After man fatally shot near camp, Oakland mayor calls for Occupy Oakland to end

[RedZero]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/10/BA051LTHDK.DTL&tsp=1


(11-10) 20:42 PST Oakland -- A young man was fatally shot Thursday evening just yards from the Occupy Oakland encampment outside City Hall. And before the ambulance had even pulled away, people were debating whether the killing was somehow linked to the month-old gathering.

The man, whom several Occupy campers said they did not recognize, was shot in the head at about 5 p.m. outside a BART station exit in Frank Ogawa Plaza, at 14th Street and Broadway. He was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead, said interim Police Chief Howard Jordan.

Jordan - speaking to reporters over protesters who shouted, "This is not Occupy Oakland" - said two groups of people had gotten into a fight that ended when someone pulled out a gun and fired. Witnesses said they heard four to six shots, and saw several young men flee. No arrests have been made, and the dead man's name has not been released.



Mayor Jean Quan held a news conference and announced that the city was planning, once again, to remove the Occupy camp.
"The risks are too great for having an encampment out there," Quan said. "It's time for the encampment to end."
Full story at the link

[Le Socialiste]

Not sure what to think of this...I'd suggest some kind of foul play was involved but I really have no way of proving that. Either way, it plays into the authorities hands. Whether it was "planned" or not doesn't really matter, its given the mayor the excuse she needs to evict the occupiers. Wonder how much resistance she'll face...

[Martin Blank]

This whole thing is unfortunate, but it has nothing to do with the occupation. It is just being used as yet another excuse to clear out Oscar Grant Plaza. The ruling classes want to crack down on the #Occupy movement, and they'll use any excuse to do it.

[Ele'ill]

So basically from what it looks like they're planning to shut down all occupations (everywhere) this week some time. Right? Portland Sunday 12:01 (midnight), I heard about east coast shutdowns, now Oakland...

So once these occupations are over are these mayors going to shut down their cities the next time someone dies? I don't see any unusual trends or reasons for these deaths however unfortunate they may be.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

The ruling class is clearly worried that the Occupy movement is on the cusp of developing into something much bigger. They don't want political attention to be diverted from their upcoming election media circus and Obama's reelection.General Winter hasn't sent the campers packing and increasing police repression is generating a lot of bad publicity.

Bloomberg wants OWS shut down, Emmanuel wants to or already has shut down Occupy Chicago and Occupy Atlanta has been shut down. Police were using tear gas and beating students at Sproul Plaza in Berkeley, like an exact replay of the mid 60s.

What is the way forward in this situation? My computer has difficulties so I can't post a link but on the Occupy Oakland site it looks like they are close to taking Jimmie Higgin's advice, that is move the Occupation to foreclosed properties, focusing on a central location, while working to defend people from being kicked out of their homes. Perhaps a system of flying foreclosure blockades.

If the movement is repressed, perhaps it should go out with a bang, in a way maximizing public support.

[Per Levy]

The man, whom several Occupy campers said they did not recognize, was shot in the head at about 5 p.m. outside a BART station exit in Frank Ogawa Plaza, at 14th Street and Broadway. He was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead, said interim Police Chief Howard Jordan.

Mayor Jean Quan held a news conference and announced that the city was planning, once again, to remove the Occupy camp.
"The risks are too great for having an encampment out there," Quan said. "It's time for the encampment to end."

by that logic the BART station should be closed...

its outragous to exploit the death of this young man to crack down occupy oakland, on the other hand it is to be expected that they would do so.


Bloomberg wants OWS shut down, Emmanuel wants to or already has shut down Occupy Chicago and Occupy Atlanta has been shut down. Police were using tear gas and beating students at Sproul Plaza in Berkeley, like an exact replay of the mid 60s.

wow you hear so little about that, its interesting that the ruling class is so anxious to stop the occupy movement, it seems like they really are afraid. i mean why else would they repress the movment that stongly.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Not sure what to think of this...I'd suggest some kind of foul play was involved but I really have no way of proving that. Either way, it plays into the authorities hands. Whether it was "planned" or not doesn't really matter, its given the mayor the excuse she needs to evict the occupiers. Wonder how much resistance she'll face...

Oakland city hall or police are not arranging secret murders. They did have a hand in creating this situation though by turning off the camp lights and power and water and by ignoring homeless and mental health issues for a generation.

And they will callously use this sad incident in their propaganda as if they would normally give a fuck about what happens to people on the margins in downtown Oakland.

[Jimmie Higgins]

So once these occupations are over are these mayors going to shut down their cities the next time someone dies? I don't see any unusual trends or reasons for these deaths however unfortunate they may be.

Yeah frat boys riot because some college football coach covered for a child molester. But you don't hear the mayor of that town saying: "Well for public health and safty reasons, I think this whole college football experiment has gone on too long".

[Le Socialiste]

wow you hear so little about that, its interesting that the ruling class is so anxious to stop the occupy movement, it seems like they really are afraid. i mean why else would they repress the movment that stongly.

Their anxiety stems from the fact that we have seen a dramatic rise in global movements against the policies and actions of governments everywhere. When you take into account the deteriorating social and material conditions of working people plus the continuation of the economic crisis, you have a potentially explosive situation that's being mirrored worldwide. We saw some of the first signs of this in the general upheavals throughout N. Africa and the Middle East; for the first time in decades oppressive regimes were being openly defied with people taking to the streets to demand an end to the former's repression and rule. While these weren't entirely successful (with Western/NATO involvement), they still sent a message of defiance - and that's a threat the ruling-classes want contained. It's impossible to look at all that has happened this year without taking into account its global character. From N. Africa to Wisconsin, from G. Britain to Chile, from Greece to OWS, people are beginning to stir from their previously complacent mindsets.

What these events tell us is that a return to class-based actions and politics is desperately needed (and well underway in some cases). While they're nowhere close to a complete rejection of bourgeois democracy and the trade unions/psuedo-left parties, they still retain the seeds for this break. For many, the past few years have exposed the hypocrisy and cynicism of parties and governments worldwide, as well as their exploitative nature and - for some - imperialist ambition. The issue of class and its relation to the institutions of power has returned to the fore in many situations this year, without many consciously realizing it. It remains there, however, hanging over Greece as much as it did over the demonstrations and riots in Britain and the occupiers of OWS. While some of these remain trapped in a sort of political haze, they still mark a significant step forward in the fight against the political-financial elite. This scares them (the latter). The events of the past year have ever so slightly shaken the relationship the oppressed have with their oppressors, and if history is any indicator the slightest of shakes can - over time - become a shattering quake.

Yes, the ruling-classes are anxious. But they're not fully convinced everything from this year represents further unrest. They're hoping the resignation and defeat of past decades will make its return and that things as they are will go back to a sense of 'normal.' Despite everything that has happened this year, they still hold out hope for they perceive to be American/Western complacency. Regardless, they also recognize the necessity of nipping any potential dissent in the bud if they are to ward off future dissatisfaction. That's why they've been so scattered with their tactics and responses - they were, by and large, expecting OWS to fade away as soon as it began; but it didn't. It stayed and, remarkably, it grew. And it committed one of the worst offences (well, given the times we're in) it could commit: it turned (in some instances) to the workers. Oakland's general strike was probably the proverbial last straw for the political-financial elite. The fact that it stands to be repeated in Dallas only adds to their (the elite's) anxiety. A return to class-based tactics to voice the people's demands represents a gradual return to class-based awareness. This slight return is all the ruling-classes need to pull rank and clamp down.

In short yes, they are worried. The working-class hasn't been involved any significant action in decades. Furthermore, it was deeply divided. No longer is either the case now. People are waking up, and while this awakening doesn't represent a turn towards leftist tactics and principles, it does represent a growing dissatisfaction amongst broad layers of the disenfranchised - not to mention a willingness to act on it. This in and of itself is worrying, albeit not at the level of being a complete threat. It's just the faintest of stirrings that has the ruling elites so anxious, which causes them to overreact in turn. They aren't sure how to handle things, as everything they do seems to backfire. So for the time being they're overrelying on the billy club and the rubber bullet. Things will progress from here though, and that's what frightens the political-financial elite the most.

[Nox]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is a plot by the old bill trying to find an excuse to get violent so they can get rid of the protestors.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

As others have said, the open nature of the Occupation movement, the feeling of community and camerderie attract people who have otherwise been marginalized-the homeless, people who are mentally ill, people who have been abandoned by mainstream society.Its inevitable perhaps that tragic incidents such a this would happen. The powers that be of course are more than happy to jump on this excuse to forestall a nascent threat.

[X5N]

I had a feeling the authoritarians would use those incidents as an excuse to crack down.

I say they should resist! Make like Freetown Christiania and build some barricades!

[tfb]

Whoa whoa whoa, are you telling me that someone was shot... IN OAKLAND?!?!? *fans self furiously and drops onto fainting couch*

[RedZero]

Whoa whoa whoa, are you telling me that someone was shot... IN OAKLAND?!?!? *fans self furiously and drops onto fainting couch*

We should probably shut down the entire nation since people die each day.

[Jimmie Higgins]

As others have said, the open nature of the Occupation movement, the feeling of community and camerderie attract people who have otherwise been marginalized-the homeless, people who are mentally ill, people who have been abandoned by mainstream society.Its inevitable perhaps that tragic incidents such a this would happen. The powers that be of course are more than happy to jump on this excuse to forestall a nascent threat.

Right, I think Occ Oakland and other places that are becoming swamped with social-work-type issues that are interfering with the political side should make calls contrasting the amount the city spends policing these encampments vs. how that money could be going to help the social work going on by people themselves in the camps.

If Quan is worried about health and safety issues, give the camp 2 million bucks instead of spending that on tea-gas and police overtime!

[Jimmie Higgins]

Also, the good news is that it hasn't apparently had an immediate effect on moral for the Oakland occupation. About 100 people met in the rain that night to discuss the murder and the way the media and city were trying to spin it. Then in the rain the next day was a great veterans march of 200 or so who marched to the police station, surrounded the entrance and held a speak-out.

[Summerspeaker]

I'm not sure what the presence of homeless folks at Occupy Oakland has to do with somebody getting shot. The homeless tend to be victims of violence more than perpetrators.