Saturday, December 24, 2011

Russians Occupy Moscow


MOSCOW (AP) — Tens of thousands of Russians jammed a Moscow avenue Saturday to demand free elections and an end to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule, in the largest show of public outrage since the protests 20 years ago that brought down the Soviet Union. Gone was the political apathy of recent years as many shouted "We are the Power!"
The demonstration, bigger and better organized than a similar one two weeks ago, and smaller rallies across the country encouraged opposition leaders hoping to sustain a broad protest movement ignited by a fraud-tainted parliamentary election on Dec. 4.
The enthusiasm also cheered Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader who closed down the Soviet Union on Dec. 25, 1991.
"I'm happy that I have lived to see the people waking up. This raises big hopes," the 80-year-old Gorbachev said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
He urged Putin to follow his example and give up power peacefully. If Putin stepped down now, he would be remembered for the positive things he did, Gorbachev said. The former Soviet leader, who has grown increasingly critical of Putin, has little influence in Russia today.
But the protesters have no central leader and no candidate capable of posing a serious challenge to Putin, who intends to return to the presidency in a March vote. In a fair election, the veteran Communist Party leader would pose the strongest threat, and he has joined the Kremlin in disparaging the protests.
Even at Saturday's rally, some of the speakers were jeered by the crowd. The various liberal, nationalist and leftist groups that took part appear united only by their desire to see "Russia without Putin," a popular chant.
Putin, who gave no public response to the protest Saturday, initially derided the demonstrators as paid agents of the West. He also said sarcastically that he thought the white ribbons they wore as an emblem were condoms. Putin has since come to take their protests more seriously, and in an effort to stem the anger he has offered a set of reforms to allow more political competition in future elections.
Kremlin-controlled television covered Saturday's rally, but gave no air time to Putin's harshest critics.
Estimates of the number of demonstrators ranged from the police figure of 30,000 to 120,000 offered by the organizers. Demonstrators packed much of a broad avenue, which has room for nearly 100,000 people, about 2.5 kilometers (some 1.5 miles) from the Kremlin, as the temperature dipped well below freezing.
A stage at the end of the avenue featured banners reading "Russia will be free" and "This election Is a farce." Heavy police cordons encircled the participants, who stood within metal barriers, and a police helicopter hovered overhead.
Alexei Navalny, a corruption-fighting lawyer and popular blogger, electrified the crowd when he took the stage. He soon had the protesters chanting "We are the power!"
Navalny spent 15 days in jail for leading a protest on Dec. 5 that unexpectedly drew more than 5,000 people and set off the chain of demonstrations.
Putin's United Russia party lost 25 percent of its seats in the election, but hung onto a majority in parliament through what independent observers said was widespread fraud. United Russia, seen as representing a corrupt bureaucracy, has become known as the party of crooks and thieves, a phrase coined by Navalny.
"We have enough people here to take the Kremlin," Navalny shouted to the crowd. "But we are peaceful people and we won't do that — yet. But if these crooks and thieves keep cheating us, we will take what is ours."
Protest leaders expressed skepticism about Putin's promised political reforms.
"We don't trust him," opposition leader Boris Nemtsov told the rally, urging protesters to gather again after the long New Year's holidays to make sure the proposed changes are put into law.
He and other speakers called on the demonstrators to go to the polls in March to unseat Putin. "A thief must not sit in the Kremlin," Nemtsov said.
The protest leaders said they would keep up their push for a rerun of the parliamentary vote and punishment for election officials accused of fraud, while stressing the need to prevent fraud in the March presidential election.
Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov was among those who sought to give the protesters a sense of empowerment.
"There are so many of us here, and they (the government) are few," Kasparov said from the stage. "They are huddled up in fear behind police cordons."
The crowd was largely young, but included a sizable number of middle-aged and elderly people, some of whom limped slowly to the site on walkers and canes.
"We want to back those who are fighting for our rights," said 16-year-old Darya Andryukhina, who said she had also attended the previous rally.
"People have come here because they want respect," said Tamara Voronina, 54, who said she was proud that her three sons also had joined the protest.
Putin's comment about protesters wearing condoms only further infuriated them and inspired some creative responses. One protester Saturday held a picture montage of Putin with his head wrapped in a condom like a grandmother's headscarf. Many inflated condoms along with balloons.
The protests reflect a growing weariness with Putin, who was first elected president in 2000 and remained in charge after moving into the prime minister's seat in 2008. Brazen fraud in the parliamentary vote unexpectedly energized the middle class, which for years had been politically apathetic.
"No one has done more to bring so many people here than Putin, who managed to insult the whole country," said Viktor Shenderovich, a columnist and satirical writer.
Two rallies in St. Petersburg on Saturday drew a total of 4,000 people.
"I'm here because I'm tired of the government's lies," said Dmitry Dervenev, 47, a designer. "The prime minister insulted me personally when he said that people came to the rallies because they were paid by the U.S. State Department. I'm here because I'm a citizen of my country."
Putin accused the United States of encouraging and funding the protests to weaken Russia.
Putin's former finance minister surprised the protesters by saying the current parliament should approve the proposed electoral changes and then step down to allow new parliamentary elections to be held. Alexei Kudrin, who remains close to Putin, warned that the wave of protests could lead to violence and called for establishing a dialogue between the opposition and the government.
"Otherwise we will lose the chance for peaceful transformation," Kudrin said.
Kudrin also joined calls for the ouster of Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov.
Putin has promised to liberalize registration rules for opposition parties and restore the direct election of governors he abolished in 2004. Putin's stand-in as president, Dmitry Medvedev, spelled out those and other proposed changes in Thursday's state-of-the nation address.
Gorbachev, however, said the government appears confused.
"They don't know what to do," he said. "They are making attempts to get out of the trap they drove themselves into."
writers Nataliya Vasilyeva and Jim Heintz

News Feed About The Occupy LA Raid @ City Hall


Police clad in riot gear moved in to evict Occupy Los Angeles protesters from their camp at city hall on Wednesday morning – two days after a deadline passed for demonstrators to leave.
Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck told reporters at an early morning press conference at the campsite that 1,400 police were involved, and estimated that 200 arrests were made with "absolutely minimal force."
Speaking to reporters selected by the Los Angeles Police Department at the same press conference, the city's mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, said he had "never seen more professional, restrained force."
"Every one of us should be proud of the police for professional way how officers handled the demonstration," he said, without answering further questions.
Villaraigosa ordered Occupy Los Angeles, which began on 1 October, to leave the city hall grounds by Monday morning at 12.01am, but a strong show of defiance from protesters prompted police to delay the raid until Wednesday.
While the hundreds of police officers cleared out the park of the remaining 20 occupiers, about 500 people gathered at the intersection of 1st Street and Main Street to confront police and show solidarity to those still at city hall.
Some people broke through the many blockades set up on roads leading to the campsite, chanting "We are peaceful" and "Let us through".
Despite the raid, some protesters said it only made the movement stronger.
"It's just a happy day today because even though we got kicked out, we're still together," said Demi Chae Moore, who gathered with the hundreds on 1st Street and Main Street before the police pursued them around 2am and pushed them into the city's Little Tokyo district.
However, tensions between supporters of the movement made headway as the police dispersed them from the city hall area, with some arguing that the protesters stay at the intersection while others marched east on 1st Street.
The arguments and sniping among some Occupiers prompted a young woman to passionately urge them to stop the infighting.
"We have to love each other because we are all 100%," shouted Victoria Buckner, alluding to the 'We are the 99%' slogan used by supporters of the Occupy movement.
Although the police claimed that the police refrained from using strong force, protester Oscar Pale claimed that an officer struck him in the chest as other officers tried to push marchers on Alameda Steet away from the area.
"I put myself in front of the line to be a peacemaker, and I told the officer to come on and do something, but he came at me and threatened me," Pale said. "He hit me twice in the chest with his baton."
Another protester, Melissa Balin, attempted to cross one of the police blockades, but officers threatened her and forced her out.
"Four officers shoved me because they wouldn't let me pass," she said.
At one point, protesters marching around the police perimeter on Alameda Street blocked a caravan Los Angeles County Sheriff's buses – possibly for the transport of arrested Occupiers to processing centres.
In preparation for the co-ordinated raid on the Occupy Los Angeles site, police were on a "city-wide tactical alert" and shut down streets leading to city hall. The roadblocks dismayed residents in the downtown area, as well as bar patrons and people who wanted to show solidarity with the movement.
"They won't let us cross the line because it's a police state" shouted Cris Servellon, 29, a Los Angeles resident and a supporter of the Occupy movement, who waved a printout of the United States Constitution to police officers.
"Don't restrict people – we are more powerful than the government."

Monday, December 19, 2011

Occupiers Can't Fly - Queen RA - After The Raid






Occupiers Can’t Fly – Queen Ra interviews one of her fellow anonymous 99’ers who discusses her understanding about the plight of occupiers that were arrested during the city hall raid of 2011 by LAPD to end the three month long holdout 






Friday, December 16, 2011

Occupy the Hood Los Angeles " Action Assembly" Dec.17th "After The Raid"





SaturdayTime7:30pm until 9:30pmWhere City Hall West Steps

Description Occupy the Hood is putting on a VERY special General
Assembly for December 17th!

We all want to move #OccupyLA FORWARD after the raid.
Many of us have discussed goin back to the hood & doing some real
community organizing.

...
This 12/17 GA:

- No proposals!

- Breakout Discussions:
"YOUR hood & what we can do to take the movement there."
"What does privilege mean?"

-Activists from different marginalized communities share their
organizing experiences. From immigrant rights to LGBTQ to Skid Row!

-"I am the 99%" media workshop. Share your 99% story!

Please share with occupiers, homies, organizations!

ALL the love in the world
ALL power to ALL people!



Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Occupy LA - The Latino Museum - Downtown Art Walk


In memory of KELLY THOMAS the homeless man beaten to death by Fullerton police

Two artists of the occupy LA movement of 2011 @ City Hall share memories of the three months they spent working to make it a better world for all at The Latino Museum during the Dec. Art Walk in downtown LA. In memory of Kelly Thomas, the homeless man beaten to death by Fullerton police they celebrate the stepping down of Fullerton mayor Dick Jones
Blaze-Out

 







Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Bilal Ali, Co-founder of Occupy the ‘Hood, Beaten and Detained




Bilal Ali

I have just gotten information over the past couple of hours that Bilal Ali, co-founder of Occupy the ‘Hood Los Angeles, was apparently beaten and detained by LAPD officers in last night’s actions.
According to several people who have contacted me, Bilal and Joseph Thomas were kettled away from a larger group of Occupy supporters near Pershing Square sometime between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m. and were beaten repeatedly by LAPD officers with battons. Bilal appeared to be injured, perhaps seriously.
Bilal is a very well-known organizer and advocate for tenants, workers and the homeless in downtown L.A., especially over the past 8-10 years. In particular Bilal has figured prominently in a series of major conflicts with the Central City Association over questions of their influence over the City Council and other public institutions, including the police. It is this same association that has been working behind the scenes to get Occupy L.A. evicted and to get the City Council to enact a special ordinance to prohibit the use of City Hall as a platform for public protests.
In June of last year, Bilal and approximately 20 others were physically assaulted by police INSIDE City Council chambers following a public hearing on extending a rent freeze for tenants throughout the city that attracted the largest turnout of tenants in the history of Los Angeles. Legal action later led to financial compensation for
the victims of this attack, and a judicial reprimand of City Hall police for the use of excessive force against peaceful protesters. Since that time, Bilal has been the target of numerous incidents of police harrassment, including being unlawfully detained outside his apartment building twice last summer. He has several complaints filed through the police commission related to these incidents.
Occupy the ‘Hood calls upon ALL Occupy Movement activists, ALL friends and supporters of Occupy the ‘Hood, and ALL progressive people in general to support Bilal Ali and ALL those arrested and detained in the police actions against the Occupy Movement last night and this morning. We are concerned with Bilal’s present physical condition, in particular. We believe he is being held at the Parker Center holding facility. No charges have as yet been filed against him that we know of.
We call for your support, and will post more information as soon as we get it.
Build the Occupy Movement!!!
Organize the 99%!!!
Free All Our Occupy Movement Detainees Now!!!
— Kwazi Nkrumah


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Man Shot With Rubber Bullet - Occupy The Hood Los Angeles










Occupy The Hood Los Angeles - A young Man was Shot With Rubber Bullet on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall just days ago is interviewed by Queen RA for the exclusive. 
Music by incompetech
Blaze-Out


                                                                     A Queen RA Film