Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Helen Roberts on October 27, 2011 at 9:00am

See occupycleveland.com. This city is accommodating citizens in their need for peaceful assembly. What can be learned from Cleveland? How to support and publicize their good thinking?

My heart goes out to Oakland and to all occupiers for the sacrifices they are making. 

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Permalink Reply by Ben Roberts on October 27, 2011 at 10:30am

Asheville NC also got city permission (for now) to set up in a particular spot.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Ferguson on October 27, 2011 at 11:12am

Asheville City Council gave temporary permission and then when the topic came up again voted 6-1 against a longer occupation .. http://www.mountainx.com/article/36799/Council-refuses-to-let-Occup...

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Permalink Reply by Occupy Cafe Stewards on October 27, 2011 at 12:13pm

Ah--yes I just heard the same from Jim Barton.  So you guys are "squatters" again.  Jim seems to think that's OK though.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Ferguson on October 27, 2011 at 12:34pm

Honestly the idea that Occupy should even have permits or permission is beside the point.  The overpermitization of public property is one of the issues at hand... Occupy Asheville's statement is here.. http://www.mountainx.com/article/36817/Occupy-Asheville-Public-spac...

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Permalink Reply by Ben Roberts on October 27, 2011 at 10:31am

We're planning to have one of next Monday's conversation starters be someone who was part of Occupy Oakland and can provide a first hand account of the events there.

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Permalink Reply by Aerin Dunford on October 27, 2011 at 11:48am

It will be excellent to hear directly from soneone who was actually at the scene in Oakland and can share with us what went down. It is so hard to get a real sense from photos, articles and videos (though I get the gist!).

 

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Permalink Reply by Gary Horvitz on October 27, 2011 at 3:07pm

Welcome to Syria By the Bay

Comments by Hunter last night on DK

The Occupy Wall Street movement apparently has inadvertently (or, at this point, intentionally?) managed to stumble upon the one thing that is absolutely most intolerable to local government officials throughout the nation: protest all you want, but for the love of God don't camp. Who knew? For decades protesters have been holding up signs, marching down streets, singing songs, making giant puppets or what-have-you, but they never figured out that if they really wanted attention, all they had to do was sit their ass down on a sleeping bag and all the hellfire of the American political and law enforcement infrastructure would come down upon their heads.

It demonstrates, I think, just how viscerally uncomfortable governments are with any protest that is seen as seriously threatening to the status quo. As long as the protest is transient—that is, it goes away the next day, leaving nothing of itself behind but some full trash cans and discarded signs—it is fine. As long as it makes demands that are either decently in line with the status quo or so not in line with the status quo that they have zero chance of altering a political outcome, it's also fine. But staying overnight somewhere suggests a commitment to your cause that truly, truly unnerves politicians. It implies that you might still be there tomorrow, and the next day, and that is when the boundaries of free speech seem to find themselves well and truly tested.

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Permalink Reply by Helen Roberts on October 27, 2011 at 3:46pm

Yes. We learned this lesson in 1968 in Lincoln Park in Chicago. Thank you, Gary, for stating the situation so clearly. Viva Oakland!

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Permalink Reply by Occupy Cafe Stewards on October 27, 2011 at 5:46pm

Yes, I read that last night too.  

"Protest all you want, but for the love of God don't camp. Who knew?"  

LMAO!!! 

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Permalink Reply by occupynonviolence on October 28, 2011 at 12:07am

I feel that the key question is how prepared are we to practice principled nonviolence in the face of any amount of violence?  To read a document specifically prepared for the occupy Wall Street protesters by www.mettacenter.org, a nonviolence education network, go to: http://www.mettacenter.org/mc/projects/consultation/october_2011

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