Photo by Rory Fanning.

Before the term “Occupy your work place” was a part of the activist lexicon, the strategy was put into place by factory workers in Chicago three years ago, and they were now at it again and this time with support from the Occupy movement.

In December 2008, then workers of Republic Windows and Doors, around 200 member of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1110 staged a six-day sit-in strike to combat the company’s shutting down of business. Citing that the company had only given them a three days notice of closure, instead of the mandated 60 day notice, along with the company’s plans to ignore the employee’s severance pay, including reimbursing them for vacation pay and health insurance coverage. In the end, the workers reached a settlement of $1.75 million. The labor battle was shown in the documentary “Worker’s Republic.” It was also prominently featured in Michael Moore’s 2009 film, “Capitalism: A Love Story.”

The settlement was not the only victory at the time for the worker. The following month, the company that took over the plant, California-based Serious Materials decided to hire back the same work force however only a small part of the work-force was retained.

Which brings us to today. According to reports by the Chicago Tribune, the employees received the following statement on Thursday, February 23, 2012:

Ongoing economic challenges in construction and building products, collapse in demand for window products, difficulty in obtaining favorable lease terms, high leasing and utility costs and taxes, and a range of other factors unrelated to labor costs, have compelled Serious to cease production at the Chicago facility.

Upon hearing the news, the workers received instructions from their union to sit in following the end their shift on Thursday. Thus began the 2012 version of the occupation, which has the Twitter hash-tag, #SeriousOccupation. The employees decided to once again stage a sit-in protest inside their Goose Island factory. Among the demands listed by the workers were a chance to save their jobs, and to be given time to either find another buyer for the plant, or to be given the chance to buy it and run the business by themselves as a co-op.

Police reportedly arrived quickly at the scene of the protest and blocked the entrance, refusing permission for anyone to either enter or leave the factory. The cops went as far as refusing permission for the delivery of a pizza, that was until a chorus of “Let the workers eat” persuaded the police to permit the food to go in.

Photo by Rory Fanning

Late Thursday evening, around 100 demonstrators mostly from Occupy Chicago rallied outside the factory to express solidarity with the close to 50 workers fighting for their jobs. Also represented among those showing support outside included members of unions including National Nurses United, Chicago Teachers Union, Unite Here, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) among others. This video put out by Occupy Chicago Press Committee included footage from outside the factory, and shows the activists outside chanting, “The workers united will never be defeated,” and “What’s disgusting? Union busting!”

UE union organizer Leah Fried was in the fore-front of the occupation, just as in 2008. Fried took question from reporters outside, and went on to state the worker’s demands to keep their jobs.

When asked how long the workers were prepared to occupy the place Fried responded with, “As long as it takes. We did one before and we’ll do it again.”

Well it took much less than it did three years ago, but the employees came out victorious once again. According to the Occupied Chicago Tribune the workers reached an agreement with Serious Materials at around 1 a.m. Friday, February 24. UE’s Mark Meinster released the following statement around an hour later:

A deal has now been struck to try and save the jobs. Serious Energy has agreed to keep the plant operational and people on the job for another 90 days while the union workers and the company work together to find a way to keep the plant open with new ownership because the plant will no longer be part of Serious Energy’s business plan. After 9 hours the occupation has ended with a hopeful workforce.

The UE Local 1110 members demonstrated once more that it is not only possible for workers to fight back at the means of production, but to also come out successful in the end. Almost as exciting as the victory, was the amount of members of different unions that showed up to express solidarity, and gave meaning to the phrase, “An injury to one is an injury to all.”

The “Serious Occupation” was not the only exciting event this week, as we saw the occupation of Brian Piccolo Elementary School six days prior.

As Caitlin Sheehan reported in Socialist Worker–parents, students and teachers occupied the aforementioned Brian Piccolo Elementary School as way to protest the proposal to turn-around the school. The process of “turning around” a school essentially means that the entire faculty and staff of that school will be let go, and will then have to re-apply for their jobs in order to obtain them again. However, most of the time, the jobs go to a whole new staff.

After close to 10 hours of negotiations the occupiers got the chance to meet with the Board of Education in order to state their argument against the turn-around. I highly recommend Sheehan’s article for more detailed information on the occupation.

Unfortunately, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to turn-around 10 public school–including Piccolo–and to close seven others passed unanimously by the board on Wednesday, February 22. However if the initial occupation of Piccolo taught us anything is that the parents, teachers and students will not take that defeat lying down, and will continue to challenge Emanuel’s attempts to destroy Chicago public education.

What we have seen in Chicago in the past week is that the people are no longer going to take the assault on the 99 percent in order to further benefit the lives of the One percent.

On Saturday, January 28, the newly formed Occupy Chicago Gender Equity Committee held its first direct action in Oak Brook, Illinois.

The committee describes itself as follows, taken from the groups Facebook page:

The Occupy Chicago Gender Equity Committee demands full and open access to social services for all people. We recognize that issues of gender equality are inseparable from the long-running history of oppression of the working class and racial minorities. The fight for a truly democratic society cannot be achieved without the struggle for gender equity. We stand with all our brothers and sisters engaged in the fight for equality and ask all of you to join us in this: the fight for dignity, equality, and democracy.

After meeting up in downtown Chicago early Saturday morning, around 20 or so demonstrators made up of occupiers and members of other organizations, headed out to Oak Brook and braved the brutal cold to protest the annual Speak Out Illinois conference. SOIL is a right-wing, anti-choice event made up of over 30 pro-life organizations, politicians and activists.

Photo credit Brit Schulte

The protesters stood in front of the hotel were the conference was hosted. Some of the signs present read “Trust Women,” “Bigots Go Home,” “Keep Your Rosaries Off My Ovaries,” and “Don’t Soil Yourself,” to name a few. After an hour or so of chanting, the occupiers decided to hold a rally and speak-out. Speakers talked about the need for women to be able to have safe and legal abortions and how laws that ban abortion not only fail to decrease the amount of them, they also put the lives of women in danger. Ryne P. of Join the Impact Chicago–an LGBTQ group–stressed the importance of solidarity. Other groups represented were DuPage County NOW, Coalition Against Corporate Higher Education and the International Socialist Organization.

As soon as the speak-out concluded, the activists decided to march around the outside of the hotel, partly to be seen by the anti-choicers inside and partly to stay warm. While marching, the demonstrators chanted “Same Struggle, Same Fight. All Unite for Women’s Rights,” Two, Four, Six, Eight. Abortion Rights in Every State,” and a few others.

Some of highlights of the rally and the march were captured in a video made by Corrie W. of the Gender Equity Committee.

One speaker, and member of the ISO, brought to light the fact that 2012 will continue to be struggle because 2011 brought a myriad of anti-choice attacks from several politicians. Some examples are attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, an Ohio stunt to test the heart-beat of a fetus–which would have put in order some serious restrictions to abortions, a failed Mississippi law that attempted to deem a fertilized egg a legal person and a Georgia Republican’s plot to criminalize miscarriages. Last year also brought laughable remarks from anti-choice right-wingers such as when Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said the “Not intended to be factual” statement that over 90 percent of Planned Parenthood’s business came from providing abortions and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann’s insane statement that women were frequently getting abortions after shopping solely because of a Planned Parenthood near by a shopping mall.

The right-wing attacks prompted a re-birth to the women’s rights movement which saw mass city-wide demonstrations via the Walk For Choice campaigns around the country. Of course 2011 also brought the popular Slut Walk, which fought back against rape culture world wide.

Along with the draconian attempts to restrict abortion and the weird laws that would redefine rape, the right-wing attacks also put in danger basic female and male health services by demanding the aforementioned cuts to Planned Parenthood and other health providers.

Hopefully this year brings not only strong attempts to defend a woman’s right to choose, but also develops into an offensive feminist movement in the struggle for free abortion on demand and for the end of rape culture.

Protesting is now illegal in Chicago, Ill. Well maybe not illegal, but pretty damn close it.

In a 45-4 decision–with one abstention–the Chicago City Counsel voted on Wednesday, Jan. 18 for a Parade Ordinance crafted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to stiffen protest laws for the NATO/G8 summit to be held in Chicago in May. The law has occasionally been referred to as the “Sit Down, Shut Up Law.”

Photo by Brit Schulte

Occupy Chicago among other groups, showed up to City Hall Wednesday morning to protest the vote. The activists chanted “We vote no” to let the Mayor and all the Aldermen present in the vote know that the people were against this ordinance.

After being told that there was not enough room in the office for the demonstrators, the protesters very loudly chanted, “Let us in.” So loud in fact, that the chants could reportedly be clearly heard from other floors in the building. Soon after that, security had no choice but to allow a handful of people to go in.

Protesters outside of the office were informed about the result of the vote and chanted the Wisconsin-inspired, “Shame!” After attempting a mic-check, the representatives of Occupy Chicago were escorted out of the office.

Once the vote took place, Occupy Chicago held an impromptu General Assembly inside of City Hall in order to assess the vote, debrief people recently showing up and to talk about next steps going forward.

Events were also held the prior day including a press conference by Occupy Chicago, Coalition Against Nato/G8 (CANG8) and others at City Hall–which I recommend for everyone to watch–as well as a mock funeral for the Bill of Rights held at Occupy Chicago Head Quarters. The latter was also held in order to protest the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act.

Soon after the Parade Ordinance was passed on Wednesday afternoon, so-called “progressive” Aldermen Joe Moore and Joe Moreno respectively released explanations for voting for the ordinances.

Moore’s statement praised Emanuel for his proposal and he even went on to say, “Unfortunately, the debate over the Mayor’s proposals too often has been marked by overheated rhetoric and over-the-top hyperbole.” Moore had previously butted heads with Occupy Chicago when voted for Emanuel’s ridiculously anti-99 percent budget in late 2011, which lead to him being mic-checked the same day as Emanuel. I wrote a post about it back in November.

Moreno posted a column in the Huffington Post defending his vote. In it, Moreno basically stated that the over 2,000 people that contacted him asking to vote no on Wednesday did not know what they were talking about. Moreno also managed to defend the summit itself and stated how good it was for Chicago to be hosting in it. Soon after the column went up, Pink Scare later released this great post about Moreno.

For anyone that is not familiar with the ordinance, Andy Thayer posted on Huffington Post some of the key parts of it:

* Virtually every street protest in the downtown would be designated a “large parade” requiring $1 million liability insurance and for organizers to “agree to reimburse the city for any damage to the public way or to city property arising out of or caused by the parade”;

* Large parade or not, organizers would be required to provide the city with “a description of any recording equipment, sound amplification equipment, banners, signs, or other attention-getting devices to be used in connection with the parade” at least a week in advance of the march;

* Every contingent in the march and the order in which they would appear would have to be registered at least a week in advance with the City; and,

* Demonstration organizers would be required to have one marshal for every 100 participants.

* Under a wholly new section of the municipal code (10-8-334), even gatherings on sidewalks, with no presence in the streets, would now be subject to demands that they get permits, giving the City extraordinary latitude to dictate what union and other pickets occur or get shut down by police action.

What makes the law even worse is the fact that even Emanuel himself confessed that the new protest law would be a permanent one that would come in effect 10 days after being voted on.

Now a lot of people expected Chicago to turn into a police state for the week of the NATO/G8 summit once it was announced, however what they didn’t see coming was the fact that Emanuel would go into “Emperor Rahmilus mode” and turn Chicago into a city were a picket line would never be legal again.

It’s somewhat obvious that Emanuel had to expect for the NATO/G8 summit to attract massive protests, however after months of struggle with various labor groups and unions, as well as the emergence of Occupy Chicago, he must have felt the need to implement such an outright violation of civil liberties to feel truly prepared for the conference.

No one really knows for sure how far Emanuel will go in enforcing these laws, however what is known is that Occupy Chicago–among others–will still be on the streets come May and beyond.

To truly understand what the outrage is with this conference being held in the United States, one has to have a good idea of what NATO and the G8 are. In short, NATO is the personification of imperialism while the G8 represent the One Percent’s economy. For more information on these two entities visit the website of the afore-mentioned CANG8.

UPDATE 1-20-12: Here’s video footage of Wednesday’s event at City Hall released by Occupy Chicago.

Fresh off a weekend visit to Iowa, Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel was back in town Monday, November 21.

However, what Emanuel didn’t realize was that Occupy Chicago was still pretty bitter about the passing of his racist, job-killing, anti-poor budget proposal that had less than a week earlier.

Journalist and activist Shaun Harkin explained how Emanuel’s budget will bring job cuts, tax cuts for the rich and union-busting privatization attempts in his article, “Chicago’s Warrior for the 1 Percent.” Some of the most disturbing effects of the budget include that six out of the city’s 12 mental health institutes are to be closed, all seven of the city’s health clinics will be privatized, the severe cuts to the Chicago Public Libraries and the over one hundred lay-offs that will occur by next year.

Mayor One Percent (Emanuel) decided to hold a press conference to display the new Loop Light Show that the city was bringing out for the holidays, which turned out to be the perfect opportunity for Occupy Chicago to air their grievances–about not just his budget, but also the arrest of over 300 occupiers back in October–to his face.

Screenshot Taken From Youtube

The Occupy Chicago Civil Liberties Committee had planned for a 4pm march to City Hall to deliver a petition to Emanuel in order to drop the charges of every occupier that had been arrested. However, after the movement learned about the planned conference set by Emanuel, an audible was called. After getting around 50 activists together at Occupy Chicago Head Quarters (Corner of Jackson and LaSalle), the demonstrators began to march at 4pm to the Emanuel conference. Although the march was very energetic and contained many of the familiar Occupy Chicago chants, the protesters showed up right on time silently marching, while raising their fists in the air.

Emanuel was booed as soon as he was introduced, and soon after he began speaking, the demonstrators mic-checked him. The activists voiced their displeasure with the passing of Emanuel’s budget through the people’s mic, along with demanding the dropping of all charges for all arrestees. Emanuel nervously reacted to the mic check and cut his presentation short. It appeared as though Occupy Chicago had chased the mayor back to City Hall.

“It is unconscionable for you to stand before us as the mayor who put 328 of us in jail for exercising our First Amendment rights,” Occupy Chicago said over the people’s mic. “it is further unconscionable that you propose to cut mental health facilities, and close over a hundred public schools.”

They closed out the mic check of Emanuel by chanting the popular, “One: We are the people. Two: We are United. Three: The occuptation is not leaving.”

After realizing that Emanuel had left, the protesters marched to City Hall as planned and held a rally outside of Emanuel’s office on the fifth floor. The occupation made themselves heard with chants such as “Hey Rahm Emanuel, take your cuts and go to hell,” and “Hey Rahm, hey-hey, How many job did you cut today?”

While outside his office protected by over a dozen police officers, Occupy called out Emanuel and told to come and accept the a petition signed by thousands. The petition demanded for all charges of the arrestees to be dropped. However, Emanuel declined to come out and instead sent out a representative to grab the petition.

What seemed like a victorious day for the occupiers did not stop there.

The Occupy Chicago neighborhood  branching out group, Occupy Rogers Park decided to add  Ald. Joe Moore to the list of the mic-checked. Around 30 or so occupiers attended the evening’s Chicago Democratic Meeting of the 49th Ward. With key Democratic figures present such as Congresswoman Jan Shakowski, the group felt it wa the perfect opportunity to let that community know how Moore had turned his back on them by voting for Emanuel’s budget last Wednesday, November 16.

Moore was obviously not the only alderman that voted for the budget as it passed unanimously. However, Moore is considered to be one of the more progressive, liberal voices in Chicago, and had reportedly pledged to oppose the mayor’s budget. Since Moore turned on his word, Occupy Chicago and Occupy Rogers Park decided to let the Democrats knows that, “The occupation is not your ally!”

The two mic checks by Occupy Chicago were significant because they are believed to be the first two performed to Democratic politicians.

The movement’s hope is that politicians all throughout the nation get the message that if they will be held accountable by the people if they are to continuously attack the working-class and the 99 percent.

Full disclousure: I may  have participated as an activist in both of these events. Links to both mic-checks are present in the article, and both are must see.

Occupy Wall Street and the rest of the Occupy Together chapters have been calling for everyone in the 99 percent to come together and have also tried to grow a more diverse movement.

Here in Chicago, two very successful events might have helped out in both those regards.

With Occupy the Hood and now Occupy the South Side being planned, it seemed like building solidarity with the Latino and immigrant community was a crucial next step for the growth of the movement.

On Tuesday, November 8, immigrant rights activists along with members of Occupy Chicago set forth the event “Occupy el Barrio” in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

Around 30-40 demonstrators showed up to the rally at Plaza Tenochtitlan despite harsh weather conditions. In what was a cold and rainy night, the event started with the first dozen or so activists circling the plaza and chanting the Occupy staple, “We are the 99%.” Several other immigrant rights chants were done in Spanish.

After 10 or so minutes of chanting, the demonstrators decided to get a speak out going. Most of the people in the stack spoken in Spanish and the now infamous “people’s mic” was in use during the demonstration. One of the speakers included a young female student, who along with her friends, came to the rally wearing mime makeup because they felt that as Latinos and students, they “did not have a voice.” Another young man pointed out the hypocrisy of the current administration and the rest of the Democratic party when it comes to the issue of immigration. One main point being the fact that although he President Obama had a pro-immigrant stance during his presidential campaign, he has already overseen more deportations than George W. Bush did in his entire two terms.

One gentlemen, who had been active during the Vietnam-era protests in America, warned the young activists present about the role of the police and the state as was demonstrated during the Kent State and Jackson State University massacres in the 70s.

Many of the speakers were encouraging the community to come out to Occupy Chicago events, and pointed out the fact that many of the services in danger of severe budget cuts from Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel (aka Mayor One Percent), would harm the community. Some of those include cuts to the Chicago Public Libraries and to the Chicago Transit Authority, both crucial services to that neighborhood.

After representatives from Occupy Chicago offered an official invitation to Occupy el Barrio to the General Assembly, several of the demonstrators took the trip to the assembly at Grant Park as an Occupy el Barrio contingent.

The other successful event for the 99 percent came Thursday, November 10, during the final CTA budget hearing at Kennedy-King College.

Hundreds of CTA workers along with members of Occupy Chicago came out to protest the proposed budget cuts to public transit. Bus drivers, train operators, transit passengers and occupiers let the CTA board hear their grievances.

CTA workers–many of them members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 and Local 308–spoke out against CTA President Forrest Claypool’s attacks on not only their work ethic but also on his accusations of the workers’ “fancy fringe benefits.”

Claypool, who was appointed by Emanuel earlier this year, warned there would be a fare hike unless the transit workers were to take cuts to their benefits and their compensation. This is of course an obvious attempt to pin the working-class against each other. However the people made it loud and clear that the 99 percent was not going to fall for it.

One personal highlight came when an ATU official led a verse of the legendary union anthem, “Solidarity Forever” over the people’s mic.

Another pleasant moment occurred outside as occupier and members of the OC Labor Outreach Committee sent out an invitation to the CTA workers for their committee meetings. In the end, the occupierg present were successful in introducing the workers to the infamous OWS finger waving, the people’s mic and most importantly the notion of solidarity between the 99 percent.

Chicago is a hyper-segregated city where the communities of poor working-class people of color are always hit the hardest when it comes to cuts. For anyone that lives in Pilsen or any other neighborhood on the south side or the west side, it’s obvious that what is needed is more funding for the public transit services, not less. As the CTA workers made it clear on Thursday night, the Chicago transit service accommodates all of Chicago equally. At the same time as doing a disservice to its residents, it puts its workers through dangerous and extraneous conditions on a daily basis.

I see the two events as monumental not only because they tackle the ruling class’ classic attempts of scapegoating immigrants and labor unions, but also because the two struggles are connected in so many was.

Occupy el Barrio will meet every Tuesday at 6pm in Pilsen. The CTA board will vote on the budget next Tuesday, November 15 at 1:30pm.

Last week I wrote an article titled, “Protesting America’s Corporate Oligarchy,” which was about the Occupy Wall Street campaign that started Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. Well the Occupy Together movement that has now spread into over 200 cities worldwide, is now well into its third week.

Let’s just say that similarly to last week, this one started off with a figurative bang. On Saturday, Oct. 1, Over 700 protesters were arrested at the Brooklyn Bridge for blocking traffic, although there are speculations that the police entrapped the demonstrators. By the way one of the activists was a 13-year-old girl, because I’m sure she posed a severe threat to the peace.

March at Occupy Chicago

Just like with the first incident of police violence, the movement only seemed to grow momentum. In fact a few days later over 20,000 people came out to march including member of labor unions such as members of the Transport Workers Union, United Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union.

Now while the main occupation in Wall Street is heading into its fourth consecutive week, Occupy Chicago is starting its third week. I live and work over 40 miles away, but I make it a point to go up there whenever I get the chance. Also full disclosure, my activity down there has been as an activist along with being there as a “reporter.” My first experience down there was during the daily 3p.m. General Assembly which seemed a little unorganized and like it was trying too hard to follow the lead of the general assemblies in New York. However, in my next visit less than a week later it seemed like a completely different experience.

For one thing, the knowledge of politics that some of the protesters gained was exponential. Although the majority of occupiers I chatted with understood the notion of the 99 percent vs the 1 percent, many were new to looking at the economic aspects of politics. In other words, class war. Many of the participants were experiencing their first taste of activism and organizing. There were several people I talked to that have seemed to gain a better understanding of politics and activism on a daily basis. As I stated in the past, yes there are aspects about Occupy Together that could be criticized, but on the other hand, there are many more that should be praised. People fighting back against political misrepresentation and a faulty economic system should always be seen as an encouraging thing.

Another exciting thing about the movement in Chicago seems to be growing by the day. So much so that there has been a strong presence of local media coverage including this solid report by the local Fox affiliate. I’ve also seen ABC an WGN cameras along with other media outlet such as the Chicago Tribunes there. Demonstrators have also sent out their own videos as far a media outreach goes such as this one titled, “People Over Profits! Occupy Chicago!” That title by the way is one of my favorite chants.

In my time there I have been present at a few general assemblies as well as marches through downtown Chicago which seemed to increase in numbers by the day. On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 5, the march even took to the streets and stopped traffic. The main purpose was to march through all the universities and dorms downtown in order to reach awareness and in hopes of recruiting student activists, which I believe we did a good job in doing.

Some of the other notable chants rallied were “They say cut back, we say fight back,” “The people united will never be defeated,” “The banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” and the very powerful, “We are the 99%!”

Of course along with support and solidarity, there was also suits and capitalists yelling things such as telling the protesters to get a job or get a life. In reality, if the people hurling insults at the activists are not billionaires or millionaires, the purpose of the movement is to fight for these very people to keep their job and their standard of living.

In fact I got into a discussion with one heckler that said the movement was made up of “rich white kids that are going through a phase.” I stopped chanting to let the gentlemen know that he was far from accurate. I told him that there are people of all ages and races and they are far from rich. Many are protesting the fact that they are heavily burdened by debt and cannot find a job because of how bad the economy has been. I have been incredibly pleased with the diversity I have seen throughout the movement. I have seen people from all ethnicities, ages, political ideologues and backgrounds.

Support for Occupy Chicago should only increase come Saturday, Oct. 8. On Saturday there will be a huge demonstration protesting the tenth anniversary of the Afghanistan war that has been planned for a few months. However, the movement is planning to join in the protest, and there has already been signs that many of the organizer for the event will show solidarity for the Occupy Together movement.

I will continue to cover the overall movement, especially first hand experience in Chicago. I was unfortunately too caught up in having casual conversations and participating in the protest to even think about writing down direct quotes. Although I have a partial duty to report about the movement for this website, I am also there to help do my part to change the system.

For more info on other Occupy Together events around I suggest reading posts by Luke, who has been involved in Occupy Boston, and Mark who has amazing nightly coverage in his Daily News Drop section, and has participated in Occupy DC.

Further reading, visit this article titled “Occupy comes to your town.” It covers many of the notable Occupy Together sites.

It has now been about a week-and-a-half since the #OCCUPYWALLSTREET demonstrations began in New York City, and they are still going on. Thousands of activists made it out to protest Wall Street on Saturday, September 17. Although the protesters were barred from actually occupying Wall Street, they were able to find a near-by spot to relocate to in New York’s financial district and at Zucatti Park. Footage of the events has been available at www.livestream.com/globalrevolution.

The protests were definitely escalated on Saturday, September 24, when at least 80 protesters were arrested. Police cited blocking traffic, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct among reasons for arrests and have claimed that all police intervention that been appropriate. However, videos and stories have been circulating displaying police violently arresting peaceful protesters. Check the video out for yourself.

There had been multiple arrests throughout every day of the demonstrations, but never that large. For instance, Al Jazeera English reported six protesters were arrested at Zucatti Park during a dual Occupy Wall Street protest and rally in outrage over the execution of Georgia death-row inmate, Troy Davis. One sign visible during the livestream of the protest read, “I’ll believe corporations are people when the government executes one.” That is of course in reference to Davis. The convergence of the two demonstrations is a little ironic to me, because in the last few weeks those two issues have brought to the spotlight, the ruling class’ willingness to destroy democracy. Can you tell that I’m not over the murder of an innocent man by the State? Another awesome sign I saw during some footage read, “A job is a right! Capitalism doesn’t work.”

Protesters hold an anti-capitalism sign at an Occupt Wall Street event.

The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations were initially put forth by the magazine Adbusters. Adbusters is described as an activist magazine, free of advertising, that’s purpose is to challenge consumerism. The magazine planned the campaign a few months back to model the Arab Spring and other uprisings around the world, including the Spanish “Indignados.” Other left-wing groups have joined in participating including US Uncut, whom I wrote about a few months back. “Hacktivist” internet group, Anonymous also joined in organizing Occupy Wall Street.

The campaign has been largely organized by the use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. The ties between the event and social networking is obviously visible in the name which uses the popular hash tag seen on Twitter. However, although these sites have been a useful tool for organizing the event, rumors surfaced that some of the sites were censoring messages and stories containing phrases such as #OCCUPYWALLSTREET or Occupy Wall Street.

Whether or not these sites were actively censoring the event, one thing is clear-and that is that the mainstream, corporate media has been ignoring the events. When the mainstream media has covered the event, they have done everything in their power too delegitimize it as much as possible. So much for the left-wing media. Allison Kilkenny recently wrote an article for the Nation that lampoons the New York Times for their shameful coverage of the protests. As television anchor Keith Olbermann mentioned on his television show, why is it that Occupy Wall Street has been largely looked over but if Tea Party activists protest a stimulus bill, health care reform or really anything that would possibly bring progress to this country, it would make headline news in every network. That was when Olbermann’s guest, author Will Bunch pointed out that the corporate media is simply out of touch with the over 25 million unemployed Americans.

It’s common knowledge to every single person that pays attention to the news (not including Fox News) that although we have had unemployment rates in the double digits and are about to suffer huge austerity cuts, corporation are gaining record profits and their CEOs are receiving record bonuses. Not to mention the fact that 83 of the nation’s top hundred corporations pay zero in taxes. I don’t know about you but that seems like class war to me. As far as young adults go, as a collective they are currently suffering through the highest unemployment rate since World War II. Worst of all, one out five risk living in poverty.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the government and the Supreme Court are on the side of the corporations. Early last year, the United States Supreme Court granted the Citizens United ruling, which confirmed “corporate person-hood,” allowing corporations to anonymously donate as much money as they want to the political candidate of their choosing. That ruling legally gave permission to multinational companies to buy of four election, effectively turning us into a Corporatocracy. Another ruling that was pro-business and anti-democracy was the Supreme Court’s dismissal of a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart over their sexist bias over women employees.

The fight back from the working class and from young people was inevitable.

Maybe the most exciting part of it all, is that as of Tuesday, September 27, at least 45 cities throughout the country have been planning solidarity events. Two cities participating in ongoing events are Chicago and Denver. Other notable cities participating in some sort of solidarity event include Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Portland, Ore.

Sure there’s plenty to criticize the Occupy Wall Street movement for instance the protest yoga and face painting make it less serious. And sure, it seems like there was a lack of planning. However, What I’m taking out of the movement is that many people are angry with corporations, the government and capitalism—and they’re out there fighting back.

UPDATE- Unfortunately, after receiving hope that Troy would receive a stay of execution, the Supreme Court voted against it. Georgia went through with the execution. His time of death was 11:08 P.M. EST, Thursday Sept. 21, 2011.

A few weeks back I wrote a column on the group, Campaign to End the Death Penalty. In my post I touched on the story of Troy Davis, which is a case that the Campaign has been hard at work with.

As was previously stated, Davis’ story is just one example of how capital punishment is an institution that should be reconsidered. Davis was charged and convicted for the 1989 murder of Georgia off-duty police officer, Mark McPhail. In the 20 years since his conviction, some questions have risen. As Amnesty International explained, with no forensic or DNA evidence, the conviction of Davis was entirely based on witness testimony. Since the trial, seven out of the nine key witnesses recanted their testimony or changed their story. A few of them actually stated they were originally coerced by police to testify against Davis. Not only that, but one of the remaining two witnesses was actually a suspect in the murder.

As Mark reported on this website last week, the state of Georgia set an execution date for Davis scheduled for Wednesday, September 21. As soon as the news hit the CEDP, Amnesty International, NAACP and a number of other left-wing and human rights organizations began planning ways to protest the execution, and hopefully save his life in the end.

It really all got kick started by a call to action delivered by Davis himself. He wrote a letter to CEDP national director Marlee Martin that included the following:

It is time for action, so please encourage everyone to reach out to politicians, ministers and grassroots organizations to contact the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole and the governor to grant me relief and stop this scheduled execution. Get involved in this movement to put an end to the death penalty. Come to Georgia and take a stand for justice. Let them know I’m blessed and my faith in God is stronger than ever. Now we have a chance to join together and be heard loud and clear that Georgia needs to stop this execution of an innocent man and end the death penalty altogether.

You can read the entire letter in Martin’s article, “A Call To Action From Troy Davis.”

Flyer made for the demonstration in Chicago

One of the first actions to take place after the news of the execution date, was a Change.org online petition started by Kim, Davis’ sister. In the petition she gave a quick summary of her brother’s case, and pleaded to have his execution stopped. The petition has gathered over 250,000 signatures to date. A similar petition was started by the NAACP, and that one has gathered over 77,000 signatures. Along with Davis’ sister and the NAACP, other notable names calling for a stop to the execution include former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Pope Benedict XVI and singer Harry Belafonte.

Other important actions included a national day of solidarity with Davis put forth on Friday, September 16. The day of action was made up of protests, rallies and other demonstrations in several cities all throughout the country. The largest demonstration was located in the center of it all—Atlanta, Georgia. According to a Truthout article, over 1,000 people marched to Ebenezer Baptist Church—made famous by Martin Luther King, Jr.—for a vigil. Present at the Atlanta demonstrations were Chicago Campaign to End the Death Penalty members Brit Schulte and Ken Richards, friends of mine I interviewed for my post about the CEDP. Schulte stayed in Georgia through the entire weekend, and posted plenty of videos on her Youtube account covering the amazing actions performed by her and abolitionists in solidarity with Davis. Along with them was Mark Clements, a former Illinois death row inmate and board member of the CEDP. Activists present in Atlanta also held a 24-hour vigil on Sunday, September 18.

Two other large events were held in California during the day of solidarity. A great Socialist Worker article briefly summarized the events held in that state in the cities of Oakland and San Diego. According to the report, the demonstration in Oakland was highlighted by a recorded message from another of Davis’ sisters, Martina Correia. The article stated that another memorable moment came when a CEDP member read a solidarity letter from a California death row inmate.

Another event held that day was in my hometown of Chicago, Ill. Over 150 showed up to the building where President Obama’s re-election campaign is headquartered. The main reason the location was chosen was to pressure Obama and the rest of the Democratic Party to step in and take action against Davis’ execution and the racist, classist institution that is the death penalty.

Edge of Sports’ Dave Zirin spoke at the solidarity rally set in Washington D.C.

“Following economic hard times comes racism, criminal justice and the death penalty to divide us against each other,” Zirin said at the rally. “If they can get away with killing Troy what hope do we have against what’s coming?”

If the activists and abolitionists managed one thing, they at least got the story mainstream media attention and even got CNN to do some actual journalism. CNN reporter Gary Tuchman went through the important aspects from the case, and even interviewed two of the original witnesses.

Another important thing that the demonstrations did was bring to the light the fact that there are two dynamics in the capital punishment argument, as Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman wrote in her Truthdig column. Goodman made mention of the disgusting and absolutely offensive cheers and standing ovation that Texas Governor, Rick Perry received at a recent GOP Presidential Debate. During the debate, Moderator Brian Williams made mention of Perry’s appalling use of the death penalty when suddenly the Republican crowd went nuts.

A decision on whether or not Davis would be awarded clemency from the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole was supposed to be announced on Monday, September 19. It was however postponed until Tuesday. In the end, the Board denied Davis clemency and set the way for the execution to take place. We cannot stop fighting this though. We have more than 24 hours to call the District Attorney and demand the execution be stopped.

What I can safely say is that if the state of the Georgia decides to go through with the execution despite the incredible doubt and the thousands and thousands of protesters, not only would a miscarriage of justice be performed, but it would be a knife to the heart of democracy.

For another heart-breaking example of the monstrosity that is the death penalty, please read about Steven Woods’ execution. Woods was put to death on Tuesday, September 13, despite the fact that another man admitted to committing the murder Woods was convicted for.

Hyatt hotel workers in four cities began a week-long strike on Thursday, September 8. The four cities that took place in the strike are Chicago, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and Honolulu. The workers partaking in the strike are members of the Unite Here unionized hospitality workers.

The first night of the strike in Los Angeles coincided with West Hollywood’s annual Fashion’s Night Out.

The union ran site, Hotel Workers Rising put out a statement explaining some of the reasons why they were going on strike, including the high injury rate by employees. Other reasons include the destruction of jobs by Hyatt contractors, and harsh conditions such as their health and safety violations. The workers’ radical stance that one should not have to fear for their own safety when showing up for work was not heard by the employer. Along with the list of reason for the strike, the site posted a list of hotels that the union urged a boycott for.

In an interview with SW, one worker stated another reason for the strike.

The reason we are here is because Hyatt is the only hotel company left without a contract. Hyatt is offering less than what the workers at the Hilton receive in job protection. What they do is offer the same wage and benefits proposal. However, they’re lacking in protection against subcontracting. They’re lacking in job-safety protection for housekeepers.

The contract issue the picketer alluded to has actually gone on for over two years, as the Tribune reported. Just imagine working for two years without a contract for what is consdiered to be the worst employer in your field. Especially with the ridiculously high injury rate.

Hyatt Regency Chicago, taken from Hotelworkersrising.com

A Daily Kos report stated that the big three disputes in the negotiations were around wages, benefits and safer work conditions.

I was actually part of a contingent that joined the picket in solidarity with the striking workers on Friday, September 9, in Chicago. Eight activists, myself included, joined along with a few dozens of Hyatt workers in order to protest the brutal conditions that the hotel held upon its workers. Workers picketed outside the hotel banging on pots and pans, along with other “instruments.” Along with the noises, several demands were chanted by the demonstrators. Some of the chants that we helped lead were: “Hyatt hotel, shame on you,” and “The workers united will never be defeated.” To supplement the later, we also chanted the Spanish variation, “Obreros unidos, jamás serán vencidos.” Another chant performed was the staple, ‘What disgusting? Union busting.” Although I only made it out to one day of the week-long pickets, our contingent had activists present throughout the week.

AFL-CIO union president Richard Trumka joined the pickets in Chicago on Wednesday, September 14. Trumka stated that the striking Hyatt workers were backed by every member of the AFL-CIO.

“Your voices will be magnified by the 2.5 million members of the AFL-CIO,” stated Trumka.

The hotel’s inhumane treatment includes an incident in late July. The stunt played by one of the locations in Chicago was to turn the heat lamps on the strikers, on what was a “brutally hot” Thursday, July 21st. According to the Huffington Post, the workers noticed that the heat lamps had been turned on just after starting the protest. The hotel later went on to place a statement claiming the action to be the decision of one manager, and was not aligned with the hotel’s values or corporate policies. That same day nine other demonstrations were organized by Hyatt workers throughout the nation. In one of those demos, 80 protesters were arrested in San Fransisco.

Earlier this year Hyatt workers came together with a number of other unions, including the Chicago Teachers Union—which is going trough its own struggle right now—in coming up with the We are One rally set on Saturday, April 9. The rally was made up of various union members and activists. I was actually one of the thousands of people that attended that rally in solidarity with the labor force, and I got an early first-hand view of the Unite Here Local 1 union’s activist side.

Although this specific struggle did not get as much coverage as the Verizon strike that our labor columnist Kevin and myself covered for this site, this is another example of the working class fighting back against corporate greed and unfair conditions. It is still too early to tell what will come of this strike, since it was set to end yesterday. However, what is safe to say is that the Hyatt organized workers will fight back whenever necessary against this class war. In my opinion, the rest of the work force learn a thing or two from this union. I mean honestly, wouldn’t it be nice to have a labor victory besides the National Football League?

Keystone XL Pipeline protesters outside of White House in Washington, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011. (AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta)

I’m sure by now you have heard about all of the people that have been arrested protesting the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. As of Tuesday, September 6, over 1,200  activists had been arrested outside the White House since Saturday, August 20.

My friend Mark has actually posted about this issue for this website in his Daily News Drop section.

Here’s a quick recap in case you’re not too familiar with this story: The 1,700-mile-long Keystone pipeline would carry tar sands oil from Canada though the Midwest of the United States, and all the way to the coast. Tar sands oil are considered by many to be the world’s dirtiest fuel. The pipeline would potentially bring two major threats. One of them would be the very tangible pollution of water  if a spill where to occur. The second threat would be more of a “bigger picture” type of thing, climate change, also known as global warming. Climate change of course is the warming of the planet along with the threat of extreme weather, all partly attributed to human activity.

NASA scientist James Hansen came out and said that if the pipeline were to be implemented, it would be, “essentially game over for the climate.” It would be kind of hard to argue with a NASA scientist, but if anyone can find a way to argue with facts it’s the right-wing. By the way, I am including the Obama administration under the “right-wing” umbrella.

in his article, “For Protesters, Keystone Pipeline is Line in Tar Sand” Richard Harris stated that the Obama administration would decide whether or not to accept the proposal later this year. The thousands of protesters have been trying to make that decision a little easier for the president and his staff.

Although the demonstrations have been part of one of the largest environmental protests, the mainstream, corporate media has doen an absolutely horrendous job covering the issue. They did  jump on board for a little bit after actress Daryl Hannah joined the many activists getting arrested. Although it was a very brave and encouraging action by Hannah, it is kind of sad that the media would only cover this situation at length once a celebrity got involved. Dan Choi is among other celebrities to have gotten arrested. Choi is a discharged soldier turned activist. He was discharged for coming out as gay during the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Other prominent names arrested include Hansen, filmmaker Josh Fox, writers Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein, along with former White House official Gus Speth.

One point that people in favor of the pipeline have brought is that the proposal would bring jobs. However as labor journalist Mike Elk stated in his In These Times post, the few part-time jobs that would be gained because of the pipeline would actually hurt the labor movement more than it would help it. Not only would these jobs cause workers to be accessories in the destruction of the planet, but it could also weaken the movement by losing strong environmental allies.

To me, another factor in the jobs argument is that this would be the wrong kind of construction jobs. Plans that could be put forth in order to grow green-energy jobs or perhaps even help infrastructure would be much more helpful to our economy and our country overall. The right-wingers talk about giving subsidies and tax breaks to job creators and to innovation for energy, but what they mean by that is big oil and natural gas.

In the end, we won’t really have a clear idea of what will happen with the pipeline until the administration states what its stance will be. We’ll definitely keep our eyes and ears open if anything else develops. I personally don’t want to put too much hope in Obama because he has already demonstrated that his administration is not too concerned with environmental issues. A perfect example is his recent decision to get rid of the proposal to tighten the ozone standards. For further other examples of civil disobedience for environmental issues please check out my post on Tim DeChristopher, “The Legend of Bidder 70 and His Civil Disobedience.” What DeChristopher and the Keystone XL Pipeline protesters are making clear is that we have to take issues of climate and the environment in to our own hands.

For further reading on why the Keystone XL Pipeline would be terrible, please visit the Mother Jones article, “What’s All the Fuss About the Keystone XL Pipeline?”