UC Berkeley plans massive rally 11-15-11

OccupyBerkeley.org

Occupy Cal has not gone anywhere. Tents were destroyed and teenage students dragged away by "storm trooper" style police in jack boots. In outrage students are holding teach outs and a general student strike. People -- supporters, faculty, graduate student teachers, Occupy Oakland (who are marching to Cal in support), Occupy San Francisco, and UC students -- will not stand by for 1960s history to repeat itself as the country (empire) is again engaged in secret wars around the world and strip mining the planet from its base on Wall Street and anti-environment corporations (Monsanto, ADM, Halliburton

• Occupy Yale
  
• Student loans add to angst at Occupy Wall Street
• Bank of America expects $1.8 B gain from Chinese bank
• Is "Occupy Rose Parade" organizer former corporate lawyer?
• (Susan Swift) We can put a face behind the Occupy movement -- and it appears to be a wanna-be one percenter. Peter Thottam is the creator of Occupy Los Angeles and also the progressive force behind Occupy the Rose Parade.

  

  Thottam’s been planning this occupation disruption of the Rose Parade for the last six months — at least that’s how long he’s had the “Occupy the Rose Parade” Twitter feed going. Ironically, Peter Thottam is a Goldman Sachs alum, an Ivy-Leaguer, and former corporate lawyer from an international mega law firm, and recent MBA grad. Yale, Boalt Hall Berkeley Law, and UCLA MBA. Does this sound like a community organizer or a one percenter? While Peter Thottam’s CV reeks of Wall Street elitism, his bio depicts someone grabbing for the corporate brass ring. But he is strangely unwilling or unable to keep a job at such elite corporate employers as Goldman Sachs or O’Melveny and Myers.

Oakland re-attacked by Police (video)

Wisdom Quarterly, RT.com, Global Grind,

(RT) Nov. 14, 2011 - The City of Oakland paid for 1,000 paramilitary troops in this planned take down. Now police in occupied Oakland have cleared out a re-formed occupation after threatening Occupy demonstrators with more heavy handed violence.

Oakland PD and agents from other San Francisco Bay Area cities encircled the downtown encampment before dawn and moved in at about 6:00 am. They escorted handcuffed protesters away soon afterward to be imprisoned, strip searched, humiliated, and potentially violated further.

• Eyewitness: Occupy Oakland raided again
• Storm Troopers hit one Oakland camp, leave other
  
• Student loans add to angst at Occupy Wall St.

The police state action comes a day after police attacked hundreds of Occupy Wall Street-style demonstrators from encampments in Portland, Oregon arresting more than 50 people. Oakland officials insisted on an end to their city's encampment using the pretext that a man was fatally shot Thursday near the camp.

Scott Olsen regains (free) speech

War veteran/peace activist Scott Olsen releases statement

Berkeley (Occupy Cal), St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Eureka, Denver, Albany (NY), Riverside, Portland, and other camps have been attacked as part of an organized suppression campaign.

• PHOTOS: Can police end occupations and save Wall St.?
• PHOTOS: Occupy Oakland and Wall Street solidarity
• VIDEO: Crackdown on UC Berkeley student protest
• Keystone Tar Sands: Ring Around the Rose Garden
  

Power to the People Film Series


(Theendofpoverty.com)

• Police clear Occupy Oakland tent city

  (San Jose Mercury News) Police cleared Occupy Oakland early Monday in what has so far been a peaceful raid. Hundreds of protesters gathered at... More
• Occupy Oakland: Pre-dawn raid on Frank Ogawa Plaza
• #OWS: The Most Important Thing in the World Now
• Special Report: Food for the Soul at Occupy LA
• Vatican City's gay love triangle murder
  
• How do we dismantle rape culture
  
• Capitalism versus the climate
• Racism in the Occupy Movement?
• Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots have been catching flak for being so "white." Occupy Atlanta is no exception, getting off to a rough start...when a civil rights movement hero-turned-Congressman stopped by to offer his support, only to be waved off by the mostly white G.A.

Police shoot cameraman on video

Ernest A. Canning (BradBlog.com)

New video has emerged, courtesy of ThinkProgress, of an apparently unprovoked Oakland police officer shooting a cameraman during a recent stand-off with Occupy Oakland demonstrators.

In an email to The BRAD BLOG, Sgt. Christopher Bolton, Oakland PD's Chief of Staff, confirmed that the incident involved an "OPD use of force," which took place at 16th Street near San Pablo Ave. in Oakland on the morning of Nov. 3, 2011.

The matter was "under investigation." (Recall that a general strike took place in Oakland on Nov. 2. This event, according to the cameraman, took place shortly after midnight.) More

• INN World Report radio's Wall St. Teach-In
• VIDEO: Scott Walker gets checked after betraying voters
  
• Wolf: The people versus the police (CNN)
• Second Iraq Vet critically injured by Oakland PD
  The police's violent Oct. 25 crackdown on Occupy Oakland demonstrators sent another vet to surgery, one who wasn't even protesting...
• City Council hears testimony on Occupy Oakland
• The Oakland City Council heard hours of emotional testimony on the Occupy Oakland encampment and the city's brutal crackdown. Supporters urged a resolution opposing police brutality.

(democraticunderground.com)

Occupy Wall Street's permit to protest

Wisdom Quarterly
Solidarity strike with Oakland to stop corporate corruption and its maintenance through police brutality (OccupyWallSt.org)

Forty+ Days at Occupy Wall Street

#OCCUPY WALL STREET is a leaderless, people-powered movement for democracy that began in America on Sept. 17 with an encampment in the financial district of New York City. Inspired by the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprising and Spanish acampadas, we vow to end the corruption by money of our democracy… It is now Day 46.

(RT) Movement is spreading across US to hold Wall Street accountable.
Christina Gonzalez beaten by police and arrested for filming abuse.

• Join your local #OCCUPY!
• Winter donations needed
• Are police part of the 99%?

This proposal was passed by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Oct. 26, 2011 in the reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza. Paramilitary troops and various police agencies violently evicted occupiers and attacked Marine veteran Scott Olsen, but the occupiers returned. General Assembly: 1,607 people voted with 1,484 voting in favor of the resolution, 77 abstaining, and 46 voting against, which passed the proposal at 96.9% agreement. The GA operates on a modified consensus process that passes proposals with 90% in favor with abstaining votes removed from the final count. More

The Bill of Rights permits the people to peaceably assemble to petition the government for a redress of grievances (Liza Sabater/Flickr).

• St. Paul's problem: 3rd cleric resigns over Occupy London
  

Police attempt to murder Iraq War Vet (video)

Wisdom Quarterly

Using threats and force to press for a triumph of will over others is a police state tactic once called "fascism" and now called special weapons and tactics (SWAT) operations.

(Russia Today) Eyewitnesses in Oakland have put up footage of the police's violent tactics against activists. Here is one of the latest videos of the incident referred to in Marina Portnaya's report. An Iraq War veteran was injured.

Marine veteran Scott Olsen is seen lying on the ground after being shot in the head by a police officer wielding a tear gas canister propeller, fracturing Olsen's skull and swelling his brain. When a group of activists run to his aid, a policeman deliberately takes aim at the protesters, misusing a "non-lethal" weapon in an illegally deadly fashion with complete immunity. Police then lob a flash bomb at the group to prevent them from aiding Olsen. It goes off immediately, terrorizing the unarmed civilians being subjected to indiscriminate deadly force.

• Police wounding Vet stirs new wave of dissent (The Nation)
• Vietnam Vets were treated the same way in the past
  

(CelebDelaCreamTv)

"Veterans for Peace" member Scott Olsen was critically wounded by Oakland Police who are believed to have been joined by 15 other government agencies. Together they fired on unarmed American citizens. When the government uses violence to suppress its people it is a form of fascism.

In New York near Wall Street police brutality is encouraged.

• Hurt protester Scott Olsen was "provoking no one"‎ (SFC)
• Oakland PD under cloud for violent crackdown‎ (Mother Jones)
• US protesters call for strike against Oakland (Reuters)
• Marine Down in Oakland‎ (Counter Punch)
• All Eyes on Oakland: Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Jail‎ (Huff Po)
• Occupy protesters arrested in two cities‎ (CNN/CIA)

It's a Police State now (video)

(Niknak72) This footage is unbelievable. So please spread it as quickly as possible before it gets removed. Authorities have already spoken to Google and YouTube demanding that all police brutality videos be taken down. So much for free speech.

Pretext: "It's not healthy for these kids to camp like they're homeless." Force: Coordinated paramilitary city police. Victim ("enemy"): Peaceful demonstrators occupying public square to call attention to broken economic, political, and educational system. The world is not working under American capitalism, which is owned, controlled, and in service of corporations not the people they purport to serve. Solution: More occupiers.

The police did not feel safe. So they suited up and mowed down the unarmed opposition. It's just like NFL football... except with guns, concussive grenades, tear gas, blunt force trauma inducing batons, torture technique training, and virtual immunity from prosecution for brutality and assault.

Protesters vow return to plaza despite ouster
(LA Times) Occupy San Diego protesters vowed Friday to return to the civic plaza behind City Hall despite being ousted and their tents removed by a massive police sweep hours earlier. "The police were completely out of line," said protest leader Ray Lutz. "This insidious show of force has only energized our movement. We're going to be even stronger." More

(RT.com)

Occupy returns, police clamp down (video)

The Blaze, The Guardian, Wisdom Quarterly, RT, SF Chronicle
Minute 2:00 shows Wisdom Quarterly analyzing what is motivating the police state.

Tear gas was used in a military action against peaceful civilian protesters under the pretext of shooting at, arresting, destroying the encampment and materials, and brutalizing them for their own good. Like the My Lai Massacre, the police are "destroying them to save them."

A crowd of roughly 400 Occupy Oakland protesters clashed with police Tuesday evening while trying to reclaim a campsite that they had been ousted from earlier in the day. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the crowd marched from the public library toward [Oscar Grant] Plaza at about 5:00 pm, vowing to confront police.

(The Blaze/Jonathon M. Seidl) - We’ve already brought you some pictures and video from the Occupy Oakland eviction last night, but this morning it seems things were much worse.... police used [deadly, canon-style projectile] rubber bullets on the crowd. Intrepid blogger Zombie put together a collage of videos and pictures the seem to capture the full chaos of what happened. Here’s how he describes it in his piece, “Rioting in Downtown Oakland as Occupiers Clash with Police”... More

Police shoot Vet, toss grenade at people who come to his aid

(Guardian.co.uk) Protesters have returned to downtown Oakland, California, to demand the resignation of the city's mayor and an investigation to explain how an Iraq war veteran, Scott Olsen, was hit in the head by a teargas canister at close range, leaving him critically injured [skull fracture, brain swelling]. About 2,000 people -- half as many as Tuesday night -- massed in front of City Hall on Wednesday, tearing down a steel barricade intended to keep them off the grass in [Oscar Grant] Plaza. More

Police storm Occupy Oakland (video)

Marcus Wohlsen (AP), Huffington Post, Wisdom Quarterly, Occupy Oakland

Paramilitary tactics on a peaceful civilian demonstration? It's what US police have been waiting to unpack as they take us from Brave New World Order to Orwellian nightmare.

OAKLAND, Northern California - Shock and awe. Police in full riot gear with tear gas and three helicopters overhead cleared anti-Wall Street Occupy Oakland protesters this morning (Oct. 25) from the plaza in front of Oakland's City Hall where they have been camped out for about two weeks. TV news footage shows numerous people in plastic handcuffs being led away from the site by police around after the 5:00 am raid. The protesters did not appear to be resisting, although an officer did fire a [potentially deadly] non-lethal projectile from a shotgun at a protester who lobbed a bottle, authorities told the San Francisco Chronicle. More

• Occupy Together
• Occupy Berkeley: End the Monied Corruption of Democracy
• Occupy San Jose
  
• Occupy San Francisco
• Occupying the Message (Right-wing style)

This morning at 5:00 am over 500 police in riot gear from cities all over central California brutally attacked the Occupy Oakland encampment at the intersection of 14th & Broadway. Riot police attacked the peaceful protest with flash grenades, tear gas, and [deadly canon style] rubber bullets after moving in with armored vehicles. Apparently, the media was not allowed in to document this repression, and one was warned or allowed to leave. Police established barricades as far apart as 11th and 17th. Over 70 people were arrested, and the camping gear was destroyed and/or stolen by riot police. Contact the mayor and tell her what you think of her actions.

• Reconvene today (Tuesday, Oct. 25) at 4:00 pm at the Oakland Library on 14th & Madison.
• We're not finished. We have only begun.
• We will be protesting this planned atrocity at the next City Council meeting.

• Riot police occupy Oakland, evict protesters (CBS)

Occupy Berkeley in the Sixties (video)

Wisdom Quarterly, Occupy Boston, Occupy Los Angeles, AlJazeera.net, Occupy Wall Street

Joined by labor unions, protesters march from Foley Square to Zuccotti Park, NY (Reuters/AlJazeera).

UC Berkeley was occupied giving rise to a generation of activists (Criticalthinking007)

"You will respect my authoritay!" is the police mantra chanted around the country. Teachers, unions, professionals can all join students, activists, and elderly demonstrators. The mantra is the same. As now, so in the 1960s. Then it was illegal wars, racism, and a lack of civil rights for all. Today the issues are far more pressing -- a matter of survival. Having enough to eat as bankers give a new spin to the ancient "Let them eat cake" utterance that preceded the French Revolution commemorated by Bastille Day. Wall Street onlookers from on high giggle "Let them sip champagne."

• College students, nurses join Occupy Boston
  
• Occupy Wall Street: Los Angeles Branch
• Occupy Washington DC starts tomorrow
  

"People over Profits" as transport unions join Occupy Wall Street demonstration.

Power to the People
AlJazeera.net
A diverse group of powerful unions has joined demonstrations in New York's financial district, lending some focus, credibility and potentially hundreds of participants to a movement that began with a few university students.

The "Occupy Wall Street" protest movement, which began three weeks ago in New York's financial hub, was joined on Wednesday by a dozen US labor unions.

Among those who joined the clamor were members of the Chinatown Tenants Union and the Transit Workers Union, the liberal group MoveOn.org, [CodePink,] and community organizations such as the Working Families Party and United NY. More

(MORE)

Occupy Los Angeles (Oct. 1, 2011)

Wisdom Quarterly, Kloncke.com, OccupyLA.org

Let's our country back from bankers and police state officials by occupying it from coast to coast, from Wall Street and downtown Los Angeles. We are the 99% being destroyed by 1%.

[Kloncke] began gathering some friends into a group we call Bay Area Radical Sangha (BARS). BARS is a space for meditators with "radical" politics. How is that defined? Structural critiques of our racist, hetero-patriarchal, war-reliant, capitalist system.

• RUMOR Alert: RADIOHEAD to play Occupy Wall Street!
• Buddhist production, feminist effort, and the god of work
• Meditation Flash Mob: Noon, Saturday, October 8, 2011 at Pershing Square, downtown Los Angeles

Instead, we support one another in contemplative practice and development. Having met and talked with many of you, I know for a fact that everyone has something wonderful to contribute.

If you are established in some sort of contemplative practice (it does not have to be Buddhist, although this is the foundation of the group) and would like to join in building a committed, holistic center of radical struggle, you are warmly welcomed and appreciated. The first BARS meets in the San Francisco Bay Area. New groups are forming in New York at Occupy Wall Street and Los Angeles at this weekend's launch.

All are welcome to stand up in a peaceful demonstration (occupyla.org)

(TheOther99Percent) Consider donating $9.17 to a Media Fund to continue reports from the front line. OccupyWallStreet.org

Police State Brutality on Wall Street
(USLAWdotcom) This is a slow motion video analysis of the NYPD's mace/pepper spray deployment near Wall Street on Sept. 24, 2011. Alternate angle analyses indicate that this crime was retaliation for an immediately preceding interaction between an officer and some individuals on the sidewalk. More information and updates.

Meditate: Insight meditation in California

Chemtrails-shemtrails! Radiation-obfuscation! There's still meditation to soothe the mind and gladden the heart. The world is old world yet and nothing we'll soon forget. Of much greater importance is transcending the illusion of samsara that causes us to suffer when the world is so beautiful in the eye of the wise beholder.

The latest Buddhist insight-meditation (vipassana) events and news in California for June 2011 and a few other important events in July and August:

• Northern California One-Day Courses

Berkeley: Saturday, June 4
South Bay: Sunday, June 5 & Saturday, June 18
Santa Rosa: Saturday, June 11
San Francisco: Sunday, June 19

• Southern California One-Day Courses

San Diego: Saturday, June 11
Santa Monica: Saturday, June 18
Baldwin Park: Saturday, July 2

• Trust Meeting at the California Vipassana Center (North Fork) on Sunday, June 12
  
• Trust Meeting at the Southern California Vipassana Center (Twentynine Palms) on Sunday, July 10.
• Children's Course at the Northern California Vipassana Center (Kelseyville) from Saturday to Sunday, July 9-10
  
• Children's Course at the California Vipassana Center (North Fork) from Saturday to Sunday, August 13-14

One-Day Courses
One-day courses are for students who have completed a ten-day Vipassana course as taught by S.N. Goenka. No registration for the one-day course is necessary. Simply bring a cushion and a non-perishable vegetarian lunch. Come for all or part of the course.

• Information on one-day courses in Southern California
• Information on one-day courses in Northern California
• Information on one-day courses, South Bay Vipassana Hall

VIDEO: Life on Mars? Housing found (See on YouTube)