Call for general strike in the city of Oakland passed

[nadinbrzezinski]

TheBayCitizen The Bay Citizen
#OccupyOakland passes strike measure, calling for a citywide general strike on Nov. 2. (That's next Wed.) #happyhalloween
2 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Trivia, last one was in 1946 (silly me was thinking of not her one next year)

We just might have crossed an invincible line. And let me thank the ODP and the Mayor for that line... it would not have happened without their going to town last night... but they never learn

[Systematic Chaos]

1. If it's 'invincible' does that not imply that one can't cross it?

[occupyeverywhere]

2. Thank you Scott Olsen

and all the other brave occupiers in Oakland

[burrowowl]

3. K&R

[Modern_Matthew]

4. Hell yes. Hope this starts a chain of general strikes across the entire country. nt

[Modern_Matthew]

5. OWS tweeted today that they are working on a GLOBAL general strike for next May. nt

[coalition_unwilling]

6. Vote count; 1384 For, 77 Abstain, 46 Against. Measure passed with

96.9% approval. (Oakland uses a Modified Consensus process, requiring only 90% for proposals to pass.) General Strike for Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. All power to the people. We are the 99%

[inna]

16. OMG - link, anyone?? thanks!

[coalition_unwilling]

33. No link that I know how to provide. I got the numbers from a

participant through a chat window that accompanied the live stream video. I requested hard vote counts, rather than just percentages. Numbers were confirmed by at least 3 different users on the chat (although some may have been repeating what they heard).

[MedleyMisty]

7. Look at the trending topics in the US on Twitter

That's right.

General Strike is a trending topic.

I remember ages ago, like back in March, some observers were saying that there was a little bit of chatter about a general strike in the US, but nothing like there was from Egyptians prior to Jan25.

I think they would be saying something different now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Ah but some of us said it is possible

Remember the screams of general strike in Wisconsin?



Something's in the air.

[Modern_Matthew]

8. "General Strike" is now trending on Twitter. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Oh my...

We do live in what at other times were called revolutionary times.

[trueblue2007]

27. sounds good 2 me

[Electric Monk]

9. Reminds me a little of a scene from Monty Python's Life Of Brian.

Judith: I do feel Reg, that any anti-imperialistic group like ours must reflect such a divergence of interest within its powerbase.

Reg: Agreed. Rogers?

Rogers: Yes, I think Judith's point of view is very valid, Reg, provided the movement never forgets that it is the unalienable right of every man...

Stan: Or woman.

Rogers: ...or woman to rid himself...

Stan: Or herself.

Rogers: ...or herself...

Reg: Agreed.

Rogers: Thank you, brother.

Stan: Or sister.

Rogers: Or sister...where was I?

Reg: I think you'd finished.

Rogers: Oh. Right.

Reg: Further more, it it the birthright of every man...

Stan: Or woman.

Reg: Why don't you shut up about women, Stan? You're putting us off.

Stan: Women have a perfect right to play a part in our movement, Reg.

Rogers: Why are you always on about women, Stan?

Stan: I want to be one.

Reg: What?

Stan: I want to be a woman. From now on, I want you all to call me Loretta.

Reg: What?

Loretta: It's my right as a man.

Judith: Well, why do you want to be Loretta, Stan?

Loretta: I want to have babies.

Reg: You want to have babies?!

Loretta: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.

Reg: But...you can't have babies!

Loretta: Don't you opress me!

Reg: I'm not opressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb. Where is the foetus going to gestate? You're going to keep it in a box?

Loretta: Sniff.

Judith: Here, I've got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb, which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans', but that he can have the right to have babies.

Rogers: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother. Sister! Sorry.

Reg: What's the point?

Rogers: What?

Reg: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies, when he can't have babies?

Rogers: It is symbolic of our struggle against opression.

Reg: Symbolic of his struggle against reality.

[occupyeverywhere]

12. Oakland done fucked up

they made it bicoastal

[MedleyMisty]

13. It's also trending worldwide

OMG OMG OMG.

Anyone else excited and happy and joyous and finally, finally, proud of being American?

It's like - since 2000, and especially with all the hate and bloodthirst and jingoism after 9/11 - I didn't want to be a human on this planet anymore. Humans seemed cruel and ignorant and selfish and violent and destructive, and it terrified me that I was stuck here with them, that the life of the planet was at the mercy of such beings.

But now - now I feel okay. Now I feel at home here.

Come on, humans! Let's take it to that 1% of psychopaths!

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. As much as careful what we all wish for

This ain't stopping. So better get into it to control it as best as possible.

[NOLALady]

14. Time for a Tracy Chapman break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKYWOwWAguk

[backscatter712]

17. FUCK YEAH!!!

This is what #OWS was born for!

It's one thing to make noise in the street, but the truth is that if you really want to force the banksters and corporatists to play fair, you have to fuck with their money. How do you do that? General strike. Shut down the economy. All of it. Cause the fuckers billions of dollars of losses. It's the only way to get through to them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Back in march a few of us said we were going there

This has taken a logic of it's own.

[lonestarnot]

19. Yessssssssssssssss! Go Oakland!

[malthaussen]

20. We'll see what happens, anyway...

This could get very messy. General strikes are like the forward pass in American football: one good thing can happen, and about seven bad ones.

If the working people pick up on this and go with it, it will mark a significant shift.

-- Mal

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. We could very well be entering uncharted territory

As fas as MODERN US history is concerned. The fact it was voted...mark calendar.

[dana_b]

22. I voted "yes"!!

we broke off into groups of about 20 and made our cases for/against. About 1600 of us voted and less than 50 voted "no". It will be interesting!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. I'd call it...historic.

[dana_b]

24. yeah - I guess so!

hopefully we can pull it off and get a lot of the public in Oakland to participate. One of our group's big concerns was not hurting the small busineses - or as little as possible. I will learn more tomorrow at the 5:00 meeting.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Oh from history folks will get hurt

Short term.

[dana_b]

26. right, but they are not the target

and we know that they will get hurt for the day. Unfortunately I don't know how we can prevent that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Getting them on your side is important

[dana_b]

29. definitely

talking to them beforehand and then let them know that we aren't trying to hurt them. We should really encourage folks to go to those establishments as customers before and after the strike.

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Yup

[MedleyMisty]

31. Map of Twitter trends for general strike

http://trendsmap.com/topic/%23generalstrike

Isn't that beautiful?

[flamingdem]

32. How does this work?

I see a hashtag for it in Japan and Australia only..

[Obamanaut]

34. Was that an "invincible" line, or 'invisible'? If 'invisible', the red editing pens

you mention from time to time might be useful.

[mmonk]

35. This is how it works. Once the banality of the opposition to the protests

is exposed, a movement gathers steam.

[Raksha]

36. K & R

[brooklynite]

37. Not to dampen the mood but...this was a mistake

It's never a good political tactic to promise something you can't deliver. Setting aside the question of whether a significant enough number of non-occupiers are engaged enough to respond to their call to sacrifice a day's salary as well as incurring the risk of getting fired, there's also the issue that strikes as symbolism don't broadly exist in US labor movement. In Europe, people go on strike from an hour or a day with regularity, as a way of showing their size and clout. Here, Unions go on strike when a bargaining impasse is hit and tend to STAY on strike until the issue is resolved. I have NO confidence that anything approaching a critical mass is willing to make that sacrifice on behalf the the entire "occupy" movement, much less the protestors in Oakland. If Wednesday arrives and there's no appreciable change in the level of commerce or activity, it could reinforce the men that this is just a bunch of disaffected hippies/students/"professional protestors", and that they don't need to be paid attention to.

[LZelig]

38. Think of it as a seed being planted:

It might not bear fruit the first time. It will at some point.