May Day General Strike
The world is perhaps ready for change. People, college educated, grad student types are ready, they are having a hard time finding decent employment and as has been documented in the past there is nothing more dangerous than a large unemployed intelligentsia in an urban society with public gathering places like coffee shops. They drink coffee, get what they think are brilliant solutions to the social, economic and political problems and then stimulated by the caffeine they will go and build barricades.
We saw it in Egypt and Tunisia and we are seeing it with the Occupy movement here. May First is a day when we will have a united effort by many different activists. Most of the campuses of the California College level system have some type of protest today.
SOUTH WIND one of four caravans moving from the various parts of LA to converge downtown. There is also a West Wind, East Wind and North Wind.
SOUTH WIND
BREAKDOWN: Gathering at 10 AM at Cal State University Dominguez Hills (you’ll spot us circling the campus caravan style), where after a one-day strike last year, faculty may be looking at a longer strike in the coming months, the South Wind People’s Power Bike & Car Caravan will set off at 10:30 AM to make its way through Compton & Watts. The first flashpoint will be at The Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center — one of the adult education facilities threatened with being shut down by the LAUSD school board and superintendent. Continuing on just a few blocks we’ll be making another stop, our second flashpoint, at Ted Watkins Park on 103rd and Central — a community gathering spot and adjacent to public housing which is scheduled for privatization. A slow-driving and biking 5 miles later we’ll pull off at 41st and Central to honor some of the survivors from the original LA chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, and also honor some of those who have passed, such as Geronimo Ji-Jaga and Sister Somayah (who was also subsequently a leader of the medical marijuana movement as part of her natural herbal healing for the effects of sickle-cell anemia). Our last flashpoint will be in vicinity of LA Trade Technical College (community college district) and Abram Friedman Occupational Center — to defend community colleges against cutbacks, fee increases and tendencies towards privatization, and defend adult schools and regional occupational centers for adults — again visiting the lack of educational opportunities available today. We park our cars here and march past the Staples Center to the convergence.
FEEDER MARCH: RISE-UP LA, an action oriented group of youth fighting the Prison Industrial Complex, is holding a march that meets up with the South Wind Caravan at 41st & Central. They will be mobilizing between 9-10 AM at the corner of Florence & Normandie, commemorating the beginning of the LA Rebellion, 20 years and 2 days after it broke out after Rodney King’s attackers were acquitted. The march will begin at 10 AM, traveling down Florence to Central, where it will join the South Wind and continue on into downtown.
ISSUES (that were reasons for striking on May 1st): HOUSING & EDUCATION & HEALTHCARE ARE HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL LBERTIES – END THE POLICE STATE, ECONOMIC JUSTICE, IM/MIGRANT RIGHTS
Begin: 10 AM — CSU Dominguez Hills
Caravan begins: 10:30 AM
1st Flashpoint: 11:15 AM — 112th & Central (near Maxine Waters Employment Prep Center)
2nd Flashpoint: 11:45 AM — 103rd & Central (Ted Watkins Park)
3rd Flashpoint: 12:30 PM — 41st & Central (historic BPP shootout w/ LAPD)
4th Flashpoint: 1:30 PM — Figueroa & Washington Bl (LA Trade Tech)
Park & March to Convergence: 1:45-2:30 PM 6th St & Main St (border of Skid Row)
http://www.occupymay1st.org/the-plan/south-wind/
MAY 1ST GENERAL STRIKE (M1GS) SCHEDULE:
8:00 AM - Gather in front of the Humanities Building, Crenshaw Blvd side
9:00 AM - Depart to CSU - Dominguez Hills (South Wind) http://www.facebook.com/events/414777108549651/
10:30 AM - Caravan begi…
#M1GS South Wind People’s Power Car & Bike Caravan (OLA GENERAL STRIKE)
Today at 10:00am at Cal State Dominguez Hills..
Students Occupy L.B.
By Alex Campbell/ Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Long Beach residents and LBCC students added Long Beach to the growing list of “occupied” cities around the globe on Saturday, Oct. 15, where people are calling themselves the “99 percent.”
The protests concern many issues, including socio-economic inequities, banking and corporate business practices and alleged government corruption by maintaining a permanent presence in public areas.
Mishalay Cole, a 21 year-old LBCC fashion and merchandise major, has been actively involved with the Occupy movement and handed out fliers at the LAC on Oct. 18.
“Every day we go to class, waking up, not wanting to go. Every day we are promised something. It feels like we‘re chasing and chasing,” she said. “They’re saying go to school for this, go to school for that, and you’re guaranteed a job.”
Alaan Franklin, 25, a former LBCC student, criticized a lack of clear objectives in the protest.
“The problem with the Occupy movement is that everyone knows there are problems, but no one is willing to consensus solutions,” he said.
On Oct. 15, Occupy Long Beach participants began arriving in Lincoln Park, where a constant presence has been maintained 24 hours a day. Participants conducted a rally and open-mic, followed by a march through Long Beach’s financial district at noon.
Some participants began setting up tents in the park at 9:30 p.m.
The Long Beach Police Department ordered the tents be taken down, to comply with a city ordinance. The tents were “removed without confrontation upon request,” LBPD said in a press release dated Oct 16.
Remaining participants were allowed to stay on the sidewalk on Pacific Avenue adjacent to the park during the night.
On the morning of Sunday, Oct. 16, Occupy Long Beach participants re-occupied the park. As night fell on Oct. 16, some participants began setting up tents at 7:45 p.m. as an act of civil disobedience.
As the time neared 10 p.m., LBPD began issuing verbal warnings by loudspeaker that anyone remaining in Lincoln Park after the 10 p.m. closure was subject to arrest.
“(The demonstrators) have been made aware that if they don’t disperse they will be arrested,” LBPD press information officer Rico Fernandez said. “We support any individual’s right to assemble peacefully within the constraints of the law.”
LBPD officers began deconstructing tents at 11:50 p.m., while others urged demonstrators to stay on the sidewalk.
LBPD arrested some demonstrators for camping in the public park. Most were issued citations and released at the scene.
Protester Tamara Phillips appealed to the city council, asking that the demonstrators be allowed to stay in the park overnight. She argued the demonstrators should not be confused with campers, saying, “We’re not camping. We’re exercising our First Amendment rights.”
On Saturday, Oct. 8, a rally assembled in front of the Long Beach Convention Center. Many passing drivers gave honks and cheers in approval, including a horn blast from a Long Beach Fire Department fire engine. Some passersby scowled at or heckled the demonstrators.
One passerby said, “These people are just lazy, and don’t want to go to work.”
During a rally of roughly 150 Occupy Long Beach participants on Saturday, Oct. 8, LBCC professor Janét Hund said, “From a sociological perspective, the number one issue is socio-economic justice and fairness.”
“The root of the issue is greed,” Hund said.
http://www.lbccvikingnews.com/news/students-occupy-l-b-1.2658377
Tags: May Day
May 6th, 2012 at 11:33 pm
May day was great and wonderful exercise of both legs and democracy in action. Fun.