Taken from Sparrow Media
“Media outlets have attempted to dismiss Occupy Wall Street as a movement without a message. This baseless indictment falls apart once you have read their declaration, and this is why we think it is so important to publish it and distribute it widely!
We are going to need your help to reach our goal of printing and distributing 100,000 copies!
This document is the first and only official declaration to come from the New York City General Assembly at Liberty Plaza, the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. It is a summation of the grievances expressed by the occupiers, it is a call to action, and moreover it is a historic mile marker in the global fight for social, environmental, and economic justice. The Declaration of the Occupation of New York City, as transcribed and edited by Ryan Hoffman, Lex Rendon, and the Call to Action Working Group of Occupy Wall Street is a powerful reference for blossoming social struggles everywhere. In this second printing of 100,000 copies we will be including two other texts from the New York General Assembly, The Principals of Solidarity, and OWS’Statement of Autonomy, we also will be including a letter from the activists at Tahir Square to the Occupiers at Zuccotti Park. The Declaration of the Occupation, The Statement of Autonomy, and The Principals of Solidarity, are reflections of every voice amplified by the people’s mic at the NYC General Assembly at Liberty Square. You own this document. …Everyone owns it.
Please consider donating to our printing and distribution, and please share this fundraising effort with others on facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc…We love you!
You can read the declaration in its entirety here.”
I just found out that Marti Kheel died today. I don’t know what to do except to write about her.
Marti was a supporter, a mentor, and a friend. Like no other. I met her at an animal rights conference. I had known that she was the co-founder of Feminists for Animal Rights and I wanted to thank her, simply thank her. Little did I know what would become of that thank you.
I owe so much to Marti. She didn’t have to support me. But she did. I don’t know why she was so wonderful to me after we met. I don’t know why she reached out to me with so much little-deserved support and respect. All I know is that she’s the reason Connect the Dots is what it is. She’s the reason the idea from 2005 has kept going, amidst major life changes, tragedies, and simply daily living and subsistence. I feel like in a way she made sure that I didn’t give up on it. I never saw that until now.
Marti is the reason that my dream is alive.
I don’t know how to cope with the loss of someone who I never thought I deserved the respect of. I don’t know how to say goodbye to someone who believed in me in a way I never understood. I just have no idea how to let Marti go.
So I won’t. Marti lives on through Connect the Dots. She lives on through my commitment to feminist veganism. She lives on through my commitment to address sexual violence within the animal rights movement. These are things she gave to me.
The wound of Marti’s passing is fresh and hurts incredibly deeply but I will make sure that her memory, her legacy, and her life is celebrated.
I will miss you Marti and my thank you extends forever. You gave me courage, strength, and hope to no end.
(Post originates from Ashley’s Blog)
Download the bilingual print-ready black and white PDFs to distro and put up yourself:
11×17 posters
2 up flyers on 8.5×11″
poster text:
Saturday Nov 19, 2011
Liberate Oakland, Shut Down the 1%
DAY OF ACTION TO EXPAND THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT
Out of the Plaza and Into the Streets:
Converge on Downtown Oakland
Oakland United for People’s Needs!
MASS RALLY & MARCH
14th & Broadway! 2:00pm
LONG LIVE THE OAKLAND COMMUNE
• Solidarity with the worldwide Occupy Movement
• End police attacks on our communities
• Defend Oakland schools & libraries
• Housing for all, No more foreclosures
• Against a capitalist system built on inequality & corporate power that perpetuates racism, sexism & the destruction of the environment
called for by Occupy Oakland & Bay Area Labor
A lot has happened the past few days for the Occupy Movement. In the past few days, Homeland Security have encouraged coordinated police raids to take place at occupations all over the country in an attempt to finally put an end to the movement. I realize I cannot discuss every single action that has happened at occupations across the country, so I am only going to cover a few recent events.
During last nights raid, a NYPD cop was actually quoted saying ‘this is the end of the occupation movement’. This is far from the truth.
Occupy Oakland . Wow, where do I start? From the very successful General Strike, to their camp getting raided for the second time, Oakland has been a very busy, some even consider Oakland the ‘epicenter’ of action for the OWS movement. If you are in the area, and haven’t yet, we urge you to take part! In case you didn’t know, Oakland Occupy has a mass rally and march planned for Nov 19th.
The city of Portland, OR & PPD raided and evicted the Pdx Occupy camp a couple days ago. The city said that they would be evicted at 12:01 am, but by that time the city came down to support the occupation with numbers around 6,500 – 7,000 people. The police did not see this coming at all, minor clashes between the people and the cops took place, nothing major. The police ended up waiting until morning when people had tired and people had left to evict the occupation. This only strengthened the movement and made them more determined to take further action.
I think one of the most important thing to come out of this weekends eviction is Occupy Portland’s diminishing relationship with the police. Up until now, the movement in Portland has been working with the police, claiming that the police are a part of the 99%. Its not unusual to see people hugging police, taking pictures with the police, giving high fives and respecting them in general. But today, PDX OWS put out a statement declaring that their city/police liaison to the movement have resigned. The main reason being that the actions of the city and police this weekend showed their true intentions, ending the camp, and stopping the occupation.
“You claim to support us and yet you tell your police force to destroy us. Peaceful citizens are being injured in the process.”
If you want to stay updated with Portland Occupy, you can do so here.
A group in Chapel Hill, North Carolina took over an old abandoned building with plans to use the building as a community space. They put banners up with some saying “Capitalism Left this building Dead” and “And we brought it to life”. The occupation was only able to last overnight, in the morning it was raided by a SWAT team that used unnecessarily excessive force. Some frightening pictures of the event were captured, along with photos and video of the whole press conference with the cities mayor and police telling their story about what had happened.
Last night Occupy Wall Street was evicted from their camp at Zuccotti Park in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg’s reasoning to evict the camp was that that he was worried about sanitation problems, and that he was declaring the occupation a fire hazard and was ‘worried about the safety of the movement’. We have learned that the department of homeland security and the fbi have advised cities with occupations for reasons to evict them such as zoning laws, or curfew. They were also told to evict with force, and to do so when the press was less likely to be there. They were only given a mere 10 minutes to break down camp and leave the occupation without arrest. A group of 200-300 people had decided to stay and defend camp, a few of them even locking down in the camps kitchen to make it harder for the police to evict them. During the eviction, police used tear gas, pepper spray, and their batons on peaceful non-violent protestors. After everyone was removed, the park was cleaned, and barricaded with police on guard. This morning they were allowed back into the park without tents or sleeping bags. This is a really exciting time for the movement, and we would encourage you to take part!
Here is PDX Occupy Livestream. Here is Occupy LA Livestream
Below, is one of many live feeds of Occupy Wall Street.
I’ve written quite a bit on Connect the Dots about the fact that I work professionally in the prevention of gendered violence and how it’s a struggle to go to
conferences on that topic. Why? Because as we sit at lunch listening to speakers talk about issues such as consent, the majority of the room is picking away at the non-consenting, murdered body of a non-human animal. We’re discussing bodily autonomy while literally consuming another’s body. Many others. Where’s the connection?
This continued, fatiguing experience is one of the main reasons my colleague and I started our project. But Connect the Dots is just that – a side project. I have a job. I have had several jobs. Guess what I had to do in these jobs? I plan and implement events and conferences. And guess what was served at every one of these events? The dead, non-consenting bodies of other beings as well as products from their reproductive organs.
So here’s where I stop and take a deep breath. Here’s where I wonder about you, the audience, and your reaction. But as scary as it is to admit the above, you are exactly the folks with whom I want to share this. I have violated, I continue to violate, my own ethics to stay employed, to advance my career. When I have been told, “Ashley, this is NOT a vegan event,” (and I’ve been told this several times, by several different folks who are in positions of power over me) than it’s not a vegan event. Then I violate all of my ethics, the very core of who I am, to remain in good standing with my employer. Sure, I push as far as I feel I can go, but I learned very early on while working in human-exclusive movements to stop pushing. I learned that if my institution isn’t ready for it, then pushing even further will cause me to lose 
any progress I’ve managed to make.
Yet at the same time, I directly participate in the systems of oppression that are causing the issues these events are focused on eliminating.
I know there are others like me whose veganism threatens their careers. I know there are others like me who have simply stepped out of any food decisions when it comes time for that in our work. But is that the answer?
I have to start asking myself how much I’m willing to give up. Because the more I try to hang on to my career in these situations, to the comforts it brings me, the more non-human animals will die. The more I directly cause suffering. It’s that simple. The consequences here are life and death. Who am I willing to kill so that I can advance?
I need your support, I need the courage, to say absolutely no one.
