WHAT: Occupy LA - Nov. 5 & Nov.6 Teach-In and More!
WHERE: Occupy LA - City Hall
WHEN: Saturday, November 5, 2011 and Sunday, November 6, 2011
Occupy LA - Nov.5 & Nov.6 Teach-In and More! is a weekend of actions, speakers, panel discussions and more created to educate, mobilize, unify and inspire people in regard to issues surrounding this amazing moment in history and the global Occupy movement. The teach-in is designed to discuss the existing conditions and systems which have led to the housing collapse,"recession", the corporate control of our legislature, courts, media and regulatory agencies. It also continues the dialogue on organizing movements for social and economic justice and sustainable alternatives for people and the planet. There will be further discussions on how the wealthiest individuals and corporations have dominated other aspects of life.
Saturday, Nov.5
2:30 - Introductory Remarks
2:45 - Robert Reich (Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and former US Labor Secretary)
3:15 - Robert Scheer (Executive Editor, Truthdig.org, author of The Great American Stick Up:
How Reagan Republicans and Clinton
3:30 - 5:00 - Economics Panel:
William Black (professor of Economics and Law at the
Joel Rogers (professor of Law, Political Science, Public Affairs and Sociology at the
Michael Hudson - (via livestream) President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street
Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
Robert Scheer (Executive Editor of Truthdig.org) - Moderator
5:00- Carol Wells (Executive Director of Center for the Study of Political
Graphics)
5:15 - George Lakoff - (via livestream) - (Professor of cognitive linguistics at UC Berkeley and author of Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate
5:30 - Closing Speaker TBA
6:00 - Music - Performers TBA
8:00 pm - Sneak Preview of "Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?" Directed by Donald Goldmacher and Frances Causey - a documentary film which reveals how American corporations orchestrated the dismantling of middle-class prosperity through rampant deregulation, the outsourcing of jobs, and tax policies favoring businesses and the wealthy and gave rise to corporate power. The Director will present the film.
Sunday, Nov.6
11:00 - Opening Speaker TBA
11:30 - 1:00 - Organizing and Civil Disobedience Panel:
Madeline Janis - Executive Director of LAANE
Kent Wong - Director of the Center for Labor and Research at UCLA
Erick Huerte - Organizer at Dream Team
Peggy Mears - Organizer of the Home Defenders program for ACCE, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
Jill Furillo -
Peter Drier - Chair of the Urban and Environmental Policy Department at
1:00 - lunch
1:30 - Sustainable Living Panel
Frank Tamborello - Hunger Action LA
Autumn Rooney - Echo Park Time Bank
South Central Farms
Open Neighborhoods
Joan Stevens -
Gatherings and the 2011 SoCal Permaculture convergence.
3:00 - American Civil Liberties Union - speaker TBA
3:15 - Iraq Veterans Against the War - speaker TBA
3:30 - 5:00 - Corportacracy Panel
Alex Caballero - Brave New Foundation
Tracy Rosenberg - president, Media Alliance
Mary Beth Fielder - Organizer Move to Amend
Derek Cressman - Common Cause, director of Campaign to Reverse Citizens United
Lauren Steiner - Local political activist, - Moderator
5:00 - Jim Lafferty of National Lawyers Guild
5:15 - David DeGraw - Organizer at
Additional speakers/updates to be announced.
The Occupy LA Education and People's University will also be holding workshops at various times of the day to discuss some of the topics addressed for those who are interested. http://www.olapeoplescollectiveuniversity.org/
Actions:
Bank Transfer Day/ Move Your Money
March Through Financial District - Rally begins at 10:30am at
To see the most up to date schedule, please visit www.occupylosangeles.org. (This will be updated soon.)
Search the Facebook event page: Nov.5 & Nov.6 Occupy LA - Teach-In and More!
OWS Oakland Takes Over City -- Thousands Show Up, Shutting Down Businesses and One of the Biggest Ports in the Country
Did a small group of activists manage in just 5 short days of organizing to bring about the first general strike in the United States in generations?
Not exactly. But while there was no broad, city-wide general strike of the sort last seen in this country in 1946, one shouldn't judge the effort a failure. A day of scattered actions across the city culminated in a massive "occupation" that shut down the Port of Oakland, the fifth busiest container port in the country. When it was announced that operations had been suspended for the night, thousands of people partied around trucks halted in their tracks, celebrating a victory in their struggle with authorities that began with the violent eviction of Occupy Oakland last week. The Oakland police, and Mayor Jean Quan, stung by negative press stemming from the clashes, essentially gave the port to the movement.
Since the Taft-Hartley Act was passed in 1947, unions have been forbidden from participating in general strikes, but there was no doubt that the longshoremen were firmly on the side of the protesters. The occupiers arrived in waves, and at first small groups blocked the entrances to port facilities, letting workers out at the end of their shifts, but preventing their replacements from taking the next shift. One by one, longshoremen arrived to find a picket line blocking their entrance. In every case, they expressed solidarity -- honking their horns and in some instances getting out and talking to the protesters, and then pulled a u-turn and went home -- their contracts specified that they wouldn't be required to work if there was a disturbance at the port.
Throughout the day, about half of the businesses in downtown Oakland are shuttered, many with signs expressing solidarity with the occupiers. The city's economy may not have been brought to a halt, but it was not functioning to full capacity.
Angela Davis gave a rousing speech at 9:30 this morning to kick off the day's proceedings. A "children's march" circled Frank Ogawa Plaza - renamed Oscar Grant plaza by the protesters in honor of the young man shot to death by BART police on New Year's 2009. They chanted "Play Nice and Share!"
A group of high school students told me that their principal had circulated a memo giving them the day off. Calls to the school district to find out today's attendance figures weren't returned at press time, but the Los Angeles Times reported that 16 percent of the city's teachers didn't show up for work. There were many children and young people in the crowd, many attended by their parents.
Police maintained a minimal presence throughout the day. There were a few scattered acts of vandalism -- windows were broken at two banks (I understand that in one case the windows belonged to a neighboring company) but there was no violence, and the protests were remarkably up-beat throughout the day. It stood in marked contrast with the heavy-handed crowd control seen the week before.
Calling this day of protests and direct actions a "general strike" may have raised the bar too high, but it also resulted in an almost unbelievable amount of media coverage - far more attention than protests against the Iraq war attended by hundreds of thousands ever received. In that sense today could be seen as a major victory for the Occupy Movement. This may have provided a model for other occupations to follow in the coming months.
For More, go to the URL: http://www.alternet.org/story/152939/ows_oakland_takes_over_city_--_thousands_show_up%2C_shutting_down_businesses_and_one_of_the_biggest_ports_in_the_country?akid=7803.78931.5CcMdr&rd=1&t=2
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