Fire Walk With Me
Fire Walk With Me's JournalLivestreams: On-going protest in Japan against the restarting of nuclear reactors (updated)
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iwj-oita1http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iwakamiyasumi
Video from a couple of days ago:
Aerial photo of enormous crowd:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=432721036751445&set=a.272902326066651.67117.272382472785303&type=1&theater
Aerial photo from June 29:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384826748245502&set=a.323532907708220.75638.268702763191235&type=1&theater
"The scene at the Ooi nuclear plant, where activities are due to recommence later today. It appears that the riot police had to climb a mountain to arrive at the plant, as the only road providing access is blocked by protestors. Workers at the plant have been shipped in by ferry...."
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=372841596114481&set=a.161559767242666.41099.146594382072538&type=1&theater
Occupy supporters open a five-day protest (Philly National Gathering)
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20120630_Occupy_supporters_open_a_five-day_protest.html?ref=facebook.comSeveral dozen protesters affiliated with the Occupy movement convened from cities nationwide on Independence Mall Saturday, setting off tensions with park rangers on the first morning of a planned five-day national Occupy gathering.
Rangers disgruntled occupiers by telling them that they could not bring their tents, even unassembled ones, onto the lawn owned by the National Park Service.
Told that they could not set up a card table to distribute literature on the Market Street sidewalk without a permit, protesters held out a "people's permit" that they had drafted.
-----
There are already reports on Twitter and FB about arrests and the park and police seeking to do what they always do...drag anything they don't understand (unity, happiness, love) into violence. Which are of course ultimate threats to the status quo.
Aljazeera: Brazil tribes call for halt to dam project, occupy construction zone
"While the government says the dam will bring much needed clean energy, with minimal social and environmental impact, the infrastructure cuts right through a channel and blocks the natural flow of the Xingu River.
The tribes say the runoff from the construction is already dirtying the water where they fish.
A judge denied the builders' request for the indigenous to be forcefully evicted."
Video at link:
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/americas/2012/06/201262818594915595.html
Back in April:
And another photo at the link:
"This photo, which I got from La Mina Circle in Los Angeles, reveals a tragic moment in the politics of the earth.
Chief Raoni of the Kayapó people broke down crying when he learned that the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff. approved construction to begin on the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant & dam project on Xingu indigenous lands.
If it does go through as planned, the Belo Monte dam will inundate nearly a million acres of rainforest & indigenous lands. The new water body will be bigger than the Panama Canal. 40,000 local and indigenous people will be forced off their native lands, all that habitat vitally useful to countless local and migratory species destroyed, and millions of unknown species of animals and plants murdered."
http://indigenize.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/i-stand-with-the-xingu-river/
DA won't file charges against seven of nine arrested at Occupy the Farm
http://www.mercurynews.com/occupy/ci_20806740/charges-dropped-against-seven-nine-arrested-at-occupyThe Alameda County District Attorney declined to file charges against seven of nine Occupy the Farm protesters arrested at UC Berkeley's Gill Tract in Albany "in the interest of justice," a spokeswoman for the Alameda County District Attorney said Thursday.
University officials said seven people were arrested May 14 outside the fence of the Gill Tract for unlawful assembly and two were arrested inside for trespassing.
A university spokesman referred questions about the arrests to its police department. UC Berkeley police did not immediately return phone calls.
Harsh Skid Row policies driven by business lobby, say advocates - Fascism in Los Angeles
http://www.laactivist.com/2012/06/24/harsh-skid-row-policies-driven-by-business-lobby-say-advocates/"Queen of LA’s mountain
If homeless advocates were looking for a fight, then by all accounts they found it. The CCA may very well be LA’s true seat of power.
In 2010, it was reported by Los Angeles Downtown News that the CCA had a budget of $2.3 million and $1.8 million in reserves. That same year, CCA gave money to every sitting city council member, according to journalist Hillel Aron.
In 2011, Los Angeles Downtown News ranked Schatz the sixth most powerful person in downtown.
Above Schatz in ranking are people she may call friends."
Related story:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002849466
Occupy's response:
State Violence Increases as Occupiers Lay Siege to Perfect Villain
http://ryanricela.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/arrests-and-terror-at-626wilshire/
"I did not go outside because I saw silhouettes of smiling cops with batons surrounding my tent. I did not go outside because I was threatened with arrest and flagged as a 'leader' in El Segundo on Tuesday at an anti-drone military-industrial complex action. I did not go outside because the day before (June 20), I was nearly taken into custody for an alleged bench warrant. IN OPEN COURT in which I WAS A WITNESS YET TO TESTIFY. The judge said, 'That reaks of witness intimidation' and wouldn’t allow it. I didn’t go outside because I heard some of the strongest comrades I know shouting in fear and uncontrollably crying in confusion and terror. The silence from the LAPD was deafening."
The eviction of Skid Row Los Angeles has begun. Videos; Dial-up warning. This may piss you off.
The below video includes much of what I've written here, if you wish to skip to it...and I apologize for the unclear nature of this article. I work myself past exhaustion on this stuff and while intending to get out the story in a timely manner, lose cohesiveness and clarity.
As depicted in the true story "The Soloist", the rich in Los Angeles (the "CCA"
influence the city council and get their way (which is Mussolini's definition of Fascism) and have LAPD clear the homeless from an area they wish to gentrify into ritzy, for-profit rentals. They easily succeeded.
Now they are again attempting it, but in a more gentle, more conniving manner.
CCA are contracted to sweep the streets in areas of downtown, as well as collect trash from garbage cans and to twice-weekly power wash Skid Row. In May, they ceased these activities. Not oddly at all, shortly before then, the Health Department were concluding a report on Skid Row, finding and documenting some situations which required action. I will not attempt to contest the facts of these findings, but I will present the CCA's involvement in creating them.
A while back, something called the "Safer Cities Initiative" was introduced, extremely loosely based upon the "Broken Windows Theory", implying that a single homeless person will attract the rest of them, bringing harm to the area. Laws were enacted to force the homeless to break down their tents or sleeping arrangements at 6AM every day, until 9PM at night. Only recently has consideration been added regarding truly inclement conditions; Row residents tell me that they used to be forced to be in the rain until 9PM. Also, it is illegal to either sit or sleep upon the sidewalk. Breaking any of these laws will result in an arrest. There have been more arrests on the Row than there are total residents. Whether these laws achieve anything other than seriously inconveniencing the homeless remains to be seen.
Recently, 50 police were assigned to Skid Row at a cost of $6,000,000 per year. Note that only $5,700,000 per year is spent upon homeless services for the entire city. Skid Row is about ten square blocks. The main issue of the Row is to create long-term housing for these people, and that money would go very far along those lines. The priorities are obvious.
The City is barred from seizing homeless people's property through a Federal injunction. Police must place a 24-hour warning tag upon any property in question. Only then can they remove it. It used to be that police would simply grab up property found unattended, even if it included identification, medicine, personal paperwork, etc. Even now with the Injunction, they will still raid when and where they wish, sometimes "losing" the claims slip for what they've seized. This makes it extremely difficult for the homeless to go to doctor's appointments, to apply for housing, to find food, much less to go to the public restroom. The CCA are nearly literally forcing people to stay very close to their property, even if it means sometimes avoiding public restrooms!
So now there is something new under the blazing Southern California sun. Because the city is barred from simply clearing homeless encampments, using the Health Department's study they have called in the County to do cleaning. Local homeless have been agreeable to the previous power washes, moving their property to the street and back afterward. I have video of such. So, they moved their belongings when the County came in yesterday to clean the street where Occupy Skid Row reside.
Then the police said "You cannot return to where you were, and you cannot stay where you are now." Big surprise. OSR is on a street not appearing in the Health Department's study, yet the County are cleaning it and a few nearby streets before areas deemed as requiring immediate action. Police now say all large properties must be stored in their facilities (which are taking money from homelessness funds, stealing it from the people who need it). Police say all property must be mobile, and kept moving all day long, until the one of the Injunctions kicks in at 9PM and people are allowed to sleep. At 6AM, they must begin moving around again until the night.
Seriously. It's right there in the video. Although the police do not specifically say where the homeless are expected to go, it is obviously implied.
Occupy Skid Row defy the police and re-Occupy their area. Police are quick to respond, although they seem to have not expected this to happen. (Then again, the three streets they cleared earlier this week are empty, the residents having been told they'd be arrested if they returned.)
Police threaten OSR with arrest. OSR defy them again. Later in the afternoon, police chief Beck is spotted in a cruiser creeping by, seeing things for himself. This implies that the "problem" has been kicked fairly far up the decision tree, which means Someone Wants Action Now, and the police have to figure out how to apply it.
As of this evening, there has been no raid, although it is likely a foregone conclusion. Much more so than the city taking action to provide what the Health Department has Recommended, and which the extremely successful and money-saving Project 50 shows can be accomplished through placing even the most severely homeless among us into long-term housing. $6,000,000 a year for extra police, or for homeless housing.
This is a story of long-term struggle between the people, most notably the Los Angeles Community Action Network, and the rich seeking to become ever richer. It is very difficult for me to sum up into anything shorter than Lord of the Rings...!
Update, 6/25. One of OSR's organizers was singled out and arrested for violating 56.11, which is something about the homeless must stay moving from 6AM until 9PM every day. He is expected to be released within a day. All of his property was seized; three CCEA trucks were there to grab it up. Here's hoping they do not again "lose" the claim slip.
Pardon my bargain-basement technology. The story should still come through:
During the move-out, they are told they cannot go back in and retrieve the rest of their property. A blatant attempt to destroy Occupy Skid Row. Eventually they are able to do so, but still:
Video by David.
Police intimidate and lecture and threaten arrest, marching everyone off the block:
Video by Patti.
Or, "Operation Clean Sweep", meaning...people. The "storage facility" is clearly deemed temporary, so obviously it can easily become a trash can instead of a service. Out it all goes in one fell swoop!
Spanish language channel Noticias 22 came and did a live broadcast:
There is lots of money for spanking new sports cars for city workers, but not the homeless:
Edited from the Health Department's report:
I have the report, and there is nothing in it to request the homeless be made to wander around all day long or face arrest. Sigh...
I am told the CCA are contracted to sweep the streets, empty the trash bins, and twice-weekly power wash the sidewalks of Skid Row. I've seen crews doing this. In my visits to the area, I have noted the cessation of these services sometime early or mid May. Occupy Skid Row continued to clean their area, which is outside of the Health Department report's boundaries, yet the County cleaned that street first. And of course, police then told OSR they could neither return to that street nor stay in their temporary encampment. The rule is now that the homeless must have all of their property on wheels and to keep it moving all day long between 6AM and 9PM or face arrest. Seriously. I was there, I witnessed it.
So CCA allowed a build-up of biohazards in order to call Skid Row a problem requiring their solution. Isn't it against the law to, when contracted to clean, to allow a build-up of biohazards to further your business interests? When you are using biohazards as the core of your argument against the homeless? If they are bad why are you willingly aiding in their creation? And why clean OSR before the areas cited as requiring immediate attention in the Health Department report? Creating biohazards and then ignoring them while attacking people in the way of profit. Especially while ignoring the Recomendations stated in the Health Department report. None of them say a thing about moving out or criminalizing the homeless. All of them address cleaning and also the creation of long-term housing, which my homeless friends want. Project 50 has already proven the overwhelming efficacy of such an approach. Shame on the profiteers who cannot even see the homeless as human beings in need of care and compassion.
Excellent report on the CCA:
Harsh Skid Row policies driven by business lobby, say advocates -
http://www.laactivist.com/2012/06/24/harsh-skid-row-policies-driven-by-business-lobby-say-advocates/
"Queen of LA’s mountain
If homeless advocates were looking for a fight, then by all accounts they found it. The CCA may very well be LA’s true seat of power.
In 2010, it was reported by Los Angeles Downtown News that the CCA had a budget of $2.3 million and $1.8 million in reserves. That same year, CCA gave money to every sitting city council member, according to journalist Hillel Aron.
In 2011, Los Angeles Downtown News ranked Schatz the sixth most powerful person in downtown.
Above Schatz in ranking are people she may call friends."
Previous report on Skid Row, May 25:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002770630
NATO 3 Indictment Shows Increased Terrorism Charges: 11 Felonies Each
http://truth-out.org/news/item/9917-nato-3-indictment-shows-increased-terrorism-chargesThe case of the missing indictment for the three NATO protesters charged with terrorism has been solved by the group's lawyers, who discovered the documents at the Cook County Court clerk's office and released them Wednesday.
Lawyers of the NATO 3 were initially denied access to the charges, which include material support for terrorism, possession of an incendiary device, conspiracy to commit terrorism, solicitation to commit arson, attempted arson and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. The newly released documents show each activist with 11 felony charges each, more than was originally assumed.
NATO 3 Indictment Shows Increased Terrorism Charges: 11 Felonies Each
http://truth-out.org/news/item/9917-nato-3-indictment-shows-increased-terrorism-chargesThe case of the missing indictment for the three NATO protesters charged with terrorism has been solved by the group's lawyers, who discovered the documents at the Cook County Court clerk's office and released them Wednesday.
Lawyers of the NATO 3 were initially denied access to the charges, which include material support for terrorism, possession of an incendiary device, conspiracy to commit terrorism, solicitation to commit arson, attempted arson and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. The newly released documents show each activist with 11 felony charges each, more than was originally assumed.
Occupy Los Angeles: THIS IS A POLICE STATE: 06/21/12 CCA RAID DEBRIEF (now with extra links)
For any who dislike or question the following individual's report, please see additional links at the end of this OP.
http://occupyla.tumblr.com/post/25637105036
Twitter: @occupyLA or @OWSLosAngeles
THIS IS A POLICE STATE: 06/21/12 CCA RAID DEBRIEF
#DEBRIEF
Tonight at 626Wilshire the police assaulted the camp because one lone participant was chalking. They surrounded him, wrestling him to the ground, unable to site the code they were enforcing. We reminded them that chalk is not vandalism, that it is not graffiti, it washes off, and at bare minimum it is free political speech.
We stood there, six peaceful protesters, standing our ground observing this injustice- filming the police. Questioning their authority. One pig tells us:
“Move to the corner of the sidewalk”
“If you don’t do what i tell you, i will make you”
We had not moved any closer, we were not any threat to the police officers. We were peaceful protesters. The police called back up. Squad car after squad car pulled up.
They took out their batons. They took out their pepper spray. They began screaming in our face. They incited violence and began beating us. They dragged away three of our comrades. They were laughing. We stood our ground. They are the terrorists of the police state. Any fucking pig with a badge, baton and gun is a coward. LAPD is a fully funded, militarized gang.
ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE:
These are my comrades. We work together, we love each other, we learn with each other, we are inspired, and choose to be deliberately free. They are targeting us, it is almost unbearable. We are a threat to no one other than the status quo and those who choose to make themselves enemies of rebirth and revolution.
We liberate space in front of the lobbyists, the financial and political elite, the bankers to protest the targeting of the homeless, the herding and purge of the poor on behalf of the private property owning class. This is what we get, this is the price of resistance. Constant brutality and repression, the court sytem, the prison industrial complex, monitoring and fucking fascism. The same factors that work to keep the poor and working class oppressed everyday since the dawn of time.
It gets worse for those in the struggle, before it gets better for anyone else. Both borders of the United States are experiencing mass social unrest, and this country is teetering on the edge of an awakening so brutal it can only go one of two ways. We all have power, how will you play into the history that is unfolding? They will come for your neighbor, and then they will come for you. We must unify. We must resist tyranny.
I ask you to question the meaning of your life.
I ask you to consider the centuries of oppression that have characterized humanity and to make a choice.
Will you enable it?
Will you be complicit?
When you see the world for what it is- famine, disease, oppression, greed, violence and torture- what will you do?
Will you continue swimming in the status quo, keeping it afloat because your compelled? Do you realize they have you chasing ever elusive ‘stability’ determined by your oppressors? Do you realize your television is brainwashing you?
Will you despair? Will you revolt?
We are all capable of revolting. It is in our nature as humyns to seek for a better world together, cooperatively. But you must ask yourself what it will take. And you must ask yourself.. what is the meaning of your life?
There is a solution, we work together, we strengthen the hive mind. We build collective will and energy to smash the oppressive institutions that own our bodies. The tide of human history is changing. We can employ a dual strategy: discredit and dismantle the oppressive system that stands, while simultaneously building the alternative we imagine. WE CAN AND WILL TRANSITION OUT OF CAPITALISM. Whether you are in the streets or in a cubicle, is your decision. Our life is meant to be more than production, conditioning and wage slavery. Take control over your life for the first time since you were born into this capitalist system.
Every time they beat us, our resolve is deepened. Every time they arrest us, they know not the demons they create. We are in solidarity with prisoners and resistors everywhere. Our actions, our inspirations, our resistance is more than our bodies and mind can bear. The human spirit guides us, the energies of all humyns who have fallen at the hands of the bloodthirsty monarchs and capitalists flows through our hearts.
There will be no peace, until there is justice. There will be no justice, without revolt. I don’t think you understand.
The bureaucracy is dead. Long live the revolution!
===
At Wilshire and Hope, a lesson in escalation
http://www.laactivist.com/2012/06/10/at-wilshire-and-hope-a-lesson-in-escalation/
Arrests & Terror at #626Wilshire
State Violence Increases as Occupiers Lay Siege to Perfect Villain
http://ryanricela.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/arrests-and-terror-at-626wilshire/
Harsh Skid Row policies driven by business lobby, say advocates
http://www.laactivist.com/2012/06/24/harsh-skid-row-policies-driven-by-business-lobby-say-advocates/
Occupy LA. THIS IS A POLICE STATE: 06/21/12 CCA RAID DEBRIEF
http://occupyla.tumblr.com/post/25637105036Twitter: @occupyLA or @OWSLosAngeles
THIS IS A POLICE STATE: 06/21/12 CCA RAID DEBRIEF
#DEBRIEF
Tonight at 626Wilshire the police assaulted the camp because one lone participant was chalking. They surrounded him, wrestling him to the ground, unable to site the code they were enforcing. We reminded them that chalk is not vandalism, that it is not graffiti, it washes off, and at bare minimum it is free political speech.
We stood there, six peaceful protesters, standing our ground observing this injustice- filming the police. Questioning their authority. One pig tells us:
“Move to the corner of the sidewalk”
“If you don’t do what i tell you, i will make you”
We had not moved any closer, we were not any threat to the police officers. We were peaceful protesters. The police called back up. Squad car after squad car pulled up.
They took out their batons. They took out their pepper spray. They began screaming in our face. They incited violence and began beating us. They dragged away three of our comrades. They were laughing. We stood our ground. They are the terrorists of the police state. Any fucking pig with a badge, baton and gun is a coward. LAPD is a fully funded, militarized gang.
ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE:
These are my comrades. We work together, we love each other, we learn with each other, we are inspired, and choose to be deliberately free. They are targeting us, it is almost unbearable. We are a threat to no one other than the status quo and those who choose to make themselves enemies of rebirth and revolution.
We liberate space in front of the lobbyists, the financial and political elite, the bankers to protest the targeting of the homeless, the herding and purge of the poor on behalf of the private property owning class. This is what we get, this is the price of resistance. Constant brutality and repression, the court sytem, the prison industrial complex, monitoring and fucking fascism. The same factors that work to keep the poor and working class oppressed everyday since the dawn of time.
It gets worse for those in the struggle, before it gets better for anyone else. Both borders of the United States are experiencing mass social unrest, and this country is teetering on the edge of an awakening so brutal it can only go one of two ways. We all have power, how will you play into the history that is unfolding? They will come for your neighbor, and then they will come for you. We must unify. We must resist tyranny.
I ask you to question the meaning of your life.
I ask you to consider the centuries of oppression that have characterized humanity and to make a choice.
Will you enable it?
Will you be complicit?
When you see the world for what it is- famine, disease, oppression, greed, violence and torture- what will you do?
Will you continue swimming in the status quo, keeping it afloat because your compelled? Do you realize they have you chasing ever elusive ‘stability’ determined by your oppressors? Do you realize your television is brainwashing you?
Will you despair? Will you revolt?
We are all capable of revolting. It is in our nature as humyns to seek for a better world together, cooperatively. But you must ask yourself what it will take. And you must ask yourself.. what is the meaning of your life?
There is a solution, we work together, we strengthen the hive mind. We build collective will and energy to smash the oppressive institutions that own our bodies. The tide of human history is changing. We can employ a dual strategy: discredit and dismantle the oppressive system that stands, while simultaneously building the alternative we imagine. WE CAN AND WILL TRANSITION OUT OF CAPITALISM. Whether you are in the streets or in a cubicle, is your decision. Our life is meant to be more than production, conditioning and wage slavery. Take control over your life for the first time since you were born into this capitalist system.
Every time they beat us, our resolve is deepened. Every time they arrest us, they know not the demons they create. We are in solidarity with prisoners and resistors everywhere. Our actions, our inspirations, our resistance is more than our bodies and mind can bear. The human spirit guides us, the energies of all humyns who have fallen at the hands of the bloodthirsty monarchs and capitalists flows through our hearts.
There will be no peace, until there is justice. There will be no justice, without revolt. I don’t think you understand.
The bureaucracy is dead. Long live the revolution!
Profile Information
Gender: MaleCurrent location: Los Angeles
Member since: Sat Apr 9, 2005, 09:20 PM
Number of posts: 38,893
