"GLOBAL STRATEGIC HYPOTHESES", an open letter to the Occupy movement from The Equitist Advocacy Group

Intro by Miguel Detonacciones, written for IBC Group Participants, 2011-11-03:
The Equitist Advocacy Group has issued an open letter/leaflet to "Occupy Wall Street" and the Global People's Assemblies Movement, entitled "Diagnosis & Prescription". Below is the text of that open letter, as transcribed from the leaflet handed out at an "Occupy Wall Street" demonstration in which I participated. Nice to see such a brief "Prescription" section, that is nevertheless so pregnant with so many profound social-revolutionary implications, No?

"GLOBAL STRATEGIC HYPOTHESES -- The Capitals-System No Longer Works, Even to the Extent It Once Did; DIAGNOSIS & PRESCRIPTION -- The Global Failure of the Present System & The Emergence of a Successor System"
open letter  from "The Equitist Advocacy Group" to Occupy Wall Street & the Global Peoples Assemblies Movement [www.equitism.org/Equitism/OpenLetter-NumberOne/OpenLetter-NumberOne.pdf]:
See draft Constitutional Amendments at [equitism.org/Equitism/Equitism-entry.htm] :
DIAGNOSIS: The self-continuation of the capitals system predictably concentrates predominant capital ownership, & therefore predominant monetary power, & therefore predominant political power, in ever fewer hands.
This concentration of money-power has concentrated real political power in a handful of plutocratic, humanocidal crime-families -- power that escapes all existing democratic-constitutional, merely-political checks & balances -- as these plutocratic families prostitute the executive, legislative, & judicial branches of government at all levels to their "Big Money", & assassinate those leaders who they cannot prostitute.
Example: The international political machine of those serial mass murderers, the "Eugenicist" -humanocidal Rockefeller Mega-Crime Family, which conducts their global "invisible dictatorship" [in part, via Exxon-Mobil, J. P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, the Rockefeller Foundations, the Federal Reserve, the American Medical Association, the Baptist Church, the New York Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, etc., etc.].
These ruling plutocratic families then apply their concentrated political-economic power to attack a growing threat to that power inherent in the later competitive capitals-system itself: that of an accelerating technological obsolescence depreciation. "Techno-depreciation" destroys the capital-value of their capital plant and equipment, & of its products, in industries they directly own [e.g., oil], & induces defaults on their banks' humongous loans for capital plant & equipment to other industries' owners, whom they control, in part, by such debt. The improved products/productivity that this "techno-depreciation" process reflects betters life/reduces life-cost for most of humanity, but is anathema to the "1%".
Example: The advent of zero-radioactivity fusion power generators would soon essentially zero-out the capital-value of the Rockefeller Exxon-Mobil corporation' s global plant & equipment investments, & of their product: oil.

Plutocracy's Reaction to the Above-Defined "Techno-Depreciatio n" Threat to their Power:
(1.) In the "periphery" of the core capital-based countries [US/UK/ Europe], the plutocracy moves to –
* Create the "Third World". They set up military/comprador dictatorships throughout the not-yet-industrialized "periphery" -- in Latin America, Asia, & Africa -- to suppress the technological depreciation threat of low-wage/latest capital plant & equipment rapid industrialization there [which "worked", until the post-WWII industrialization- renaissance of Japan, then the recent resurgence of China/Brazil/ India. Japan's ongoing national depression, ever since 1989, via "Bubble Engineering" , starting in real estate, was a "dress rehearsal" for the global asset bubble/collapse, also engineered by the "Rocke-Nazis" /"Rothe-Nazis" , & manifest since 2008].
* Impose a "Meta-Nazi" Regime there. This plutocracy imposes, internationally, their "meta-dictatorship" , based upon their heterogeneous multiplicity of national military/local- oligarchy servant-dictatorships in the thus-impoverished nations of the resulting "Third World", in Latin America, Africa & Asia.
* Propagate Genetically- Engineered, "Population Reduction" Designer Diseases there. Example: AIDS.

(2.) In the core capital-based countries [US/UK/Europe] , the plutocracy moves to –
* Impose the Income Tax to make the working class, and the smaller, weaker capital-owners, pay the military arms-supply & invasion/"intelligence"/secret police costs of maintaining the "Meta- Nazi" regime in the "Third World" [Example: U.S. 16th Constitutional Amendment, adopted in 1913].
* Impose "fiat money" central banking regimes [Example: The U.S. "Federal Reserve", created in 1913].
* Impose "Permanent Inflation" via fiat currency central banks, to make the working class and the small capital owners pay for the ongoing "techno-depreciation" that the plutocratic "invisible dictatorship" can't otherwise suppress. Example: [http://oregonstate.edu/cla/polisci/faculty-research/sahr/pl1665.htm]
* Cripple / assassinate technological innovators. Examples: Preston Tucker, John DeLorean, Philo Farnsworth, Dr. Eugene Mallove, Dr. Robert Bussard, Steve Jobs.
* Massively fund "population reduction" ideologies/policies / practices. Examples: Rockefeller/ Nazi "Eugenics" [pre-WWII]; anti- technology, neo-Malthusian, pro-humanocide "people are pollution" ideologies [today].
* Bring the "Third World" Home via plutocracy-captive government policies of middle class impoverishment – Examples: job-theft, home- theft, pension-theft, planned Social Security/Medicare repeal, destruction of access to higher education, medical costs hyperinflation [Note: It was John D. Rockefeller himself who orchestrated the ascendancy of the American Medical Association, the suppression of naturopathy, etc.], setting the stage to "bring home" the "Third World" periphery-style open/visible dictatorships to the "First World" core. Their Goal: make life increasingly impossible for the majority, including by making life increasingly unaffordable for the majority.

(3.) Overall – Engineer a Global Depression to enable Global Totalitarian, Humanocidal Dictatorship. Examples:
* 1930s -- Global Great Depression I.: The Rockefeller/ Morgan/ Rothschild plutocracy created the 1930s Global Great Depression via their technology of "Capital Asset Bubble Engineering" , imposed their totalitarian, genocidal servant-dictatorships in Spain [Franco], Portugal [Salazar], Italy [Mussolini], Hungary [Horthy], Argentina [Castillo/Peron] , Japan [Hirohito/Tojo] , China [Chiang Kai Shek], Russia [Stalin], and Germany [Hitler], & attempted a military coup in the U.S. [under General Schmedly D. Butler]. Hitler's "Franken- Dictator" turn against that plutocracy, aiming to "take their place" of global dictatorship for himself, aborted this, their first attempt at a global "meta-Nazi" meta-dictatorship. "Second World", Stalinist/ Maoist state-capitalist totalitarian/ genocidal dictatorships in Russia and China, vying with the "RockeNazis" /"Rothe-Nazis" for world dictatorship after WWII, blocked any "Rocke-Nazi" /"Rothe-Nazi" Great Depression 2nd try, until after 1989.
  * The Present -- Global Great Depression II.: Rockefeller banks -- J. P. Morgan Chase/Citibank/ Bank of America/Goldman Sachs – concocted fictitious capital derivatives, fraudulently foisted as "high return/ low risk" assets, aided by capital asset rating agency fraudulent triple-A ratings of these "assets", duping other banks world-wide to fork over their liquid actual capital to buy these mortgage-backed pseudo-assets. These "assets'" values/returns were then collapsed, using the usual "bubble-engineering " tech., crashing stock markets world-wide; rendering millions of workers job-less, home-less, 401(k)- less, & pension-less; plunging capital reserve ratios of duped buyer- banks to insolvency levels. Central banks & governments in US/UK/ Europe responded, per plan, transferring this private bank/corporation fictitious capital debt to taxpayers, handing trillions of taxpayer dollars to these criminal/dupe banks & other corporations. This converted a private debt crisis into a public, sovereign debt crisis in the US/UK/Europe, to "justify" repeal of pensions/social safety nets [U.S. Examples: planned Social Security/Medicare "reform"], & to impose hyper-contractionary "austerity" against the working class, with escalation of education & medical costs, etc., in the US, UK, Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy, etc. Such "austerity" induces drastically deepened global economic collapse, now targeted by the plutocracy for ~ 2012, to impose state-capitalist, totalitarian rule, & catastrophic "population reduction", against all working classes, once the plutocracy consolidates their global "meta-dictatorship" . Worldwide Police-state, state-capitalist dictatorships, dealing out humanocide to the working/"middle" class globally, is now the only way that the"Rocke-Nazi" /"Rothe-Nazi" plutocrats see to preserve their global power against middle-class/ democracy expansion & accelerating technological progress. The time has come for we the people to end the plutocracy's power, globally, before they "end" us! The only power that can save our lives now is our own collective power.

PRESCRIPTION: Political-ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY, via --
* International boycotts of the products & "services" of global corporations who prostitute government policies.
* Equitarian Constitutional Reform / Equitarian Non-Violent Social Revolution -- Constitutional establishment, via global ```populist' '' up-rising, of new, Universal Citizen Equity Rights, creating ECONOMIC checks-&-balances, to resuscitate the existing, political-only checks- &-balances, vitiated by concentrated economic power:
1. Citizen Externality Equity Rights – Popularly-elected, Boards of Public Directors in all localities, constraining the production of pollution, etc., "externalities" by enterprise local operating units' private boards of directors / management committees. Popularly-elected Associations of Public Directors at the local, regional, national, &, eventually, continental & global levels reshape the geography of human society.
2. Citizen Birthright Equity Rights – A Social Trust Fund for each newborn Citizen, by right of birth, to help defray lifetime costs of education, re-training, health care, housing, etc., with legislated expenditure rules.
3. Citizen Stewardship Equity Rights – Competing, Citizen self-organized producers' cooperatives, rated as having qualifying business plans, & democratic internal self-management, are granted, in return for a monthly rent, payable to the National Office of the Custodian of Social Property, stewardship of the plant and equipment assets needed to launch their cooperative enterprises, & to conduct their business plans, with two income streams for each stewardship cooperative member: an equal share in net profits of each stewardship cooperative for each of its members, & a job-based, skills-based competitive salary for each of its members.

Occupy Oakland! General Strike!!

* 10 participants of Occupy Richmond, some whose ages were past 50, walked 10 miles to the Oakland General Strike. 

2011-11-03 "Occupy Oakland Strike Draws 100,000; Violence Caused By 100" by Zennie Abraham
[http://blog.sfgate.com/abraham/2011/11/03/occupy-oakland-strike-draws-100000-violence-caused-by-100/]
Zennie Abraham is Executive Producer & Host of "The Blog Report With Zennie62"
---
Oakland’s Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan (a capable and politically smart leader in a tough position) got the Occupy Oakland General Strike crowd count massively wrong: it’s not 7,000, but 100,000.
This blogger has been in Oakland since 1974. The largest crowd at Frank Ogama Plaza was for a speech by then-Senator, now President Barack Obama in 2007, and for which was estimated at 18,000. Barack filled the space with people.
The Occupy Oakland General Strike had that many people in the plaza for most of the day, while two huge crowds were outside of it: one marching down Broadway, the other a set of people walking around various parts of downtown Oakland with protest signs.
You can’t take a snapshot of an event like this, because of its time length; you have to think of it as a dynamic. In amy population there are births, deaths, in-migration, and out-migration. For the Occupy Oakland General Strike, there were no births, thankfully no deaths, but a lot of in-migration and out-migration.
What was so amazing about the size of the crowd both inside the plaza and just outside of it, then marching to the Port of Oakland, was that it did not decrease in size; it increased. And that was with some people leaving it, and others coming in from BART and from around Oakland via foot or other parts of the Bay by car.
For that to happen all day long and considering the capacity of the plaza and the crowds outside of it points to 100,000 people. I’ve never seen anything like that in the entire history of this city.
And that is why it must be said that much of the media should be drawn and quartered for the most irresponsible coverage I’ve ever seen. Many outlets just waited for something bad to happen, or looked for it. But there were so many people more having a great time, that whatever happened was far away from downtown Oakland.
The Whole Foods Oakland Facility is on 27th and Harrison and outside of downtown Oakland, and a good mile away from City Hall Plaza. But to the media eye, the vandalism that happened there made headlines. Let’s just get this out of the way: it should not have happened, but that’s no excuse to get the whole story wrong.
The happy time lasted for much of the evening, but as the people either went to the Port (I did not go over there) or went home, a crowd of 100,000 shrank, like The Hulk turning back into Bruce Banner, to about a few 100 at best.
Here’s where the media – except the SF Appeal – really screwed up.
The violence happened because of a rather dumb attempt by some with Occupy Oakland to take over an abandoned building in downtown Oakland. Why this idea was allowed to pass the General Assembly I do not know, but Oakland’s Occupy movement is not known for thinking things through all the time. It’s too prone to make moves that are outside of the rules of the Occupy movement – moves that at times cause violence.
(And on that note, business people should be involved in the Occupy Movement, too. It’s something that can be impacted by the voice and involvement of business people. That’s why I think Oakland Chamber of Commerce head Joe Haraburda’s just plain out to lunch on this whole issue. He paints Occupy Oakland in “us versus them” terms, which just shows how much he doesn’t get the whole deal and how it can actually be FORMED to help Oakland business. More on this today, but it must be said there’s a case to be made for the need to be compensated for work. Business people can make that case in solidarity with the movement. Hey, there are Occupy Oakland t-shirts for sale – think about it.)
And that’s not to let Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and the police off the hook here. The main problem is there militaristic approach has only served to make sure that more and more of these skirmishes take place. Downtown Oakland businesses are suffering in the process. Quan has done NOTHING to convince Occupy Oakland to work to help businesses by patronizing them.
The punishment for both Quan and Police Chief Jordan should be to force both of them and their staffs to eat lunch and dinner at Flora, Max’s, Luka’s to start, then go bar hopping in the Uptown.
And I’ll join them.
But I digress.
The bottom line is all of this Occupy Oakland General Strike business has been misreported. The count is 100,000, not 7,000. And the night of activities should not be seen as marring a successful day of parties and festivities.
Stay tuned.

 


2011-11-01 "SEIU 1021 Joins the November 2nd General Strike" by Steven Argue from "Liberation News"
 Representing 50,000 workers, Oakland Local 1021 of the SEIU issued a statement saying the "SEIU 1021 Executive Board calls on all members of SEIU 1021 to join a day-long “Peaceful Day of Action” in support of Occupy Oakland and against the banking industry and last week’s police brutality against the Occupy Oakland encampment."
 With this statement the SEIU joins Carpenters Local 713 and leading local members of the ILWU and IBU in backing the vote of the Occupy Oakland General Assembly for a general strike and mass demonstrations on November 2nd. (For more on the support of those unions read “Scott Olsen Cannot Talk, General Strike Nov. 2nd!” linked after this article)
 Speaking of the repression carried out by the City government that sparked the strike Local 1021 pointed out, "Last Monday and Tuesday, Oakland made headlines when 30 police departments were brought in to break up the protest. Several SEIU 1021 members and their family members were injured or arrested for peacefully exercising their 1st Amendment rights. This is not right. We need to stand up for Oakland!"
 During those attacks, Scott Olsen, a 24 year-old Iraq War veteran and member of Iraq War Veterans Against the War, was shot in the head by the police with a projectile at short range. Scott was knocked out in critical condition with swelling on his brain. He has sustained an injury to the speech center of his brain and cannot talk.
 The city government, facing mass outrage over their vicious attacks on protesters, has, according to the SEIU statement, “agreed that workers may use a day of comp time, vacation time, a floating holiday or leave without pay in order to participate".
 The SEIU Executive Board does make the legal disclaimer that they are not calling on the membership to strike because that would be a violation of their contract. Such no strike provisions have hogtied the political strength of the American labor movement for decades. Generally, collectively walking off the job would be a much more effective procedure than filing grievances. Likewise, general strikes win political demands in countries like France much faster than the American union movement’s decades-old strategy of funding politicians that forget about workers the day after they’re elected.
 Despite union support for the Democrats it is currently the Democrats in power in Sacramento and cities throughout the state and country who are directly carrying out austerity against members of the SEIU. These cuts to government jobs are also hurting needed social services. Likewise, it was Democrat Mayor Jean Quan who attacked the Oakland Occupy protesters with her police last week.
 Yet, despite not calling it a strike, this call by the SEIU leadership will strengthen the powerful participation of organized labor in the Weds, November 2nd general strike and mass protests.
 Expressing agreement with the Occupy movement Dwight McElroy, president of the SEIU 1021 Oakland chapter, declared, “We are also part of the 99 percent. Our jobs have been cut, our people unemployed, and our community has lost needed services in these hard times.”
 Call to Action of the Occupy Oakland:
* Shut Down the 1%!
* General Strike & Mass Day of Action called for by Occupy Oakland!
* Everyone to the Streets!
* No Work! No School!
 Mass gatherings at 14th & Broadway:  9:00am • 12 noon • 5:00pm
 5:00pm start at 14th and Broadway and march to the port to shut it down before the 7pm night shift
 All banks and corporations must close down for the day or we will march on them!
 Liberation News joins the Oakland Occupy General Assembly in Demanding:
 • Solidarity with the worldwide Occupy Movement
 • End Police Attacks on Our Communities
 • Defend Oakland Schools & Libraries
 • Against an economic system built on inequality & corporate power that perpetuates racism, sexism & the destruction of the environment
 And Liberation News adds the additional demand: Drop The Charges Against All Occupy Protesters!
 For more on what led up to the strike call and the participation of other unions read: "Scott Olsen Cannot Talk, General Strike Nov. 2nd!" [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/29/18696003.php]
 This is an article of Liberation News, Subscribe Free: [https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news]


The following is provided to show folks how much the mainstream media simply lies to condition the people in the USA  to perceive what's happening with the peaceful 2011-11-02 Oakland General Strike as a narrative of chaos at the mercy of "anarchists"....
All attention was focused mainly of the tactical action afterwards. Such a spirited display of constructive anger creates all the propaganda necessary to carry through a campaign of villainy by the mainstream media to embolden the domestic fascist movement.
The article even contains the erroneous miscount of "3,000" who participated in the peaceful General Strike [it was roughly 100,000], and provides militant conservatives [those Glenn Beck listeners] with ammunition for their fire against regular people of the USA.

2011-11-03 "Riot Gear and Bonfires: Occupy Oakland Degenerates Into ‘Chaos’ Overnight" by Jonathon M. Seidl
[http://www.theblaze.com/stories/riot-gear-and-bonfires-occupy-oakland-degenerates-into-chaos-overnight/]
[UPDATE: GLENN BECK LISTENERS -- THE VIDEO OF THE CAR CONFRONTATION IS IN THE THIRD VIDEO DOWN IN THE POST AT THE 2:30 MARK.]
Associated Press writers Garance Burke and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco, Beth Duff-Brown in San Francisco, Mark Pratt in Boston, JoAnn Loviglio in Philadelphia, Jon Fahey and Verena Dobnik in New York and Christina Hoag in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
---
Occupy Oakland protester Mike Clift runs from teargas on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (Photo: AP)

OAKLAND, Calif. (The Blaze/AP) — A day of demonstrations in Oakland that began as a significant step toward expanding the political and economic influence of the Occupy Wall Street movement, ended with police in riot gear arresting dozens of protesters who had marched through downtown to break into a vacant building, shattering windows [http://www.theblaze.com/stories/oakland-becomes-epicenter-of-occupy-movement-thousands-march-in-general-strike-banks-port-targeted/], spraying graffiti and setting fires along the way.
“We go from having a peaceful movement to now just chaos,” said protester Monique Agnew, 40.

KTVU-TV has more [http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/occupy-protesters-shut-down-port-oakland/nFTLQ/]:
[begin excerpt]
The confrontation began after protesters started a large bonfire in the middle of a downtown street. Dozens of police in riot gear moved in on hundreds of protesters as the flames leapt more than 15 feet in the air from several large metal and plastic trash bins that had been pushed together.
Police warned protesters to clear out before firing several rounds of tear gas and “flash bang” grenades to clear the area.
In the aftermath of the police actions, protesters with cloth wrapped around their faces to protect them from the stench of the gas marched through the area chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets.”
Some marchers wore gas masks.
Glass covered streets and sidewalks from windows of area businesses that were shattered.
Graffiti on the wall next to one of the damaged shops read, “This act of vandalism was not authorized by the general assembly. Peaceful protest.”
[end excerpt]
Occupy Oakland protesters pass a burning garbage heap during a confrontation with police on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (Photo: AP)

The far-flung movement of protesters challenging the world’s economic systems and distribution of wealth has gained momentum in recent weeks, capturing the world‘s attention by shutting down one of the nation’s busiest shipping ports toward the end of a daylong “general strike” that prompted solidarity rallies across the U.S.
About 3,000 people converged on the Port of Oakland, the nation’s fifth-busiest harbor, in a nearly five-hour protest Wednesday, swarming the area and blocking exits and streets with illegally parked vehicles and hastily-erected, chain-link fences.
Port officials said they were forced to cease maritime operations, citing concerns for workers’ safety. They said in a statement they hope to resume operations Thursday “and that Port workers will be allowed to get to their jobs without incident. Continued missed shifts represent economic hardship for maritime workers, truckers, and their families, as well as lost jobs and lost tax revenue for our region.”
Supporters in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and elsewhere staged smaller-scale demonstrations; each group saying its protest was a show of support for the Oakland movement, which became a rallying point when an Iraq War veteran was seriously injured in a clash with police last week.
The larger Occupy movement has yet to coalesce into an organized association and until the port shut down had largely been limited scattershot marches, rallies and tent encampments since it began in September.
Organizers in Oakland had viewed the day as a significant victory. Police said that about 7,000 people participated in demonstrations throughout the day that were peaceful except for a few incidents of vandalism. In fact, the city’s mayor called it a “good day” for the protesters and the “99 percent movement:”

One of the protest leaders, Boots Riley, touted the day as a success, saying “we put together an ideological principle that the mainstream media wouldn’t talk about two months ago.”
His comments came before a group of demonstrators moved to break into the Travelers Aid building in order to, as some shouting protesters put it, “reclaim the building for the people.”

Riley, whose anti-capitalist views are well-documented, considered the port shut down particularly significant for organizers who targeted it in an effort to stop the “flow of capital.” The port sends goods primarily to Asia, including wine as well as rice, fruits and nuts, and handles imported electronics, apparel and manufacturing equipment, mostly from Asia, as well as cars and parts from Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai. An accounting of the financial toll from the shutdown was not immediately available.
The potential for the chaos that ultimately erupted was not something Riley wanted to even consider.
“If they do that after all this …” He paused, then added, “They’re smarter than that.”
But the peace that abided throughout the day, did not last into the night.
Occupy protesters voicing anger over a budget trim that forced the closure of a homeless aid program converged on the empty building where it had been housed. They blocked off city streets with Dumpsters and other large trash bins, starting bonfires that leapt 15-feet in the air.
City officials released a statement describing the spasm of unrest.
“Oakland Police responded to a late night call that protesters had broken into and occupied a downtown building and set several simultaneous fires,” the statement read. “The protesters began hurling rocks, explosives, bottles, and flaming objects at responding officers. Several private and municipal buildings sustained heavy vandalism. Dozens of protesters wielding shields were surrounded and arrested.”
Protesters reported running from several rounds of tear gas and bright flashes and deafening pops that some thought were caused by “flash bang” grenades. Fire crews arrived and suppressed the flames.
Meanwhile, protesters and police faced off for the rest of the night in an uneasy standoff.
Protesters "Occupy" an Oakland building after breaking in, Nov. 3, 2011. (Photo: AP)

In Philadelphia, protesters were arrested earlier Wednesday as they held a sit-in at the headquarters of cable giant Comcast
In New York, about 100 military veterans marched in uniform and stopped in front of the New York Stock Exchange, standing in loose formation as police officers on scooters separated them from the entrance. On the other side was a lineup of NYPD horses carrying officers with nightsticks.
“We are marching to express support for our brother, (Iraq war veteran) Scott Olsen, who was injured in Oakland,” said Jerry Bordeleau, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq through 2009.
The veterans were also angry that returned from war to find few job prospects.
“Wall Street corporations have played a big role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Bordeleau, now a college student. He said private contractors have reaped big profits in those countries.
In Boston, college students and union workers marched on Bank of America offices, the Harvard Club and the Statehouse to protest the nation’s burgeoning student debt crisis.
They say total outstanding student loans exceed credit card debt, increase by $1 million every six minutes and will reach $1 trillion this year, potentially undermining the economy.
“There are so many students that are trying to get jobs and go on with their lives,” said Sarvenaz Asasy of Boston, who joined the march after recently graduating with a master’s degree and $60,000 in loan debt. “They‘ve educated themselves and there are no jobs and we’re paying tons of student loans. For what?”
And among the other protests in Oakland, parents and their kids, some in strollers, joined in by forming a “children’s brigade.”
“There’s absolutely something wrong with the system,” said Jessica Medina, a single mother who attends school part time and works at an Oakland cafe. “We need to change that.”

Oakland General Strike: “Don’t You Dare Steal Our Future” Family Bike/Stroller Brigades

[http://www.movementgeneration.org/oakland-general-strike-dont-you-dare-steal-our-future-family-bikestroller-brigades]:

NOVEMBER 2nd – During the Oakland General Strike
 12pm and 3pm
 Meet up at the Oakland Main Library (14th ST & Madison)

Parents and families of the Oakland area are excited to demonstrate their solidarity with the growing movement of the 99% and are working to create real change for our children’s futures.

Parents, Children, Teachers, and Librarians Unite!

It’s critical to have a diverse group of working families and children at the center of this movement. Lets Bike, Stroll, and Roll to Occupy.
 …
 In order to include as many children and families as possible, we’re going to have two chances for folks to gather and both will be at the Oakland Public Library Main Branch.

FIRST CONVERGENCE
12:00 Noon – Gather at Oakland Public Library Main Branch (14th and Madison)
12:30 PM – Bike, March, Stroll and Roll down to join the rest of the 99% at Children’s Village at Oscar Grant Plaza/Frank Ogawa Plaza.

The People’s Grocery, Farm to Table, Food First and others will be working on coordinating lunch for approximately 700 people at Occupy Oakland from 11 to 2pm. The lunch will consist of spinach salad with black beans and feta, ciabatta and fruit.

Children’s music performed Rock’n Kids Sing Along.

SECOND CONVERGENCE
3:00 PM – Gather at Oakland Public Library Main Branch (14th and Madison) Stories, Art and Organizing for Occupy Oakland (Teachers, Parents, Librarians unite)

There will be sidewalk chalk, stenciling “share” t shirts and have a “mamas mic” – basically a peoples’ mic led by women on what we want for our kids future.

4:30PM – Bike, March, Stroll and Roll down to join the rest of the 99% at Children’s Village at Oscar Grant Plaza/Frank Ogawa Plaza.

Lets all join our children in telling the 1% “Don’t You Dare Steal My Future”

See you in the streets Wednesday.

A modest proposal to the 2011-11 Oakland Commune General Assembly

 

2011-11-01 "Statement In Solidarity With Longview ILWU Local 21" proposed draft from "OSCAR GRANT COMMITTEE Against Police Brutality & State Repression"
The ILWU [Longshoreman's Union] has consistently been on the cutting edge of the struggle for workers rights and social justice for as long as we can remember.
The Oscar Grant Committee, home based in Oakland Calif., will celebrate it's first year of existence on Oct 23 as the outgrowth of the courageous and historic ILWU shut down of northern Calif shipping dock operations, combined with a 1500 strong Union / Community rally in Oaklands Ogawa Plaza on a rainy day in 2010 to demand  "Justice For Oscar Grant". We owe a debt of gratitude to the ILWU for their ongoing struggle for working class people both on and off the job and in the community. They not only stand up to exploitation on the job, but also fight against  police brutality and racist injustice facing working class people in their communities.
The ILWU has had the courage to oppose unjust imperial wars that drain the public coffers and kill hundreds of thousands of poverty conscripted soldiers and innocents alike.
The ILWU has had the guts to oppose and take a powerful job action against police repression of political prisoners such as Panther frame up victim Mumia Abu Jamal.
The list goes on .
We in the OGC recognize the not only our debt to the ILWU but indeed their unsurpassed value to the entire Social Justice Movement that their brave leadership provides.
We in the OGC and allied organizations,Will Never Forget where we came from and our Brothers & Sisters in the ILWU.
AN INJURY TO ONE, IS AN INJURY TO ALL!
We understand that ILWU local 27 is under attack and in a 'life and death' struggle against Union busting, corporate greed /exploitation ,police brutality/repression and political betrayal, hundreds of miles from us up the Pacific Coast. The giant multi-national EGT Development is attempting to destroy the 200 member union.
We offer our solidarity to this brave community fighting for justice. We stand with you.
We condemn the police raids and mass arrests  visited upon your righteous militants and leaders, who are standing up for the 'salt of the earth'.
We call for the removal of any DA 's or corrupt judges or politicians that collaborate with this attack on working familys.
We demand all Union supporters be released from jail and charges dropped against them.
We demand that the Operating Engineers # 701 stop scabbing and act like a real union and show some respect for working class principals.
We demand that the AFL-CIO give its complete backing and powerful Solidarity to the ILWU in this crucial struggle.
We promise that the working class tru its conscience community's
will find ways to make EGT pay for their unconscionable attacks on workers rights. They shall not profit from Evil.
We call upon the entire Social Justice Movement to raise their voices and take a stand against this outrage. Let the enemys of justice know that they face a united and determined opponent that will not give up or falter.
We stand ready to be called upon by the ILWU to  march and demonstrate or show practical "in the streets" solidarity.
The OGC Stands Ready To Fight With And For Our Sisters & Brothers In The ILWU!
UNION BUSTING & POLICE REPRESSION SHALL NOT PASS!!!

 2011-10-31: Joe Weston of Oakland joins the Occupy Oakland noon meditation group initiated by the Buddhist Peace Meditation Fellowship [www.bpf.org/].
Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle



2011-11-01 "Occupy Oakland: City braces for general strike" by Kevin Fagan, Demian Bulwa, Matthai Kuruvila, Carolyn Said from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/31/BAQ01LOK11.DTL]
OAKLAND -- From schools and downtown stores to the nation's fifth busiest port, Oakland is bracing for Wednesday's citywide general strike, a hastily planned and ambitious action called by Occupy protesters a day after police forcibly removed their City Hall encampment last week.
Occupy Oakland has since returned to Frank Ogawa Plaza, but the leaderless group is still asking workers and students in the city to take the day off to come downtown and protest economic inequality and corporate greed.
Major goals will be protesting at banks or corporations that refuse to shut down for the day, then marching in the evening to the Port of Oakland to try to shut down the night shift.
Some employees and businesses downtown, where the core activities are scheduled, intend to participate, while others plan to carry on as normal - hoping there won't be a resumption of last week's violent clashes between protesters and police.
"The entire world is tired of the greedy corporations controlling everything, and now is the time that people are doing something about it," rapper Boots Riley, an organizer of the strike day, said Monday. "All over the world, people are looking to Oakland."

Unions supportive -
While major labor unions in the city have voiced support, most workers cannot legally strike while under contract. But some said they plan to take the day off, participate during off hours or walk off the job spontaneously.
Rebecca Band, spokeswoman for the California Labor Federation, said union members will be participating in several ways, including a march to a Wells Fargo branch. They'll also be cooking from 4:30 to 8 p.m. for protesters.
Wells Fargo plans to "run our business on Wednesday the same way we run it any other day," said spokeswoman Holly Rockwell.
Occupy representatives said in a statement that they will hit the port to show "solidarity with longshore workers in their struggle against EGT in Longview, Wash." EGT is a grain exporter.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union local units, which do most of the work at the port, expressed support for the Occupy protest while noting they haven't authorized a strike. But if enough protesters gather outside the port, union workers could deem it a community picket line and refuse to cross it for their 7 p.m. shift, one spokesman said.
"There have been seven community picket lines honored by our workers since 1985, the most recent one being last year," said Stan Woods, spokesman for the ILWU. "But it has to be a serious picket line with a serious number of people with goals that don't conflict with labor."

Port to remain open -
Marilyn Sandifur, a spokeswoman for the Port of Oakland, said there were no plans to alter operations. Port security is handled by a variety of local, state and federal agencies.
The Port of Oakland was the site of an infamous 2003 clash that saw police injure antiwar activists and port workers with wood and rubber bullets.
City offices will stay open, although City Administrator Deanna Santana said in a memo that employees can use vacation or other paid time off if they want to participate in the walkout.
Mayor Jean Quan's office said the city will provide alerts to merchants and was "not urging businesses to close on Wednesday. Instead, we advise that they use common-sense precautions."

Mixed views on council -
Although City Council members all say they support the cause, they have mixed views about Wednesday's strike.
Councilwoman Jane Brunner said she will join in the demonstration. Councilwoman Nancy Nadel said she will support it.
"This is aimed at big corporations," Brunner said. "We're not taking care of the 99 percent, but the 1 percent."
Others aren't as enthusiastic.
Council President Larry Reid said the encampment and Wednesday's strike were having a "devastating" effect on the city's image with business.
"We've worked hard to get this city on sound footing, to get the kinds of retailers that other cities have in their urban core," Reid said. "This sends the message to those that may have had an interest that we as a city of Oakland will allow these kinds of activities to take place. Nobody is going to open up businesses in downtown Oakland."
Great Oakland, a nonprofit at Jack London Square that advocates for parents on school issues, will close in support of the protesters, said Sara Nuno, community organizer there.
"A day like this calls attention, and that's what it takes to build a movement," Nuno said.
At a deli near City Hall on Monday, manager Elaine Hong said she wasn't sure whether to close and will make a decision today.
"I support the message, but do you really want to walk off your job?" Hong asked. "It's hard enough to get a job as it is."

Teachers union won't picket -
Steve Neat, secretary of the Oakland Education Association, which represents 2,700 school district teachers, nurses, counselors and psychologists, said the union has voted to support Wednesday's action but will not stage picket lines.
"We want teachers to take whatever action at their sites they feel comfortable with," Neat said.
Many teachers are putting in for a day of unpaid leave, but a district spokesman said there were no plans to shut down any schools.

2011-11 "Occupy" by Michael Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer of the "San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council"               
[http://www.sfbuildingtradescouncil.org/content/view/592/1/]
 These columns appear in print a week or two after I have written them, and online later still. A late hurricane or an early snowstorm might soon chase most Occupy Wall Street protestors from their tents and tarps and soak their signs into papier-mâché. I cannot know now what will have become of the protests when you read this.
 I expect they will have grown.
 As it enters old age much of the Baby Boom is looking ahead to not much at all. Few of its members have defined benefit pensions like ours, and ours are threatened. Many who have trusted investments for their later years have every reason to fear these will not recover enough to assure them even regular meals and dependable shelter unless they somehow continue also to work.
 Many of the young look forward to a life, not even of moderate comfort, but of burden and struggle.
 Those of the young aspiring to higher education have seen their costs become crushing, as public universities and colleges raise tuition and fees and as private schools find less in their endowments to spend on scholarships and financial aid. Whether they graduate or not, students will leave school packing years of heavy debt and working longer than their grandparents had to or their laid-off parents could. At the end of it all, the Social Security and Medicare that helped sustain generations before them might be reduced or even gone.
 Those of the young who want only an honest living with their hands have seen solid tools that could have provided it shipped overseas, and replaced – if at all – with broom and rag.
 Occupy Wall Street is not proposing a clear alternative to this descending gloom. This has allowed some news stories to emphasize the parti-colored, carnivalesque aspects of the protests. These aspects will be familiar to anyone who has participated in anti-war protests, whether those of my youth or others more recent. For all the seriousness behind a protest, some protesters will have as their primary concern the liberation of hamsters or the benefits of worldwide wheatgrass consumption.
 Occupy Wall Street is no less real because others have festooned it with the ribbons of their pet causes.
 What is important is that Occupy Wall Street can make obvious what should have been obvious all along: The few cannot profit mightily at the expense of the many without eventually pissing the many off. It need not have as its ultimate goal the rise of a completely new economic system or any such grand and consistent ideology. At the start, at least, it is enough that it is angry.
 We in the Trades have cause to share that anger. We may have made our livings in what is now seen as a “housing bubble,” but we were not the ones that made it a bubble. We made those livings by sweat and strain, not by considering ourselves a higher, cleverer class of human being, as did some in the financial industry. Now the cleverness of those exalted few has cost many of us family, friends, home, health.
 We have seen politicians from both sides exploit our misery and the misery of our brothers and sisters by playing us against each other.
 In Wisconsin, in Ohio, in Washington, in many another state and city the Republicans and even some Democrats say, Those teachers, those firefighters, those bridge and highway workers have what our wealthy patrons have already taken from the rest of you, and why should they have more than we have left you?
 In San Francisco a Jeff Adachi claims to protect the poor by assaulting defined benefit pensions. A John Avalos votes against tens of thousands of jobs, then pits worker against worker through a “local hire” ordinance that ignores what is really needed to provide opportunities for low-income communities in favor of saying, You here can work, you there cannot.
 If I had to make a prediction now, I would predict that we soon see more and more hard hats and Trades colors among the Occupy Wall Street protesters. We should.
 In a statement Oct. 5, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka said, “We are proud that today on Wall Street, bus drivers, painters, nurses and utility workers are joining students and homeowners, the unemployed and the underemployed to call for fundamental change. Across America, working people are turning out with their friends and neighbors in parks, congregations and union halls to express their frustration – and anger – about our country's staggering wealth gap, the lack of work for people who want to work and the corrupting of our politics by business and financial elites. The people who do the work to keep our great country running are being robbed not only of income but of a voice. It is time for all of us – the 99 percent – to be heard.”
 If this is not how a revolution begins, it is close.