Protesters at the port of Oakland (Faith Gardner)
Today's big story was last night's Occupy Oakland events. An estimated 10,000 people participated in a march to the Port of Oakland,
effectively shutting down access to the facility. I'd say that counts as a mass movement.
As the movement reaches those kinds of raw numbers, problems are bound to grow as well, and Occupy Oakland has been faced with the dilemma of what to do with a small core of protestors bent on confrontation and property damage:
As many as 40 people were arrested in downtown Oakland early Thursday after what was mostly a peaceful day during the general strike Wednesday turned heated.
Late in the evening, protesters temporarily took over a vacant building, started fires in downtown and used homemade bomb launchers to fire M80s at police. [...]
Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said there are about 70 people "determined to cause trouble and instigate a confrontation with police."
Seventy people in a crowd of 10,000 certainly counts as a small number. The problem, however: those aggressive or (God help us all) self-described "anarchist" elements using the much larger crowd as human shield for their own actions. This presents a problem for protestors and police alike: The police can hardly ignore such actions, but nor can the larger group of protestors effectively isolate and remove these elements themselves.
It is going to require cooperation between protestors and police to identify and remove violent protestors. In Oakland, unfortunately, trust between the two groups is currently at rock-bottom levels, especially after a series of police actions that even the police officers themselves have been complaining of as spurious and confusing. A special note, however: The infantile and ever-ridiculous "anarchist" crowd is about as far, ideologically, from the larger Occupy movement as you can get (to hear Fox News tell it, the crowd is made up of communists, after all). All sides have an interest in expelling them.
Other Occupy-related news:
- I would like to have just one day in which excessive police action against peaceful protestors is not the dominant headline in some American city. No such luck. Today's episode features Tulsa police pepper-spraying a peaceful protestor sitting on the ground: Why, exactly? This sort of action has characterized police response in cities across the nation. Not able to grasp the concept that merely "occupying" a spot of ground you are not supposed to is a reasonable (and frankly, quite elegant) act of free speech? Hell, just pepper-spray them.
It's stupid, it makes the police look bad, it makes the police officer in question look thuggish and/or just plain not very bright. Yes, I know there's a fellow sitting on the lawn when he's not supposed to be. I think perhaps accommodation can be made. Get over it.
Just because this is the first mass movement in some time time that feels strongly enough about their beliefs to stay outside overnight is hardly reason for such apparent befuddlement, on the part of law enforcement and other public officials.
- This, on the other hand, is a classy move:
Occupy Denver has announced that it will temporarily dismantle its camp to allow for a Veterans Day parade on Saturday. The group called it “a show of solidarity with our veterans, our service men and women, and our fallen heroes. Occupy Denver supports the valor and sacrifice of the men and women of our armed forces, and unilaterally wishes to show unwavering support and respect for the Veterans Day Parade.”
- And this, on the other-other hand, is mostly just silly:
That message has been heard - by the other side. The New York Stock Exchange is making Friday “Social Media Day” (the first of its kind for the exchange) when various politicos and social media experts will gather just blocks away from Zuccotti Park to discuss how Wall Street can more effectively utilize social media.
Although not expressly billed as such, it’s clear that the NYSE’s effort has a new relevancy thanks to the Occupy movement’s effective use of social media to galvanize support and distribute information.
Stories like this always depress me. The corporate version of "social media" is making a Twitter account for your corporate spokesman, so that Mr. Tide can harangue followers all day about getting their whites whiter or something (coincidentally, I believe Pat Buchanan writes those too). This is supposed to make your company seem "hip," which in turn is supposed to make the wider public forget that your company or organization is made up of evil, soulless sons of bitches who would just as sooner burn entire countries to the ground than regulate crooked behavior or stop spilling a few million gallons of incredibly toxic this-or-that into such-and-such.
- At Occupy Wall Street itself:
Police officers arrested more than a dozen protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement on Thursday after large group of the demonstrators marched to the headquarters of Goldman Sachs in Lower Manhattan.
The police said that 16 protesters had been arrested shortly before 1 p.m., including nine men and seven women. All but one of the protesters faced charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, the police said. One protester was charged solely with disorderly conduct.
The police said the protesters had apparently held a mock trial of Goldman Sachs at their encampment in Zuccotti Park before setting out for the building to deliver their verdict.
Silly protestors. Apparently not even the president of the United States can enforce the law against Goldman Sachs—and he's got aircraft carriers.
- Occupy Chicago gives Scott Walker a hard time.
About 50 people who purchased tickets to the breakfast began chanting minutes into Walker’s remarks, reciting slogans such as “Union busting. It’s disgusting.” And “We are the 99 percent.” They also criticized Walker for being allowed free speech rights while blaming Mayor Rahm Emanuel for Chicago police arrests of 300 protesters who refused to leave Grant Park after an 11 p.m. curfew.
Walker was reportedly unfazed, as he has a medical condition which makes him deaf to anything he doesn't want to hear. Amazing how many politicians have that. Think it's genetic, or airborne?
- Remember: It's not just the big cities participating in the Occupy movement.
As always, this roundup can only touch on a handful of Occupy events each day. For more news, follow the Occupy Wall Street group and the Occupy Wall Street tag right here on Daily Kos.