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You are here: Home / In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley

In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley

by DougJ|  November 2, 20111:20 pm| 103 Comments

This post is in: Jump! You Fuckers!

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If any of you live in the East Bay, let us know in the comments how this is developing:

After Oakland emerged as a new center for the Occupy Wall Street movement — largely because an Iraq war veteran was seriously injured in a clash with police — local protest leaders decided on a tactic with a storied history in the city: a general strike.

The strike, scheduled for Wednesday, aims to disrupt commerce, with a special focus on banks and other symbols of corporate America. Protesters will also try to shut the city’s port, one of the nation’s largest, in the late afternoon.

Local labor leaders, although generally sympathetic to the Occupy movement, say their contracts prohibit them from proclaiming an official strike. City officials say government offices are scheduled to be open; it’s unclear whether many businesses will heed the call to close down for the day.

What’s a good place to follow this? I lived there many years ago, but the relevant outlets have probably changed.

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Reader Interactions

103Comments

  1. 1.

    Chyron HR

    November 2, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    Hey, I recongnized one. About fucking time.

  2. 2.

    Reality Check

    November 2, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    TAKE IT TO TEH STREETZ, maaaaaan!

    Fucking aging boomer morons still stuck in the Sixties.

  3. 3.

    Brachiator

    November 2, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    What’s a good place to follow this? I lived there many years ago, but the relevant outlets have probably changed

    Might as well go local:

    City gears up for general strike, which could bring thousands to downtown Oakland

    and

    Oakland teachers take off work, students stay

    At least 13 percent of city’s teachers took the day off to join the Occupy Oakland action. Students don’t miss school.

  4. 4.

    eemom

    November 2, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    Roland was the best.

  5. 5.

    Steve

    November 2, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    I don’t think a general strike is good PR in the middle of an economic downturn. But I doubt this is going to have any more effect than all those chain emails that encourage you not to buy gas next Friday in order to send a message to the oil companies.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    November 2, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    The Guardian has a live blog..

  7. 7.

    Reality Check

    November 2, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    Oakland teachers take off work, students stay

    But remember–public school teachers do it all for The Children ™.

  8. 8.

    bourbaki

    November 2, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    @Steve: Uh why?

    You do realize how militant labor was during the great depression don’t you?

  9. 9.

    Chyron HR

    November 2, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    @Reality Check:

    Looks like you Waffle House Patriots have a new public enemy #1.

  10. 10.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    “That son of a bitch van Owen, blew off Roland’s head!”

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    Reality Check is van Owen.

    Pass it on.

    You’ll find him in Mombassa, in a bar room drinking gin.

  12. 12.

    Chyron HR

    November 2, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    @Reality Check:

    Fucking aging boomer morons still stuck in the Sixties! That’s why we lost Vietnam! Up with John McCain, down with Laugh-In! I don’t like the looks of that Donovan guy, neither!

    Does AARP give you a discount on onions to tie to your belt?

  13. 13.

    Mnemosyne

    November 2, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    I have to say, the more hysterical the right becomes about OWS, the more I think that OWS is on the right track, even if they are dirty fucking hippies.

    (Let’s face it, we’re talking about Oakland — the proportion of actual real-life DFH’s is going to be quite high when compared to other cities.)

    (Edited for pronoun trouble.)

  14. 14.

    jl

    November 2, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    Was going to say the Guardian blog, but comment 6 beat me to it.

    KCBS radio has been good about getting reporters on scene quick for live reports. This morning they had a few stationed around the port and likely hot spots downtown. You can listen over the internet.

    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/station/kcbs/

  15. 15.

    mpbruss

    November 2, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    A large U.S. city may actually have something approximating a general strike. Did anybody see that coming?

  16. 16.

    jl

    November 2, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    Love them Waffle House waffles, but always sensed it was a sketchy place, where violent revolutionists would hang out and plot against common decency.

  17. 17.

    PTirebiter

    November 2, 2011 at 1:40 pm

    Patty Hearst heard the burst in Oakland?

  18. 18.

    jl

    November 2, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    @mpbruss: In SF and Oakland, something like that would come along sooner or later. Part of the murals at Coit Tower commemorates a big one that happened in the 30s. It’s a commie mural, disliked by right thinking people.

    I was surprised how soon it came up, though.

  19. 19.

    different-church-lady

    November 2, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    @Chyron HR: check in tomorrow, when instead of aging boomers it will be a bunch of lazy, dirty 20-somethings just out of college that are the problem.

  20. 20.

    Yevgraf

    November 2, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    Patty Hearst, heard the burst, of Roland’s Thompson gun…

    …And bought it….

  21. 21.

    agrippa

    November 2, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    @Reality Check: TAKE IT TO TEH STREETZ, maaaaaan!

    Fucking aging boomer morons still stuck in the Sixties.

    epic fail, keyboard commando!

  22. 22.

    WeeBey

    November 2, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    He found him in Mombassa, in a barroom drinking gin.

  23. 23.

    agrippa

    November 2, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    @Reality Check:

    But remember—public school teachers do it all for The Children™.

    the keyboard commando fails sarcasm school.

  24. 24.

    Bubblegum Tate

    November 2, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    I live in Oakland, but I went to work today. I know, shame on me. But I’m pretty cynical about what this strike will actually accomplish (I view it as analogous to those utterly pointless “don’t buy gas on Friday–stick it to the oil companies!” things), and I feel like shutting down the port is extremely counterproductive.

    Plus, having lived here for a while now, I’m kind of over the non-stop protesting that happens here, even when I’m sympathetic to the general thrust of the protest (as I am here).

  25. 25.

    agrippa

    November 2, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    I was expecting this; and, it taking place in Oakland is no surprise.

  26. 26.

    eemom

    November 2, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    Why DID Zevon put Patty Hearst in that song?

  27. 27.

    Brian R.

    November 2, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    I, for one, love Reality Check’s posts. You can practically hear him stamping his angry little feet. It. Is. ADORABLE!

  28. 28.

    srv

    November 2, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    No helicopters over SF, so nothing going on here.

    indybay.org will probably have pictures after noon.

    kpfa.org is broadcasting it

  29. 29.

    Origuy

    November 2, 2011 at 1:54 pm

    The East Bay Express, the local alt-weekly, has several blogs covering it.

  30. 30.

    pete

    November 2, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    @eemom: Good question. I always viewed it as a comment on the romanticization of violence, as a contributory factor to Patty’s Stockholm syndrome. Did Warren ever say?

  31. 31.

    goblue72

    November 2, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    I live a few blocks from ground zero of the Occcupy Oakland events. I didn’t notice all that much this morning on my way to work in SF. As much as I respect (as a transit commuter) them calling off occupying the BART stations, I think they should have – disruption is part of the effectiveness of a General Strike – you kinda gotta make people feel some discomfort and pain in order to be effective. I hate to say it, but nobody gave a sh$t about Oscar Grant until they set the city on fire.

  32. 32.

    ruemara

    November 2, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    public workers have a no strike clause in their contracts. At least, in california. However, we can all get very ill at the same time, probably due to air currents. I’ve always felt that what this country needs is a good old public worker strike that’s nationwide. Good on Oakland, I wish them the best.

  33. 33.

    cleek

    November 2, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    this Oakland thing is over the top.

    an explicit anti-capitalism and “anti-colonialism” message, along with Soviet-style poster imagery is just not going to play well outside of the 1% who make up the fringey far-left.

    complaints about how the top 1% are playing by different rules resonate. complaints that white men are ruling CA as colonializers will not resonate.

  34. 34.

    cathyx

    November 2, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    Here is where Reality Check gets his information:

    Republican For Dummies: A Translation Guide

    This site won’t let me link it, but if you google it, you can read everything he has been saying.

  35. 35.

    Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937

    November 2, 2011 at 2:02 pm

    live blog from ‘Inside Bay Area’

    also

    Veterans Are Marching On Wall Street today.

  36. 36.

    Violet

    November 2, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    @cleek:
    Dunno….it’s been 25 years since the Berlin Wall fell and a lot of people don’t have much of a feeling for the Soviet era one way or another. If anything, it’s kind of cool and fashionable.

  37. 37.

    cleek

    November 2, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    @Violet:

    If anything, it’s kind of cool and fashionable.

    among kids who are too young to have real memories of the Soviet era, sure.

  38. 38.

    Mino

    November 2, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    Baby steps, people. Yesterday all I heard was “it can’t be done without weeks of organizing”. Well, maybe so/maybe not.

  39. 39.

    kindness

    November 2, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    Oakland… they have the streets blocked off around the Civic Center. It’s pretty quiet around us here (about 5 blocks north of Civic Center). I see a few groups of people with signs wandering around where we are. There seems to be a crowd down at the Civic Center though. They were out in the street on Broadway. You can hear helicopters overhead. Didn’t look to see if they were News, Police or black helicopters (look out it’s the UN invading!). Lots of security folks on the corners all looking to see if hordes of DFHs make their way up here.

    The Occupy Oakland folk are cool. They’re peacable and seem to be trying to keep it that way. It’s tough though. There’s always a few anarchists who like any excuse to do dumb stuff. We’ll see how it pans out.

  40. 40.

    eemom

    November 2, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    @pete:

    did a bit o’ googling just now: apparently Hearst used a Thompson gun in a robbery after she supposedly joined her kidnappers, the SLA.

    Bonus trivia question: how many on this thread are old enough to know what I’m talking about?

  41. 41.

    Mino

    November 2, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    She held a Thompson during a robbery.

  42. 42.

    Yevgraf

    November 2, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    @eemom:

    Bonus trivia question: how many on this thread are old enough to know what I’m talking about?

    Regretfully, me. I was in middle school.

  43. 43.

    Violet

    November 2, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    @cleek:
    Well that includes anyone younger than, say 35, since they were ten when the wall fell. Maybe even 40, since most kids at age 15 are (were) probably not paying much attention to world politics.

  44. 44.

    Linnaeus

    November 2, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    @eemom:

    Bonus trivia question: how many on this thread are old enough to know what I’m talking about?

    I was alive then, but too young to know what was going on at the time. I’ve learned since then.

  45. 45.

    MikeJ

    November 2, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    @eemom: Camper Van are old enough.

  46. 46.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    @eemom:

    There’s a pretty famous picture of “Tania”, wearing a beret(!) and holding a weapon of some sort (not sure if it was an actual Thompson gun, might have been a grease gun (if you were ever in the Army, you know the one I’m talking about, and hey, it’s for image, for the love of Remington) at an SLA hold up of some bank branch somewhere in the Bay area.

  47. 47.

    kindness

    November 2, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    @Mino: no she didn’t. She held a Thompson in her SLA picture. During the robbery she had some automatic with a banana clip. You can’t hide a Thompson under your overcoat. Thompson’s have round drum clips not banana clips.

  48. 48.

    Southern Beale

    November 2, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    6 Democratic Senators introduce legislation to overturn Citizens United.

  49. 49.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    Here we go, linkies to fun photos!

    Patty Hearst posing in front of a SLA banner

    Here’s the photo from the Hibernia bank heist

  50. 50.

    The Other Chuck

    November 2, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    @kindness:

    Actually, Thompsons could take box magazines too, and there’s pics on wikipedia of both configurations. I think the box magazine was always straight tho, not a “banana clip”

  51. 51.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    November 2, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    @eemom: Worse that that. I not only know what you’re talking about but can correct teh google on the topic. She held a Thompson for her famous SLA photo. In the actual bank robbery she carried a more contemporary weapon, no doubt for relative ease of concealment.

  52. 52.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    I’m happy to say that my man Merkley is in on this one.

  53. 53.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    November 2, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Steven Weed

  54. 54.

    kindness

    November 2, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Well the pictures tell the story. No Thompsons in either image. Thanks for clearing that up Velago Delenda Est.

    My bad.

  55. 55.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    @Brian R.:

    They’re widdle feet. Need that for the full monty on this one.

  56. 56.

    pete

    November 2, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Thanks all!

    Yes, I am old enough to remember the SLA, and to have thought the beret was pretty cool. I always had a lot of sympathy with Patty, who is 5 years younger than me. But I never knew nothing about no guns. So, if what she posed holding was a Thompson gun, then I’d say my original speculation holds up pretty well.

  57. 57.

    Linda Featheringill

    November 2, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    @eemom: #40

    old enough to know what I’m talking about

    Absolutely.

    But then, on some days I’m older than dirt. :-)

  58. 58.

    HG Hay

    November 2, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    @eemom: I’m not old enough to remember them from real life, but I do know about Patty and the SLA thanks to John Waters.

  59. 59.

    catclub

    November 2, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    @Violet: Why is 1989 25 years ago? Was the Kennedy assassination 50 years ago?

  60. 60.

    trollhattan

    November 2, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    Me, I’d monitor things from Zachary’s on College Ave but I’ve decided to stay away from Oakland and Oakland’s finest for the time being.

  61. 61.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    November 2, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    Know who Joseph Remiro is?

  62. 62.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    @kindness:

    “Thompson gun” is kinda generic slang for “machine gun”, but there is a specific weapon that is a Thompson submachine gun which is most closely associated with prohibition gangsters and 30’s bankrobbing outlaws like John Dillinger.

    Patty’s not brandishing a Tommy Gun (or a “Chicago Piano”, for that matter) in the photo, but some other submachine gun.

    Technically, machine guns are crew served weapons (require a gunner and an ammo feeder) while submachine guns are designed to provide automatic fire for an individual.

  63. 63.

    Poopyman

    November 2, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    @eemom: My roommate and I were sophomores and had just came back from the dining hall and turned on the radio. What we first thought was a (bad) radio play turned out to be the live broadcast from the shootout.

    Fun times, the mid-70s.

  64. 64.

    Joel

    November 2, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    Related to the Google talk discussed earlier…

  65. 65.

    Poopyman

    November 2, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    @catclub: Gettin’ there! And then when they unseal the Warren Commission papers nobody will really care ’cause politics are really poisoned now to the point that whatever the WC concluded won’t shock anybody.

  66. 66.

    JC

    November 2, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    I feel similar, in a lot of ways. The issue is, Oakland proper, SF proper, is not ‘THE MAN’, in this case. Is not the problem.

    Like in the 50’s, you protested the businesses that WERE DISCRIMINATORY.

    So too, now, I would join a protest that camped out in Wells Fargo corporate, but SF and Oakland proper, are not the villians here.

    Now, the Oakland general strike as a means to protest the thuggish police tactics? That I understand.

  67. 67.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    @cleek:

    The propaganda of the old Soviet Union did all the right things, even if the reality was totally different than the idealism of the propaganda.

    It’s like how the analysis of Das Kapital is pretty good, even if the proposed solution is really heavy on the entire underpants gnome meme.

  68. 68.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    November 2, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    I work in Oakland about two blocks from Frank Ogawa Plaza but didn’t go in this morning. I absolutely have to be back home in SF tonight and didn’t want to take a chance on getting stuck if BART is disrupted. As for the protest/march – I’m torn. I support OWS and would have liked to participate in the march, but as several others have noted, there’s a small but significant local contingent of self-proclaimed anarchists who are determined to make everything go to shit. They’re there – I recognized a couple of them on the news coverage this morning. If I saw one of those little pricks getting out of control, I’d probably get into a fight, and I’m too old for that. Also, selfishly, I’m really, REALLY tired of having helicopters hovering outside my office window all damned day, every day. So, kids, lawn, etc.

    And that song makes me smile (grimly) and run a little faster every time it comes on my iPod.

  69. 69.

    Joel

    November 2, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    @cleek: while I agree, I can only say: “It takes all kinds”. Refer to the John Oliver piece on the Daily Show from last week or so.

  70. 70.

    Linda Featheringill

    November 2, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: #67

    Not all the posters are Soviet-era in style.

    http://www.occupyoakland.org

    [I like the wild cat. :-)]

  71. 71.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    November 2, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: I remember when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and the old line commies in Champaign-Urbana paraded around with signs that said “Hail the Red Army, Smash Islamic Resistance” in front of the union.

  72. 72.

    scav

    November 2, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    @eemom: Barely. Out for dinner, TV on wall with something live, that really bad 70s panelling behind it. Chinese food. drat being in one of those cuspy generations. Can’t participate fully in all the really good memories.

  73. 73.

    Richard W. Crews

    November 2, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    A strike can be targetted; let’s have a week where we all go to Bank Of America, make accounts with a few dollars in them, then write and cash checks to each other of a dime or so, use all the free checks and all their time! Get 30 people in line to cash a 10cent check.
    Gp to an Exxopn gas station, put down a $20, wash the windows, buy a qurrters worth of gas, get back change, then repeat.
    Plug them up for a point!

  74. 74.

    Yutsano

    November 2, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    There was a random bankstah sign crossing Union on 5th in downtown Seattle this morning. Might be something happening today.

  75. 75.

    NobodySpecial

    November 2, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Don’t mind cleek, he’s getting his reasonable Democrat on.

  76. 76.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 2:44 pm

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred):

    Well, they’ve got a lot in common with Pam Geller, then!

  77. 77.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    November 2, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    @eemom: Oh, big time. Live coverage of the SLA shootout/fire in LA is one of the most horrifying memories of my teen years. It wasn’t known at the time whether Hearst was in the house, but knowing that people – however evil – were being burned to death before my eyes…

  78. 78.

    scav

    November 2, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    @Yutsano:

    random bankstah sign crossing Union on 5th

    I’m getting a rather pleasurable vision of an anti-little-green walking man here: Little green guy in spats flashing “Accelerate” or “Aim Here” or “Super Bonus Round” in any order. Probably not what you mean, sigh.

  79. 79.

    some guy

    November 2, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    the Black Cat is an homage to the Wobblies, who perfected the art of the general strike. Google “IWW Black Cat” for examples.

  80. 80.

    xian

    November 2, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    http://oaklandlocal.com/

  81. 81.

    some guy

    November 2, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred):

    so how did that work out in the end? oh right, Our Man Bin Laden.

  82. 82.

    catclub

    November 2, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Huh.
    makes sense.

    So a marine needs help swimming but a submarine can swim on its own.

  83. 83.

    David in NY

    November 2, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    @Southern Beale: “overturn Citizens United”

    They can overturn the First Amendment? Seriously, how’s that gonna work. Oh, I know, I could click the link.

    Ed: Oh, I did click the link. It’s not just “legislation” they’re introducing to overturn CU. It’s a “constitutional amendment.”

    Well, good luck

  84. 84.

    different-church-lady

    November 2, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    @Richard W. Crews: Yeah. Okay. That’ll lead to change alright.

  85. 85.

    Poopyman

    November 2, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    @catclub: … And a Supermarine can fly!

  86. 86.

    David in NY

    November 2, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    @catclub: “Why is 1989 25 years ago?”

    I’ve been asking my wife to stop this odd phenomenon for several decades now, but she just ignores me.

  87. 87.

    Nemesis

    November 2, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    And here I am thinking Im all cool and plugged-in and shit because I know the song and the artist, but damn people, I got nuttin’ on you folks when it comes to ancient tuneage.

  88. 88.

    cleek

    November 2, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    @NobodySpecial:
    oops. sorry.

    BURN IT ALL DOWN!

    better?

  89. 89.

    NobodySpecial

    November 2, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    @cleek: Nah, we know you’ll never mean it in your heart. Don’t bother.

  90. 90.

    kindness

    November 2, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    OK, just got back from the Civic Center Plaza. Passed a large contingent marching down Franklin St as I was going down there. Looks like they are gathering in front of the banks (BofA has a branch at 19th & Harrison). Everyone was really peaceful. Down at the Civic Center they are taking turns speaking but it all seems positive. No one is saying kill anyone. Big cross section of folks. Old people, kids, lotta boomers. But real nice. No angst & the cops are being very cool. Blocking off the streets for the marchers as they go. Some folk talking smack about the cops but most are reminding people they are on our side, other than what happened last week & the cops are acting the part. I’d say there were about 1,000 people but since they were so scattered about it’s hard for me to say exactly.

    Fox will try to make this ugly but I don’t see how they’ll be able to do it.

    Good for our side.

  91. 91.

    Steve

    November 2, 2011 at 3:34 pm

    @Southern Beale: They couldn’t even manage to overcome a filibuster on the DISCLOSE Act, which is a mere statute, so a constitutional amendment is pretty obvious showboating.

  92. 92.

    Southern Beale

    November 2, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    @Steve:

    You never know. If they didn’t there’s be all of this whining about “WHY AREN’T THE DEMS DOING ANYTHING!!!!”

    It’s a fucking start.

  93. 93.

    cleek

    November 2, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    @NobodySpecial:
    whew.

  94. 94.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 2, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    @Nemesis:

    Of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best

  95. 95.

    Poopyman

    November 2, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    @kindness:

    Good for our side.

    What a field day for the heat
    A thousand people standing in the street
    Singing songs and carrying the signs, oh no
    They mostly say “hooray for our side”

  96. 96.

    kindness

    November 2, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    Stop Children, What’s that sound?
    Everybody look what’s goin’ down….

    yea.

  97. 97.

    Violet

    November 2, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    @catclub:
    Okay, I got it wrong. It’s 22 years ago. Pretty close, and for the arguments I was making, still fairly applicable. There are a lot of people who have no memory of the Soviet Union, and a lot more who have hazy memories of it. The numbers of folks who will be freaked out by Soviet-style fonts and drawings on posters is getting smaller every day.

  98. 98.

    goblue72

    November 2, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    @kindness: Its CITY CENTER where all the shops are, and Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall. But it is NOT “Civic Center”. Civic Center is in San Francisco. #crotchetyoaklander

  99. 99.

    David in NY

    November 2, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    @Southern Beale: I was sort of glad to see somebody’s proposed an amendment. Now I’ll have to read it.

  100. 100.

    kindness

    November 2, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    @goblue72: Thanks for the correction. I went to the place with all the City, State & Federal buildings at 14th & Broadway.

    You may want to get your caplock key checked. It seems to be acting up.

  101. 101.

    Joe Max

    November 2, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    The Mercury News has a live blog running:

    http://www.mercurynews.com/occupy-oakland/ci_19247016?source=rss

    The crowd is doing a good job of trying to keep a lid on the anarchist assholes:

    2:45 p.m. Whole Foods-fight – As marchers approached the Whole Foods Market near Lake Merritt, a small group of people in black infiltrated the group, smashing the windows and throwing paint at the store. Other demonstrators who had marched to Whole Foods enveloped the agitators, forcing them to stop. Fist-fights broke out. No one went inside; the store closed before the crowd arrived. After the incident, the crowd continued to move down Grand Avenue. Protesters on Twitter appear to be trying to find the people responsible for the vandalism.

  102. 102.

    goblue72

    November 2, 2011 at 9:18 pm

    @kindness: THIS IS AN ABUSE OF THE CAPS LOCK.

    THIS is not.

    Douche.

  103. 103.

    ChrisNYC

    November 2, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    This site has livestreams from all of the Occupys.

    http://www.occupystreams.org/

    This site is for the NYC general assembly.

    http://www.nycga.net/

    Just a note — the anarchists are not “infiltrators” — they are a huge part of the movement. OWS calls them “provacateurs” when that’s convenient but they are a lot of the organizers.

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