Gulf Restoration Network: United for a healthy Gulf of Mexico is holding  a BP Disaster 3 year Memorial Demonstration on April 20 at 1pm.

Come on out to the Amphitheater at Washington Artillery Park across from Jackson Square!









On April 20, 2010, 11 people lost their lives and the biggest environmental disaster in our nation's history began. Three years later, BP's oil is still here, and it continues to impact the people, places, and wildlife of the Gulf.

Please join us on April 20, 2013, to mark 3 years of BP's ongoing disaster, memorialize all that has been lost, and join the call for justice for the Gulf.

The event will include simple visual demonstrations, using our people power, of the ongoing disaster and its impacts on the Gulf, which will be made into a short video and distributed on the internet to raise awareness about the urgent need for restoration and to hold BP accountable for the damages incurred.

Please wear black. The first 100 people to arrive will receive a free t-shirt designed for the event, which you can wear during the filming.

What: 3 year memorial of the BP disaster, visual demonstration
When: Saturday, April 20th at 1pm
Where: Amphitheater at Washington Artillery Park (across from Jackson Square in the French Quarter)

***Please wear black***

Contact Amanda at 504-273-4838 or Moorea@nwf.org with any questions. It will likely be hot! Bring a water bottle, we'll have cool water available for refills

Supported by National Audubon Society, Environmental Defense Fund, Gulf Restoration Network, NRDC, National Wildlife Federation, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, LEAN, Build a Better Planet, Epoca Verde, Green Living, Thomas Strategies & Waltzer Wiygul & Garside Law Firm

Legalize Louisiana

There will be 4/20 Rallies across the state, so check out the local action in New Orleans!

Legalize Louisiana New Orleans
April 20 2013 4:00 PM
Louis Armstrong Park
Food, Drums, Goodness Welcome.
Free and Open to All.

We're really looking forward to showing more Free Anons videos and slide shows, as well as videos and images related to activist causes, Indy media,  the Occupy Movement, the NDAA, NOKXL, Walmart Strikers, and issues the mainstream media ignores! We'll be sharing #OpPenPal info when we show videos of political prisoners, so we hope this will raise awareness about the political persecution  and help with Mail to The Jail!

On a personal note, I seriously want to live in a city where less people ask me "Who is Jeremy Hammond?" A lot of people just aren't getting the information, so we are trying to change that.

If you have any videos or images that you'd like to share with us so we can project them, please CONTACT US or holler at @small_affair on Twitter.  Videos that include text or captions in the actual video are ideal right now because we don't have a loud speaker system yet, and it's New Orleans, so there might be a band playing in the street at any time!

Thanks to everyone who offered technical tips and watched our first night of Guerrilla Projecting!

Much love!

@small_affair

It's been a busy Mardi Gras season at Occupy The Stage.

On January 19, Occupy The Stage rolled in krewedelusion - the parade that follows Krewe du Vieux, which kicks of Mardi Gras.

Our Krewe "Guise of Fawkes" made a "You can't jail an idea" float to show solidarity with  imprisoned hactivists and Free Anons.

We were thrilled to receive donations of flags and stickers from Hammond Support Network and Blastedrat to use as throws during the parade. Along with our own handmade throws (voodoo dolls, chalk with Chalkupy instructions, and buttons we made with our button machine), these stickers made our parade great, and we hope to have raised awareness about Jeremy Hammond's unfair bail denial and the prison sentence he is facing.

Check out our full write-up and the photo set below!

The Super Bowl's presence in New Orleans changed the parade schedule, so we had a whole weekend to focus on OpSuperBowl, which involved winning an ACLU lawsuit against Mayor Landrieu and the City of New Orleans. 

We won the right to carry signs and banners that did not contain 60% NFL branding.  

See Our Press Release! and The Gambit Weekly's Update "ACLU reaches agreement with city on Clean Zone lawsuit" for details. 

It didn't end there. We spent the week leading up to the Super Bowl conducting outreach about the NFL's non-profit status and the negative effect the Super Bowl had on local businesses and New Orleans taxi drivers (for full coverage of small_affair's citizen journalism, see her blog Whose Streets. 

Full text from slide show is available here!

Occupy The Stage met at 3pm in Jackson Square on Super Bowl Sunday and held a creative procession to celebrate our First Amendment right to free speech show solidarity with local artists, vendors, and workers.  A female Jesus led a procession of monks who chanted while holding wooden hand-painted signs bearing slogans that included "Thou Shalt Not Create a Police State" and "Honor The Small Businesses." Our slideshow and video are below.

This was a wonderful day, and we enjoyed the local artists' enthusiasm for our performance. 

Our antics did not go unnoticed by the FBI's Joint Task Force. When the power went out in the Super Dome, police radio scanners mentioned that the FBI was monitoring Occupy NOLA members.

AUDIO: at 18:26 mark dispatcher says FBI monitoring “Occupy NOLA” movement during Super Dome outage.

Occupy The Stage's Mardi Gras Krewe -  Guise of Fawkes - rolled with the Society of Saint Anne on Mardi Gras Day (February 12).

Our Free Anons float included paper hearts people could use to write Valentines to mail to political prisoners as part of #OpValentine! We've collected and addressed the Valentines and will be sending Mardi Gras love to political prisoners. 

See our Mardi Gras Day slideshow below!

It's been a busy few weeks, and we are really grateful to all of our online and on ground supporters.

Happy Valentine's Day!

~ OTS

Nov 4th – Knitting a simple scarf on straight needles (intro to knitting)

Nov 11th – Knitting simple fingerless gloves on double pointed needles

Nov 18th – Mixed media bamboo tile accessories & pendants

Nov 25th – Faux quilted holiday ornaments

Dec 2nd – Simple jewelry-making with beads and charms!

Dec 9th –  Open workshop day/ Anti-Austerity theme encouraged. The Walmart Elves will be attending as well.

Dec 16th – Help with last minute crafts/catchup/recap

Occupy The Stage Supports Legalize Louisiana Statewide Rally October 25, 2012

For the health and justice of all Louisiana Citizens.

Actions will commence statewide at 3pm, until we are finished. This is to accommodate the regular business hours of our government offices, and any individual with scheduling conflicts. Special efforts should be made to notify all university students about this opportunity to make peace in our communities.

NEW ORLEANS Legalize Louisiana Rally: Meet at Lafayette square just off Poydras Street between St. Charles Avenue and Camp Street, 3PM, sharp. RSVP to Facebook Event!
Download PDF Flyer HERE


  PRESS RELEASE from Legalize Louisiana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Legalize Louisiana Rallies Statewide for Cannabis Reform

New Orleans – October 11, 2012 – Citizens across the state will gather for cannabis policy reform Thursday, October 25, starting at 3PM. Legalize Louisiana is an unincorporated grassroots education and lobbying effort dedicating to ending the peculiar institution of cannabis prohibition in Louisiana. In New Orleans, those who recognize our inalienable rights to bona-fide medical, religious, industrial, and recreational cannabis use will convene at Lafayette Square.

Similar actions are also scheduled for Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Alexandria. Residents of Baton Rouge are encouraged to visit their employees in the Capitol on this official business. Statewide, the group will also circulate a petition to be sent to the Louisiana legislature, which will include scientific, legal, and other findings and will call immediately for the necessary revisions to Louisiana code. The petition will also demand manifestation of rules and licensing requirements from the Louisiana Boards of Health and Pharmacy, respectively, regarding access to medical marijuana for Louisiana patients, a statutory requirement under LA RS:40.

Organizers are asking all university students and their professors to take full advantage of this critical, teachable moment-in-time. They are also calling all area professionals to best practices, only. The groups statewide will hold their assemblies for several hours and are asking every community to join in the creation of health and justice for all Louisianians.

Contact:
Sunni Joy Womack
sunni.womack@facebook.com
504-430-8694

###


"We scheduled the October 25, 3PM rally when we did, so as to EMPTY THE UNIVERSITIES for this supremely teachable, pre-election occasion. There is NO EXCUSE for sitting idly by in a classroom while the real work of health and justice calls. If you live near a university, tech school, law school, med school, ETC: Help us deliver the very best ideas from those hallway prisons, into the daily practice of those community members who can best benefit from and utilize them." ~ Legalize Louisiana

This is what democracy looks like in 2012.
THE FIRST PEOPLE’S CONVENTION in NEW ORLEANS


Join us at 1pm to 5pm-Saturday. October 27, 2012.

First Unitarian Universalist Church: 5212 South Claiborne Avenue, New Orleans
RSVP at this Facebook Event

The First People’s Convention in New Orleans is where the 99%, not the 1%, sets the political agenda.  We the people, as opposed to we the rich, have needs and interests that are in fundamental conflict with the 1%.

We, the people of several activist groups, wish to create a strong coalition. We seek to unite all like-minded peoples and organizations, so that all of our voices are amplified through a greater body. For all of those who understand that our grievances are connected, let us stop the plundering of our future.


Note: In this document, the network of activists that will emerge from the First People's Convention in New Orleans is being referred to as a "coalition." However, the organizers welcome proposals for different names, and hope attendees will suggest names, which will be put to a vote at the end of the convention.

Schedule

1pm - 1:30 pm: Meet and Greet Mixer and Potluck

This time allows people to get comfortable with the surroundings, allows people to get more familiar with each other, have time to eat, and gives organizers a chance to give participants a sense of direction. It also gives people a chance to show up NOLA TIME.

Preparation of Info Tables

Groups invited to the convention will be notified about availability of info tables if they would like to display leaflets or educational materials about the group they represent (this is not required). Tables will be pointed out when first groups arrive. The rest should follow suit.

1:30 - 1:50 ORIENTATION with 2 Speakers

Speaker 1 (Mike Howells) explains the theme of the convention, that all our grievances are connected and the Budget Act of 2011 and Fiscal Cliff. Reassures everyone that preserving group autonomy is as critical as working together. Explains the convention itself and democratic process. Emphasizes we are not here to support a candidate and that we are non-partisan.

1:50 to 2:00 – Speaker 2 (Tara Jill) explains the participatory workshops and process of the convention. The Convention and workshops will reach agreements based on a 2/3 Democratic rule. 

The workshops will be an opportunity to develop a demand or series of demands and a proposal for an action. At the convention, people will form break-out groups/workshops based on specific issue(s) (i.e. housing, student debt, etc) they'd like to focus on including:



·      Environmental Concerns

·      Workers Rights

·      Prison Industrial Complex

·      Healthcare

·      Military Industrial Complex

·      Education - student rights - student debt.

·      Civil Rights

·      Crooked two party system/Politics

·      Agriculture/Monsanto

·      Gentrification

·      Social Aid/Housing

·      SFUABS (shit’s fucked up and bull shit) Solidarity

Workshop participants will also spend time deciding on future meeting times, objectives, and choosing which month would be the best for group protest related to the issue they've chosen. If a group has a month or date for their action, they should include it in the group "report back". These groups will be set up to secure the longevity of this coalition/network of activist groups that will emerge.

Some groups may need to consolidate for the purpose of monthly protests. Ideally, each month will have a theme related to an issue on the list above (note: this list is not intended to be all inclusive or "set in stone;" groups and individuals are encouraged to add their specific grievances.

Proposals:

Proposals prepared in advance regarding the organization, name, structure of the network of activists groups will be presented at this time. These proposals will be considered/entertained in workshop groups and voted on later to give everyone enough time to consider them carefully.

When workshop groups meet, they will also have the opportunity to create proposals as to how the coalition should continue to organize,  which will be voted on at the end of the convention. Paper and pens will be provided so these proposals can be submitted in writing.

The organizers ask that each working group clearly write out any proposal to submit for archiving (so groups may need to write two copies).

When voting on proposals takes place, decisions will be reached by a 2/3 vote.

2:00 - 2:30 INTRODUCTIONS, GROUP RECOGNITION and Speakers

This time will be used to allow groups and individuals to introduce themselves and speak on their issues.

Slots for 5 minute speakers from individuals/groups attending. We ask that folks speak, if they like, on the issues that they are concerned with.

1. Speaker from Socialist Alternative will discuss Coal Miners' Strike.

2:30 - 2:45 Break/WORKSHOPS SIGN UP and CREATION

Convention attendees will create participatory workshops based on the issue they'd like to address. We have materials to make a sign for each workshop created. This is also time for a break while people organize into work groups.

Organizers of convention will keep track of a master list of workshops/groups and issues. We ask each group to select a representative that can report back to the larger group with the demands and proposals from their particular working group.

 

2:45 – 3:30 WORKSHOPS

Issues
Workshops will begin. If a group has a month or date for the action they are planning, the group can report it. Groups will spend time deciding on future meeting times, objectives, and choosing which month would be the best for group protest. For instance, a group working on Student Debt might choose to have its monthly protest in September. Many groups may have much of this in place already in which case they can check out other workshops or just mingle.



Proposals

Workshop groups can use this time to review proposals regarding how we will move forward as a coalition or alliance and continue to organize and grow. During workshops it is also a time to consider when we will hold our next convention.   Workshops might also discuss possible names for the coalition that will emerge from this network of activists. Workshop groups are encouraged to draft their own proposals regarding when and where future conventions will take place; groups are welcome to consider hosting future conventions/ planning meetings.

Consolidation of Contact Info

Groups should collect contact info within workshops and make sure everyone has all contact info within workshops. Since each group will have a "Representative", these "Reps" can compile contact lists to help create a master contact list. Each group will give one copy to the convention organizers and keep one for themselves.

3:30 - 4:00 "Report Backs" from Workshops

Working groups will share their plans including:

·      Future meeting times for the group

·      Objectives (actions/demands)

·      Potential date for action/protest

·      Proposals (for the group and for the convention)

4:00 - 4:20 Calendar

Date of our first action, and plan for organizing for that action. Synching of calendar and month allotment for protest themes and planning

4:20- 4:40 Voting and Proposals

Proposals presented earlier will be voted upon. Any working groups that created proposals will present them for a vote.

4:40 - 5:00 Closing speeches and announcement of future conventions based on proposals. We can ask for closing comments from attendees.

1.  President Obama, Congress: Return Bankruptcy protections to Student Loans
http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-congress-return-bankruptcy-protections-to-student-loans


2.  Support the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012
http://signon.org/sign/support-the-student-loan?source=mo&id=44952-21832335-OtBeZ0x

3. Tell Sallie Mae: Stop the Unemployment Penalty
http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-sallie-mae-stop-the-unemployment-penalty

Occupy Student Debt Campaign

Debtors’ Pledge http://www.occupystudentdebtcampaign.org/student-pledge/ 
Faculty Pledge of Support http://www.occupystudentdebtcampaign.org/faculty/ 

Occupy NOLA set up an info booth on the neutral ground between City Park and Delgado Community college as part of the Global Day of Action.

We encouraged people to share information about debt and petition for free public education for all, zero interest on loans at private schools, fair salaries for full-time instructors, more jobs for instructors, that the Federal Government eliminate student debt with a single act of relief.


Details on the General Education Strike and its call to action are available at http://ism-global.net/global_education_strike  and http://ism-global.net/call2action_GES , respectively.

The Occupy NOLA GA endorsed The International Student Movement   at the Tuesday September 18, 2012 G.A.

“The International Student Movement (ISM) is an independent communication platform for groups and activists around the world to exchange information, network and coordinate activities in our struggle against the increasing commercialisation of education and for free emancipatory education for all!”

GLOBAL EDUCATION STRIKE Oct.18th & Nov.14-22nd 2012

Here are some great links to All In The Red and other organizations that help students organize.
Sources:

International Student Movement
Occupy Student Debt Campaign
Aging with Student Debt
Edu Factory
Occupy Student Debt
EDU Debtors Union
Strike Debt
Free Education Montreal
#MicCheckWallSt
Student Debt Noise Brigade
Open Secrets
HR 4170
Debt Collectors Cashing In on Student Loans
Squarely In The Red
The Project on Student Debt
EDU Debtors Union

Strike Debt emerged from a series of Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Theory open assemblies that began in May 2012 in NYC. Strike Debt is spreading the word that debt is a global system of domination and exploitation of the 99% by the 1%. Strike Debt links diverse individuals and communities to resist the debt system.

from The Debt Resistors' Operations Manual

“We gave the banks the power to create money because they promised to use it to help us live healthier and more prosperous lives—not to turn us into frightened peons. They broke that promise. We are under no moral obligation to keep our promises to liars and thieves. In fact, we are morally obligated to find a way to stop this system rather than continuing to perpetuate it.

This collective act of resistance may be the only way of salvaging democracy because the campaign to plunge the world into debt is a calculated attack on the very possibility of democracy. It is an assault on our homes, our families, our communities and on the planet’s fragile ecosystems—all of which are being destroyed by endless production to pay back creditors who have done nothing to earn the wealth they demand we make for them.

To the financial establishment of the world, we have only one thing to say: We owe you nothing. To our friends, our families, our communities, to humanity and to the natural world that makes our lives possible, we owe you everything. Every dollar we take from a fraudulent subprime mortgage speculator, every dollar we withhold from the collection agency is a tiny piece of our own lives and freedom that we can give back to our communities, to those we love and we respect. These are acts of debt resistance, which come in many other forms as well: fighting for free education and healthcare, defending a foreclosed home, demanding higher wages and providing mutual aid.”

Spoken into a megaphone on October 18th.


Amount of loan: $111,892.53

This is not an attempt to collect a debt.

The total student debt now totals over 1 trillion dollars. The average price of tuition has increased over 900%. In 2011, the Department of Education spent over 1.4 billion to hire collection agencies. These agencies earned about 1 billion in commissions.

My generation is busy quoting philosophers artists and thinkers while we are shackled by debt.

The 1% will continue to cut budgets and eliminate humanities courses that foster the critical thinking skills needed to reflect upon and understand the power structures surrounding us. As you have with all aspects of our lives, you have turned education into a commodity. I come from a generation that believed our devotion to the humanities justified earning degrees in Philosophy, Writing, Art, and Education. 

I applied to a state university and earned a MFA believing these were healthy pursuits. They are healthy in every way except financially. Because of Governor Jindal's budget cuts, I am unable to work full-time as a college professor in Louisiana. The adjunct rate is not a living wage. I've been told to publish in order to get a full-time job teaching college students, and I've self-published a book and have written as much as I've had time to while teaching Freshmen Composition for online universities where I do not teach critical thinking. I am teaching students who have taken loans to attend a for profit university. I am not using my degree. Some of my friends from graduate school are able to write, but many are wage slaves to the global work machine. 

Obama, I reject your token gesture of debt reform. Income based repayments are not the answer. The more I work, the more I pay, and I will be paying Sallie Mae accumulated interest. All my payments have gone towards interest.

As long as I participate in the global work machine, I deny myself the chance to use my degree to contribute to a body of ideas because there are no jobs. I will not feed you my time and dreams to pay interest. 

I will not vote for any candidate who represents corporations. The system does not represent me.

The last thing the 1% wants is to give up one of their most powerful weapons - the idea that decent people always pay debts.

The Federal Reserve has been printing money for the banks who govern it. The government, which can declare student loan debt unenforceable, along with banking cartels, uses debt to funnel money from the 99% to the 1%. 

This ends now.

I will save every dollar from collection agencies. 

I will give nothing to banks. They are hoarding enough of it. 

I will not produce what you consider goods, and refuse to perpetuate the burden of working harder only to consume more. Instead, I will produce ideas that challenge your global capitalism. 

There is no place for me in your capitalistic machine. Mainstream media has indoctrinated us to accept debt. Budget cuts over higher education have turned universities into places that produce human capital, commodities, and competitors. 

To the collection agencies hired by ACS, as long as you earn commission, I will not answer the phone.

To the government, as long as you are legally entitled to garnish my wages, I will not work. 

To the bankers broke their promise, as long as you hoard money printed by The Federal Reserve, I will not feed you.

To the politicians who refuse to repeal bankruptcy laws, until you forgive all student debt, I will not vote for you and legitimize a system that perpetuates the illusion that you represent me or my peers. 

To the Department of Education - as long as you are collecting $1.22 for every dollar, I will not pay you. 

I was three years old when the Bankruptcy Reform Act passed in 1978.  I was two years old in 1977 when the American Bankers Association joined the conference of bankruptcy judges in lobbying - formally, anyway - against the cruel and unusual punishment of making student debt non-dischargeable. I didn't have a say.

I am personally answering the call from  Occupy / Real Democracy Now / 15M movement  for public and private debt resistance and refusal

To the financial institutions of the world, we have only one thing to say: we owe you NOTHING!

To our friends, families, our communities, to humanity and to the natural world that makes our lives possible, we owe you everything.

To the people of the world, we say: join the resistance, you have nothing to lose but your debts.

Presentation from forum The University, The Budget, and The Student Debt

Sources:

International Student Movement
Occupy Student Debt Campaign
Aging with Student Debt
Edu Factory
Occupy Student Debt
EDU Debtors Union
Strike Debt
Free Education Montreal
#MicCheckWallSt
Student Debt Noise Brigade
Open Secrets
HR 4170
Debt Collectors Cashing In on Student Loans

Today Governor Jindal and Wisconsin Governor Walker at their $25,000 a plate fundraiser for the Louisiana GOP at Calcasieu Ball Room  in the Warehouse District of New Orleans.

We demanded the following, especially that Jindal Save Southeast Louisiana Hospital and end his School Voucher System.

• Louisiana opt in to federal Medicaid expansion.
• Keep Southeast Hospital open.
• Jindal and company restore recent funding cuts to higher education including UNO, SUNO, and Delgado budgets.
• Jindal and company restore recent funding cuts to public education and public healthcare.
• Jindal and company repeal the Louisiana Right to Work Law.
• Walker keep hands off workers’ rights to organize

Jindal was seen emerging from a vehicle but quickly ducked into the building, at which point those in the ballroom upstairs  began photographing us. When we used the People's Mic to voice our concerns and demanded Jindal's recall, those inside the ballroom drew the curtains. They obviously heard us.

It rained throughout most of this event, but the rain did stop long enough for us to Chalkupy "Recall Jindal" on the sidewalk. Authorities photographed us but did not attempt to interrupt our protest.

Sign or start your own Recall Jindal petition at Recall Bobby Jindal Dot Com

Below is the footage from today's livestream. Thanks for streaming, small affair.

~ Occupy The Stage

Dear Editors,


Please find our current press release attached (also below). For inquiries about interviews, press photos, or more information please email us at info@occupyneworleans.us or call 504-377-1331


Best Regards,


Occupy New Orleans General Assembly

_________________________________________________________



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Occupy NOLA will be holding a Rally for Transparency at University of New Orleans in response to the administration's decision to fire long-time key faculty members and put the University of New Orleans Press on hiatus.  As tuition and class size increase and faculty and faculty jobs are cut, any new administrative positions should be made public. Please join in our support of faculty and students.

Date: August 8, 2012
Time: 9:45 am

Location: Meet at Building 12 Earl K. Long Library

Why: Demand President Fos reveal UNO budget cuts and all administrative salaries!

Occupy NOLA demands that the University of New Orleans:

• Publicize list of budget cuts
• Publicize all administrators' salaries to show that administration is bearing its proportion of the cuts
• Stop utilization of budge cuts for political ends
• Publicize a list of all new administrative positions (including salaries) created by President Fos
• Be more open and transparent with decisions that affect the low-residency MFA program and Creative Writing Workshops
  
  

We invite you to participate!

Please see the notice on the Occupy The Stage website for details!

In Solidarity with students and teachers!


~ Occupy New Orleans General Assembly and Occupy The Stage

occupyneworleans.us

occupythestage.net