Tuesday, May 2, 2017
OccupyLA Update
OccupyLA Update
On October 2, 2011, John Bruning the UC-AFT Field Representative for UCLA, filed the following report:
I went to the OccupyLA march to City Hall on Saturday morning, not really sure what to expect. There was a wide variety of people there: progressives, libertarians, "Anonymous" types, socialists, anarchists, students, vets, older folks, etc.
Nearing the end of the second day, were still working through decision-making processes, goals, other structures, and next steps. Its a very collective process, which means that its a very slow process, but its also meaningful and it keeps power decentralized.
Weve overcome a few challenges so far and survived one night of "illegally" sleeping on the City Hall lawn. But we still have practical challenges to overcome for the movement to grow.
First is education. There are a few of us with backgrounds in organizing and direct action, but the vast majority are new to activism and dont know what to do. Theres been a lot of sitting around for the past few days, but theres movement to start holding workshops and skillshares soon.
Second is action. Everyone here wants to do SOMETHING. There was an action today at the Metro station, but it suffered from a lack of planning. We are looking into ways to most effectively plug ReFund CA and OccupyLA together, and the Thursday action at the downtown LA Bank of America is already being discussed here.
Finally, many people are trying to figure out how to take OccupyLA out of the park and expand into other communities. There has been talk of more public occupations around the metro area, and also reaching out to the rest of the 99% who cant be here, through workplace and community organizing.
I have to go to the General Assembly now, but its very exciting and theres a lot of energy here, and the next few days will be critical to see if this movement continues in LA and what form and direction it will take.
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