Have any of you 30BaDers been to OCCUPY LONDON?

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on October 31, 2011 at 2:55pm

Victory in San Francisco:

 

S.F. Labor Movement Key to Preventing Raid of Occupy SF Encampment

By ALAN BENJAMIN

The San Francisco Chronicle reported today (Friday, October 28) that the 
S.F. Police Department had mobilized large numbers of police officers and 
special riot troops late Wednesday evening to raid and take down the Occupy 
SF encampment under orders from Interim S.F. Mayor Ed Lee. But in the early 
hours of Thursday morning, the Chronicle reports, the mayor and Police 
Chief Greg Suhr reversed their decision and ordered the troops -- including a 
big contingent of riot troops that had mobilized from Treasure Island toward 
San Francisco at about 3 a.m. -- to back down and return to their home base
s.

The lead article and the accompanying piece by editorial writer C.W. 
Nevius noted that one of the main reasons for this about-face by the mayor and 
police chief was the large turnout by union officers and members who had 
come to help protect the encampment. Another reason was the all-night presence 
at Occupy SF of five Board of Supervisors members.

The Chronicle articles are correct, but they don't tell the full story.

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of labor and community organizations met 
with Mayor Lee to ask him if it was true, as had been widely rumored, that 
he had ordered a raid of Occupy SF late that night because of "sanitation 
concerns."

Immediately following the meeting, Bobbi López, a member of SEIU 1021, 
sent out an urgent memo in which she stated that during the meeting Mayor Lee 
did not deny this rumor -- and this could only mean one thing: the order to 
raid had been issued. Sister López called on all unionists to gather at 
the encampment at 9:30 p.m. "to keep the movement going." A similar message 
was sent out by S.F. Labor Council Executive Director Tim Paulson to Council 
executive board members.

In less than two hours, an emergency-response labor phone and email tree 
was activated, and by 9:30 p.m. more than 80 San Francisco union members -- 
including Paulson, SFLC President Mike Casey, SF Building Trades Council 
Director Mike Therriault, SFLC Vice President Conny Ford, and six other 
e-board members -- were at the encampment. The overwhelming majority were ready 
to be arrested, if that's what it took to protect Occupy SF.

We were joined as well by hundreds of youth and community activists -- 
many of whom had come as a group from San Francisco State University, City 
College, and the East Bay, to name a few places, to reinforce the defense 
effort.

But this was not all: Before leaving City Hall after the meeting with 
Mayor Lee, the union and community activists knocked on all the doors of the 
S.F. Board of Supervisors members, urging them to get down asap to the 
encampment to help prevent the raid. And not only did five of the Supervisors 
show up, four remained at the encampment till dawn. Former Board of 
Supervisors Aaron Peskin also joined the group.

Though the numbers dwindled a bit throughout the night, what was r
emarkable was that a majority of the union officers and members held firm till 
dawn. Everyone knew that if we did not all stay firm till the early morning 
commute, the raid would take place at 3 or 4 in the morning.

We now know that the raid had been planned for those early hours. But the 
plan was foiled. This represents a first victory over the forces that have 
been hell-bent on shutting down Occupy SF. But it is not a permanent 
victory. Labor and community leaders and activists need to remain vigilant and 
prepared to act again on short notice should they be needed to defend Occupy 
SF.

-----

Alan Benjamin is a member of the Executive Board of the San Francisco 
Labor Council, AFL-CIO (as a delegate from OPEIU Local 3). He was among the 
unionists who stood with Occupy SF to defend the encampment against the 
planned police raid.

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