As my devoted readers would have noticed, I haven’t posted since yesterday. I apologize. The reason is yesterday there was a General Strike in Oakland, organized by the Occupy Oakland movement. As a college graduate struggling with finding a place in the current system, not to mention struggling with student loans, I was compelled to participate. We succeeded in shutting down the Port of Oakland, the 5th largest port in the world, and it goes without saying I am extremely proud and impressed by this accomplishment. Tens of thousands of people peacefully marched and gathered onto the Port. As the night wore on, our mission a success, the hundred or so committed Occupiers went back to Oscar Grant Plaza, where we occupied an abandoned building that formerly housed the Travelers Aid Society, a non for profit that helped the homeless. Soon after the police arrived in the hundreds. Surrounded on all sides, the police began shooting tear gas and flash grenades. Soon, fires arose, windows were smashed and bottles were thrown. More tear gas, and protesters fled, the building unoccupied. The police continued to close in, fired more tear gas. By my count they fired at least 6 separate times before it became clear to me it was time to leave.
The media has spun this in various ways, mostly accusing the protesters of instigating the violence, as well as some of our own condemning those who were there for the vandalism. But as this statement from the friends of OO put it:
But let us say this to the cops and to the mayor: things got “violent” after the police came. The riot cops marched down Telegraph and then the barricades were lit on fire. The riots cops marched down Telegraph and then bottles got thrown and windows smashed. The riot cops marched down Telegraph and graffiti appeared everywhere.
The point here is obvious: if the police don’t want violence, they should stay the hell away.
So as you see coverage of this protest on the news and other media outlets, remember that the news always has a point of view to support, and that point of view generally a lines with the powers that be.
In solidarity with Occupy Oakland
Peace, love, and Anarchy
The Internet Killed the Television Star 
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