Several days after that, on November 2, there was a march to the Port of Oakland with several thousand people, including a friend of mine who reported back from the front lines. If you look at the video, you can see thousands of ordinary people focusing on economic justice and against the rule of the 1%. It was quite encouraging.
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However, I thought the movement may have started to turn when protesters shut down the Port on December 12, in opposition to the relevant unions. But I still fully supported their rights to protest, and was appalled by some of the police response that was detailed on programs such as KQED's Forum.
This past weekend the movement took a much worse turn, when protesters trashed the City Hall for seemingly no apparent reason other than gratuitous violence. But I kept an open mind, and there was some notion that they were forced in there by aggressive policing.
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Well, now I know for sure that Occupy Oakland has gone from being my ally to being my enemy.
No longer the thousands of ordinary folks that marched to the port, but down to a much smaller number of hardcore 'activists', the Occupy Oakland general assembly has voted to endorse BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), the movement that seeks to replace Israel with an Arab-majority state.
As reported on The Electronic Intifada, the vote was almost unanimous in the General Assembly, with 135 people voting yes, 12 abstentions, and 1 no vote. This, of course, is exclusively symbolic, since Occupy wasn't buying anything from Israel, as is even stated on the Intifada website
Activists in the Bay Area are excited about tonight’s victory at Occupy Oakland, even if it is a bit unclear as of yet how the movement will strategically implement the proposal to support BDS. Henry Norr, a longtime activist in the Palestine solidarity movement told me this evening by email that during the GA discussion, it wasn’t “entirely clear what [the proposal] was asking of the GA.”
Indeed. But it goes on
But obviously most people thought the main thing was to make a statement in support of justice for Palestine, and that’s what they did.
Given the goals of BDS, as documented many places including the excelent Divest This website, this was not a statement in support of "justice", but a statement against the existence of Israel.
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And with that, Occupy Oakland has declared itself to be my enemy. I am no longer conflicted by my support for their goals on one hand but the excesses of tactics like the Port shutdown and the City Hall riot on the other. I now don't support their goals or their tactics. So I say good riddance, and have fun in jail guys.
Yep... say goodbye to my support as well if that is indeed the case.
ReplyDeleteActually I have to say the last video I saw where the cops were shooting paintball guns and Tear Gas caused me to lose support for Occupy Oakland. Prior to the police action the crowd was tossing stuff at them. Well, when you decide to chuck stuff at the Police what do you think is going to happen?
Anyway - I won't be supporting Occupy Oakland anymore now that they want to take on BDS. I can't support a movement that accepts the denial of the Jewish People to their legitimate rights to self-determination.
HOWEVER, I would caution against anyone assuming that this is a decision made by ALL of the Occupy Movements. I believe that this is only a decision made by Oakland.
Well written comment fiz.
Yes, there is no indication that this applies to any other Occupy movement. I hope that the main ones will distance themselves from this.
DeleteI imagine they would. NY and Boston rejected this crap out of hand.
DeleteUnfortunately, Occupy Oakland is simply pissing everyone off now. They had it going but allowing themselves to be co-opted by the kiddies who just want to wear black and tear shit up is pretty much wrecking them.
I was supportive in the beginning but even before this I can't say I was too pleased with the way things were going. Like for you, this sealed the deal for me. They can do without my support.
(livosh1)
ReplyDeleteFeh.
They're irrelevant now, but at least they're 'pure.' And that's all that really matters, apparently.
ReplyDeletePurely full of crap... that's what it is. When they are blogging on their Intel or Apple stuff I hope they will remember that they should be boycotting that stuff.
ReplyDelete"Butbutbutbutbut... look over there! And over there! And over THERE! Anywhere but here..."
Delete;)
It should not be a surprise that the Occupy movements in the Bay Area would be welcoming of the BDS movement's agenda as well as its methods.
ReplyDeleteTo start with, International ANSWER, the Stalinists (really-- they are an offshoot of the Worker's World Party and led on the West Coast by Richard Becker, a doctrinaire Marxist) who hold hate rallies in the public space complete with Hamas/Hezbollah flags and iconic photos of Nasrallah, have deeply infiltrated the Occupy groups locally, if not fully taken them over as wholly-owned subsidiaries. The tactics used by Occupy Oakland are part of ANSWER's repertoire (note the similarity to BDS activists who trash stores and even have set fires in a Trader Joe's). Even the theatrical spectacle of marching on the Port of Oakland matches the BDS playbook-- they didn't give a flying you-know-what that they cost working truck drivers a day's pay, as long as they could wreak havoc and then move on, leaving chaos in their wake.
Given the overt anti-Semitism at play in any ANSWER event (see http://www.zombietime.com/stop_the_us_israeli_war_8_12_2006/ and http://www.zombietime.com/hall_of_shame/), telling us that Occupy Oakland endorsed BDS is not a win for BDS, but rather a loss for the people who hoped that the movement would not be co-opted by extremists with their own malicious agenda. Sounds like the Arab Spring, and why not? The same Islamist influence is subverting both.
I'm not so sure about the last sentence. I'd say in this case, it's more a matter of "naive fucking useful idiots whose intellectual development ceased whereupon they dug into their first Chomsky tract in the eleventh grade." In fact, I have to wonder if some of these folks weren't amongst the very same group who were blocking bus lines from running on downtown streets and tossing firebombs at office buildings up here in Portland about twelve weeks ago. After all, the "Black Bloc" types certainly do travel up and down the West Coast at will.
DeleteThis absolutely nails it, however -
"[T]hat Occupy Oakland endorsed BDS is not a win for BDS, but rather a loss for the people who hoped that the movement would not be co-opted by extremists with their own malicious agenda."
@ Jay.. Dead on - I too have questions about Dr. Mike's last sentence as well. I don't see Occupy under the sway of an "Islamist influence" at all. Not only that but even the conditions of the Arab Spring and the democratization that follow are all different. That is not to make any excuse for the behavior of Islamist politicians but those in Ennahda are different from The Muslim Brotherhood / Hamas, who are different from the Libyan Rebels, who are different from Al-Nour, who are different from Palestinian Islamic Jihad and so forth.
DeleteFurther, Occupy New York and Occupy Boston fought off the demands of the IDS crowd and the BDS'ers and told them to "take a hike". SO... Occupy Oakland which was rioting itself into oblivion anyway sealed the deal by joining forces with what Dr. Mike rightly describes as the Stalinist folks at Int'l ANSWER.
Well Dr. Mike I was a little surprised that Occupy Oakland was stupid enough to do this. Other Occupy movements fought these people off but, Occupy Oakland is quickly doing a number to wreck all the the Occupy groups with it's allowance of the Black Bloc fools to run rampant.
DeleteNow with the adoption of BDS they are trying to poison other Occupy protests as well. How the movement responds will be interesting.
Sorry to be imprecise in the previous posting-- the Islamist influence comes via International ANSWER itself (the Muslim Student Association is one of the members of its steering committee).
DeleteWell the ANSWER people are like a bad meal - they just keep coming back and ruining everything they touch.
DeleteIn this case Occupy Oakland was well on the way to wrecking itself with it's lack of enforced discipline (or even attempts) over the Anarchist kids who basically just want to destroy stuff. People (and you know this) are pretty fed up with them. What gets me is that large scale movements like NY and Boston were able to hold them off, but, in Oakland (a smaller place) they are causing havoc.
Didn't they march on the Israeli consulate in Boston? How successful was Boston in holding it off?
DeleteI think in the end, what happened in Oakland was that there was a gradual shift away from the mainstream and toward the fringe. It is a almost inevitable viscious circle once the Black Block shows up - once windows are broken mainstream people shy away, which means that the scene is more dominated by the fringe, which means that more fringe activities happen, which means the mainstream people stay away even more, and pretty soon it ends up where it is now.
Not really fizziks - all of ten people, TEN, "Occupied" the Consulate - just barely making a minyan. The IDS crowd's previous attempt to take over Boston was a circular discussion that had all of twenty participants. SORRY but I don't see that as the dictates of Occupy Boston. How was Boston successful in holding it off? Do you see Boston doing what Oakland did? Don't you think if they were unsuccessful Boston would be supporting BDS as well?
DeleteHere is an interesting article on the hijacking attempts by IDS'ers of Occupy.
http://www.jewishchronicle.org/article.php?article_id=13296
I dunno Volley.
DeleteI assume this website speaks for Occupy Boston: http://www.occupyboston.org/ and it seems that tomorrow they are going to have a rally against war - or even sanctions - against Iran. Including, for some reason, a rally at the Israeli consulate.
I dunno fizziks.
DeletePeople are against a war with Iran for a lot more reasons than hating the Jews. I oppose a War on Iran and last I checked... I don't hate Jews. Of course I do favor other things like sanctions, and covert ops. pretty much what we are doing now. But there are a lot of reasons to oppose war with Iran and none of them have to do with bunnies, one-sided justice or anything else like that.
As for Occupy Boston... this is one group from within Occupy Boston. IF they get the general assembly to support BDS - then I will say that Occupy Boston has been co-opted. UNTIL THEN... I would say they have fought them off despite the "noise" that those who would turn the Occupy Movement into the We Hate Jews, Israel and America Movement.
To me, opposing sanctions on Iran smacks of the Iran regime love and Israel derangement I've come to know through blogging. At this point, it is just a gut feeling that I have, I can't claim to be the authority on this. Plus rallying at the Israeli consulate - again - seems gratuitous and inappropriate.
DeleteI am not claiming that Occupy Boston has endorsed BDS - clearly they haven't or we would have heard about it. But they have clearly strayed from economic justice and the power of the 1%, just like Occupy Oakland did. It is not a good sign.
To me, opposing sanctions on Iran smacks of the Iran regime love and Israel derangement I've come to know through blogging
DeleteYes and no. I can see where you are coming from but I do think you have to consider the many people that don't want to see a repeat of the Iraq Fiasco. Yes, there certainly are the hardcore who hate Israel and America. No doubt they play a role. BUT, I think for many it is a distaste to the lies and misinformation we were fed over Iraq.
As for rallying at the Israeli Consulate, again I can see your point however, I can see the reasoning. The Israeli Right is pushing hard for a strike. Even if the U.S. did not get involved this would be a disaster for the region. Oh and before I be accused of loving the Ayatollah's and Ahmadinejhad (not something I would expect you to say) - my opinion is shared by most of the top IDF and Intelligence services people. So let's keep that in perspective.
But they have clearly strayed from economic justice and the power of the 1%, just like Occupy Oakland did. It is not a good sign.
Yes they have. And with that they will sink into oblivion. But you are right - it is not a good sign.
Remember, sanctions are the alternative to war. If one opposes war, based on the Iraq fiasco or whatever other reason, then one should be all for sanctions. The fact that these people are against sanctions makes me highly suspicious of their motivations, to greatly understate it.
DeleteAnd again... I don't disagree with you and because of my P.O.V. I think that you are right that Sanctions are and alternative to war - but not everyone sees things from our perspective.
DeleteEither way, my original point was that to date Occupy Boston has fought off the BDS'er intended hi-jack of the movement. Nothing we have discussed or seen convinces me that I am wrong. I think that if Occupy Boston supports BDS then they will have not successfully have fought it off anymore.
This rally does make me sad that the day could be coming when they do take on the "We Hate Israel, Jews, and America" mantra. I mean I don't know how they are going to keep ANSWER, IDS'ers off the front lines. Those folks will be there in force. However, if 20 people at the Rally want to make this about Israel and 300 don't then I think we have to take that into account.
It will be interesting to see the post demonstration commentary. That will tell us what is what.
agreed
DeleteIt's not just in Boston that they're having a rally; downtown SF tomorrow as well, same theme, led of course by ANSWER. The only surprising aspect is that they are NOT holding it in front of the building that houses the Israeli Consulate.
DeleteBut you can expect them to try to yoke the Occupy movements to this.
If Zombie is there (which is highly likely) then we will probably see some photos at zombietime.com tomorrow afternoon. Will they be stupid enough to have photos lauding Ahmedinejad and the mullahs? Inquiring minds want to know....
I think we should be careful not to confuse ANSWER with the general Occupy movement. For many years, ANSWER has been out there with its antisemitism and its IDS. No mystery there. And it is no surprise that it has tried mighty hard to infiltrate the Occupy movements; it is no different than its attempts to become the driving force in opposition to the Iraq war. But in either instance, all they ever manage is a few small pockets of temporary success. In the end, they are always irrelevant and never part of the solution. In sum, ANSWER is a wacked-out, Jew-hating, and Israel-hating organization. Any attempts they make to garner support among reasonable movements on the Progressive left ultimately fail because of their dirtball views.
DeleteWell Anon., I have to say I agree with you. I am not willing to cede Occupy in general but Oakland because of their acceptance of BDS has completely lost my sympathy.
DeleteGood take though - I still support Occupy in general but if they want to team up with the ANSWER/BDS crowd they will lose mine and I think many other people's activism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWiTtZsHLvY
ReplyDeleteThe dark side of "Occupy" becomes more and more clear.
ReplyDelete