I know what I have wanted Occupy Oakland to be. Months ago, I saw Occupy Oakland as a leader in an national movement (with international ties) to reclaim the commons as a first step in a prolonged and coordinated fight against economic injustice and the subordination of the world’s majority to racist, patriarchal, heteronormative domination. After the clearing of the first encampment, we started to look outward, beyond the necessities of our own daily self-maintenance. Then again, as repression increased we redoubled our focus on our own self-preservation, fetishizing the plaza and various milestones in our own brief history. Occupy Oakland as such is on a slow and sure downslide as we fail to become less insular and self-referential and remain largely irrelevant to local struggles.

When speaking of a movement composed of innumerable left tendencies with no clear objective, it is necessary to paint a picture of success for the sake of reference. I want a mass movement. I want an organizing body that welcomes motivated and talented folks at all levels of political experience to mobilize around concrete political issues. Occupy Oakland understands itself to be completely open, but is in fact organized like a social scene which is completely impenetrable to many: the unacknowledged (and therefore unaccountable) leadership is composed of people who have the most experience, political training, time or resources (or a combination of the above) and there is no mechanism that I have witnessed to develop new leaders. Feuds between groups and between individual organizers have become entrenched. Occupy Oakland as such has run its course. We put on inspiring spectacles, we empowered new organizers, we made connections between pre-existing grassroots working groups and created new ones. But no one new is coming in and the attendance at general assemblies is dwindling. It’s time to take the network we have forged and turn it toward organizing projects aimed at political realities outside Occupy.

When the old Gazette crew dropped out and I became the week-in, week-out bottomliner, I re-assessed the role of the gazette in the organism of Occupy. It was important to have a newsletter to welcome people who were new to the movement, to acquaint them to the range of our politics. The Gazette was also a forum to to have the debates that were crucial to the development of the movement. Alas, no one new has come to the general assembly in quite some time. We routinely have less than a hundred people on Wednesday nights and, in the wake of May 1st, even Sunday assemblies barely have quorum. There are plenty of other forums for movement news and debate.

I have never been full time on the Gazette: my energies have always been split between work and other projects within and outside of Occupy. The Oscar Grant Plaza Gazette has therefore not always been as relevant, as up to date, or as thorough as I would have liked it to have been. If I don’t quit now, it will become sporadic and careless. One project in particular, The Summer Where No One Leaves, is poised to monopolize my time and creativity. This project, spearheaded by the East Bay Solidarity Network, will involve most organizations currently doing anti-foreclosure work in the Bay (including OOFD) and a host of organizers new to the housing struggle in a coalition to build neighborhood councils that could be ready to defend against foreclosure and eviction as self-organized bodies by the end of the summer. It will be a concentrated push for anti-foreclosure work as a social movement in a time where foreclosure represents one of the largest mass thefts of wealth from the black community in history. The Summer Where No One Leaves could not have gotten to its current advanced planning stages without Occupy Oakland. Indeed many occupiers will be crucially involved. This project, Occupy AC Transit, Occupy the Farm and recent solidarity actions with the families of Alan Blueford and Brandy Martell can be counted as the future of Occupy.

Goodbye from the Oscar Grant Plaza Gazette. It’s been real.

First of all, let me tell you all the shit that I’m mad about and maybe it’s enough to get you mad at some shit too.

Just last week, out on Hegenberger, a disgruntled student, angry about a missing tuition reimbursement went into Oikos Univeristy and killed seven students. He was looking for the school administrator. She wasn’t there. Even if the administrator had been there she was the wrong target. His anger should have been focused toward the economic system that made him that desperate for the money in the first place, the system that tries to separate us with sexism, money, color, education level and prisons. Not to mention where you live also plays a role in how they separate us. That’s what the fuck we should be mad at.

Our fight shouldn’t be against each other, it should be aimed towards the immortal bastard that we call our government. They are the ones responsible for our mothers losing their sons so soon to gun violence. Our fight should be aimed at the school system that allows our schools to close down without once even thinking about the children that attend them. Meanwhile the kids are thinking “what did we do wrong” and asking their mothers, “Mommy why is my school closing?” That’s who the fuck we should be mad at.

Our fight should also be with the prison system, yes the same system that says they incarcerate people to rehabilitate them. But we know now that’s a lie. When we look around, we have to ask ourselves why is it that the majority of inmates are our brothers and sisters, locked up for bullshit charges. Wells Fargo takes people’s homes away for profit. Why is it that corporations and banks get away with fucking people every day and no one’s charging them with any crimes? That’s what the fuck we should be mad at!

And we have to get real angry about this fucked up banking system that allows you to keep your money with them your entire life but miss one payment on your mortgage and the next thing you know you have a foreclosure sign on your front yard. That’s who the fuck we should be mad at!

We should be hella fuckin mad about how all the guns are coming into our country and into the hands of teenage children in our neighborhoods. That’s what the fuck we should be mad at.

We should also turn our anger toward the police because they are racist, evil, trigger-happy robot bastards that are killing our sons and getting away with it scott-free, no charges, no trial, out on bail, end of story. That’s who the fuck we should be mad at!

To add it all up, what we need to do now is stop blaming each other and realize that the wrongs going on in this society is not our fault. Now that we know, we can stand up, march, protest, take action, confront these institutions head on and take our city and streets back in our control. Then we’ll see who the fuck goin’ be mad!

5/7: One comrade in dept 112 at Wiley Manuel, 9am arrested on May Day.
5/8: Probation hold hearing for Truth, 11am, dept 11 at Rene Davidson
One comrade at Wiley Manuel in dept 107, 9am, arrested at OPD open house last Friday.
Two comrades at Wiley Manuel in dept 112 at 2pm, both arrested at OPD open house last Friday.
5/9: Two comrades at Wiley Manuel in dept 115 at 9am. One comrade arrested on J28 but charges have just been filed against him. The other comrade was arrested at 20th and Mandela brief encampment.

I’ve spent a couple days working at the incredible 10-acre Gill Tract/Occupy the Farm site at the intersection of San Pablo and Marin in Albany (It’s just over the Berkeley border…closer to Oakland than you think). At the front info table there is a thick binder containing a long history of different food justice and community groups who have tried unsuccessfully turn this UC Berkeley-owned space into a farm, as far back as 1997 with BACUA, the Bay Area Coalition for Urban Agriculture. See the proposal here. It seems evident that this farm is the most direct way to get what many groups of folks have been working on and wanting for a long time, since the required bureaucratic means have failed again and again since 1997. The plans go into great detail…maps, multi-page reports and proposals…a lot of struggle has preceded this space. One of the maps, drawn by an architect, is on display at the front info table: “here’s one group’s vision of the space. What is yours?”

While we planted marigolds together, a farmer told me that the seed library (a section of the farm) that had recently lived at the Ecology Center after being removed from this land due to some funding change was back in its home on the farm. There is something beautiful happening here, a beautiful heart-filled kitchen like the one at Oscar Grant Plaza, except smaller, and the kitchen intends to serve those who are working there (meaning anyone who walks through the gate and ends up weeding or helping water plants with the guidance of the day’s farmer), who then sit and eat together. It is not a hangout spot, but rather a place to contribute. There are some tents, but as one of the organizers mentioned, “the camp exists to serve the farm.” There are potluck dinners for visitors (one tonight, Sunday May 6th, from 6-8PM), and scheduled workshops for much of the day on Saturdays and Sundays. This one looked particularly good for today: Sunday May 6th: Corporate Control of the Food System and UC Berkeley: The Impact of Privatizing Public University Funding, 3-5PM.

Sign up for emergency text alerts for the farm! Text “GillTractFarm” to 41411.

www.takebackthetract.com/
Photo: Last Class 1 AG land in the East Bay (sign on farm’s gate)

Supply needs for farm: plant starts, potting soil, flat head screwdrivers, sunscreen, $$ for portapotties, tree pole saw, hand pruners, scissors, batt. Powered drill, zip ties galore, LOTS of twine, nails, push brooms, tinctures (Echinacea, St. Johns Wort)

KITCHEN: propane, ice, white vinegar, peanut butter, jam, fruit/veggies, drinking water, cooking oil, nuts

Each day, UC Berkeley cops come by and read everyone a notice that they are trespassing and should leave immediately. According to someone at the farm’s info table, the cop visits have become more frequent. (As of Friday the 7-8 cops had come 3-4 times per day.) As of 7AM this morning, the latest internet report I saw said that the police expected the farm (the 1000s of seedlings already planted, the chickens, the wild turkey, all the ladybugs that are so abundant there) to just get up and leave voluntarily by midnight last night. Let’s do everything we can to keep this farm!

That was a great MayDay! Now let’s get our people out! Here’s an update:

We are aware of about 15 people in custody. Fifteen or so have been cited and released. We believe that no more people will be released today, but the rest of our locked up comrades have court tomorrow. Here’s what you can do to help!

Go to court tomorrow!

Wiley Manuel Courthouse is located at 661 Washington @ 7th Street in downtown Oakland.

All the misdemenors are at 9am in department 107 and all the felonies are at 2pm in department 112. Packing dept. 112 is really important so if you only want to attend one arraignment, this is the one to go to! Packing courtrooms often helps sway the judge to be more lenient on defendants when they see the defendant has a lot of community support.

Keep in mind there are many rules to attending court. You will go through a metal detector and should not bring anything illegal or sharp into the courthouse. In the courtrooms you can (and likely will) be evicted from the courtroom if your phone is not off or if you talk while the judge is on the bench.

Donate to our bail fund

After tomorrow we will have a better idea of bail amounts, but the Anti Repression Committee’s bail fund is dwindling so please consider donating to our bail fund here: https://www.wepay.com/donations/275088

If you have a loved one who is still in custody

Try to have as much bail or bond money ready if the jailed person wants to be bailed so we can post bail or bond after their arraignment. The Anti Repression Committee has some money for bond, but cannot guarantee that we can provide this for everyone. If we do post bond for anyone we will still need someone to co-sign. A cosigner is someone who is liable if the person bailed out does not appear for future court dates. We will not post bonds without a co-signer. If you are willing to be a co-signer for someone you know in jail please come to court tomorrow and talk to us after the arraignments so we can coordinate with the bondsman.

Be careful with evidence

We also would like to remind everyone to be very careful with footage and evidence. Do NOT post incriminating evidence on the internet. We do not want to help the district attorney do their job of repressing us!

Hold on to any evidence you may have when the lawyers will need them. Do not go public about having evidence before talking to an attorney because you could be subpoenaed for it.

If you suffered from police brutality you can go to www.occupylegal.info and submit a police misconduct form. Civil attorneys are interested in using evidence in a civil lawsuit so hold onto any evidence you have until we call out for it.

Also, we’re trying to start an email blast system for the future where we can make call outs if there’s an important court date, if we need folks to volunteer rides for folks getting released from jail, or all sorts of other urgent info we need to get out there. Please email us if you’d like to get these kinds of updates on a sporadic basis (depending on how much we get repressed!)

The Anti Repression Committee of Occupy Oakland works with Occupy Legal to coordinate direct jail support and political solidarity. We do this by educating, packing the courtroom during arraignments and trials, facilitating letter writing and jail visits to incarcerated comrades, posting commissary funds for incarcerated comrades, helping find video evidence and witnesses, organizing release parties and rides when our comrades are released from jail, bailing people out when we have the money and general solidarity and support work for those who have been brutalized by the police. You can contact us at antirepression@occupyoakland.org

Yesterday, walking along in an area of Albany, California (my home) where no one ever walks, I saw people walking. It was just across from the gas station, past the “We Buy Gold!” store and auto body shops, where there, in a huge field, a lone man pushed a Rototiller. For the first time in the four years I have lived in the neighborhood, the area was bustling and the gate to the field was open, so I walked in.

The field is the “Gill Tract,” an open area just off the highway where cars pass all day long and no one thinks a thing about it; a corner where typically the most notable thing about it is someone with a sign asking for money or food. In summer, the field is filled with rows of corn of different sizes and shapes, experiments by University of California Berkeley researchers. In the winter and spring, the entire field is covered in wild mustard.
Now, practically overnight, there are people and a fledgling “farm” with hills of newly planted vegetables. It is the latest of the Occupy movements – Inviting the Public “Back to the Land” – and is arguably the most refreshing thing to happen in Albany, or even neighboring Berkeley, in a very long time…

[The Gill Tract is located at San Pablo and Marin in Albany. The rows are tilled, the chickens are cooped and there are many more seeds to sow. So come down and dig in the dirt and feel good!]

OAKLAND (Bay City News) The trial of an Occupy Oakland protester concluded [Friday] with a jury convicting him of a felony count of deterring an officer during the performance of his duties but deadlocking on another charge and finding him guilty of a misdemeanor on a third count.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted [26]-year-old Cameron Rose [known in Occupy Oakland as Marijuana Jesus] for allegedly striking Oakland police Officer Patrick Gerrans with a folding chair at a protest at Frank Ogawa Plaza on Dec. 30 and for allegedly resisting arrest on Jan. 22 when authorities tried to arrest him on a warrant for the Dec. 30 incident.

The most serious charge against Rose, who’s been in jail in lieu of $130,000 bail since he was arrested on Jan. 22, was a felony count of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer with force likely to produce great bodily injury. But jurors [Friday] only convicted him of the lesser included offense of simple misdemeanor assault. Jurors also deadlocked on the misdemeanor resisting arrest charge for the Jan. 22 incident.

…In his closing argument in Rose’s trial last week, prosecutor Tim Wagstaffe said Rose struck Oakland police Officer Patrick Gerrans with a metal chair on Dec. 30 while Gerrans was “defenseless” because his head was turned in the opposite direction as he was helping other officers detain another protester, Carly Bate, who had refused an order to remove her property from the plaza.

…But Rose’s lawyer, Alameda County Associate Public Defender Kathleen Guneratne, told jurors that Rose should be found not guilty of all the charges against him because the prosecution failed to prove its case against him beyond a reasonable doubt. Guneratne said Gerrans was not acting lawfully during the Dec. 30 protest because he should have known that his fellow officers didn’t have probable cause to arrest Bate.
She said, “Police have to follow the rules” and alleged that Oakland officers had no authority to arrest Bate because she and other Occupy Oakland protesters had a permit to be at Frank Ogawa Plaza.

…Wagstaffe said Rose could face up to three years in prison when Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon sentences him on May 24 but he also could be placed on probation.