The Legacy of Occupy Lives on in Court

Well Well Well..... This location for Occupy abuses will just not go away, however much some in authority dearly wish it would. Some may recall this scene of violence and, frankly, one of the clearer cut cases of police brutality I personally witnessed during Occupy. I use the term Witnessed loosely here, as I originally watched the scene I share below on a 'Livestream' feed as it was happening. I wasn't available to be there..and just as well. Having the stuffing beat out of me for protesting doesn't look any more fun than it sounds to say.



I don't believe I'm being a sucker to call outright brutality in this, either. Watch the cop, 2nd from the left and what he does just prior to doing his best to run through the woman with his baton.

Here is what would seem to be the aftermath as it still continues...and GOOD for it, given the details of this one.

(CN) - A federal judge refused to dismiss a civil rights complaint against six UC-Berkeley administrators by of students and activists who say police brutalized them in breaking up an "Occupy Cal" protest.

Twenty-four students and activists sued UC-Berkeley administrators and police in December 2011 for the violent response to an "Occupy Cal" encampment in November that year.

Protesters said they "were forcefully jabbed in their chests, stomachs, and groins, clubbed in the face, yanked by their hair, and beaten while lying on the ground."

I'd say the last line is a good start to describing what happened there. Abuse is the least one can say...as there wasn't aggressive movement on the side of Occupy there. Oh, make no mistake, Occupy gave as good as they got in SOME camps, but that was not one of them.

"I sincerely apologize for the events of November 9th at UC-Berkeley and extend my sympathies to any of you who suffered an injury during these protests," Birgeneau wrote. "As chancellor, I take full responsibility for these events and will do my very best to ensure that this does not happen again."

Smith, who represents the protesters, said "an apology is not enough" and that Birgeneau should "own up to what he did and step down."

Source: Courthouse News

I imagine you'll want to read the whole story, as it's a long one and quite involved compared to what quote limitations allow for sharing here. It's worth checking out if you were a part of or simply interested in what Occupy was and what it endured as a movement in late 2011.

Stay Safe out there!

The occupy wall street movement was so stupid and pointless. A thousand people asking for a thousand different things. Zero impact on anything. They had a chance ,they had the spotlight. If they had a clear focused message they could have made a difference. But it was just rich people are evil. I need someone to fix my life.

reply to post by jdoors


I will agree that, in the end, it didn't accomplish anything it really sought out to do. No. It wasn't pointless though. At it's peak 4.2 million people in over a dozen nations and, to my knowledge, all 50 states were a part of it. If nothing else, it woke a large number of people up to the fact abuses can and DO happen, right here, and not just in far away places "over there" somewhere.

Now, was it worth giving Feds and Locals a free training exercise none had since the 1960's and 70's? Nope... Probably not..given how it's all turned out.

I'll say this tho...I won't trade the experience of being a part of it for anything. I learned more in that short time about protest and what is directly required to put one together and run it on a local level, than any book or course could have given. That alone is probably one of the more meaningful legacies. I don't mean ME learning for a 'legacy'...I'm not that narcissistic...lol.. However, untold numbers of others did the same, learned the same and are likewise ready if something starts forming again.

Just a thought for another way of seeing it ..... and what the media showed in NYC, Oakland, Portland and elsewhere for the combat camps...was NOT Occupy as a whole. Not even remotely close, as I lived it and saw it around the nation with the Livestream feeds.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

The whole world was waiting for unbridled violence to break out. When that didn't happen ... it failed. Nothing else would have made a difference.

FWIW, I had to restrain myself from expressing my true feelings on the subject.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

I don't think school/college students should have a right to protest and disrupt the campus/education of others. If they want to show their a$$ then go to the state legislature/congress where it might do some good.

Waste of tax money all around for something that didn't accomplish anything.

reply to post by Bramble Iceshimmer


Then you should kindly move to a country with an oppressive dictator. It sounds really great to suggest everyone just converge on the capitol.... In the real world, people can't afford that....

Protest is meant to disrupt, that is the whole point. When they have all those BS "free speech" zones to keep people out of the way, no one listens. Hell, no one listens when the protests are in plain sight these days.

reply to post by Bramble Iceshimmer


Well, there is this little thing we have in the United States that's referred to as the 1st Amendment to the Constitution which forms the whole basis of law in this nation.

It says those students absolutely did have the right to protest, although they may have gotten a little sideways of rules and ordinances ....not criminal law.... in the process, on some of the campuses. Rule violations should not bring brutal beatings and a whole lot got WAY out of hand during that period.

Some of the big city camps were fighting camps, 100% and all the way. NOT all, by any stretch of imagination. The Authorities treated them all that way though and a lot of good people got hurt who shouldn't have. Protest is a cherished right ..or it used to be.

Ironic here, because a good many of the people running things at the highest levels were a part of the counter-culture movement and...protesting...in their own youth. Amazing how those idealistic kids turned into what they fought over time.

I find it ironic that many of the same end goals of both Occupy and the Tea Party are/were the same. Pundits on partisan political news networks spun them in opposite directions, however.

Big government feeds big corporations, and big corporations feed big government.

It's to bad both sides couldn't have found common ground and seen they were fighting the same fight from opposed wicks of the same candle.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


Absolutely. I was part of the TP in the beginning, probably would have been at occupy too. By that time I was too far out of work, and way to broke to travel anywhere though.

jdoors
The occupy wall street movement was so stupid and pointless. A thousand people asking for a thousand different things. Zero impact on anything. They had a chance ,they had the spotlight. If they had a clear focused message they could have made a difference. But it was just rich people are evil. I need someone to fix my life.

It was sad, because to begin with they had a clear cut idea of what they wanted. It was (believe it or not) aimed at Wall St, they wanted people to stop making risky investments with the peoples money, then asking for bailouts using tax payer money, they wanted businesses and bankers who do these risky investments to not get away scott free and being 'too big for prison' and they wanted banks and Wall St to start actually giving a damn about foreclosure of peoples property. I actually think the physical side of it actually started with those who protested for their homes.

It was a noble goal, but everyone started making all these other demands, everyone's voice just got mixed together and became noise and that is where the physical side of it died.

I'm glad some of what came of it is still taking part in the courts, and at least it perhaps woke some people up to some issues we face in a modern western world.

You should watch this video, very well done RT documentary. Someof RT's documentaries are either EXTREMELY random, or absolutely amazing, this is one of their better ones.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I haven't seen that video before. Are some of those police in jail for this assault? That one who kept hitting and hitting seems to be acting like a psychopath barbarian, and I hope he's not still working on the force.

What are the police going to do when some pissed off guy sets one of them on fire for smacking him with a metal baton? These less-than-human "law-enforcement officers" will receive none of my pity and are better off dead. Protect and serve my ass, these morons better get their priorities in order before the people they're smacking around come for blood.

jdoors
The occupy wall street movement was so stupid and pointless. A thousand people asking for a thousand different things. Zero impact on anything. They had a chance ,they had the spotlight. If they had a clear focused message they could have made a difference. But it was just rich people are evil. I need someone to fix my life.

It was more than that. It was your average everyday person saying:

"Hey. I know what you greedy bastards are doing, this is your warning to stop"

Naturally everyone will say they won't stop. I'll say fifty years from now: "We told them to stop, they didn't listen, so we stopped them ourselves"

If you're a ney-sayer look at history, reveled in revolution even when totally out numbered and out weighted in odds.

reply to post by Aleister


There was a huge mess over this at the time and I honestly don't recall what became of the sadistic cop in front. I have no idea about the rest, because once that ONE cop went over the edge, the rest had two choices. Back his play, or be overrun and maybe see some people get killed before it was all done. I mean, cops cannot..ever..EVER..be overrun. They lose guns and guns start killing people (maybe not who they are even intended to)...so putting that baton into the woman, point first like he has going for her spine or something ....started what would have gone riot in half a second if the other cops hadn't acted as well.

Ahhh... How we can see the actions of ONE bad apple forcing the hands and creating a group mess that may or may not have even been desired or, in other conditions, tolerated by the others. I agree in so far as hoping the cop in front who actually had the nerve to play robin in looking around for cameras or whatever first, is out somewhere collecting unemployment checks at best.

There was a bit more to this but my memory fails me... Something about the woman there specifically and in personal details of the period leading up to it that made this more personal as an action and worse..but again, I'm grasping at fading memories from quite some time ago at this point. I was watching multiple feeds at once and for weeks of this at the time ...but I wasn't in my note-taking mode in life yet. I wish I had been...I lost A LOT of detail and 'texture' of events to memory which can never recall it all.

MystikMushroom
I find it ironic that many of the same end goals of both Occupy and the Tea Party are/were the same. Pundits on partisan political news networks spun them in opposite directions, however.

Big government feeds big corporations, and big corporations feed big government.

It's to bad both sides couldn't have found common ground and seen they were fighting the same fight from opposed wicks of the same candle.

Absolutely agree with this, and it was a frustrating time. I really tried to get on board with Occupy, but they were too fixed on liberal ideologies and pro Obama no matter what. (total hive mentality) They just completely refused to listen to reason, any common ground on the real issues were completely ignored.

With that said, I'm glad to see the police brutality issue is coming to light. I always supported their right to protest even tho they were totally ignorant to the real issues and solutions.

Aleister
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

I haven't seen that video before. Are some of those police in jail for this assault? That one who kept hitting and hitting seems to be acting like a psychopath barbarian, and I hope he's not still working on the force.

he was probably promoted

pretty disturbing footage watching those police beat the students down and i bet when they went to the pub after work they likened themselves as heroes protecting America from Americans