Protest Reports
The National Occupation of Washington, DC which begins on March 30th and ends on April 30th will include protests, music and art but its anchor is education of the movement.
The major educational activities begin on April 2nd with the "Control the Corporation" conference at the Carnegie Institute of Washington. The conference organized by the Center for the Study of Responsive Law was designed for the Occupy and will include how people can work toward controlling corporations impact on elections, slow privatization, create better paying jobs and mobilize for the future. The full schedule is below or here. Please register in advance here to help planning for food and space.
The major educational activities begin on April 2nd with the "Control the Corporation" conference at the Carnegie Institute of Washington. The conference organized by the Center for the Study of Responsive Law was designed for the Occupy and will include how people can work toward controlling corporations impact on elections, slow privatization, create better paying jobs and mobilize for the future. The full schedule is below or here. Please register in advance here to help planning for food and space.
Those two key ideas were written on protest signs and they were sung and shouted thru the 25 degree air when about 70 people of a variety of ages gathered near the federal courthouse on Marconi Boulevard. Columbus joined communities all over the country to mark the second anniversary of the US Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
Three of our city's organizers for Occupy the Courts spoke with the Columbus Free Press recently. Two of them also spoke with WCRS Columbus.
Bob Krasen, Doug Todd, and Michael Greenman work with Move to Amend, Central Ohio. Krasen said the word about today's protest is out to a fairly good number of organizations.
"Nobody really knows how many are going to come, but we’re hoping for a crowd of a couple hundred.”
Krasen said the demonstrations against the Citizens United decision can also be celebrations of activists coming together in common cause to defeat this threat to our democratic republic.
Bob Krasen, Doug Todd, and Michael Greenman work with Move to Amend, Central Ohio. Krasen said the word about today's protest is out to a fairly good number of organizations.
"Nobody really knows how many are going to come, but we’re hoping for a crowd of a couple hundred.”
Krasen said the demonstrations against the Citizens United decision can also be celebrations of activists coming together in common cause to defeat this threat to our democratic republic.
Whether or not it’s an environmentally unfriendly use of plastic, activists just might cordon off as a crime scene the energy giant’s downtown headquarters, as the Columbus site for Occupy the Corporations. That's a national day of action on Sat. Jan 21, a day after organizers here carry out the Columbus contingent of Occupy the Courts by protesting against corporate personhood at the federal courthouse at Long and Marconi. Yellow tape or not, organizers here, such as Tom McNabb, have their sites set on AEP.
“Their corruption (involves) repeated violations of environmental protection laws (as well as ) spending money they get from tax rebates from us as citizens, on lobbying legislators to cut the legs out from under the rules of the fixes they’ve agreed to.”
Tomorrow, Thursday November 17, marks two months since the start of Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square. Occupy Wall Street, labor and community groups, and members of the 99% will celebrate the two-month anniversary of the movement with a massive day of action. Thousands upon thousands will take action together in at least 30 cities across the country.
In New York City we are planning for a big day. In the wake of Bloomberg’s predawn raid of Occupy Wall Street on Tuesday morning, thousands of people throughout the five boroughs and the greater region will join together to take peaceful action tomorrow.
We will gather to resist austerity, rebuild the economy, and reclaim our democracy. Our political system should serve all of us — not just the very rich and powerful. Right now Wall Street owns Washington. We are the 99% and we are here to reclaim our democracy.
Schedule for New York Nov. 17 Actions:
7:00am
Shut Down Wall Street
Contacts: Sandra Nurse, 646 283 4443
Austin Guest, 917-691-0368
In New York City we are planning for a big day. In the wake of Bloomberg’s predawn raid of Occupy Wall Street on Tuesday morning, thousands of people throughout the five boroughs and the greater region will join together to take peaceful action tomorrow.
We will gather to resist austerity, rebuild the economy, and reclaim our democracy. Our political system should serve all of us — not just the very rich and powerful. Right now Wall Street owns Washington. We are the 99% and we are here to reclaim our democracy.
Schedule for New York Nov. 17 Actions:
7:00am
Shut Down Wall Street
Contacts: Sandra Nurse, 646 283 4443
Austin Guest, 917-691-0368
Columbus Police arrested 7 activists as they read aloud a long list of complaints against US Bank. They face fourth degree misdemeanor trespassing charges, according to attorneys with Occupy Columbus.
Activists had planned to do a “parade tour” of several banks in downtown Columbus, but only got to two of them when police made the arrests, said Justin Poulin.
“We went inside Fifth Third Bank. We protested for about 5 minutes, talked about the bank. Then we were followed from Fifth Third Bank by police to US Bank. We were followed into the lobby. We did exactly the same thing we did in Fifth Third. We were just talking about the bank. Then the police surrounded us and started putting people in hand cuffs,” said Poulin.
Using the ‘people’s mic.’ demonstrators were addressing anyone in the bank who would listen, said Poulin.
“We went inside Fifth Third Bank. We protested for about 5 minutes, talked about the bank. Then we were followed from Fifth Third Bank by police to US Bank. We were followed into the lobby. We did exactly the same thing we did in Fifth Third. We were just talking about the bank. Then the police surrounded us and started putting people in hand cuffs,” said Poulin.
Using the ‘people’s mic.’ demonstrators were addressing anyone in the bank who would listen, said Poulin.
Seven Occupy Columbus members were arrested at a US Bank branch in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, November 15. Two of the seven report that they were arrested without warning after entering the bank as part of a "tour." A Facebook message from Occupy Columbus stated the tour was for "protesting the banker's unapologetic role in our economic downturn." A video obtained by the Columbus Free Press shows that the police were almost immediately on the scene. Earlier the demonstrators had visited a Fifth Third bank branch and left when they were asked to by bank security.
All seven demonstrators were charged with fourth degree misdemeanor trespassing charges and are to be arraigned tomorrow, Nov. 16. The Occupation legal team reports that they intend to plead not guilty to the charges.
Questions are being raised in the Occupy movement as to whether there is a coordinated national assault on them now that the election is over with recent attacks on Occupy sites in Oakland, New York and other cities.
All seven demonstrators were charged with fourth degree misdemeanor trespassing charges and are to be arraigned tomorrow, Nov. 16. The Occupation legal team reports that they intend to plead not guilty to the charges.
Questions are being raised in the Occupy movement as to whether there is a coordinated national assault on them now that the election is over with recent attacks on Occupy sites in Oakland, New York and other cities.
The Occupy movement has done something amazing, getting Americans to start questioning our economic divides. It's created spaces for people to come together, voice their discontents and dreams, creatively challenge destructive greed. It's created powerful political theater, engaged community, an alternative to silence and powerlessness.
The topic was the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques" and detainee treatment, when John Yoo, former Department of Justice official and author of the "Torture Memos" debated Chip Pitts, Stanford University law professor and former Chairman of Amnesty International, at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
It was not widely publicized ~ at least, we didn't get the complete info until less than 24 hours beforehand. It was free, but required registration. When we called to register, we were told it was full. So, we planned to just go protest outside...but then at the last minute decided to see if we could get in anyway, without registration. There were some no-shows, so, to our surprise, they let us in after all...and we sat at the table right next to Yoo in a very fancy room lined with gilt-framed oil paintings and had a very lovely lunch. We decided not to disrupt because we didn't want to distract from Chip, and we knew Chip would blow Yoo away. (He did.) It was filmed, so I'm hoping it will be made public soon, because it was terrific ~ Chip is always terrific.
It was not widely publicized ~ at least, we didn't get the complete info until less than 24 hours beforehand. It was free, but required registration. When we called to register, we were told it was full. So, we planned to just go protest outside...but then at the last minute decided to see if we could get in anyway, without registration. There were some no-shows, so, to our surprise, they let us in after all...and we sat at the table right next to Yoo in a very fancy room lined with gilt-framed oil paintings and had a very lovely lunch. We decided not to disrupt because we didn't want to distract from Chip, and we knew Chip would blow Yoo away. (He did.) It was filmed, so I'm hoping it will be made public soon, because it was terrific ~ Chip is always terrific.
Shortly after our march back to Freedom Plaza from Capitol Hill where we protested at a meeting of the Super Committee, Shane Brooks of Waco, Texas ducked under the tarp of the media tent to tell us about his journey from the Tea Party---which he said the GOP co opted--- to the Coffee Party, which he said is becoming a real trans-partisan movement.
“Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Christians, Atheists--it doesn’t matter. We’re all Americans,” said Brooks.
The Occupy movement seems more inclusive and playful and less angry and less fear-based than the Tea Party movement. But both movements invoke the Constitution. We have at Freedom Plaza in DC a bus-sized banner with the image of the Preamble where the operative phrase We the People stands out as it does on the parchment of the original document.