In
January 2012 Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters
returned to Zuccotti Park
in New York (NY); the San Francisco, California (CA) OWS group acted poorly-blocking banks, chaining
themselves to the buildings, taking over an abandoned hotel and smashing
windows at a car dealership; 18 arrested, and in Oakland, CA 300 were arrested because
they were throwing rocks, bottles and other objects as well as breaking into
City Hall and a vacant convention center; 3 officers were injured. On February 5
the District of Columbia police cleared the OWS tents; 7 were arrested. On
February 28 an officer was injured in a clash with OWS at the Sacramento, CA
capitol. On March 18 (6 month anniversary of OWS) dozens were arrested in NY.
We heard the movement was running out of funding and haven’t heard much since
so I looked up what was happening on the internet.
On April 14 the Golden Gate Bridge
Highway & Transportation District (owns the Golden Gate Ferries that
transport commuters and tourists on San Francisco Bay and operates special
baseball ferries to AT&T Park when the San Francisco [SF] Giants are
playing at home) workers who are part of the Golden Gate Labor Coalition that
run and maintain the Golden Gate Bridge, Buses and Ferries greeted Giants' fans
with a picket line of ironworkers, teamsters, electricians, boatmen/women,
ferry captains, laborers, and mechanics. In support of the group the Occupy Oakland
General Assembly on April 15 unanimously passed the following resolution: If any of the unions
on the Golden Gate bridge declare a strike or shutdown action on May Day, we
will act in solidarity with these striking workers and the international call
for a general strike on May Day, by blockading the flow of capital to the
Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District. This will be
accomplished by a collaboration of pickets and direct action which will shut
down all modes of transportation from Marin to San Francisco. The LA OWS decided
to join in saying – “We’re going to converge on
downtown LA from 4 distinct points with
the intent to shut this city down in order to clearly and forcefully articulate
the voice that the establishment continues to ignore, our voice which
proclaims: we have had
enough”.
On April
17 the attorney for Occupy New Haven (ONH), Norm
Pattis, argued in front of a 3 judge panel in a federal Appeals Court in
NY City for the rights of his clients to remain on the Green. “… the court
asked ‘haven’t they had a chance to protest? Do they have a right to do so day
after day?’ I said I can’t believe I’m listening to a federal judge saying
there is a time limited warranty on the Bill of Rights,” said Pattis. He added
that he was concerned the judges asked him questions prompting him to justify
occupiers’ rights rather than asking the city to explain their regulations. The
hearing lasted for about 7 minutes and the judges notified Pattis when he had
40 seconds left to fight. “I felt like I was awaiting an execution and in a way
I guess I was,” he said. Occupier Don Montano described what occurred in court
as “an injustice.” “But what can we do about it? Stand and fight? I have no
faith in the U.S. court system. It’s just as corrupt as any other corporation
in America and this was proof of it today,” he said. Occupy New Haven, the last
encampment in New England and one of the last in the country, had just celebrated
their 6 month anniversary. The city released a statement following the court’s
action which was deemed “decisive…The plaintiffs have no meaningful chance of
success,” city spokeswoman Elizabeth Benton said in the statement. The city of
New Haven has respected the rule of law and we expect that members of Occupy
New Haven will do the same.” An occupier known as Short Dog said solemnly
“Since this is a public park, we can still assemble here” and some will
continue. Another (Montano) said he plans to pack up his belongings and go into
the woods to spiritually regroup once all is said and done on the Green. “I
have to go a few places but maybe I’ll come back here” and “Maybe not. I might
just go to a place that needs me and fight the fight there.” Many of the
occupiers don’t have homes to go to without the encampment. Home was what many
members of ONH called the patch of tents on the upper Green and attorney Irving
Pinsky used that as a defense when he filed a Verified Lockout Complaint and
Application for Temporary Injunction that claims “the defendant city invited us
to enter the premises, pitch our tents there and live there. We were there for
six months. These tents have been our only homes. Defendant has attempted to
take our homes.” The document further claims the city has “threatened to take
our beds, chairs, cots, tents and food, but was temporarily stopped by US Court
of Appeals, Second Circuit.” Pinsky explained to legally evict the occupiers,
the city would have to give them a notice to quit otherwise it would be in
violation of the anti-lockout law. When asked if the anti-lockout appeal is the
last resort, Pinsky said, “It’s the only resort I can think of right now” and
Pattis added all of the federal legal channels have been exhausted. The
attorneys could take the matter to the Supreme Court but Pattis said it is very
unlikely that they would hear it.
Just a reminder that HR347-Federal Restricted Areas, that
passed March 1, 2012 (March 5 blog), had no bearing on any of the above events.
FYI, the world wide protests do continue. The best story was that the protesters had
built igloos on January 17 to camp out at the World Economic Forum in
Switzerland and 3 topless women were arrested on January 29. Let’s hope the May
Day event that CA has started catches on.
No comments:
Post a Comment