It turns out that other Occupiers weren’t so lucky. Though its not yet confirmed, two other Occupiers who were arrested at OGP today, may have experienced the same scenario, but without the benefit or luck of having friends who happened to be in courtroom on the day the day of their mystery hearing. Both Occupiers were told, according to witnesses to the arrests, that they were being arrested for warrants—at least one was told that it was a bench warrant for failure to appear.

I’ll update this as soon as I’ve got more information.

The sensational focus on one Occupation, but not the other, borne of necessity, speaks to some of the artificial borders that have been set up in the mainstream Occupy conversation. After all, Occupy is often represented as a movement of middle class liberals, assuming a symbolic “homelessness” to bring attention to a small range of problems that have become the focus of attention in the last decade—the sub-prime crisis, the failure of elected leaders to address this crisis, the lack of substantive creation of job security and the completion of the co-opting of the Democratic party. For this reason, the active participation of homeless people in various Occupy movements—and especially in Oakland—became a cause of confusion and concern in the early weeks of the Occupy movement. Homelessness remains such an integral part of the American economic and social system, that few progressives or liberals even view it as a political issue.

But as a “homeless” Occupy Oakland movement prepares to take over an abandoned building on January 28, its worth unpacking homelessness to reveal its central–and consistently overlooked–position in the current discussion about foreclosures, embattled unions and corrupt banks that engendered the Occupy movement. Homelessness, in fact, can be seen as the final stretch of an economic road a diverse group of Americans are constantly being forced along. Some are now for the first time experiencing the first leg of that journey, seemingly unaware of their ultimate destination.

Homelessness is built into the economic fabric of our society. Most of the working poor traditionally live at the precipice of homelessness. Those paying 50% of their income in rent—in Alameda County, there are 34,000 such households—are under the constant threat of homelessness. Households earning double the minimum wage in Oakland, still fall into this vulnerable economic group, because Alameda County is in the top ten of least affordable housing markets in the US. That’s a condition due in no small part to the failure of political leaders to introduce meaningful rent controls for fear of tampering with the workings of capitalism.

All of these factors are exacerbated by other systemic failures of the American economic system. Those facing serious illness and overwhelming medical costs are emerging as a growing proportion of the homeless. And, of course, foster children leaving from group homes often have only homelessness to transition to, and the imprisoned transitioning from institution to joblessness often end up in the streets. Failing to implement meaningful rent control, programs to combat joblessness and adequately funding and managing social programs is the city and county’s own contribution to our homeless epidemic.

None of that is news to many. But since 2007, those more economically secure now quite suddenly find themselves converging into this grouping via alternate routes–a recent study indicates that between 10 and 20% of homeless shelter residents got there after a foreclosure on their home in the past few years. Foreclosure was almost unheard of as a cause of homelessness even four years ago. Tenants of foreclosed buildings—who may, or may not be in the vulnerable group of working poor renters—are in even greater danger of homelessness than their working poor counterparts, as they are evicted from their homes with little notice, and forced to enter an increasingly over-priced rental market.

After the city, county, state and federal government fail our fellow homeless citizens, they then criminalize them. This is most easily visible by the city’s ruthless prosecution of its state law and city ordinance to prevent homeless people from coming together as communities, bulldozing what were once-empty lots when they become productive and self-sustaining responses to the poor state of homeless and social services. Being homeless is essentially illegal, under California law and local ordinances, a fact that many city residents found easy to ignore until the Occupy Oakland camp put such issues on a magnified stage at the foot of city hall. Oakland’s city government website even provides a hotline number so that citizens can report the crime of homeless people helping one another build a community in unused space.

As we’ve seen with the hysterically violent police reaction to the Traveller’s Building and the Cathedral Hill Occupations, there’s no more critical an emergency to city and police than the take-over of unused property. The rapid mobilization is reminiscent of old Godzilla movies.

Doubtless, few occupiers actually believe they’re solving all of the city’s problems of the soon-to be and actual homeless. But in a microcosmic reality that existed for several weeks in the plaza, all of the factors associated with the precarious life of the economically marginalized were dealt with. Food and clothing, health care, emotional support and political capacitation were all at the service of surrounding communities: those facing imminent homelessness, those who may one day soon face it, and the homeless themselves.

Seizing an unused and forgotten building is, in one sense, a response to worsening weather and increased police repression—this rationale is not unlike the one that motivated the homeless throughout the decade to band together in intentional communities in various “tent-cities. But Occupation also acts as a public stage where the rapidly shrinking base of living-wage jobs, affordable housing, accessible libraries, schooling and health care—all of the factors that lead to homelessness—can be made an integral part of our 99% conversation.

Likewise, the fact that vital resources, like the hundreds of public and corporate owned buildings throughout Oakland, remain unused because of greed, city corruption and incompetence, becomes an issue that can’t be ignored. The real-world homelessness that Oakland residents face daily—and that Occupy Oakland now faces symbolically—is not an accident. Rather it’s the predictable outcome of a merciless corporate-political partnership that always looks to wealthy corporations to manage its social and economic structure; as the city and county offer no solutions to the foreclosure crisis, for example, political leaders look on as monolith corporations like Waypoint restructure communities from homeowners to hapless renters living in one-landlord company towns.

The abandoned building that Occupy rehabilitates on January 28 will serve as a living symbol of this escalating crisis, just as the empty hotel with its capacity to house hundreds taken over by the SF Tenant’s Union last night, put these same economic issues on the nightly news throughout California and the nation. Occupy Oakland’s new occupation–where social services, food and political space are provided for all–will point to the obvious solutions to that crisis.

At least two Occupiers have, or have been told they will receive, stay away orders from Oscar Grant Plaza. Ironically, these 300 yrd. stay orders given as condition of release on bail for protesters arrested for expressing their freedom of speech rights, also bar them from engaging in city hall, visiting their state and congressional representatives, or even visiting one of the many city agencies found in buildings adjacent to the plaza. The occupiers’ legal representatives are currently looking into amending the orders.

“1/4 stick of dynamite” Charge Mysteriously Disappears at Arraignment:

OPD spokesperson, Johnna Watson, seemed fairly confident she knew what she was talking about when she accused a protester arrested on January 7^th’s anti-repression march of carrying explosives. She claimed that OPD had found:

“…the equivalent of a quarter stick of dynamite — not an M-80 firecracker, Watson said, but a 6-inch-long explosive.

“I’d never seen anything like it before,” she said. “That’s not something that’ll blow your thumb off; that’s something that could easily kill you or take a body part off.”

With a weapon like that, you’d think that the city would want that person charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But the “explosive” charge disappeared at the arraignment, though five other felonies were lodged. Either the city has a lax policy toward explosives that will take a “body part off”, or such an explosive never existed. The assertion, later proved to be baseless by the facts, is reminiscent of Watson’s previous claim that both Kayode Ola Foster, the young man shot and killed near the camp in November, and his shooter, were both residents at OGP. Later, once the suspect in the murder was arrested, it became clear that “Neither Foster nor any of the men charged were affiliated with Occupy Oakland.”

At this point, you’d be better off immediately disregarding anything you hear from Watson or read in an OPD press release [or the media accounts of such incidents that are based almost exclusively on the press releases].

Friends of Oakland Resident Call on Occupy Oakland for Support after Brutal OPD Beating and Bogus Charges:

Friends of Elizabeth Yanez have asked Occupy Oakland’s Anti-Repression Committee  to help in publicizing the brutal beating she received at the hands of police, and in finding legal defense for the outrageous five felony charges she faced at her arraignment today. Police claim that Yanez was drinking in public when OPD officers approached her and three female friends; its not yet clear what kind of threat Yanez appeared to present to police officers, who subsequently beat her and arrested her. Yanez is only 19 years old, and works in an insurance office to help her family out financially. This is the first time the Anti-Repression Committee has been approached by a community member for help in fighting violence and abuse of power from the OPD. The kind of police repression that Occupy Oakland has faced is simply a microcosm of the abuse that police visit on residents of the city like Elizabeth out of sight of media and activists.

Update:

Earlier today, an occupier’s court appearance date was shifted; a reality that was only caught in time because people who knew him happened to be in the same court doing hearing support for another set of cases related to Occupy Oakland when they heard his name called. Two charges–that had previously not been processed–were added to the docket, including battery on an officer. Had the occupier not been notified by those in the court room, and if they hadn’t intervened to get the hearing time pushed back a few hours so that his lawyer could contact the DA, three bench warrants would have been issued for failure to appear. It’s possible that there’s some rational explanation for why an extra court date was added, three weeks before the scheduled one, without any notification; but it seems there’s a more likely explanation that gels better with the kind of targeted discriminatory arrest and judicial process that Occupiers have been experiencing over the past month.

Its also important to remember that there’s a colloquial usage of “charges dropped” that even those of us who know better have fallen into. These charges for the most part have not been dropped, in fact; instead, they weren’t pursued at the time of their arraignment, which is a different matter entirely. The DA has a year in which those charges can be brought at any time; so many who’ve been arrested are living under the constant threat of prosecution and arrest while they continue their political activities.

A week or so ago, many people were horrified by video of riot-gear clad Oakland police rushing a woman fleeing on a bike, and then beating her as she fell off her bicycle. That woman was Leila, and that bicycle with its trailer has brought countless meals and supplies to Oscar Grant  plaza in the days since the second camp was destroyed. Despite being arrested twice for

Even before the increased brutality and repression of the OPD over the past several weeks, the work of Leila and other kitchen committee diehards like Toby, Marie and Josh, had greatly impressed me. It was another piece of the puzzle in the uniquely strong attachment that Occupy Oakland activists have to their ideals and work, and to nurturing the political space where the movement was born.

Here’s a transcribed interview I did with her several weeks ago. It’s been edited for length and comprehension.

__________________

HR:…how and when did you get involved with Occupy Oakland?

Leila: …so I was actually up north working, when I heard about Occupy Oakland starting, um, I came down a couple of times and sort of…I participated…

HR: when?

Leila: …within the first two weeks of the occupation, So I’d come down for the weekends, and  help, just kind of gather supplies…dumpster, collect donations, bring stuff here and then I’d go…and then I’d leave again, so I was gone for two weeks and then I came a couple of times during that time. And then basically, I…I was kind of just like, it feels really weird being up here working, when all of this shit is happening in my city, I need to just stop working and I need to come down here and be a part of it.

Basically the first day I came down, I got there that evening and I had heard that there was a raid [Oct. 25] and so then I showed up that afternoon and there was a crazy war scene. That morning, they got raided, and then that night at like six pm, we all came to march. This was the beginning for me as far as how intensely I wanted to participate, it really reflected a lot just being…just jumping right in and immediately getting tear gassed. I guess that was the beginning and I’ve been here ever since…

Leila: …the next day we were in camp again…

HR:…did you start working in the kitchen at that time?

Leila: was helping build things and get pallets and brought in some wood chips and then I was like…yeah, picking up food donations and kind of helping, cleaning up where I could. And that’s basically the first week where I tapped into the kitchen a little bit, and then got on some other projects, so it was kind of random. I was also trying to maybe do compost toilets for a while, and I was thinking about that and trying to get people encouraged to do that. I was doing sanitation for a little bit…

HR:…and then pretty quickly you got focused only on kitchen?

Leila: …yeah, cause I just consider the kitchen like a really core place for people to feel loved and protected and supported and it was kind of a big place of community as far as the kitchen crew was concerned. It was really easy to meet people in the kitchen. I found a direct home in the kitchen, really tight family, really beautiful people and it was kind of the core of making things comfortable and beautiful in the camp, as far as  I saw. I felt it was really important for emotional and physical well being, for everyone to support that. So yeah, within that first week I got into the kitchen pretty quickly…

HR: what was the second kitchen like? Was there a philosophy behind the first kitchen that people wanted to duplicate in the second?

Leila: Well, everyone was like, oh, the first camp, the first camp, the first camp was so amazing, oh my god. So I had really no idea what that meant, because when I had visited before I wasn’t really in the kitchen, and so basically that they were cooking there before, that was a big kind of difference. It wasn’t an actual kitchen, it was more like a drop off service center kind of place. We weren’t allowed to cook, and for some reason, we were really adhering to the fire marshal’s will. [We]  never cooked again…some nights we’d like to heat up water or food, but that was super random on the DL, we weren’t cooking all day thru. So basically, what it became was outreach to the community to tap in and participate by cooking elsewhere and bringing hot food. Which I actually think was kind of cool, cause it kind of isolated us a lot less, and a lot more people became aware and figured out how to participate in a really peaceful way, by cooking at their home and bringing food. So instead of us just cooking and us getting donations, we were asking the outer, exterior community to bring love and warmth to people. And I felt like that really helped us a grow a lot, so yeah, the main difference we weren’t cooking, we were doing a lot of outreach and doing a lot of organizing of um, cooked food. And tons of just making the kitchen space more efficient cause things were constantly coming and going, it was a kind of rapid environment…

HR:…How was it different from traditional soup kitchens or even Food not Bombs?

Leila: Even though Food not Bombs invites people to cook, its still an actually, its an isolated process in a lot of ways. And because it was all day, every day, come in and tap in, it was a  lot more participatory. People would eat and then go wash dishes. A lot of people would come and eat a meal, and then they would participate, or then they would offer to serve. Or they’d eat for a week straight without doing anything, and then they’d be hey, this is pretty cool, I’m actually getting into this; how can I help?

HR: Dishes were part of the kitchen?

Leila: The dishes were so important, and its kind of crazy because the whole time I never washed a dish. I was always going over there, like hey, can I relieve you? Should I was dishes? I have a half an hour. And they’re like, no, no, no I’m cool, you do what you’re doing, I got this. I’m totally into this.

HR: When the kitchen was over there [pointing to corner of Broadway and Fourteenth] during the first encampment, I used to love washing dishes over there, cause that was like the most public part of the camp, and so you would wash dishes and you would hear conversations and people would come in and out of the plaza, and you would just be doing something with your hands, and this whole mental thing…

Leila: I actually love washing dishes, but I never picked up a plate to wash. Because no one would ever let me. That was kind of adorable, and then a lot of people would come in and serve for a couple of hours and that was really great.

HR: Was it the same people every day? Or a shifting group?

Leila: No, it was shifting. There were about fifteen consistent servers and then there were completely random people, and then people at the camp that I would see all the time and then they finally came and tapped in and they really enjoyed it. So it was kind of really fluctuating, there was probably about like six solid kitchen people.

HR: You said, there was something special about the way the kitchen involved people when we were talking earlier.

Leila:  I just think its given people a really direct way to show their love and appreciation and its something that we’re kind of closed off to, and that we have trouble expressing, because we’re not allowed to express it. Or you’re a weirdo if you try to show people love in a lot of ways. It created this environment, where it was really trusting and people were really welcome to show their love, by giving, you know, feeding each other. Its a big thing. Actually I was just talking to someone about how now, like going anywhere you say hi to everyone, you look them in the face…I was definitely already kind of like that. But its only pushed me farther into this open space of…I’m completely able and willing to love you and nourish you. So I think it gave a lot of people that opportunity to do so. When we were serving people, they’re just like I love you, thank you so much. This is beautiful.

__________________

A conversation on the problems and differences of the 10^th and Mandela House leads to some commentary on difficult people in the second camp, and the difference between occupying an open space and a building:

Leila: I felt that there was about ten percent of the people [at the camp] that were a bit destructive and difficult to deal with, and I think that a smaller percentage of the ten percent were able to work through their issues and were able to help out and step into the kitchen and do productive things for the camp, but you’re still going to get, I mean, its a raw environment and you’re going to get those people that we don’t have the energy to figure out. I was willing to be around that in this open space, because its a raw environment and its a big pot of everything that is fucked up in this society and I think its really important for it to be out in the open, we’re like oh yeah, yeah, we’re feeding crazies, because there are crazies here in our city. And there are violent people in our city. The camp was productive, but I think it needed to be really raw and beautiful in that way…

People in the camp really wanted to be here because, you’re camping out in a raw space and its cold and its a little uncomfortable and its a little sticky. So, most of the people that were camping here were down for one reason or another. They were down to be present and they were down to participate, even if it just meant that their service was camping and being present.

HR: What do you think of the action to occupy an abandoned building? Do you see working in both the plaza and the building at the same time?

Leila: I do, but it really depends on what happens with the building, I definitely want to. I’m also working on a lot of garden projects, and there’s a lot of side projects and weird shit I’m sort of assisting people in. And I want to support the plaza, and I think there are a lot of cooks that help here too, so if I disappeared, I don’t necessarily feel that it would be the end of the world…

__________________

Leila was one of the primary people who spearheaded a GA passed action after the second raid, to create a monument garden symbolic of the philosophy of the cam. The garden was destroyed only hours after it was built.

HR: What was the philosophy behind the garden project here in the plaza after the second camp was destroyed?

Leila: This is basically a central space for symbolic communication, I view the plaza as just like a way to show the world what we should be doing, what we have the right to do and what we’re willing to do. There was a fantastic plan of making this entire space an edible garden for providing food. So I think symbolically its really significant to have it in the center of your city.

HR: Was it an act of civil disobedience?

Leila: It basically was, because we knew it was going to be torn up. I didn’t know how soon and I thought I would be able to protect it,  but what happened is that I ran up just as they were destroying most of the boxes and I sat next to that last little bit.

HR: I remember seeing some of that on a live feed. You were really upset.

Leila: Well, it sucks cause I was actually in communication with public works at the time. I had talked to a cop the day of that action day that we did it. And I was like, if you guys want to discuss anything, have a dialogue, if you want to tear it down, please contact me first, so we can move it or decide what we want to do without you guys just completely being disrespectful to the community. This is very peaceful. So I had open dialogues with a lot of different people, so I just felt really fucking shat on, because I had actually made an attempt. And actually, that was the day where I was like, fuck communication. These people [police and city administration] are not looking out for me at all. I was completely open to all of it. I was just like, it’s pretty obvious: if they don’t want to listen to me, they don’t want to listen to anyone.

HR: Do you feel like it radicalized you?

Leila:  Yeah, a lot. It’s just this little garden box. If they really feel like it shouldn’t be here, they’re going to call me, we’re going to work it out.

The police presence was insane. Over a dozen squad cars, and an armored vehicle literally illustrated every anti-capitalist rant ever formulated. Nothing is more important to the city, county, state and federal government than the welfare of corporations. When low-wage candy workers form a picket line, city and county will send police to escort in the bosses; just as, when port workers go on strike, the President sends out the paramilitary Coast Guard to make sure that grain shipments enrich corporate bosses.

Workers new to striking, and on uncertain terrain legally, went from elated at the sight of a cavalry of activists, to abject despair when they saw the extent of political and institutional support their opponents enjoyed. Their hearts were broken when they watched the Union City Police Department literally working for the owners of the American Licorice Company. Subsequently, enough workers knowledgeable in the operation of the licorice making equipment crossed the line to make further struggle by the others, moot. A vote was had, and the decision was made to accept the original contract.

Later, when they resumed their positions, they learned that there had been almost nothing in the warehouse–the picket had been working. They’d been perhaps only days away from victory. But there were just too many forces arrayed against them; in addition to the help from police, and Huffmaster stormtroopers, the company was paying some workers to strike with the others, and relating intelligence back to management.

These double-agent strikers had even attended the liaison meetings between Occupiers and the workers. The company had plenty of money–even enough to pay ethics-deficient employees to literally do nothing–but not enough to cover paying for health insurance.  Part of the conditions of return was an amnesty  banning reprisals from the union or workers against the spies.

It was a humbling and tragic experience for workers and the solidarity activists who joined them. But it was also a first cautious and–on its own merits–successful, step towards the focusing of Occupy power for ongoing and aligned struggles. It won’t be the last.

[a very minor disappointment was that I had just started my fake Huffmaster twitter account]

*this post was written at Oscar Grant Plaza

Update: JoeyMRB sends in this video that shows police escorting a delivery truck through the strike and picket line. You can see Newark and Union City police badges here–there were also Fremont cops and Alameda County Sheriff’s there. It’s obvious that direct action by low wage workers is a dire emergency that requires a multi-agency response. I wonder if Homeland Security funds went into this.

That all being said, its not anywhere near the most important issue. Nothing matches or excuses the brutality of the police. OPD beat protesters and shot sub-lethal rounds at people who had assembled non-violently using the acts of a few as pretext. Police must know that the people they’re attacking are almost never the ones that hurt their feelings, frighten them with their ominous kerchief masks and dark clothing, or stain their uniforms with soda from a bottle broken harmlessly against their kevlar.

After the march, I saw one of the OG kitchen people at the plaza; he’s been an integral part of the camp from the beginning. His arm–in a sling–was likely broken from baton strikes he received when he saved a friend and fellow kitchener from beating and arrest from the police. Incredibly, these two occupiers then brought a gigantic stock of cast-off muffins and pastries from a local bakery to feed people at the plaza. THEN they went to Highland. As much as such people have been the heroes of this movement, they are also the ones who’ve experienced the most danger, violence, intimidation and incarceration from this brutal police force.

You can hear Leila tell her story about what happened on Oakfosho’s livestream at 53:28.

For the record, here are some facts to counter some misinformation caused by lazy mainstream media reporting:

1. The Tipi Vigil was the product of a general assembly proposal that passed through the GA. But the permit was not something that the GA agreed on. On the day that the vigil committee tried to establish the tipi in the public park–which is constitutionally protected activity–police physically prevented it, grabbing the tipi polls out of the hands of the committee members. Facing arrest and failure of the vigil idea, the committee members opted to negotiate with the city on a permitted vigil. This was not voted through the GA, and was not discussed with anyone outside of the vigil committee. Despite this, the permitted vigil has been integral to the continued occupation of the plaza.

2. The permit established an area around the tipi in which certain activities were banned. None of the activities that the city claimed had occured in its press release were in the area around the tipi. Other activists and citizens trying to occupy the area by other means should not have influenced the conditions of the permit. Mainstream local media has a tendency to take the city’s claims as fact, without bothering to ask witnesses and permit holders if this was the case.

3. The vigil committee associated with the tipi is not Occupy Oakland’s legal team. Occupy Oakland does not have a legal team associated with it. The National Lawyer’s Guild and other individuals have—as they do with many activist organizations—provided legal aid when arrests during protests occur. No legal strategy around the tipi has been voted for by the GA.

And now to clear up the Disinformation:

1. The city and police have used discriminatory and possibly illegal and unconstitutional means to “clear the plaza”. Previous raids have targeted Occupy Oakland activists, and have resulted in arrests for such crimes as having a blanket and other property in the plaza. One of those arrested, Marcel Johnson, received felony charges once jailed, and now faces decades in prison.

2. The city’s claims of what occurred prior to mass arrests on Friday, December 30^th are contradicted by witnesses at the scene, who claim they were cooperating with officers by clearing stored items themselves. Despite their obvious efforts to comply, police began to arrest members of the group. It was police that incited a riot.

3. The Oakland Police Department is also inaccurate when it lists the charges of arrestees on December 30^th. The press release states:

“…charges included: “attempting to free those arrested from police officers through force;”

The charge, however, has an uglier and absurdly inappropriate name. “Lynching”, section 405a of the California penal code, was created to combat white mobs that lynched hundreds of African Americans throughout the country in the early 20^th century after their arrests. And, even more absurdly, one such protester charged in the 12/30 arrests with lynching, was African American. Its no surprise that the OPD didn’t want to boast of their grossly distorted view of justice, nor their cynical parsing of the law and kept the actual name and code for the felony out of the media’s reach.

Why an African American Can be Charged with Lynching in Oakland:

Working on the media committee of Occupy Oakland , I can say with certainty that the media is quite likely to print whatever they read in a city press release without checking the facts or getting another perspective from groups involved. When I spoke to a Chronicle reporter yesterday for example, I asked him if he knew anything about the previous night’s arrests. He replied that he only knew so far what the police had told him; but he had already been standing around the protest that was forming for at least half an hour, if not longer. He’d apparently made no move to find other perspectives.

The confusion and misinformation that proceeds from the media-“official sources” dynamic, speaks equally of a dishonest city agency and a lazy and power-invested local media. That can be the only reason why a scandal has not yet broken out over the fact that an African American standing in the middle of a public plaza was arrested and detained in a county jail for a law that was meant to protect African Americans from murder.

The most fundamental basis of the Occupy movements is that no permit is required to assemble and peacefully bring grievances to the public sphere. The constitution does not limit freedom of speech rights based on how nice protesters are, whether they smell good, or are well-liked by local businesses. It does not regulate the amount of time they can spend in “peaceable assembly” nor whether they’re allowed to sleep during this time. It doesn’t recognize the city’s role of creating wealth for rich elites. Most importantly, its inconceivable that the framers of this right did not mean it to be used exactly before the halls of political power as it has been with Occupy Oakland.

There can be no more appropriate use of the right to assembly enshrined in the first amendment, than an assembly before City Hall that lasts as long as it takes to make elected leaders and their corrupt cronies listen to the will of the people—be that hours, days or even years. Indeed, this right is so obvious and integral to a functioning democracy that its also a right guaranteed by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 20. It’s a right we celebrate when it occurs in other parts of the world such as the Middle East, the African continent and the Balkans, but become strangely ambivalent about when it comes to our own shores.

Occupy Oakland activists like Naomi—now jailed—who used her right of assembly and free speech by protecting the symbolic occupation of the plaza through civil disobedience, and with the placard, “the first amendment is my permit” could not have been more correct. All the perverse and draconian machinations of the city and police won’t remove that right, though they may destroy several lives in the process. Those rights belong to everyone, and each such injury is an injury to everyone.

If the OPD’s charging of an African-American with “lynching” to suppress his right to free speech doesn’t make Americans see that, I’m not sure what will.

Naomi, Svend, Knowledge, Dominic, Adam, Bunny, Stephanie, Diana & Nneka have all been charged with misdemeanor obstruction (148) [they’ve added a second misdemeanor for Stephanie] and will be arraigned tomorrow morning at 9am in Dept 107. Bail is set at $5000 for all of them except Stephanie whose bail is $10,000.

Ali has also been charged with an additional felony. His arraignment is
tomorrow at 2pm in Dept 112. His bail is set at $15,000.

Chris has also been charged with 2 additional felonies. His arraignment is
Monday at 2pm in Dept 112. His bail is set at $25,000.

Sean has also been charged with 1 additional felony. His arraignment is
Monday at 2pm in Dept 112. His bail is set at $30,000.

Let’s flood the numbers below with calls and bring as much pressure today as we can so that they drop charges tomorrow morning. Get everyone you know to call…

Nancy O’Malley (Alameda District Attorney): (510) 272-6222

Jean Quan (Mayor): (510) 238-3141

Deanna Santana (City Administrator): (510) 238-3301

Howard Jordan (Chief of Police): (510) 238-3076

I debated for a while after I heard about the raid whether to go down. I’m frankly pretty tired of riding my bike from my Fruitvale neighborhood back and forth to the camp and wanted an early night of sleep. But I went anyway and joined the large group that had gathered around the courthouse. I got a flat tire on my bike, and had to return early if I was going to catch a ride with a fellow Occupier. When he dropped me off, he looked at this disgusting spectacle that sits right in front of my house and said, “My god, Omar, you live in the third world over here.”

While the OPD repress constitutionally protected dissent, crimes that really do impact city residents go unchallenged. These are, of course, violent crimes, such as the robberies, assaults and murders that are to varying extents a regular part of life in my Fruitvale neighborhood. But there’s also this incredibly easy to deter crime, that goes completely unchallenged and that poses great dangers in a neighborhood full of children:

This dump zone has been here since December 27th, complete with a rotting garbage and an aquarium full of thick broken shards of glass. It’s not only against the law–and not just ordinances, but state laws regarding dumping of hazardous waste–but the sign explaining that is right next to this dump zone:

Police are rarely seen on my street, though it is one of the premier dumping grounds for unscrupulous contractors and evicting slum lords. They do make sure to destroy freedom of expression structures, where activists feed the hungry and engage in constitutionally protected speech, create media, art and discourse,however.

And as last night’s raid demonstrates, the city and OPD do it with a great deal of vigor, economic investment and planning. The guy sitting at the desk, posing a danger apparently to society by using a laptop in a public place, was one of the people targeted and arrested in yesterday’s raid. He’s still in jail, and won’t even be arraigned until tomorrow. The woman sitting in the tipi  is also at this moment in Santa Rita. The woman to the left wearing the parka is in jail as well, as is the woman at the far left of the photo wearing the red hoodie, seemingly posing a threat to the residents of Oakland by having a quiet conversation on the steps of Oscar Grant Plaza.

People in the city have complained about the city’s priorities for decades now. Occupy Oakland is also complaining about it. If you want to live in a crime-addled city full of garbage that focuses millions of dollars of police work on preventing and destroying constitutionally protected speech–and that will shell out even more money in the successful lawsuits brought against the city that are sure to come–make sure you support OPD Chief Jordan and the City Adminstrator’s office’s vendetta against Occupy Oakland.

There’s also been disturbing stories of psychological and physical abuse—constant jeering and mocking from correctional officers. One of the constant themes has been sleep deprivation, in terms of making noise and turning on lights at all hours, as well as the joke [and possible action] that CO’s would be taking photos during strip search and posting them on the internet. The Occupy Oakland activist known as Shorty, a diabetic, was deprived of his insulin for the entire period of his incarceration, with consequent and possibly dangerous health effects.

Finally, Alex, a young African American man—who was arrested for the now infamous, absurd and offensive crime of “lynching”–was pulled back into possession just as he was being released. According to other activists, correctional officers grew angry at the fact that he seemed happy to be released, and told him that he was being taken back into custody. Alex has other legal issues that complicate his current imprisonment, but the psychological torture involved in this treatment is unacceptable.

Four Occupy Oakland activists remain in jail: Khali, Alex, Truth and Momo for various charges not related to their initial arrest. The system criminalizes people of color, but it also creates immense barriers for their participation in civil disobedience. Notably, no Occupier currently in jail is charged with an act of violence related to their participation in the Occupy movement, though at least one has experienced violence at the hands of correctional officers.