#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

[Plutonia]

[Project Willow]

I've been glued to the live feed in between painting sessions all weekend.

They've had a great program today, Madea Benjamin of Code Pink, a young fellow named Barrett Brown of anonymous (a non-anon anon?) http://wiki.echelon2.org/wiki/Main_Page and the Raging Grannies.

[whipstitch]

Chelsea Elliott, Occupy Wall Street Protester Sprayed by Cop, Tells Us What Happened

the perp?

Tell us what led up to this.
We'd marched to Union Square, and we were dancing. We'd walked 2.4 miles, and I was on, I think, 12th Street. These cops [in the blue shirts] were in front of me and told me not to move. They pulled out the net. I was trying to reason with them, saying, "We're pedestrians, we're here for you too, we know your pensions are being cut, your friends are losing their jobs..." They were kind of unresponsive. This girl behind me was getting upset. We were penned off on the sidewalk, and I couldn't really see, but I've seen video since, and there was a kid being beat up in the street*.

I heard screams near me, and this young girl near me was shoved down [by the police] -- their hands were on her head until she reached the pavement (she was yelling because the cops were beating up some 19-year-old kid). I screamed something like, "Stop! Why are you doing this?" There was blood and shit; it was terrifying. I looked at the cop I'd been talking to, and he had a blank but worried expression. Then this cop in a white collared shirt came around and just sprayed us, not even one steady stream, more like you were spraying a plant -- me and three or four other girls. I fell to the ground, and the girl behind me, this pretty, thin girl, a total hippie, with short hair and a gray tank top, they got her so bad! We were just lying on the ground, it was extremely painful. The cop I was talking to, he talked to the cop who sprayed us, and was like, "Thanks for the warning." I think he got maced in the eye, too.

What happened then?
We lay on the ground like little worms. One of the other girls was a medic, and was able to pour milk in her eyes. The cops left. They moved the net. All I know from what happened afterward, I watched on YouTube. For like 15 minutes, I couldn't see; I couldn't breathe at first. It was so out of the ordinary and unprovoked. Our medical group poured milk into my eyes for like 10 minutes, and apple cider vinegar on my face.
...
Ironically enough, and unfortunately, the cops spraying a bunch of white girls, well, our donations have tripled. We're getting media attention. This provokes momentum. It sucks that it had to get to this point, but people aren't going to leave. Even if it doesn't get huge, it's about endurance.
...
My parents are freaking out. I'm like, don't worry, I'll wear sunglasses next time.

[Plutonia]

Chris Hedges!!

Paraphrasing: The protesters are Conservatives in this sense - they are calling for the restoration of the rule of law. The rapacious oligarchic class are the radicals!



"I'm sitting in the park with the only free people in New York!"

Edit: here's the whole thing:
part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SKw2j3XOY0
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io8RLacFjlo
part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xSPIjuSRKo
part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2OxlfIDrCE
part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwGkve3phvo
part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu1sucEFJSo

[whipstitch]

New York Times:

The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said the police had used the pepper spray “appropriately.” “Pepper spray was used once,” he added, “after individuals confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier — something that was edited out or otherwise not captured in the video.”
...
“We don’t use it indiscriminately like other cities do,” said Thomas Graham, a retired deputy chief who until last year commanded the department’s Disorder Control Unit. “You’re not just spraying indiscriminately into a crowd.” Police officers, he said, “have the choice between spraying the guy or struggling with the guy with the night stick,” he said, adding, “Get poked with a nightstick good and hard and you might have a cracked rib from that.”

Saw this on facebook:

Another encounter which I witnessed was worse and somewhat disturbing. A protester who had, I would imagine, prevented the erection of the crowd control barrier, was tackled and set upon by at least seven or eight cops administering a series of blows to all parts of the man's head and abdomen. I had never seen a display of violence of such intensity and it was quite unnerving. The fact that the target of this display of brutality was black will probably not come as a surprise.

[Nordic]

Those stupid fucking nets. Every protester should carry one of these, or several:




And when they try to use those nets, just cut them all at once.

Fuck the police. God I hate them.

[Plutonia]

Considering the notoriety of box-cutters nordic, that's a really bad idea. "Terrorists!!"

Unconfirmed tweet:

SabzBrach Joanne Michele
by AnonymousIRC
Recently-released protester confirms NYPD are retina scanning detained #occupywallstreet protesters.
5 hours ago

[Nordic]

Well, everybody would have to use them at once to cut that fucking plastic net. That plastic net is a goddamn joke, it needs to be destroyed every time they try to use it. It's insulting.

[Plutonia]

Yeah, but it benefits the movement to have the protesters be seen to be abused and insulted by the "state" - sad to say.

But it will only work if the protesters are seen as undeserving of the violence. If they were caught with knives, that could and would be used to undermine that advantage.


***

Meanwhile....




The mace cop has been IDed - Get this: Captain Tony Baloney (no wonder the hate):




This guy:







From here: http://davidscameracraft.blogspot.com/2 ... lence.html

In his 23 years with the New York Police Department, Captain Anthony Bologna, the new commanding officer of the First Precinct, which covers Lower Manhattan, Soho, Hudson Sq. and the South Village, has been all over Manhattan and much of Brooklyn.

He’s been a SNEU (Street Narcotices Enforcement Unit) cop busting drug pushers, served in Manhattan South in an anti-drunk-driving squad and worked in the Brooklyn South Task Force in the early 1990s during the Crown Heights riot. He investigated police officers involved with drug dealers in the Internal Affairs Unit, served in the Organized Crime Control Bureau, led a detective squad in Washington Heights that closed a dozen murder cases one year and served as commanding officer of the Manhattan South Task Force just before assuming command of the First Precinct at the end of last month.

“One thing about police work in this city, it’s all about change,” he told a visitor last week. “With me there’s really been a lot of change and I love it — most of my changes have come because of promotions,” he said.

*snip*

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_113 ... ouble.html

I dunno, could he be any more of a git?

[Nordic]

I can't help but hope that somebody kicks the shit out of him. Or that he at the very least gets sued, or demoted, or something. Pure bully asshole.

I really shouldn't read this kind of stuff late at night. It really gets my blood pressure up.

Tony Baloney. Macing protesting WOMEN who were doing nothing but walking down the goddamn street. WOMEN!

[82_28]

They do it -- the police do it -- because they're scared in their dreams and imaginations. Existentially, the dancers and other protesters are there to warn them, on another level, a level perhaps that both protester and police may or may not get. But it is the warning of unhappiness married to the US History classes we all had to pass, being born to a family of non hateful liberals or rebelling from authoritarian upbringing, being just simply aware. A deeply entrenched feeling of wanting to be free -- that we are free. It's that, this joint was supposedly founded upon some form of idealism. The idealism is why there is dancing, because there is some wealth still extant out there, but there are also some "trust fund" dancers there because mammals, humans, care about one another. The hatred and macing by the incipient fascists comes from fear that this really, intrinsically is not real. These rich fucks they are protecting are simply more hypnotized by the power they believe they wield and thus they pay for the science to oppress the forces of good -- the well off but also good -- as in heart.

I'll tell ya, when I got $300 bucks unspoken for cash in my pocket, I come alive. It means a few days of no worries. I can eat what I want, live it up a bit, drink what I want, buy things for people I love/like, have more sex etc. It affects me entirely. Money is the root of all evil. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to not have a financial worry in the world, nonstop. Capitalism is a psychological tragedy.

[wintler2]

Its great that Captain Anthony Bologna has been ID'd as the perpetrator, so often cops hide behind anonymity. Time to spread his name and cowardice around, i'm certain that the shame will have some effect on him and the NYPD.

Re box cutters, they can be used agressively & so would be dangerous to carry to a demo, but there are plenty of nail clippers, string- & paper-cutters that couldn't be used aggressively (cos tiny or enclosed blades) but might cut the net.

[Nordic]

bottom line is there need to be a lot more protesters than cops.

probably a good thing i can't be there, i might get in serious trouble very quickly.

i have a friend who lost his two front teeth to a group of cops.

[2012 Countdown]

There are satellite protests in other cities, one is in Los Angeles...


‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest spreads to Los Angeles
Posted on 09.25.11
By Eric W. Dolan
Categories: Activism, Featured
A small group of demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to show their support for ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protesters in New York City.

“Corporate interests seem to be controlling both parties,” one protester told laactivist.com. “The ‘little man,’ the ‘American every man,’ just isn’t getting their voice heard. When you need $35,000 to donate to a campaign to get your voice heard, to have a meeting, that’s not democracy.”

Watch video, uploaded by YouTube user philippecrusoe, below:

http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/ ... s-angeles/


===

NYC-

Burger King Denies Occupy Wall Street Participant Coffee

Uploaded by stableslable on Sep 24, 2011
Title and video will explain it all. If there are any questions or clarifications requested I will do my best to answer them.

=====

An Important Video to Watch: Pepper-Spray by a Cruel and Cowardly NYC Cop
SEP 25 2011, 4:52 PM ET
(Update below.) Unless there is something faked about this video, which is on the NYT's City Room site and is based on annotation and slow-mo apparently from USLaw.com, a uniformed New York City police officer abused power in a way that was cruel and cowardly during yesterday's Wall Street protests. It's worth the time to watch.

He walks up; unprovoked he shoots Mace or pepper spray straight into the eyes of women held inside a police enclosure; he turns and walks away quickly (as they scream, wail, and fall to the ground clawing at their eyes) in a way familiar from hitmen in crime movies; and he discreetly reholsters his spray can.

You may have already seen this. If you haven't, it is worth knowing about. If this is what it looks like, it is outrageous. The mayor and others should say something. And this man can certainly be identified.
____
Update: according to the NYT, the chief police spokesman, Paul Browne, said that the policeman used pepper spray "appropriately." Great. On the video we can't hear what either side is saying. But at face value, the casualness of the officer who saunters over, sprays right in the women's eyes, and then slinks away without a backward glance, as if he'd just put down an animal, does not match my sense of "appropriate" behavior by officers of the law in a free society.

Think about it: If this were part of some concerted, "appropriate" crowd-control plan, then presumably the pepper-spray officer would have talked with the other policemen trying to control the women. He would have stayed on the scene; he had done something dramatic to affect a situation, so -- again, if this were "appropriate" -- presumably he would have talked with the other officers about what to do next. But look at that video and see what seems "appropriate" to you.

Police officers make countless hard decisions every day, often at the risk of their own safety or lives. It's a harder job than I have. But everything about this scene suggests an officer who has forgotten about some of these hard choices. He just zaps 'em and walks away as they scream.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc ... op/245629/

[Plutonia]

Here's a nexus site of satellite protests: http://occupytogether.org/

Chicago,
Cleveland,
Boston,
Michigan,
DC,
Vermont,
Atlanta,
New Orleans,
Tampa,
Dallas,
Phoenix,
Denver,
Portland,
San Diego,
Olympia,
Seattle,
Brisbane,
Manchester,
Toronto!!

Etc