It was the right outfit for the occasion. That’s because the greatest significance of the wave of leftist demonstrations that started in Lower Manhattan and rippled across the United States over the past few weeks is the potential challenge it poses to the Reagan Revolution.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Occupy Dallas Brings Lawsuit Over Portable Toilets
WASHINGTON -- Occupy Dallas protesters have been camping on a swath of downtown land since Oct. 7. The spot, known as Pioneer Park, has come to resemble a mini-city with tents, food service, a "fire watch team" and a fully stocked medical unit. The protesters also boast a library, a music tent, an arts area and, for a few hours a day, childcare services. They have almost everything a large group needs.Everything except toilets.
Late at night, Occupy members have to walk as much as a half-mile to find the nearest public restroom that's open. Dallas activists thought the problem needed immediate redress. So they applied for a permit for the occupation, which, the thinking went, would allow them to set up portable toilets.
These quickly became very, very expensive toilets. Dallas city officials argued that the permit requires $1 million in commercial general liability insurance coverage. City spokesman Frank Librio released a statement saying the city would not back down from its demand: "The City had an agreement with Occupy Dallas to remain on the public property provided standard insurance coverage was obtained. The group did not meet the insurance requirements per the agreement. Therefore, the agreement is no longer applicable. The City will begin enforcing local laws (for example: park curfews and sleeping in public)." The mayor's office refused comment to HuffPost.
read on
The Pioneers of Occupy Dallas
Day 8 was just beginning when I dropped by Pioneer Plaza this morning to get a first-hand look at Occupy Dallas. It was about 8 a.m. and many of the residents still appeared to be in their tents, where they were shielded from traffic and noise by the line of longhorns that define the monument. Two protesters were manning different corners at Young and Griffin, the face of one hidden behind a clown mask and a bandanna depicting the American flag. The occasional commuter in a passing car honked in approval.
I have been struck by the tone of the some of the media coverage of this movement of late. In four weeks it has gone from exuberant and exhaustive to just plain exhausted. Get on with it, seems to be the message from the critics. In Dallas, the debate is now over whether protesters will be allowed to stay at Pioneer Plaza. As in other cities, the logistics of protesting, or the consequences of being in place for days, are defining the movement, which is probably not how it should be.
Occupy Dallas demonstrators may change protest location - offered site near Farmer's Market
DALLAS - Occupy Dallas protesters illegally camping at Pioneer Park in downtown Dallas have discussed moving.They say the city has offered them an alternate site to continue their protest near Farmers Market and Dallas City Hall. But, there are split opinions and the demonstrators have not decided whether they will take the offer.
A federal judge will listen to arguments Friday as to whether the city can move protesters out since they did not meet city permit requirements.
Demonstrators say they have a First Amendment right to remain at Pioneer Park.
E-mail bwatson@wfaa.com
Occupy Dallas takes city to federal court, to continue downtown protest without a permit
After nearly a week camped out at Pioneer Plaza, a suddenly iconic spot just down the street from City Hall with a waterfall and a stampeding herd of bronze cattle, the City of Dallas has threatened to enforce park curfews and end the group’s occupation. A city permit could given the group temporary legal cover with the city, but would have required Occupy Dallas to secure a $1 million insurance policy (which would have cost the group a few hundred dollars).
So far, organizers say Occupy Dallas is one of the few Occupy Wall Street spinoffs where nobody has been arrested. But with a looming threat from the city, the group went to federal court Wednesday, with a First Amendment argument they hope will keep the city from reclaiming the park.
read on
Complaint filed in Federal Court on behalf of #OccupyDallas ( pdf)
Here is the pdf of complaint filed on behalf of #OccupyDallas"
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27328813/Complaint.pdf
Occupy Dallas Files Federal Injunction Against City
The fight to "occupy" downtown Dallas is expected to go before a federal judge Friday morning.
Occupy Dallas filed a federal injunction on Wednesday afternoon to get a permit to stay on Pioneer Plaza indefinitely.
"I don't have any concern about what will happen in the next couple of days," Occupy Dallas attorney Cameron Gray said. "We're working together, trying to resolve issues."
What If the Occupy Dallas (or Wall Street) Movement Targeted Homes of Dallas Billionaires?
The growing anti-extreme wealth or, specifically, anti-corporate greed movement Occupy Wall Street today targeted the homes of New York City’s wealthiest with about 500 protesters converging on Manhattan’s toney Upper East Side, marching past the homes of JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, hedge fund manager John Paulson, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and David Koch, co-founder (or inherited) energy firm Koch Industries. The movement is spreading to college campuses and other cities, including Occupy Dallas which has about 100 people plus tents set up in Pioneer Plaza. I got to thinking today, what if Occupy Dallas decided to take a march down Park Lane in Old Preston Hollow and then move on up to Strait Lane? The New York City protesters at least have all the titans gathered in one place!In Dallas, I guess, they’d start with Tom Hicks, who owns the most expensive home in Dallas at 32,966 square feet valued just under $40 million. That would be the 9 acre Crespi Estate off Walnut Hill Lane.
read on
Occupy Dallas – There’s Somethin’ Happenin’ Here from Biking in Dallas
Three years after the economic melt-down brought on by a handful of financial institutions a group billing itself as Occupy Wall Street took to the streets of New York to protest what I interpret as a sense of economic financial injustice. Since then similar groups have taken root in several metropolitan areas. Claiming solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Dallas went live October 6th and much like Occupy Wall Street, their agenda lacks clarity.
What it is aint exactly clear…
The Occupy groups are concerned about corporate greed and the high concentration of wealth in the hands of very, very few people. But their skill set does not lie in framing the problem nor the solution very well and they’d do well to look to other movements for tips.
When people were protesting the Vietnam conflict the message was clear: “end the war” and even “hell no I won’t go” was a common and easy to understand expression. The civil rights protests during the 60s were
read on
Is the #OccupyDallas march a teachable moment for children?
According to the Dallas Morning News, hundreds marched in Dallas on October 6 to show solidarity with the national Occupy Wall Street protests that began last month. The protestors, like their Manhattan brethren, are fed up with corporate greed, financial market bail-outs and the inequity of wealth among American citizens. The crowds, topping out at 400 to 500 people were cooperative and there were no reports of violence.For a middle school or high school aged student, this situation has all the makings of a great lesson in democracy. It is an undeniable testament to one of most fundamental structures of our democracy: freedom of speech. Whether or not a parent agrees with the protestors’ message is irrelevant. Teaching children that every American regardless of race, religion, or economic status has the right to peacefully demonstrate is the real lesson.
read on
Occupy Wall Street: Why is this protest spreading when others have fizzled?
Young people locking arms, facing arrest on a cold, wet Seattle street—it could have been the WTO protests that rocked the city more than ten years ago. Only this time, Seattle is just one of dozens of places where the movement for the 99 percent is taking hold.And, unlike the WTO protests—whose motivation was unclear to many Americans—the demonstrations now spreading virally from Wall Street immediately strike a chord: we all know that neither our economy nor our government is working for the benefit of the 99 percent.
Whatever issue you care to name, from childhood obesity (linked to agribusiness subsidies) to war (linked to the power of the military-industrial complex), from a watered-down health care bill (linked big Pharma and health insurance corporations), to a failing economy (which Wall Street and corporations have depleted in favor of global speculation), the power of the one percent is at the root of the problem. And the power of the 99 percent is key to the solution.We’ve watched as urgent matters, like climate change, go unaddressed—in large part because powerful corporations fund think tanks, lobbyists, and Astroturf campaigns that spread confusion about the science and threaten the political fortunes of those who take leadership.
read on
City Hall Yesterday, Caraway Visited Pioneer Park. But Tomorrow, They Occupy a Federal Courtroom.
read on
It's the Inequality, Stupid
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph
Way of the World: 'Occupy' Protests Standing Up to Reaganism
NEW YORK — On a drizzly evening in Zuccotti Park this week, where the Occupy Wall Street protesters are camped out with the modern revolutionary’s gear of iPhone, blue tarp and cappuccino, I spotted one young man wearing a T-shirt with an image of Ronald Reagan and the words “Bad Religion.”
Occupy' protests evolved from magazine appeal
Early this year, the editors of a Canadian anti-establishment magazine watched Egyptians demanding democracy in Cairo and young Spaniards camping out in city centers to protest high unemployment, and wondered, "Why isn't this happening in America?"
So in an Internet posting in mid-July, Adbusters suggested a time -- Sept. 17 -- and a place -- Wall Street -- for people to make a stand. The editors didn't organize any activists, or even visit New York, but thousands of people took their idea and made it real.
"All of us had this feeling that there was this powerful wave of rage rising up in America that hadn't found its expression yet," said magazine co-founder Kalle Lasn, who came up with the idea for the demonstration with Adbusters editor Micah White.
The Vancouver-based magazine called for 20,000 "redeemers, rebels and radicals" to flood Lower Manhattan and occupy Wall Street for a few months. The crowds have been smaller than that, and another part of the original Adbusters call -- that the protesters come up with "one simple demand" -- has yet to materialize. But the demonstration has created buzz and inspired dozens more encampments across the U.S.
I Have Come to the Conclusion That Dallas's Occupiers Are a Bunch of Wusses
Wow. I came home late last night from the Occupy Dallas camp at Pioneer Plaza downtown and couldn't get to sleep for the longest. Something about what I had seen down there was tearing me up, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
While I was there last night, I watched as an Occupy Dallas person voluntarily went to the small group of police parked by the curb to report that there had been an unfortunate shoving incident in the leadership tent. It had been resolved, though, and everyone was sorry it had happened. The cops had that "too much information" look.
Also last night, a lawyer addressed the group. He told them that Occupy Dallas was the only Occupy in the country so far where there had been no arrests. They were to be commended, the lawyer said.
read on
While I was there last night, I watched as an Occupy Dallas person voluntarily went to the small group of police parked by the curb to report that there had been an unfortunate shoving incident in the leadership tent. It had been resolved, though, and everyone was sorry it had happened. The cops had that "too much information" look.
Also last night, a lawyer addressed the group. He told them that Occupy Dallas was the only Occupy in the country so far where there had been no arrests. They were to be commended, the lawyer said.
read on
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
