January 12, 2012

Renegade activist stirs debate about justice within Occupy Tucson

As is the case with so many Occupations across America, there is a division within Occupy Tucson. But the split here has less to do with the reform versus revolution debate or inter-movement class disparity as it does with a renegade activist who misappropriated funds from the group and is refusing to return a laptop loaned to him.

It started in November, when Jon McLain, the activist in question, started a working group called Occupy Public Lands.

“A lot of people feel like we didn’t go through the proper consensus process,” he said.

McLain, one of the initial driving forces…

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January 11, 2012

A day off for a bike ride up A Mountain

Other than a few really fun days in Portland, an afternoon at a rustic spa in Ashland and a couple drunken nights in Atlanta and New York, I have pretty much been working nonstop, sometimes as much as 20 hours a day, for the past 42 days. During that time, I’ve visited 19 different Occupies, 21 cities, written just about 60 stories and traveled no less than 8,000 miles by bus, car, train, plain and – as of today – bicycle, too.

Needless to say, I am exhausted.

So it was a bit of a godsend when earlier today I…

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January 10, 2012

Occupy Tuscon continues the camping

Count Occupy Tucson as one of the few offshoots of OWS that still has campers keeping the original idea for the protest alive.

By 9 p.m. on Monday night, as the group’s general assembly meeting came to a close, there were already a number of people sleeping in solidarity on the sidewalk outside of Viente de Agosto Park, better-known locally as Pancho Villa park, for the statue of the Mexican bandit and revolutionary in the center of the downtown green space. The night before, one activist told me, more than 30 people slept on the sidewalk.

But it hasn’t been easy,…

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January 9, 2012

Lattes, cowboys and tall tales in Tucson

My train arrived here at about 3 a.m. last night, and since the only hotel room within walking distance of the station would have run me more than $100 for just a few hours shut eye, I decided to occupy a nearby playground instead.

When it was dark out, it looked enough like a park to roll out my sleeping bag and get a little sleep. But by dawn, when the early morning joggers and bike riders started to come through, it became pretty evident it was just a playground. Rather than risk a visit by the local authorities, I…

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