Coercive Attrition and the Occupy Movement

Oakland's Dirty War

by GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER

As winter sets in, the Occupy Movement nationwide confronts a new series of challenges. Conspiring with the weather, however, is the threat of a shifting policing model currently being tested out in Oakland.

Coercive Attrition

The Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci spoke of a distinction between "war of position" and "war of maneuver," between those gradual and occasionally imperceptible political struggles that occur every day and the frontal attack on power toward which they eventually build. While this distinction is necessary, it should not be overstated, and nor can we associate the war of position too directly with ideological struggle and war of maneuver with direct military attacks on and by the coercive apparatus of the state. Recent events in Oakland and the strategy of coercive attrition directed against the Occupy Movement make perfectly clear just how insufficient such a correlation would be.

Recent weeks have seen the Occupy Movement confronted with a war of attrition nationwide: as cold weather sets in, many cities have opted to wait out the movement, allowing excitement to fade and the movement to devour itself in the petty squabbles of disempowerment. Often, though, this strategy of passive attrition operates alongside a more aggressive approach. In Philadelphia, for example, a hands-off approach to the now-decamped Occupy Philly operates in tandem with ferocity toward those who step out of line in a transparent attempt to bully radicals into submission (as with the case of two housing activists currently facing multiple felonies).

But it is in Oakland more than anywhere else that friendly weather and sustained militancy have given rise to a different approach, one similarly premised on chipping away at the movement through attrition and fatigue but doing so in a far more repressive manner. One key ingredient to this peculiar constellation of forces is the empty vessel perched atop the city government: Mayor Jean Quan. Quan was discredited long ago and from all sides, hated by the left for unleashing the near fatal attacks on Occupy Oakland in October, and by the right (represented by OPD and the City Council) for not taking a harder line. Now, having opted to vacillate rather than stand on the side of history, she will simply be hoping to serve out her term and avoid an embarrassing recall campaign.

This vacillation has been nowhere clearer than on the question of the epic Port Shutdowns on November 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] and December 12[SUP]th[/SUP], the first of which catapulted Occupy Oakland to the forefront of the national movement, and the second of which demonstrated a capacity for coordinated militancy not seen in this country for decades at least. Since it was Quan who took the heat for the unrestrained actions of police in October, one could hardly blame the Mayor for hesitating to unleash OPD and other forces against those blocking the port. But when Quan suggested that the city might not be able to prevent future shutdowns of the port, her critics in City Council found powerful echo in Governor Jerry Brown. But for now at least, OPD's hands are at least partially tied, an the full-on assaults of many an officer's dream go unfulfilled for now.

Blocked from engaging in a brutal war of maneuver, OPD's strategy has been a different one, and what remains of Occupy Oakland's presence in Oscar Grant Plaza has seen small raids with a handful of arrests several times a week. While some interpret this half-heartedness by the forces of order as a sign of impotence, the frequency, the timing, and the serious charges incurred in the raids speak to a more sinister strategy.

"Shit's Gonna Pop"

I arrived at Oscar Grant Plaza in the immediate aftermath of one such raid on Friday, December 30[SUP]th[/SUP], where rebels circulated through the plaza denouncing the most recent skirmish. Some still carried their belongings in the familiar plastic bags, souvenirs from a recent trip to Santa Rita County Jail. The rage is palpable and growing, with many pronouncing that "shit's gonna pop" in somber tones, and another occupier angrily insisting that "they'll see me in hell before they see me in jail."

Read the rest of the article HERE

Rahm has the plan....Man!

Published on Monday, January 9, 2012 by CommonDreams.org

Occupiers Target 'Mayor 1% Emanuel's' Anti-Protest Ordinance


Occupy Rogers Park, Occupy the South Side campaign against Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's NATO/G-8 ordinance; "This measure is a permanent attack on public protest in the City of Chicago."

Last month Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced anti-protester legislation for the upcoming NATO and G-8 summits in Chicago.

Chicago's WBEZ reported: This morning, Occupy Chicago reacted harshly to Emanuel's plan, which they call the 'Sit Down and Shut Up' ordinance. From the Occupy Chicago website: This morning, Occupy the South Side and Occupy Rogers Park delivered a warning to all of the city's aldermen, indicating that if they supported the mayor's resolution, they should expext strong resistance.

From their letter to the aldermen:

The Hollow Democracy - ROBERT C. KOEHLER

Maybe they're trying to remind us that democracy isn't merely a matter of casting that little vote once every Leap Year - but, far, far more significantly, it's about getting that right to vote in the first place, keeping that right, and having it matter.

Every one of these rights is in jeopardy as 2012 opens and another presidential election season gets serious. But this is nothing new.

After all, democracy is nothing if not a perpetual nuisance to the powerful. It asserts that public policy is everyone's business, and that the concerns of even the most financially and socially marginal citizens are equal to those of the most elite. Indeed, no one is marginal in a democracy - a concept we embrace as a nation but don't believe. And thus citizens are marginalized all the time.

"Even in 2008, which saw the highest voter turnout in four decades," Ari Berman wrote last September in Rolling Stone, "fewer than two-thirds of eligible voters went to the polls. And according to a study by MIT, 9 million voters were denied an opportunity to cast ballots that year because of problems with their voter registration . . . long lines at the polls . . . uncertainty about the location of their polling place . . . or lack of proper ID."

Berman pinpoints two serious problems in this passage. The lesser of the two, though still immensely troubling, is the cheat factor: the placing of impediments in the way of vulnerable voters or the outright disenfranchisement of certain constituencies, by legal, quasi-legal or outright illegal means. The cheat factor can also refer to the actual manipulation of election results, something eerily easy to do on electronic voting machines - with evidence of widespread irregularities permanently tarnishing George Bush's re-election in 2004, for instance.

This year, the democracy impeders are out in full force. The NAACP has issued a report called "Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America," which, as reported by Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis, "takes on the new Jim Crow tactics passed in fourteen states that are designed to keep minorities from voting in 2012." The organization has petitioned the U.N. to investigate.

The most notorious of these tactics has been the proliferation of laws, usually passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures, requiring would-be voters to present photo IDs at the polling place, allegedly to control "voter fraud" - a made-up problem invented by GOP operatives like Karl Rove to justify laws aimed at cutting voter turnout among typically Democratic constituencies. These constituencies - African-Americans, Latinos, the poor, the elderly - are far less likely than middle-class whites to have an ID such as a driver's license. To obtain a state ID at the Department of Motor Vehicles requires a long wait and, possibly, the prior purchase of a birth certificate, which has been likened to a modern-day poll tax.

Other legislative impediments include new bureaucratic hurdles complicating voter registration drives, which, Berman reported, caused the League of Women Voters to shut down its registration efforts in Florida and may lead Rock the Vote, which signed up 2.5 million new voters in 2008, to do the same; and the disenfranchising of ex-felons, a disproportionate number of whom, thanks to an array of historical forces, are African-American or Latino. (Many people happening to bear the same name as ex-felons also got purged from election rolls in a number of states in recent elections.)

Beyond the cheat factor - the disenfranchisement of certain voters or the manipulation of results - American democracy is being hollowed out by a process, to my mind, even more insidious: the slow, steady usurpation of power by unelected special interests and the privatization of the commons. This process continues no matter who gets elected, because elected power is subordinate to it.

I still have dazzling memories of lines snaking around the block at Chicago polling places throughout Election Day 2008, as the Obama campaign mobilized hope and possibility in almost unprecedented numbers. But as Berman pointed out, even though this was the best turnout the country had in four decades, it represented less than two-thirds of eligible voters. Along with the 9 million people who tried to vote and for various reasons couldn't in 2008, more than 40 million people marginalized themselves by not even trying.

This isn't a problem of "laziness." It's more like pragmatic despair. The media do their best to trivialize the election process and turn it into a horse race. And the military-industrial economy, through organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, to which some 2,000 state legislators and hundreds of corporations (e.g., Koch Industries, Wal-Mart, Pfizer, AT&T) belong, quietly shapes legislation and wields political power on behalf of moneyed interests.

The good news is that, as we reclaim, anew, our right to vote, we counter organized, secret, unelected corporate power and regain our own. Real democracy is represented by citizen activism and, most spectacularly in 2011, the Occupy movement, which demonstrated that "voting" is something we do by our actions every single day.

---

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His new book, Courage Grows Strong at the Wound (Xenos Press) is now available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com or visit his website at commonwonders.com.

Significantly more Americans see "very strong" or "strong" class conflict between the rich and poor, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. The results show that Americans think that conflicts between the rich and poor are stronger than immigrant and native born, black and white and young and old.
In 2009, 47 percent of respondents said there were "very strong" or "strong" conflicts between the rich and poor. In 2011, 66 percent saw the same, possibly signaling that the "We are the 99 percent" rhetoric of Occupy Wall Street has had an impact. The ongoing economic recession also may have magnified class differences as income inequality has risen, continuing a trend occurring in American society since at least the 1970s.
Democrats in general -- and President Barack Obama in specific -- have also spoken out about income inequality. "Now, this kind of inequality -- a level that we haven't seen since the Great Depression -- hurts us all," Obama said in a December speech in Kansas. The GOP front-runner for the presidency, Mitt Romney, has in turn charged Obama with promulgating the "politics of envy" and said that discussions over the distribution of wealth were "fine" to talk about "in quiet rooms in discussions about tax policy."
Media mentions about income inequality have also risen significantly since the start of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The Pew survey found that whites had significantly larger increases in perception of class conflict than blacks and hispanics, rising to 65 percent from 43 percent in 2009. Seventy-four percent of blacks and 61 percent of hispanics see class conflicts, increasing by single digits from 2009.
The perception of class conflict has also intensified -- 30 percent see "very strong conflicts," a figure that doubled from 2009. marking the largest increase since the question was first asked in 1987.
Other social conflicts were less intense. Thirty-eight percent of Americans saw "very strong" or "strong" conflicts between blacks and whites, virtually unchanged from 2009, and 62 percent saw "very strong" or "strong conflict" between immigrants and native born, up 7 percent from 2009. Thirty-four percent saw "very strong" or "strong" conflicts between young and old, up 11 percent from 2009.
Grievances, however, against the wealthy did not increase, with 46 percent saying that rich people "are wealthy mainly because they know the right people or were born into wealthy families," and 43 percent saying they are wealthy because "of their own hard work, ambition or education."
Young people -- suffering the highest levels of unemployment -- see class conflict significantly more than older people, with 71 percent of people aged 18 to 34 seeing "very strong" or "strong" class conflicts while just 55 percent of people over 65 see them.
Republicans see class conflict less than Democrats and independents. GOP leaders have dismissed calls to raise taxes on the wealthy, calling it "class warfare." Still, 55 percent of Republicans see "strong" or "very strong" class conflicts in comparison to 73 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of independents.

Occupy Wall Street protesters have moved back into New York's Zuccotti Park after barricades were lifted. This comes after civil liberties groups sent letters to the city, saying the barriers broke zoning laws.
On Monday, civil rights groups filed a complaint with the city's Buildings Department, saying Zuccotti Park is a publicly-owned private plaza and is required to be open 24 hours a day.
Barricades have been in place since mid-November when the occupiers were evicted in a night raid by police. But now that the barriers are gone, the protesters are determined to stay.
RT's Anastasia Churkina reports, protesters at the park are very optimistic. "People seem re-energized. They are excited to be able to get back to Zuccotti Park the birth place of the Occupy Wall Street."
"A lot of the skeptics were hoping that after the occupiers' were kicked of Zuccotti Park that would be the end of Occupy Wall Street. But certainly that has not been the case, and the protesters themselves believe this and they see this as a new chapter for the whole movement, that has become nationwide," says Churkina.
However, sleeping, tents and sleeping bags have been banned from the park since a November 15 police raid evicted protesters. They can technically stay overnight at the park, but they will not be able to sleep without the tents.
Nevertheless, occupiers' are hopeful that they come back full force in spring once it becomes warmer. "As we move into the spring, I think that this will return to being our hub for the movement," one protester told RT.

Which Corporations Occupy Congress?

Peter Lemkin Wrote:

"Corporate Personhood Is Poopy" :rofl:

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Updated: A Call to Occupy Wall St. West!

Posted on January 8, 2012
13
en espanol PDF format in English

What?

• A day of mass action centered in the SF Financial District involving mass occupation, mobilization, nonviolent direct action and disobedience.
  
• We ask people, groups, movements and communities from San Francisco, the Bay Area and across California to self-organize and take action with us to disrupt business-as-usualeither at a bank or corporation where you are drawn to act or at one initiated by other participants.
  
• Many ways to participate without risk of arrest!
  
• There will be an all-day orientation site at Bradley Manning/Justin Herman Plaza where unaffiliated folks can get information, including where and how to plug into actions, with mobilization times at 6:00 am (Wall St. West starts when Wall St. East starts!), 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm.
  

We call on the Occupy movements and the 99% across the region to join us.

Why?

• To end corporate personhood! Corporations are NOT people; Money is NOT speech. January 20th is the anniversary eve of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, which further privileged corporations over people in our Constitution.
  
• To expose how Wall St. operates in our midst, attacking our communities, homes, livelihoods, education, environment, democracy, and health.
  
• To demand that banks stop foreclosing on our neighbors and evicting them from their homes for profit.
  
• To contribute to ongoing community fights for social and economic justice against banks and corporations.
  
• To build and mobilize a broad-based, strategic mass movement asserting the people power of the 99% in San Francisco, the Bay Area, California and the region.
  

How?

• DON'T GO TO OR WALK OUT OF WORK AND SCHOOL. No Business as Usual!
  
• FORM/JOIN AN ACTION GROUP: Organize an action/affinity group with friends, neighbors, classmates, congregation and/or co-workers. We encourage you to organize an action group in your own community or with folks who share common interests or identities.
  
• You may also meet people to form or join a group with at a Nonviolent Occupy Direct Action Training (more info later in this document) or by networking through Meetup.
  
• These groups can take action, do education and outreach, etc. in their own communities and neighborhoods in addition to supporting mass actions and occupations and staying organized for the long haul. Please send a spokesperson from your group to the weekly Occupy SF Action Council Meeting to coordinate.
  
• If you want to let others know that your group is participating and about the actions you are planning, we encourage you to do so!
  
• PREPARE: Participate in a two-hour Nonviolent Occupy Direct Action Training to prepare, find out more and maybe meet up with folks to form or join an affinity group. National Lawyers Guild will sponsor Know Your Rights Trainings.
  
• ORIENT: Go to the orientation site by the ice skating rink at Bradley Manning/Justin Herman Plaza beginning at 6:00 am and throughout the entire day for info and to plug in.
  

Occupy SF Action Council

The Occupy SF Action Council is an ongoing weekly "spokescouncil" meeting of affinity groups and organizations to coordinate actions and mobilizations. It is the primary coordinating body for the Occupy Wall St. West January 20, 2012, actions and lead-up activities. Decisions are made by spokespeoplechosen by their groupsusing a modified consensus decision-making process [try for full consensus; if not possible, 9/10 majority].
All groups participating in the January 20 / Occupy Wall St. West actions, please send spokes to participate.

• Sunday, January 8, 2:00pm: Unite-Here Local 2, 209 Golden Gate @ Leavenworth (just North of 7th and MarketCivic Center BART), map
  
• Sunday, January 15, 2:00pm: Unite-Here Local 2, 209 Golden Gate @ Leavenworth (just North of 7th and MarketCivic Center BART), map
  
• Thursay, January 19, 6:00pm: Location TBA
  

Check the web calendar (www.occupywallstwest.org/calendar) for the latest information on all meetings related to the January 20 actions.

Occupy Wall St. West Workgroups

Organizing and outreach for Occupy Wall St. West (OWSW) is coordinated by the OWSW Action Workgroup and carried out by other ongoing and ad-hoc workgroups, including: Trainings, Outreach, Press, Media, Internal/Action Communications, Food and Housing.
If you have questions or would like to contribute to organizing, available contact info for each workgroup is listed on our website.



Initial Participating Organizations

• Occupy SF General Assembly and Action Council
  
• 
Occupy SF State University
  
• 
Occupy SF Housing Coalition:
  ACCE, Asian Law Caucus, Causa Justa: Just
 Cause, Coalition on Homelessness, Eviction Defense Collaborative,
 Housing Rights Committee, Occupy SF, QUEEN, San Francisco Tenants
 Union

  
• Progressive Workers Alliance:
  Coleman Advocates for Children
 and Youth, Chinese Progressive Association, Filipino Community Center, La Raza Centro LegalDay Laborer Program and Women's Collective, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, People Organized to Demand Environmental and
 Economic Rights, People Organized to Win Employment Rights, Pride at
 Work, Young Workers United
  
• Jobs with Justice
  
• 
SF Labor Council

  
• California Nurses Association

  
• Pride at Work/HAVOQ (Horizontal Alliance of Very Organized Queers)
  
• 
Rainforest Action Network

  
• Code Pink
  
• 
ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and Racism) Coalition

  
• 28th Amendment Group

  
• Move to Amend
  
• 
SF Interfaith Allies of Occupy

  
• SF 99% Coalition
  

Additional participating groups are (and can be) listed online here.
ORGANIZATIONS: Existing organizations who respect the ethos of the Occupy movement (e.g., being autonomous from political parties and organizations; non-hierarchical and directly democratic structure; and nonviolent protest, occupation and resistance) are warmly welcomed to participate.



Key Wall St. West Action Sites

We propose that the most key Wall St. institutions to target:

1. Are major players in the economy
   
2. Contributed to the financial crisis and economic melt-down
   
3. Have a presence in San Francisco
   
4. Have ongoing campaigns against them locally
   

BIG WALL ST. BANKS:

• Wells FargoWorld HQ (420 Montgomery) & branches
  
• JP Morgan ChaseWest Coast HQ (560 Mission) & branches
  
• Bank of AmericaB of A Center (555 California) & branches
  
• CitibankCitigroup Center (1 Sansome) & branches
  

SOME KEY WALL ST CORPORATIONS:

• Goldman Sachs (555 California)
  
• Morgan Stanley (555 California)
  
• Merrill Lynch (101 California)
  
• Capital International (1 Market, 20th floor)
  
• Chartis Group (AIG) (1 Market, 36th floor)
  
• Bechtel (50 Beale)
  
• PG&E (77 Beale)
  

SOME KEY WALL ST CORPORATIONS:

• Fannie Mae (50 California)
  
• Federal Reserve Bank (101 Market)
  
• SEC (44 Montgomery)
  

ACTION MAP:

Additional corporate or government sites that groups are planning actions at can be added to the online action map along with the address and information about why they are being targeted.
A printable version of the online Action Map will be available for download by January 10.

Nonviolent Occupy/Direct Action Trainings

• These two-hour trainings will cover all the basics of the Jan. 20 Occupy Wall St. West Occupation, including hands-on skills and information about nonviolent direct action, disobedience and occupation for those considering participating in or supporting direct actions, or who just want to find out more. Trainings will include:
  • How to engage in direct action and occupation
    
  • Tools for de-escalation (and escalation)
    
  • Working in groups
    
  • Dealing with arrest and legal consequences
    
• You may meet people at the training to form an affinity group with (a group of 5-25 who works as a team for Jan. 20) or join an existing group to participate in the day of action.
  
• Please come on time, stay for the whole time and please RSVP using our web form.
  
• If you have a group or community 15 or more people and would like us to have trainers come to you to do a Nonviolent Occupy/Direct Action Training, ask us and we'll make it happen if we can!
  

SF DIRECT ACTION TRAINING SCHEDULE

Saturday, January 14, 10:00 am 12:00 pm
Sunday, January 15, 10:00 am 12:00 pm
Sunday, January 15, 5:00 pm 7:00 pm

Monday, January 16, 6:00 pm 8:00 pm

Tuesday, January 17, 6:00 pm 8:00 pm
Wednesday, January 18, 6:00 pm 8:00 pm (2 trainings)
Thursday, January 19, 3:00 pm 5:00 pm
Thursday, January 19, 6:00 pm 8:00 pm (3 trainings)
Thursday, January 19, 8:30pm 10:30pm (3 trainings)
Friday, January 20, 5:00 am 5:00 pm all-day orientation @ Bradley Manning/Justin Herman Pl.
For locations, stay tuned to the www.occupywallstwest.org/calendar.

Legal Support

• Occupy Legal is a collective of activists, lawyers and legal workers dedicated to supporting economic justice occupation encampments in the San Francisco Bay Area, and we are supporting Occupy Wall St. West.
  
• We are asking groups to self-organize their own legal support contact personwe will work with you. More info on how to do legal support is here.
  
• Occupy Legal works to transform the demoralizing experience of arrest and incarceration into an empowering one. We are working in collaboration with the Bay Area chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
  

What we will do:

• Provide "Know Your Rights" information and trainings
  
• Provide materials on documenting injuries and police misconduct
  
• Staff a hotline - 415.285.1011
  
• Organize and dispatch legal observers when needed
  
• Track people in jail to make sure everyone gets out
  
• Provide emergency support to people who are having a crisis in jail
  
• Help people who are not released from jail
  
• Find lawyers to meet with and defend arrestees on criminal charges
  
• Organize a meeting for arrestees (if needed)
  
• Maintain a website: http://occupylegal.info
  

What we can't do:

• Handle bail/bondwe can't raise funds, arrange bail, or otherwise deal with money
  
• Provide logistical support for people as they are released from jail (rides, food, medical/emotional support)
  
• Guarantee free representation for the duration of your criminal case
  
• We may not have resources to represent people who are being held in jail due to prior unrelated charges
  
• Make legal decisions for youwe will give information, but in the end your actions are your own
  

Legal Training

• The Know Your Rights training covers basic constitutional rights, interacting with the police, searches and the court/arraignment process. We use role-playing and real life scenarios to empower activists to assert their rights in protest situations and to demystify the legal process.
  
• You can also take the official NLG Legal Observer training. If you ever wanted a sexy green hat, this is the training for you. The Legal Observer program is part of a comprehensive system of legal support designed to enable people to express their political views as fully as possible without unconstitutional disruption or interference by the police and with the fewest possible consequences from the criminal justice system.
  
• Please contact us at occupylegal@riseup.net to RSVP or to request additional trainings for your group!
  

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS TRAINING

Sunday, January 8, 12:00 pm 2:00 pm: Unite-Here Local 2, 209 Golden Gate @ Leavenworth
Sunday, January 15, 12:00 pm 2:00 pm: location TBA

LEGAL OBSERVER TRAINING

Thursday, January 12, 6:00 pm: Hastings Law School, 200 McAllister @ Hyde

Housing

We will try to connect out of town participants with Bay Area housing. Please fill out a web form if you know you are coming and you need housing OR if you live in the Bay Area and can offer housing. If you have personal contacts (e.g., friend of a friend/family, etc.), please pursue those to leave housing available to those without contacts.

Action Agreements

Agreed to by Occupy SF Action Council & General Assembly:
These basic action agreements allow for a diversity of participants from the 99% needed to build a strategic mass movement capable of standing up to and overthrowing the rule of the 1%, and building a better world. We make agreements about how we make decisions and how we occupy together; these are basic agreements about how we take action together, beyond which individuals and groups are autonomous. These are not philosophical or political requirements or judgments about the validity of some tactics over others; just minimal agreements to create a basis of trust to work together as diverse communities, and to know what to expect from each other.
Occupy SF action participants agree not to engage in property destruction, unless it's part of our strategy or action agreed to at General Assembly/Action Council (example: entering a foreclosed home to re-occupy). All groups, regardless of strategy and tactics, are welcome to participate in the day of action and are asked to agree to the general principles of the Occupy SF actions.
In forming the Occupy SF Action Council the coordinating body for Occupy Wall St West Occupy SF General Assembly and the Occupy SF Action Council agreed that: those who respect our practice of being autonomous from political parties and organizations, of being non-hierarchical and directly democratic, and of nonviolent protest, occupation and resistance are welcome. Groups that wish to co-opt, dominate or use the Occupy movement to further their own organization or ideology are not.