I love living in Oakland, CA. Cultural nexus, permanent underdog, historical lefty hotbed and all-around awesome town.
I was in NYC last month, just overnight, in the first week of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to stop by before I left, and I felt like I'd really missed out on participating in history. So imagine my delight when the movement caught on, and spread to, among other places, Oakland.
Today, the Occupy Oakland movement sent a letter to the city explaining how Oakland can communicate with the assembled camp: It can show up and participate. Follow me below the fold for more information.
Oscar Grant Plaza (formerly known as Frank Ogawa Plaza) is right in front of City Hall, maybe a 15-minute bike ride from my house. So I try to stop by there every day, helping how I can and taking in the scene. Several dozen tents are crammed together on the lawn, the bare grass now covered with hay or walkways made of wooden pallets. I see a lot of familiar faces among the campers; some of them are the usual suspects I've seen in local political struggles over the years: Oakland radicals, punks, local union organizers and artists. But there are new faces too. There are red-faced homeless men & women, happy for a safe place with food and porta-potties (donated by the local teachers' union). There are also people who don't look like they're used to sleeping outdoors, people with new-looking worry lines on soft faces.
Each night around 7pm is the General Assembly, where people gather to propose ideas, sound off on whatever they're feeling, and update the camp on the changing situation here and beyond. Each person gets a bit of time to speak on a single issue, and if there is a proposal for action, the GA works to achieve consensus.
The City's been sending letters to the Occupation; nudging them on safety & health ordinances, demanding responses to various problems, etc. Until recently, the letters would be read aloud as though the various bullet points were a single issue. I watched this already slow process being further hamstrung by trying to address each of the city's concerns orally. My lasting impression was, "Oakland city officials are getting the Occupy movement to do the city's work for them, and they're not even here to propose their own issues."
So I suggested a new idea: Why give the City preferential treatment? If an issue is important enough for the GA to address, the city can send a human being to voice that concern.
I mentioned this ongoing process to a reporter I know, and she thought it was newsworthy enough to put in the East Bay Express blog: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/...
In case you're interested, here's the letter that was sent to the City of Oakland today:
To: The City Of Oakland
From: The Occupants Of Occupy Oakland
Re: Your Correspondence
We, The Occupants of Oakland would like to remind city officials that
you are welcome to express yourselves and your concerns before our
General Assembly in your role as community members.
City officials will not be given any preferential treatment and must
follow our forum’s process. Please note that this will be the only
acceptable avenue for dialogue at this time.
You know where to find us,
The General Assembly
Oscar Grant Plaza
It remains to be seen how Oakland reacts to this, but if they play along this could have pretty startling implications. Particularly since, if it works, it could easily be tried with other cities.