Occupy Movement Shuts Down West Coast Ports

On Monday, December 12th, thousands of people took part in a coordinated shut down of ports along the West Coast, including the port of Oakland here in the Bay Area where protesters successfully shut down the port for three consecutive shifts starting at 5:30am when 1,500 people came out to disrupt the morning shift. I took part in the afternoon rally and march to the port.

Why the ports?

The actions were carried out in solidarity with longshoremen port workers and truck drivers, in support of their long-time struggle against unjust treatment by companies that have a strong influence on port operations, in particular EGT (Export Grain Terminal) and Goldman Sachs, which owns a large stake in major port operator SSA Marine. Both EGT and Goldman Sachs have been involved in an ongoing battle with the International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) around its members’ right to organize. Read more here.

Angela Davis speaking at Oscar Grant Plaza before the march

Aside from showing support for port workers’ rights, the port shut downs were also intended as a means of economically disrupting the 1% by cutting into the economic profits of major corporations that depend heavily on port operations. The shut downs also symbolized a response to the nationally coordinated, brutal police repression that the Occupy Movement has faced in recent weeks. Around four thousand people took part in the afternoon march to the Oakland port on 12.12.11. Here’s a breakdown of what happened that afternoon and into the evening:

3pm

Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Oakland at Oscar Grant Plaza on 14th & Broadway, Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen who is on the long road to recovery from a serious head injury he sustained as a result of police violence in October spoke to the crowd followed by Angela Davis, an activist, scholar and retired professor from UC Santa Cruz. Watch the video of them speaking here.

4pm

The march leaves Oscar Grant Plaza for the port, led by Scott Olsen and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

5:30pm

An announcement is made that port operations for the evening shift have been shut down, people chant and cheer in celebration as the march continues into the port joined by another march of close to 2,000 people that left from West Oakland BART station.

7pm

A General Assembly was held to decide whether or not the blockade will be extended until the 3am shift. Occupy Oakland decided that they would extend the blockade if there were any instances of Occupy-related police repression or violence in other cities. Once news broke about San Diego and Long Beach where several protesters were arrested and in Seattle where police used pepper-spray and concussion grenades, the Occupy Oakland website posted  “Based on verified police repression at Occupy Seattle, Occupy Houston, Occupy Long Beach and Occupy San Diego, the port blockade in Oakland will continue. Next shift is at 3am and we need as much people as possible!” About 400 people stayed and successfully shut down the 3am shift.

Sign reading ‘Defend Truckers Right to Unionize’

While there are mixed views about the action on Monday between labor union leaders and activists on whether or not it was right to shut down the ports for a day, many rank and file workers have expressed that although they are disappointed to lose a portion of their wages, they recognize the occupiers’ genuine intention to raise awareness around port worker mistreatment and the union-busting practices of corporations like Goldman Sachs who are part of the 1%.  Port truck drivers published an open letter in response to the port occupations on Monday on the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports website.

I think that the higher than expected turnout at the port shut down on Monday speaks to the continuing vibrancy of the Occupy movement and a potential shift towards coordinated, issue-specific actions that call attention to the many problems that are shared by the 99%.

It was inspiring for me to stand beside so many people coming from different experiences who are joining together under a common goal – changing the system to better the lives of the people who support it.

Grandpas and construction workers and students and musicians and dancers and teachers and reporters and celebrities and spiritual leaders and veterans and postal workers and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers. (But not one cop.)

All in Oakland Calfornia. All with a purpose. They are the 99%. We are the 99%.

I wasn’t sure what to expect in Oakland today, but it did not disappoint.

I met some inspiring people:

Oakland High School Students

~Three high school students, all taking, as they described it, “a sick day.” Two of them attend public school in Oakland and claimed that most of the students from their school were taking to the streets for the general strike/day of action. The other student attends private school in Oakland. He was the only one of his friends from his school who took a “sick day.” Go figure.

~A young woman (pictured in red sweatshirt) who has been camped out in downtown Oakland for weeks now, minus the multi-day stint she spent incarcerated following the police raid. Her friends collected her bail money dollar by dollar from the occupy community.

~A mother/daughter duo on BART heading to the action. Her burp clothe said “AN OWIE TO ONE IS AN OWIE TO ALL.”

~and crowds of people chanting together: “Oakland, Oakland represent. We are the 99%!”

What do all of these people have in common? They are the 99%, and they want to be heard.

We’ll be using our website, blog, twitter account and facebook as a hub of information and live updates, so check in throughout the day. The good folks at Movement Generation have a great list of events posted here.

I’ve been blogging about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline will drastically expand tar sands extraction in Canada and accelerate the harm the tar sands are causing the people and planet. If you are reading this blog, you know that the extraction of the tar sands in northern Alberta, is the largest and most destructive industrial project in human history, you know that the irrevocable destruction this extraction causes is severe – to the water, flora, fauna and land. You also know that communities downstream of the Athabasca River suffer pollution and devastating health impacts, literally killing First Nation members. And you know that oil companies are trouncing treaty and Indigenous rights in northern Alberta.

Most importantly, now it’s time to take action. This Tuesday in San Francisco President Obama will be at a $7500 per plate lunch with his biggest donors at the W Hotel (3rd St. and Howard St) and I’ll be outside (at 11:30am) with the good folks at CREDO Action telling President Obama that the Keystone XL pipeline is not the kind of change I was expecting from his administration. And as he contemplates green lighting the pipeline, on November 6th I’ll join thousands of others in front of the White House to tell Obama that he’s got the support he needs to say No to the Keystone XL pipeline, and say NO to EXPANDING the largest and most destructive industrial project in human history.

To join me in San Francisco on Tuesday, sign up here.

You need to speak up now! On Tuesday twenty-two (22) Democrats did – in support of the Keystone XL pipeline project. They wrote a letter, in support of the project, which was announced by the corporation that expects to build the pipeline – TransCanada.

Oil Change International has posted a great retort to their arguments for Keystone XL based on the claim to create energy security and jobs which pretty much closes the case. If you still need more, check out this blog by John Vaillant (author, The Golden Spruce) and Andrew Nikiforuk (author, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent) where they state, ‘In sum, the Keystone pipeline will not serve American interests but delight the Canadian government and its oil lobby. In addition to draining your pocketbooks and further compromising your environmental health, it will enrich Canadian politicians who don’t believe in climate change.  Your own Thomas Jefferson said it best: “Dependence begets subservience and venality.”’ Boom.

There are some great actions happening around the country

Midwest Powershift is this weekend!

Follow the Cincinnati, OH Midwest Powershift conference this weekend – as hundreds of youth take on the tar sands. Janina says it’s going to be EPIC and will host the largest tar sands action that the Midwest has seen yet. Organizers say, “People around the country have been standing up to say no to this disastrous pipeline. In the last week there have been three youth-led rallies to tell Obama “Yes We Can Stop the Pipeline,” including one in St. Louis, MO. At Midwest Power Shift we’ll come together for an action to bring our voices together and make it clear to President Obama that young people across the Midwest refuse to let this pipeline cut through our heartland.” Yeah!  The just-posted schedule is here.

Onwards to DC on November 6th

Before there was #occupy this fall, thousands showed up in September at the White House and Parliament to say no to the Keystone XL pipeline – loud and clear! Lots of updates appear daily on the Tar Sands Action site with info about the action on Nov 6. As they say in the Call to Action,

“… there’s real momentum for action, and real need. We have less than 90 days to convince the President not to approve the pipeline. So here’s the thing: we need your help again. We need you to keep using your creativity and bodies as a part of this struggle—to fight this fight even though there’s no guarantee of victory … On Sunday November 6 we will return to Washington. Exactly one year before the election, we want to encircle the whole White House in an act of solemn protest. We need to remind President Obama of the power of the movement that he rode to the White House in 2008. This issue is much bigger than any individual person, President or not, and that we will carry on, with or without him.”

Join me, and thousand others – sign up here.

And finally:

Friends at 350.org want us all to know: Why should people who care about the climate join the #occupy movement? Here’s one answer: for years, Wall Street has been occupying our atmosphere, backing the huge oil, gas and coal corporations that have polluted our air, water and communities with impunity. And time and again, these members of the 1% have blocked the clean energy and climate legislation that would benefit the other 99% of us.

If you can’t come Nov 6th, follow the action and learn more about what you can do here.

“They know precisely what they want. They want to reverse the corporate coup that has taken place in the United States and rendered the citizenry impotent. And they won’t stop until this happens …”
— Chris Hedges, author, journalist, blogger on truthdig.com, on The Lang and O’Leary Exchange, CBC tv

People flooded the streets of the world on Saturday October 15 for a global march of solidarity against economic injustice. San Francisco’s rally was much like the reports I’ve heard and seen of others: upbeat but frustrated masses, joined by a sense of outrage and taking solace with others by taking to the streets. We marched again up the city’s Market Street to City Hall where we sat and verbally amplified back the message of our speakers.

Unity found in ‘We are the 99%’ chants seem unending and it’s clear that whatever happens in San Francisco (which has yet to land in a permanent location and face daily harassment), folks are intending to stay.

I’ve been thinking about Chris Hedges’ interview in The Lang and O’Leary Exchange on October 10 and I encourage you to watch it here (because then you can log comments!). Hedges responds to Kevin O’Leary’s comment that the folks in the street don’t know what they ‘want’:

“They know precisely what they want. They want to reverse the corporate coup that has taken place in the United States and rendered the citizenry impotent. And they won’t stop until this happens and frankly if we don’t break the back of corporations we are all finished anyway since they are rapidly trashing the eco system on which the human species depends for survival. This is literally a fight for life, it’s that grave, it’s that serious … The bottom line is that we don’t have much time left. We are on the cusp of perhaps another major banking crisis in Europe … There have been no restrictions no regulation on Wall Street, they have looted the US Treasury, they’ve played all the games they were playing before, and we are about to pay for it all over again.”

He’s then called a ‘left wing nutbar’ by O’Leary which falls flat after Hedges points out that he’s saying nothing more than what the thousands in the streets, the 99%, are saying.

This ongoing debate of ‘what do they want/what are they saying?’ is losing it’s interest as a media story as mainstream understanding of ‘We are the 99%’ takes hold outside of corporate media and in the streets. O’Leary’s insistence on marginalizing this call garners a comment from Hedges about being treated the way a guest would be on Fox News.

Another point of unity emerging as the 99% continues to greet each other with ‘I love you’ is anti-greed as a community quality. Journalist, author and co-author of the ‘Trouble with Billionaires’ Linda McQuaig, spoke this weekend about the movement’s recognition that the top 1% are too rich and too powerful and that these qualities are being elevated collectively as no longer acceptable in society. She says that changing attitudes about greed could have profound implications on our society. The Sunday Edition interview begins at the 7:00 min mark here.

Jeffrey Sachs also speaks to this idea that the 1% must first regain a sense of collective responsibility and community participation to have any legitimacy in the eyes of the 99% here.

Get active!
Our friends at Yes! Magazine have posted ten local and anywhere/everywhere ways to take action – check them out here.

And think global – support the call for a tax on financial transactions and demand that some of the money going into the profits of few are redistributed back to us, in our society for public works and in our community for a better future. The campaign for a ‘Robin Hood Tax’ is explained here.

Finally, on October 18th, Goldman Sachs reported a quarterly loss – its first since the financial crisis and only its second since going public in 1999. When asked directly about what should be done with Goldman Sachs on The Lang and O’Leary Exchange, Hedges replied, “Prosecuted, they should be prosecuted.”

UPDATE (Oct 14 9:05am pst): The ‘cleaning’ of Zuccotti Park has been postponed! Thanks to everyone who made calls last night!

UPDATE (Oct 13 6:30pm pst): It is now being widely reported that the New York Police Department, under orders from Mayor Bloomberg, will attempt to evict Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park tomorrow for a ‘cleaning’ at 7am est. TAKE ACTION!

1. Sign the MoveOn. org petition here.

2. Call Mayor Bloomberg 1-212-772-1081 ext 12006 and demand that the eviction be stopped. Avaaz.org asks that you post a message about what happened here.

3. If you are in the New York City area, find out about the direct action being planned for tomorrow at 6am est here.

 

Say what?

At noon on Thurs Oct 13, the occupytogether.org website listed 1599 cities with Occupy Wall Street protests from Iceland to New Zealand. This online hub of the movement represents a huge number of the events in solidarity with OWS concentrated in North America, and growing internationally. Other online sources include united for #globalchange and the powerful video rallying us to take action.

This leaderless, politically neutral movement is big, and growing and if you are part of the 99%, it includes you.

This Saturday October 15 join a local occupation – big or small, together we are powerful together as we raise our voices to say Enough is Enough! Enough of the bank bailouts by the taxpayers! Enough of the cuts to social welfare programs, schools and hospitals to sustain the cost of wars! Enough of non-action in Congress to address the climate crisis! Enough of the unlimited election campaign contributions by corporations thanks to Citizens United, enough of the attack on worker rights!

Endorsements and messages of support to the movement surface daily – from major labor unions, celebrities, social justice organizations, activists such as Naomi Klein, and international leaders including Lech Walesa.

Even progressive companies have expressed support. The board of directors at Ben and Jerry’s stated “… we realize that Occupy Wall Street is calling for systemic change. We support this call to action and are honored to join you in this call to take back our nation and democracy.”

Alternative media outlets such as Democracy Now! are producing amazing comprehensive reports of what is happening in this country. Initially ignored by the corporate media, the sheer number of people engaged for change has become the most important domestic story.

Through daily general assemblies, workshops and internet organizing our demands are coalescing. The folks in Freedom Plaza in Washington DC will spend the next week defining a vision on 15 key issues impacting our ‘system’ and encourage everyone to join. Go outside or go online, talk to your friends, family, neighbors and even strangers, we are the 99%.

Start here – check out this photo blog and join the 99%. Then sign the World vs Wall St petition and stand will a million others.

As GX and CodePINK co-founder Medea Benjamin stated on Democracy Now!:

“We are here to stay. We are here just like we were here yesterday and the day before yesterday and the day before that. It really doesn’t matter to us that our permit has run out. We feel like this is a public square, we are the public, and we are occupying this square, so we will stay here” (the Freedom Plaza permit has now been extended for 4 months).

And although New York Mayor Bloomberg stated, “The bottom line is, people want to express themselves, and as long as they obey the laws, we’ll allow them to” plans are under way to remove the encampment at Zuccotti Park, sign this petition now!

Perhaps Reverend Billy says it best:

The change that is in the air, that we all feel. No-one really knows why we are blessed with the common feeling. This same slaughter of the innocents has gone on for so long. This same mystical financing of poisoned farms, of dead oceans, of cancerous children and national false emotions – all this comes at us now as a bad surprise. We have a fresh rage. We have a shout that is honest, thousands of us. We are occupying our civic institutions stolen so long ago by men in suits, and surrounded by confused police. All at once, we want a better life and don’t want to wait. Then this discovery: It is a better life to demand a better life! Revolujah!

At Global Exchange we’ve taken action locally and joined 2 of the Occupy SF marches and look forward to Saturday. Join us here!

In Oakland: MoveOn and its allies stand together, WORKERS and COMMUNITY UNITED for JOBS not CUTS, PROSPERITY not AUSTERITY! Hands Off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid! End the Wars! Invest in Our Communities!
1:00 PM Assemble at Laney College (1 block from Lake Merritt BART)
1:00 PM Pre-March Program
2:30 PM March Downtown
3:30 PM Rally in Frank Ogawa Plaza (12th Street Oakland BART stop)
http://www.jobs-not-cuts.org

In San Francisco:
1:00 PM Meet at Embarcadero BART

Enough is Enough!

As we reported in The 99% Say Enough is Enough, three weeks into the protests at Liberty Plaza on Wall Street, New York, similar demonstrations are erupting in other cities across the United States with the same loosely organized structure. People who have not taken action before are now marching and sitting-in against corporate greed, rampant unemployment, attacks on labor and the environment and the role of big banks in our bad economy.

TAKE ACTION:



 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

“When the history is finally written, though, it’s likely all of this tumult – beginning with the Arab Spring – will be remembered as the opening salvo in a wave of negotiations over the dissolution of the American Empire.”
–  David Graeber, the Guardian UK
“The White House is talking different because we are walking different.”
– Van Jones, Take Back the American Dream

We know the facts, but seeing them together is staggering: unemployment is firmly mired in the double digits and efforts to bring it down isn’t creating jobs; students leaving college, if they can even afford to go, have debts that would have seemed unimaginable just 15 years ago and when they don’t see any openings in their field they head straight for a McJob or the unemployment line; the climate crisis remains unaddressed by global leaders and the US Congress and President Obama contemplates whether or not to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline; we are heading into the 10th year of war spending (at $3 billion a week!); corporations fought hard to win Citizens United and the ‘right’ to spend unlimited funds to get candidates into office; wealthy men (sometimes brothers) encourage corrupt Governors to end worker protections; and banks and Wall Street continue getting huge bonuses and bail-outs. We know something isn’t working. Enough is enough.

We are 99% of the population and 1% is controlling the show! Enough is enough.

For years, solidarity was presumed to be a one-way street – North Americans supporting liberation struggles around the world — but this year support to those standing up is global and circular.  In Cairo, young people, armed with the courage of their convictions, overthrew the Egyptian government and launched the Arab Spring in Tahrir Square, Egypt.  The power of their non-violent resistance, their ability to stay when it seemed impossible, is the inspiration we must take forward to say enough is enough.

In Libya, Madrid, Athens, Wisconsin and beyond there is a democratic awakening and it is spreading! Three weeks into the protests at Liberty Plaza on Wall Street, New York and just days before thousands gather at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC, similar demonstrations are erupting in other cities across the United States with the same loosely organized structure. People who have not taken action before are now protesters camped out in Los Angeles near City Hall, near the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago, and at the Stock Exchange in San Francisco.  They are marching and sitting-in against corporate greed, rampant unemployment, attacks on labor and the environment and the role of big banks in our bad economy. 

In the US alone, other actions are planned for Memphis, Tenn.; Allentown, PA.; Hilo, Hawaii, Detroit; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis; and Baltimore, as well as in Mason City, Iowa; Mobile, Ala.; Little Rock, Ark.; Santa Fe, N.M.; and McAllen, Tex., according to Occupy Together  the unofficial hub for the protests. Thanks to inspiration from struggles around the globe, these days mark a turning point in the struggle for economic, social and environmental justice in the US.

We, the 99%, demand our voices be heard, we want an end to war and greed, we want to invest in human needs.  It’s that simple. May the spirit of non-violence, the joy of democracy and the inclusion of many voices be our guiding light as we zig-zag forward, empowering protest as an agent to drive political reform. Take action now and go to Wall Street, go to Freedom Square or plan and join non violent occupations in your own town or join the virtual march.

PS. I want to organize with you in our community, please be in touch!

Speaking in the spirit of the 99% since 1776, here are a few voices from America’s Long Revolution:

“I hope we shall crush… in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

Thomas Jefferson, Founder and third President of the United States

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

Fredrick Douglass

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 (7 months after the Civil War ended)

The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands – the ownership and control of their livelihoods – are set at naught, we can have neither men’s rights nor women’s rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease.

Helen Keller, 1911

Now as through this world I ramble,  I see lots of funny men,  Some rob you with a six gun,  And some with a fountain pen.

Woody Guthrie in “Pretty Boy Floyd”

The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, U.S. President in April 29, 1938 message to Congress.

The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.

Martin Luther King

“Daddy, what I still don’t understand is how the rich people get so rich.  They have to steal it from somebody else, right?”

Ziggy Kinoshita, seven years old in Nov, 2011

“Congress shall make no law …. abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
United States Constitution

“And Jesus  went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers.

King James Bible, Matthew 21:12

First, a video to get you in the spirit: “Mic Check, Tear Down That Wall

Next, wise words from the folks at www.occupywallst.org: “Reflection is easy when the water is still, but it seems hard to be definitive about something as fluid and rapidly moving as the Occupy movement.”

Occupy Seattle is so different from Occupy Wall Street which has very little in common with my local Occupy San Francisco which in turn bears little resemblance to Occupy Oakland located just three train stops across the San Francisco Bay. What was true two weeks ago may not be true four weeks from now.

Yet something has rooted itself into the collective conscience of this country in a way that hasn’t happened in a long time and may be a true turning point.

When mainstream TV can poke fun at the idea of corporate personhood and people know what that means and when the “Field Report” on NPR (11/29) claims that when Californians were asked whether they agree or disagree with the underlying reason for the occupation a 58% majority say they agree with it then the turning point seems evident. 99% of us seem to understand that greed and corruption are destroying the public good and we must do something before our democracy, our planet and our  future generations are destroyed.

I have been inspired and moved by the scope and breadth of the movement – it’s like a breath ignited the life of a newborn and she is now squalling her head off to be alive in this world…now.

I’ve also been uncomfortable in the setting, uncomfortable with the drugs and alcohol, with the messiness and confusion, tired when meetings last hours in the cold and when we use our precious time together to talk about dogs, food and hygiene rather than the larger problems at hand.

What is clear is that the space has built a sense of community that would be impossible without the ebb and flow of daily life. Living together, meeting each other in our best moments and our worst we have learned to care for each other. There is a profound acceptance of difference and empathy for individual needs that I have not seen in other movements. We are taking care of each other.

The guy who mumbles and shouts at his private demons is welcome at the meetings, is handed a broom when the sidewalk needs cleaning and helps to divide the food so that all can share. The intellectual is welcome to teach but has to keep his lectures to the point because the repetition of the human mic makes brevity the only possibility. Campers have the same voice as the folks who arrive for the General Assembly and then go home.  Hierarchies are discouraged, even a hierarchy of sacrifice and everyone is invited to participate.

Though the media first tried to ignore and then ridicule the occupations, first by wondering who the leaders were, or trying to anoint particular people with that role, then proclaiming that there was no platform, no goals or demands and now fairly successfully painting the occupations as messy, unsanitary, dangerous and out of control, the ideas that have been planted and groomed in the past few months have taken root across communities globally. It is a message about democracy.

As the weather gets colder and the coordinated efforts to clear the occupations in cities and universities across the nation sweep along, the movement becomes less about holding public space and more about holding community – about recognizing the common desires of the 99% for fairness.

A vision has emerged from the occupations. From Michael Moore’s summary of a vision statement that came out of an Occupy Wall Street meeting on Nov 22. We Envision:

  1.  a truly free, democratic, and just society;
  2. where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus;
  3.  where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making;
  4. where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others;
  5.  where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments;
  6. where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few;
  7. where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings;
  8.  where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible;
  9. where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.”

Kirsten at Occupy Oakland on November 2nd 2011

Building community in occupied spaces and practicing the revolutionary act of sharing in front of the financial institutions that have created the profound inequalities in our country is only the beginning. It is what has breathed life into the movement. Upon this beautiful consensus we will now build the apparatus of change in all the different ways we know how. Where it will actually lead and whether or not we can hold onto the idea that we are all in this together only time and effort will tell.

This weekend I saw a quote on a t-shirt in Spanish:

“Son tantos los agravios, y es tan largo el camino que, mas vale que continuemos andando preguntando caminamos.”

Roughly translated as “The problems are so great and the journey is so long that is it is much better to ask questions while we walk!