SF 2011 BART Protests Newswire/Discussion

[ellipsis]

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154299774649861


SPREAD THIS WIDELY! INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS!

We (No Justice No BART) encourage people to mobilize alongside Anonymous in defense of civil liberties and against the creeping police state. Stand up for your rights and those of your fellow citizens.

[at the present time, we assume this protest will be staged on the platform at Civic Center]

This 5 pm protest has been called by the hacker collective Anonymous, and is NOT explicitly organized by No Justice No BART. People are being encouraged to wear “blood” stained shirts to symbolize the blood that is on the hands of the BART police. When we mobilize against any instance of police brutality, we are seeking justice for all victims of police repression. We hope this protest will underscore that the suppression of civil liberties is a form of police repression targeted at our entire society .

Specific plans for this demo remain elusive, but it appears planned to test the lengths to which the BART Police and BART administration are prepared to go to suppress our first amendment rights. We encourage everyone to respect the tone of this protest by having a camera ready, bringing signs, and flyers, and anything that facilitates freedom of expression and assembly. We encourage all participants to learn your rights ahead of time, and be prepared to exercise them (expect BART police to lie to you about what they are).

Read our response to BART's Mubarak-style shutdown of cell phone service at http://nojusticenobart.blo​gspot.com/ (http://nojusticenobart.blogspot.com/) and http://www.indybay.org/new​sitems/2011/08/12/18687533​.php (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/08/12/18687533.php)

Read Anonymous' message to the BART police and full call to action here:
http://www.indybay.org/new​sitems/2011/08/13/18687558​.php (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/08/13/18687558.php)

==========================​=====
IF YOU CANT MAKE THE PROTEST FOR ANY REASON ==========================​=====

Anonymous requests that you show solidarity by using black fax, mass email, and phone calls to the BART Board of Directors. BART decided to cut off your communications and now we will flood theirs:

BART contact info:
Phone:
510 465-2278, 415 989-2278, 650 992-2278, 925 676-2278, 510 441-2278, 510 236-2278, and 510 465-2278

Fax: (510) 464-6011

Email: BoardofDirectors [at] bart.gov

Fliers / Back Fax images
Blacked out: http://a.yfrog.com/img616/​5783/2j1oi.jpg (http://a.yfrog.com/img616/5783/2j1oi.jpg)
“Bart”: http://www.artificialeyes.​tv/files/opBART_exiledsurf​er.jpg (http://www.artificialeyes.tv/files/opBART_exiledsurfer.jpg)

Back Fax tools
http://youranonnews.tumblr​.com/post/8832483770/email​-and-fax-bomb-info-for-opb​art (http://youranonnews.tumblr.com/post/8832483770/email-and-fax-bomb-info-for-opbart)

—————————————

File a complaint with the FCC online against BART:
fcc.gov/complaints
jammerinfo [at] fcc.gov

—————————————

Twitter: @OpBART
Email: OpBART [at] Gmail.com

[Rusty Shackleford]

Black Fax is hilarious, such a glorious waste of ink. anyways, i wonder how well Anon can mobilize like this.

[ellipsis]

Anonymous is also planning on shutting down the BART website today at 12pm PST as part of opBART.

[ellipsis]

Black Fax is hilarious, such a glorious waste of ink. anyways, i wonder how well Anon can mobilize like this.

its become a pretty big story, BART shutting down cellphone service. the twitter feed #opBART looks lively. People WILL show up, but what will happen remains to be seen.

[ellipsis]

they are scared!:D

Passenger Alert: Protests may disrupt BART service Mon., Aug. 15
Please be advised that protesters may attempt to disrupt BART service during the afternoon commute period on Mon., Aug. 15 in downtown San Francisco BART stations.
As always, BART’s primary mission is to ensure your safety and keep trains on-time. BART may need to close some stations temporarily or make other service adjustments on short notice.

[RedSquare]

From the blog, this is an excellent point to put to liberals and skeptics.


3) BART's overreaction is part of a pattern of dangerous behavior. Just as BART administrators have no appreciation for how heavy handed or illegal their counter-protest tactics were, or what the consequences might be, BART Police Officers routinely overestimate threats posed to them by passengers, and respond with disproportionate and illegal force.

These overreactions result in injury and death. What crime did Oscar Grant commit to deserve his execution? According to court testimony, he was literally beaten and executed for exercising his freedom of speech. What crime did Jerrold Hall commit (http://www.blogger.com/)? He was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun for walking away from an officer who falsely accused him of stealing a walkman.

What crime did Charles Hill commit? Gunned down for being drunk in public. And you rarely hear about it, unless it's fatal, but the abuse does happen. Consider the case of a 16 year old boy tasered while cuffed in the back of a BART police cruiser, for saying "fuck you" to a BART cop. Consider the BART cop who beat a man whose cell phone ringer was set "too loud" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN7O-FnJqgQ). The list goes on, and on, and on.


4) BART administrators are unable to take their epidemic of police killings and violence seriously. New York City Police Department’s transit police force, with 2,400 officers - over ten times as many as BART - has not had a fatal officer-involved shooting in at least 10 years, while BART has had one per year for the last three years.

With each new incident, BART's response fits the same pattern we saw with the cellphone shutdown. First they lie and deny. If they can't pass the buck, they blame their victims, and claim that the force was reasonable and necessary. Once thoroughly exposed, any behavior that they were too embarrassed to admit is then literally commended by their spokespeople as "in the interest of the customers" or "necessary for security". Then they hunker down, and wait for things to blow over, because BART police officers are never disciplined or fired, no matter how egregious their misconduct.

For example, despite BART's own independent investigators recommending that officers Tony Pirone and Marisol Domenici be fired for mistreating Oscar Grant and his friends and even calling Oscar Grant a "***** ass n----r", both are still on the force. And the administrators that protect crooked cops like these don't get fired either. Should we be surprised that BART administrators show impressively little regard for the civil rights and free speech of their own passengers?

[ellipsis]

they haven't taken down bart.gov but defaced and hacked mybart.org, leaked user info.

[ellipsis]

also defaced this site quite well

http://www.californiaavoid.org/

[Rusty Shackleford]

well, i notified several Bay area people. im sure they already know about it though.

[Ele'ill]

West Coast solidarity stuff is heating up big time. Keep the pressure ON.


Solidarity means attack

[ellipsis]

I'll see if I can't throw a solidarity shout out to PDX solidarity. :D Probably won't be a bullhorn, unless RCP shows up.

[Magón]

What assholes.

http://www.baycitizen.org/bart-police-shooting/story/bart-director-cell-phone-shutdown-didnt/

[Bardo]

also defaced this site quite well

http://www.californiaavoid.org/

Nice :D

[¿Que?]

Very exciting and impressive stuff. Solidarity!

[Rusty Shackleford]

there'll be bullhorns.

[ellipsis]

I just got back. The protest was completely unorganized and disorganize BUT four stations were shut down and all of downtown was stopped, hundreds of people waiting to get on buses.

I can post a most detailed account at some point, if people want.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

I just got back. The protest was completely unorganized and disorganize BUT four stations were shut down and all of downtown was stopped, hundreds of people waiting to get on buses.

I can post a most detailed account at some point, if people want.

Please do.

[ellipsis]

jctLbOfU2CQ

[ellipsis]

Part of what I posted on my blog (http://therevolutionscript.blogspot.com/2011/08/report-back-opbart-shuts-down-four-san.html):

Yesterday, August 15th at 5pm people converged on Civic Center. There where three groups in three areas, as nobody was sure where to meet. Some were above ground in UN Plaza, others in the unpaid area of the station and some on the platform itself. It took a while for things to get going, with people standing around waiting for something to happen.

A small protest started on the platform, which caused the riot police to shutdown the elevators and other access to the platform. Over the intercom, an announcement came that the station was closed and a dispersal order was issued on the platform. The metal cage gates were pulled down to prevent anybody from entering. The group from the platform started to march up the escalator and chant while the left the station. As they were doing so a group of anarchists with a banner attempted to enter the station via the stair only to meet a metal gate.

As we exited the station onto the street and the three groups converged, some people lead a group West on Market St, headed towards 16th and Mission station, which is probably a 15 minute walk. I followed these people, who I soon realized where members of the RCP-USA who couldn't lead a march and I shouldn't have followed this group. At this point the protest had become completely decentralized, with various groups scattered along market street.

The group of 30 people or so walked to Market and Van Ness, semi disrupting traffic en route as we passed through intersection. We would have been more disruptive but the RCP refused to march or lead people marching in the actual street, electing to stay on the sidewalk. At Van Ness, we began to hear scattered reports through mobile devices about the another contingent shutting down Powell. After some confused discussion, the RCP led everybody East on Market, the way from which we had came.

We stopped outside Powell St. station in front of a group of BART riot police. Nobody in that group really knew what was going on with the other group so we just congregated there. I watched as many hundreds of people were forced to de-board Bart and were forced out onto the street. The amount disruption I saw was amazing, and I was only at one station.

The group slowly dispersed, leaving me and the RCP, who because of their loud nature and banners, got plenty of press (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/15/bart-protests-protesters-hit-streets-civic-center-station-closed_n_927790.html). Then I met up with a group of anarchist comrades who had just returned from the Embarcadero, and I was able to get their report of the rest of the march.

The majority of people had headed East on Market, attempting to enter and then causing the preventative shutdown of the three other downtown BART stations. Stations were closed as the protest moved East to prevent the group from enter the station. From the reports I got, they almost got into the Embarcadero station, as one of the gates was half open but were prevented from doing so by BART cop swinging his billy club at people's legs, hands and genitals as they attempted to get the gate open/keep it from closing. A couple of people did get into the station, then had to avoid BART official and get on a train. That group also marched through the Ferry Building, twice.

That is a mostly complete account of what I saw and experienced. I felt it was important for me to write about this because of the world-wide attention focused on the events above and my "unique" position to report on them and analyze the event.

First I want to highlight the amount of disinformation that surrounded this action. Three instances that I saw come to mind; first the National Lawyers Guild hotline for arrests was initially reported through Twitter as 415 285 1001, although the real number is 415 285 1011; second I noticed a comment on the Indybay event notice (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/08/13/18687594.php), listed the wrong address for the protest, 10th and market where there is no BART Station, two blocks from where the protest actually was; third at the protest, somebody checked a Twitter feed, then reported to our group that there were shots fired, which was false. This was addition to many people receiving reports of mass arrests at Embarcadero station through their phone, which was false as well. None of this was too disruptive, but still worthy of note.

So who showed up to this protest? Honestly only about six people or so had Guy Fawkes masks on. Then you had the usual suspects of any SF protest, anarchists from various circles, PSL/ANSWER members who didn't appear to be attending as representative of their party, Justice for Oscar Grant, and the RCP-USA. There were also a lot of people new to me, Hacker types, LOTS of media, and of course scores and scores of cops from SFPD, BART police, DHS and no doubt the FBI.

What was amazing is how little effort this protest took. The initial protest that shutdown Civic Center was small and tame; there was more media than protesters on the platform. After that, despite having no plans or leadership or organization to speak of, we managed to shut down many three more stations, block traffic, and cause a tremendous amount of disruption to transportation infrastructure. BART closed the stations, the protesters barely had to do anything. As a result of the action, even more attention was brought to BART's censorship and BART Police's record of cold-blooded murder (http://therevolutionscript.blogspot.com/2009/01/caught-on-tape-oakland-cop-murders.html)
I was proud to have taken place in this action and to answer Anonymous's call to action. It was a huge propaganda victory and was definitely a historic protest. Anonymous has become increasingly political, and after Lulzsec's attacks on fascist law enforcement and in support of Orlando Food Not Bombs, I was only too happy to assist in their first, DDOS in the physical world.

[ellipsis]

Also Moved to Ongoing struggles and retitled.

[ellipsis]

This comment was left on reddit and helps fill in some gaps in my account:


The ferry building group walked back to Embarcadero BART and had a standoff with SFPD and BART police, some in riot gear. After 20 minutes or so, about half walked back toward civic center. They caused additional disruptions at Montgomery and Powell, which had either stayed closed or were re-closed (at least the gates). I don't know whathappened after that point, but when I left the area, there were still folks in front of the Powell gates.

Some newspapers called the protest as over at 6:30, but the standoff at Embarcadero was going strong at 6:45, and Powell was closed as of 7:15. When I rode BART at 8:30pm, it was like rush hour had been delayed 3 hours, so I think the stations were closed awhile after that, but I'm just guessing about that.

Also of note, and I don't remember seeing it in your post, but the group headed to Embarcadero/the Ferry Building took to the streets around 7th and Market and held the street all the way to the Ferry Building.

[praxis1966]

So what's the story with Monday? I hear Anonymous is calling for another action.

[ellipsis]

So what's the story with Monday? I hear Anonymous is calling for another action.

You know as much as me. They claim weekly protests will be staged until bart renounces the cell shutdown I will be better prepared and know what to expect this time around, although there is always room for surprises.:D

[ellipsis]

••••••••

[praxis1966]

Dope shit. Do me a favor, yeah? PM me if you hear anything... I didn't make the action today but I defo wanna be at the next one should it happen. I'm an absent minded shit so I might miss it if you don't, lol.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Uhuru is an org in Oakland that is apparently part of the African Peoples' Socialist Party.

http://uhurusolidarityoakland.blogspot.com/
http://apscuhuru.org/

They do have a decent radio program. I have little knowledge of them though. Their org added me on facebook last week and invited me into a call in conference that was for white allies. i wasnt able to make it though, had work. but yeah, their radio program is good.


Also, as for PSL members not representing the party formally, i know only a few people were available.

[praxis1966]

To continue the discussion on opBart, a couple of your friendly admins (theredson and I) were in the streets yesterday. We only managed to get two stations this time as far as I know. Fortunately, this time around we managed to get folks off the sidewalks and into the streets thanks. We were amongst the first half dozen or so to hop off the curb. Of course, this was after I was the first guy to start shouting "Poweeelllll! Poweelll!" And started heading in that direction. Almost immediately, several others took up the call and followed. Before you knew it, we were marching down the sidewalk... Where I nearly lost a leg to an angry motorcyclist at the first intersection. After getting into the street and shutting down the Powell station, everything was cool until some ass hat conspiracy type showed up with a megaphone.

I know the action continued after we left... I could only take a couple of hours of marching up and down due primarily to poor shoe selection (my feet are covered in blisters right now). Turned out it was a blessing in disguise because by the time we made the second trip down Market from the Ferry Building, the ranks in the crowd had swelled considerably from ordinary folks just hopping off the curb with shouts of, "Damned right, fuck the po-lice!" I'm not entirely sure what happened after we bolted... But I suspect the crowd may have headed down to the Mission and 16th station and intentionally provoked a confrontation with the cops. I knew that fuckin' guy hauling the futon on his back looked fishy. We heard this morning that there were 75 arrests made somewhere between 8 and 9 pm... Well after we'd taken off.

[ellipsis]

I'm not entirely sure what happened after we bolted... But I suspect the crowd may have headed down to the Mission and 16th station and intentionally provoked a confrontation with the cops. I knew that fuckin' guy hauling the futon on his back looked fishy. We heard this morning that there were 75 arrests made somewhere between 8 and 9 pm... Well after we'd taken off.

Looking at new reports, probably around 40 were arrested throughout the day. Seems like people made their way back to civic center, started blocking market, again. Maybe they got kettled.

[praxis1966]

Looking at new reports, probably around 40 were arrested throughout the day. Seems like people made their way back to civic center, started blocking market, again. Maybe they got kettled.

Yeah, kettled may indeed be right. This one was far more organized it seems like judging from your description of the last one... After that guy on the bike got whacked by some reactionary I could pretty much tell trouble was a-brewin.'

[ellipsis]

Yeah, kettled may indeed be right. This one was far more organized it seems like judging from your description of the last one... After that guy on the bike got whacked by some reactionary I could pretty much tell trouble was a-brewin.'

Definitely more consolidated and less confused. I think a lot a veteran protesters knew they had to step it up, based on what we saw last time. there was a good number of folks (like praxis1966) who showed great initiative yesterday, by keeping chants going, suggesting the next destination ("POWELL!", "EMBARCADERO!"), etc. I was pretty impressed. The anti-authoritarian contingent was strong. "No leaders! No masters! All cops are bastards!" was a popular chant.

[Spets]

Keep up the good work.

[praxis1966]

Definitely more consolidated and less confused. I think a lot a veteran protesters knew they had to step it up, based on what we saw last time. there was a good number of folks (like praxis1966) who showed great initiative yesterday, by keeping chants going, suggesting the next destination ("POWELL!", "EMBARCADERO!"), etc. I was pretty impressed. The anti-authoritarian contingent was strong. "No leaders! No masters! All cops are bastards!" was a popular chant.

Aw Hehe Thanks for that. Means a lot. :D

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Thank God you guys made it out, I saw on the news that some people had been arrested and theredson wasn't here giving reports so I thought for sure that he had gotten picked up by the cops :)

[ellipsis]

Thank God you guys made it out, I saw on the news that some people had been arrested and theredson wasn't here giving reports so I thought for sure that he had gotten picked up by the cops :)

Don't have the energy for a write up yet, but its coming.

Of those arrested, 6-15 reporters got rounded up, then released, some of them by showing their wikipedia page.

but none of my close comrades got arrested :D, although I do know one person who was arrested on the platform.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2011/08/23/MN8N1KQJSB.DTL

[ellipsis]

Also FYI, none of the 45 arrests or so will even be arraigned, the SF DA doesn't prosecute protest arrests. Some guy allegedly lit shit on fire and was arrested, that might get procecuted.

[praxis1966]

I just heard on the news that the BART Board of Directors is holding an emergency meeting this morning. Unfortunately, it looks like the only issue that's going to get discussed is the cell phone policy and not what kicked this whole thing off to begin with: Murderer cops.

[Rusty Shackleford]

wait, are these protests happening daily?

[A Revolutionary Tool]

wait, are these protests happening daily?
Supposed to take place every Monday if I'm not mistaken.

[ellipsis]

wait, are these protests happening daily?

Every monday until demands are met. Looks like they were met at the meeting today. Also apparently nude photos of the BART spokesman have been released. lulz

[Rusty Shackleford]

Every monday until demands are met. Looks like they were met at the meeting today. Also apparently nude photos of the BART spokesman have been released. lulz
:lol:

[praxis1966]

I suppose now we can all go tell our white, middle class liberal pacifist friends, "See, asshole? Direct action gets results. So stick that in your pipe and fucking smoke it."

[ellipsis]

I suppose now we can all go tell our white, middle class liberal pacifist friends,

Do i have any of those? Not on this coast.

[praxis1966]

Do i have any of those? Not on this coast.

lol I have a couple, but they're either transplants from back home or people still living there that I keep contact with just because they're old friends. I've had more than one person tell me, "Well, I agree with the aims, but not the tactics."

EDIT: Anyway, this is all kinda off topic... Sorry for the derail, lol.

[praxis1966]

Anyway, according to this, http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/08/24/18688603.php, they're still considering using cell phone disruption in "major" events. What troubles me about that is that is twofold. First, I don't know how they'll define "major" and second, this type of thing is bound to happen someplace else and who knows whether there will be any resistance to it... Thereby making it commonplace.

And that's without saying anything about the police situation... Not that I ever actually expected BART to do anything real about that.

[praxis1966]

Totally lame out there today. Things kicked off at Civic Center and before anybody tried a blockade of the station, they were headed down the sidewalk... Again. I and the visually impaired FW I was with were all gung ho (got quite a bit of attention, from the photogs for better or worse) in getting people into the streets... At any rate, as soon as we got everybody out there, the SF pigs cordoned off Market and stopped us in our tracks. Unfortunately, there wasn't nearly the kind of hardcore crowd we had last week, so as soon as the cops moved to try and get us back on the sidewalk everybody was all too willing to comply. Some people went one way, some another, but all in all it broke up pretty quickly. One hour and we were ready to go. Not even worth the $10 round trip train fare. Fuckin' laaaaame compared to last week.

[Rusty Shackleford]

damn

[praxis1966]

damn

I know, right? There was all kinds of talk about counterprotesting which I was kinda stoked about... Spent the better part of the afternoon studying BANA photos in the hopes I'd see some of them out there... Turns out even the counterprotest was called off. Except for one guy in a tie with lots of hair gel arguing with another guy who had a stack of RCP papers in his hands. Horrendous. Hopefully Redson's got something better to say 'cause I lost track of him pretty early on.

[ellipsis]

Dude, I lost ya and events are kinda blurry. After they blocked us on market, we kept going on the sidewalk, entered powell, Montgomery and then embarcadero, staying outside of the faregates, no stations closed. At embarcadero, as we were leaving, the pigs rushed in and arrested the two people with megaphones, a valiant attempt at de-arresting was made by ONE comrade. Best video of arrest below. After that we pretty much dispersed but there were pockets scattered about. some comrades went to 850 bryant (main SFPD station) to wait for comrades to be released. some stayed at civic center flyering the whole time. i am working on full report backs for #opBART 2 and 3, so stay tuned.

DZwSZ0yI0Cc

[Le Libérer]

Read you blog spot last night. Very intense stuff. Glad you are safe.

[praxis1966]

Dude, I lost ya and events are kinda blurry. After they blocked us on market, we kept going on the sidewalk, entered powell, Montgomery and then embarcadero, staying outside of the faregates, no stations closed. At embarcadero, as we were leaving, the pigs rushed in and arrested the two people with megaphones, a valiant attempt at de-arresting was made by ONE comrade. Best video of arrest below. After that we pretty much dispersed but there were pockets scattered about. some comrades went to 850 bryant (main SFPD station) to wait for comrades to be released. some stayed at civic center flyering the whole time. i am working on full report backs for #opBART 2 and 3, so stay tuned.

Right on. Yeah, I was looking to get into some of that as well, but I kinda had more pressing concerns considering who I had with me. I couldn't really tell what was going on and it looked like nobody was moving on the sidewalk at the time so we took off. Shitty.

[ellipsis]

Read you blog spot last night
Yay! I love readers!


Very intense stuff.That's how we do in the bay area. the local FnB chapter's slogan is "we're food not bombs, and we ain't playin'", which was coined by one of our regular attendees/neighbor.


Glad you are safe.Most of the time it is cite and release at SF protests, when the rare arrests are made, comrades were out in about an hour last night. But I almost caught a billy club to the chin and could easily have been the third person arrested yesterday. Thank Marx for small blessings.

[ellipsis]

video montage of entire event

GtWKTFSULSY

[Magón]

Wish I could have made it yesterday, at least for a bit, but I had some friends tell me how it was.

Good vids from yesterday. :cool:

[ellipsis]

working on report backs for opbart 2 and 3 tonight, as we speak. i am a slacker

:bored:

[ellipsis]

#opbart 4 was VERY small, no marching no chanting. mostly no justice no bart folks following their press conference about the action this thursday.

[Rusty Shackleford]

so is it looking like it is pretty much dead?

[ellipsis]

so is it looking like it is pretty much dead?

As far as actions called by Anonymous go, yah.

No Justice No Bart/Justice for Oscar Grant, etc. will continue to hold actions. There is a NJNB action at powell station this thurday


NJNB will discuss details about our next planned action. The action is scheduled for Thursday, September 8, at the Powell Street BART Station, beginning at 4:30 PM.

* This action will be very different than what we have done before, and we need help organizing and publicizing this event.

* It is being planned in coalition with a number of other community organizations and groups. Spokespeople from these groups may participate in this press conference.

* There will be roles for people on the platforms as well as above ground and we will maintain a presence at multiple BART stations.

* Please get in touch at [email protected] if you or your group would like to be a part of this effort.

* Supporters and organizers should save the date (THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH) and begin doing serious outreach for that event.

* Anyone interested in helping organize should email [email protected]

[Rusty Shackleford]

what are the origins of NJNB? did it arise out of this series of BART protests?

[ellipsis]

Oscar Grant, they have been active for three years, they were the ones who called the protest which prompted BART to shut down cell service, and some other anti-cop/BART actions this past year.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Oscar Grant, they have been active for three years, they were the ones who called the protest which prompted BART to shut down cell service, and some other anti-cop/BART actions this past year.
im actually surprised. this is the first time i have heard of them.

[ellipsis]

No justice No bart is a continuation of Justice for oscar grant, the radical anarchist branch of the movement.

[An archist]

video montage of entire event

GtWKTFSULSY

Wtf are the two naked dudes doing?

[ellipsis]

There were three yesterday, they are nudists best I can figure.

[ellipsis]

some propaganda

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/276817_133137180114950_2086739582_n.jpg

[ellipsis]

“Spare the Fare” BART action, Thursday Sept. 8 (http://www.bayofrage.com/featured-articles/spare-the-fare-bart-action-thursday-sept-8/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spare-the-fare-bart-action-thursday-sept-8)

by OaklandCommune


We are calling on anarchists, anti-authoritarians, and radicals (and everyone else) to step up for our “SPARE THE FARE” BART action, this Thursday at 5:00 PM at Powell Street Station. We have one demand, which is that the BART police department be shutdown.

(http://www.bayofrage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/BartBulletDraft2.jpg)
The plan for this action was developed by a group of folks who come from different communities and organizing initiatives. The plan is to “protest” outside of the fare gates, inside the Powell BART station (you will not need a ticket to join us). We have made this strategy public and announced the action well ahead of time, to preempt some of the media bullshit around “inconvenienced” passengers and to create a “Catch-22” for BART.
Since BART has been very clear in insisting that we should “protest outside the fare gates”, they will have a choice. If we mobilize enough people, in order to keep people moving into and out of the station, they will have to open the emergency exits and let folks ride for free, just as they do for all sorts of big sporting events, antiwar protests, and even past No Justice No BART protests.
On the other hand, if BART police decide to close the station, or otherwise interfere with or attack our protest outside the fare gates, we have made it clear that we are prepared to respond by moving the protest inside the fare gates, and to other stations. If they choose this course of action, BART will be demonstrating that their “free speech zones” are bullshit, and they will be taking responsibility for causing a major disruption to their passengers.
We view this action as a tactical assay to see if we can protest in a way that inconveniences BART administrators but not BART passengers. At the same time, our overall strategy has not changed and we affirm our rationale for bringing protest inside BART stations and trains. Any blame for any inconvenience caused by such protests should be placed on the spineless and amoral BART Board of “Directors”, and the murderous cops they permit to harass, brutalize, and murder BART passengers. Anyone complaining about inconvenienced commuters should be reminded that “police murder is inconvenient”.
This action was proposed out of a sense of urgency amongst our networks, that we need to step up now. We see ourselves at the beginning of developing a consistent and powerful front that can fight back against police violence. We had a lot of momentum before the cell phone shutdown that we wanted to sustain. When the Anonymous interventions occurred over the past 3 weeks, they brought even more attention to our struggle, but our political perspectives stopped being as represented, and we have not been tactically or strategically involved in actions.

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Sufficed to say, shit went down today...

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Sufficed to say, shit went down today...
Good or bad? Details, we need details!

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Both, without issuing a dispersal order, they kettled us, including lots of lamestream media and started arresting people, including lots of media, indie and otherwise. 25-30 folks were arrested, some were detained for 10 hours.

So basically the bart started arrested journo and protester for doing exactly what they had told us to do, now the "onus" is back on them, not the protesters.

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oh yah, this too, fucking righteous solidarity action


Bay Area Rapid Transit police are investigating whether vandalism at one of the agency's stations in San Francisco was connected to a protest held hours earlier.
BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver says about a dozen men wearing black hoods smashed fare gates with hammers at the Glen Park station Thursday night. Eight gates were damaged.
The vandals also scrawled the name of Charles Hill at the station. Hill was a transient who was fatally shot by BART police after he allegedly lunged at them with a knife on July 3.
Salaver says BART police are investigating whether the vandalism is tied to a protest earlier Thursday at the Powell Street station — the latest in a series of protests that began after Hill's death.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/09/09/state/n103307D81.DTL#ixzz1XUZg219U

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inside the kettle

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immediately before the kettle

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communique from saboteurs

Glen Park BART attacked: We didn't do it for the lulz.
by Some Bay Area Anarchists
Friday Sep 9th, 2011 12:00 AM


On the evening of September 8th, 2011 we sabotaged the fare machines, turnstyles and facade of the Glen Park BART station in South San Francisco. Just as we have been inspired by comparable actions of anarchists world wide, we hope to act as a catalyst to incite similar actions against the state and it's apparatuses of control. On the evening of September 8th, 2011 we sabotaged the fare machines, turnstyles and facade of the Glen Park BART station in South San Francisco. Just as we have been inspired by comparable actions of anarchists world wide, we hope to act as a catalyst to incite similar actions against the state and it's apparatuses of control.

Our spray cans dispensed slogans and our hammers shattered screens and ticket readers. We look to each other to find meaning and reject the limiting discourse of rights and free speech as a vehicle for our rage. We communicate this now to denounce the authority of a society that violently represses us every time we step out of line.

All police are the enemy. We articulate this when we choose to honor the lives of Oscar Grant, Charles Hill and Kenneth Harding by fighting for our own lives. This same passion for freedom can be observed from Seattle to Greece to Chile. As anarchists we understand that the social control of transit fares exists in harmony with the deadly enforcement of the physical, emotional, and social desolation of our everyday lives. We aim to interrupt this concert at every feasible opportunity.

The police and the media will spin this event as petty vandalism. Some will condemn us and suggest that violence against property promotes state repression, but we have lost our fear. We do not seek approval from any authority and for this reason we abandon the tired structure of demand.We look to explore our capacity to exemplify our collective abilities and to encourage others to resist in ever more autonomous and uncontrollabe ways. Freedom to those arrested at today's Powell Street action. See you at the barricades.

PS: mad props to the wildcat longshoremen of washington. keep it wild

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they always go after the "leaders"

http://www.revleft.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=324&pictureid=8488

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sorry I haven't been keeping on on this...

here is my official write up about #opbart 2, from my blog


After the seeing the very disorganized nature of the first #opBART, many people showed up for round two hoping to help the protest be a little more directed, energized and radical. This time I didn't bother to go into the station, foreseeing its closure and all the protesters ending up in UN plaza and instead just waited above ground. People milled about not sure what to do, what was happening, etc. Eventually three protesters on the platform were arrested for raising their voices and being too loud, including a local zaney but committed older female anarchist. Everybody else was forced out of the station and the above ground crowd rushed to look over the railing down into the station as people streamed out.

At that point the crowd was just looking around, when one of the many anarchists present yelled "Powell!" Which got everybody moving east along market, but on the sidewalk. Certain individuals dressed in dark clothes got people into the streets pretty quickly, simply by walking out into the streets and two or three people shouting "take the streets!"


The group of 30-50 people marched along Market St to the Ferry building, accompanied by both a vanguard and rearguard of police. When we reached the Ferry Building the cops blocked our entrance and there was a brief stand-off. At this point we had put ourselves at a tactical disadvantage, the police were in perfect position encircle/kettle the entire group. But they didn't and the group turned around, heading back west along Market, in the street, with police escort.


When the group reached UN Plaza, an overweight older man in red started running along the crowd throwing punches. He tried to assault a comrade near me and several people in the proximity rushed to stop a fight and chase the man off. The assailant ran off, which caused a large group of protesters and media to peel off from the main group, adding half a block of distance between the two groups. Allegedly he was an "angry commuter" but he served the role of a provocateur and split the main march.


The group continued on Market before returning to UN Plaza. At this point one person with a bullhorn brought people out into market to block traffic. He was arrested and folks continued to march before being kettled by the police, who at that point just wanted to make it go away as darkness fell, most likely.


There were a number of important lessons from this protest. The importance of having several people to continuously lead chants and to help the direction of a march cannot be understated, especially when there is no organizing group as with opBart. Hopefully these folks have bullhorn, but just yelling works too.


The person with the bullhorn gets heard, in this case it was an Alex Jones/NWO-conspiracy type; he was talking about the federal reserve, how 9/11 was an inside job, and I felt like was one step away from mentioning "the international Jewish banking conspiracy." Not that I am unsympathetic to these causes, rather that that messaging was extremely off-topic and not exactly what any group's "mass-line" should be composed of.


The other thing of note is that a good comrade talked to me about following the protest from his house. He was watching the livestream video from the news helicopter; listening to the BART radio dispatch online as well as reading the twitter streams relevant to the action. Given the pretty comprehensive perspective this allowed, my comrade found it really interesting in terms of analyzing both the actions of the protesters and the police. The BART radio provided invaluable insight as to how inept and ill prepared BART was for these protests.

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my post in a discussion in another thread about kettling, which is also relevant here.


Are there any ways around this? Aside from pushing back, those finding themselves in such a situation are generally left at the mercy of the police.

You say its use by American cops is "troubling." Was this tactic not used prior to OWS?

Watch your back. During the snake march that was #opBART 5, we could see the cops trying to out maneuver the relatively small group of protester, but we kept changing direction, going in loops around the block, in and out of the BART stations, etc. Eventually the riot cops following us on foot were forced to get into buses to move around while motorcycle cops followed the march.

Once in the kettle, you are pretty much fucked. This doesn't mean you can fight back. An anti-cop march in SF this year ended with people throwing D batteries at cops to resist dispersal before eventually being kettled.

It was used prior to OWS, I started seeing it used more frequently in the past year or so. Previously it was a UK-centric tactic, IIRC.