visual and auditory whatnot
Occupy Los Angeles
Communiqué Establishing our Right to Occupy, Statement Passed by Consensus at the General Assembly of Occupy Los Angeles, November 27, 2011
An appeal to all those across the world engaged in the struggle for social justice, to stand for the right of the people to assemble and exercise free speech. Submitted and passed at the November 27th, 2011 OccupyLA General Assembly to be released to the world immediately upon forceful displacement of Solidarity Park.
We recognize, and urge city officials to recognize, the entrenched interests pressuring for the evacuation of Solidarity Park on behalf of “local” but most certainly multinational corporations and banks. Such as the Central City Association preparations to lobby for an anti-encampment ordinance. We assert, in light of our action on Nov. 17th, in which a private citizen on behalf of Bank of America placed 46 protesters under private persons arrest with the help of hundreds of the LAPD (as well as a militarized 4-block radius), that the city is not being forthright in its reasoning for eviction and is in fact moving at the behest of the 1%.
Occupy Los Angeles rejects municipal health, safety or aesthetic concerns as inadequate reasoning to displace our occupation, a political space for unhindered peaceful assembly.
We remind you that while you speak of the sustainability of our occupation, we speak of the sustainability of corruption and greed in our socio-economic systems, including government. We do not consider ‘the grass’ - unsustainable in this climate without huge cost to the taxpayer - to be a suitable reason to displace an encampment of people intent on exercising their right to free speech. The “problems with OLA” exploited in the media (crime, drug and alcohol abuse, theft, etc) are not isolated to our encampment, but rather exist as a microcosm of the ills of society at large due to widespread lack of resources/poverty.
The challenges within Occupy LA are the same that exist right down the street in any direction, but we have thrust it from the periphery, right onto the doorstep of City Hall. We stand behind our de-gentrification of the downtown space as a direct response to the relationship between government and private corporations and the assault on public space.
We remind you that as taxpayers we pay for our streets, we pay the salaries for those making decisions on our right to assemble. All that we ask for in return is the representation of our interests. This social contract has been broken and, rather than wait for utter economic collapse, the people have used occupation both symbolically, and as a means to amplify our voice. Our presence as OccupyLA, in its current form, actively asserts our right to redress of grievances, as accorded to us in the 1st Amendment. We occupy as a presence and force of vigilance, outside of a political process that leaves no room for the organic and legitimate voice of the people.
When faced with the unjust relationship of government officials with the private sphere and the corrupting influence of money in the political process, it is important to measure the reaction of law enforcement against the message put out by the people in the streets. The organized violence that has characterized police response to OWS and other cities across the US involved in this movement against economic inequality is proportionate to the strength of our message. It is important to highlight the concerted efforts of 19 cities, under the umbrella of the Dept. of Homeland Security, to suppress the occupation movement in one fell swoop.
We call upon all sisters and brothers of the occupy movement — sympathizers, supporters and critics — to join us as we speak out against the use of intimidation, force, and political power to break up peaceful occupations and repress or criminalize the exercise of our first amendment rights.
