Occupy Media

May Day with Occupy Bushwick and Occupy Williamsburg

occupytvny — Sat, 19 May 2012 23:59:50 +0000

Brooklyn, NY: On the rainy morning of May Day 2012, Occupy Bushwick hosted a rally in Maria Hernandez Park to kick off a march to Williamsburg. Numbering about 200, including supporters from Occupy Williamsburg, the protesters marched across the Williamsburg Bridge and joined a contingent in Manhattan for a march to Sara D. Roosevelt Park.

Relations with the police were peaceful in Brooklyn. On the bridge, three women put on masks and took shields, apparently fashioned from traffic cones, out of a shopping cart. Police promptly arrested the women and confiscated the cart. Police on the Manhattan side were hostile and prepared for conflict. Protesters briefly took a side street before police forced them back onto the sidewalk. Protesters on bikes were repeatedly stopped and given contradictory orders by police.

Edited by Lulu Fries’dat, taped by Atiq Zabinski http://www.youtube.com/user/MrPotatoHeadNews. Music includes “A Boy and His Tuba — Episodes 1 & 2″, Brian Wolff on tuba. http://wolffandtuba.com/ Used with permission.

No Pipeline Bike Ride

occupytvny — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:09:09 +0000

May 12, 2012: Cyclists take to the streets to educate the public about a proposed 16-mile fracked gas pipeline from New Jersey to New York. The pipeline would go through New York City’s West Village, right under the High Line park.

Top 10 reasons why Spectra Energy’s proposed pipeline is a terrible idea:

It’s a danger to local residents.
Spectra has a history of safety issues.
Pipeline regulation and oversight is sorely inadequate.
We don’t need more gas, demand is flat.
The gas is intended for export.
Projected supplies are limited. Shale gas is a bubble.
It increases the demand to frack.
Gas will worsen, not improve our air quality.
It could increase our risk from Radon.
It’s the wrong direction. Our future is renewable.

» See photos of the event on OWS Photo’s Flickr site.

Photo credit: Kate Theresa Conway

Sit-In and Arrests in Support of Mortgage Fraud Investigation

occupytvny — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:19:02 +0000

Concerned citizens deliver a letter to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on May 4 demanding that he hold a public hearing regarding the federal bank fraud investigation he co-chairs. Arrests are made.

FtheBanks.org

May Day 2012 Immigrant Worker Justice Throwdown

occupytvny — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:00:31 +0000

Occupy Wall Street’s Immigrant Worker Justice Tour takes hundreds of protesters (and a brass band) through midtown Manhattan, calling out companies and bosses at several sites where immigrant workers’ rights are threatened. When some of the demonstrators take to the street, riot police arrive. But members of the OWS Immigrant Worker Justice Working Group marshall the crowd onto the sidewalks and into block-long picket lines to safely avoid police confrontation. **NOTE**Title at 5:04 should read “Industrial Workers of the World”

Picket #1: Shade Global, offices of Sheryl Shade, former employer of domestic worker Patricia Francois. In 2008 Francois, an immigrant from Trinidad, was physically assaulted while trying to protect the little girl she cared for from her father’s verbal abuse. When Francois tried to call the police, Matthew Mazar punched the domestic worker in the face and injured her hand while screaming racist, sexist insults at her. Ever since, Francois has been locked in litigation with Shade and Mazar. While they enjoy a swanky 1% lifestyle, Francois has gone without work while bravely battling breast cancer.

Picket #2: Praesidian Capital, 295 Madison Ave. Workers at Hot and Crusty bakery on the Upper East Side are facing a vicious anti-organizing campaign from Mark Samson, a managing partner at private equity firm Praesidian Capital. After enduring years of wage theft, discrimination, intimidation and sexual harassment on the job, workers joined together to form their own union. Samson refuses to recognize their right to organize, and has hired a union-busting firm to coerce workers to stay silent and not speak to supporters or the press. Samson has refused to reinstate a female worker who was sexually harassed on the job and forced to resign.

Picket #3: Wells Fargo, 99 Park Ave. The Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group are the two largest private prison companies in the US. Wells Fargo, Lazard, Blackrock, Fidelity, General Electric, Vanguard, Capital Group, and Wellington are some of the major investors in CCA and GEO. CCA, GEO and their investors have all made contributions to lawmakers who sponsor anti-immigrant laws in Arizona and Georgia, and have cooperated in drafting anti-immigrant legislation through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Over 1 million immigrants have been detained in the past 3 years, as CCA and GEO’s combined ownership of 80% of private prison beds enabled their combined profits from the incarceration of human beings to reach $3.1 billion in 2009.

Picket #4: Capital Grille, 42nd St and 3rd Ave. Dignity at Darden is a nationwide workplace justice campaign launched by the Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC-United) involving Capital Grille workers in 5 cities. Darden Group, which owns Capital Grille, Red Lobster, Oliver Garden and more, is the largest full-service restaurant group in the world, and it claims to be a “leader” in the industry. However, workers have filed a class action lawsuit alleging wage theft and discrimination, and have sought to change other unfair working conditions, like lack of paid sick days, poverty wages, and an abusive working environment. There have also been claims of retaliation against the workers for organizing. Learn more about Dignity at Darden at http://www.dignityatdarden.org/

Picket #5: Chipotle, 9 W 42nd St. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program is an innovative, worker-led solution to the human rights crisis in the tomato fields of Florida, and includes a penny-per-pound premium for fairer wages and a strict code of conduct for better working conditions for farmworkers. Yet Chipotle, which has built its $2.27 billion revenue on the image of non-exploitative “Food with Integrity,” has refused to sign with the CIW for the past six year. Join the CIW and the Community/Farmworker Alliance in saying “ENOUGH CHIPOCRISY!” and demand that Chipotle finally sign the Fair Food Agreement! http://ciw-online.org/action.html

AMAZING! May Day 2012 – March on Wall Street

occupytvny — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:00:29 +0000

Labor, Immigrants, Community Organizations and Occupy Wall Street unite for a historic May Day in New York City. Featuring George Martinez of Occupy Wall Street/ Occupy the Hood.

May Day 2012 Labor Speaks Out

occupytvny — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:01:32 +0000

May 1, 2012: After tens of thousands march from Union Square to Wall Street, filling twenty five blocks of the city with people, representatives of unions, immigrant rights groups and the occupy wall street movement address a jubilant crowd. “For all the people who thought we fell asleep this winter, loud and clear, once and for all you see all the work we put in across the wintertime!” – George Martinez, OWS

How to End the May Day March?

occupytvny — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:00:46 +0000

May Day 2012: After the speeches, a representative of the Transit Workers Union disagrees with a member of Occupy Wall Street over how to wrap up the night.

The “People’s Gong” Counters Wall Street’s Closing Bell

occupytvny — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:00:45 +0000

April 13, NYC: Occupy Wall Street gathers on the steps of Federal Hall to counter the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange with “the People’s Gong.” Police make several arrests and attempt to prevent media from documenting them.

NYPD’s Nightly Eviction of Occupy Union Square

occupytvny — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:19:55 +0000

NYC, March 22: Night Four of the Occupation of Union Square. As has become a nightly ritual, NYPD closes the park at midnight with a show of brutal force, barricading off the steps, and in an echo of the eviction of Zucotti Park, use as a rationale a cleansing of the park sanitation workers testify Union Square never normally sees.

A cop pushes a young woman down steps. A man is arrested on suspicion of having fallen asleep. Fear and doubt are quite visible in the faces of the police, whose ranks include an counter-terrorist agent and a squadron in riot gear. Changing orders and promises as they go, the police gradually take over the park, pushing the people out as they set the stage for the sanitation workers. The homeless who have long found a haven in the park are driven out along with the protesters.

Taped and edited by Atiq Zabinski, http://www.youtube.com/user/MrPotatoHeadNews

March Against Police Brutality

occupytvny — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:00:37 +0000

NYC, March 24: Occupy Wall Street stages a protest against the suppression of the movement, and of police brutality, surveillance and infiltration. Demand are made for the resignation of Police Commissioner Ray Kelley and justice for slain teenager Trayvon Martin. 600 people rally in Zuccotti Park and march to Union Square, at times taking the streets. The NYPD responds with a huge presence, including mounted police and squadrons of motor scooters. At first they seem to avoid making arrests, then swiftly change tactics, sending in squads equipped with plastic handcuffs, and charging into the crowd to make arrests.

Taped and edited by Atiq Zabinski, http://www.youtube.com/user/MrPotatoHeadNews