October2011.org News: A whole lotta organizing going on!

Because a sustainable future depends on the people willing to see the truth for what it is, and for those to stand up in unison in order to make a difference. — Jake Edward Keli'i Eakin  There are many types of summer camps. Did you know that there is one that is specifically for adult males who are part of the .1%? It’s called Bohemian Grove  and for over one hundred years, that’s where rich men have gone for two weeks every July to play (central activities are to drink a lot of alcohol and urinate wherever they like) and make business deals. This year, Occupiers got together with other social justice groups in “Occupy Bohemian Grove: Expose the 1%” and held a day of action just outside the entrance to the camp where they spoke about issues of importance to the 99%. Occupy Bohemian Grove was joined by the Fukushima Mothers who occupied Tokyo earlier this year and who spoke about the importance of abolishing nuclear power.  The recent Diet Commission report found that the Fukushima disaster was entirely man-made and nuclear engineers/activists say it could happen in the US where we have 23 plants with the same faulty design. Last week, over 100,000 protesters marched against nuclear power in Tokyo. This week marks the one year anniversary of the imprisonment of Salt Lake City environmental activist, Tim DeChristopher, who helped organize the Occupation of Freedom Plaza with others from his organization, Peaceful Uprising. Tim was arrested for a civil resistance action against the illegal leasing of land in Utah for oil and gas exploration.  ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), a corporate tool for climate injustice, will be holding its conference in Salt Lake City and Peaceful Uprising is planning a week of actions there. This weekend activists will gather in Washington, DC for Stop the Frack Attack – rally and lobbying to end fracking, and OWS is organizing against a pipeline in New York and New Jersey. And there will be a week of actions led by RAMPS to shut down a coal mining operation in southern West Virginia. Occupy Albany and other Occupy’s from across the country are organizing around the student strike in Quebec to highlight barriers to education, austerity policies and the privatization of public universities. As they do in Montreal, they are wearing red and banging pots and pans. You can learn more about student protests at the InterOccupy.net student debt campaign hub. And housing activists continue to organize. In Brooklyn, the renters’ strike continues with the support of OWS and in Portland, OR, a young man, Cameron Whitten, is in his eighth week of a hunger strike to pressure the city to do more about homelessness. Organizing is underway for the next set of negotiations for the TransPacific Partnership, known as “NAFTA on steroids” because it gives private corporations greater power than governments. This next round of secret negotiations, which will be held in Leesburg, VA this September, is a critical one for those who oppose transnational corporate power to protest, prevent and expose. You can read more about the TPP in the Occupy G8 Peoples’ Summit Report or here and here. If you are interested in participating in actions against the TPP, contact us at info@october2011.org. And the six people arrested on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United are asking for support for their upcoming trial. They purposefully requested a jury trial in order to raise awareness of corporate personhood. Visit their Facebook page. Finally, the October2011.org/OccupyWashingtonDC.org web site is constantly updating the events in Los Angeles where Occupy activists are challenging a development corporation that is pushing small businesses, minorities and homeless people out of a downtown area. Activists have been brutalized by police and arrested for writing messages with sidewalk chalk. They now accuse the LA mayor of committing the same crime for handing out sidewalk chalk to young children and encouraging them to write messages in the street and they are filing complaints against the police.  There continues to be lots of Occupy actions across the United States.  We provide you with the updates since the corporate media does not cover these activities. Indeed, many think that since the encampments have disappeared Occupy is finished, despite constant activity.  The visibility of the encampments is missed by many.  We have heard of many tactics for visibility around the country, e.g. "Pop-Up Encampments" -- day long events where Occupy can show what it stands for and bring people into the movement, roving encampments and neighborhood GA's.  We would like to hear reports on these so we can share them with others.  We hope others are trying short-term encampments of a few days to a week, perhaps with a permit.  We need to continuously find ways to build the movement and being in public space is a tactic we should not leave behind.  Send your experiences to info@october2011.org and we will share them. In solidarity, October2011/OccupyWashingtonDC.org  P.S. Coming up soon, watch for Occupy election activities including planning around the two major party political conventions and the four presidential debates. Send us your ideas on how we can Occupy the Elections. Send to info@october2011.org.

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