From SF Gate/Chron
“James Vann, one of Quan’s most active campaigners, has been regularly attending the encampment’s general assembly meetings. Vann said that a group of 150 people advocating for violence has embedded itself in the encampment and its meetings.
“It’s a destructive force that I think has the potential of destroying the organization and certainly of losing a lot of credibility with the community and public officials,” said Vann, an affordable housing and renter’s activist who was on Quan’s mayoral transition committee.
When people advocate for nonviolence, Vann said, members of this group shout them down by saying, “diversity of tactics.”
At the meeting, Quan supporters are expected to put forth a resolution stating that “those who launch physical attacks on people or property are not welcome to do so at or near Occupy Oakland events and encampment.”
And now put it together with this from another part of the local section:
Oakland police have canceled all training exercises for next week, which is a “pretty good indication” that the cops are making plans once again to clear out the Occupy camp outside City Hall, according to a source in the Police Department.
The next step – if there is one – would be to cancel police leaves and put out the call for mutual aid from surrounding law enforcement agencies.
According to the source, police brass issued the no-training order just about the time Mayor Jean Quan handed out a warning Tuesday to the Occupy camp that “we cannot ignore violence, property destruction and health and safety issues in Frank Ogawa Plaza.”
So this is it, folks. If the Oakland GA really cannot establish Occupy Oakland as a non-violent movement, we are bringing this attack upon ourselves. It is not unreasonable for Quan and the City to ask for our assurance that there will be no more violence and vandalism. The First Amendment only protects us so long as we are a peaceful gathering. I’ve never marched with or supported any other group that advocated violence or “diversity of tactics” and I do not intend to. Many, many people in the community here feel the same way, so we will not be able to defend the camp unless we know that we are standing up for peaceful protest and not supporting violent revolution.
Whether we like it or not, a decision is upon us. If we do not resolve to reject violence and vandalism, we are going against what the other OWS groups have supported and we are going against the sentiments of most of the 99%, and not only that but we will be placing the women, children and elderly who are among us in physical danger from a new brutal attack.
Regardless of any of her previous actions, the mayor’s proposal is a good one. And all the people talking about “Recall Quan” obviously are not from Oakland and are unaware of the politics of Ignacio De La Fuente, the man who would replace her. We need to show her some reasonable dialog here so that she can justify allowing us to keep the camp open. The first step is to ban violence or vandalism at sanctioned OO events. The GA must do this is Occupy Oakland expects to see the kind of support it has seen so far from the community.
I am with you on this. I hope that masses of people are not going to allow themselves to be hurt in the mistaken belief that this is still about the 99% and Occupy Wall Street. This group here in Oakland has a whole other agenda.
I would be down with that, if Occupy Oakland had done some responsible things in the past week like issue a statement denouncing the destruction of small local businesses that closed down during the General Strike to support us. And like stating clearly that Occupy Oakland does not endorse violence. I think it’s clear that the pro-vandalism and pro-violence people have co-opted our camp and to some extent our movement. For example I have tried to start some threads here about the threat of some of these organized anarchists, and the threads have never appeared on this website. People inside Occupy Oakland are stifling the debate in the name of solidarity. I will not support this and I have told all the people who I previously urged to support Occupy Oakland that they should re-direct their efforts towards Occupy Wall Street and other movements that are still focused on the banks the the 1% and not on a violent revolution to overthrow all capitalism and all institutions.
We need to set up an email tree so that when the cops do arrive, emails are sent out to thousands of supporters telling them to come down to the Plaza immediately. Drive their cars and surround the area. leave the cars in the street. Walk down to the Plaza and surround any vehicle carrying arrested occupiers.
I think it is clear that if vandalism, violence and property damage is sanctioned by the GA, Occupy Oakland will be OVER!! Quick!!! The only way forward is NON-VIOLENCE!!! I don’t live at the camp, nor have I attended any GA’s. But I did march all day last Wednesday and have donated to OO as much as possible–bringing more supplies on Friday. In short, I support the Occupy Movement 110%. Those advocating violence are SELFISH and will not just undermine OO, but the larger movement as well. We need to commit to unity and non-violence. If the cops try to evict again, holding firm and taking a beating with no resistance only brings more sympathy and attention, i.e. MORE SUPPORT, MORE PEOPLE INVOLVED!!
The momentum generated in recent weeks (with regard to addressing Income Inequality, Gender Equality, Gay Rights, Standing up to Wall Street and Big Business, Creating Jobs, Ending Racism, Immigrant Rights, Human Rights, Etc.) is too important to be lost over something as ridiculous as “Diversity of Tactics” which is really just a fancy term for violence. Again, going down that road will be the beginning of the end for Occupy Oakland and I urge people to reject calls for violence or property damage. Thank you.
The following is more effective than destroying our own city and undermining our credibility.
How about building our credibility, and exposing true corruption…
Let’s be smart about this, people!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIFAS83qaiM&feature=watch_response
This is not surprising in the least. As we have been discussing, those advocating violence are undermining our cause. They are undermining the Movement and the 99%. Why anyone continues to protect them is beyond comprehension.
The selfish and rigid notion of protecting “diversity of tactics” is neither aligned with the rest of the Occupy Movement, nor the majority of the 99%. This has become something else… something that I no longer support or wish to be a part of.