On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@Last Resort@twitter The Occupy Wall Street protesters are dealing with the same problem in NYC. There's no solution yet. Here's yet another article re the issue. Moving indoors as this article suggests rather negates the point of occupying public space http://www.businessinsider.com/what-occupy-wall-street-has-become-2010-11City
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@Homey I am very sympathetic to the victims of drug addiction and mental illness as are members of the encampment. On their own Occupy LA has rounded up as many mental health professionals as could be found to come in and try to sort out the situation and even find places for those who will go for help.
However, the Occupy Movement has a stated purpose which has drawn donations. The donors' wishes should be respected up to a point. All-comers seem to eat there but further "benefits" for all would pose a problem, considering the scarcity of resources, and probably be off-putting for donors.
Also, and most importantly, Occupy LA protesters are not mental health/ addiction specialists unless that happens to be their field in their professional lives. I don't think amateur attempts at helping "scary street people" is particularly useful, may be harmful and could get someone hurt.
Occupy LA protesters' talents lie elsewhere. If they are successful in helping to bring our society into balance professional help will be available to all of our most vulnerable. There's no sense in getting sidetracked by societies ills and the woefully inadequate response to them if it means taking energy and resources away from the main goals which, after all, will benefit the entire population.
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@Natasha Vargas-Cooper You may have had some valid reason for reporting Kat's ancestry, although I cannot fathom it at the moment. However, if you felt it was important enough to be included, why didn't you just ask her instead of making something up? Making assumptions about an individual's ancestry rarely ends well.
And why report that Kat had dirty fingernails? It sounds like the standard Fox News smear and plays into an unfortunate stereotype about protesters. It wasn't "dirt" as should have been obvious by observation. Kat's on the Print Crew and only had time to quickly wipe the black silk-screen ink off her hands before she could make herself available on short notice to replace an absent stacker for a meeting. How are my objections to what I see as journalistic lapses "cute"?
I'd share your other comments about Kat with her but she's in Oakland this week using her photography skills to document the General Strike there in support of the injured Occupy Oakland protesters. She declined to read your article before she left after seeing the sensationalized headline. She's got zero interest in clippings about herself anyway or being seen as a "leader".
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@Matt Cornell You've raised some valid issues, some of which I agree with. (And I too find 'New-Age' types tiresome in the extreme, but they don't cause any harm IMHO in small doses.) I don't think your remarks apply however to every individual at Occupy LA or even most. Also, there have been some outstanding speakers at Occupy LA who are on point with the main issues that caused the Occupy Movement to come into being, especially the criminal class' destruction of our economy/society/environment and 'our' politicians' collusion with them.
Many groups have endorsed the Occupy Movement. The Occupy movement endorses no one. Occupy LA in no way seeks co-opting or endorsing by the Democrats. Party politics are seen as part of the problem, especially since both parties have been equally bought by the banks and large corporations.The President serves as a useful example in that he's disabused even the most true believer of the notion that some messiah is going to come and save us. I don't know anyone who's going to vote for him on his merits, just through fear of the Republicans.
Occupy LA does march with other groups, as do the other Occupy cities. The bank arrests you spoke of were a planned action by another group. They asked that Occupy LA step back when the time came as the other group (I cannot remember their name just now) wanted to make a statement by being arrested and wanted no confusion about who was making it.
There really are no leaders. Here's one explanation of how the Occupy Movement works: http://falkvinge.net/2011/08/01/swarmwise-what-is-a-swarm/ The ideal of personal responsibility for our political lives is very important. Leaders would be detrimental to that as they intimidate some from coming forward and cause others to assume that everything's being taken care of by the leaders so they can drop their responsibility and flip the TV back on (that's a real danger with Americans in particular, as that's what they've always been trained to do). If someone becomes too entrenched in a certain position, looking after the Library or whatever, they step back so someone else can take their place. All group decisions are made in the General Assemblies by consensus.
@Last Resort, again, I find the city officials remarks to you, going by your description, cynical at best and very disturbing. The Occupy Movement is completely non-violent. If evicted I feel confident that the protesters would resist non-violently as protesters in other Occupy cities have done, even allowing themselves to be arrested (Occupy LA has been trained on that score by the National Lawyers Guild. There has been extensive non-violence training at Occupy LA). It is the police who have been violent in those instances such as Oakland. The Occupy Oakland protesters are now back in their encampment with replacement tents and belongings provided by donors. The mayor has apologized to them.
Recently there have been a series of legal rulings in various jurisdictions protecting the protestors Constitutional rights to Free Speech/Assembly over any local ordinances re curfews etc.. Also, in the New York state capital, Albany police and State Police refused a direct order from the Governor to clear the Occupy protesters. They said that the protesters were causing no trouble, seemed to be within their rights and well represented the concerns of citizens, including the police. The mayor of Albany also backs the protesters and the city police department.
My assumption is the troublemakers at the City Hall encampment might well become violent if they were forced to leave. I do not have a solution to that, I'm just sorry that the City Council hosts them too.
You and Occupy LA are not the first to deal with this problem. I remember in the early 1970's when the authorities were first emptying the mental hospitals. A friend's husband headed up Central Library then and would see whole bus loads of former inmates dumped at the door. As the library filled up with the seriously disturbed, legitimate patrons fled. My friend's husband retired (as had already been scheduled) so I never heard what happened in the end.
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@rhetoricpig I wouldn't expect anyone to. But the author might have asked rather than just making something up.
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@Last Resort@twitter It's very obvious to the Occupy LA campers who is participating in running the camp and furthering the aims of the Movement and who is merely a hanger-on looking for free food and a 'cop-free zone'. Occupy LA has no authority to move the troublemakers and free-loaders off city land. They are belligerent and potentially (and sometimes actually) violent and would not shift even for the Farmers' Market. If I understood you correctly the City Council is apparently, and very cynically if you ask me, leading the neighbors to believe that all campers at City Hall are associated with Occupy LA. The City Council offers no help and seems to be rather amused by the predicament Occupy LA and the neighbors are in.The LAPD will remove no one unless they perpetrate an actual physical assault (which has happened). I am in support of the protesters aims but am constantly worried for the safety of my young-adult son and daughter who are at the encampment several days a week. Perhaps you could make yourself known at the Welcome Tent, meet with some of the protestors and approach the City Council together. I'm sorry I cannot join you but I am a wheelchair-bound shut-in.
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
You are wrong on #1, #3 & #4 on your list. #5 has been discussed at length, as it is a "triggering" word. The governments of Japan and Palestine have forbidden the term for their Occupy-type groups.
#1 Kat is well aware that nicotine is a drug, but thank you for pointing that out to her again.
#2. That's a matter of opinion.
#3 The chief of the Tongva People, the Chief of Los Angeles, has been to the encampment to endorse and bless the protesters. An excellent man who I have known for close to twenty years. There are many indigenous people from across the US involved in the Occupy Movement. (Even Kat is Scots-English/Mescalero Apache -not 'Slavic" as the author claims, though Idk if that counts w/ you.)
#4 Not true. The occupy Movement focuses on the criminal elites that have caused millions to suffer all over the world and on the desire to both bring them to justice and to bring our societies, economies and environment back into balance. Crony capitalism may be despised but not capitalism per se. All the other oppressions you speak of are recognized as huge wrongs within the Movement and we hope to end them. Balanced societies would be a start.
And BTW, that's screen ink under Kat's fingernails (& on her jacket) not "dirt". Kat is a member of the Print Crew. The author was very busy making up "facts" all through this article. Lazy "journalism". If there's two factions at Occupy LA, I'd say it's The City Council & their scary street-people allies/troops who are invited by the city to camp in City Hall Park too vs. Occupy LA & the Neighbors.
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@Last Resort@twitter http://www.occupylosangeles.org/?q=node/1370#comment-3793
Do you actually use your twitter acct?
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@Last Resort@twitter Thank you! You do understand! Occupy LA has been occupied on purpose. This is the City Council's plan to get Occupy LA to leave.
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On The Night Occupy Los Angeles Tore Itself In Two
@Last Resort@twitter The Mayor's office has finally admitted "“we recognize that a number of the individuals who are on the lawn are not affiliated with the Occupy L.A. protest.” (LA Times). Ask the Mayor what they're doing there & also ask why he's hosting them. Whatever the answer ask him to have them removed.