In Oakland, the Occupy movement is at a critical juncture. A now-famous confrontation between demonstrators and police on October 25 involved tear-gas, less-than-lethal projectiles, and injuries to demonstrators. It also brought worldwide attention to the protest.
Last Wednesday, the city’s first General Strike in more than half a century drew tens of thousands to the city, culminating in a march that shutdown the city's port. Despite the peaceful nature of much of the protests, violence and vandalism have dominated the headlines and clashes with police continue to shape the movement.
KALW’s Holly Kernan sat down with reporter Ali Winston for the latest.
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HOLLY KERNAN: So, Ali, give us a quick history of Occupy Oakland and how it came to National Prominence.
ALI WINSTON: The camp started on October 10, almost a month after Occupy Wall Street began in New York City, and since then Occupy Oakland has grown into two camps of more than 150 tents in Frank Ogawa Plaza out in front of City Hall, and also in Snow Park, which is towards Lake Merritt. And it’s quickly become the center of activism in the Bay Area.
The attempted eviction of the camp on October 25 brought Occupy Oakland international fame in late October. And it capitalized on being in the media spotlight by successfully pulling off the country's first General Strike since 1946, which also took place in Oakland. The strike shut down the Port of Oakland, which is the nation's fifth largest port, for most of the day on November 2. And, when I was at the port I spoke with one demonstrator named Michael Shane about his reasons for taking to the streets that day.
MICHAEL SHANE: We're out here today as part of the proletariat letting the 1% know we can shut down their production. We can get a gang of folks out here, we can call off work for the day, we can call off school and let people know that we are not playing around anymore. We mean business. We're gonna shut down your business, that's how we mean business.
KERNAN: Many of the local businesses were vandalized that night, not just banks that were targeted in the afternoon march. Local businesses are saying that Occupy Oakland is negatively affecting them, so what’s happening with businesses?
WINSTON: Well there’s no doubt that the occupation has changed the feeling of the plaza in downtown Oakland and it may be having a negative impact on some businesses in a city with some very serious economic problems.
Oakland’s Chamber of Commerce and its business associations are dead set against a city continuing to tolerate Occupy Oakland, and they argue that the camp fosters a negative image of downtown Oakland, drives away customers. And that has even caused three major stores to cancel plans to lease spaces near Frank Ogawa plaza. The Oakland police officers association, for their part, has also criticized the occupation’s effect on the business community and commerce.
On the other hand, this is a pretty slow part of the city after 5pm, and as a matter of fact, some businesses seem to be benefiting from the crowd. Some examples of these are the all night newsstands, De Laur’s, the Pizza Man, which is across the street from the occupation, and the nearby bar, Radio Room, which actually pulled in $3,100 during the evening on the night of the General Strike. So they have all been doing steady business, perhaps in part due to their late hours and low prices.
KERNAN: So today four city council members are calling on the city to shut the camp down. Mayor Jean Quan has been back and forth in her support for the movement. What is she saying?
WINSTON: So the evening of November 2 really changed the political calculus here. Beforehand, city officials were really mollified by the reaction, by the international reaction, to the police crackdown on October 25, and they were very reluctant to criticize Occupy Oakland. However, the property destruction and the clashes with police that eclipsed the success of the General Strike led to a renewed press by Occupy Oakland’s opponents. So the city council took up the issue of the encampment last Thursday at a special hearing and didn’t come to any conclusion or decide on any action, however there does seem to be a changing tide in terms of elected officials support for the encampment. For example council member Desley Brooks, who actually supported the occupation and camped out during the first two nights, criticized the camp for not being able to control fringe elements who engaged in these acts of property destruction and so forth.
KERNAN: And now councilmember Brooks is one of those who is calling for the tent city to be shut down?
WINSTON: Yes, that’s right. So Mayor Jean Quan, for her part, has also gone back and forth repeatedly regarding the city’s tolerance for Occupy Oakland. In her public statements she has often said that Oakland is a city of the 99%, and that she supports a non-violent occupation and the goals of the broader Occupy movement. However, the disturbances that followed the Port of Oakland shutdown put serious pressure on Quan to crackdown on the occupation and she has given an ultimatum to the camp to support a resolution at the general assembly tonight declaring Occupy Oakland a non-violent space and condemning acts such as property destruction.
KERNAN: So what do you see as the next steps for Occupy Oakland? What do you think is going to happen?
WINSTON: A lot of the momentum that built up before the General Strike seems to have stalled, and that is due in no small part to the chaos that broke out late in the evening following the General Strike. There has been a lot of soul searching about the failed occupation of the vacated Travelers Aid Society on November 2.
KERNAN: That was a building that occupiers tried to take over?
WINSTON: Yeah, that’s right, it’s in downtown Oakland right north of the camp. So, participants are considering whether or not to declare Occupy Oakland a non-violent movement, or whether to support a diversity of tactics, to borrow a popular phrase used to support property destruction and direct confrontations with the police, among other direct action tactics.
KERNAN: Is that pretty controversial?
WINSTON: It’s controversial but there’s an ideological strain to it. I mean the property destruction and the “black bloc” that formed in downtown Oakland is a tactic commonly used by anarchists of the more insurrectionary variety.
KERNAN: It’s also what is giving the movement a bad name for outsiders?
WINSTON: Yeah, it’s giving the movement a bad name, but at the same time the occupation is a direct action tactic, so it’s a very complex dynamic that the occupation is trying to work out amongst itself.
One tactic, one direct action tactic, that would fit under this diversity of tactics rubric that is supported by the general assembly, that has gotten approval, is the planned occupation of foreclosed homes throughout the city. This has gotten a lot of attention and business interests are also vehemently against that. So, much of the debate over the issue of these controversial tactics revolve around the black bloc. And this debate is kind of interesting considering that many of the people involved in that action, not all of them, were actually visitors to Oakland from other west coast areas, such as Olympia, Washington, Santa Cruz, and Modesto in California, which are communities where there are large anarchist elements as well. So going forward, the General Assembly is expected to vote on this proposal brought by many of Quan’s allies of keeping the occupation non-violent tonight and condemning acts of violence associated with the occupation.
Now regardless of whether or not that passes, a growing number of city officials are joining city administrators Diana Santana and interim police chief Howard Jordan in their opposition to the camp. Another police eviction could be in the offering. Recently the Oakland Police Department cancelled all training days for its officers next week, which is going to free them up for a potential deployment such as the eviction that took place on October 25, and there is a lot of fear of violence and potential harm to individuals in downtown Oakland again if an eviction should take place.
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