#OCCUPYSF holds itself accountable to the people of San Francisco. We invite you to attend our organizational meetings and give us feedback on our actions.
We have concerns about the accountability of our government for its actions and the orders that it issues to its enforcers. We invite the public to view the growing body of evidence and draw its own conclusions.
NO More Foreclosures and Evictions for profit!
Protest flash mob at Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf’s House!
Saturday, Feb. 25, 1 PM
1090 Chestnut Street (at Larkin)
Despite the $43.7 billion in bail-out money that Wells Fargo has received since the financial crash of 2008, and a whopping $15.9 billion in profits for 2011, the bank continues to foreclose on and evict our neighbors.
While the bank promised to “escalate” its review of seven Bernal Heights neighbors, it has yet to modify their loans, and at least two, Alberto Del Rio and Ross Rhodes, have sale dates on their homes.
We’ve sent Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf hundreds of emails and phone calls asking him to do the right thing, but he refuses to return our calls.
Now it’s time to pay him a visit! Come protest at Stumpf’s house, where we will be conducting a people’s auction of his swanky home. Let’s send him the message that as long as he throws the 99 percent out of our houses, we will continue to protest in front of his.
Demand a fair, affordable deal for ALL of our neighbors, and a stop to all foreclosures and evictions for profit!
Sponsored by Occupy Bernal and Occupy San Francisco-Housing
For more information, visit www.occupybernal.org.
Email: info@occupybernal.org or call 415-483-9138
A few hundred people gathered at 101 Market Street, the Federal Reserve Building and the former home base of the Occupy San Francisco encampment Friday evening February 10 for the March Against Police Repression. There was food, music, and camaraderie amongst new and old occupiers. At about 7 pm we began marching up Market Street chanting everything from “We are unstoppable, another world is possible” to “Arrest us, we multiply, hella hella occupy”. Our voices and bodies filled the street as curious on-lookers lined the sidewalk taking photos and often cheering us on. We turned up Powell Street over towards Union Square where the symbols of consumerism, Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue, towered over our heads. There, at the intersection alongside the Square we had a speak-out about the recent acts of police oppression against Oakland and all across the Occupy movement. Occupiers spoke in more depth about the once taboo issue of the police as an institution, and the theory behind controversial chants condemning the police which are more typical of Oakland where more people of color, the poor and the disenfranchised have faced decades of police repression.
Though many people within the Occupy movement feel the recent focus on the police is outside the realm of the original Occupy mission highlighting bank bailouts and inequitable wealth distribution, others are digging deeper and asking the question, what and who are the police really protecting? They feel strong language condemning the police is necessary because the police as an institution are there to protect the 1% in a system where the haves are few and the have-nots are plenty. The events over the last few months seem to solidify this. In cities with rampant murder, rape and domestic abuse, the Mayors of these cities choose to put resources into crushing peaceful sites of political expression where thousands gathered to question and debate the economic and political system that we live within, instead of using resources to stop violent crime. And when the police are not crushing peaceful protest sites, what are they doing? These days, they are often ejecting families from their homes: homes now owned by the same banks that siphoned off at least seven hundred billion dollars in taxpayer bailout money. And where are the police when white collar crimes are being committed by the 1%? These are the crimes that are actually bankrupting the country: massive fraud, bribery, money laundering, tax-evasion and corporate abuse. Yet the anti-crime funding seems focused upon non-violent drug “crimes” by poor people.
In a democratic country whose constitution expressly promotes the rights of freedom of speech and assembly, and one that actually drops bombs on other nations in the name of promoting democracy, one would think that peaceful demonstrations would be protected. Instead, the limited resources of these strapped cities have been used to crush expression, and the protestors blamed for the brutality committed against them. Some feel that the police are just doing their jobs, that they are part of the 99%. So if the policemen and women are just good citizens who took the oath to protect and serve the people, why are they failing to question their orders? At what point do the police get together either as individuals or within their police associations and their ranks and assert that, “crushing peaceful protest sites and targeting political activists with batons and tear-gas is contrary to the constitution and the oath I took to uphold it. I will no longer carry out orders that contradict the highest law of the land and put our democracy in jeopardy for future generations.” And if the police are unable to ban together and protect our freedom, then maybe there is something to the argument that the whole institution of the police was never there to protect people in the first place, but just to follow the orders to protect the institutions and excessive wealth of the 1% and their multi-national corporations.
After our speak-out at Union Square, we marched up Stockton chanting, “We are the 99%” and calling out to the Occupy movements in different cities across the world. We weaved in and out of cars when we weren’t occupying whole streets then stopped at another intersection where we played music, chanted and even danced for our constitutional rights. After Union Square, we turned back onto Market Street where we marched peacefully through a mall, bringing our message of activism to the Friday night shopping crowd and then past a long line of twenty- somethings waiting to party it up at a dance club. “Party for peace, occupy San Francisco!” some of us yelled to them as they gave us thumbs ups and high-fives. As we marched, a line of some fifteen to twenty police on mopeds followed us. There were almost as many young people in line to get into that club to party, but the police weren’t surrounding them. But then again, they were just there to party, not to practice freedom of expression…
So who are the police really protecting? The police in the United States focus on crimes of the poor, people of color and the disenfranchised. But how many crimes at the top with farther-reaching and deeper implications do the police actually stop? With our country on the brink of financial collapse due to the excesses of the 1%, not the petty survival crimes of the poor, perhaps we should be putting our resources into policing the crimes of the elites. We ended our march with a speak-out at our former home, our protest home-base, the sidewalk and street in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco where we recited poetry, speeches and discussed how a better world is possible. And the memory of our vibrant protest encampment filled with signs, pamphlets, tents, food and community, destroyed by the police, remained etched in our minds.
-Beth Seligman, J.D.
The Battle of Oakland from brandon jourdan on Vimeo.
On January 28th, 2012, Occupy Oakland moved to take a vacant building to use as a social center and a new place to continue organizing. This is the story of what happened that day as told by those who were a part of it. it features rare footage and interviews with Boots Riley, David Graeber, Maria Lewis, and several other witnesses to key events. Dozens of Occupy San Francisco protesters were arrested throughout the days events, most of them facing prolonged detention & horrific conditions in the county jail.
The actions of the Oakland Police Department and the various other Police Departments involved violated police procedures and the rule of law. This action by Oakland was a form of collective punishment against political activists. Various members of the OccupySF community were jailed and held illegally for days before they were even booked. They were denied sleep, edible foods, medications, bearable climate, sanitation, and even the knowledge of what time of day it was.
We call on the San Francisco community to stand behind Occupy Oakland and its right to free speech and assembly without the threat of retaliation. If the rule of law can be suspended in Oakland, it can happen anywhere.
The people must stand up against this, especially in light of the passage of the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) which allows for indefinite detention of Americans.
OccupySF endorses Oakland’s February 6 Day of Action against police repression and in solidarity with those arrested and targeted by the local government and OPD.
The action consists of: Coffee not cops at the Wiley Manuel courthouse starting at 9 am.
Noon: rally at OGP with speakers that will address local and state police repression, and the Prison Industrial Complex.
1pm: march to the courthouse to stand in solidarity with those in court at 2pm.
Please Join us!
Summary: We were jailed for marching. Some were jailed for walking home from the grocery store. We were denied medication, sleep, blankets, time, sanitation, and given bologna sandwiches for breakfast lunch and dinner even though many are vegetarians or could not eat that meat for religious reasons Some were not booked for 40 hours, meaning we did not exist and some are still in jail and need bail money. We were put in overcrowded concrete rooms with bright fluorescent light and no place to lay down and left there for days. We could have been at Guantanamo, and this could have been you, your child, your sister or your brother. The 1% is consolidating its power against the dissent because their power and wealth is unsustainable. They would rather jail you then make any change. This is what the NDAA is about and we need everyone to stand up now.
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| From Oakland 28 Jan 2012 |
Occupy Oakland and the hundreds who were arrested are peaceful people demonstrating for an equitable system. I know because I was in jail with them. Some are still being held over fifty hours later. We were cornered at the side of the YMCA by violent police officers simply for marching against homelessness and the need for empty buildings to be used to house people. We were doing nothing but marching. In fact, I was on rollerblades. There was no dispersal order. But more importantly, we wanted to disperse but anyone who tried to leave was beaten with batons. We were smooshed into a corner by the police. We are teachers, students, social workers, non-profit workers, from all sectors of society, from ages 17 to at least 60 plus. Some were not even part of the protest, but were walking home from the grocery store. It could have been you, it could have been your child, your sister, your brother. Everyone was held at least twelve hours but many of us were held over 40 hours without being booked, in deplorable conditions. Our names were not put into the system during these hours, so we did not exist. The media reported that there would be mass arrests in Oakland before the January 28th actions even started. People were arrested for being protesters, not for violating any law. This was planned and coordinated in advance, most likely with the assistance of Homeland Security.
We sat in concrete cold rooms with bright fluorescent light shining 24 hours a day, no blanket, no cot, no place to lay down. The rooms were glorified bathrooms where you had to pee or poo in front of all the 5 to 25 other cellmates in your room and any officers or janitors who walked passed and looked through the window, or unlocked the door. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, when sporadically brought were bologna sandwiches, even though many of us are vegetarian or come from religions that cannot eat that meat, or meat at all. There was no garbage can or bag so the pile of leftover garbage from used maxi-pads (which were sporadically provided) to uneaten bologna and the plastic and cardboard the inedible food was brought in piled up in the corner. We were basically living in a bathroom filled with garbage. We were denied clocks, watches, paper, pens, phone calls (except for a few people who asked the right guard at the right time for their phone call) and most importantly medicine.
Many needed medications, some every 3 to 4 hours, and when I was released they were still denied it for over 36 hours, and they were going into withdrawal. Some are still there and need bail money. They are being charged with felonies simply for trying to find a way to disperse by entering an open door to find an exit because police were cornering us and batoning people who tried to leave. When they finally started booking us for release from the jail, some were sent back into their cells because the booking officer did not like them. And there are reports that some were beaten simply for saying something an officer did not like. We were held in zip tie handcuffs for hours in buses with cages before we arrived at the jail. Some people’s arms were twisted into the zip ties nearly cutting off their circulation, yet the police officers ignored their cries of pain and refused to loosen the hand ties. One nineteen year old in my cell had her zip ties so tight that when they were cut off by the officer they made a gash in her wrist that bled profusely.
As to the so called “violence” by occupiers at City Hall, these acts occurred after Occupiers that escaped witnessed their friends, who were part of a peaceful march, being beaten with batons and cornered by police. The media, and even progressive media, focusing on a few acts of vandalism which happened in a desperate response to actual violence committed by the police against peaceful protestors, and obviously condoned by the Mayor, is a disgrace and misses the point. We could just as easily have been at Guantanamo. This is for real! Economic conditions are worsening, the powers that be are worried about dissent growing, and they are practicing. The public needs to stand up against it now, or else the time will come that it will be you swept off the street and imprisoned anonymously. This is about the 1% holding on to their wealth at the expense of the 99%. They do not want to give up any of their excessive wealth, control or privileges, yet it is unsustainable. So they are tightening a system that will quell all dissent through their ownership of the media, the politicians, the prisons, and the courts. The NDAA (the National Defense Authorization Act), the Patriot Act and the AETA (Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act) are all examples of the 1% re-writing and enacting laws to legalize suppression of dissent to protect corporations, whose interests are limited to corporate profits. This is one of the first things Hitler did when he came to power. And most Germans turned their heads. It cannot be just a few thousand people in each city standing up to this. This needs to be millions.
Join us now or forever hold your peace when they come for you or your child for requesting a basic right or reporting a violation of someone or a community’s rights. We are at a crossroads, do you want to continue listening to the mainstream media that reports corporate interests or will you please start reading alternative people-based media to hear truth so you will stand up before it’s too late? We must salvage anything that’s left of democracy, the constitution, and the Earth that feeds and clothes us, and that provides the oxygen we breathe and the water we drink. That is ultimately what our system is destroying in its emphasis on immediate consumption and production for the benefit of the 1% and their multiple mansions and airplanes. All that we consume and produce ultimately comes from the limited resources of the Earth. Stand up now or your children will have nothing to look forward to except prison camps, asthma, and chemicals. Take the time to educate, spread the word, and march with us. This can actually be more entertaining then your weekend movie, television shows, or shopping trips. Lets get together, get to know our communities and stand up for a peaceful just system at the same time.
-Beth Seligman, J.D.
Occupy
