Posted on 10/31/2011 11:06:38 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
http://www.occupyoakland.org/openforums/announcements/
Occupy Oakland organizers are asking Oakland residents, workers and supporters to participate in a General Strike on Wednesday, Nov. 2. They're asking residents to head to downtown Oakland, 14th and Broadway for mass gatherings at 9am, 12 noon, and 5pm.
A growing number of local Labor organizations have endorsed the strike, including:
1.SEIU LOCAL 1021 Call to Action for Nov 2U.C. UAW Local Support of General Strike 2.Alameda Central Labor Council endorses Nov 2 – 3.Phillipine Airline Workers Back Oakland General Strike Call of Occupy Oakland 4.Berkeley Federation of Teachers Calls On Teachers to participate in the Wednesday, November 2nd Day of Action 5.Oakland Teachers Union OEA Executive Board endorsed Occupy Oakland’s November 2 “General Strike/Mass Day of Action” 6.Carpenters Local 713 endorses General Strike In addition, many related activities are being planned, such as a Food Justice speak-out, education/school activities, and more. The strike call states:
"We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.
All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.
While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of."
A release sent out Monday evening by the group said:
"On Monday October 31st, at 4:00 p.m., the Occupy Oakland Strike Assembly held a press conference regarding the General Strike and Mass Day of Action planned for November 2nd. Members of the Occupation as well as community, school, and labor representatives spoke in regard to the motivations and wide-reaching potential of the strike. The press conference was held at the intersection of Broadway and Telegraph, the epicenter of the 1946 Oakland General strike, the last general strike in the continental United States.
Occupy Oakland is calling for work stoppage, school walkouts and for banks and corporations to close for the day of the General Strike. Since it is recognized that not all workers will be able to strike in their workplaces on November 2nd, Occupy Oakland welcomes any form of participation which workers deem appropriate. Workers are encouraged to join the mass day of actions before or after work, or during lunch hours. Further in support of workers and students, the Occupy Oakland Strike Assembly has unanimously agreed to picket and/or occupy any business or school, which disciplines employees or students in any way for participating in the November 2nd strike and day of action.
Demonstrations for the General Strike will converge at three different times; 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. at the intersection of 14th and Broadway.
At 5 p.m. groups will converge at 14th and Broadway and march to the Port of Oakland to shut it down before the 7 p.m. night shift. "This is being done in order to blockade the flow of capital on the day of the General Strike, as well as to show solidarity with the Longshore workers in their struggle against EGT in Longview, Washington," said Oakland hip-hop artist and community organizer Boots Riley.
EGT, an international grain exporter, is attempting to rupture Longshore jurisdiction. "The driving force behind EGT is Bunge LTD, a leading agribusiness and food company that has strong ties to Wall Street. This is but one example of Wall Street’s corporate attack on workers," stated Riley.
Clarence Thomas, the national co-chair of Million Worker March Movement and a third generation Longshore worker, re-iterated the now famous message of the Occupy movement: "I stand in solidarity with the Occupy Oakland movement in its call for general strikes in the U.S. and around the world," he stated. "It is the workers who create value and wealth which the 1 percent hoards for themselves to the detriment of the 99 percent."
Other speakers discussed the origins, the priorities, and the potential of the General Strike.
The urgent move to call for a General Strike emerged as a response to the raiding of the camp and the police repression following the raids. Speaker Cat Brooks from the Onyx organizing committee stated: "The actions of the Oakland police department on Tuesday during the raid of the encampment and the way they dealt with peaceful protesters is typical of the brutality and force that the police execute daily in low income communities of color across the state and throughout the nation. It is because of the need for continued resistance to police repression that the Onyx organizing committee will join the general strike on Wednesday."
The Occupy movement has been working to bring light to Oaklands' legacy of police brutality and the General Strike will highlight the continued resistance to police repression. At the same time as finances are directed towards police activity, schools, and libraries face the consequences of austerity measures. The day following the raid on the encampment, it was announced that 5 schools would be closing this year. In addition, currently 14 out of 18 libraries and 2 additional schools are being threatened with closure. Occupy Oakland stands in defense of schools and libraries and calls for a national response to reclaim public services and spaces.
Speaker Loise Michel, who has been involved in the occupation since day one stated: "since the occupy movement began in mid September, people all over the nation, frustrated with the current economic system have shown their capabilities to reclaim space and self organize. Now the time has come for our resistance to expand out of the plazas and parks and into the streets, workplaces, and schools." Furthermore Michel stated, "We call on our comrades in the global occupation movement to join us in organizing general strikes and reclaim what is ours."
The Occupy movement has now become a global struggle; following the General Strike and Mass day of Action, the movement will continue to fight a system built on inequality and corporate power through occupations, mass mobilizations, and other acts of resistance."
All that and he also has the time to be a Conservative Supreme Court Justice? Go figure.
Don’t you need a job to strike?
Fire them all.
Oakland sucks.
It sucks Big Time.
It sucks on a Cosmological Scale.
It sucks Beyond All Human Comprehension.
I’d rather vacation in Zimbabwe than drive through deepist, darkist Oakland.
And these comical children and grand children of the 60’s hippies are proof that drug usage causes inter generational genetic damage.
At least the original stoopid fucking hippies didn’t know that communism didn’t work, in the 60’s the Soviet Union had not yet collapsed, communist China had not gone capitalist, Pol Pot had not perfected the art of random insane national suicide/genocide.
I could go on, but why bother?
Personally, I would arm all inhabitants of Oakland who want a weapon. Then I would sit back and watch them destroy themselves in internecine warfare. Then I would watch as the orientals take over the city and make something of it. Sixty years ago, the city wasn’t half bad. No San Francisco, for sure, but still it had a vital downtown.
Mega ( union ) Corporations sponsor occupy wall street!
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