UNITED STATES (OPC) — Occupy Wall Street seized mainstream media headlines again last week, amid shocking scenes of police brutality and an unconstitutional media blackout. But less publicised was a wave of conscientous objectors and solidarity action across the United States.
Around the world people poured into the streets in solidarity with Occupy Oakland after some 500 riot police razed the camp to the ground for the second time in a week, firing tear gas, rubber bullets and flashbang grenades and arresting more than 100 people. Instructors held teach-ins, dozens of businesses closed voluntarily and demonstrators took to the streets of Oakland in a general strike, periodically clashing with police and eventually shutting down the Port of Oakland. In Los Angeles, New York, Denver and dozens of other cities across the country, people marched to show their support for the strike.
Occupy Los Angeles has set up tents on the steps of City Hall, where their proximity to Skid Row has been both a blessing and a curse. Within days, Skid Row residents started showing up for food and water. Thefts and violence soon followed. But since working with local advocacy groups like the Los Angeles Community Action Network and starting an Occupy the Hood affinity group, camp residents said security had improved.
In Albany, Governor Andrew Cuomo asked Mayor Jerry Jennings to clear the encampment near the State Capitol, but Jennings and the city police department refused. Tennesseeans scored a victory when a U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order against a curfew the police were trying to enforce on the Occupy Nashville encampment at Legislative Plaza.
Meanwhile Occupy DC kept the heat on Capitol Hill, with an occupation of General Atomics – a defense contractor specialising in drone aircraft – and periodic shut-downs of the Chamber of Commerce. Occupier and author David Swanson said DC police had been a model Oakland and New York could learn from: “I’ve watched a police officer refuse the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s request to arrest us as we blocked the Chamber’s doors.”
This bulletin was compiled with reporting from Jon Chisum, John Dennehy, Brad Edmondson, Ruth Fowler, Charlie Lockwood, Joanie Masters, Keesha Renna, Kevin Schiesser, Jenna Spitz, David Swanson and JoAnn Wypijewski.