Stop the repression! Let’s grow our Occupy movement!
On October 25th, the Oakland police brutally raided the Oakland encampment, arresting more than a hundred people who were peacefully camping, and the day after they severely injured another protestor. This new episode of police brutality was the last straw that ignited the people of Oakland who called for a strike and day of action Nov. 2nd in a mass assembly in solidarity with the Occupy Oakland assembly and their demands.
Occupy Oakland has taken a strong stance against co-optation by corporate parties the Democrats & Republicans. This independence is what allowed our movement to so effectively respond to the raid last Tuesday. We need to preserve and expand it!
We need demands that express clearly our interests in order to unite and expand our movement.
Some have argued about the virtue of not having demands: claiming that demands will limit the scope of our movement and will allow it to be co-opted, and state that our sole “presence” is our demand.
The truth is that right now the absence of demands is an obstacle for the growth of the movement, both in terms of numbers and consciousness. It gives an illusion of unity. The two initial demands on ending police brutality and against schools and library closures are a first step, but we need to go beyond.
Many of the 99% are not joining us because they are persuaded daily by the media that “protestors don’t know what they are protesting against”, and also the majority of the people, who works, cannot be constantly “present” at the encampments to figure out what do we stand for.
Therefore we need demands that will unite whole the 99% around its true interest, and that will prevent the co-optation of the movement by the ones in power, by choosing demands that will target the core interests of the 1%:
· End police brutality in our communities!
· No to school and library closures!
· Reverse fee hikes, cuts and layoffs in public education!
· Tax the Rich! Fully funded and free public education and health- care for all!
· Nationalization under workers’ control of the bailout banks and foreclosed homes they own!
· Public works plan to fight unemployment!
· Prohibit companies earning profits from making layoffs!
Let’s organize the General Strike through the Occupy Movement!
The only way to win our demands is to empower the 99% to make political through a General Strike.
We also need to learn the lessons from Wisconsin: recalling the Gov. instead of organizing a real general strike was a deadly trap. We cannot compete with the lobbying and campaigning power of the 1%, we need to use the power of the people: the General Strike and mass mobilization.
This is why we need to start organizing a General Strike that will involve the 99%, (working people, youth and the unemployed) and that will unite the different struggles, by forming base committees in all schools and workplaces to discuss our current problems and demands, and bring them to the Occupy general assemblies.
Wherever workers are unionized, they should organize inside their unions to push the union leadership to publicly support the Occupy Movement and organize a real General Strike with the rest of the sectors of society.
UC/CSU/CC students and workers have called for a day of walkouts and actions Nov. 9th and Nov. 16th against the privatization of public education and to tax the rich.
From Occupy Oakland to Occupy Berkeley, to Occupy SF and Occupy San José we need to unite our struggles to build for a general mobilization in California to make the 1% pay for their crisis.
ALL OUT Nov. 2nd & 9th and Beyond!
