OB Rag

While it remains to be seen whether the Occupation of America, from Wall Street to San Diego, will be able to sustain its amazing initial momentum, it has unquestionably struck a nerve and sparked a national discussion about class, power, and politics. The heavy weights at the New York Times have recently staked out an interesting range of opinion on the occupation movement.

You have Paul Krugman, the paper’s reliable progressive, observing the panic of the plutocrats and astutely noting that, “The way to understand all of this is to realize that it’s part of a broader syndrome, in which wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.”

by Phillip Smith / StopTheDrugWar.org

California’s largest doctors’ group is calling for marijuana legalization. The trustees of the California Medical Association (CMA) adopted the position at their annual meeting in Anaheim Friday. The call came after the group last year decided to study the issue and make recommendations.

The group, which represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide, called for legalization even as it acknowledged health risks and questioned the medical value of pot.

This past weekend witnessed a dramatic increase of Occupy Wall Street type actions across this country and around the globe. Something like 1500 cities and towns across planet Earth had actions and events on Saturday, October 15th. There were over 100 in the United States. This weekend’s events were also supplemented by the Anti-Austerity and Anti-War demonstrations that coincided with many Occupy actions, as they did here in San Diego.

The Occupy Movement is growing so quickly that activists within can hardly stay up on its developments. So, we’ve put a little something together. This is not an all-inclusive summary but an attempt to hit the high-points.

Statement of Support

by Josh Pechthalt, the president of California, AFT

The California Federation of Teachers endorses the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Occupy Wall Street, and its local variations, represent the legitimate response of the 99% of us adversely affected by growing wealth and income inequality in America. The richest one percent of the population has doubled its share of the nation’s income over the past twenty years. Yet during this time the wealthy received massive tax cuts, a major cause of public budget shortfalls that hurt students, make our streets less safe, and harm the health of children and seniors.

After a large peace march down from Balboa Park ended with a rally at the Civic Center Plaza, the occupation of the Plaza continued. Nearly one thousand occupiers and supporters had gathered for the rally at its peak.

Even though police had ordered all sleeping bags to be removed from the Plaza and had banned “illegal lodging” in it as well, about one hundred demonstrators slept in the Plaza last night, Saturday night.

Here is the schedule for Sunday, October 16, 2011, at Occupy San Diego:

11:00 a.m. – Teach-in at Plaza on “structural inequality”

4:00 p.m. – Daily March around the Gaslamp

7:00 p.m. – General Assembly

Come inside for more reports on Occupy San Diego and its offshoots….

2:56pm

News from Frank:

Occupy San Diego intends to continue Occupation of Civic Center Plaza!

About 500 people are rallying right now at the San Diego Civic Center Plaza and the general agreement is that they will stay put.

In a letter published at the Voice of San Diego yesterday, candidate Loch David Crane has announced that he has withdrawn from the San Diego mayoral race. He states that despite physical problems that made it difficult for him to campaign he gave it his best effort because no one else spoke out to defend legal medical marijuana patients. I applaud him for taking a stance and wish him the best with his endeavors and hope his physical condition improves.

However, in his letter to Voice of San Diego he misguidedly attacks the labor council…

By Mike Chek / Special to the OB Rag

During yesterday’s pepper-spraying and roughing-up of Occupy San Diego demonstrators by San Diego Police, one officer stood out in his duties. Officer “Blondie” (we don’t know his true identify) clearly was The Hammer as officers cleared out tents at the Civic Center Plaza.

The SDPD had ordered all tents to be removed from the Plaza and at 8 am Friday, October 14th, dozens of officers had arrived to enforce that order. And through some minor jostling of non-violent demonstrators who had circled the half dozen tents, the officers did remove the tents.

by Christopher Cadelago / SignOnSanDiego / Oct 14, 2011

A judge this week ruled that the city of San Diego can restrict the location of medical marijuana dispensaries based on its zoning laws. San Diego County Superior Court Judge Ronald Prager wrote that state law regarding medical marijuana addresses the cultivation and possession for medicinal purposes, but not zoning and business licensing. …

Meanwhile, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith announced more lawsuits against another 16 collectives for allegedly violating local zoning code. … Under the decision, Ocean Beach Wellness Center at 4851 Newport Ave. was ordered to shutter its operation Thursday. The collective was part of an initial batch of 12 lawsuits brought by the city last month against businesses believed to be operating within 600 feet of schools, a violation of state law.

We just spoke to a member of Occupy San Diego at Civic Center Plaza, and they gave us the following schedule of fun and games for protesters today, Saturday, October 15th – all decided by the most recent General Assembly.

9:30 am – Logistics meeting at the Plaza

11:00 am – Some in Plaza will proceed to the Peace Rally at 6th and Grape.

11 – 12 noon – Peace activists will be bannering above I-5

1:00 pm – Occupy San Diego will march through Balboa Park to the World Beat Center along Park Blvd.

Handed a printed ultimatum late afternoon Thursday, October 13 to either remove all tents by midnight or get arrested, the 150 Freedom Occupiers at the San Diego Civic Center held a democratic general assembly and decided to peacefully resist the assault on their rights of free speech and assembly.

The occupiers, mostly youth , many of color, had been camped near City Hall since Saturday to proclaim solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests nationwide and to begin a movement of youthful confrontation with local injustice.

In a tense day marred by two arrests and the pepper-spraying of demonstrators at what remains of the Occupy San Diego encampment at the Civic Center Plaza, it ends in a compromise that allows protesters to sleep one more night in the Plaza in sleeping bags. The compromise does not allow for occupiers to have any tents – except the one that does remain as a symbol of the seven-day occupation.