Of #OccupyBoston, Mooninites and #Sinkgate

The Boston Police Department's theft of #OccupyBoston's kitchen sink (sigh... the jokes just write themselves) is really just the latest in police overreaction in a long series of Boston Police are-you-kidding-me? overreactions. My friend put it well when she wrote on Facebook,

"okay, the occupiers probably shouldnt have blocked the police van. but, in their defense, the police PROBABLY SHOULD BE SPENDING THEIR TIME ON SOMETHING OTHER THAN A SINK. jussssst sayin'."

And I'm not even so sure they were wrong to block the van for the limited amount of time that they did. After all, they're living indefinitely protesting there, and dishes need cleaning.

So, how bad are the cops? Be it trying to arm every Tom, Dick and Harry in the force with military grade semi-automatic weapons, under the guise of 'preventing terrorism,' or essentially shutting down Boston because of a cartoon movie viral media campaign, it's clear the old fogies of the Boston Police and the status quo's forces that be just don't get what motivates or entertains anyone with a living pulse who thinks life's worth living.

When you think of it, there really are a lot of similarities between what happened when the Mooninites rocketed our city -- by being hung up on a couple walls to market a movie -- and #OccupyTogether movement itself.

Whether it's people wanting to amuse themselves with entertaining adult cartoons, or creating a positive atmosphere of freedom to fight for our rights to have a slice of the American Dream, it's all about people carving out a place for themselves.

And seemingly every time it happens, the elites of the world miss the 'joke,' metaphorical or otherwise.

So, in that regard, the Boston Police stealing the kitchen sink is emblematic with what's wrong with the city, government and mainstream society at large. It's the silly and serious merging all at once, crossing the poli-pop streams, amounting to something that's laughably stupid and insulting all at the same time.

They call the protesters dirty hippies, but as the protesters gain steam, they strip away their ability to stay clean, hoping normal people watching this stuff on the local news won't know any better.

Meanwhile, the protesters are nonviolent, peaceful and fighting for the rights of every American who's ever known what it's like to worry about putting food on the table, paying rent, finding a job or having adequate (or any) health care. The police are getting spooked by ghosts that just aren't there.

These politicians, corporate powers and police officers doing their dirty work don't respect or understand younger people and those struggling to find their way in this life, and they aren't even trying.

If it doesn't fit in with what's gone on in the past, like having a one day march instead of a long-term assembly, having a job instead of desperately looking for one in the midst of a job crisis for those out of work, or using viral marketing instead of paying millions for expensive ads, the old world not only doesn't understand it, but sees it as a threat and attacks it.

This time, far from attacking some stupid viral marketing campaign, we are the Mooninites -- and we're working with a political, corporate and police establishment that has yet to realize life has past them by.

The City Needs to Let #OccupyBoston Winterize

Privately and among friends, my thoughts have turned toward winter at #OccupyBoston often. It's clearly a huge undertaking to camp out in winter for any stretch, but to do so indefinitely is much harder.

#OccupyBoston's been weighing the winter and its options for a while, too, but I think it's well past time for the city to step up and help make it possible for tent city to continue by easing up on some of the restrictions.

The requests for needs that have been going out point at some of the things the city could do.

Here's one of the more telling quotes from that piece:

We only need prepared foods. Our food preperation area has no electricity, no heat source, and no running water, so we cannot cool, prepare, cook, or re-heat complex dishes. Please only donate prepared foods!

Allowing the protesters to have a generator or two for electricity and an area in which to prepare foods, including a heat source, is eminently reasonable and can be done safely. It's a project that could help smooth over hurt feelings over the raid a few weeks back and is an opportunity for Mayor Menino to get over his gaffes about his intolerance for civil disobedience. The city could then listen to Occupy Boston and make sure the set-ups for generators and a heating source for food preparation are done safely.

They should also allow the protesters to set up some areas for staying warm, the sort that any outdoor MBTA location will have equipped. Stricter rules for safety would be needed for those, but there's no reason why reasonable ones couldn't be come up with.

The protesters and protests aren't going away, even as the winter comes in. All the cities around the country have been talking a lot about the "safety" of the protesters. If cities like Boston really care about that, they'll let the Occupy movement winterize -- otherwise, all too many of the 99% are willing to risk frostbite to achieve results.

Fate Smiles from Above

While some people have criticized the design of MLK Jr.'s monument in Washington, D.C., fate was clearly smiling on the date of its opening. It was opened yesterday, on the day of mass protests -- and arrests -- across the country and abroad, in the cause of economic and social justice, issues King cared about a great deal.

With the Occupy movement maturing into its next phase, it looks stronger than ever, becoming something that can't be ignored. Like King and the protesters during the civil rights movement, that means more people will be arrested, more people will be punished and more people will be oppressed, until the powers that be can no longer get away with it.

The overreaction by the powers that be -- their fear and fury of the plebeians asking for modest changes to society that enable the American Dream to be shared with circles beyond the extraordinary rich -- is only further empowering the movement, as people read about what happens and begin to understand the world we really live in, as people begin to understand the outrages and abuse regular people go through when they dare to stand up to the status quo. King understood that way back when, and people understand that now. That's why, like then, the protesters today will win. That's why I'm sure MLK would look back on the day his monument opened as perfectly fitting for the biggest protests yet for the Occupy Movement.

More arrests, police harassment at #OccupyBoston

Today continued the Boston Police Department's trend to escalate the situation on Dewey Square, despite the fact that Occupy Boston has continually remained and affirmed its peaceful intentions and actions. The police presence surrounding Dewey Square has expanded tremendously, up to and including the BPD bringing out the cameras to video tape protesters.



That wasn't all we saw today. The AFL-CIO joined Occupy Boston today in solidarity for another march, despite the bad weather. They were forced to march on the sidewalks. Well, one person in a march of many stepped over the side walk -- and got arrested for it.



Here's a picture from after the arrest.

The protesters at Occupy Boston are more than willing to go back to the days of peaceful action with the police; the decision to escalate things with them has been purely one of Mayor Menino and the Boston Police and is completely one sided -- the protesters have remained peaceful all throughout. The people of Boston and the greater community must communicate to the Mayor and BPD their express desires that the people be allowed to peacefully assemble.

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In other news, we see news of the city of Houston trying to evict their Occupy movement today, and Mayor Bloomberg himself -- days after promising he'd allow the protesters to stay indefinitely -- will be trying to evict them tomorrow morning. Bloomberg's eviction is under the guise that he's just going to come in and clean, then let people back in, but notice what he won't let those protesters come back with:

The city’s top cop said today that the Occupy Wall Street protesters who clear out of Zuccotti Park tomorrow so their filthy makeshift campsite can get a much-needed cleaning can come back when the job is finished -- but they can’t take their tents, coolers and other gear with them.

“People will have to remove all their belongings and leave the park,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, “After it’s cleaned, they’ll be able to come back. But they won’t be able to bring back the gear, the sleeping bags, that sort of thing will not be able to be brought back into the park.”

Needless to say, they're trying to kill the Occupy Movement through stealth. Perhaps they figured the bad weather would do them in anyway, but discovered now that our unseasonably good weather is over that people are still sticking around and the movement is, in fact, still growing. Bloomberg will do anything to nip this thing in the bud, because he doesn't want to be paying the same tax rates as teachers and cleaning ladies on his billions of dollars. The question is will the world allow him to get away with it?

Crossposted at BlueMassGroup.com

#OccupyBoston Roundup

Here's a list of some important resources, information and videos concerning Occupy Boston, so people can figure out what the heck is really going on and what this is all about. Feel free to add to the comments anything  you think I may have missed.

UnaSpencer's diaries on Daily Kos, an insider perspective with in depth discussion

• A primer on the General Assembly, so you know what to expect if you go.
• Holding the line, a diary on what happened before the General Assembly's decision to approve the second camp and what happened directly after. 
• The Day After, on Occupy Boston's resolve to keep going and the movement's growing strength in the face of adversity.

News

• Menino is no fan of civil disobedience. 
• Boston's trying to pin the second camp on anarchists and foreigners... like Mubarak did in Egypt.
• 70% support Occupy Wall St. movement
• Garrett Quinn: "It was ugly and fast."
• The Day 25 Mothership Roundup of the entire OWS movement, for those looking at how things are going outside of Boston.

Pictures

Woman choked by police officer
Activestills Occupy Boston gallery
Safesounds Occupy Boston arrest gallery
Gallery from Monday, both the 10k-strong march and second camp, before police raid.

Reactions

Open letter to Menino
What would Rose Kennedy have thought about protesters on her greenway?

Videos from raid, TV segments

Cop pushes someone off wall



The raid begins



Post-raid dozens marched to the jail in support of those arrested. No embed.

AP video of arrests




Global Revolution Live Channel -- a live feed on the Occupy movement and its global economic-justice cousins. There's programming 24/7, usually previously recorded videos from around the world, and it'll go live with commentary when big things are going on.

Here's a wonderful video showing our fearless leaders expressing how important the freedom of assembly is abroad, even as they crack down on it here.



Young Turks report on Occupy Boston raid



Keith Olbermann interview with OccupyBoston participant who was raided and an organizer of one of the people participating in the OccupyWallSt



More Keith:

• First collective statement of OccupyWallSt
• Tavis Smiley of PBS and Cornel West discuss Occupy movement.
• Russ Feingold: "This is no time to hang back."

Occupy Boston Resources

• Website
• Twitter
• Media twitter (news and requests)
• Logistics twitter (find out what they need)
• The Occupy Boston Globe -- the Occupy Boston newspaper
• Occupy Boston Wiki
• Occupy Boston  live chat
• Occupy Boston live feed

Questions Media Didn't Ask at #OccupyBoston

Sometimes it's not just about what the media asks -- what they cover -- but what they don't cover and don't ask. Most of the issues over the coverage we saw, of what little coverage there was, would fit into this category.

News organizations like WCVB have covered the fact that the police asked protesters to leave, but didn't ask why they wanted to stay. That seems kind of important, doesn't it?

Several media outlets, like the Boston Herald, covered the fact that Boston's police commissioner blamed the raid on "anarchists" who had 'taken over' over the past 24 hours, but didn't bother to see just who those 'anarchists' were. If they followed up, they would have found a lot of veterans for piece, college students from neighboring campuses and the working poor, but I'm not so sure about "anarchists."

Plenty of news sources, like NECN, covered the fact that Mayor Menino despises civil disobedience and won't tolerate it in Boston, but could no news organization think to ask him how he can reconcile that with the fact that Boston practically invented civil disobedience in this country, in the form of hordes of Bostonians throwing tons of tea into the harbor.

There was the media coverage of the shrubs -- oh, dear, the shrubs! -- including ABC News, except no one bothered to ask Occupy Boston about it. If they did, they'd know Occupy Boston had approval from the Rose Kennedy group to be there, so long as they'd help care for the shrubs.

If the media asked, they would have learned how Occupy Boston already took care of shrubs and flowers at the Dewey Square camp and had a recycling program that would be the envy of many municipalities across the state.

Almost no main stream media organizations made note of the Veterans for Peace who were attacked, even while they trended worldwide on twitter. Wouldn't it have made sense to ask why it was necessary for the Boston Police to come down hard on people who've served this country with honor and distinction?

What about the medics and legal observers who were arrested? Or the medical supplies and other resources that were immediately thrown away -- things that could have provided evidence of police brutality, like cell phones and computers that may have been in the camp? Were these not worthy questions to ask about?

Among the questions that the media didn't ask was if the Patrick Administration approved the State Police being used as tools to bash protesters, or why Mayor Menino didn't have the police use non-violent means of breaking up the crowd -- without having to make mass arrests -- like using tear gas. There were plenty of questions asked of the Boston Police, but very little coverage of the protesters.

The entire Dewey Square camp was free and clear, with hundreds of people right there who would have been willing to answer questions. These are people who just want to have their voices heard -- that's why they're there in the first place. Would it have been so hard to hear their stories? To hear why they're there? To hear why they're willing to put themselves at risk for a greater cause? Those are worthy questions the rest of America deserves to have answered and covered.

Mostly, though, I'd like to know why most of the media didn't seem to think this was a big story. Well over a hundred people, in a city the fraction the size of New York, stood up for their rights in front of police brutality and courageously didn't back down, even when it meant arrest -- while the world went nuts over it on Twitter -- and it received barely a peep on the Mainstream Media. That's the biggest travesty of all.

Occupy Boston: Veterans Bashed, but Hopes aren't Dashed

The most discomforting thing about having stayed up late last night to stand witness to the events initiated by Mayor Menino was watching the Veterans for Peace, many of them seniors, stand in front of the rest of the crowd to shield them from the police -- and beaten for it. The whole night was peaceful, non-violent resistance, met by a far more aggressive approach by the police, who cowardly chose to attack in the middle of the night, after all the news programs cut off their live shows and before papers would have time to publish what really happened within the news cycle.

That's why any of the papers that managed to get anything to press had what amounted to fairly one-sided police accounts of what happened, with almost no mention of the fact that veterans were attacked and medics were arrested, along with some among the legal team who were there to stand witness. The cops cut the power to the media tent for the protesters, but luckily they anticipated that and booked a hotel that stood above the attacked encampment, where there was a live feed watched by upwards of 15,000 people.

I could go on about my assessment of what happened (and I do on today's podcast), but I think I'd rather point you to this story, posted on Daily Kos, by one of the facilitators of the movement. In addition to being a fantastic writer, he (or she) really put to pen everything that happened and how it happened from the perspective of someone from within the movement who had some level of ownership of it. Here's just a snippet of how they came to decide to set up the second camp.

The facilitation team quickly realized that with all that was going on we a) couldn't deal with proposals because the quorum was split and we would not get any true consensus, and b) people were going to be consumed with the rapidly unfolding and precarious situation. So, instead of a regular GA, we had urgent group announcements and a facilitated community discussion about what was going on. 

The goal of the discussion was to minimize speculation and rumor-mongering. We could get everyone on the same page and equally informed. 

Though there were some people who expressed dismay at the idea that the beta camp might be jeopardizing the alpha camp, the conversation went very well and we ended up with a strong sense of solidarity. The highlight of that was when the VeteransForPeace showed up. They strolled in with these white, very tall flags of their organization and a couple of US flags. As a facilitator I was facing the rest of the GA when a man asked to make an announcement, "We are here from the Veteran for Peace! We support Occupy Boston and we'll stand between you and the police!" There was a roar in the camp and I turned around to see a phalanx of veterans - men and women - standing tall with a wall of flags. I had been trying to remain calm and I'm not much of a flag waver. Still, I must admit that I was a bit verklempt. It was an impressive view and there really was something very reassuring and heartwarming about them showing up.

It was not an easy decision for them; they knew what was at risk. Yet, the movement has grown so incredibly quickly that Dewey Square alone is no longer large enough for it. They had no choice, and the city has no choice but to listen to them, at least if it wants to be known as a city that respects freedom and democracy and holds to our roots as the cradle of America.

Unfortunately, it seems as though Mayor Menino has some learning to do. His quotes today about the incident last night were some combination of dopey, misguided and frightening for the future of Democracy.

“Civil disobedience doesn’t work for Boston; it doesn’t work for anyone.”

“We will tolerate demonstrations, we will tolerate expressions of free speech but when it comes to civil disobedience we have a real issue with that, that is why we moved in last night.”

In a country and city with a past as colorful as ours, that's a very dangerous -- and faulty -- assessment. Yes, Mayor Menino, civil disobedience works. It works when nothing else will. When society's problems are systemic and government is a part of the problem, civil disobedience is all we have left. Like it or not, the Mayor will face more civil disobedience, not less. His actions last night assured it.

A Report from Occupy Boston

Yesterday's events were fairly mellow, but the crowds were huge and the momentum is clearly building.

While the bulk of the people camping out were twenty somethings and college students, it's clear the movement itself is much larger than that.

People run the gamut in age, race and ideology, but are friendly and welcoming. I'd say upwards of half the total people there were seniors and young families, many with kids, so it's not just college students and twenty somethings, even if those are the biggest groups camping out.

There's also a wide variety of backgrounds, from Cornell graduates with degrees in engineering to the unemployed and everything in between.

It's a little crunchy granola, but you can't help but feel empowered and inspired by the people participating together in the movement. There's a real sense of community in "Tent City," not to mention the sense that everyone is a part of something much bigger.

Everything was very peaceful and people were greatful that the police have been accommodating thus far. There were certainly constant efforts to keep it that way, with lots of self policing and reminders from members of the community if you were doing something that could attract police attention, even mundane things like not leaving room to pass through the sidewalk.

There's also worries that the Mayor's recent antagonizing comments could change things in regards to the police. The protesters are prepared for that, but have made every effort to avoid it.

They've kept the camp contained to just the square, even though they're at capacity in "tent city" and would like to expand to more of the greenway. There's been little impacts on traffic and lots of effort has been made to keep things safe and sanitary - both of those issues have entire working groups dedicated to them.

Yet, there are also daily work shops for legal training so people know their rights and know what to do if the situation changes and there are arrests. Numbers are given out on who to call if legal help is needed and people are told to write it down on there persons, not just their phones (which can be confiscated), should they think there could be arrests.

Getting Involved

There's going to be a 3pm march today sponsored by several organizations, including labor. It will start with students at the band stand on the Commons at 2pm (gathering at 1:30) and from there, meet with the rest of Dewey Square and the unions for the big 3pm effort. There should be literally thousands of people there.

The General Assemblies are daily at 7pm and are a true experience in democracy to be witnessed. Specifics can be found at the Occupy Boston website beyond that.

These are great opportunities to come and be a part of it all - one of the 99% - as the normal go of things is a much quieter, more subdued affair, with some work group or presentation usually going on every hour or so, but otherwise just lots of people gathered in clusters, holding signs or doing other mundane things.

Those quieter moments are what you make of them. If you want to stay busy, you need to get involved and volunteer.

There's dedicated areas to get involved in their working groups, find out more information, a place to stay at night or grab something to eat.

If you come in to visit, consider bringing some donations, like food and water. At the General Assembly, the food services group specifically asked for vegan salad dressing and a large coffee maker. These are the things that keep people - and therefore the movement - going.