Observations and Reflections on The History and Practice of the Occupy Oakland General Assembly In Its First Years by Margaret Rossof As I write this in April, 2013, the General Assembly of Occupy Oakland is still meeting every Sunday afternoon. A couple of dozen people, sometimes more, show up. They may be in their twenties or seventies, or anywhere in between, with occasional children and teens. There is an evident diversity of cultural heritages. As far as I know they include people identifying as anarchists of different stripes, members of Trotskyist organizations, Green Party activists and recovering Maoists. Many, including some of the baby boomers, were never politically … Continued 68004

Oakland Police Chief Fired by Police Commission Thursday Oakland’s civilian Police Commission unanimously recommended that Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick be terminated and Mayor Libby Schaaf approved. (https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-Police-Commission-considers-firing-Police-15072601.php) This may be the first time in the United States that a Police Commission with the power to do so has fired a Police Chief. Voter-passed 2016 Measure LL allows 5 members of the volunteer police oversight commission to dismiss the police chief. (Because the Chief was fired ‘without cause’, according the the City Charter, the Mayor’s consent was necessary; with cause, five Commissioners, with or without the Mayor’s consent, … Continued 67764

Mike Zint, Occupier, RIP Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 15:52:19 -0800 At approx. 11:40 AM Mike was taken off the respirator. At approx 12:35 he took his last breath. A small handful, his sister Pamela, Sarah Menefee, Stacey Hill, Marcia Poole and I were with him through the entire process. James Cartmill & Michele Lot arrived about 15 minutes after he was taken off support and stayed with the rest of us to help him transition. He is soaring now with his fallen comrades. He is survived by his kids, the lizards, who will … Continued 67741

Strike Debt Bay Area Announces Campaign to Eliminate Millions in Medical Debt for East Bay Residents! It sounds crazy, but it really works. With the right knowledge, licensing and doggedness, a group can buy up medical debt for pennies of the dollar and then, literally, RIP. IT. UP. Strike Debt, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, pioneered this idea back in 2012-2013, when they bought up and retired some $36,000,000 in debt, calling attention to the medical debt problem in these United States and getting massive press coverage. They called it the Rolling Jubilee. Now Strike Debt Bay Area is doing the same thing – on … Continued 66152