Posts tagged ows
The inner workings of a [kinda sorta] aspiring singer/songwriter
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NYPD Threaten And Intimidate Activists For For Recording Police
Two West Harlem residents, Christina Gonzalez, 25, and Matthew Swaye, 35, ran into a surprise when they showed up for a community meeting at their local NYPD precinct last week. There, on the wall of the 30th Precinct, were their mug shots—only they weren’t wanted for any crime.
Christina Gonzalez and Matthew Swaye are police reform activists who regularly film police interactions in their neighborhood, especially to record the NYPD’s controversial Stop and Frisk policy. Although filming police is completely legal, the poster (which was full of misspellings, I might add), advised officers to “be aware” that these ”professional agitators” not only film police “performing routine stops,” but also” post the videos on YouTube.
“Subjects purpose is to portray officers in a negative way and to [sic] deter officers from conducting their [sic] responsibilities.” the warning from Sergeant Nicholson reads. “Do not feed into above subjects’ propaganda.”
Gonzalez says it is the NYPD spreading propaganda and that the poster is an obvious tactic to criminalize, intimidate and target her. Since Gonzalez became involved with Occupy and the Stop-and-Frisk movement this fall, police have given her plenty of reasons to look over her shoulder, including calling her out by name and address, erecting a watchtower on her corner and aggressively arresting her sister in front of Gonzalez.
Of course, this is not the first time the NYPD or other police departments have targeted activists. The New York police have a history of infiltrating and intimidating activists, particularly during the Black Panther movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
For activists like Gonzalez, Stop-and-Frisk, a racial profiling tactic, is not only a violation of one’s constitutional rights, it is also part of the NYPD’s larger apparatus of racial oppression. Police stop more than 700,00 people per year, almost 90 percent of whom are young Black and Latino men. The best defense against the illegal searches, which occur during about 50% of stops, has proven to be video, and the ACLU recently launched an app to combat and document unconstitutional stops. But while the movement relies on cameras to expose Stop-and-Frisk, the NYPD targets filmers like Gonzalez with the same type of surveillance and repression police have used against activists in the past.
Gonzalez, who grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, and graduated magnum cum laude from John Jay College of Criminal Justice last year, has long been familiar with the NYPD—though rarely appreciative of their services. A few years ago, she was a victim of intimate partner violence, and the NYPD routinely refused to help her.
“They blamed me for my own abuse,” Gonzalez said. “The police were supposed to protect me.” Her former partner is currently incarcerated for assaulting his latest girlfriend.
Gonzalez says police are familiar with her and her activism, and that as the movement to reform Stop-and-Frisk grows, so, too, does the police reaction. Gonzalez said that, the more she filmed, demonstrated, and was arrested, the more police noticed her, often calling her by name and making comments like, “we remember you,” or, “be careful walking home; it’s a long walk to 153rd Street.”
“That’s when I said, ‘Okay, they know where we live.’ That was kind of scary, especially to say in front of my little sister.”
In February, Gonzalez learned the NYPD were watching her YouTube page, where she posted videos of police harassment, such as the time officers taunted Gonzalez by telling her that her dreadlocked hair smells. Shortly after she posted the video, two officers called her by name over to their police car.
Read More](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6yhcghKFA1r4vpxio1_500.jpg)
NYPD Threaten And Intimidate Activists For For Recording Police
Two West Harlem residents, Christina Gonzalez, 25, and Matthew Swaye, 35, ran into a surprise when they showed up for a community meeting at their local NYPD precinct last week. There, on the wall of the 30th Precinct, were their mug shots—only they weren’t wanted for any crime.
Christina Gonzalez and Matthew Swaye are police reform activists who regularly film police interactions in their neighborhood, especially to record the NYPD’s controversial Stop and Frisk policy. Although filming police is completely legal, the poster (which was full of misspellings, I might add), advised officers to “be aware” that these ”professional agitators” not only film police “performing routine stops,” but also” post the videos on YouTube.
“Subjects purpose is to portray officers in a negative way and to [sic] deter officers from conducting their [sic] responsibilities.” the warning from Sergeant Nicholson reads. “Do not feed into above subjects’ propaganda.”
Gonzalez says it is the NYPD spreading propaganda and that the poster is an obvious tactic to criminalize, intimidate and target her. Since Gonzalez became involved with Occupy and the Stop-and-Frisk movement this fall, police have given her plenty of reasons to look over her shoulder, including calling her out by name and address, erecting a watchtower on her corner and aggressively arresting her sister in front of Gonzalez.
Of course, this is not the first time the NYPD or other police departments have targeted activists. The New York police have a history of infiltrating and intimidating activists, particularly during the Black Panther movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
For activists like Gonzalez, Stop-and-Frisk, a racial profiling tactic, is not only a violation of one’s constitutional rights, it is also part of the NYPD’s larger apparatus of racial oppression. Police stop more than 700,00 people per year, almost 90 percent of whom are young Black and Latino men. The best defense against the illegal searches, which occur during about 50% of stops, has proven to be video, and the ACLU recently launched an app to combat and document unconstitutional stops. But while the movement relies on cameras to expose Stop-and-Frisk, the NYPD targets filmers like Gonzalez with the same type of surveillance and repression police have used against activists in the past.
Gonzalez, who grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, and graduated magnum cum laude from John Jay College of Criminal Justice last year, has long been familiar with the NYPD—though rarely appreciative of their services. A few years ago, she was a victim of intimate partner violence, and the NYPD routinely refused to help her.
“They blamed me for my own abuse,” Gonzalez said. “The police were supposed to protect me.” Her former partner is currently incarcerated for assaulting his latest girlfriend.
Gonzalez says police are familiar with her and her activism, and that as the movement to reform Stop-and-Frisk grows, so, too, does the police reaction. Gonzalez said that, the more she filmed, demonstrated, and was arrested, the more police noticed her, often calling her by name and making comments like, “we remember you,” or, “be careful walking home; it’s a long walk to 153rd Street.”
“That’s when I said, ‘Okay, they know where we live.’ That was kind of scary, especially to say in front of my little sister.”
In February, Gonzalez learned the NYPD were watching her YouTube page, where she posted videos of police harassment, such as the time officers taunted Gonzalez by telling her that her dreadlocked hair smells. Shortly after she posted the video, two officers called her by name over to their police car.
(via anarcho-queer)
Fox News Poll: Do 'Occupy Wall Street' Protests Represent Your Views of the Economy?
You know what to do, Tumblr. As of 11:50 PM EST:
(via anarcho-queer)
My Occupy LA Arrest by Patrick Meighan
My name is Patrick Meighan, and I’m a husband, a father, a writer on the Fox animated sitcom “Family Guy”, and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica.
I was arrested at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning with 291 other people at Occupy LA. I was sitting in City Hall Park with a pillow, a blanket, and a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Being Peace” when 1,400 heavily-armed LAPD officers in paramilitary SWAT gear streamed in. I was in a group of about 50 peaceful protestors who sat Indian-style, arms interlocked, around a tent (the symbolic image of the Occupy movement). The LAPD officers encircled us, weapons drawn, while we chanted “We Are Peaceful” and “We Are Nonviolent” and “Join Us.”
As we sat there, encircled, a separate team of LAPD officers used knives to slice open every personal tent in the park. They forcibly removed anyone sleeping inside, and then yanked out and destroyed any personal property inside those tents, scattering the contents across the park. They then did the same with the communal property of the Occupy LA movement. For example, I watched as the LAPD destroyed a pop-up canopy tent that, until that moment, had been serving as Occupy LA’s First Aid and Wellness tent, in which volunteer health professionals gave free medical care to absolutely anyone who requested it. As it happens, my family had personally contributed that exact canopy tent to Occupy LA, at a cost of several hundred of my family’s dollars. As I watched, the LAPD sliced that canopy tent to shreds, broke the telescoping poles into pieces and scattered the detritus across the park. Note that these were the objects described in subsequent mainstream press reports as “30 tons of garbage” that was “abandoned” by Occupy LA: personal property forcibly stolen from us, destroyed in front of our eyes and then left for maintenance workers to dispose of while we were sent to prison.
I’m so sick of the media twisting everything to make this revolution look bad.
Guess what?
It can’t be stopped.
(Source: myoccupylaarrest.blogspot.com, via rigatonideology)
December 6: Occupy Wall Street “Goes Home”
December 6 will be a big day of action for the Occupy Wall Street movement. #OWS will join the struggle of families and communities that have been on the front lines of a struggle for economic justice. We will stand in solidarity and ask our fellow occupations to join us for a national day of action on the foreclosure crisis. We are fighting Wall Street’s reach on every block, every farm, every house in America with sit-ins at foreclosed properties to right this moral injustice.
The Occupy movement is born of the simple belief that humanity could meet our common needs if not for the predation and greed of the very few. Nowhere is this disparity of wealth and power more evident than in the struggle to secure the human right to housing.
(via anarcho-queer)
~~~~~~~~~~~~MYTH #1: The congressional Super Committee failed because both sides refuse to compromise.REALITY: The Super Committee failed because Republicans’ number one, non-negotiable priority is to protect millionaires and billionaires from paying even one more penny in taxes.1 Democrats repeatedly offered to make deep spending cuts—far deeper than most progressives would like—in exchange for raising taxes on the wealthy and closing corporate loopholes, only to be refused again and again.2 So even though the vast majority of Americans say they want to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits, and raise taxes on the rich and corporations,3 that won’t happen until Republicans put aside their extremist stance.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MYTH #2: Nobody knows what Occupy Wall Street is about.REALITY: Occupy Wall Street may not have a formal list of demands, but anyone who’s been paying attention understands the core problems that occupiers are protesting—that corporations have far too much power in our political system, that Wall Street banks crashed our economy but were never held accountable, and that the richest 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans—156 million people—combined.4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MYTH #3: Occupiers should stop protesting and just get a job.REALITY: As anybody who’s looked for a job in the last few years knows, there just aren’t jobs out there. That’s a big part of why occupiers are protesting. In September, there were four times as many unemployed people as job openings.5 And for those who are lucky enough to find a job, median wages today are lower than they were a decade ago.6{And most of them have jobs! - A}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MYTH #4: Occupy Wall Street is intent on provoking violence, especially against banks and the police.REALITY: Occupations across the country have committed themselves to nonviolent protest, in the greatest traditions of protest movements. Some of their protests have been met with acts of police violence—tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets7—but in many cases, protesters have reminded police that the police officers are part of the 99%, too.8 And in the few cases when people have shown up at Occupy demonstrations and committed acts of vandalism, other protesters have even repaired their acts of vandalism.9~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MYTH #5: The biggest crisis facing our country is out of control government spending.REALITY: The two biggest drivers of our deficit—by far—are the economic crash and the Bush tax cuts.10 We have millions of people out of work, corporations hoarding cash, and factories sitting idle. If we put all those people back to work—rebuilding infrastructure, educating our children, and researching new technologies—it’ll shrink the deficit and make our economy stronger for the long haul. And we can easily afford it if we make sure the rich—who are taking home a larger percentage of income than any time since 191711—pay their fair share.(All sources available at the link.)Happy Thanksgiving… and good luck with your relatives!
Get with the program.
Sarah Strnad: Responses to 5 Myths About the Occupy Movement
“Myth” #1
The Occupy Movement creates or exacerbates the risks of homelessness by packing public spaces with the destitute poor, transients, and “hippy kids” who are unsanitary.
Drawing attention to a problem is not to be confused with creating a problem. While Occupy movements across the globe have indeed attracted a number of marginalized people to the camps, these people were in very bad shape to begin with. Not only has the Occupy movement drawn attention to the results of economic inequality—such as homelessness—some camps (like Occupy Oakland) are providing these folks with food, medical attention, toilets, and safety in numbers. In her official apology letter,Oakland Mayor Jean Quan gave “the rationale of public health and safety” as the justification for dismantling the Ogawa Plaza Camp on 10/24. Poverty, not direct democratic action, is the public health and safety risk this country must face.
“Myth” #2
The Occupy Movement is made up in large part by people who aren’t from the city they are occupying.
Not being from a given place has never stopped the U.S. government/military from acting, as current involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya demonstrates clearly. Conservatives who claim the above myth as truth should be reminded of the foreign policies of the people they vote for and support. Liberals who use the above myth to invalidate tactics, strategy, or message should be reminded that Che was not from Cuba, Cesar Chavez was not from Delano, and the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Movement were not from the Deep South. Passivity is not tolerance; inaction is not restraint; and where you were born or currently reside does not lessen your obligation to your fellow citizens.
“Myth” #3
The Occupy Movement is bad for local businesses.
What’s bad for local businesses are multi-national corporations that use their size to lower the price of consumer goods by exploiting labor wherever it is cheapest and least organized. What’s bad for local businesses are banks that make irresponsible loans that lead to foreclosures, banks that siphon off local resources by enacting late fees, transaction fees, and overdraw fees. It seems more likely that a movement that draws people into a designated central location cannot but help nearby businesses as people must eat and that food must be bought somewhere. I’m sure tent sales are through the roof lately.
“Myth” #4
The Occupy Movement is undermining already cash-strapped municipalities by pressuring them to enact reforms and saddling cities with expensive policing and clean-up efforts.
Things are bad and getting worse for cities as real estate prices continue to stagnate (property taxes are one of the few ways cities are legally allowed to raise funds). Inaction in the face of school closures, teacher (and yes) police layoffs, and public services cuts will not solve the problem. The Occupy Movement is not “picking” on poor cities like Oakland. The Occupy Movement is pressuring every level of government, business, and society to create a system that serves the majority of people who keep it running every day. Neither can Occupy be blamed for costs related to oppressive police crack downs on the exercise of free speech; this accusation is almost too ridiculous to mention. Finally, the more stable and organized occupations of public space become, the more sanitary they will be, as the installation of ten portable toilets at Oakland’s Ogawa Plaza on the 10/28 demonstrates.
“Myth” #5
Things might be bad here, but it could be worse, like in Egypt, so stop whining about it.
Recent opinion polls suggest few Americans believe the economy is getting better. Yet the biggest corporations continue to reap huge profits without hiring new workers. Clearly things are bad here, and not looking to get any. And yes, we do have many privileges in this country the envy of the world over, like the rights to free speech and demonstration. We must take full advantage of all of the benefits of being U.S. citizens if we are to create a system that works for the majority, as well as a system that does not invade and destabilize those less fortunate nations around the globe. Unless you are the 1% of Americans who are content with the status quo, the best solution to changing the tone of the Occupy movement to better represent your concerns is to add your voice to the mix.
Those who subscribe to these myths, more often than not, mistake the effect for the cause. If there was more affordable housing, there would be less people living on the streets. If there weren’t problems in cities like Oakland, people from other places wouldn’t be showing up every day to protest those problems. If small businesses were not in trouble to begin with, no one would worry that people camping in tents nearby would be disruptive. Finally, if cities (and all levels of government) were providing the services that people need, no one would accuse them of serving first and foremost the billionaires, corporations and banks.
If your friends are sick, you don’t tell them to stop having a sore throat. If it’s the system that is sick, do not blame those who are working diligently to nurture a recovery. Join them and work to shape that recovery.
(via anarcho-queer)
Should I make a parody with “Jane Says” about the police state and Occupy movement?
the police says, to pack up all your shit
“you’re not welcome anymore”
youve had your chance, to speak your mind
now its inconvenient,
so move on out!
I lost a child to the Occupy movement.
Just thirteen days ago I was eight months pregnant.
Everyone loved rubbing my belly.
I even wore my “Baby On Board” shirt over my gigantic stomach.
“The police don’t care about you. They will show no mercy to you or your unborn child. They’re only around to uphold the status of the 1%. They cannot be trusted.”
BREAKING: Jeniffer Fox, the 3 Month Pregnant women who was pepper sprayed at Occupy Seattle has miscarried.
“I was screaming, ‘I am pregnant, I am pregnant. Let me through. I am trying to get out.’” At that point, Fox continues, a Seattle police officer lifted his foot and it hit her in the stomach, and another officer pushed his bicycle into the crowd, again hitting Fox in the stomach.
These pieces of garbage we charge with our safety and the responsibility of our well being MUST be held accountable.
THIS CANNOT STAND
(via anarcho-queer)
‘It’s a Food Product, Essentially’: Fox News Starts Spinning Pepper Spray Cops
“I don’t think we have the right to Monday-morning quarterback the police,” Bill O’Reilly said tonight, discussing the appalling use of pepper spray by UC Davis police on Friday. No, God forbid we Monday-morning quarterback the police, especially, as O’Reilly continued, “at a place like UC Davis, which is a fairly liberal campus.”
Indeed: what right do we have to think that Lt. John Pike should probably not have indifferently dusted peacefully sitting protesters with pepper spray from only a few feet away? And, gosh, even if we were going to Monday-morning quarterback the police, shouldn’t we remember, as Megyn Kelly tells O’Reilly, that pepper spray is “a food product, essentially”? I mean, Kelly and O’Reilly aren’t saying the cops did the right thing! God, no! They’re just saying, hey, what right do we have to judge a cop for spraying a simple food product on a bunch of liberal college kids’ faces?
A food product.
I want to spray Bill O’Reilly in the face with this “food product” and see how he feels. Douche.
(via ritacorny)
UC Davis police officer pepper sprays sitting students because, well, just because.
Think that’s %$#ing horrible? The video’s worse.
Via John Aravosis at AmericaBlog:
I’m sorry, this has gone too far. This has happened in police department after police department, and it has gone too far. Our police look like the goons in Russia and China. Please watch this video and send it to everyone you know. This has gone too far.
Too important not to speak up.
This isn’t about your views or understanding (or lack, or misconception) of the Occupy movement anymore, it’s about rights and abuse thereof.
Simply appalling. Who else does it bother that the American government and authorities call attacks on protesters to be despicable, but fully condone it here? Hypocrisy much?
(via gaymerlibertarian)
Retired Philadelphia police chief arrested while protesting, had sign reading “NYPD don’t be wall st mercenaries.” What a photo.
I wish we had this man’s name. He’s a hero, in my eyes.
(Source: thisisendless, via steffannypack)
UC Davis Campus Police Lieutenant John Pike (530-752-3989 japikeiii@ucdavis.edu) pepper-sprays 30 peacefully sitting demonstrators at point blank range yesterday.
“When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood.”
If you feel so inclined, please call or write Police Lieutenant John Pike and pass this message along.
This is utterly ridiculous.
I have no words that explain how much this upsets me.
(via zero--)
Meet Dorli Rainey, the 84-Year-Old Woman Pepper Sprayed at Occupy Seattle
Broadly, Rainey has been active in politics and Seattle public life since the 1950s. A former schoolteacher, she ran for a seat on the King County Council in the 1970s and lost. During the same period, she was a school board member in Issaquah, a nearby city. Last year, she ran for mayor but eventually withdrew from the race saying, “I am old and should learn to be old, stay home, watch TV and sit still.” But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a good rapport with the current mayor. Read more.
(via akio)
Ten Ways the Occupy Movement Changes Everything
1. It names the source of the crisis.
Political insiders have avoided this simple reality: The problems of the 99% are caused in large part by Wall Street greed, perverse financial incentives, and a corporate takeover of the political system. Now that this is understood, the genie is out of the bottle and it can’t be put back in.2. It provides a clear vision of the world we want.
We can create a world that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest 1%. And we, the 99%, are using the spaces opened up by the Occupy movement to conduct a dialogue about the world we want.3. It sets a new standard for public debate.
Those advocating policies and proposals must now demonstrate that their ideas will benefit the 99%. Serving only the 1% will not suffice, nor will claims that the subsidies and policies that benefit the 1% will eventually “trickle down.”4. It presents a new narrative.
The solution is not to starve government or impose harsh austerity measures that further harm middle-class and poor people already reeling from a bad economy. Instead, the solution is to free society and government from corporate dominance. A functioning democracy is our best shot at addressing critical social, environmental, and economic crises.5. It creates a big tent.
We, the 99%, are people of all ages, races, occupations, and political beliefs. We will resist being divided or marginalized. We are learning to work together with respect.6. It offers everyone a chance to create change.
No one is in charge; no organization or political party calls the shots. Anyone can get involved, offer proposals, support the occupations, and build the movement. Because leadership is everywhere and new supporters keep turning up, there is a flowering of creativity and a resilience that makes the movement nearly impossible to shut down.7. It is a movement, not a list of demands.
The call for deep change—not temporary fixes and single-issue reforms—is the movement’s sustaining power. The movement is sometimes criticized for failing to issue a list of demands, but doing so could keep it tied to status quo power relationships and policy options. The occupiers and their supporters will not be boxed in.8. It combines the local and the global.
People in cities and towns around the world are setting their own local agendas, tactics, and aims. What they share in common is a critique of corporate power and an identification with the 99%, creating an extraordinary wave of global solidarity.9. It offers an ethic and practice of deep democracy and community.
Slow, patient decision-making in which every voice is heard translates into wisdom, common commitment, and power. Occupy sites are set up as communities in which anyone can discuss grievances, hopes, and dreams, and where all can experiment with living in a space built around mutual support.10. We have reclaimed our power.
Instead of looking to politicians and leaders to bring about change, we can see now that the power rests with us. Instead of being victims to the forces upending our lives, we are claiming our sovereign right to remake the world.
(Source: citizen-earth, via lonelyvagabond)
