Interview with Nathan, arrested at Long Beach Port shutdown

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2011/12/250452.php

by Rockero Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 at 11:00 AM 
rockero420@yahoo.com

December 15, 2011
LONG BEACH - On December 12, 2011, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Long Beach, Occupy Riverside, and many other people closed a terminal at the port of Long Beach. Only two people were arrested, and one of them, Nathaniel Sierdsma, speaks about his experiences.

TRANSCRIPT

ROCKERO: Today is Thursday, December 15th, 2011, and we are in San Bernardino. Can you tell me your name?

NS: Nathaniel Sierdsma.

ROCKERO: How old are you?

NS: I'm 18.

ROCKERO: What do you do--or, are you working now? Or what's...

NS: Not right now. I'm out of work.

ROCKERO: OK. What is your involvement with the Occupy movement?

NS: I've recently been helping a lot with the San Bernardino and San Bernardino Valley movement. I kinda helped get those up and running. And Ontario, I was also down there helping. For the latest action, I went down and helped Riverside.

ROCKERO: You're talking about Monday, right?

NS: Yeah.

ROCKERO: So what happened on Monday?

NS: Well, Monday, we--a big group went out there. I'd say at least a thousand people.

ROCKERO: Down to Long Beach, right?

NS: Yeah, there in Long Beach ports. And we were trying to shut down the ports. There was maybe twice as many cops out there. They just surrounded us.

ROCKERO: Uh-huh.

NS: And in the long run, I guess, they got me surrounded. I ended up getting arrested down there.

ROCKERO: Oh, OK. In the video footage and in the photos, it looks like they treat you pretty rough. Were you hurt?

NS: I was a little sore. It was really over a lot faster than--than looking at it. I could see, looking back on it, it was quite brutal.

ROCKERO: So how did the police treat you when they took you in?

NS: Oh, they spent the whole time just cracking jokes about the Occupy movement. It's kinda sad to see the way they were about it.

ROCKERO: They were hating on you?

NS: Yeah.

ROCKERO: How did the other prisoners treat you?

NS: They all saw me on the news! And they just kinda gave me props for that, I guess.

ROCKERO: They're all down with the class war, huh?

NS: Yeah.

ROCKERO: So did that experience affect how you think about the police?

NS: At least in Long Beach.

ROCKERO: Are they part of the 99%?

NS: They choose not to be.

ROCKERO: So, yesterday you were in court--we went to go get you. Can you tell us what happened yesterday?

NS: Well, the public defender told me basically I had to stay there if I didn't plead--or if I didn't plead guilty and take what they gave me, so I plead guilty. They dropped one of the charges and they gave me staying at the scene of a riot, which gives me thirty days CalTrans work and three years' summary probation.

ROCKERO: You have to pay any fines or anything?

NS: Yeah, I think I have some court fines, and I have to pay some money to actually do the CalTrans work.

ROCKERO: How are you gonna deal with that?

NS: I don't know. I'll have to figure something out.

ROCKERO: Do you think they're trying to keep you out of the movement?

NS: Yeah, they're trying to intimidate us. They're terrorists by nature. That's all they do, they try to get you to give up on what you believe in.

ROCKERO: Are you gonna stop occupying?

NS: No, absolutely not. I'll be out here until this movement gets something accomplished or they permanently take me out of the picture.

ROCKERO: Where would you like to see the Occupy movement going?

NS: Eventually, I want us to see--have enough power, and enough voter power present to actually get our own political system running. Maybe we could make it a political party so we could have our own candidates that we sponsor. And a big part of it is we wanna encourage voter registration, and it's kinda hard to pick Republican /Democrat when they're all paid off.

ROCKERO: Mm-hmmm. A lot of folks have really personal experiences that drive them to wanna make a better world, to make a change. Why do you, personally, occupy?

NS: Well, for the longest time, I been kinda doing my own research, and I've learned a lot through the years about how bad our situation is and why we're here. And, just, I've always had a personal conviction to try and stand against that.

ROCKERO: I notice you--you rock them cammies. Can you tell me about that?

NS: Yeah, this is actually my brother's BDU. I was wearing it for him when I went down.

ROCKERO: So your brother's in the service?

NS: He was.

ROCKERO: Did he--discharged, or...?

NS: No he just ran his service term.

ROCKERO: OK, so he's out and he's safe and at home and everything?

NS: Yeah.

ROCKERO: OK, cool. Is there anything else that you would wanna add?

NS: Um, occupy everything!

ROCKERO: All right, great, thanks for talking to us.

NS: All right. Thank you.

youtu.be/oS4Kmak8aKw

Occupy the Ports - A Day without Goldman Sachs

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2011/12/250356.php

by Rockero Monday, Dec. 12, 2011 at 10:25 PM 
rockero420@yahoo.com

December 12, 2011
LONG BEACH, California - Heeding the call of Occupy Oakland, who called for a shutdown of west coast ports in response to the brutal eviction of occupy encampments nationwide, and in solidarity with expolited port workers and truckers, about 500 militant occupiers and their friends shut down Terminal J of the Port of Long Beach, the home of SSA Marine, an investment of the criminal enterprise Goldman Sachs and the main stakeholder of the US government.

Occupy Riverside spent better than the past week coordinating our participation, with meetings, tactics trainings, information gathering, food, art, and transportation preparations. We were a bit unnerved by the reports we were hearing from Occupy Long Beach, who told us that the cops were "going to great pains" to accomodate our protest, and that if anyone got arrested, it would be their own fault. We were worried that Long Beach was making deals that we hadn't and wouldn't agree to, essentially setting us in a trap. We were also concerned about the potential for becoming trapped or kettled in on the port's narrow piers.

We decided to arrive early just in case entry was blocked prior to the official five o'clock start time. We gathered at the site of our former encampment at midnight Sunday, shared resources such as bandannas, rain ponchos, and pepper spray antidote, and added final touches on our banners and signs. One soul burned sage, and a few shared sage words of inspiration.

We formed a ten-car caravan that met with comrades from other inland occupys at a Long Beach all-night chain restaurant for coffee and various victuals, and then headed to Harry Bridges Park, the propitiously named park that becase the staging area for our militant labor protest. A large contingent from Occupy Las Vegas had beat us there, and Occupy Pasadena, Occupy Long Beach, was also present. Soon enough, the buses from Occupy LA arrived. There were also large contingents from IWW chapters and other groups such as CodePink and the socialist parties, and some smaller groups from other unions, but the autonomous social body of Occupy was unmistakable as the primary visible force.

Black flags and syndicalist flags abounded, a many, many comrades wore bandannas over their faces and masks of other sorts, ready to form a black bloc if necessary.

At about 5, Michael Novick arrived and started distributing chant sheets and clarifying the morning's game plan. The corporate media rushed to make last-minute interviews before the 5:30 departure time. The crowd was brimming with energy, and even though the rain fell very steadily.

"Hey hey, Goldman Sachs, we want all our money back!"

"Whose port? Our port!"

"All day! All week! Occupy Long Beach!"

"Banks got bailed out! We got sold out!"

We marched along the waterfront through the park and entered the port.

"Jail them yes! Bail them no! Goldman Sachs has got to go!"

"¡Se ve, se siente! ¡El pueblo está presente!"

"We are the 99%!"

Some of the comrades grabbed a metal barricade from the cops and carried it with them. It was about a forty-minute walk, but eventually we did encounter police repression.

An advance party ignored the police line and continued about a hundered yards toward the dock. Some organizers attempted to convince us not to continue the march, and the crowd seemed pretty hesitant. Shortly the bolder group returned and convinced most of the rest of us to join them. We advanced further, but eventually faced off with another row of cops.

"The people united will never be divided!"

"Occupy Wall Street! Occupy Long Beach! Occupy everywhere! Never give it back!"

"What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!"

It wasn't clear where the truckers were supposed to enter, or where the longshore workers' normal entrance was, so people didn't really know where to best make use of their presence. Shortly, however, we regrouped and resituated ourselves more strategically.

Once we did, the police issued their warning. "This is the Long Beach police department. You are trespassing on private property. You will be subject to arrest unless you move back to the pre-designated protest area." Our fears about OLB's negotiations with the police were confirmed.

The drums beat furiously.

"This is what a police state looks like!"

"One! We are the people! Two! We are united! Three! The occupation is not leaving!"

"Predesignated protest area!" someone mocked into a bullhorn.

We formed a picket, circling in front of the line of cops that was attempting to block us.

"Kick Wall Street off the waterfront!"

"Every where we go, people wanna know who we are! So we tell them: We are the ninety-nine! The mighty ninety-ninety-nine!"

The cops issues another warning ten minutes later. Shortly thereafter they began to shove us back with their clubs.



"We are peaceful! We are non-violent!"

They also attempted to grab members of the crowd on several occasions. Most of the times we were able to retrieve our comrades, but they managed to keep one of our brothers from the inland empire who has been active in Occupy San Bernardino Valley and who played a prominent role in Occupy Ontario's first action.

The drums beat a frenzied cadence.

"Let them go! Let him go! Let her go!"

"Police represent the 1%"

"The whole world is watching!"

At one point, it seemed the cops were attempting to break through our line. About five or six of them burst forth into the center of our line, but we stuck together and they were unable to penetrate us. Luckily, we suspected they would attempt to split us with a maneuver like this, and the anarchists were quick to bring the barricade to the precise spot where it was needed to repel the attack.

"We're ninjas! Don't fuck with us!"

"¡Sí se puede!"

This continued for more than an hour, with the police pushing back a few feet at a time at first, then continuously.



Since we had accomplished our original goal of ending truck traffic and deterring much longshore worker attendance, we decided to fall back. As we did, we practiced some innovative chants.

"Police got the back of Goldman Sachs!"

"Move your feet! Tactical retreat!"

"Emma Goldman not Goldman Sachs!"

"Stay together! We'll fight forever!"

When we reached the intersection nearest to the parking lot, police closed in on both sides. A tent went up and people sat down. The cops threatened to use chemical weapons, painful projectiles, and angry dogs against us. They ordered us to disperse and threatened to arrest anyone who chose to remain. They said they would designate the legal dispersal route but failed to do so until challenged by a protester.

Even as people passed through the parking lot, the police remained in pursuit, in times appearing to want to block of the exit routes of dispersing protesters.

Once the parking lot was mostly clear, however, they refocused their presence at the entrance to the park where the action had begun that morning, giving us a bit of breathing room in the park to regroup. Different groups made plans to meet for food, debriefing, and planning next steps.

This is the most excited I have ever seen any group to take action. We created a feedback loop from our own energy that kept us pumped and motivated all morning long. In evaluative conversations, we shared the feeling of success from having reached a common objective. We prevented 200 trucks from entering the port, and according to a comrade in communication with the ILWU, also deterred about 50 longshore workers from entering as well. We rejoiced in the inspirational power that collective action has, making us eager to escalate tactics to ensure that the proposed May Day General Strike is as effective and powerful as possible.

002

Harry Bridges Park in the tranquility of morning

003

Solidarity from Riverside

004

Occupy the Ports banner

005

Occupy Riverside banner

006

Occupy Long Beach banner

007

No Banks! No Borders!

008

The other "Occupy the Ports" banner

009

Skirmish

010

Shut it down!

011

Singing the US national anthem.

012

The cops even had their boat out.

013

Tactical retreat!

014

At the intersection

015

Tent at intersection

016

Intersection

017

Back at Harry Bridges

Solidarity destroys fascism: LB activists unite to ignore racists

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/11/222544.php

Solidarity destroys fascism: LB activists unite to ignore racists
by Rockero Monday, Nov. 24, 2008 at 10:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

The conservative student at Cal State Long Beach invited Jim Gilchrist, founder of the anti-immigrant Minutemen, and Ted Hayes, homeless advocate-turned anti-immigrant opportunist, to speak on campus during immigration awareness week. The good people of CSULB ignored them, and the racists went away, proving that regardless of the strategies chosen, solidarity is the key in winning our struggles.

Joseph Gusman posted an e-mail from the conservative student at CSULB announcing the "lecture" (Minuteman Founder To Lecture on La Raza and Racism at Long Beach State, November 17, 2008). grrl talk commented, "completely storming the place could be an effective tactic. completely ignoring it could be, too. It could send a powerful message if coordinated to send it." The racist buffoon known as "Border Raven" commented that he went, but "nobody came" because "the event was canceled."

Of course it was canceled. The conservative student wasn't trying to host a "lecture on La Raza and racism." He was trying to get campus activists to divert their attention from the work they were doing for immigration awareness week. A series of consciousness-raising events, including a screening and discussion of the documentary film Maquilopolis, were the real events of the week at CSULB. These events were intended to reach out to freshmen, especially those those forming their opinions about the immigration debate in this country, and were largely successful in doing so. The organizers were not about to allow the conservative student to ruin it with his hate-speaking friends.

La Raza Student Union, endorsed by the WSSA, put out a call to ignore the three haters. Last time the conservative student hosted an event, it was a "sermon" preached by a highly-offensive "campus minister." He promised to bring hundreds of people to hear him speak in favor of the homophobic prop 8. Hundreds of people, including WSSA, FORCE, and independent activists, protested the hate speech. (CSULB No on 8 Rally Oct 29, 2008) "Brother Jed" had about four supporters. In an interview with the Daily 49er, the conservative student's true objective became clear: "it is a successful rally. It shows how low class CSULB opponents to Prop 8 are." ("Debate on 8 erupts," October 30, 2008)

He creates these non-events to attract protesters and media attention. So of course Long Beach activists were not going to believe him this time around. So they united behind LRSU's proposal and acted in concert to ignore him. And it worked. No protest was organized, so the conservative student had no reason to invite Gilchrist and Hayes. And the only person who showed up was "Border Raven," the idiotic immigrant-hater who was too much of a lowlife even for the racist SOS, who has displayed his pedophilic tendencies all over YouTube.

Long Beach activists are wise beyond their years. Their actions are effective regardless of the tactics they choose because of the solidarity between campus activist groups. This solidarity and spirit of cooperation will ultimately be responsible for marginalizing the minutemen, the homophobes, their hate speech, and the fascist movement the haters are attempting to build will whither and die in the disgrace it deserves.