AgitProp

Black Bloc gets such a bad rap, but this is fucking brilliant!

Occupy.

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Aggro

It's impossible to keep up with everything that's going on in these Revolutionary Times.

So I'm just coming across these videos that come from Way Back When: November 2.

Seattle; Direct Action at Bank:





In these videos, we see the extraordinary aggression of the Seattle Police in not only clearing a path through the demonstrators at the bank, but they continue their confrontation and aggression against the demonstrators to the point of absurdity. And they use pepper spray.

De-escalation is not in their play book, and it is obvious from these videos that the Seattle Police enjoy being aggressive with the people they are supposedly there to serve and protect. They like getting in their faces and acting like roided-up pigs.

In the comments to the video of the pepper spraying of the demonstrators in the previous post, note is taken of glee with which at least one of the officers is spraying everyone in the vicinity, even though the demonstrators are already in compliance with those all-important Police Orders. It doesn't matter. The police want to provoke mayhem.

In the Mayor's statement about that incident, he mentions the WTO protests of 1999 (and Mardi Gras in 2001) as excuses for the behavior of the Seattle police in 2011, but anyone who has followed those incidents knows that there is a strong suspicion of plainclothes police provocation. Whether it's true or not, I don't think we'll ever know, but at least the retired Seattle Police Chief who was in charge at that time knows and has clearly stated that it was the aggressive actions of the police that precipitated the destruction that took place during the WTO protests.

Escalation not de-escalation is their motto. Not for the purpose of arrest, mind you. Look at what happens in the second video above. There is a man who repeatedly confronts police -- one officer in particular -- and it's a pissing contest, mano-a-mano throughout. No arrest.

In the following video which was taken in Portland on November 7 or 8 by an outspoken opponent of the Occupy Movement -- someone who apparently thinks it discredits the Movement -- a demonstrator (whether with Occupy Portland or not, it's impossible to say) -- confronts a news crew:



This is textbook anarchist aggro, and really well done, though it's obvious the videographer doesn't get it. The demonstrator is in the news crews' faces constantly, repeating charges over and over, and verbally -- but not physically -- abusing them to the point where they cannot function at all. Which of course is the point of the confrontation. But there is more to it than that. The demonstrator is shaming them for being/serving the 1%. It is likely that the news crew had never thought that they were part of the problem not the answer. It never occurred to them how deeply resented they are for their service to the Overclass. And they get a strong lesson on the sidewalks of Portland by someone who won't shut up and won't go away. Of course it's rude. But it's meant to be an awakening. If any of those people have a conscience, they will not soon forget that encounter and like Norm Stamper, they might just come to a dawning that they have been part of the problem for many years. This is akin to the notion of "taking back" -- or "Occupying" -- the media; but at the same time, an opponent of the Occupation has provided the video of what happened. In other words, he was the media in this case. Much as the video streamers from the Occupations are the media. Anybody can be "media" these days, and the dinosaur Major Mass Media doesn't have to be "taken back" -- it was never "ours" anyway -- or even "Occupied."

It needs to be replaced.

I've been saying that for many years. Bit by bit it's been happening, but the march forward to a real New Media has been very slow, and many people in the so-called New Media have made whole blogospheric careers out of media criticism (not that they can take criticism themselves unfortunately.)

We're at last seeing an acceleration of the process of media replacement and renewal as part of this Movement-Becoming-Revolution. Video streaming, Facebook and Twitter have largely replaced legacy/traditional media coverage of the uprisings. It's axiomatic: you're not going to find real news from the standard outlets -- not even, in many cases, on the blogs. On the other hand, I am very leery of anything that appears on the Twitter feeds because the whole system is infested with provocateurs and there is much "not-news" that fills the feeds.

Finally, I'll bring up The Incident at Town Hall Seattle that was cited by DCBlogger at Corrente.

Oh my goodness gracious deary me.

This was another case of apparent aggro from the activists who went to the Town Hall with the intent (it appears) to disrupt, hijack, and teach those people a thing or two about what's really what.

It was rude, it was at least partially effective.

Some people were turned off by it, of course. Few people really want to be in the midst of a Revolution. Revolutions aren't pretty and they aren't nice and they don't follow the protocols of polite society or panel discussions. That's why they are Revolutions, hello? It is all on video now. See for yourself what happened. Start here: http://youtu.be/fk0eqlMjFU4 There are 21 total videos of the event on this page: http://www.youtube.com/user/Sweatshopfreelife#g/u all labeled "Occupy Town Hall". Make of it what you will.

I will keep saying, "This is a Revolution." "This is THE Revolution." It's happening right here, right now. And there's no stopping it, nor is there any controlling it. It is happening regardless of what any of us may think about it, and regardless of how we want it to proceed. Each of us might -- or might not -- be able to have some minor or perhaps major effect on it, primarily through our participation in the many activities of The Revolution, but no matter what we do or don't do, we can't make it go away and we can't make it go the way we want it to. Even those in the midst of it are finding that out, in some cases to their despair, in others to their delight.

I'm personally torn. I'm very excited by the fact that "it's happening." OMG, after so many years of whining about how apathetic and passive the American people are in the face of outrage after outrage, I am not only seeing them rise up in their multitudes, I am seeing astonishing levels of sheer energy and belief in the possibility of taking charge of our own fate and Building a Better Future.

But I see plenty of warning signs and cautions along the way; I've been very disturbed by some of the things I've witnessed -- though I don't really find the Aggro examples I've posted here to be all that disturbing, whether initiated by the authorities or by the activists. You have to have that kind of tension in order to move forward.

What has bothered me more are the evocations of the Period of Unpleasantness as I call it, when so many people went or were driven to their slaughter in blind obedience.

The most recent evocation was the destruction of the library at the Zuccotti Park camp.

I'm still coming to grips with the issue of destruction/liberation that is coming up more and more as the Raids continue and the piles of Occupy Debris grow. But passivity in the face of destructive aggression (passivity as opposed to non-violent resistance; there is a difference) really bothers me.

Enough blather for this installment. I must tour the Livestreams.

Dignity. Justice. Community. Peace.

The Face Your 1% Doesn't Want [s] You To See

We'll let the WaPo explain it to you, in their own inimitable way. Oh, if only she hadn't got in the way of that kindly officer's discharge....



Every time this shit happens, the Movement is strengthened. I do like the aggressive use of bicycles, tho. Gives the whole thing a certain je ne sais quois.

The videographer's statement.

Of course the argument goes like this: "The more old ladies who get whacked and pepper sprayed by the police, the fewer old ladies who will march with the protestors. Simple."

Dorli Rainey on Countdown last night:

Pismo

I'm in Pismo Beach. I used to come here when I was a kid; it was one of the closest beaches, so why not. It was always cold and windy. Frequently foggy. And if I was on the beach with anything the gulls wanted, the gulls would sweep down and hover until I dropped something on the sand for them and they would screech in to get it; one of them would triumph, flying away with whatever it was dangling from its beak.

Never went clamming or watched the grunion run, though.

Enough about me.

It's actually a beautiful day. I'm trying to catch up on news of Oakland, but the internet connection here is slower than dial up, and the only thing I've seen is on CNN, a murky YouTube of tear gas, and a 3 second narration about "refusal to disperse."

From what I was able to learn yesterday, the strike didn't exactly meet hopes -- we won't call them "expectations" -- and the Port was not exactly shut down.

I know next to nothing beyond that.

Meanwhile, NYCGA has (apparently) adopted a significant change in their process and procedures, replacing the 7 day a week General Assemblies with alternating GA's and "Spokes Council" meetings. Additional information aqui.

But accounts differ on whether this measure was actually passed by the General Assembly or not.

If it was, it means there has been a fundamental change in the operations of the NYCGA which will ripple through the whole Occupy Movement, perhaps for the better, perhaps not.

If it hasn't been adopted, then dancing is premature.

From accounts, there was tumult in Seattle last night, too.

Nobody said a Revolution would be easy.

Meanwhile, breakfast awaits in Arroyo Grande.

-------------------------------

Video of the march to the Port of Oakland. News media say "7,000," Occupy Oakland says "20,000" -- the higher estimate looks right to me.



Also, evening shift was shut down.

News has been fragmentary at best.

Any Revolution Worth Having

Needs Dancing:


Needs Laughter:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

And absolutely needs Divas:

"A Revolution Without Dancing is Not a Revolution Worth Having" -- Emma Goldman

[This is video of an Occupy Oakland dance party on October 10, 2011, their first day of Occupation at Oscar Grant Plaza -- aka Frank Ogawa Plaza -- in front of City Hall]

Last night, Occupy Seattle and Occupy Oakland both concluded their General Assemblies and began Dance Parties that lasted in Seattle for hours into the night, and may well have done the same in Oakland, though I am not sure, as I wasn't able to stay with the stream much past the end of GA, and supposedly, the Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall now officially closes at 10pm.)

(Livestreaming is a wonderful thing, but the technology is not perfected by any means; what you are actually seeing on the feeds at any given time is never entirely clear, as many Livestreams may be putting out archived material or material from other Occupations rather than live webcasts from whatever Occupation one has tuned into. Often, very, very often, live webcasting is choppy with frequent outages, and very often, too, there is no simultaneous verbal description of what is seen. Consequently, you just have to make your way through it as best you can.)

Of course previously, the Occupy Oakland GA approved calling for a General Strike on November 2, 2011, as an appropriate tactic in the ongoing struggle with The Powers That Be.

Dance Parties, whether regularly scheduled or impromptu, have become very much a part of the Occupy Movement. Sometimes the drummers provide accompaniment, but more and more, there are DJs spinning music on the record machine -- as there was last night in both Oakland and Seattle.

Funny thing. As I was pondering the very serious events in Oakland and Atlanta and other cities where evictions of Occupiers were carried out in the last couple of days, I kept thinking, "There ought to be dancing."

And there is. There is dancing. There are lots of ways to do it. Here's what they did in Vancouver in February of last year:



(How many times have I posted "Dancing in the Streets" over the last couple of years?)

What this sort of thing does is disarm both the police and the public. How can you argue with sheer joy?

Why Outdoors, and Why Specific Sites to Occupy Outdoors?

Occupation encampment at Westlake, Seattle WA.

I'm watching the Seattle GA right now on the Livestream. They have assembled in what is obviously Westlake Plaza -- after being evicted over night and this morning, with 10 or 12 arrests and confiscation of their camping gear and other property (according to reports, they will get their property back if they identify it and make a claim on the City.) They have been offered space at City Hall Plaza about 10 blocks away, but they are resisting conducting an Occupation there.

I'm fairly familiar with Seattle, but I didn't know where the City Hall was, never having any reason to go there. But it turns out that the City Hall complex is directly across the street from the Key Tower -- now the Seattle Municipal Building -- where I was working nearly every time I went to Seattle from 1998 to 2006 or so. The Bank of America Tower also looms darkly in the next block, and all of it is connected with underground access passages, shopping areas and restaurants. At least that's the way it was.

It's quite a remarkable complex of buildings, shopping areas, restaurants and so forth, with a very heavy population of executives -- both civil and corporate -- including a few banksters, I'm sure.

As I say, the distance between City Hall Plaza and Westlake Plaza is about 10 blocks on 5th Avenue, which is the main artery in the Downtown, and which is lined with theaters, hotels, galleries, and many high end retailers.

In other words, it's a perfect marching route to Westlake -- the only problem being a very steep uphill climb to get from City Hall Plaza to 5th Avenue.

But why are the Occupations outdoors at all? I still hear that question. "Why don't you get an office? A board. Raise funds. Make your mark the way all the other interest groups do? Lobby."

I would think the question answers itself, but apparently it doesn't. When I got this question the other night, I replied, "Organizations that are set up like that are everywhere, and some of them have been dealing with some of the same issues we're trying to deal with and have failed miserably. We're trying a different organizational model; it may not work, but the standard advocacy model doesn't work either, except to provide a cushy living for a handful of executives. That's the opposite of what we want."

When people say, "Get an office." I say "No." When people say, "Incorporate." I say "NO!" When people say, "You need a board of directors and a proper staff," I say "No." When people say, "You need to conduct a proper fundraising campaign," I say, "Why?" When people say, "No one will take you seriously if you don't look and act like the rest of the interest groups and follow the rules," I say, "They're taking us seriously precisely because we don't follow the rules."

Why outdoors? It's a matter of claiming public space for the public purposes of expression, debate, and preparing for petitioning for redress of grievance. The public space in question is often the city's central square (as in Sacramento) or an urban park (as in New York), or a park adjacent to civic centers (as in Los Angeles). In Seattle, the occupation chose a park that is in the middle of the shopping district, while they have been offered one that is adjacent to a very busy civic and banking area. It seems to me that the city's offered space is actually the better one for the purposes of bringing attention to corruption of government by corporate interest and money, but there are a couple of major problems with it. First, it apparently faces 4th Avenue rather than 5th Avenue. 4th is busy but not as busy as 5th, and 5th is altogether fancier. Second, and more importantly for the philosophy of Occupation, the city has offered the space at City Hall Plaza, whereas the Occupation has claimed the space at Westlake.

It is considered very important for the success of the Occupation Movement that the Occupiers claim and hold public space rather than request and receive space from civic authorities.

The evictions last night and earlier this week were of occupations that had claimed and held public space, and in some cases they had refused to move to offered space. That was true in Seattle and San Diego. I'm sure it's true elsewhere.

The Occupation-that-isn't-quite-an-Occupation in Sacramento is a daily gathering in the central square, waiting on the city to provide it either a permit or an use exemption in order to spend the night.

In Austin, the Occupation took over the steps at the City Hall, with -- they thought -- the permission of the city, but without a permit. Suddenly, the city discovered they had to "clean" the space and evicted the Occupation. They folded up their camp and took it down or across the street to await the completion of the power washing and then moved back, but they were told (if I recall correctly) that they were not allowed to sleep there.

Why is it necessary to sleep on site? This is a matter of holding the space and making clear the Occupiers' determination to stay and persist in the important work they've set for themselves. Public work that they are (mostly) doing in public.

So much of what's gone wrong in our oligarchic republic has to do with the fact that public business is often conducted behind closed doors, with a remarkable level of contempt for the public and the public interest, and essentially complete impunity. Ordinary people are locked up routinely for the most innocuous crimes ("failure to disperse" ring a bell?) while the high and the mighty just get richer...

How then do the People reclaim their rights as actual sovereigns of the nation? By playing the political game? Or by going outside and around it? By making a ruckus. And by coming up with a model of what ought to be rather than succumbing to what usually is.

Being outside is an emblem of truth, because the 99% are mostly outsiders to the halls of Power, not even recognized by the Powers That Be.

This is the basic rationale behind claiming, holding and using significant public spaces in the public interest for the work of the People. It is the rationale for not accepting space offered by civic authorities, for that then makes the Occupation a dependent of the civic authorities, dependent on their good will and continued cooperation.

HipHop Occupy

owsoccupyseattle on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

This is one of the Seattle livestreams. There was just a hip hop flash mob in the shopping mall there. The guy with the video was told by a mall cop to stop the video. The videographer said no. The cop became quite insistent. The videographer said, "OK, I'll go outside." Which he did. Slowly. Meanwhile the hip hop occupy people were going upstairs in the mall and chanting "Hip Hop Occupy!"

Outside in the Westlake Park, there was intense discussion about the level of official interference in the Occupation. A Native American came on camera and said "It's about time people rose up. Indian people don't have any rights." The videographer said, "Nobody has any rights, they're being taken away from us." "You gotta fight," says the Indian.

There is still dissension among the occupiers. There's a man loudly insisting that everyone should go to City Hall Park. But there was a vote last night and the majority decided not to go. They are trying to stay at Westlake, but they are being told they can't sleep there, and their equipment has been removed.

There is now going to be an ad hoc meeting of the General Assembly on the Plaza.