NOV 5, NOON
TODOS SANTOS PLAZA
Corner of Willow Pass Rd & Grant St [3 blocks from Concord BART]
For Info [925-798-3698] or [925-435-9906], or Robin L. Powers [tbfhpowers@yahoo.com] [805-696-3323]
Live Music, Speakers, Poets, Street Theater, Vox populai Noisy March, Crime Scene the Banksters, Citizens Arrest of FAT CAT
DVC SDS Meets Every Thursday, 12:30-1:45pm ,LA 107- Join US
[925] 798-3698 or [925]435-9906
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MDS/SDS worked with others in the Contra Costa 99% [ mostly Joe the Painter & Robin UPC & her mom} to build a very successful 1st Action for "Occupy Concord" on Sat Nov 5. Close to 200 people participated , the CC Times, [ local establishment newspaper ] reported 300.
Many Union members spoke or were present , including John May President of the CC Central Labor Council. Other Unions present in the shirts & jackets were the Steel Workers, Iron Workers, IBEW {electrical Workers} SEIU {Service Workers}, Teamsters, CSEA [educational workers ], Teachers and Plumbers & Steamfitters in small groups or individuals. Our Philosophy is that the organized working
class is the 'Back bone of the 99%' and we seek to promote Unionism.
The Oscar Grant Committee also had a strong showing with Gerald,Sharena, Danny Garcia & Denika Chatman [cop slain Ken Harding's Mom] all speaking and marching [and of course after partying]
A good amount of DVC students and Concord community residents came out and spoke , recited poetry [Abdul Hakim, DVC Muslim Students] or sang and played songs they wrote for the OWS movement.Occupy Richmond sent a speaker . Robin UPC & Ambika [MDS] MC'ed the event with finesse, with Wes ,Chris & Aidan [MDS/SDS ,Ministers of Counter Culture ] providing interludes of radical music and street theater between speakers .
After a loud and spirited march for about a mile of over a 100 people, 3 banks were picketed, B of A, Wells Fargo & Chase. Several were wrapped up in crime scene tape latter on.
4 guys with guns showed up from supposedly the 'open carry" 2nd Amendment movement. Nobody knew them, tho many of us support the 2nd Amendment , their presence caused concern from several union brothers and some of the black folks present ,even tho the Gunmen claimed they weren't racist and they were from "Occupy Sacramento" . We are suspicious. One of the Union brothers {blue cap ,yellow sign} followed the gunmen when they left early and saw them all get into a Rent -a-Cop private security van. This increases our suspicions that they could have been plants to make "Occupy Concord" seem dangerous, violent and scary to the 99% who we want to organize . In another news article they gave a different story about just passing thru town when they heard about the protest. Something is fishy here. The next day the Conservative 'Claycord" news website had dozens of comments about "Occupy Concord" being a bunch of "lazy students and hippies with guns', violent & crazy. A perfect smear campaign.
Members of Nor-Cal Open Carry showed up with their unloaded weapons at the Occupy Concord rally in Todos Santos Plaza Saturday afternoon. A member of the group who did not want to be identified said they were at a meeting in Pleasant Hill when they heard about the protest and decided to "check it out."
Credit: Adalto Nascimento
Jeff Allen, of Concord, approached members of Nor-Cal Open Carry to voice a concern, despite agreeing with the group's Second Amendment Rights: "... I approached the armed guys over there to ask them to let people know their weapons are not loaded - I just wanted them to understand I agree with their Second Amendment rights, but maybe this isn't the right place to show up armed," said Allen.
Credit: Adalto Nascimento
DVC SDS 1st Minister of Counter Culture {Chris Knight} makes 'Citizens Arrest" of "Fat Cat" {Wes Nicholson, Diablo MDS Minister of Counter Culture} at the end of "Occupy Concord" protest. Credit: Adalto Nascimento
Runninghorse rallies up the "Occupiers" getting ready to march
Gary H [Frank Little Club} & Robin UPC lead marchers into the street
Diablo Valley College members of Students for a Democratic Society and other Occupy Concord protesters cross the intersection of Galindo and Laguna Streets near the downtown Concord BART station. Credit: Adalto Nascimento
Participant's of Saturday's Occupy Concord march and rally make their way past the Bank of America branch on Willow Pass Road. Credit: Adalto Nascimento
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2011-11-05 article by Juan from "Kasema Report"Miles Ahead wrote: “I ran into some people from the Contra Costa 99%, who “just had to be in Oakland” yesterday…and they have organized a General Assembly in Concord for this weekend…Yikes, Concord!”
I’ve just returned home from that Occupy rally in downtown Concord, CA.
Concord is a city of around 120,000 in central Contra Costa County, just over the hills to the east of SF Bay, about 20 miles NE of Oakland. It is about 60% white, 25% Latino, 4% African-American, and 12% Asian -Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. Until a few decades ago it was somewhat agricultural, and heavily blue-collar with people working in the chemical and petroleum plants lining the norther part of the SF Bay and the Carquinez Strait. Later it became somewhat of a bedroom community for Bay Area proper, with people commuting to the East Bay and to San Francisco, or taking the electric trains of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Until the 1990s Concord was, literally, the end of the line when it came to BART.
The rally kicked off at noon in Todos Santos Plaza, and was on the smallish side – at 12:45 I counted 170 people, with more coming in sporadically one by one, or in pairs. At no time, that I saw, did the crowd pass the 200 mark.
Organizers were, quite evidently, making it up on the fly, but it turned out pretty well for an event with less than a week of publicity (Until Tuesday or Wed. the http://www.contracosta99.org/ didn’t even have the time of the event listed) and was competing for attendance with a better-publicized rally in nearby Walnut Creek. I suspect, from the crowd interactions,that many had heard of it word-of-mouth from other already-politically aware people. There was to have been a march, but by the time I left -two hours into the rally- there didn’t seem to be any movement in that direction, and the open mike was kept pretty busy with speakers from the crowd.
The impetus behind the rally was quite clearly provided by the Diablo Valley College chapter of the Movement for a Democratic Society, the DVC SDS or “Frank Little Club.” They had signs pre-made, a lit table, and were MC’ing the rally.
Also spotted were flyers for Peace and Freedom Party. Speakers included a guy from an outfit called Clear Water Vision; one from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (which I overheard, is largely staffed by people formerly with ACORN); Justice for Oscar Grant; several union members speaking in their own name; DVC students; and others sharing their own stories and experiences with the banks, etc.
The event was largely middle- and college-aged, mostly white, with a smattering of black faces. Clearly no outreach was done to the third of the city’s population that is Latino.
[Meetings of Contra Costa 99% happen at the Panama Red's coffee shop facing Todos Santos Plaza, in downtown Concord, at 10 am on Sundays. More at http://www.contracosta99.org/ ]
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EXCERPTS FROM "CONCORD PATCH"
Close to 100 demonstrators assembled at Todos Santos Plaza and marched through downtown Concord Saturday afternoon to protest big banks and corporations.
Speeches and performances were given at the rally starting at noon and around 2 p.m. Demonstrators were escorted by Concord police as they marched down Willow Pass Road, before taking Fry Way to Concord Boulevard and heading towards the downtown BART station.
Waving their signs, chanting and encouraging those stuck in traffic to honk their horns, protesters then headed back to Todos Santos Plaza, where pit-stop demonstrations were briefly held at the adjacent Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase Bank branches.
Why Concord?
"Concord is really the geographical center of the county," said a member of Occupy Contra Costa 99% - the group responsible for organizing Saturday's rally and march. "I think you have more of a solid middle class as opposed to Lafayette or Danville."
Concord, is more representative of the working class and the 99 percent of the national population, as opposed to cities such as Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Danville — where OCC 99% and other organizations continue to hold demonstrations.
The group is based out of Concord where members meet at Todos Santos Plaza Sunday mornings to organize, discuss and plan protests around the county and to coordinate assistance for major Occupy protests — such as Oakland Occupy.
Despite the regular meetings out of Concord, Saturday's protest was the first of its kind in this city.
Reaction -
"I came here because it's important people realize one percent has it all," said Susan Ruano, of Concord, shortly after trying to convince customers using Bank of America ATM machines to switch to a credit union. "We're going towards becoming a third world country."
Though opponents of the Occupy movement or Saturday's rally couldn't be found, some expressed concern and criticism: "A lot of people are here for the wrong reasons," said Kenny C, of Concord, in our live interview. " ... some people are here but they don't know what they're fighting for."
Kenny, who did not want to disclose his last name, pointed out that many of the speeches during the rally lacked focus and weren't necessarily about Occupy-related topics, instead, focusing on issues of police brutality and unions.
The march ended back at the plaza with a staged citizens arrest of man dressed in a "fat-cat Wall Street executive" suit. He then set up crime scene yellow tape in front of the Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase banking branches adjacent to the plaza.
Contra Costa 99% plans to carry on with the Sunday meetings in front of Panama Red's Coffee Shop.
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