Mike-Check!

At 4PM Thursday March 15^th roughly 200 Occupy Philly protesters gathered outside of the main entrance to the Municipal Services Building across the street from City Hall to openly defy Mayor Nutter’s attempt to criminalize the feeding of homeless and hungry Philadelphians.  If the Mayor has his way it will become a crime, punishable by up to $150 to share a crust of bread with a starving man or woman on the streets of “brotherly love.”  Nutter (perhaps the most aptly named figure in American political history) seeks to characterize his new policy as a compassionate concern for the well being and dignity of the cities unfortunate.  But the poor, the homeless and their supporters see it as a callous move to sweep them off the streets and in particular off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway which is home to both the most visible center of food distribution to the homeless and the soon to open Barnes Foundation Museum.  “Out of sight, out of mind” they say is the Mayors hope.

In an act of supreme irony Occupy set up their free food line right at the foot of a statue of Nutter’s equally nutty mayoral predecessor and former top cop Frank Rizzo.  Salad, fried chicken, potatoes and vegetable platters were dispensed to the occupiers and grateful citizens in need of a good nourishing meal.

At 5:30 the group lined up at the door to enter and attend a public hearing of the city Board of Health where they had been told there would be an opportunity to make their voices heard.  Rather than simply opening the doors and allowing the public to enter, which is the usual procedure at public comment sessions, the police threw up barricades and rationed admittance.  At first only 50 at a time would be allowed to enter and then in an equally arbitrary move police downsized this to only 40.  The rationalization given for this was that the hearing room was too small to accommodate any more at one time.  In fact, the Municipal Services Building has many meeting rooms of varying sizes which would have been more than ample to seat all those present.  The room which they had chosen to use was itself made up of movable wall partitions which had been closed off to reduce it to an acceptably inadequate size for the occasion. It could have easily been opened up to double that size or larger.

By the time the second group of people was allowed to enter they had been made to stand in the cold for nearly 2 hours and the atmosphere was tense.  Testimony was passionate but polite.  Former police Captain Ray Lewis, who had caused ripples when he joined the Occupiers in Zuccotti in November, was among those who testified as was a 12 year old girl named Sophie.  Sophie  won a rousing ovation from the crowd when, to the commissioners dismay, she dared them to try and tell her classmates they could not feed hungry people.  “That would be a pretty good trick” she beamed confidently.

At some point a woman in the gallery mic checked the room to inform everyone that a woman named Kadijah had been arrested on the steps outside.  No details were known

A few more attendees gave testimony when, on cue, a group of occupiers took the front of the room and sat down on the floor in front of the Health commissioners and locked arms.  They denounced the proceeding as a sham and expressed their disbelief that the commissioners had any intention of taking anything they heard from the public seriously. (Only 3 of them 8 board members had even bothered to show up and one of them had, up to that point, appeared to be on the verge of falling asleep)   From that point on Occupy controlled the meeting.  They gave their testimony in Mic Check style allowing the commissioners to call on others to call on others to give testimony without interruption but making their own comments and observations at will in between.  At some moments it seemed as though a GA was about to break out.  The session ended and visitors filed out to make way for the next group.  Under threat of arrest 4 of the occupiers remained, arms locked in front of the commissioners refusing to leave.

Now outside the word spread of the action in the hearing room. Everyone moved to a rear exit where police wagons had been pulled up to take away the defiant heroes.  Cell phone reports from those inside revealed that rather than being taken out the fearless 4 (Alicia, Amy, Sean and Matt) were triumphantly holding their position through the 3^rd and last session.

As that session ended the cops outside began to firm up barricades in preparation for taking them out to the waiting vans.  The crowd had swelled to twice its size and included many print reporters and broadcast media. Live streamers from Occupy Tucson were beaming the events out to the world and the air was charged.  This felt like no arrest ever seen. No perp walk of shame here.  This was an Oscar night red carpet !!  To the tune of an old time union song the crowd sang out:

Solidarity’s delicious !

Solidarity’s delicious !

Solidarity’s delicious !

And Free Food Makes Us Strong !

In an unexpected development, as the excitement grew, Matt emerged from around the corner of the building.  He and the others had been released out the front door on the other side of the building.  The cops had blinked.  They cut them loose with no charges!!

It turned out that the only person to have been arrested was Khadijah.  In the confrontations earlier she had had gotten into a scuffle with one or more of the bike cops.  Some say she was provoked, some say she was attacked.  It was unclear whether or not any tape of the incident exists.  Khadijah was held nearly 24 hours before being released after 3PM the next afternoon.  She was greeted outside the roundhouse (Philadelphia central police headquarters) by a dedicated support group if friends and family.

In a final ultimate twist.  On the morning that she sat in a roundhouse cell for demonstrating for her right to provide an essential civic service to people in need, Khadijah was to have been the guest of honor at an award ceremony.  The city was honoring her for being a young woman of color who selflessly provided outstanding civic service to the community.  Mayor Nutter was to have been on hand to present the award.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.”

Frederick Douglass

The Occupy DC Movement and its Progressive Black Caucus would like to invite you to a vigil and an all-day event with speakers at the Frederick Douglass home located in Washington, DC (Anacostia, Southeast — only blocks from the Anacostia metro stop).

In order to express Douglass’s message during this Black History Month — the month of Douglass’s birth — we shall call for resolution and justice for the following problems: criminal injustice, rising economic inequality, bank bailouts and fraud, and the expulsion of occupiers from their peaceful vigils at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza.

The Frederick Douglass House belongs to the Anacostia community, alongside black and all Americans, and we have the right under the First Amendment “peaceably to assemble” and “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

WE SHALL NOT ENTER THE HOME OR CAUSE ANY DAMAGE TO IT!

If you are interested in speaking about Frederick Douglass or the issues that affect our communities today, or would like to suggest speakers, please contact Tony Davis at yahs…@yahoo.com or at   857-234-0920.

Follow the link  HERE  to the statement from the Press Relations Working Group of the NYC General Assembly.

The hot Occupy news in the mainstream media is that we are holding a National Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on July 4^th.  If you’re an occupier and this is news to you, then you’re not alone.  Apparently the project grew out of a statement prepared by an Occupy Wall Street working group called the “99% Declaration”.  While getting a fair number of up twinkles on its initial reading neither the Declaration nor the convention project which sprang from it were ever adopted by the GA.

This did not however deter the organizers of the event who formed the 99% Declaration LTD, an independent non-profit to organize, facilitate and secure a venue for what it bills the first ever Occupy National Convention.  It is conducting on line elections to select national delegates (2 each) not from occupies but from Congressional voting districts.

These delegates are to meet in Philadelphia to draft the final declaration of the official “concerns” of the Occupy movement for presentation to the Congress and the President.  If action is not taken on those concerns then the convention would then proceed to organize a slate of candidates to run who pledge to address those concerns once elected.

I asked myself exactly when the movement had shifted its position on not endorsing political candidates to one of not only endorsing them but running them.  I decided to dig a little deeper.  A visit to the groups Face book page revealed that even among those who were committed to this electoral occupation there are rifts caused by a top down leadership (A lawyer – go figure) imposing itself and those committed the Occupies horizontal GA decision making resisting that internal cooption.

Déjà vu all over again.

The Declaration itself seems for the most part right in line with those things the Occupy movement has stood for from the onset.  But beyond that one can hear the voices of a million Occupiers screaming “This is what cooption looks like!!”

It was also found that Occupy Philadelphia, before their raid, was approached by The Declaration organizers for an endorsement in mid-December of last year and flatly rejected; in part because, in their words:   “Judging by their actions, either the 99% Declaration is completely out of the loop with what’s going on at Occupy Philly, or this is a deliberate attempt to co-opt our movement and use it for their own political agenda.”

This is one I would urge folks to take to their GA’s.  As the American Spring dawns we will see this more and more.  Those with no understanding of or respect for our processes of horizontal democracy will abound, prostituting the name Occupy and wrapping themselves in the illusion and trappings of our movement.  What will our response be?  Will we confront them head on?  If not, how will we embrace their well intentioned followers while exposing their Mockugenda?  Or will we do nothing in the hope that we can occupy their cooption from within as they have done with to us and transform it back.  The last I suspect is a fool’s wish. One thing is certain.  There are smart, ruthless and well funded groups and individuals out there who are planning to hijack this movement.  If we don’t have a plan to prevent that, they will succeed.

Comments?

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.”

Frederick Douglass

The Occupy DC Movement and its Progressive Black Caucus would like to invite you to a vigil and an all-day event with speakers at the Frederick Douglass home located in Washington, DC (Anacostia, Southeast — only blocks from the Anacostia metro stop).

In order to express Douglass’s message during this Black History Month — the month of Douglass’s birth — we shall call for resolution and justice for the following problems: criminal injustice, rising economic inequality, bank bailouts and fraud, and the expulsion of occupiers from their peaceful vigils at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza.

The Frederick Douglass House belongs to the Anacostia community, alongside black and all Americans, and we have the right under the First Amendment “peaceably to assemble” and “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

WE SHALL NOT ENTER THE HOME OR CAUSE ANY DAMAGE TO IT!

If you are interested in speaking about Frederick Douglass or the issues that affect our communities today, or would like to suggest speakers, please contact Tony Davis at yahs…@yahoo.com or at   857-234-0920.

If any confusion existed as to the position of the Occupy movement in Washington DC regarding NOW DC it was certainly cleared up last night at the Presbyterian Church on 14^th St. NW and New York Ave.  In a rare joint meeting of both Occupy DC at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza along with Occupy Faith, and residents of the Peace House and Mt. Rainier House the group spoke out forcefully with an equally rare and inspiring single mindedness.

The group torpedoed any misleading insinuations that it would have anything to do with endorsing the Zeese/Flowers attempt to brand the upcoming Spring 2012 wave of protest under their “NOW DC” banner as it now exists.

Concerns were raised by one NOW DC organizer that he and others like him from around the country who had been duped into believing that Washington DC Occupys were already on board with the project had put great time and effort into planning events and making arrangements for actions involving possibly hundreds of thousands  of people. The joint assembly agreed that they all stood in solidarity with like minded protesters coming to the nation’s capitol and would welcome them warmly, supporting and joining in their actions under the joint banner of Occupy American Spring.  It was simply the NOW DC branding by Zeese and Flowers who have been openly contemptuous of and antithetical to the values and decision making structure of the Occupy movement that the combined DC Occupy movement rejected.

Financial irregularities also swirled around Zeese and Flowers “voluntary” departure from involvement with Freedom Plaza.  It was further noted that the two still maintained control of the OccupyWashingtonDC.org website despite repeatedly promising to release control of it to actual organizers still involved with the movement and answering to a GA. Going to this Web address will automatically redirect one to the old October2011.org website which solicits funds that the donor is lead to believe are going to support Freedom Plaza.  In fact, none of these funds go to the plaza or to any other Occupy in Washington DC.  Where they do go is a matter of zero transparency or accountability to any GA.

The most generous offer of the evening came in the form of a proposal from McPherson Square passed the night before in their GA.  It held out the possibility of future endorsement if   Zeese and Flowers consented in writing to:

1. Releasing web site control to actual on the ground organizers.

2. A written declaration that they would submit to Occupy principles of horizontal democracy with no one person in a position of superiority or authority over another.

3. To step aside from any financial authority what-so-ever; including any authority or ability to spend, authorize spending or deny spending.

A final consensus was in the end not achieved.  As the clock was running out on the allotted time for the meeting a lone Zeese/Flowers operative blocked the consensus leaving no time to overcome the sole block from the packed meeting hall.  Never the less, the will of the Occupiers was clear.  Blocks or not this can only end one way.  The only thing which remains to be seen is just how long the former hierarchy intends to carry on this farce and to prolong the agony.

Guy Anthony

Posts here are this reporters account and not the official statement of Freedom Plaza or it’s GA.

Capitol Hills latest megalomaniac is on a roll.  Not content with trampling the First Amendment in Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square Darrell Issa now turns his attention on women’s bodies; and not in a healthy way.  Using his chairmanship of the House Oversight committee as a weapon of mass disenfranchisement Issa has aimed his latest inquisition at trying to halt women’s coverage of birth control care in employer health plans.  Adding to the outrage he touched off a firestorm when he announced that he would not allow a single woman to testify his move had nothing to do with reproductive rights; all that mattered was religious freedom to deny those rights.  This led ranking committee member Elijah Cummings and Female Committee members Rep. Carolyn Maloney  (D-NY) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) to boycott the Panel in protest over what Congresswoman Norton called Issa’s  “autocratic regime”.   Fortunately their protest did not take place in a public park or, if Issa had his way, they could have been thrown in jail.

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Sign artist and protester Barry Knight was arrested yesterday Feb. 15  along with 2 others for putting their bodies on the line to protect a display of quotes from famous Americans such as Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Presidents Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and more.  Police seized the display under the specious pretext that tape used to keep the signs from blowing away in the high winds common on the Plaza may damage the Granite surface.  It was clear however that the real target was the message.  The only threat to the Granite surface of the Plaza came from police dragging the bodies of the 1st amendment defenders roughly across the ground to waiting wagons.

This was all part of a sadistic war of nerves which law enforcement has been waging against the protesters at the bidding of  Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (Rep. California 49th District) Issa is in a position to jeopardize the Park Agency’s funding if they fail to do his dirty work.  The tape holding the signs down while perfectly acceptable the day before became an issue yesterday with no apparent explanation for the revision in the interpretation of park rules.  This is typical of the constantly moving target which the Park Service has imposed for compliance with an event permit which  serves more as a tool for capricious harassment than anything else.

Click here to witness the entire arrest.

The first 4 minutes is mostly preliminary discussion.  You may wish to fast forward to 4:30

Contrary to rumors and erroneous posts on unrelated sites and lists, Freedom Plaza GA chose unanimously not to endorse  NOW DC.  It was further resolved to work closely with other Occupy sites for a national Occupation in DC in the Spring but, the American Spring will not be under the NOW DC banner at Freedom Plaza.