Building the new world no matter what

The 1% and their mad dogs want us to come to the conclusion that we should stay home and not protest, and this in and of itself means that we MUST keep coming back, and never stop...or they will continue creating the world, not us. We can only create the world we want if we keep showing up and doing so. This can mean community-building and beautifying action as well as direct aggressive protest at foreclosures, foreclosure auctions, against police brutality...we can be Strong without being destructive. The 1% are slavering to brand us unrepentantly destructive so they can drop the hammer nation-wide, forever. That's when we need to show people that we are about building a better world. Let's be aggressive about helping the homeless and cleaning the streets. Because the 1% most definitely aren't going to! Remind people that WE can when we want to. OUR streets, let's keep them the way WE like them. Let's treat each other how WE know we should treat each other. These positive actions obsolete the 1%. Let's build it!

J29: Occupy LA march in solidarity with Occupy Oakland

Yesterday, Occupy Oakland set themselves to occupy an abandoned building and turn it into a public service center. They were blocked by police, who ended up AGAIN attacking peaceful protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, and brutality. Two or more Occupy LA livestreamers were there, Freedom LA and CrossXBones, both on uStream.com. Other OLA members were present, including one OLA member, a young woman, who reportedly was helping police who had been engulfed with tear gas when it blew back upon them. She was beaten and hospitalized. Occupy Los Angeles planned a march after our weekly Occupicnic...

Here is the Oakland story:

http://nameigoob.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-really-happened-at-occupy-oakland.html

And of course Spencer Mills' always bad-ass livestream:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20082395


Slideshow of our march with more pics than below, full-sized:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11165691@N03/sets/72157629093401955/show/

Here are better pics than mine!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nohodamon/sets/72157629095223589/show/


Channels 2, 5, 7, and 9 all showed up, as well as local channel 39, and Press TV.

Thanks Brian for this one:



Here is the direct link to the KTLA video:

http://www.ktla.com/videogallery/67720960/News/VIDEO-Occupy-Movement-Reignites-Hundreds-Arrested-in-Oakland-Dave-Mecham-reports

Via Press TV:



NBC love us too:

"More than 1,000 people were invited to join the solidarity march on the event’s Facebook page. About 34 responded that they will attend, with nearly 20 declaring maybe."

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Occupy-LA-Marches-Solidarity-Occupy-Oakland-138296689.html










 Occupy Los Angeles confront the LAPD Rampart station:





Here is Junglerush Studio's excellent 21-minute version, up-close!




And from Insightout news:




Livestreamer PMBeers recorded the entire day; here is the Rampart Station:




Sgt. Baker says pretty pretty words to appease us. To be fair, the police could have handled the situation entirely differently. Thank you for letting say our piece without a violent response.



Solidarity with Oakland!



KTLA interviews. I owe newsman Dave Mecham an apology on this. Please forgive me for getting in your face when it wasn't deserved. Occupy is not about being jerks, it was just me.






At the picnic, it was determined to march to the (legendary) Rampart police station.

Oakland officials caught in lies about attacking Occupy

"Officials" in Oakland have been blatantly lying since their first police riot against Occupy Oakland in late October. 

When riot police first were sent to attack Occupy Oakland, police had the two helicopter internet live feeds shut off moments before police attacked the protesters (and in the attack, very nearly killed Iraqi Veteran Scott Olsen). They did so in order to lie about what then occurred, to blame the peaceful protesters. Here is what they said happened:

"Q. Did the Police deploy rubber bullets, flash-bag grenades?
A. No, the loud noises that were heard originated from M-80 explosives thrown at
Police by protesters. In addition, Police fired approximately four bean bag rounds
at protesters to stop them from throwing dangerous objects at the officers."

"Q. Did the Police use tear gas?
A. Yes, the Police used a limited amount of tear gas for a small area as a defense
against protesters who were throwing various objects at Police Officers as they
approached the area. The objects included glass bottles, rocks, pots, pans, kitchen
utensils and plates at Police Officers. In addition, the protesters sprayed a Fire
Extinguisher on Police Officers."

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca/groups/cityadministrator/documents/pressrelease/oak031911.pdf

Unfortunately, later-released video clearly shows no protester throwing anything at police, or being threatening to provoke police assault; it does show police attacking with flash-bangs and tear gas:



When people attempted to help the fallen Scott Olsen, they were again attacked with flash-bangs. In the time prior to the police attack, do you see anything being thrown at cops? Anyone getting in their faces? Police attacked people attempting to help a fallen, unmoving man. Police did not one thing to help a man in obvious trouble. Did any of them turn to their fellows and demand that they do something to help the injured man? If so, I'd love to hear about it.





Here are the nice rubber bullets:



Shamus Collins:
 

And here is what appeared on the internet livestream moments before police attacked:



 
Bradblog:

Exclusive: Oakland Police Walk Back Claim That Tear Gas Was 'Necessary to Protect Officers' From Occupy Oakland Demonstrators

"Department declines to offer evidence substantiating Chief's assertions, downgrades them to 'preliminary belief'..."

Oakland officials knew crime had dropped 19% since the camp was formed:

"When Jordan received an update that crime was actually down 19 percent in the last week of
October, he wrote an email to one of Mayor Jean Quan's advisers.
'Not sure how you want to share this good news,' he wrote. 'It may be counter to our statement that the Occupy movement is negatively impacting crime in Oakland.'"

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/emails-exchanged-between-oakland-opd-reveal-tensio/nGMkF/ 

So why would anyone believe anything from the mass media or most especially, from the Oakland lie factory, regarding Occupy? Especially when the local 1% had been threatening Quan to remove the Occupation:

"The protest has been allowed to run its course. Now it’s time to focus on jobs and the economic        restoration of our city. It’s time for bold leadership and forceful action, not unending social                 experimentation. We call upon the Oakland City Council and the Mayor of Oakland to step up and    provide cohesive, common sense leadership-­-----before it really is too late."                                         

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/11/08/11.8.11.oakland_letter_fin-mayor.pdf 

From here:

"The Oakland Metro Chamber of Commerce has been quite vocal with their mantra of 'OCCUPY OAKLAND ENCAMPMENT MUST GO! OCCUPY OAKLAND ENCAMPMENT MUST GO! OCCUPY OAKLAND ENCAMPMENT MUST GO!' as they twist the arms of elected officials and try to engender popular support for their position. Now today, the Lake Merritt/Uptown District (business) Association, claiming to be a part of the '99%', has piled on, delivering a letter to the Mayor calling for 'forceful action' to end the 'social experimentation' of Occupy Oakland."

Lake Merritt/Uptown District Association calls on Mayor to forcefully end Occupy Oakland 

Quan has also let slip that 18 mayors had been conference-calling about Occupy:

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Admits 18 Cities Were Consulting on #Occupy Crackdowns

 And here are two confirmed police infiltrating Occupy Oakland early on: 

One of them later released a video "explaining" things, but why would you believe someone who is paid to lie to your face, to get you to trust him, who is good enough at it that he is paid to do so? Whose job is betrayal? And who chooses every day to belong to this group of proven, blatant liars, who has their best interest at heart (and also his wallets)?

Here are cops in a later raid shooting a peaceful journalist, Scott Campbell, with a rubber bullet:

Army veteran injured in Oakland clashes with police

"The veteran, identified as Kayvan Sabeghi, was the second former American serviceman during the past two weeks to be badly hurt in confrontations between anti-Wall Street protesters and police in Oakland.

'He told me he was in the hospital with a lacerated spleen and that the cops had jumped him,' Kelly said. 'They put him in jail, and he told them he was injured, and they denied him medical treatment for about 18 hours.'"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/04/us-protests-oakland-veteran-idUSTRE7A37A820111104

Hurt protester Scott Olsen was 'provoking no one'

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/27/BAD61LN3LM.DTL


Recently, it has been conjectured that Scott Olsen was hit by a "less-lethal" beanbag shotgun round.

“If it was a beanbag – those are meant to hit people, and it tells me that whoever did it, did it intentionally,” said Olsen’s attorney Mark Martell.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/scott-olsen-lawyer_n_1349586.html?ref=occupy-wall-street


Here are Oakland police/Alameda sheriffs purposefully covering up their identification against California Code 830.10, which states that identification must be visible at all time (thanks OakFoSho Spencer for Hire for that one, and all his incredible coverage):



And this man who carried a protester on the hood of his car for 20+ feet was as far as I know never charged. The protester didn't have the right to block him from driving, but this man punched it and after dislodging the protester, nearly backed into another! Where is the justice?

 

Evidence of LIES in the J28 raid! Spread it around!!

DAILY KOS ARE COMPILING REPORTS OF TORTURE AND HUMILIATION FROM THE J28 ARRESTS:  

"Just got out of Santa Rita Jail last night the prisoners from the Oakland Commune were being denied medications (some had seizures) while the guards said they didnt care if they died. Some people were brutally beaten. The put tear gas in the vents of my cell twice. They were keeping people without restrooms forcing them to shit and piss themselves or puke all over and stay in the same area...." 

"Women arrestees were forced to give urine samples in front of male officers, ostensibly for pregnancy testing." 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/31/1060354/-Breaking:-Oakland-Arrestees-Tortured

 

And if after all of the above you do not believe it at all possible that the city of Oakland and its 1% want Occupy GONE through any means necessary, and you still hate flag-burners (in Oakland, most likely cops or provocateurs), check THIS out...LAPD destroy an American flag. They don't care about America or Americans! Where is the outrage over this? Is it okay when cops do it?

 

Here is a light-enhanced video of the OPD attacks on J28:

 

 

Police kettle protesters, order them to disperse, then fire tear gas and pepper bullets:

 

Why did police need to beat this man? 

Oakland Police Misusing their Video Cameras

 

And this is an excellent article, I strongly recommend spending the time on it; it also presents other facts detailing Quan's lies and conniving tactics: 

"A crowd of several hundred quickly swelled to a couple thousand, as Occupy Oakland attempted to occupy the vacant Kaiser Convention Center. The goal was to use it as an indoor base for Occupy Oakland – a place to have General Assemblies and meetings, share food and get shelter for the winter. This was in keeping with what Occupy Oakland has always done, a goal that is simple, though not simple enough for the mainstream media to understand and honestly report. As in Argentina, Oaxaca, or Egypt, when society makes life unlivable for some and miserable for others, we will come together, decide what we need to do to meet our own needs in a directly democratic fashion, and do it. It is not surprising that people meeting their own needs outside of the control of the various forces that maintain the existing social order is going to be attacked. When people attempting to fill their own needs and the needs of the community are seen as socially unacceptable, the need for an entirely different social order becomes abundantly clear. From the diverse group of people who came out to take that space on Saturday, that understanding is not just held by a small group of militants. Despite the fact that the city government is run by corporate profiteers and liberal charlatans, and the federally coordinated police apparatus often looks far less intelligent than we usually give them credit for, the State knows the threat that exists in Oakland. They are responding accordingly. Saturday’s attacks are part of an ongoing counter-insurgency campaign to attempt to strip the movement of its substantial legitimacy, to intimidate, to harass, to divide, to contain, to co-opt, and to eventually destroy Occupy Oakland. The lines in this ongoing conflict are clear. The City’s overwhelming use of force and mass arrests, firing less-than-lethal weapons into marches with many children, the violent beatings, and the trumped-up charges in response to a peaceful attempt to make social use out of an unused building makes the State’s position clear. What is not clear is who will eventually win." 

Much more at the link. 

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/31/occupy-oakland-and-state-repression/

 Also:

Violent Big Government Tyranny Continues Against Occupy Movement as Fake 'Grass Roots' 'Tea Party' 'Movement' Continues Not to Give a Rat's Ass

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9097

 

"The city adminstration, with the full approval of the police, is intent on provoking violent behavior from Occupy Oakland, regardless of any consideration for the safety of the general public or the fact that people might be injured, or even killed. Thanks to the incredibly slanted coverage of such incidents by the mainstream media, they now view every potential for violent confrontation as a chance for a big PR victory. If it bleeds, it leads, and City Hall applauds."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/06/1062345/-Today-the-City-of-Oakland-Officially-Went-Insane?via=siderec

"On January 28th, 2012, Occupy Oakland moved to take a vacant building to use as a social center and a new place to continue organizing. This is the story of what happened that day as told by those who were a part of it. it features rare footage and interviews with Boots Riley, David Graeber, Maria Lewis, and several other witnesses to key events."

The Battle of Oakland from brandon jourdan on Vimeo.

Police Brutality at Occupy Oakland January 28th Night Time Protest from brandon jourdan on Vimeo.

How I Got Arrested at Occupy Oakland 

Our own John C. Osborn offers a first-person account of being taken into custody by police during the latest Occupy Oakland protest.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/how-i-got-arrested-at-occupy-oakland/Content?oid=3113852

And here is what democracy looks like, after hospital care:

https://twitter.com/#!/OaklandElle/status/164903649510817792/photo/1 

March 5, 2012: PunkboyinSF rants righteously about new developments...the city wanted to change reports regarding Occupy Oakland!

Oakland Officials Fail to Recognize 19% Crime Drop During Occupy Encampment – Twitter Rant by @PunkBoyInSF

http://politicalfailblog.com/oakland-officials-fail-to-recognize-19-crime-drop-during-occupy-encampment-twitter-rant-by-punkboyinsf/

January 28 OLA General Assembly on the General Strike

on May 1.

This, however little it is, is for our brothers and sisters brutalized AGAIN in Oakland.

First, Asimov wrote that violence is the last resort of the incompetent. It proves that we are right, and it proves that we are winning. It also shows that we must keep coming back, and create the world we can all see. Because if we go home, -they- will continue creating the world.

And showing how silly they get, here is a policeman directed to inconvenience us in order to remind us who is boss, that the citizens somehow do not own City Hall. However, it did not go as smoothly as hoped:







 











Photo slideshow, more pics plus full-sized:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11165691@N03/sets/72157629076820251/show/

How bankers think

This is unconfirmed, I cannot find an original source, but the gist stands on its own:

“We must go forward cautiously and consolidate each acquired position, because already the inferior social stratum of society is giving unceasing signs of agitation.
“Therefore, prudence dictates to us a line of conduct that seems to give in to the will of the people, until the execution of our plans be well-enough established for us to be able to declare our intentions without having to fear any organized resistance.
“Our confidence men shall have to closely watch the Farmers Alliance and the Knights of Work, and take steps immediately, either to control both associations in accordance with our interests, or to break them.
“Our men will have to attend the Convention that will be held in Omaha on the 4th of July, and be in charge of all activities. Otherwise, this Convention could muster such an antagonism to our plans that we would have to resort to force to overcome it.
Now, at the present time, using violence would be premature. We are not yet ready to confront such an assault. Money must first of all seek maximum protection in schemes and in legislation.
“Let us make use of the courts. Let us go forward as fast as possible at perceiving debts, at foreclosing (depriving of recourse to justice when a certain time limit has been transgressed) on debentures and mortgages.
“When, through the law's intervention, the common people shall have lost their homes, they will be more easy to control and more easy to govern, and they shall not be able to resist the strong hand of the Government acting in accordance with the orders of the central power of imperial wealth, under the control of the leaders of finance.
“Our top leaders are perfectly aware of the truth. They are presently working at establishing an imperialism of the capital to rule the world. But while they are implementing this plan, they must keep the people busy with political antagonisms.
“We'll therefore speed up the question of reform in the custom rates by the political organization called the Democratic Party; and we'll put the spotlight on the question of protection and of the reciprocity by the Republican Party.
“By dividing the electorate this way, we'll be able to have them spend their energies at struggling amongst themselves on questions that, for us, have no importance whatsoever, and on which we only touch upon as instructors of the common flock.
“It is thus that, through discreet acts, we can maintain what was so generously projected and executed with such a remarkable success.”

-United States Bankers' Magazine 1892

Precedent for horizontal democracy / the General Assembly

There are other groups in existence structured around horizontal democracy, to lesser and greater extents. The problems one may find come from both external issues and internal dissent. How does a group survive such?

Alcoholics Anonymous have to a lesser and greater degree survived their birth and growth over a period of several decades. Of course, theirs is a life-and-death matter, although we certainly may consider ours (OWS) to be as well. What have they accomplished which might benefit OWS?

From http://silkworth.net/aa/12traditions.html :

The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous

Copyright © Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

  During its first decade, A.A. as a fellowship accumulated substantial experience which indicated that certain group attitudes and principles were particularly valuable in assuring survival of the informal structure of the Fellowship. In 1946, in the Fellowship’s international journal, the A.A. Grapevine, these principles were reduced to writing by the founders and early members as the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. They were accepted and endorsed by the membership as a whole at the International Convention of A.A., at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1950.
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
  While the Twelve Traditions are not specifically binding on any group or groups, an overwhelming majority of members have adopted them as the basis for A.A.’s expanding “internal” and public relationships.

Copyright © Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

In practicing our Traditions, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. has neither endorsed nor are they affiliated with Silkworth.net. Alcoholics Anonymous®, AA®, and the Big Book® are registered trademarks of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

These are the basics of the 12 Traditions; the book "12 Steps and 12 Traditions" significantly expands upon the above in excellent detail.

You may note in reading the above, that some of it has been pulled into OWS straight out of the collective subconscious. There would be reason for it!

My thoughts, if they interest any, and please pardon my incredible pretension, but I believe this discussion should get started in some, in any form:

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

Our common purpose should come first; success depends upon OWS unity. 


2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authoriy - consensus through the General Assembly process. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. 


3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.

The only requiredment for OWS membership is a desire to create positive change. 


4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.

Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OWS as a whole. 

5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

Each group has but one primary purpose--to create positive change through unity and action. 

6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

An OWS group ought never endorse, finance or lend the OWS name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.


7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

Obviously, OWS is the 99% and contributions are to and from all of us. 


10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

OWS has no opinion on politicians and election; hence the OWS name ought never be drawn into politics.

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.


This could speak to unity of purpose in OWS, but especially, of placing OWS principles before personalities, should any personalities arise.

Presented as suggestions for consideration, not as solutions are laws in and of themselves, of course.

The old adage being if you don't like the specifics of a group or meeting, is that all you need to start your own is a resentment and a coffee maker...

Take Part's #Occupy LA Documentary

There will be five parts; at this time, only the first four have been released.


http://www.takepart.com/video/occupy-la-scenes-new-revolution-part-1-year-dissent

http://www.takepart.com/video/occupy-la-scenes-new-revolution-part-2-outliers

http://www.takepart.com/video/occupy-la-scenes-new-revolution-part-3-movement-many-leaders

http://www.takepart.com/video/occupy-la-scenes-new-revolution/part-4-eviction

J20, Move to Amend teach-in on Citizens United, Los Angeles

At the Federal Court building, one block from City Hall, which is the former site of the #OccupyLosAngeles encampment.

Statement of purpose and list of speakers/contributors:

https://www.facebook.com/events/294103597302738/

http://www.movetoamend.org

http://www.wepartypatriots.com

http://www.opensecrets.com


Photo slideshow:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11165691@N03/sets/72157628961471465/show/

When you see someone with a microphone seemingly getting on stage to interrupt as provocateurs (someone was photographing any potential negative reponse), that is exactly what it was. Sorry Carlos for their interruption. 

The Uncle Sam in a coffin is for tomorrow's Funeral for Democracy action at the Federal Building.

And yes, that is a police dog, the first time they've brought one out. Its handler was wearing DHS gear. A police helicopter made a few very low passes; not unusual considering their headquarters is two blocks away, but they circled us twice, and later passed over more than once.

As you can see, Channels 4 and 7 were there, as well as KNX radio 1070 and 89.3 FM radio KPCC.

Here is KPCC's story and a few of their photos (thanks Todd for this):

http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/01/20/30882/occupy-returns-protest-citizens-united/


Enjoy the music of The Billionaires (pictured in the photo slideshow is Felonius X).

http://www.zget.me/billionaires/


Video link of Jim Lafferty of the National Lawyer's Guild. I did not capture all of his message; after it became clear that it had to be captured, I started recording without even spending the time to focus. What was missed? He started by saying the reason the mayor and city council, who at first welcomed and assisted #Occupy LA, later brutally evicted them, was because (as in Oakland), the banks and other campaign donors didn't like #Occupy's message.

This is a great message, above-average stuff. Please check this one especially if you do not usually check video links, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj3CJtJcEAs 


Some livestream, you can search her page for more:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19891046

J19 Move On protest on foreclosures

At a Democratic Party building, 3550 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, Moveon.org, #OccupyLA, and #OccupyTheHood took Democrats and Obama to task.

Photo slideshow:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11165691@N03/sets/72157628949754455/show/


Videos...

Statement to Obama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwom1tPGfNA


Awful foreclosure stories:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeQmHXy7NTI


Kwazi of #Occupy the Hood tells it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poAmfjb1W0E


Chant and police presence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybWA5S87k60


-------

And meanwhile, at the UC Riverside Regents meeting, students are shot with rubber bullets:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/19/1056471/-BREAKING:-Police-Fire-Projectiles-at-Students-from-Occupy-UC-Riverside-Protesting-Board-of-Regents?via=blog_730323

"You can see where the real center of power is in this country."

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/occupy_congress.php

"You can see where the real center of power is in this country," he said. "There are several thousand people here right outside the Capitol, and only like 50 cops. But when we get a few people down on Wall Street, the police response is crazy."

#Occupy and age groups

Recently at an #OccuPicnic we were approached by some teens doing activism, collecting signatures to abolish the death penalty as the maximum punishment in California. They explained that to our group and were met with up twinkles (hands raised, wiggling fingers in show of approval). They were completely confused so we explained that we were #Occupiers; smiles appeared all around, signatures were given...but when they were confused by the up twinkles, I said "That means 'great!'" And "I'll be your translator today. 'Oh stewardess, I speak Jive.'" They didn't get the line from Airplane. Most likely because Airplane came out in what, 1979? Before they were born? Getting old! :)

But it IS wonderful to see activism groups meeting up together, of nearly any sort. I was reading today about #Occupy Congress, and how good it was for the far-flung #Occupations to get together and communicate directly, and to share fresh ideas.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/occupy_congress.php

#OLA J17 solidarity march with #Occupy Congress

Los Angeles- We met today at Union Station. As we waited to begin the march, an LAPD sergeant and two officers approached us and asked to speak to the group's leader. We explained that there are no leaders...but it was for them to ask us our route and to tell us to stay within traffic parameters, etc. We began marching and had a good time. The three police followed us in a marked LAPD vehicle, and at times was joined by a police van (or police truck, as the Dead Kennedys named their song). A police helicopter was seen a few times, but it wasn't very low. However, it was definitely keeping tabs.

Here is a slide show of some photos of the march.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11165691@N03/sets/72157628920689061/show/

And here are links to some short videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z59Q03XvC5o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fUVTiOeJXw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YwaZEEQVjE