On Saturday, December 10, Occupy groups all over the world marked International Human Rights Day with rallies, marches and other actions. The groups demonstrated for a “global civil society” that is not based on power but rather human values.
As the Occupy Together website stated:
The struggle for our rights as human beings underlies everything we have demanded in every square and every demonstration in this historic year of global change. From East to West, North to South: on the 10th of December we will take to the streets and squares together to demand the fundamental principles that were promised and are inherent to Human Beings.
Peter Tatchell, a known activist who has boldly campaigned for civil liberties, gay rights, racial equality and democracy, addressed Occupy London.
Occupy Honolulu marched into the lobby of a Hyatt Regency Hotel in Waikiki and called Hyatt “one of the most abusive employers in the hotel industry.”
Occupy Providence called attention to homelessness and camped out in front of the statehouse. Gov. Lincoln Chafee and the group negotiated ahead of time so the symbolic protest could take place.
In New York, parents and kids joined Occupy Wall Street to condemn NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg for being “bullies.” DNAinfo reported:
“Parents and kids are getting together to remind the mayor that bullying is not nice,” spokeswoman for Parents for Occupy Wall Street Liesbeth Rapp said. “It’s confusing for the children to see the people they think are supposed to be protecting them doing this.”
Occupy LA participants held an action to call attention to the National Defense Authorization Act and how it would violate human rights.
And in San Francisco, Occupy SF gathered at the amphitheater in Justin Herman Plaza, where the occupation was evicted days ago, and heard testimony from Burmese and Tibetan activists. Then they marched to Union Square for a rally. (They also marched past Occupy SF participants in front of the Federal Reserve.)
At 4 am, hours after Occupy SF rallied for human rights, riot police showed up to evict occupiers from the space they were holding in front of the Federal Reserve. Fifty-five were arrested on charges of “illegal lodging.” Police complained of occupiers pushing and spitting on them. And, there of course is no way to verify that what they are saying actually happened or not (plus “pushing” could mean riot police came in and shoved on people and an occupier fell on an officer and that officer didn’t like having an occupier enter his zone so he remembered it for the police report).
Firedoglake’s premier live blog continues now. Here is a Twitter list for updates. Send any reports on International Human Rights Day actions that were not mentioned in the introduction or news tips, questions or updates to kevin.gosztola@firedoglake.com. And, as always, all times are EST.
10:49 PM Occupy LA will setup a picket line with others at the SSA Marine Terminal in Long Beach as part of the West Coast port shutdown day of action tomorrow.
10:48 PM First Occupy convention: “The People’s Convention” was held in Florida over the weekend. The Orlando-Sentinel reports.
7:21 PM ACLU, NLG statement on their work to defend Occupy Boston
6:51 PM Guardian story on undercover cops at Occupy LA
6:50 PM This article on Occupy Boston and the police is very interesting. While I think the corporate Boston Globe is doing what corporate media has done when covering protests for the past decades—focusing on the law-and-order narrative, it is hard for me to disagree with much of it. I have no reason to believe that Menino and Davis did not have police do the things they say they did so Boston Police did not attract the same kind of negative attention that New York Police and Oakland Police have attracted.
Now, police did prevent Occupy Boston from bringing in building materials, tents and then, on the final day, food. They threatened to arrest an 84-year-old woman who tried to deliver ziti to the occupation. But they were fair and most of the time respectful toward protesters. I witnessed this firsthand.
There were no public safety or health risks that Occupy Boston posed. I don’t think any legitimately existed. That was, as in other cities, a pretext to evict the camp. And, if anyone is to blame for the occupation being gone, it is Mayor Thomas Menino, who could have found a way to let them remain. It is not like letting them stay was politically unpopular. Many were coming down to Dewey Square to see the encampment.
6:15 PM Occupy Oakland held a press conference on plans for the West Coast port shutdown action happening tomorrow. A CBS-5 cameraman showed up and when trying to get a position to film the press conference got into it with a female reporter. He called the female reporter a “bitch” and a “cunt.” More on this story, including video of this corporate news cameraman using sexist epithets, here.
The slurs are revealing. More revealing though is how a KTYVU cameraman steps in and defends the CBS-5 cameraman and seems to threaten Occupy Oakland with leaving if he can’t get the positioning he wants to film. As Bay Area Indymedia says, it is “as if the KTVU cameraman was there as a personal favor to Occupy Oakland or the West Coast Port Blockade and was not being paid for shooting video of the press conference.”
3:33 PM Occupy Pittsburgh faces eviction from a bank that will go to court Monday to get them removed.
3:30 PM Iconic photos of Occupy Wall Street
3:25 PM More endorsements for the West Coast Port Shutdown: Oakland Education Association and the Tokyo General Union of Japan.
3:20 PM NYPD relations with press were poor before Occupy Wall Street
12:50 PM Laurie Penny (aka @PennyRed) has a new column up titled, “Blaming the Victim,” about the 1 percent punishing people for wanting what they can’t have. She gets into the issue of women wanting to speak out and specifically writes about the female Occupy Melbourne protester, who was stripped by police.
…For anyone who ever doubted, for those who continue to doubt that women’s liberation and the fight for socio-economic justice are part of the same struggle against complicity and complacency. Dare to speak your mind? Dare to make trouble? Dare to wear a short skirt, a hoodie, a bandana, a placard, an ingenious costume in the shape of a tent? Well then, you deserve to be hurt and humiliated. You deserve to be frightened and bullied and beaten. Sit down, shut up. Get a job and work till you drop like the rest of us, and if you can’t get a job then get on your belly and beg like the rest of us. You deserve it. You asked for it, by daring to make your desires known, by showing your anger, showing your heart, showing your skin. Be quiet and do as you are fucking told. Bitch. Scrounger. Benefit scum. Hippy. Whore.
12:30 PM December 16th & 17th there will be actions that not only mark the third-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street but which also support Bradley Manning, whose pre-trial hearing will be beginning.
Before Occupy Wall Street, I extensively covered WikiLeaks. On December 16 & 17th, the two stories will officially converge. For a period, I will be able to write about WikiLeaks & Occupy and I won’t be reaching. Occupy Wall Street approved funding for the WikiLeaks Truck Working Group to take a group of occupiers to Ft. Meade, Maryland, and they will be joining Occupy DC and others for a rally & a march.
12:20 PM Ustream personality PunkBoyinSF snags an interview with Reverend Billy
12:15 PM The West Coast occupations gear up to participate in Port Shutdown Action on December 12. Military veterans have now announced their support. And here are interviews with two members of ILWU on the planned action.
12:10 PM I’ve been starting the live blog each day with some holiday music. Today’s song is by Marvin & Johnny and is called “It’s Christmas.”



44 Comments

Occupy Pensacola
Jamie Page, Pensacola News-Journal: Mayor’s authority to enforce panhandling law questioned
Cartoon: Says it all
Cory Golden, The Davis Enterprise: Katehi, chief huddled with 13 on decision to remove camp
Matthew Holehouse, The Telegraph (UK): Police to test laser that ‘blinds rioters’
So much for the “unarmed Bobby”. What could possibly go wrong with that plan?
Occupy LA: Saturday Evening in the Park (7)
TD – I posted your “longwinded” (and excellent) screed from last thread at my place. Hope you don’t mind.
Don’t mind at all. Thnx.
Occupy Scranton PA
Don’t Occupy Charlotte.
I can’t believe they’re going to actually try and stop Occupy at the Dem Convention.
We’re getting’ down to the real nitty-gritty.
Wow. Put out the catnip, will ya idiotic Charlotte City Council. Exactly the response that Mayor Richard J. Daley had. What’s the CPD going to do? Preventive detention like NYC did?
And the inflammatory picture with the article you linked to was interesting.
Good. It will re-Veal the Democratic Party for what it has become.
I wish them luck. After a shitstorm erupts in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s face in May, when he sends Chicago Police in to brutally suppress all protest during the NATO/G8 meetings, Charlotte can trade notes with Chicago. Maybe they’ll think twice about stopping Occupy demonstrations.
I have to chime in here on the Occupy Oakland press conference where the epithets were exchanged. The remarks were certainly sexist but what the story doesn’t explain is that the woman is NOT a reporter, she’s part of the Occupy Oakland media team. While I hate to criticize my fellow comrades, many of us are not happy with the group (except for Boots Riley, who we love) that has been representing us and this kind of behavior is why. I am no fan of the MSM by any means but I’m not sure that it helps our cause to willfully antagonize them. I see her saying “fuck you” to the camera man first. They may have recognized her as being an OO person and not a fellow reporter. That doesn’t necessarily forgive the use of the b word and the c word, but it puts things in a little different context.
Fair to state. I think this amplifies how corporate media feel entitled to being the ones who deliver the news. Citizen journalists are not ever considered equals and usually not legitimate. She isn’t allowed to stand there and cover the press conference for Occupy Oakland. And if she is going to cause problems, they are going to threaten to not give Occupy Oakland MSM coverage, which they may want so the community knows what they are doing.
Children of OWS put up some paper hearts to be taken to Hizzoner Bloomberg, in honor of those arrested by NYPD’s finest–upon which occasion, NYPD’s finest ripped the hearts down.
Wow. Doesn’t that essentially guarantee an extended port shutdown?
There will be multiple livestreams of the port shutdown action, some beginning as early as 6am PST (9am EST). Might be good to have coverage of San Diego, LA, Oakland, Santa Barbara, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Anchorage. Houston is also doing a port action. And Denver and some other locations are protesting at Walmart Distribution Centers.
Just an idea.
Occupy Boise is on board for tomorrow: https://www.facebook.com/events/216237635118547/
Angela Davis and others speaking tomorrow in Oakland at Oscar Grant Plaza:
PORT SHUTDOWN RALLY at NOON TMRW!!! – 14TH AND BROADWAY
MARCH TO PORTS AT 4pm!
1:45 ANGELA DAVIS and BARBARA BECNEL
3:45 BOOTS RILEY and ELAINE BROWN
Speakers from ILWU, OEA, Iraq Veterans Against The War
Dan Seigel, Reverend Billy, Ariel Luckey, Earth Amplified, Jeremy Goodfeather, Gabby LaLa
…and MANY more!!!!!
Howard Dean wants you to march.
Occupy LA: Port Action (10) direct action instructions
Occupy Delaware photo set
Occupy Wall Street NYC – Goldman Sachs action
This group is revved up 2 take on #GoldmanSachs & corporate greed!
‘Trickle Down Economics’
‘#Occupy strikes back! F*** YOU, #GoldmanSachs!
Occupy Long Beach: TimCast UStream
Hippies v. Hardhats
TimCast is being hassled about not being press by Long Beach CA PD
Occupy Oakland Port Closing
Occupy Oakland Port Closure:
LS Occupy Long Beach (TimCast)
News that three ports are closed.
Occupy Oakland Port Closure:
Occupy Oakland Port Closure:
Scene at Entrance to Oakland Shipyard
Occupy Wall Street NYC – Squidding at Goldman Sachs
We Are Here!
Occupy Oakland Port Closure:
Occupy Long Beach LS (TimCast):
Entrance to port shut down. Police trying to shove protesters back into “pre-announced free speech area”
Part of protesters beginning to move to close Exit from port.
Helicopters overhead, Coast Guard patrolling off port.
Occupy Long Beach LS (TimCast):
Report that police are starting to arrest folks with livestream first. Report from NYC that police have targeted livestreams.
Occupy Oakland
Occupy Oakland