Emergency Communique Establishing our Right to Occupy

Type: Public Statement

Proposed by: Jessica Rey

History: reached consensus at GA on Sunday 11/27/2011

AMENDED VERSION

Emergency Communiqué Establishing our Right to Occupy, Statement
Submitted to the OccupyLA General Assembly Sunday November 27th, 2011 drafted by Alex & Jessica

What:

An appeal to all those across the world engaged in the struggle for social justice, to stand for the right of the people to assemble and exercise free speech.

To be released immediately, or upon forceful displacement of Solidarity Park.

How (Statement):

We recognize, and urge city officials to recognize, the entrenched interests pressuring for the evacuation of Solidarity Park on behalf of “local” but most certainly multinational corporations and banks, such as the Central City Association preparing to lobby for an anti-encampment ordinance.  We assert, in light of our action on Nov. 17th, in which a private citizen on behalf of Bank of America placed 46 protesters under private persons arrest with the help of hundreds of the LAPD as well as a militarized 4-block radius, that the city is not being forthright in its reasoning for eviction and is in fact moving at the behest of the 1%.

OLA rejects municipal health, safety or aesthetic concerns as inadequate reasoning to displace our occupation, a political space for unhindered peaceful assembly.

We remind you that while you speak of the sustainability of our occupation, we speak of the sustainability of corruption and greed in our socio-economic systems, including government. We do not consider ‘the grass’ – unsustainable in this climate without huge cost to the taxpayer – to be a suitable reason to displace an encampment of people intent on exercising their right to free speech.  The “problems with OLA” exploited in the media (crime, drug and alcohol abuse, theft, etc) are not isolated to our encampment, but rather exist as a microcosm of the ills of in society at large due to widespread lack of resources/poverty.

The challenges within Occupy LA are the same that exist right down the street in any direction, but we have thrust it from the periphery, right onto the doorstep of City Hall. We stand behind our de-gentrification of the downtown space as a direct response to the relationship between government and private corporations and the assault on public space.

We remind you that, as taxpayers: we pay for our streets, we pay the salaries for those making decisions on our right to assemble. All that we ask for in return is the representation of our interests. This social contract has been broken and, rather than wait for utter economic collapse, the people have used occupation both symbolically, and as a means to amplify our voice. Our presence as OccupyLA, in its current form, actively asserts our right to redress of grievances, as accorded to us in the 1st Amendment. We occupy as a presence and force of vigilance, outside of a political process that leaves no room for the organic and legitimate voice of the people.

When faced with the unjust relationship of government officials with the private sphere and the corrupting influence of money in the political process, it is important to measure the reaction of law enforcement against the message put out by the people in the streets. The organized violence that has characterized police response to OWS and other cities across the US involved in this movement against economic inequality obviously is proportionate to the strength of our message. It is important to highlight the concerted efforts of 19 cities, under the umbrella of the Dept. of Homeland Security, to suppress the occupation movement in one fell swoop.

We call upon all sisters and brothers of the occupy movement — sympathizers, supporters and critics — to join us as we speak out against the use of intimidation, force, and political power to break up peaceful occupations and repress or criminalize the exercise of our first amendment rights.

Why:

To have a statement to release at the time of the raid to the press, the world, and other occupations.  So we make clear their misuse of power to repress our movement.

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Emergency Communique Establishing our Right to Occupy
What:

A public statement, call and communique by OccupyLA for activists, everyday individuals, occupiers, and all those across the world engaged in the struggle for social justice, to stand for the right of the people to assemble and exercise free speech.

To be released immediately upon forcible removal of occupiers from Solidarity Park.

How (Statement):

We recognize, and urge city officials to recognize, the entrenched interests pressuring for the evacuation of Solidarity Park on behalf of “local” but most certainly multinational corporations, just as they have collectively lobbied as the Central City Association, pushing for an anti-encampment ordinance.  We assert, in light of our action on Nov. 17th in which a private citizen on behalf of BofA placed 46 protesters under private persons arrest with the help of hundreds of the LAPD as well as a militarized 4-block radius, that the city is not being transparent in their reasoning for eviction and is in fact moving at the behest of the 1%.

OLA rejects municipal health, safety or aesthetic concerns as invalid reasoning to displace our encampment, a political space for unhindered peaceful assembly and the expression of free speech.

We remind you that as taxpayers, for decades we have paid into paving these streets and funding the operations of governmental buildings without asking for anything other than representation of our interests. This social contract has been broken, and rather than wait for utter economic collapse, the people have taken encampment upon themselves as a tool of sustaining and amplifying free speech. Our presence as OccupyLA, in its current form, actively asserts our right to free assembly through the chosen method of occupation.  We occupy as a presence and force of vigilance under a political process that leaves no room for the organic and legitimate voice of the people.

We remind you that though you speak of the sustainability of our encampment, we are here to address the sustainability of corruption and greed in our social, economic and governmental processes. We do not consider the grass, unsustainable in this climate, to be a suitable reason to displace an encampment of people intent on exercising their right to free speech. The issues affecting our encampment and exploited in the media, in terms of non-participation via drug or alcohol use, or the appearance of increased petty crime in and around the immediate encampment area, are a result of the same lack of resources/poverty that disproportionately effects many of our communities on a consistent and predatory basis. We reject the criminalization of these behaviors and instead demand their prompt consideration as symptoms of a diseased public policy process insufficient in addressing the needs of the people.

The Occupation of Los Angeles, in assembling peacefully at Solidarity Park, has created a microcosm of the society we live in and unabashedly thrusts it from the periphery right onto the doorstep of City Hall. We stand behind our de-gentrification of the downtown space as a direct response to the relationship between government and private corporations and the assault on public space.

When faced with the unjust relationship of government officials with the private sphere and the corrupting influence of money in the political process, it is important to measure the reaction of law enforcement against the message put out by the people in the streets. It is important to point out the comparatively harsh and organized violence that has characterized the police response to OWS in cities across the US and how our message about economic inequality has something to do with that. It is important to highlight the concerted efforts of 19 cities, under the umbrella of the Dept. of Homeland Security, to propogandize and suppress the occupation movement in one fell swoop.

Going further, we call upon all sisters and brothers of the occupy movement, sympathizers, supporters and critics to join us as we defend and reestablish our individual and collective rights to free speech and assembly (date and time of determined meeting point at that time). And we call upon all individuals to speak out against the use of intimidation, force, politics and power to break up peaceful occupations and repress or criminalize the exercise of our first amendment rights.

Why:

So we have a statement to release at the time of the raid to the press, the world, and other occupations.  To make clear their misuse of power to repress our movement.