OccupyForum presents…Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
OccupyForum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Our Responses when
Free Speech is Hate Speech
An open discussion to debrief
the events of August 26-27 in the Bay Area
With permits now issued for five events this weekend in San Francisco’s Crissy Field, one of them organized by a right-wing group and the other four groups protesting the right-wingers, the stage is being set for conflict between white nationalists and a city that has come out roundly against them. Patriot Prayer, the Oregon-based right-wing group led by founder Joey Gibson, has organized other events that have attracted white supremacists and ended up in violent confrontations among demonstrators. The group received a permit from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (public comment phone number below), which controls Crissy Field. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi denounced the San Francisco event as a “white supremacist” rally; asked about the federal government’s permit for the group to use Crissy Field, and said “now they’re going to give it as a venue to Nazis and white nationalists.” White Supremacist events have been on the rise since Trump’s election; Berkeley, Seattle, Portland, Boston, Charlottesville, and more. After appearances by Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter were cancelled earlier this year, these two will be joined by Steve Bannon at a September “free speech” event on Sproul Plaza.
What decisions and choices did you make on learning about the “Patriot Prayer” (the announced rally of white supremacists) event on Crissy Field (a public commons), or those in Berkeley, or Sacramento. Why?
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, in an official statement, while calling out the SFPD in force, asks us to “not dignify it with a response”. Others believe that rooting out fascism at its inception is critical to a sane and peaceful society, and that it must be stopped in its every form. Some argue that “free speech” ACLU style must be allowed, no matter what. Where do your ideas and beliefs fall in this spectrum? What has brought you to your understanding and beliefs?
OccupyForum will host a debriefing discussion in the wake of this weekend’s event and the protests against it in the many forms they take. Which events did you attend, what were they like, or did you choose to sit it out? What have we seen and how do we analyze this for our understanding and the future forms of action (or inaction) we choose to take?
Come to OccupyForum for open and respectful dialogue on all sides of this issue.