After Occupy Wall Street's six-month anniversary (more on that in a bit), the world has seen the start of an impressive and growing movement. While some (i.e., its detractors) demand instant results from the scrappy 99%ers, a movement, any movement, takes time. In fact, it can take years, decades, longer for people to wake up. That said, Occupy Oakland honored the six-month mark by setting up a new camp Wednesday night. Occupy Oakland has more:
While hundreds of NYPD officers were deployed to intimidate OWS protesters last night in Union Square, Occupy Oaklanders organized a non-publicized occupation of an undisclosed location in solidarity with occupations around the country and to give Occupy Oakland a new organizational home base.In the cover of night, a dedicated group of Occupy Oakland protesters were able to set up a new camp without any harassment from the overbearing local police force by keeping the location a secret, until this morning at about 7:15 AM. An estimated 30 people held the space throughout the night, while having a bit of fun trolling the OPD on Twitter with both clever and misleading tips as to where the new camp was being erected.
Occupy Oakland members set up the new camp in Mosswood Park, "which they renamed Huey P. Newton Park (#HPNP) after the co-founder of the Black Panthers." But after word of the location got out, police moved in to close it down temporarily. Occupy Oakland Tribune reports:
At about 9am, the camp received a visit from Sgt. A. Steinberger, who quizzed occupiers on their intentions. He told them they could have four tents up, no more. Occupiers questioned what law placed a limit on tents. (The policeman also requested an #OO pin for his souvenir box.)Later police would return in larger numbers to inform the activists that all their tents must come down, as the discussion with Sgt. A. Steinberger led them to believe occupiers had “intent to stay overnight” (California Penal Code Section 647 (e) Lodging).
Occupiers took down the tents, and the police stuck around for a while. Two police officers told activists that they had to put away their food. When questioned, they explained that the food could not be left out on a flattened tent. Occupiers heckled the police, and the food remained.
Meanwhile, one voice has emerged from the local Occupy scene as a journalistic force with which to be reckoned. That is, of course, Susie Cagle. She started covering Occupy from the start with on-the-scene reporting and bull's-eye opinions unmatched by overpaid print and online journalists. (There are also other excellent voices in the Occupy scene, we should point out: OakFoSho, Justin Beck, Scott Anansi Rossi, and on and on.) Cagle just won a (well-deserved) award from the Society of Professional Journalists for her coverage. Read her acceptance speech, brilliantly titled "Even the Cartoonists," here. (Side note: We have thrown some real shade in our time, but never have we come across such sexist, vitriolic, inaccurate. envious, and overwhelmingly unsupportive skidmarks aimed at her via other journalists during the height of the protests. Even while Cagle was in jail. Vile. We can hope this hat tip from the SPJ will put those naysayers to rest.)
Congratulations on the award, Cagle!