UPDATE: Oakland Port AM shift shut down!
Ok maybe one:
The news so far, from many points of view. Beware. Many claim to speak for 'the movement' and 'the 99%' only to go on to say 'Do not do this; it hurts business.' Now who do you think that they are with?
PLEASE VISIT THIS BLOG: PICTURES ARE EXCELLENT; THE EXCERPT BELOW DOES THEM NO JUSTICE.
 Useless got to eat, so pay me! We Shut Down the Port of Oakland, for the Morning One my way to the Port of Oakland this morning — at the tender hour of 5 a.m. — I stopped by Oscar Grant Plaza to get a picture of the city’s sprinklers filling the plaza with water. As long as they keep the soil a muddy saturated mess, no one can put up tents right?The convergence at 5:30 at West Oakland is well attended (for 5:30), and I join a small group of bicyclists who (along with a bus or two) will be the first wave. Hyphy Republic is there and we caught up a bit.This might not be the best picture, but it adequately represents the state of my vision as we rode along:The first picket of the morning:The first riot police of the morning. They are in full “ready to fuck up your shit mode,” legs spread clubs poised, lips curled. I hate when they do that:While we march in circles — keep it moving, so it’s a legal picket — these guys sit in idling white vans:But then they left. If there’s anything more beautiful than riot cops suddenly getting in their van and leaving, it’s the light creeping across the Bay, bluing the sky and warming your face. @millicentsomer and @sanginaem take some pre-sunrise pictures: We continue being a picket. At some point, these ladies happened:Just a nice quiet community picket with a thousand close friends:Don’t forget the tents! The sign says “This Tent Kills Fascists”:The Port is just so damned photogenic: Someone brought a lot of coffee and soup. I love these people:Suddenly, the riot cops are back, now between us and the berth. They don’t say anything, they just loom.But they’re in a tricky position when no one does anything to provoke them. The legality of a community picket is a sort of ambiguous thing, but for the police to attack us to force us to move would be a certain kind of decision, one that they decided not to make. @millicentsomer and @sanginaem overheard (by the nearby bathroom) a policewoman saying “we’re going to get our helmets and we’re going to try to get them in the terminal,” but none of the occupiers ever tried to enter the terminal. And then the police file out. We give them room to leave:But the police never get violent, the ILWU never crosses the picket line, and things stay peaceful. Lots of pleasant conversation. The port is shut down. TBC. |
Ok maybe one:
The news so far, from many points of view. Beware. Many claim to speak for 'the movement' and 'the 99%' only to go on to say 'Do not do this; it hurts business.' Now who do you think that they are with?
Here's a roundup of today's events so far:
Occupy activists aim to close US ports today vast minority 2011-12-12 07:31 A BID to block the West Coast ports of the USA is being launched by Occupy activists on Monday December 12. Says the West Coast Ports Blockade site: "The ports play a pivotal role in the flow and growth of capital for the 1% in this country and internationally. "For that reason alone it is the ideal place to disrupt their profit machine. The workers on these ports have always understood that; they have consistently staged shutdowns for political reasons, honored community picket lines, and led the labor movement. "A general disruption of commerce, in protest of the nationally coordinated attacks on Occupy movements alone is warranted, but additionally, the specifically targeted attacks on workers at these ports by the 1% further necessitate this call to action." Adds the Occupy Los Angeles site: "As part of the Dec. 12 Boycott and March for legalization and good jobs, the Occupy movement will protest at one or more facilities belonging to SSA Marine, a shipper owned by Goldman Sachs, with 5 terminals and a warehouse in the Harbor area. "SSA Marine was recently fined for building an illegal road to the site of its massive, dirty coal terminal project in WA. It was also caught recently not alerting workers to the threat of explosive cargo in Oakland. "SSA/Goldman Sachs symbolize the ruin that corporate greed has brought into our lives. The 1% are depriving port truck drivers and other workers of decent pay, working conditions and the right to organize, even while the port of LA/LB is the largest in the US and a huge engine of profits for the 1%. "The 1% have pursued a conscious policy of de-industrialization that has resulted in 'trade' at the port meaning that there are 7 containers coming in for every one going out. The 1% have driven migrant workers into a 'grey market' economy and repression. "The 1% use police brutality and repression, jails and prisons to suppress, divide and try to silence the 99% and all who oppose their insatiable greed. To put an end to all that, we call on the 99% to march, boycott, occupy the ports, and STRIKE." For latest news, the Twitter hashtag is #occupytheports http://vastminority.blogspot.com/2011/12/occupy-activists-aim-to-shut-down-us.html Read more |
Occupy attempting to block Port of Oakland Last update 9:30, 12/12/11 by Amy Hollyfield OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Hundreds of Occupy demonstrators have descended on the Port of Oakland in an attempt to shut it down. There was a few tense moments as police in riot gear formed a line near the protesters, but they took no action and soon returned to their staging area. The protesters say today's action, which includes attempts to shutdown all business at the Port of Oakland, Long Beach, Portland, Seattle and Alaska, is happening without the support of many union workers and truck drivers. Protesters say the action is needed because the wealth gathered by the ports isn't making it to the 99 percent. But port leaders say that isn't true and today's action will only hurt the "working class men and women of the port." Read more or read ABC related stories (watch out for MSM bias:) |
Airtalk 89.3 KPCC Occupy movement takes to California's ports 12/12/11 Listen here It's a day of action in Long Beach, Oakland, Portland and Seattle. Protesters in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement have coordinated blockades at the ports up and down California's coast. Long Beach had as many as 400 demonstrators march on the Port of Long Beach. They targeted a dock facility leased by SSA Marine, a shipping company that is partially owned by Goldman Sachs, according to the Associated Press. [snip] Protesters attempt to block an entrance to the Port of Oakland on December 12, 2011 in Oakland, California. After a general strike coordinated by Occupy Oakland shut down the port on November 2, this time hundreds are expected to affect all West Coast ports as Occupy movements in Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma have so far joined the demonstration Read more: |
'Occupy' Protesters Disrupt Ports in Oakland And Portland Last update 12:58 12/12/11 NPR "Occupy" protesters on the West Coast moved Monday to disrupt ports in Los Angeles, San Francisco and elsewhere. The action fizzled in Los Angeles, as the AP reports: "Heavy rain dampened the protest and the demonstrators, who were flanked by dozens of police, have now moved off, effectively making a peaceful end to a four-hour protest." [snip] The "Wall Street on the Waterfront" protests seem to have had more success in Oakland. KQED says that a crowd their reporter estimated to be 1,000 strong marched through the streets of West Oakland this morning. At the port, protesters were able to disrupt operations: "Caitlin Esch, who is at the port now, says at least three of the six gates at the port are effectively blocked, with nothing moving in or out as protesters clog up the entrances. Trucks are lined up, some trying to drop off, some trying to pick up." [snip] "Hundreds Occupy Portland protesters effectively shut down two of the Port of Portland's busiest terminals, preventing about 200 longshore workers from going to work today." "The demonstrations began about 6 a.m. and have been largely peaceful so far." [snip] "The protesters say American ports have become 'economic engines for the elite.' They are most upset by giant West Coast port operator SSA Marine and grain exporter EGT, which they say epitomize the big corporations that make up the '1 percent.'" "Goldman Sachs owns a major stake in SSA Marine, and the bank has been a repeated target of Occupy protesters since the movement began." Read more: |
Be seeing you.
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