Reports from Occupy: 10/18

Portland, Ore.

By Andrea Hektor

PORTLAND HAS the distinction of having hosted the largest Occupation mobilizations outside of New York City in the first month of the new movement.

Occupy Portland kicked off October 6 with a daytime march through downtown. With little time to organize--about two weeks--the movement nevertheless still reached broad sections of the general public. Downtown office workers and others in the area went down to the gathering on their lunch break to check things out and voice their support.

The march itself kicked off at around 2:30 p.m., with upwards of 10,000 participants forming a sea of people that--unpermitted, but escorted by police--blocked traffic as it wound its way through downtown. The crowd, which consisted of the young and old, homeless, employed, union members and large numbers of youth, was incredibly lively, chanting non-stop.

The occupation location itself was not originally agreed on by organizers, and the march went on for hours as people tried to determine a place to set up camp. Eventually, the organizers, with consideration given to the directions indicated by the police and City Hall, led the march to Chapman and Lownsdale Squares, two city parks separated by a street that is adjacent to City Hall.

Hundreds of people stuck around until late into the night as camp was set up, and the road separating the parks remained blocked. A statue in the middle of the street became the meeting point for General Assemblies, which have been attended by hundreds of people on a regular basis.

The street remained blocked for a number of days, disrupting traffic downtown. On October 12, the GA agreed to use it as a common space for meeting and community building, except for emergency vehicles, bicycles and marches.

Prior to this, the encampment as a whole was threatened with eviction on October 9 because of the Portland marathon. But Occupy activists worked with organizers of the event and representatives of the police to come to an agreement on splitting the park space during the marathon--and occupiers and supporters gathered to cheer on runners as they neared the finish line.

Since then, participation in the encampment has grown, with hundreds of people permanently camped out. Organizers have set up a large medical tent, library, food area, information booth, etc., and events occur regularly.

Campers and supporters have been split on a number of questions--working with police is one topic. Another is our attitude to local political leaders. While Portland Mayor Sam Adams has expressed support for those engaging in their right to free speech and has met with Occupy organizers, he is also planning an 8 percent cut to the city budget next year.

The 1 percent cut he enacted last year led to teacher layoffs, cuts in social services and other reductions things that directly affected many working people. The 8 percent cuts next year will have a much harsher effect--yet at least some in the Occupy movement are hesitant to take up clear demands against these reductions.

Occupy has most definitely struck a nerve with large numbers in Portland, and many people who have been disaffected with the system and the status quo are voicing their opinions.

Many wondered why the Portland march--organized on short notice, and in one of the smaller U.S. cities that are part of the movement--was so large. But it is not surprising if you consider the high unemployment rate in Oregon--particularly in Portland proper itself, where large numbers of young people with college degrees are working part-time service jobs, if they are lucky enough to have a job at all.

Medical costs have risen faster in Portland than anyplace else in the country in recent years--a 32 percent increase between 2004 and 2010, compared with a 20 percent gain nationwide. And Portland-area transportation costs have risen 41 percent--only Denver and Detroit have had a bigger increase.

Unemployment among youth in Portland is over 25 percent, yet public transit rates continue to increase, and social services are being cut. We have been hit hard by the recession, and are finally voicing our dissatisfaction with the status quo.

On October 15, 4,000 people gathered in downtown Portland to demand an end to the wars in the Middle East. This was the largest antiwar demonstration that Portland has seen in years, and the crowd appeared more diverse and younger than in the past. This can be attributed in large part to the Occupy movement and the political energy that it has given people.

Speakers at the rally connected the issues here at home--high unemployment, the gutting of social services, increasing homelessness--to the money spent on wars abroad. This struck a chord with those attending, the vast majority of whom support the Occupy protests and camps.

The march itself was lively, and included a stop at the occupation site, where speakers linked the two struggles and attendees of both events voiced support for each other. The Occupy organizers sent an official contingent to the antiwar march to help spread awareness and information about the Occupy movement.

The event was supposed to end with a forum at the Unitarian Church downtown. The first 100 or so people to hit the church went inside, but the remainder of the march spontaneously kept going. After being stopped by police at an intersection a few blocks beyond the official march end, those at the front did a "mic check," had a short debate and voted to continue marching.

As has become standard in Portland, the unpermitted march then wound through downtown for an hour or two, ending at Pioneer Square, where it eventually met up with a Vietnamese cultural awareness demonstration that happened to be occurring the same day. The two groups seemed excited to join with each other.

The October 15 protest was a very exciting event for the antiwar movement here, and momentum seems to be growing for all forms of protest. With continued misery here at home, but an explosion of protest and expressions of discontent via the Occupy movement, more and more people are willing to go out and express their viewpoints and voice their opinion.

Madison, Wis.

By Andrew Cole

MORE THAN 200 people attended Occupy Madison's first General Assembly in Reynolds Field Park on October 7. Inspired by Occupy Wall Street, the crowd reflected a diverse array of backgrounds, including students, and both unemployed and employed workers.

Since then, participants have planned and participated in numerous marches and demonstrations, including a protest targeting banks on Madison's Capitol Square, which prompted M&I Bank to close its doors for an hour. Taking a cue from Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Madison is also reaching out to organized labor to increase the size of the movement. On October 14, demonstrators marched from the Occupy encampment to a picket by AFSCME Local 171, joining unionists to protest the University of Wisconsin contracting out food service to nonunion workers.

After the first week, Occupy Madison relocated to Capitol Square, facing the threat of eviction from Reynolds Park by police. The General Assemblies have ranged in size from a few dozen participants to several hundred.

Demonstrators also spent two nights debating whether to work with MoveOn.org in a planned solidarity rally scheduled for the October 15 International Day of Action. Many were worried about being co-opted by the Democratic Party, with whom MoveOn.org works closely. The General Assembly chose to participate and designated two speakers to deliver a fiercely independent message that called out both major political parties for taking money from Wall Street.

"Occupy Madison is not about partisan electoral politics. We are anti-partisan," said Heather Kleinberg to a crowd of 300 at the rally. "I'm here because the brave people determined to take on Wall Street directly recognize that the political parties are both dominated by the puppet strings of Wall Street and refuse to be distracted by the charade that our election process has become in this country."

Occupy Madison moved early to set up a committee to draft a working set of demands, which include an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and taxing the rich. In an effort to hone their message, demonstrators are now participating in nightly breakout sessions in which they discuss what exactly drew them to Occupy Madison.

"I'm here because the government has failed us," said Kay Linn, an underemployed Madison resident. "Our government has a responsibility to meet the basic needs of the people."

The theme of resistance has also emerged. "I'm a rebel at heart," said J.Q., a homeless resident of Madison. "This movement is about resistance, and we need to be prepared."

Sacramento, Calif.

By Zavi Katzvik

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS in Sacramento are steering the movement toward building solidarity not only with other Occupy demonstrations, but also with other struggles.

On October 8, marchers joined the LGBT festivities during Sacramento's "Second Saturday" event, and on October 14, Occupy protesters marched toward the state Capitol building to show support for the struggle of indigenous peoples. A majority of protesters recognize that all movements share a common enemy--namely, the "1 percent."

In conjunction with the international day of action on October 15, Occupy Sacramento protesters marched onto the Capitol building with as many as 650 people. The crowd was extremely energetic, chanting, "The banks got bailed out! We got sold out!" and "This is what democracy looks like!" Speakers addressed the problems of privatization in education, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the power of the corporatocracy.

One of the biggest responses from the crowd came when one speaker paraphrased Karl Marx: "We have nothing to lose but our chains! We have a world to win!"

One recent teach-in organized by the International Socialist Organization was on "Econ 101," and involved a discussion of capitalism and socialism. About 30 or 40 people attended the teach-in and were in hearing a socialist perspective on the role of Wall Street.

Anywhere from 30 to 40 protesters have been camping out every day since Occupy Sacramento. On the night of October 15, those who stayed at the encampment faced arrest when police attempted to clear the occupation. Some 40 people, including prominent activist Cindy Sheehan, were detained.

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

By Kira Woodworth

A GROUP of about 50 people demonstrated in Poughkeepsie, north of New York City, on October 15 as part of the larger Occupy movement that has been inspiring the nation and the world for the past month. Although this was a smaller demonstration, the crowd was lively and committed.

The protest began in front of a branch of Bank of America near Main Street in Poughkeepsie. In addition to calling attention to the greed of the banks, this location was also strategic in galvanizing the mostly working-class neighborhood to join the movement. Poughkeepsie, like many Hudson Valley cities has been in severe economic decline for decades. When IBM shed thousands of jobs in 1993, the region's unemployment rate jumped from 3 percent to over 7 percent, and the industrial sector has never really recovered.

The African American and Latino communities that live near and around Main Street were hit particularly hard, and the neighborhood has borne the classic scars of a one-sided class war for some time: abandoned buildings, dilapidated parks, homelessness, and high rates of unemployment and violent crime.

During the three-hour demonstration, a handful of people walking by grabbed signs and joined in, chanting, "From Tahrir Square to Poughkeepsie, working people will be free!" Others showed support by honking as they drove by. A General Assembly was planned for nearby Kiwanis Park at 2:30 p.m.

However, the nearby town of New Paltz also had a demonstration of about 200 people in front of Chase Bank. The decision was made to combine forces and hold a General Assembly in New Paltz, following a brief march through the downtown area and around the State University of New York campus.

Organizers have begun occupying Kiwanis Park (formerly Eastman Park) in Poughkeepsie. They held another General Assembly at Noon on October 16 and plan to remain.

As in most cities where Occupy movements are taking place, people involved in demonstrations are multi-generational, and from an array of political backgrounds and perspectives. The organizers are a mix of college and high school students who are committed to continuing the struggle against economic inequality. In addition to the occupation of Kiwanis Park, there is an occupation planned on the campus of Vassar College in mid-November.