All the hard work. All the positive goodwill generated by yesterday’s peaceful action.
All effectively erased from the public discussion due to the action of a handful of people lighting fires and vandalizing. WTF! This plays into the hands of the right wing fringe.
I dont know what can be done since we are an inclusive movement. But, at minimum, GA must vote to issue a statement disavowing the violence.
No disrespect to our Anarchist friends, but we need to continue to build our base across the world, not let the movement be held hostage by people who believe that violence is acceptable.
Maybe I am naive. The trouble makers probably won’t restrain themselves or care about a consensus reached at GA. And I dont know how you even can implement a policy such as “don’t bail/give legal support to the violent and the vandals who do get arrested”.
But I can tell you, that the image of OO is no longer Scott Olsen… it is the guy in a mask
“we failed to pass this resolution??” how could that be? there was no GA on thursday. how could anything be proposed and voted on?…
Almost 300 of us having been working in a couple Facebook groups (one on resolution verbage and the other on enactment strategy) to address this issue. We hope to get OccupyOakland officially declared a non-violent movement, and are figuring out when is best to bring the vote. If someone went forward with a vote yesterday (which for us was too soon for us to feel prepared to actually prevail in a vote), that means we need to be doubly prepared when we bring our proposal forward. Here is what we have developed:
Because we recognize that we are members of a larger community, locally and nationally
Because we acknowledge that our actions affect others and can either strengthen or jeopardize our movement’s goals
Because our movement must continue to gain strength of numbers in order to reverse the injustices of our society as a whole
Because we seek to improve the lives of the 99% here and everywhere across our country
And because we recognize that the vast majority of the community as a whole does not intend ‘a diversity of methods and tactics’ to include every possible form of human behavior
We, the members of Occupy Oakland, resolve to conduct ourselves using protest behaviors consistent with a message of community responsibility and pride.
Those behaviors include confronting power through our voices, general strikes, sit-ins, marches, boycotts, and any other non-violent means of civil protest.
We neither instigate nor condone violence.
We do not physically harm others, nor maliciously vandalize property.
We will continue to resist those forces that harm our country economically and socially and to pressure the powerful through direct confrontation.
*****
If you’d like to provide your input to the resolution or the strategies group, please look for the group OccupyOaklandNon-ViolenceResolutionWorkgroup on Facebook. Please also let us know if there are other groups you have contact info for already working on this issue. We have dialogue right now with several groups, but welcome all in favor of non-violent protest into the conversation.
Unfortunately, dwidelock and everybody else, we apparently failed to pass this resolution yesterday at the GA. The best that the GA could do was pass a resolution urging people to help clean up the mess. This is a profound failure. I have been supporting by bringing food, tarps & blankets, and by marching with Occupy Oakland at all marches since its inception. I had planned to go the next step and begin occupying Snow Park this weekend, but now I am backing off that plan due to the GA’s inability to condemn violence and vandalism. We are allowing a small group of people to prevent this movement from reaching the masses of Americans.
I’ve been very ambivalent about Occupy Oakland, but last night I was pretty high about the General Strike. At least symbolically effective, I thought it showed the power and vitality of the movement.
This morning’s news sure harshed my turn-on.
How does Occupy Oakland used “Democratic Self-Regulation” to make it clear that the violent confrontations after 10PM on Wednesday are NOT representative, NOT welcome, NOT in keeping with the democratic, consensus building process so many in the movement have worked so hard to put in place?
Me, I’d love to see a Petition put before the next General Assembly to quietly, but forcefully condemn the actions of the minority of Occupy Oakland (the confrontational hotheads cannot be dismissed as “not a part of” – they have been openly present in every one of the (few) meetings I’ve witnessed) who deviated from the agreed-upon tactics, and brought the whole movement into unfavorable focus.
It looks like those who are willing to speak out are doing just that – denouncing the hot heads: http://www.occupyoakland.org/openforums/relfections/ Latest feed
http://www.occupyoakland.org/2011/11/black-block-not-black-block/ Interesting post, notes the utility of the Black Block
http://www.occupyoakland.org/2011/11/occupy-have-the-courage-to-be-relevant/ Advocates taking down the tents.
http://www.occupyoakland.org/2011/11/ga-must-vote-to-disavow-and-eliminate-violencevandalism/ Title speaks for itself
I had a conversation at Gioia’s Pizzeria with the two girls behind the counter, one had marched to the Port. Both were turned off by the violence, and lamented with me the loss of oppurtunity and potential that it represents. If Occupy Oakland fails, it will fail by making such conversations and engagement old news, irrelevant, and that would be a shame. As much as I have problems with it, I want it to continue, to vitalize and enable the civic discourse. It can’t do that with imagery of savagery crowding out the positive frame that so many are struggling to create.
I agree, and there are some tactics we can use against them. We should stop allowing anybody to cover their face, at least up until the point when police actually launch tear gas. I plan to ask anybody who is wearing a disguise to remove it. If you want to vandalize and hurt people, show your face so you are accountable. These people are using the same tactics as the police and they are just as bad.
If the GA does not pass a resolution against vandalism at a minimum, hopefully against pre-emptive violence and vandalism, many of us will stop supporting this movement.
“But, at minimum, GA must vote to issue a statement disavowing the violence.”
i agree completely with this post