Occupy San Diego July 7 STOP TPP Day of Action

From July 2 to July 10, the political leaders of the Pacific Rim nations met in San Diego on the 13th Round of the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations aka TPP to turn the Pacific Ocean and its peoples into a giant privatized corporate lake characterized by non-union workers, Wal-Mart supply chain feeders, poisoned, landless agricultural laborers, a dying biodiversity, and rising, drowning sea levels.

Occupy San Diego, along with a Community-wide coalition, the STOP TPP Coalition, worked closely with Citizens Trade Campaign to raise awareness on the TPP, which is dubbed the NAFTA of the Pacific Rim.

Occupy San Diego, through the OSD Free Education Collective put on the First Annual Weeklong International People’s Conference: A Better World Is Possible as a way to give people in the struggle a platform to voice their grievances and build local, national, and international networks. The conference was recorded and will be made available online.

Also, on July 7, The Coalition to Stop TPP took to the streets with pots and pans to raised the alarm on the TPP.

What is TPP?

The Trans-Pacific Partnership would create a super-treaty which would jeopardize the sovereignty of the nations involved by giving that power to large corporations like Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Goldman Sachs, Pfizer, Halliburton, Philip Morris, GE, GM, Apple.

• There are currently 11 nations involved: U.S., New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico and Canada. Japan has shown interest.
• The economic power of this group is more than 40% larger than the 27- nation European Union.
• TPP will offshore millions of good-paying jobs to low-wage nations, undercutting working conditions globally and increasing unemployment.
• TPP will expand pharmaceutical monopoly protections and institute longer patents that will  decrease access to affordable medications
• TPP will limit food GMO labeling and allow the import of goods that do not meet US safe standards.
• TPP will institute SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA-like regulations and Internet measures which restrict our right to free speech.
• TPP will roll back Wall Street regulations, and prohibit bans on risky financial services.
• TPP will give multinational corporations and private investors the right to sue nations in private tribunals. These tribunals have the power to overturn environmental, labor, or any other laws that limit profit, awarding taxpayer funded damages.
• TPP will encourage the privatization of lands and natural resources in areas where indigenous people live.

International People’s Conference Schedule and List of Guests - http://stoptpp.org/2012/06/29/peoples-conference-list-of-guests-4/

Chomsky to OSD on FTA’s - http://stoptpp.org/2012/06/22/noam-chomsky-to-osd-on-ftas/

“The words “free trade agreement” should bring to mind the response attributed to Gandhi when he was asked what he thought about western civilization: “it might be a good idea.” Same with “free trade agreements.” Maybe they would be a good idea, maybe not, but the question scarcely arises in the real world. What are called “free trade agreements” have only a limited relation to free trade, or even trade at all, and are certainly not agreements, at least if the people of a country are regarded as its citizens.

The FTAs are investor rights agreements, negotiated mostly in secret by representatives of transnational corporations and the few powerful states that cater to their interests. The public is largely excluded, and often opposed. The agreements include highly protectionist elements, such as the monopoly pricing rights that impose enormous costs on consumers and have no legitimate justification. They interpret “trade” to include actions internal to command economies, as when a giant corporation produces parts in Indiana, ships them to a subsidiary in Mexico for assembly, then sells the product in California, with each border crossing called “trade” — a very large component of world “trade.”

We did not call it “trade” when parts were produced in Leningrad, assembled in Poland, and sold in Moscow, all within the Soviet command economy. The concept of “trade” is further illuminated by events taking place right now. The World Bank has just ruled that the Canadian mining corporation Pacific Rim can proceed with its case against El Salvador for trying to preserve lands and communities from highly destructive gold mining. Under the investor rights agreements, the crime of imposing environmental constraints can be punished on the grounds that it harms potential profits.

Predatory corporations must be guaranteed the right to destroy for profit, whatever the human cost. That is only a tiny sample of what is called “trade,” a category designed, not surprisingly, to enhance the power and privilege of the designers. The public should be concerned, informed, and engaged.”

WWW.STOPTPP.ORG

…more videos coming soon

Call to Action to #StopTPP #July7 #J7 by Occupy San Diego

To our brothers in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Canada, Brunei, Vietnam, and across the US, Join us in Occupy San Diego on July 7 to #StopTPP. The TPP is the new NAFTA, but this time if going after everything from land and resources to intellectual property affecting all sorts of communities, labor unions, medical access, the environment, and technological innovation. It must be stop. We want to invite everyone to San Diego, to raise our voices and take the streets with pots and pans. If you can’t make it to San Diego, we invite you to organize locally with environmental, unions, and activists. We must let the US and the corporate 1% that we don’t want the TPP. No to the TPP and Corporate Colonialism! Yes to local sustainability and autonomous communities. 

In response to the recent events in Chicago, a message from Occupy San Diego to the Worldwide Resistance that joined in the anti-NATO demonstrations, as well as the various Occupations, and students in Quebec as it was condensed by OSD GA.

From San Diego to Chicago We Stand In Solidarity by Occupy San Diego

The Occupy movement built a global sense of community and put unprecedented inequality on the agenda. In an exclusive extract, the eminent US thinker asks where it goes now.

Read More

San Diego Celebrates May Day With A Broad Coalition Of Unions And Community Organizations

by Carlos Huerta San Diego, California, Pictures by Nicholas Paget-Clarke
(Original article taken from www.inmotionmagazine.com, and can be found here)

It was almost 8 months ago, September 17, 2011, when New Yorkers took over the financial district where Wall Street is located and settled into Zuccotti Park. There they set up a kitchen, the people’s library, brought community members to provide educational teach-ins on different topics, and fed, sheltered, and nursed one another. In essence, they created a community from the ground up giving birth to Occupy Wall Street (OWS). A movement inspired by the uprisings in the Arab World, dubbed the Arab Spring, OWS voiced their collective grievances changing the conversation all across the US and sprouting Occupy communities across each state, including here in San Diego.

Under the banner of the “99%,” Occupy joined in solidarity the many existing struggles. Locally, Occupy stood against the big banking institutions and their illegal practices as homes were foreclosed which forced people onto the streets. Occupy helped organize National Transfer Day which added 650,000 new members to Credit Unions, raising awareness on helping support the control of local economies. Occupy has stood against giant corporations and their influence over politics which they control through lobbying and monetary power. Occupy has fed, bathed, and sheltered many of the houseless community. Occupy continues to participate in various autonomous self-sustainable projects including community gardens. Occupy has stood up and resonated the voices of workers and farmer’s rights. Occupy has taken a stand against the legalized death sentence of Medicare recipients through budget cuts. Occupy has taken the streets and stood with immigrant communities who are afraid of stepping out against ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), private for-profit prisons system and illegal deportations. Occupy has stood for justice and equality for all against the constant oppression from the police state in a worldwide struggle.

Deep in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas, Subcomandante Marcos wrote: “In the world of the powerful there is no room for anyone but themselves and their servants. In the world we want, everyone fits. The nation we construct is one where all communities and languages fit.” The struggles facing us now are nothing new, for years the current institutions have oppressed the people, they have silenced us, stolen our voices, instilled fear onto us, turned us against each other. They have made education out of reach through budget cuts and debt slavery, and they have taken people’s homes and jobs while their wallets continue to accumulate capital. Meanwhile, the people we have voted to positions of power do nothing but represent the interests of the rich corporations.

When do we say no more?

As we celebrate May Day, International Workers Day, it’s imperative to look around us with a sense of camaraderie, to put aside the dividing differences and focus on the struggles that bring us together. It is time to question the morality of the institutions, elected officials, and legislations that have brought us to this point. We do not need them, they need us. They need us to consume. They need our resources and our labor in order to hoard wealth. It is said that the masses make history, we are the people, we have the numbers, and the power to build the world we want; a global society that recognizes the universal rights of life, liberty, education, shelter, and healthcare. Such a world is possible through cooperation, community building, and tolerance, by getting to know each other and taking care of one another.

As we have taken and continue to take the streets let our voices empower each other giving birth to a voice once lost. As we continue marching let each step plant a strong seed of solidarity that will bloom and endure. Let May Day be much more than an annual gathering of our fight and continue joining each other’s struggles daily through our actions and interactions. Let’s continue having these conversations and public gatherings coming up with alternatives and solutions. Lets celebrate the richness of our differences because the struggle is far from over. From San Diego to Chile to Egypt and Greece, one world, one struggle. Occupy together.

Also see:

More photos from the San Diego May Day marches and rallies

www.immotionmagazine.com

Whats New?

scottrossi:

Whack A Mole Revolution: A guide to Pop Up Occupations

Version 1.0 12/1/11 OccupySF Committee of Correspondence and 101 Tribe Affinity Group

In the past few months, we have seen our Occupations rise and fall in the face of police raids and eviction actions. The political environment has become increasingly hostile to our presence, even as we gain support and new members from the 99%. This generally translates into the removal of our Occupations as a permanent presence, the mass arrest of dozens of Occupiers and the confiscation and destruction of much of our personal property. Setting aside debates and questions on the legality and constitutional backing for our actions, this requires a change in tactics. 

Maintaining a presence and offering educational and outreach experiences is extremely vital in this stage of our movement. We in OccupySF, specifically an affinity group known as the “101 Tribe”, have come up with a novel and fun tactic we want to share with Occupiers everywhere. We call this the “Pop Up Occupation”. 

The idea of a Pop Up Occupation, is centered around several core concepts: mobility, visibility, novelty, and creativity. Pop Ups are mobile and are a barebones Occupation, with a tiny kitchen (mostly sandwiches and snacks), mobile library, info table and a first aid kit (unless you’re lucky enough to have a street medic in your affinity group). The mobile and small nature of the Pop Up allows you to be present in high traffic areas where it wouldn’t typically be possible to have a presence aside from a few members of your Outreach team or on the occasion of larger protest actions. The final two core concepts go hand in hand: novelty and creativity. The response to the OccupySF Pop Up Occupation has been overwhelmingly positive. People see a bunch of happy, motivated, passionate and informed protesters with fun signs and chalk drawings on the sidewalk and they approach with a smile, buy us coffee, and most importantly, have great conversations that they can take home to their friends and families and coworkers.

Pop Ups present a great face to the world for your Occupation and the movement as a whole, without vilifying or detracting from the main site. They also throw the police departments off balance, especially if there’s more than one Pop Up in action. Generally, we’re expected to have a permanent encampment and settle in an area and start erecting tents and other structures, and then satellite encampments. This throws a monkey wrench into their assumptions and response plans, as it’s just a table, some storage bins, and a bunch of sleeping bags and blankets at night, and we change spaces every few days to a new protest site. Aside from educating the public at large, it also serves to educate Occupiers on the predations and abuses of the various banks and corporations we find in our communities. 

The following page is a reproduction of the 101 Tribe’s “Tips on How to Start and Maintain a ‘Pop Up’ Occupation/Affinity Group” sheet that was passed out today at the OccupySF General Assembly. Please read, reproduce and distribute this information to Occupations everywhere! This is part of the #O2 Occupy 2.0 movement. Love and Solidarity! 

101 Tribe’s Tips on How to Start and Maintain a “Pop Up” Occupation/Affinity Group

Foster trust between people in your affinity group.

a) Take the time to personally get to know each other and build trust

b) Build trust by proving reliability and communicating with each other

Come together and establish a working set of guidelines that all adhere to and consent upon

a) These guidelines are naturally unspoken rules and ideals that everyone in the affinity group follows on a daily basis, but discussing and writing them down is helpful in maintaining order and welcoming and integrating new Occupiers. 

i. for example: the 101 Tribe created and consensed on guidelines in one meeting. The three guidelines are: 

1. When present, all Occupiers in this affinity group with participate and engage in a minimum amount of protesting (flying, making signs, manning the info table, engaging the public through think tank discussions, cleaning, etc)

2. maintaining a tolerable level of hygiene (if you can smell yourself, we probably can too!)

3. No drugs or alcohol on site and no sloppy behavior

Know your 1st Amendment Rights to assemble and free speech

a) Groups are allowed a non wooden table for information

b) Signs and sign making materials are freedom of speech

c) Vandalism of property is different than chalk and signs

d) Be aware of site lie law and what police can choose to enforce

Civil Disobedience

a) 101 Tribe recommends being as mobile as possible, which involves keeping belongings in sight and keeping on site storage to a minimum.

b) Different affinity groups may have different goals as far as specific occupation site stability but be aware that if tents are erected, police will most likely commandeer property and area.

Have established daily or nightly meetings with your affinity group

a) set a time that works best for the majority of the group and discuss long term and short term plans. 

Establish and set a mission and goals

a) Be realistic about goals when setting concrete long and short term goals

b) Affinity groups should be in line with Occupation goals, but can be focused on a specific mission.

Dealing with violence

a) All affinity groups should declare with redundant accessibility that NON- VIOLENCE is of the primary values of this Occupation movement. Likewise, all and any members of an affinity group displaying any violent temperament or aggressive behavioral patterns, should be reminded by those not exhibiting such characteristics, that violence and aggression are not believed to be the best, or even favorable mode for addressing issues. While also reminding any such individuals displaying such behavior that they hold the ultimate dictate of their current state of able self maintenance as well that groups and people exist who specialize in aiding such self development. Should no responsive progress in their behavioral patterns be apparent, the next suggested action is to remind such people that all who hold contrast to such contexts are fully willing to expose such behavior. The next step is getting peacekeepers involved. 

Note: it is 4:16am and i should have gone to bed hours ago. i’ve been at OccupySF all day and most of the night. please forgive any spelling/punctuation/grammar errors. we’re sans scanner, so the second half of this was typed word for word via hard copy.

#OccupySD #osd ONE WEEK FROM TODAY, WEST COAST PORT SHUT DOWN. #D12

occupy-sd:

#OccupySD #osd ONE WEEK FROM TODAY, WEST COAST PORT SHUT DOWN. #D12

Sign up for #osd’s event https://www.facebook.com/events/233197350080374/

• • When

    Monday, December 12, 2011
  • Time

    6:00am until LATE PM

Description

In response to coordinated attacks across the nation on the Occupy movement by the 1% on Monday, December 12 Occupy San Diego will stand in solidarity with other West Coast occupations in a West Coast Port Blockade to disrupt the economic apparatus of the 1%. OSD is asking participants meet at Chicano Park at 6am with supplies to be prepared to stay the day and late into the evening, at least.

Chicano Park

San Diego, CA

View Map · Get Directions

Occupy San Diego Benefit Concert Show Featuring Liquid Blue, on Wed, Dec 14th

What: Occupy San Diego Benefit Concert Show featuring world’s most traveled band Liquid Blue

When: Wed, Dec 14th from 7:30pm - 2:00am

Where: the Ruby Room 1271 University Ave,

Only $5 and all proceeds go to OSD.

All the music at this event will be socially conscious.

Noam Chomsky speaks at Occupy Boston (part 1 of 3)

occupywallstreet:

Noam Chomsky speaks at Occupy Boston (part 1 of 3)

Watch Part Two

Watch Part Three

(Note: the first video is a bit squeaky since he is using two microphones, but the others are much better.)