, dubof at binghamton.edu
Distinguished professor emeritus of history and sociology at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Dubofsky's books include "The State and Labor in Modern America." He argues that general strikes "have rarely been successful in the U.S. -- especially when they are not accompanied by a specific set of demands and absent some sort of organization." For more, see his faculty profile".
BOOTS RILEY, bootsriley1 at gmail.com
Riley is an American musician, writer and front man for the political hip hop group the Coup. Riley is an organizer of the Occupy Oakland protests, including the general strike and mass day of action today. He said today: "The success of today's actions is that we're ushering in a new phase in organizing. It's a one-day general strike. It's a warning shot. It's beyond saying that 'we are the 99 percent.' This is showing that the 99 percent can be organized, that we won't be limited to the rules and regulations that unions have confined themselves to in the last 60 years. We can build a broad consensus and we don't need the bosses any more." Riley appeared on Democracy Now this morning: DemocracyNow.org -- also, listen to: KPFA's live streams .
ROBBIE CLARK, robbie at cjjc.org
Clark is Oakland Housing Organizer for Causa Justa :: Just Cause (CJJC) -- a multi-racial, grassroots organization building community leadership to achieve justice for low-income San Francisco and Oakland residents. Today, the group is planning on protesting and occupying banks in Oakland and participating in the general strike and marching on the Oakland port this afternoon. For more, check out Causa Justa's "Mass Day of Action" news bite.
ANDREW JOHNSON, via Matt Smucker, jmattsmucker at gmail.com
President of the New York City chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Johnson said today: "As veterans who have served our country in the military, we now have a unique opportunity to continue serving here at home through our participation in this civic movement for change. We want to connect with other veterans, to advocate for veterans, and to spotlight veterans' involvement in this movement." Johnson is part of a new group, "Veterans of the 99%" will walk in uniform to Occupy Wall Street. Other members of the group are also available for interviews and will participate at a news conference at the center of the Occupy Wall Street encampment. The group notes: "Veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and even World War II have participated in the movement, speaking out for the 99%, and raising the movement's visibility in the process. Most recently, the unconscionable treatment of Marine veteran Scott Olsen in Oakland has drawn national attention to veterans' participation in the Occupy Wall Street movement."
For more: OccupyTogether.org, CommonDreams.org/Occupy
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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