MoPress

Author: mopress

  • Tax the Rich, Eat the Rich, Snatch the Rich: Occupying New Orleans

    October 6th: Report from Occupy NOLA

    by Elizabeth Cook

    Over 100 folks turned out at the beginning of the march at Tulane and Broad, to protest the prison planet that New Orleans, and Louisiana has become. New Orleans, with double the national average of incarceration, and Louisiana with the highest incarceration rate in the nation, made Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) an excellent starting point to expose the underbelly of the capitalist system.

    Sheriff’s department staff were out and watching with curiosity. I shouted to one group of staff as I walked to the march that Sheriff Gusman allowed people to drown in OPP after Katrina. This is a coverup that has never been exposed adequately. In the course of my activism after Katrina, I ran into many former OPP prisoners who witnessed drownings during the chaos of Katrina in OPP.

    Some chants revolved around shutting down our school to prison pipeline system. Many more chants called for the rich to pay, and abolish the Federal Reserve. Personally speaking, the abolish the Federal Reserve folks, out in full force, got a bit annoying. More on that later.

    Several African American activists helped lead the chants in a spirited manner, including Malcolm Suber, Sharon Jasper and her two daughters, Kawana and Shannon, Reverend Brown, Leon, and Sam Jackson. Suddenly Sam and Reverend Brown led the marchers onto the street, and it began. I followed in my truck so that I could ride folks who couldn’t march. As we turned onto Basin Street from Tulane Ave., I noticed that it took several minutes for the marchers to make that turn. The crowd had swelled impressively. I later estimated the crowd to be around 500 folks.

    Once in Lafayette Square, marchers occupied the statue of Lafayette there and began handing around a bullhorn for folks to speak. A couple of folks who want to abolish the Fed tried to hog the bullhorn a bit but got shouted down eventually. Some of them declared themselves as Ron Paul supporters, and behaved as expected, with a bit of fanaticism evident. They got roundly booed when Ron Paul’s name was brought up. In my view, abolishing the Federal Reserve as an antidote to our nation’s ills just isn’t enough.

    One of those same protesters tried to shut Sharon Jasper down at OPP when she tried to bring up affordable housing issues. New Orleans has the highest rate of homelessness per capita in the nation, since Katrina. Sharon brushed her off of course. Ron Paul’s shrinking government message is not the answer to our problems, and this country’s problems, btw, didn’t start with the creation of the Federal Reserve. Once the abolish the Reserve, you still have a cadre of politicians in Washington D.C. sold out to corporate interests.

    Students spoke about mounting debt, which prompted a great deal of cheering from these young protesters. I would say the average ages of the protesters favored the youth. Many spoke of corruption in the financial industry, and the need to keep this movement rolling. Spirited debates in the crowd broke out here and there.

    I happened to be standing at the base of the monument to Lafayette, near some of the old guard who obviously were advocating reform of the capitalist system, and near a crowd of young anarchists who successfully shouted down and led a chant against the message of “voting” as a form of protest. Their point was that the electoral system is completely compromised by capitalism, and voting is not going to solve our problems at this point. I have to say I completely agree with them.

    One older man began chanting, “tax the rich, tax, the rich, at which time I started chanting “eat the rich, eat the rich”, and then a young woman joined in and chanted “snatch the rich, snatch the rich”. It was a bit playful that way. An older woman standing near me preached about the need to vote, that if you don’t vote, you won’t be seen or heard. I interjected, vote for whom, which sold-out party or politician do we vote for? The young anarchists were in complete agreement.

    I think that debate hinted at a broader division in the Occupy Wall Street movement that is flying below radar, which is probably a good thing at this point. The utilization of consensus building in the occupation gatherings, gives folks of disparate views an opportunity to work together on projects. Clearly though, there is the camp of we can reform capitalism, and there is the camp of we need to oust capitalism and create a different form of self-governing system that isn’t necessarily a representative form of government, but more related to direct democracy.

    These disparate groups have largely stayed clear of each other, but are now coming together realizing of course, that we can’t ignore each other any longer. These encampments give the groups a chance to learn to work together on common goals, leaving aside differences for the moment. The differences aren’t going to go away though.

    Anarchists, college students, middle age activists like myself, mostly young though, attended an assembly at Duncan Plaza next to City Hall at 6pm. Duncan Plaza was the scene of a homeless occupation for several months in 2007, before being disbanded by police on the day the New Orleans City Council voted to demolish public housing, after violent rejections and abuse of protesters in and outside of that meeting.

    We are returning to our contemporary activist roots by setting up in Duncan Plaza. I heard a news report this morning that stated the NOPD will allow protesters to camp there, for now.

    About 150 people were in attendance; it was an impressive turnout. I spoke to a couple of women who had already moved out there with the intention of encamping. I also spoke to a college student from LSU who intended to sleep out there the first night.

    The meeting utilized the techniques developed in New York for running meetings without a bullhorn, mic checks, hard blocks etc. The meeting kind of got bogged down with disagreements over process, consensus, the definition of nonviolence, etc. One young man suggested that rule by majority vote actually allowed for a platform that tolerated more forms of dissent within the group, which I found to be a fascinating analysis.

    Frustration at the slowness of the meeting and coming to consensus agreement was expressed, and one wonders how long the consensus model will last. Nevertheless, these discussion offer an opportunity for folks to get to know each other, exercise their own thought processes within a group, and learn what it means to function in a community such as this.

    I think the difficulties in communication have an opportunity to bond people, if they stick it out to work it out. There will be growing pains, and hopefully folks won’t be discouraged by this. As one young woman said, the Arab Spring is changing into America’s Fall. It’s about time.

    I couldn’t stay for the entire meeting, but I suspect there will be a meeting each night at Duncan Plaza, probably at 6pm, as long as the encampment remains.

    Note: This is my personal report, replete with my personal, political views. I know others may have alternative takes on the event, and it would be great to hear your views. — Elizabeth (yocandra42@hotmail.com)

  • Getting Ready for Occupy Austin

    by Greg Moses

    My Tuesday evening walk to the General Assembly of Occupy Austin begins near 5th St. and Colorado as I enter the fashionable warehouse district occupied by restaurants where I cannot afford to eat. Signs on the sidewalk offer valet parking. A rooftop club shares music that puts you in the mood to party.

    By the time I get to 2nd St, better known these days as Willie Nelson Blvd, sidewalk dining is in full buzz. At 6:30 pm the temperature is sliding down into the 70’s, and the atmosphere could not be more perfect for a gourmet pizza with salad, wine, and schmooze. This newly-developed high-rise section of downtown Austin has got to be one of the more fortunate neighborhoods in the history of the world.

    At the corner of Willie Nelson and Lavaca, sidewalk tables hug the plate glass windows of a coffee shop leased out from the backside of Austin City Hall. Here behind neat Texas gardens enclosed by hefty limestone blocks the diligent organizers of Occupy Austin check their emails, their twitter accounts, and make use of old-fashioned face-to-face communications. Mostly they look relaxed, together.

    “OK, it’s seven o’clock says a young man with light longish hair who has just rounded the corner from the front,” and folks fold up their laptops for the walk around the building.

    At the front side of City Hall more than a hundred folks have gathered on and around a stair-stepped stone amphitheater. In a handy space at the western edge of the front row I find myself sitting next to Jimmy, a friendly veteran with a pickup truck who is going to be helping out with chores of the occupation. And standing on the other side of me is Jim, a well known Austin pastor, activist, and author. We three are among the older folks here, though probably not the oldest, and we spend our first minutes together remarking how impressed we are with the velocity and youth of this movement, barely a week old, and already approaching world historical.

    Soon enough tonight’s facilitator Joshua who I first recognized by his jeans that were netcast Monday night in a poorly lit General Assembly video is introducing us to the rules of the occupation.

    “I moderated last night, and I’m facilitating tonight,” explains Josh, “but I can’t do this three times in a row. Nobody can appear three times in a row for any of these things, so we need all of you to step up and do your part.”

    Josh is orienting us to The Procedure, how we should lift our hands and wiggle our fingers to “sparkle” with signs of approval, or raise up our thumbs and index fingers together to make a triangle when we want to raise points of order, or cup our hands in the form of a “C” to seek clarification in discussion. When we don’t want something to happen we cross our forearms in an “X” that will read as a “block.” Blocks need to be cleared before the group can go forward, or, if necessary, a block can be overridden by a majority of 9/10.

    The Procedure seems to work pretty well for gathering a sense of things from a complex meeting filled with energy and opinions. First order of business was to hear from smaller groups their Magnet Reports on health care, child care, press relations, outreach, affirmative action, wifi plans, reading groups, jail help, union solidarity, bank actions, campus activism, beverages, flyers, development of local issues, and more.

    In between reports up steps the Vibe Watcher to remind insiders who are chattering amongst themselves only a dozen feet East of the moderator that they are distracting folks from what should be the main center of attention for the moment. Which allows us to get back to the business of hearing about the need to coordinate pickup trucks to haul out the trash and so forth.

    The diversity of chores is daunting as the scope of the occupation unfolds before us. Just check out the list of contacts at the Occupy Austin website and see if you don’t think that wow that’s a lot of stuff to do.

    After a careful process of agenda construction, which takes more minutes that anyone would prefer, but what can you do about it when so many people have so much to say, the new business begins.

    A lawyer talks about procedures of arrest, booking, and bonding out, in the event that the cops are turned on the occupation at some point in time. Money is gathered to print flyers. Alex Jones is mentioned as someone who has allegedly threatened to stage a counter-occupation of some kind, which most folks here are of a mind to resist by means of booing him back.

    A very short mission statement is read and approved, which is pretty close to the one already posted online at the Austin Occupation website.

    And then, shortly before I decide to step off into the night, there is a substantive discussion about police relations and whether the Austin Occupation should continue to have a police liaison. There is substantial disagreement about this, but the organizers appear to have a leaning on the question and so the liaison that is already in place stays in place.

    The walk back is exceedingly pleasant, with signs of good life aplenty. Then, back at the corner of 5th and Colorado, there is a bus-stop bench and a brief glimpse of the life that grinds you down slowly into old threads and sullen eyes. Thirty-six hours before the occupation of Austin begins, you can’t help but hope that it does some good.

  • “Occupy Wall Street” Spreads to McAllen

    By Nick Braune

    Following a Saturday People for Peace and Justice event, discussion shifted to the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations in New York. John-Michael Torres, an active Valley worker, mentioned an upcoming support demonstration in McAllen. I emailed him some questions the following day, and he and some other rally organizers pulled together their replies.

    Braune: Fill us in about “Occupy McAllen.” When, where and why?

    Organizers: When and where? This Thursday we will meet at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce at 5:30 p.m., and then march at 6 p.m. through downtown and around Chase Bank. The rally will end with a “popular assembly” at Archer Park. Why? To peacefully protest with the rest of the world against corruption, greed and the corporate-driven destruction of our economy and democracy.

    The top 1 percent of the population (controlling most of the nation’s wealth) has driven the economy into the ground and then taken U.S. taxpayer money to bail itself out. Those same corporate elites have created the housing and jobs crises that have put so many Americans out of work and out of their homes. Abroad they drive Free Trade policies that ruin local economies and drive poor people out of their countries and into the U.S. in search of a living.

    Braune: News reporters often ignorantly imply that younger people are at political protests because it looks like fun. But what would you say are the reasons that growing numbers of young people are going to rallies like these?

    Organizers: The Occupy McAllen march and rally, like the New York rally, has been organized almost entirely by young people. Indeed we have always been a part of rallies like these: throughout history and world-wide it has largely been the youth who have demanded change. Youth have great stakes in protesting social, political, and economic injustices.

    Braune: This generation is savvy.

    Organizers: Yes. This generation has been watching how corrupt the government has been getting, while problems around the world are continuously worsening. Neither Obama nor the Tea Party movement have fixed our problems and in many respects have made them worse.

    And this is the first generation, perhaps since the Great Depression, where immense numbers of white youth have not benefited from the economic system. Their working class parents have had their homes foreclosed. Their school loans can’t be paid because they too now are unemployed or underpaid in the shrinking job market. Their reality has gotten closer to what black and brown and immigrant communities have been battling for years.

    The largely white participants of the protest on Wall Street have joined campaigns led by black and Latino workers, while their mass occupation actions have inspired communities of black and brown folks to join up with the occupy movement.

    Youth across the country and around the world — let’s mention the Egyptian revolution as inspirational — are showing each other something important. If the younger generation doesn’t stand up and voice its opinions and fight to save its freedom, there will be no future for it.

    Braune: What are the demands?

    Organizers: There is no one set of demands, but fundamentally one No and many Yes’s. One resounding No to corporate-driven interests, which have increased inequality in the U.S. and destroyed both our communities and the earth. And many Yes’s for freedom, liberty, equality, democracy, the protection of the earth and the dignity and self-determination of all its inhabitants.

    [From “Reflection and Change,” Mid-Valley Town Crier, Oct. 3, 2011]

  • Cruel and Unusual: After 18 Years, Must Ramsey Muniz also Die in Prison?

    An email from Ramsey and Irma Muniz:

    Dear Friends:

    Ramsey was sentenced to a death sentence but it is called “life sentence without parole.” Legally, he received a death sentence. The only way that he will ever be released from the prisons is in a coffin.

    The freedom that we seek from the Federal Bureau of Prisons should be immediately granted, because Ramsey has been wrongfully imprisoned and then given a sentence — life without parole.

    Through Ramsey’s incarceration for the last 18 years, the US government has violated the 8th Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment), 5th Amendment (due process of the law), and 14th Amendment (equal protection under the law).

    They have already taken 18 years of Ramsey’s life, which will never be returned or replaced in his heart and soul. Many are in total amazement that he has not lost his mind and sanity. They wonder how it is that in spite of his cruel confinement, he continues to be the man that he is, refusing to give up his struggle for freedom.

    We ask how much more must Ramsey continue to suffer! There was no violence involved in his case. There were no weapons involved. There is a strong issue of innocence, yet he faces life a death sentence everyday of his life.

    We ask where there is justice in his life. Where is the justice that America speaks about? Where there justice for his family that continues to suffer as he does?

    We demand justice not tomorrow, not next week, nor next month, but now. We demand freedom now! We ask God to give us the will power and the assistance of humanity in seeking freedom and justice now!

    Thank you for anything that you can do to help. Next week we will launch a letter writing campaign that will go through December 13, 2012 – Ramsey’s birthday. Details will be provided!

    Please prepare for this by researching the name and address of your senator and congressman. Keep the addresses written so that you can locate them easily. Our senators and congressmen will hear from us regularly, and we will all send our letters at the same time – on or before December 13th of each month!

    With love,
    Ramsey & Irma Muniz
    www.freeramsey.com