December 23, 2011

Occupy Oakland: vanguard of the 99 percent movement

While the protest may have started on Wall Street, Occupy Oakland seems to clearly have situated itself as the vanguard of the 99 percent movement.

“We set trends here, and sometimes we don’t even know we’ve done it,” an local activist said at a meeting between Occupy Oakland and visiting activists from Occupy Wall Street Thursday night.

He was referring to their presence at a City Council meeting Tuesday night, at which at least 60 protesters filled two balconies and the lower seating area of City Hall. Activists heckled the city council throughout the meeting, and many feel their presence…

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December 22, 2011

Occupy Oakland preps for next port protest

Occupy Oakland plans to embark on another effort to shut down a port. This time, though, rather than in the Bay Area, activists will head to Longview, Wash. in January to attempt to prevent a multinational grain exporting conglomerate from delivering a grain loader there.

“We need this to be a humungous and awesome occupation,” said Jack Heyman, a member of the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union, at an Occupy Oakland general assembly meeting on Wednesday, where activists voted 123 to 0 (with one abstention) to support the action.

While activists don’t know when the Export Grain Transporters, the company…

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December 21, 2011

Occupy Oakland maintains presence inside and outside of City Hall

The tent city is gone from outside of City Hall in this largely blue collar Bay Area city that has become the western front for the Occupy Wall Street movement. But both here at Frank Ogawa Plaza, which local activists have pretty successfully renamed Oscar Grant Plaza, and inside the council chambers itself, Occupy Oakland’s presence is still very much alive and well.

Last night, about 25 Occupiers continued their ongoing presence in the park with a 24-hour vigil as many more activists were inside City Hall arguing against a proposal that would utilize “whatever lawful tools” the city…

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