Monday, February 13, 2012

Construction workers picket new gym in Upland

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2012/02/251409.php

by Rockero Monday, Feb. 06, 2012 at 11:59 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Monday, February 6, 2012
UPLAND (CA) - Carpenters set up a picket line this morning in front of what is soon to become a Crunch gymnasium. Workers upset about a subcontractor's paying of substandard wages to drywallers set up the picket in protest.

The fitness company Crunch announced last week that it was opening facilities in Riverside and Upland. The Upland gym is being put in on Mountain Avenue just north of the 10 freeway in the Staples shopping center, and construction is already underway.

However, according to Louis Ontiveros, the company hired to install the dryall was not paying its workers the area's prevailing wage. Although he acknowledged that the contractor was non-union, he also stated that the unionization of workers was not at issue. The concern, he declared, was that workers were being underpaid, and that it is important to stand up to this sort of abuses.

Just a block away, labor defenders have leafletted outside of and called for single-day boycotts of the Fresh & Easy, a British grocery import that, despite making promises that it would respect its US workers the same way it does in Britain, has been reluctant to acknowledge unionization efforts.

Upland bills itself as "the city of gracious living" and is unaccustomed to workers' and other popular struggles occurring within its boundaries. However, in these revolutionary times, with the 99% learning to fight back, even respectable Upland is enjoying a taste of class warfare.

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Cornel West lectures on social justice; PD harasses occupier for flyering

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2012/02/251320.php

by Rockero Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2012 at 10:12 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

February 1, 2012
POMONA - The prophetic voice of Cornel West was heard by hundreds of people this evening at Cal Poly Pomona. Dr. West lectured on self-knowledge, what it means to be human, suffering, and the Occupy movement's role in confronting social, civic, and economic death of our society, as well as its moral bankruptcy. The CSUPD, however, sent a different message when its agents silenced an activist by prohibiting him from handing out flyers.

In a talk peppered with the literary and musical references that characterize his speeches, Cornel West dazzled the standing room only audience at the Cal Poly Pomona University Theatre. Even the overflow room was standing was nearly overcrowded with hundreds of intrigued attendees, eager to hear Brother Cornel's vision of social justice, articulated through a philisophical, religious, and racial lens.

The mood of the evening changed drastically, however, after then engagement, when a University Police officer approached a man distributing leaflets outside the theater to the crowd. He asked him if he had permission to leaflet, to which the man replied that he hadn't asked for permission. He then proceeded to distribute flyers. The officer became visibly agitated and attempted to snatch the paper from the man's hand. The man resisted, holding onto the flyers, which enraged the officer. The activist let go, explained that he could ask permission, and then informed the officer that he was going to record the interaction.

As soon as the activist turned on the camera, the officer grabbed his wrist and ordered him to set down the camera. He then told the man that he could smell "weed" on him and proceeded to twist the man's arm, forcing him down onto a nearby bench. He continued to twist the arm as he forced the man's torso to the bench. The man vocalized that he wished to comply, and let go of the camera.

The officer took possession of the camera and called for backup. He subsequently searched the man's pockets and backpack, leaving his belongings scattered on the bench. A row of police officers surrounded the scene. By this time, the crowd outside the theater had taken an interest in the affairs. Some among them knew the man in question and vocally objected to the harassment, which further agitated the officer.

The officer accused the man of assaulting an officer, and told him that he was "lucky I didn't use pepper spray." The man was ordered to leave campus immediately. The harassing officer told him he could never return, while the commanding officer told him that if he returned within seven days he would be arrested.

The handbill the activist was distributing was for the Occupy-initiated F29 call to action to shut down the corporations. Occupy Portland called for the movement nationwide to use nonviolent direct action against corporations comprising ALEC, the legislative council that promotes anti-worker and anti-immigrant legislation. Occupy Riverside, heeding the call, selected Walmart as its target, and is supporting un-unionized warehouse workers in their struggle against an impending unjust firing.

Occupy Redlands Protests Citizens United Decision

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2012/01/251217.php

by Rockero Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 at 2:06 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Friday, January 20, 2012
RIVERSIDE (CA) - On the two-year anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, Occupy Redlands staged a protest outside the federal bankruptcy court near downtown Riverside, just a few blocks from the former encampment of Occupy Riverside. Citizens removed limits on corporate campaign contributions to individual candidates, branding the money as "free speech." The ruling, and the sense that it helped to cement that the corporations are in control of the political system, was a strong motivating factor for many middle class people who formerly felt franchised to join the occupy movement. Once supporters from Occupy Riverside arrived, about 30 people were present on the corner outside the court.

A tent was set up on the corner, and RPD arrived shortly after its erection to repress the protesters. The officer involved insisted that the tent not be set on the ground, so rather than tearing it down, enterprising occupiers simply lifted the tent off the ground, holding it there for the remainder of the protest.

Protest organizers handed out anti-corporate lyrics to song that attendees sang to the tune of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." Several people volunteered to perform in a multi-act play about corporate personhood that hearkened back to an imagined time when people held power in this country.

Flyers were handed out for an upcoming action on February 29, and a signature-gatherer circulated a petition to end the death penalty in California.

Some within the Occupy movement support reforms in the political and financial sectors such as the "Move to Amend" the US Constitution to define only natural human beings (to the exclusion of corporations) as "people." Many of us however, while initially motivated to repair perceived flaws in the political structures governing the US, have grown far beyond that position to seek much more than reform.

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Holding up tent

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Legalize democracy

UCR Occupied in Defense of Education

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2012/01/251135.php
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2012/01/251135.php

by Rockero Monday, Jan. 23, 2012 at 12:11 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Thursday, January 19, 2012
RIVERSIDE (CA) - Thousands of students, workers, and community members gathered to participate in the governance of the UC system. When their participation was limited and ultimately shut off, they took direct action to ensure their voices were heard. For this, they were confronted by police from numerous agencies. Police violence broke out, and three arrests were made.

ucreg19jan2012-011.jpg, image/jpeg, 600x450

Preparations for the event have been going on for months, and have included on-campus general assemblies and discussions of occupation. The camp began Tuesday night and immediately drew support from students and campers from Occupy Riverside and Occupy LA. By Wednesday, a food table was set up, as was an outreach table and a people's library. Students and faculty held many teach-ins and teach-outs to raise the consciousness of students.

But the action really began Thursday morning, when groups of students and unions members spoke to the regents during the public comment section of the meeting.

Here are a few of their speeches:

Once the regents made it clear that they would not listen to our concerns, we decided to continue the meeting, but under our own auspices, that we might expand the conversation.

Sixteen people sat on the ground in a circle and expressed their demands for administrative pay freezes, rehiring of laid off lecturers and staff, the adoption of proposed revenue solutions. They then shifted the meeting to a general assembly, to which all were invited, which entertained proposals for collective action around education issues. One of the regents got on stack to express disappointment that the meeting had been restored to the people. The rest were quietly evacuated.

Many police were brought in, but nobody was arrested. After a short while, we learned that the regents had adjourned to another room to continue the supposedly-public meeting without us. At about the same time we heard reports that our comrades were being confronted by riot police downstairs. We decided to go join them.

Here began a series of attempts to meet with the regents as they exited from the building. We split into groups in order to cover the multiple exits. The first confrontation was on the stairwell at the back of the Highlander Union Building.

Others ensued on the stairs at the front of the building near Chicanx Student Programs, and at the back loading dock. At the front stairs, dispersal orders were given numerous times but never enforced. Cops ordered usd to stop moving forward even though we were not advancing whatsoever.

Regents began sneaking out the back one-by-one so we set up people's roadblocks to control the traffic. Passengers in parking enforcement vehicles were severely delayed, while a student regent acted as a liaison with the regents, asking them to meet with us. While we waited, we brought a tent from the encampment and occupied the street with a dance party. Eventually, however, riot cops break through the crowd and escorted the trucks out.

The focus became the back loading dock once again, where a row of riot cops had maintained a constant presence. Police pushed protesters with batons, and fired projectiles containing metal pellets and ink paint, striking three comrades from Occupy LA in the legs. It was at this point that two of the arrests were made. One was of Kenneth Ehrlich, who UCR's website lists as a lecturer in the art department. He is charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon and his bail was set for $25,000. He has since been freed on bond.

The shooting had people pretty frightened, but calm prevailed and there the situation devolved into the next in the series of standoffs. It too eventually dissipated, and the final one of the day also involved an arrest. A comrade from Occupy Riverside was charged with misdemeanor batter on a police officer and felony obstructing or resisting. He was bailed out the next day.

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UCR occupied

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Student speaker

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Student speaker

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Student speaker

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Human chain

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Human chain

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Outside

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UCR Occupied

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First skirmish - on back stairs

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Second skirmish - on front stairs

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Large gathering in front of Hub

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Blocking parking enforcement escape trucks

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That barricade went up quick!

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Book block

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Dance party with tent to occupy street

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Large crowd at Hub loading dock

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Injured by baton

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Injured by projectiles

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Turn cuts around or we'll shut this shit down

Occupy the Rose Parade

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2012/01/250756.php

by Rockero Monday, Jan. 02, 2012 at 6:01 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

PASADENA (CA) - Occupy joined this year's New Year celebrations by marching at the end of the Rose Parade. As Rose Parade spectators dispersed, the Occupy movement held a rally outside Pasadena City Hall with speakers.

Between 1000 and 2000 people participated in the OWS contingent of the Rose Parade. Notable props included two versions of the US Constitution--one for "We the People" and the other for "We the Corporations"--and the octopus float that has been in the works since prior to the eviction of Occupy LA. All three provided numerous people ways to participate directly, and the octopus gyrations at key moments provided an element of spectacle.

Marchers held signs and banners, but didn't do too much chanting as they dodged horse dung in the road. Music was very present, from both drummers from the Venice collective and from the Billionaires' brass band. Giant-headed Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich fought over who would represent the one percent. A playful attitude prevailed.

At the end there were the requisite speeches. Peter Thottam gave the introductory welcome and some background on the movement without acknowledging the previous day's hit piece on him in the Pasadena Star-News¹. Marcy Winograd gave a speech, as did people from Occupy Wall Street and Occupy LA. The crowd seemed the most attentive, however, during Cindy Sheehan's speech.

The day's efforts were directed at capitalizing on the Rose Parade as the center of the world's attention to promote economic justice rather than on taking action. Nonetheless, the mainstream TV networks appear to have mostly ignored Occupy the Rose Parade. Despite the inevitable, spirits were high, perhaps in anticipation that 2012 will be the year that the systems of opression come crashing down around us and we create healthier alternatives together.

No incidents of police violence were reported.

1. Charles, Brian. "Occupy Rose Parade leader has questionable past." Pasadena Star News. January 1, 2012. http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_19656317

2. nobody. "Did Occupy the Rose Parade Get Air?" Los Angeles Independent Media Center. January 2, 2012. http://la.indymedia.org/news/2012/01/250755.php