Photographs from the January 20, 2012 Occupy the Courts demonstration at the Supreme Court
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Supreme Court police said eleven people were arrested in the demonstration and a twelfth was later arrested inside the court. That man, Scott Fitzgerald, was reportedly already wearing the jacket that said “Occupy Everything” when he went through security upon entering the court and was not attempting to be disruptive.
On October 16, Dr. Cornel West was arrested along with eighteen others for demonstrating on the Supreme Court steps.
After a 14-hour drive, two of which were spent in northern Virginia traffic, we arrived back in DC.
McPherson Square, three months after we were last here
McPherson Square had changed dramatically since our departure. The park, which had seemed so large when we were only sleeping on the ground in one quadrant, had been filled with tents.
We made our way to the Capitol building, where the day’s demonstrators were planned. The group was filled with both young and old, seasoned protesters, Occupiers, children and grandparents – people had traveled from across the country to attend the protest.
Crowd gathers outside of the U.S. Capitol
Capitol Police Civil Disturbance Unit van
Capitol Police surveillance van
Retired Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis was in attendance, and quickly stopped and held by Capitol Police. Assuming his arrest was imminent, protesters rallied behind him.
Cpt. Ray Lewis, though detained, leads Capitol Police to the vans at the base of the Capitol
Protesters demand Capitol Police release Cpt. Lewis, chanting "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Captain Ray over!"
USMC Sgt. Shamar Thomas joined the crowd calling for Cpt. Lewis to be released
Protesters breach the line between the two walls and run to 'de-arrest' Cpt. Lewis
Captain Lewis was released to cheers and told protesters Capitol Police were confirming his identity and that he was not carrying a weapon. In a later interview with Occupy San Diego, he gave protesters some advice about dealing with police:
“Don’t be shouting things at them that rile them up. I understand the frustration, I understand the anger…we worked within the system, we elected Obama…but if you’re ever involved, do not become physical with the police. You will not win. You will come out worse.”
He also spoke about the Occupy Wall Street eviction, the increasing militarization of police, and the use of tasers and the LRAD system.
After the initial breach, the atmosphere around the Capitol steps turned jubilant, with protesters feeling they had achieved a small victory for the day.
First protester decides to climb a tree - for freedom
This officer, who was amiable and had fun with protesters, told the girl to get out of the tree. "You're going to get hurt," he said. "It's just common sense."
Protesters chant, "take the wall back" and urge others to cross over the wall
Protesters dance the Hokey Pokey on the Capitol wall
Capitol Police quickly lined up to contain the situation. Most were professional, calm, and even seemed to be enjoying the revelry, but several arrests did occur.
Protester tackled and arrested
Another young man was arrested shortly after. “I’m not resisting!” he said, “I’m standing here.”
After 2 pm, groups formed for planned autonomous actions and meetings with their Congressional Representatives, including at the Rayburn Office Building, which houses the offices of 169 Representatives. The group decided to forgo the crosswalks to the Rayburn Building and took to the street instead.
Protesters chant, "whose streets? Our streets!" as they cross to the Rayburn Building
Protesters outside of the Rayburn Building call for others to cross
Capitol Police clash with protesters outside of the Rayburn Building
One officer offered to allow us to cross to the Rayburn Building. "Are you trying to get us arrested?" one person asked. "No, you seem like the sane ones. I'm offering to let you go before we open the street back up," he chuckled.
Protesters at the Rayburn Office Building
– xx
Shortly after leaving the Congressional offices, protesters held an impromptu march through the streets. The police response was unprecedented. This was not the first time that an Occupy had taken the streets, but Capitol Police seemed more interested in containing the march than preventing it.
Protesters marching in the street at Jefferson
The march rounding Jefferson
Motorcycle police on the sidewalks
The march at 3rd and Pennsylvania Avenue
Protesters cheer and raise their fists at 3rd and Pennsylvania Ave
Back at the Capitol, protesters mic checked, "we, the people, found our voice!"
Already people were mic checking for another march, but the group decided to wait until the planned time on the permit.
Just before 7 pm, protesters again took to the streets for the planned march following a route from the Capitol to the Supreme Court and ending at the White House. I lost battery at this time, but still ran ahead of the march with other media. Police presence, perhaps in response to the earlier march, was heavier and more aggressive. At one point an officer forced me off of the sidewalk and into the street. When I told him I was covering the action he said, “if you’re covering it, you’re with them.” Another citizen journalist was similarly forced into the street.
The march ended at the White House.
Protesters demonstrate in front of the White House
After chanting and singing, the crowd began to dissipate slightly, with some people leaving for a planned party at the Capitol lawn and others demanding President Obama make an appearance. What we didn’t know at the time was that the President was out to dinner for the First Lady’s birthday. The security demanded by his motorcade returning may explain the events that followed.
Both Park and DC Metro Police were on scene but allowed normal pedestrian traffic to flow through the street in front of the White House and Lafayette Park. As protesters lingered, police presence began to intensify, with Secret Service mobilizing. One person mic checked that he was informed (through sources unknown) that riot police were on their way, bringing dogs, to disperse and presumably arrest any remaining protesters. Several of us decided to remain on site to document the events, aided by our ‘Ninja Backpack’ with its portable military-issue personal generator. After some time we began to see police donning riot gear and there were indeed vehicles marked as K9 units, but there were no signs of dogs or even police mobilization. There were, however, a number of fire trucks and ambulances staged on 17th Street, and police moving in from that area (Note – I lived in DC for a year and saw this many times when the Presidential motorcade was due to pass through a particular street).
Police donning riot gear tell us to "move on" as we attempt to document them
Tension steadily increased and we decided to leave the scene, as there were about 20 – 30 people remaining at the White House gate.
As we were walking back on H Street, on the north side of Lafayette Park, police informed us that the park and Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House were closed because “one of you Occupy people” lobbed a smoke device onto the lawn.
The corporate media has reported extensively on that incident, and I was not there, so I will not attempt to recount it. However, I do wonder if there is any correlation between mainstream media’s coverage of #J17 being almost entirely limited to this event and that members of the White House press pool held while the device was investigated.
I can also assert that there were not 1500 people present at the White House at that time, as Secret Service spokesperson George Ogilvie has been quoted as saying.
When we left, the remaining demonstrators were hanging paper hearts on the fence, confident that #J17 had been a success.
Demonstrators hang hearts with their 'wishes' to President Obama on the gates at the White House
January 17, in Washington, DC – the #teamoccupyyourmom / xo99percent reunion at Occupy Congress
McPherson Square, Washington, DC on October 8, 2011
On Occupy’s four-month anniversary, Occupy Congress will hit the streets of Washington, DC. A grassroots effort, Occupy Congress is planning meetings with Congressional Representatives as well as rallies around the Capitol and a large multi-occupation General Assembly. Many of us will be staying with Occupy K Street in McPherson Square.
This administration has broken the social contract and bond with its citizens. The Occupy Congress Buses are filling up quickly, hopefully bringing thousands of people from across the country to the front steps of Congress.
Why?
Because while Occupiers have been busy with evictions, raids and arrests, Congress passed and President Obama signed the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2012 into law, bringing with it the possibility of indefinite detention for American citizens.
Because we currently face two additional threats to our free speech, access to information and free communication, and our ability to even demand our rights – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Enemy Expatriation Act.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a great resource for news on SOPA, on which debate has been postponed until Congress returns from recess. SOPA, sponsored by seemingly every large corporation, would give the government the power to shut down sites that are even suspected of committing copyright infringement. The bill is being sold as an anti-piracy measure, but its reach is so far beyond that. During the massive campaign to stop SOPA, a Phillies blogger detailed the implications the bill would have on fan sites and blogs. For the sake of transparency, please know that the writer is a long-time friend of mine from college. Ryan says, if he were to post a video of the Humpty Dance to the zoowithroy Phillies blog* -
- I’d be guilty of a felony for linking to that video.
- ZWR would be liable because he owns the site on which it was posted and as such be guilty of a felony and the copyright holder would instantly be allowed to shut down the site permanently.
- The company that hosts ZWR’s webservers is guilty of a felony for hosting the site.
- The guy that uploaded it to YouTube would have committed a felony by uploading it.
- YouTube is guilty of a felony for hosting it and/or not preventing it from being uploaded in the first place and, as such, could be shut down permanently.
- If ZWR were tweet the link to this post, Twitter would also be guilty of a felony and could also be shut-down because they (inadvertently) linked to this post.
Furthermore, SOPA may allow for the government to conduct deep-packet inspection, tracking and analyzing user-transmitted data, a filtering technique famously employed by Iran (aided by Nokia Siemens) to track and find activists in the violent aftermath of the 2009 Presidential elections. During the early days of the Arab Spring, it was reportedly used in Syria, Egypt, Libya and possibly Tunisia for the same purpose.
As for the Enemy Expatriation Act, our corporate-owned media has yet to cover it, but the text of the bill is clear enough:
112th Congress: 2011-2012
To add engaging in or supporting hostilities against the United States to the list of acts for which United States nationals would lose their nationality.
Couple this with the NDAA and the Department of Defense considering protests low-level terrorism, and it is clear that we have to continue to speak out while we are able.
Occupy Congress is the next necessary step for the Occupy Movement.
Early backlash against the event tried to paint it as an SEIU-organized-or-sponsored event, suggesting that this was the union’s attempt to co-opt the movement, push for Obama 2012, and dilute Occupy’s message. The underlying implication was that Occupy Congress was a Democratic Party event and conservatives should not attend.
I spoke with Occupy Congress organizers, who assured me, “the SEIU has zero role in organizing this event.” This was corroborated by a long-time Occupy K Street activist I’ve met and consider trustworthy. Finally, an unknown individual or group using the hashtag #TCOT (‘Top Conservatives on Twitter’, a standard tag for conservative-leaning members) along with the Occupy Wall Street #OWS tag, issued this promotional poster in support of the action -
A TinEye search of over 2.0757 billion images yielded 0 results, so I don't know where this poster originated.
It’s been a long winter…a long 3+ months. It will be rejuvenating to finally meet Occupiers from across the country who we’ve only seen in video and pictures. We are influencing each other and changing the course of this country. I can think of no better way forward than to meet on January 17, chant nonsense, yell ‘SPOON’ at the top of my lungs, and parade around the Capitol. Please join us.
–xx
More information on #J17 can be found via Occupy Congress -
When Ghost and I returned to our respected home bases from a month on the road, streaming, tweeting and blogging from #occupydc, #occupybham, #occupyNOLA, #occupyaustin, and the #D12 port shutdown action in Houston, we were both spent.
I wasn’t able to blog as much as I wanted to during that month, due to lack of consistent power sources, sketchy wifi and personal writing issues. Now that we are full-time occupying at #occupydc, generally have access to power and wifi, and are in somewhat of a routine, it would be a let down were I not to write.
At a time when many full-time on-site occupiers have burnt out, and rightfully so, I am reminded of something that keeps me going — the generosity and compassion of those that support the occupy movement.
We arrived in D.C. the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012. We spent the first two nights occupying the floor of two fellow occupiers who were kind enough to let us occupy their apartment.
Day two, January 4, we went on a shopping excursion to purchase a tent with funds donated from people on Twitter. (The tent has been dubbed Fort Mayhem 2 … #FM2.) We attended the general assembly (GA) that night and Thursday we officially began our #occupydc occupation. (Ghost’s third time here, my second.)
Our new neighbor whom I’ll call B has been most helpful and welcoming. He even got into an epic zipper battle with @unknown_vector yesterday because he wasn’t aware that I was inside FM2, writing. (Ghost had asked him to keep an eye on it.) B is looking out for us and we’ve barely been here three days.
This afternoon I tweeted out a need for pizza, and the plea was answered in deliciousness. Food purchased for the occupation by complete strangers. I had a bit of déjà vú as @unknown_vector and I carried the first batch back to McPherson.
[Occupy Wall Street, Sept. 17, 2011: @kennethlipp and @SabzBrach carrying the first of an avalanche of pizzas from @liberatospizza that started with a single tweet. Photo by @Korgasm_]
[Today at #occupydc. Donated pizzas. <3]
I’m humbled by my fellow humans’ and occupiers’ generosity. The basic needs of occupiers are met every day by unseen people who work behind the scenes to help provide for occupiers all around the world. Many people can’t afford to help much, but they give what they can and for that I am extremely grateful.
We have even been offered a laptop which is sorely needed for video streaming and editing purposes. We’ve received two webcams with which to stream. We’ve received a loaned mobile power source. All of this just today.
The #gypsycell of #teamoccupyyourmom could not do what we do, were it not for the donations and love of (mostly) complete strangers. We can only do this because of you. Thank you.
Kenneth and I had decided, months ago, that we would be attending the October 2011 events – advertised as 111 days of occupation, practically on the White House’s front lawn. When we later heard that New York would be hosting something similar on September 17, we decided it would be good practice – likely to be a small event that would prepare us for October. Ha.
@OccupyKSt is currently occupying McPherson Square, of which K Street marks the northern border. They plan to join with Stop the Machine in Freedom Plaza on Thursday, October 6 for a joint rally. What will happen from there is uncertain, but it has promise. And it’s important.
K Street, Washington, DC
Occupying K Street is the next natural step in our efforts with the Occupy Movement. It is the nexus of corporate greed and political corruption. K Street is both the symbolic and functional home for most of the lobbying that occurs in the United States. There is a well-known revolving door between the powerful professional lobbying firms and government positions, including those in the White House and regulatory agencies. Through K Street, the financial industry ‘donated‘ $58 million to Democrats and $44 million to Republicans in 2009. Between 2008 and 2010, Wall Street banks and related interest groups hired 243 lobbyists (about 40 per bank) formerly employed in the federal government.
–xx
The Money
The Open Secrets database breaks down the influence in a number of ways – clients, individual lobbyists or firms, industries, interests, and issues. The numbers are staggering. From 1998 to 2010, the total spent on lobbying jumped from $1.44 billion to $3.51 billion. Already for 2011, $1.67 billion has been spent.
The top spender is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. At $770 billion, it more than triples the second-ranked American Medical Association. The Chamber of Commerce has already spent $31.6 on behalf of Business Associations this year. Interestingly, one of its clients is the Cyber Security Research Consultants company in Alexandria, VA.
Spending from the Banking and Financial industries (numbers for 2010) -
via a Washington Post article from September 2, ninety former staffers of ‘Supercommittee’ members were former lobbyists in the Healthcare, Defense, Energy and Transportation, Technology and Medicine, Agricultural, Financial, and other sectors. 7 current staffers are former lobbyists from those areas. More importantly, these lobbyists represent clients with a ‘vested interest’ in the Supercommittee’s decisions.
–xx
So we will be leaving for DC tomorrow, October 6. But we’ll be back. Sitting on a couch at my parents’ house in Pennsylvania, I feel almost as if I’m going through a bit of reverse-culture shock. I miss Liberty Plaza already, and there are no drummers here.
