Occupy Cal Demands from Nov 15 2011

Local Demands:

1. Respect Free Speech, including the right to set up tents.

2. Immediate resignation of Birgeneau, Breslauer, LeGrande, & Celaya; democratic election of their replacements by students, faculty & staff.

3. Charge the police responsible for brutalizing protesters.  No use of force against protests on campus.

4. Amnesty for all protesters

5. Make UC Berkeley a sanctuary campus for undocumented people.  Pass the UC-wide Dream Act.

6. Equal benefits and retirement security for UC union workers.

Statewide Demands:

7. Reverse the fee hikes, cuts, and layoffs to at least their 2009 levels.

8. Refund public education and public services: Tax the banks and billionaires; Repeal Prop 13.

9. Full implementation of Affirmative Action. Overturn Prop 209.

Nationwide Demands:

10. Stop the privatization of public education.

11. Bail out schools and public services. Redirect military funding to education.

12. Immediate forgiveness of all student debt.

13. Repeal Race to the Top.

14. Stop the attacks on Teachers' Unions.

And for the Record, and additional Demand was added at the Occupy Cal General Assembly on February 9th 2012.

15. In solidarity with Occupy UC Davis, Occupy Cal at UC Berkeley also calls for the resignation of Katehi.

New Friends at #OccupyTheFarm

Loyalty oath required to cluck at the multiplying turkeys at #OccupyTheFarm

http://t.co/m8AvPhqi

#OpChrisHedges Berkeley 6/27/12

(My quick writeup...)

On January 28th 2012, Occupy Oakland Move In Day, I think most of us on the streets that day weren't neophytes, and we expected the corporate media to ignore the massive brutality of the police state; the indiscriminate baton blows, the flash bang grenades, the bean-bag shots, the rubber coated steel tipped bullets, the tear gas, more tear gas, the tear gassing of illegally kettled protesters in from of a statue of MLK Jr and Gandhi, the illegal mass arrests, the largest in Oakland since 1981, the torturous jail conditions; we knew they would ignore all of that and focus on a couple of broken windows later that evening, and a burned American flag.

What we didn't quite expect was how the "Liberal" "Progressive" "Independent" media would also ignore the criminal police violence and begin the denouncing of Occupy Oakland, and those "Black Bloc Anarchists" who had "tools of violence" such as shields to defend our skulls from being shattered like Scott Olsen's.

But there it was; one "sympathetic #occupy media ally" after another denouncing the violent "Black Bloc" for having shields and masks, going so far as appealing to NYC's #OWS to cut ties with Oakland (as if there's some process for that...)

But the worst of the worst was former NY Times journalist Chris Hedges, who wrote the article post #j28 http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_cancer_of_occupy_20120206/ =

The Cancer in Occupy

Referring to Black Bloc and Occupy Oakland at large.

I'm not going into the whole critique here; other have written extensive, thorough rebuttals.  One fine example:  http://ola-asm.tumblr.com/post/17189347129/colonizerchrishedges (search around, you'll find more)

But now, nearly five months later, one can look at this article as a turning point in Occupy; the time when older more moderate on the fence liberals were given the excuse they needed not to get involved with Occupiers lest they get caught up with those scary "Black Bloc Anarchists".

So I figured if the old guard liberals of Berkeley were going to flock to a KPFA fundraiser with Chris Hedges speaking; maybe some of the younger crowd who like to wear masks, carry shields, and use fucking foul language should have some representation at the event as well.  So this happened last night:

I had some interesting dialogue with community members:

A young citizen even stopped to draw me:

 

(A special thanks to my videographer! <3)

Dear Armchair Activists:

I think I have to share this once a week from now on...

UCB Scandal at Occupy the Farm!

Details keep emerging that UC Berkeley Admins forced the local "student paper", the Daily Californian http://www.dailycal.org to make a change in their story regarding Occupy the Farm.

Here's the original post: http://ergoat.com/Occupy-the-Farm_The-Daily-Californian.pdf

And here's the one the daily cal was pressured to re-write: http://www.dailycal.org/2012/05/03/members-of-occupy-the-farm-to-meet-with-campus-representatives-thursday-night/

Note the key difference: "Mogulof said the fire hydrants were not turned off at the encampment, and that the university “would absolutely never turn off a fire hydrant across the street from an elementary school.”"

This when there is photographic and video evidence of the fire hydrant being shut off and tagged "UCB"

Why do they think they can get away with these lies and endangerment of the lives of the surrounding community?!

Also, UCB Admins made sure a presentation to the UCB Student Gov. the ASUC, also didn't make Friday's print edition.  The presentation led to a unanimous vote the ASUC to endorse and support Occupy the Farm in full.  Why wouldn't the Admins at UCB want the student body to read about that?

Because they are planning a raid on Occupy the Farm.  A cowardly act by lying, brutal, greedy pigs.

Here's the presentation in full, presented on my crappy little blog, because I won't be cowed and fold over as easy as the Daily Cal: http://ergoat.com/ASUCPresentation--OccupytheFarm.pdf


...


Ok, why are you still reading this? Go out and support #OccupyTheFarm ASAP!

VICTORY!!!

After two nights and three days of occupation, the Occupy Cal UC-Berkeley library occupiers won their demand to restore fully the library hours to Fall 2011 levels and hire a full-time new librarian to permanently staff these hours. At about 7:30PM Saturday night, the administration signed a written agreement that fully met the occupation's demands.

The administration signed the following agreement:
"1. On Monday, January 23rd signs will go up that the library hours will be restored to the Fall 2011 schedule -- opening at 9:00AM and closing at 6:00PM on weekdays, and open from 1:00 to 6:00PM on Saturday and Sunday. On an interim basis staffing for this position will be by Undergraduate or Graduate student workers, hired under normal procedures. The first day with the new hours will depend on how quickly students for this work can be recruited. The recruitment will begin this Monday morning January 23rd.

"2. The Library commits to post a position to support the full circulation services needed by all users of the Anthropology Library as soon as this can be written and approved and to commence interviews for the position within 30 days of the signature of this Agreement.

"Signed by Administration Representative: Tom Leonard, University Librarian on January 21, 2012."

(Note: The Anthropology faculty have agreed to help staff the Library's full hours beginning Monday, Jan. 23rd until the interim student hire is made.)

occupycal.net

https://sites.google.com/site/occupycalnet/

https://www.wepay.com/donations/occupy_cal

http://www.bamn.com/2012/01/22/victory-for-the-uc-berkeley-library-occupation/