Occupy San Diego: OccupySD.org, #OccupySD, Twitter, Facebook
Occupy San Diego activists march through downtown San Diego, Sunday, Oct 2, 2011. Photo by Nathan Anton.
The “Occupy Wall Street” movement has definitely spread to San Diego, and local organizers are planning a peaceful occupation of the San Diego Civic Center Plaza this Friday, October 7th. The action – which starts with a march that is to reach the Plaza at 4:30 – will be in solidarity with the Wall Street protesters. (Marchers will gather at First and Harbor at 4pm.) The occupation is viewed as a “protest of the global financial corruption currently invading politics, media and corporations”. They call themselves “the 99%”.
Every night at 6pm Occupy San Diego organizers have been meeting at a local downtown park – the Children’s Park at First Street and Island. Organizers and the folks they’ve attracted all sit around a large grassy circle and hold discussions during the nightly General Assemblies. A different moderator each night tries to guide the crowd – which ranges from 50 to over a hundred (like last night – Sunday) – through the reports and over a wide range of issues.
General Assembly, Oct. 1, 2011. Photos by Patty Jones.
What unites the group is a willingness to resist the corporate takeover of the country. This is basic, and the group tries to remain non-partisan, democratic, and “leaderless”. During the General Assemblies, the group bends over backwards to ensure everyone gets a chance to speak or to object to a motion. The individual counts in this leaderless movement. And the General Assemblies – GA’s in the parlance of occupation – works on consensus.
The San Diego group has been meeting since Tuesday, September 27th, and each night there are dozens of new people, mostly young, but increasingly older locals show up, including some well-known peace and justice activists. Sunday night, October 2nd, there were 60 newbies. And all new people go through an orientation, where non-verbal hand signals are explained, and the process of how Occupy San Diego works is described.
The people at these nightly meetings have organized themselves and the tasks they’ve taken on into committees, such as Logistics, Outreach, Media, Food, Resources, Security, Medical, Legal – even a Process Committee.
The goal is to plan the occupation of the Civic Center Plaza, with back-up plans on the backburner. And they want as a group think through all the scenarios and things that the occupiers will need.
Several San Diego organizers went up to Los Angeles to join the occupation of City Hall in LA. They returned to the General Assembly full of exciting reports of what went down up north and lessons learned from their experiences of sleeping out with the LA occupiers.
Yesterday, on Sunday, over 50 people marched around downtown San Diego, distributing fliers of the upcoming Friday action.
Up until just recently, there has been a corporate media black-out of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations and occupation in New York City, going on since September 17th. When up to a hundred activists were arrested last Saturday, September 24th, mainstream media started to to take notice. And then this weekend, over 500 were arrested on Brooklyn Bridge. The LA Times broke their silence a couple of days ago. The San Diego U-T finally recognized the Occupy Wall Street actions in today’s issue (the paper version included one sentence about Occupy San Diego).
New people are encouraged to join the planning for the occupation. The GA meets at 7pm each night while the committees meet at 6pm. First and Island. On a personal level, I have joined this gathering of San Diego humans as has Patty, and the OB Rag has been covering the national and local Occupy news since the beginning. Working with the young people of the Occupy movement is so inspiring and energizing – I come home exhausted but feeling connected to the livewire circulating this country and even the globe.
Information for people who want to join the protest, visit http://occupysandiego.org and for Occupy Wall Street please visit http://occupywallst.org.
References:
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Official Press Release of Occupy San Diego:
Occupy San Diego
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Kayla Ward or Kali Katt
949-480-4229 / 619-916-1304
occupysd2011@gmail.com
Organizing & Media Groups
Citizens Join Occupy Wall Street at Civic Center Plaza, San Diego
Occupy San Diego Seeks Economic and Social Justice
SAN DIEGO (Oct. 3, 2011) – Standing in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street NYC, hundreds of San Diego citizens will peacefully occupy the Civic Center Plaza in downtown San Diego, adjacent to San Diego City Hall (1200 3rd Ave.), starting on October 7, 2011. This nonviolent occupation is in protest of the global financial corruption currently invading politics, media and corporations, exemplified by the recent financial industry meltdown and following recession.
The occupation will continue indefinitely until a list of demands in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street NYC are met by all levels of government, including the City and County of San Diego, the state of California, the Federal Government, and by private and public banks and corporations.
The long term and overnight occupation will include marches, sit-ins, educational programs, practice of the democratic process, and General Assembly meetings wherein solutions to overlapping issues are identified, to name a few. This diversified group makes decisions via consensus.
Participants are requested to meet at Children’s Park (1st Ave. and Island Ave.), by 3:30 p.m. on Friday, October 7. At 4:00 p.m., the group will march to Civic Center Plaza. Children’s Park is adjacent to the Convention Center Trolley Station and is two blocks south of Nordstrom Horton Plaza.
“The Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping across the country. People from all walks of life, political persuasions and occupations are joining together to demand that our economic system become more just,” said Ray Lutz of Occupy San Diego. “Join our movement. With you, we can bring about change.”
We, the American citizens, must claim our country and put ourselves on the line for peace and justice. It is time for us to discover both who we — the other 99% — are and what we believe and want. Now is the time for us to act. Unless we do, we are nothing. When we do, our nation will be restored.
Occupy San Diego is reaching out to existing political groups, active military personnel, veterans, activist groups and labor unions in the San Diego community to participate in the occupation. The United Steelworkers Union (USW, 1.2 million members), the Laborers’ International Union of America (LIUNA, 500,000 members), the Transport Workers Union (over 200,000 members), and National Nurses United (NNU, 170,000 members) – have already announced their support for the Occupy Wall Street protests.
The top 1% control nearly a majority of the wealth in this country*. This lopsided distribution of wealth, coupled with outsourcing of jobs, bailouts, secret loans, subsidies, and profiteering in the financial sector have resulted in massive foreclosures, retirement and investment fiduciary failure, job losses, and homelessness.
About Occupy San Diego:
We are the 99%, and we will be quiet about this economic inequality no longer. We will take back for the people what already belongs to the people – our country. For more information, visit http://occupysandiego.org and for Occupy Wall Street please visit http://occupywallst.org. Twitter: @OccupySD; Facebook: OccupySanDiego
FOR PARTICIPANTS
Bring what you need to LIVE — or nothing, we will take care of each other! Some suggestions:
1. Pack lightly, keep valuables to a minimum, keep compact backpack/tote with you most of the time.
2. Wear layered clothing, prepare for possible rain or hot sun (hats, sunglasses, etc.)
3. Feel free to bring food, water and supplies to share!
4. Tents, compact bedroll / sleeping bag, pad/air mattress, blankets
Participants are advised to check the occupysandiego.org web site for further details, including legal advice and instructions and what to expect and how to behave if arrested.
Transportation:
Occupying participants are advised to get rides to the site or use the Coaster or trolley and park in free station parking lots outside the downtown area.
If you are a company or individual who can donate or loan resources such as food, water, porta potties, power supplies, Internet hotspots, media equipment, or almost anything else, please email occupysd@gmail.com
Notes:
* The top 1% control over 40% of the wealth in the country, and the top 20% control 93% of the wealth.
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
good work peace lovers. See you at the barricades!
I just put this on my calendar. I will be there.
Cool!
I can’t wait…and baring any unforseen disaster, or a hot chick that wants to take me home, I will be there.
I fell asleep reading all these demands. You have fallen into the special interest trap. The enemy is corruption. Lobbyists who control our governments. Big businesses who are screwing us left and right. I hear talk about health care and never about cost. The doctors,hospitals, insurance companies are out of control. Been to the dentist lately? Free education, sounds good. What about costs?
Start with the lobbyists and go from there. What about the military, bases all over the world, foreign wars for who? Generals who retire and then work for defense companies. Man oh man what a mess.
I attended the October 3rd “meeting” of “Occupy San Diego” and was totally confused. For a brief moment I thought I had wandered into the exercise yard of a mental institution. Committee groups were formed that bore no resemblance to any committee I have ever observed. For example, the “communication committee” did not discuss communication. Instead they discussed “logistics” … where to assemble and the legal restrictions that pertained to the various areas. When someone asked, “what is your mission statement” … “what is it that you are attempting to achieve”? There was an odd pause and a few mumbled responses that signified nothing. One-on-one discussions revealed a “personal agenda” on the part of every participant. Some wanted more EPA Enforcement to keep “saw dust out of the food”. Another wanted a “vegan world” … and on it went. I made an early “exit”. If the press and the privileged are tired of berating the Tea Party, they, now, have a brand new group, rich with mind-boggling targets. In summary, it appears that this group is a modified version of the 60’s “flower children” who espouse love and peace and have no idea of how to achieve either.
Sebastian, sorry your seemingly “negative” experience at the planning meeting of Occupy San Diego. The people at these meetings, these GA’s (General Assemblies), are trying hard to get everyone’s viewpoint expressed and bend over backwards to make this happen. One has to have patience with democracy – it does take time.
True, there are overlays within the committees, but what the hay? There is a basic attitude to the group (did you read my post?) and it is a definitely anti-corporate power and corruption stance. That is unmistakeable.
You are so wrong about the this being “a modified version of the 60s flower children” – but so what is bad about that, dude? You are putting the counter-culture down here. I was part of that movement and we had many ideas of how to achieve peace and love. I guess they didn’t gravitate to you – wherever you were then.
Frank — your “excuses” noted. My complaint is the fact that there is no specific objective — “anti-corporate America” … not very clear. The “shotgun” approach scatters buckshot everywhere without much impact. The establishment press is having a field day denigrating the movement with stories “soaked in urine” … with feces spread around; rapes and even murder. Great P-R for a movement, dude!! I,too, am of the 60’s ventage and, at least, we had a primary objective — to get out of Vietnam. What ever happened to “Give Peace a Chance”? Doesn’t seem to have worked … let’s see … Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and, now, Iran in their sites. Isn’t the issue the military-industrial complex? The movement needs clearly defined objectives (did you see 60 Minutes’ story on Pelosi and Baynor making a “killing” in the stock market on insider info?) The target should be Washington — they make Wall Street’s rip-offs pale by comparison. Or, closer to home — the outrageous corruption in San Diego government in every department. Don’t you just love the “entrapment devices” called Red Light Photo Cameras? How about the poisoning of our water supply with fluoride under the pretense that it prevents tooth decay? What is the Unified Port District and why is it allowed to suck millions of dollars out of a broken city? Frank, I’ve always been a “do-er” and not a blow-hard talker — I just don’t see how your “…many ideas of how to achieve peace and love” can gravitate to anyone when they aren’t defined. This is a trip without a destination.
The tea party claims the rugged individualist yet works like a well oiled propaganda machine. This movement is made up of the disaffected who are tired of abuse, corruption, and greed. I know the mob mentality is abhorrent to some, and right now it feels like a mob. But, we have to start somewhere, sometime, somehow to take our future back from deviant penis.
People who are asking for one clear statement from
a democratic group ought to consider that the progression
the so-called mainstream has followed has been mission/message/SPIN.
Put up your own flag with your own message. Find out how many
people agree with it. Show up. We’ll all do the right thing.
In a way Sebastian makes a significant point. I tried to request the same thing at Move-on. We need a policy (Mission) statement. This could be mission specific, for each action. The occup ySan Diego could take the form of :
!. We request proseqution of the bad guys. AIG, Goldman-sachs, B of A, etc. for fraud, money laundering, etc. We can name the people perhaps.
2. Government financed mortgages, at the present value. gets rid of the middle man.
3. We want credit cards thru a gov agency like the post office. They do it in Germany, and this keeps their small manuf. operations alive and well.
4. A return to usery laws for credit.
5. Tax on stock market transactions.
6. Giving judges discrection to foregive martgages and refinace.
7. rfturn of Glsss-Seigel Act, but with criminal penalties this time.
8. Give the Administration a deadline to accomplish these requests.
(. Penalties for non action:
A. targeted boycotts.
B. Sitins.
C. General strike.
Thank you
Ron Wilson
Ron — at last a voice of common sense. I agree with most of your points and can add more. You are, definitely on the right track. As a “card carrying Libertarian”, you can expect me to object to government involvement in anything except legitimate national defense. Most of the folks I met at the Occupation have never read, nor do they understand the significance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and what corrupt government has done to destroy both. Your ideas would be great in a perfect world, but politicians and judges are the most corrupt members of our population. The establishment “evolution” has been dramatic in my lifetime. The Patriot Act has nearly wiped out the Bill of Rights. Crony-capitalism sponsored by the “K-Street Lobbyists” has defrauded the American public of trillions of dollars. The Federal Reserve Bank (neither Federal nor does it have any reserves) — a private central bank that controls interest rates, money supply and just about anything in the financial area has stolen trillions from the 99% and promises to steal even more. Helicopter Ben Bernake wants to “flood” the world with cheap (useless) dollars and ramp up the most debilitating tax of all — inflation. We need to clean up WASHINGTON, DC … Wall Street will, automatically, follow. The 60 Minutes story on insider trading by Pelosi and Baynor should spur a massive demand for a “bipartisan” investigation and prosecution. Unfortunately, Congress has exempted itself from the laws it enforces on the 99%. The list goes on and on … Immelt from GE advises the president on job creation while shipping tens of thousands of jobs overseas … The TARGET is WASHINGTON, DC and the criminal congress and crooked judiciary (Eric Holder with his Walking Guns, etc. ad nauseaum)
radicaluterus, dorndiego and Ron – thanks for your thoughtful comments and implied support of Occupy San Diego. Come on down and watch democracy in action and come out to Friday’s protests.
In response to mission statement how about a mental one.
“To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction”.