Oakland city council members are as guilty as cops in asault on protesters.

In the light of the critically injuring of an Iraq veteran who was among the protesters in Oakland yesterday there have been calls for the mayor and others on the city council to condemn the police.  But the police and city officials have been discussing and preparing for what happened last night. What some thought was a period of tolerance as there are some lefties and former lefties on the Oakland city council was no such thing; it was a period of discussing tactics and a strategy for ridding themselves of the Occupy Oakland movement. The cops are not acting independently of the Mayor or others on the city council.

I was a delegate to the Alameda Labor Council for more than 10 years.  At one point Jane Breuner came in as a Business Agent for the IBEW, she never said one word in defense of the rank and file dues paying member of the the Union movement and like many of them she was probably appointed or hired as opposed to being elected by the rank and file of an organization she claimed to represent.  She never once stood up for workers when our wages and benefits were being handed over to the bosses.  She has her reward, she's on the city council.  Before she got on the council, I was sat behind her and Don Perata when they were in a coffee shop talking about her career and how she could win a seat on the council.  They are all guilty.

Another liberal council member, Nancy Nadel, was on the EBMUD board when I was an active member and leader in the blue collar Union there, AFSCME Local 444. She also never seriously defended our interests. Any council member that claims they represent workers or supports the Occupy Oakland and Occupy Wall Street movement should publicly condemn the cops and call on the Alameda Central Labor Council, the SEIU, AFSCME ATU and other public sector Unions to set a date for a 24 hour  Oakland strike and use their resources, both financial and human, to send representatives to union and non-Union workplaces and Union halls to prepare for it.  The time for resolutions on paper has passed. 

On another note, there are some activists whose strategy is to confront the police when we do not have the power to confront the police.  When I was at the Occupy Oakland one day a young protester in a discussion with a cop actually placed his hand on this cop's shoulder, every worker, every youth of color that faces the cops in the city knows better than to touch a cop in that way.  Many middle class youth new to struggle as dedicated as they may be have not experience the police in the same way as workers who have lived through strikes or those that live in the inner city.

I wasn't at the protest yesterday and am not saying that is what happened by any means. But I know this, I lived in East Oakland for 20 years. Some of the dope dealers on my street were kids who once played in my house with my own.  They were tough guys and afraid of little, but they knew the consequences of confronting cops and wouldn't take it lightly. The cops can hurt these communities, just check the jail population.

We have to build this movement and draw all workers and youth in to it. We cannot do this without a plan.  We cannot do it without demands. We cannot do it by pretending there are no leaders and instead recognize and formally accept this reality and the limits that can be placed on leading bodies. This is not an exercise in communal living.

It would be very easy to shut down Oakland. The city workers, the transit workers, the public sector and government workers; joined with the Occupy Oakland movement we can make them pay for this and ignite that spark that the President of SEIU international talked about. A united mass movement of workers and youth fighting for jobs, education, housing, and against racism, sexism and police brutality is what will back them down; running our own candidates rooted in this movement is what will take us forward.  Throwing a wrench in them economic wheel is what will back them down. We don't accept there's no money---they bailed out the banks OK, we want that money back. That young Iraq veteran survived Iraq and might end his life in the streets of Oakland fighting for all of us.  We owe it to him to get serious here.


There has been talk of occupying the schools to prevent them being closed. This is the way to go. No more layoffs, more jobs, more schools, community policing through neighborhood safety committees elected by residents of each neighborhood and committees of workers that work in the community as well as from small business.Those eligible to be on such a committee must reside in the community.  


Lets discuss independently of these capitalist politicians what we need and how to get it.