Four People were arrested today, in New Orleans, for protesting a meeting of the American Petroleum Institute. They are being charged with criminal trespassing, despite there being no signs stating that they were not allowed, the meeting was public, when asked to leave they complied. A Louisiana state police officer manhandled several people inside and blocked their vehicle outside, keeping them from leaving, before finally identifying himself as a police officer.
Donations for bond and legal fees can be made through: https://www.wepay.com/donations/ots-jail-support
Occupy The Stage invites the 99% to join activists Jen Waller and Tom Hintze for brainstorming and training as part of “Less Wall, More Street: From Mass Arrests of OWS to Mass Incarceration” – a national campaign to raise awareness and build solidarity around issues of state targeting and social control.
This training will address the scope of the growing problem of political repression directed at the 99 percent. Jen Waller and Tom Hintze’s brainstorming and training session is part of “Less Wall, More Street: From Mass Arrests of OWS to Mass Incarceration” – a national campaign to raise awareness and build solidarity around issues of state targeting and social control. These two OWS activists have been driving across the country doing legal solidarity trainings and working to raise awareness and build solidarity around issues of state targeting and social control. Please check out their website Less Wall More Street to learn more about how they are Building Solidarity to Fight Repression from Coast to Coast.
“Less Wall, More Street” seeks to build alliances between new activists who are just recently experiencing repression, more experienced activists who have long been subject to it and members of targeted and oppressed communities – to share experiences, build understanding and work in solidarity together.
After the arrest of more than 7,000 members of Occupy Movement engaging in peaceful acts of dissent, many of which are supposedly protected by the law of the land, state sanctioned repression remains a reality of life for the 99% in the United States.
Jen and Tom will also point out things that 99 percenters can to more effectively resist repression here. That political repression is a real and serious problem for 99 percenters in New Orleans is clear enough. Under the general direction of the local Homeland Security leadership, New Orleans police have arrested scores of 99 percenters for engaging in peaceful dissent in recent years. Targets of these arrests include members of the local public housing movement, Krewe of Eris revelers, anti austerity protesters at UNO, supporters of the Avery Alexander Occupy Encampment, and an organizer of Occupy the Stage. The time is long overdue for 99 percenters to give the problem of political repression in the US that it deserves.
Come to this free and timely discussion concerning a grim political reality in Barrack Obama’s America. This event is free and open to all.
Note: This training will occur during the regularly scheduled GA. The G.A. will meet after the training.
Hi, this is small affair, and this was one of my favorite days with Occupy The Stage. On On March 31, Occupy The Roads was visiting New Orleans, and Occupy The Stage brought an enormous banner to the Police Brutality protest which hundreds of people attended. This march, organized by United New Orleans Front, was in response to the NOPD killings of Wendell Allen and Justin Sipp.
That day was the first time my livestream was rebroadcast on Global Revolution TV. A brass band played "I'll fly away" as I caught up with the front of the march and Justin. "Please learn how to hold the camera," someone typed in the chat and I realized I'd been dancing.
The New Haven Advocate ran a piece Ideat Case Continuedon the Bill Saunders situation yesterday when Saunders, an arts organizer injured by New Haven Police and charged with inciting a riot received a continuance when he showed up to answer to the charges. The case has apparently been continued to Aug. 14.
It's great to see the local media giving this case attention.
Check out the supporters and their handheld masks of Saunders’ face.
We also received an email from Saunders and really appreciate him sharing this painting "Massacre de Merci" (Mercy Killing) in response to the mysterious stickering that occurred in New Haven earlier this week.
"The only way to deal with an unfree world, is to become absolutely free, that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - Albert Camus
"When the power of Love will overcome the love of Power, the world will know Peace" - Jimi Hendrix
I do not claim to understand the inner workings of the hactivist hive Anonymous, but over the past few months, I my gratitude toward and respect for Anons has grown as the spirit of the Occupy Wall Street Movement has spread across the globe. This is not to say that I once did not respect or love this group. I am writing to both express this gratitude and to respond to some opinions voiced by members of mainstream media regarding the relationship between the DDoS attacks of 01/19/2012, the Occupy Movement and Anonymous.
Josh Harkinson from Mother Jones wrote an interesting piece today "How and Why Anonymous Took Down the FBI's Website" that attempts to explain #OpMegaUpload, the distributed denial of service attack that temporarily took down the homepages of the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Universal Music, the US Copyright Service, the US Department of Justice, and last, but not least, the FBI.
In addition to sharing conversations from AnonOps chat rooms, Harkinson quotes Biella Coleman of McGill University who is "... a leading academic expert on Anonymous."
However, Harkinson's article is mis-titled as it fails to explain the "why" as he admits
"... I had a hard time getting a clear picture of why they felt MegaUpload.com was worth defending." Harkinson hedges his bets, ending his article with a punchline and quoting one Anon who allegedly posted in a chat "Mom FUCK MOM, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO RUIN MY LIFE."
Instead of providing an in-depth analysis of the role Anonymous has played supporting the Occupy Wall Street Movement, Harkinson shies away from elaborating upon his statement:
"At a time when Anonymous is increasingly defined by its role in the physical encampments of the Occupy Wall Street movement, #OpMegaUpload is a reminder that the anon army of geeks still cares just as much about what it can and can't do in front of a computer screen."
What Harkinson fails to acknowledge is that what someone can and cannot do in front of a computer screen is important because of its impact on what someone else can and cannot do in real life.
One needs only to observe a citizen journalist from the Occupy Movement to note the importance of those who use Twitter and other social networking tools to support the protesters and livestreamers and to protect them from police brutality, violence and the forces of nature. When an activist is in need, it matters greatly that someone is watching.
Recently, a group of peaceful protesters now known as "The Amarillo 13" benefited from the efforts of those watching the citizen footage they broadcasted live on Ustream.
I watched this from my apartment in a city with an Occupy group that is no longer allowed to camp. When I am not actively working with the Occupy community or working at my job (yes, I have a job - actually 2), I watch the livestreams of citizen journalists. I was following the activities of various Occupy groups (learning about them via Twitter) late on Saturday, January 14 when a group of 13 protesters using the Twitter handle @Road2Congress were detained aboard Greyhound and then kicked off the bus. These folks were kicked off a bus by Driver Don Ainsworth in Amarillo Texas for being part of Occupy Wall Street movement.
I have only been using Twitter seriously for a year, and it was not until recently that I even began livestreaming, so Twitter is still a learning experience for me. Since the Occupy movement began, I have come to view social networking services like Twitter and Facebook as activist/hactivist tools. On January 14 and 15, Twitter especially allowed caring individuals to offer comfort and resources to these thirteen protesters who were stranded. However, if it were not for what Harkinson refers to as Anonymous' main twitter account @YourAnonNews, I would not have been aware of the crisis my comrades faced in Amarillo.
I can only follow 2000 Twitter accounts at a time and had somewhere around 650 followers that weekend. As I write this, @YourAnonNews has 308,094 followers. That means that if I tweet something to @YourAnonNews, it will appear in the streams of 308,094 people. I was not following @Road2Congress, had never even heard of them, but I learned about their situation from @YourAnonNews.
View the story "Tweets to the Amarillo 13 - for Anonymous with Love" on Storify is a timeline of some of the Twitter activity relating to the Amarillo 13 tweeting from @Road2Congress and the resources tweeted by @YourAnonNews. This conversation demonstrates the importance of having freedom to communicate while sitting in front of a computer screen.
The following tweets are from January 15 when the Amarillo 13 sent out an S.O.S. via Ustream and Twitter.
@Road2Congress tweeted
@ZAPatty we are having trouble in Amarillo right now! Bus driver threatening to kick us off! #road2congress#j17
Imagine what it would feel like if you or your child or mother or brother was stranded at a Greyhound bus station and you wanted to call the bus station!
Corporate Greyhound # in TX is 214-849-6831 | Greyhound station # is 806-374-5371 | General Customer Service # is 1-800-231-2222 | #OccupySD
When I livesteamed my own Occupy movement's MLK parade and was followed by police in unmarked cars and offered a ride, I secretly hoped that somewhere, Anons were watching.
I can't help but note the attitude of dismissal in Arik Hesseldahl's ethics statement "Anonymous Fails, Once Again, to Make Its Point" appearing on All Things Digital this evening. Hesseldahl writes:
"Yet now that the attacks have subsided, it’s time to see them for what they are — nothing more than a blunt instrument that accomplishes nothing constructive"
"Constructive" is an obviously relative term. What is or is not constructive behavior could be debated the same way what is or is not art is debated in regard to graffiti. As I write this, 107 Brazilian government and media websites as well as Justin Bieber's music website have been declared "TANGO DOWN" (WIN).
I can neither refute or confirm mainstream media's claims that Anonymous misled people into following a link which triggered a tool which launched a DDoS attack. Hesseldahl explains that these innocent users were
"...tricked into following the link [and were] given no context or information, and so may or may not have any idea that they’re participating in the execution of a crime."
Personally, I do not click on links that are provided without context or information, and I have not come across any. I have not participated in a DDoS attack knowingly or unknowingly because I don't click on random links. To call Thursday's DDoS attack a failure is a premature assumption based on one's understanding of the word "FAIL." If one goal of Anons is to inform the public of their existence and the existence of every citizen who cannot speak up for herself, they have certainly accomplished that (see video Anonymous on Protect IP Bill).
The irony is in the final paragraph of Hesseldahl's judgement of Thursday's DDoS attacks:
"At most, they inconvenience the people who visit and operate the targeted sites for a few hours, until the attention spans of the attackers shift elsewhere."
I not only imagine but expect that the attention spans of Anons will shift elsewhere. They have taught me to expect them when I used to expect no one, as in "A Message of Hope from Anonymous UK" and in their vigilant online presence when journalists, freedom fighters, the strong, the weak, the young, and the elderly wish to be heard.
Regarding SOPA and PIPA, Anonymous has done more than protest SOPA via DDoS attacks. The Tumblr site Your Anon News provides an Anti-SOPA Took Kit which includes links to the actual bill text of SOPA and PIPA and a Take Action Checklist which links to Fight for The Future's petition to Stop American Censorship petition. These primary documents - the actual bills are crucial when discussing or protesting The Senate's Protect IP Act (S. 968) or the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). I have noticed that in social networks, more and more people are referencing the actual text of the bills instead of the interpretation offered in an OpEd column, and regardless of whether or not the people I interact with got them from Your Anon News, it pleases me that these primary sources are circulating.
I am a person who uses Twitter and has a camera.
I am a citizen journalist. I am a citizen of Earth. I am employed yet I cannot afford my student loan payments and devote almost every free moment I have to supporting my own city's Occupy movement as well as the national movement. I am afraid of my own local police department. I may someday encounter violence or police brutality as I stand up for the basic rights of human beings. I hope someone will be watching.
For evidence of goodwill on the Internet, one need only follow the livestream of a citizen journalist while a peaceful protester's hands are zip-tied behind him by police who will not display badge numbers or when an Anon sends a shout-out that an activist needs water or shoes or an ambulance.
Friends in another Occupy worked very hard on this.
Attention Watch Commander:
We encourage any officer who does not wish to be included in any legal consequences and or subpoenas that result from the action to which you have been deployed to stand down and retreat NOW.
We, The People of this assembly hereby address the agencies and officers deployed to remove our assemblage from this public space with a declaration of intent to prosecute excessive use of force and unethical deployment of police in the following statement to their command:
The deployment of police intimidation, riot police and use of force-based practices for the dispersion or arrest of this assemblage of freely associated persons for the purposes of expression of grievances for redress is unlawful in the following manners:
Under Title 28 United States Code Section 1343(a)(3) and USC Title 42 Section 1983; Including such rights as described in the first, fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and or any relevant rights as described under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as ratified by the United States of America and her allies.
1. It is unlawful for a police officer or agency to proceed with escalation of force against passive protesters offering no resistance, no threat to officer safety, no threat to civilians or any other justification for any use of force beyond the simplest arrest procedures.
2. It is unlawful for police agencies or personnel to proceed with such arrest protocols as to prevent members of this assemblage from leaving the area of their own volition to avoid arrest.
3. It is unlawful for police officers or agencies to proceed in such a manner as to force members of this assemblage into a public byway or into any other inherently unlawful place of assembly in order to justify arrest.
4. It is unlawful for any police officer or agency through the use of intimidation, protocols, procedures or escalation of force to endanger, injure, prevent access to emergency medical services, fire and rescue services or otherwise risk the life, limb, property or safety of any member of this assemblage or any peaceful bystander.
5. It is unlawful for any police officer or agency to force the inclusion of any member of this assemblage, member of the press, peaceful bystander or other person not choosing to remain after the declaration of intent to arrest through the use of any previously mentioned tactic, protocol or technique.
6. a. Escalation of force is defined as the clear and present need to overpower an uncooperative, combative or otherwise dangerous suspect through the minimum use of force necessary to safely detain, arrest or subdue.
b. Without the presence of felony assault, assault with intent to kill, assault with a deadly weapon, endangerment of civilians, attempt to flee in a manner which creates any previously mentioned condition or a clear physical superiority on the part of the suspect it is unlawful to use pepper spray, batons, Tasers, physical assault of any kind and or any other "less than lethal" or lethal method which may cause physical harm to the suspect.
7. a. Any unlawful escalation of force described in this statement will be considered a violation of human rights on the part of the officers and or agencies responsible for the acts.
b. Any such actions under color of law resulting in injury, harm or death will be considered felony assault, attempted murder, manslaughter or other applicable felonious charge and are to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
c. The actions, protocols and the procedures deemed directly related under Title 28 United States Code Section 1343(a)(3), Title 42 Section 1983, Including such rights as described in the first, fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and or any relevant rights as described under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as ratified by the United States of America and her allies or any other applicable State or local statute.
8. Any violations of the aforestated or any other human rights or guarantees under any law on the part of this agency or it's affiliates will be recorded, publicized and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Unlawful use of force for the purposes of dispersing, quelling and silencing of The People will no longer be tolerated or go unpunished.
9. You may proceed with your arrests of such members of this assemblage as choose to remain to be arrested in a lawfully decreed manner under the direction and supervision of such judiciary and or representatives as can prove beyond shadow of doubt that we are an illegal assembly.
For Justin Sipp, Wendell Allen, Trayvon Martin; for all those maimed or murdered by NOPD.
Occupy NOLA will participate in TheMothers March Against Injustice!
The Mother’s March Against Injustice, sponsored by United New Orleans Front, will begin at 12 noon on Saturday, May 12. Along with many others, members of Community United for Change, The United New Orleans Front and supporters of the families of Justin Sipp, Wendell Allen, and Trayvon Martin, we will meet at Congo Square and march to City Hall for a Mother’s Day Rally.
We are Justin Sipp sign from 3/31 Police Brutality Protest New Orleans, LA.
Why is our system so afraid to use it's own criminal justice system to put the shooters on trial in a public court to determine whether they're guilty of a crime or not?
Bring a picture of your loved one! Join our struggle!
Families and supporters of Justin Sipp and Wendell Allen killed by NOPD. March 31, 2012 protest against police brutality.
The following information was provided by one of the organizers of this march.
The United New Orleans Front (UNOF) Mothers' March is being held to pay homage to great sacrifices and strength of African American women as they anchor our families amidst the perpetual attacks against the Black community, especially black males, in this racist, capitalist society. Far too many individual lives have been cut short by early death at the hands of our racist enemies or at the hands of this racist, capitalist systems created self hatred where young Black men wantonly murder each other at the drop of a hat. America has created a school to prison pipeline where this government refuses to provide a proper education for our youth; thus setting them up for failure and the racist, capitalist trap of incarceration, literally re- enslavement in the US prison system.
The Mother's Day March is also a Memorial Day March recognizing those who have lost their lives in this hellish existence that is forced upon the Black Nation as a whole but especially the Black working class. We will honor our dead brothers and sisters and those unjustly locked behind prison walls. We will cry out for justice – demanding that the US government acknowledge the historical and continuing injustices perpetrated on the oppressed Black Nation. We will also demand that the state of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans atone for both past and present oppression and exploitation.
We the grieving Mothers of New Orleans advance the following demands: • We want justice for all murder victims • We want the prison doors swung open for those unjustly incarcerated. • We want an end to the pipeline to prison • We want quality education for our children • We want quality, supervised recreation for our children • We want safe, decent, affordable housing for our families • We want living wage, unionized jobs for New Orleans workers • We want an end to domestic abuse • We want quality, affordable childcare • We want universal health care and a hospital in NO East • We want a return to local control of our schools • We want an end to police terror • We want an end to US war in Afghanistan and around the world • We want the Right to Self-Determination for the Oppressed Black Nation
Come join Occupy NOLA as we support this March and Rally 12 noon Saturday, May 12, 2012! Meet in Congo Square (Armstrong Park) and march to City Hall. Sponsored by the United New Orleans Front.
Occupy the Stage is a branch of Occupy NOLA that is dedicated to artists and artisans. We are committed to the belief that the arts and skilled trades are sacred. They belong to the people and are immune to censorship, gentrification, taxation or corporate consolidation. These are the basic necessities for civilization and are considered incorruptible.
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