Max Lewin rudely interrupting the Occupy Oakland press conference at 19th and Telegraph. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle
Many people arrived at the Occupy Oakland General Assembly last night fully prepared to support the proposal to rescind the decision to camp at 19th and Telegraph. I was one of them and, based on emails and other informal conversations, it was clear that many others agreed. Once it became clear that the vacant lot across the street from the Fox Theater was also next to the Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) and its playground, the potential public relations nightmare hit us. This would no longer be a discussion about hurting small businesses but a discussion about children, and few people wanted to go there. So let’s just unwind this thing gracefully, have a great march on Saturday, and regroup after Thanksgiving.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the proposal–the OSA people showed up.
They walked into our assembly with all the self-righteous indignation that you would expect from yuppies who have taken over the Uptown district. Is that who they were? Who knows. But that’s how they acted and while many of us were willing to give them an inch–the benefit of the doubt–they chose to take a mile instead.
They hooted and hollered throughout the first part of the GA, absolutely furious over the fact that their concerns were not front and center. This is after the fact that the facilitation committee chose to put their proposal first on the agenda without a vote of the GA and placing the open forum at the end of the meeting.
As our process went through its typical slog, they yelled at every vote, every vote about voting, and pretty much any other attempt to move things along. Then they basically blamed us instead of the police for the ongoing violence in downtown Oakland and talked about keeping their children out of the crossfire without ever mentioning the OPD.
By the time we actually voted, many of us were so turned off by their attitude that we actually wanted to take the lot on 19th and Telegraph because, as one longtime activist told me, these “sanctimonious assholes” changed our minds.
Ultimately, I still voted for their proposal only to get the 70% threshold so that we could go to amendments and potentially declare Oscar Grant Plaza the new camp location. Unfortunately, we did not hit the threshold so my vote was wasted–the proposal failed just failed altogether and we moved on. So did they, going back home after we talked about their issue never to return, so it seems.
Let this be a lesson–most of us at Occupy Oakland are reasonable people who want a good relationship with the community and are totally willing to hear outside voices, excluding those who send the police to brutally assault us. But when you are invited into somebody’s house, don’t shit on their carpet.
You need to respect us and our process. We sit through these cold, damp meetings night after night because we believe in democracy. It’s messy and it’s beautiful. You are welcome to participate or not participate at any time.
But if you can’t be patient with us then we will likely have little patience for you. Perhaps next time you could take some of those lessons that you give to your children and students every day and apply them to your own behavior.
In the meantime, the plan to take 19th and Telegraph stands. I doubt that anybody wants to stay there too long, but when we leave it will be on our own terms.
This is weird because I had the exact opposite experience. The people around me were rude and disrespectful to the people supporting the proposal. Shouting out and interrupting them while they were giving their “pro” opinions, etc.. A guy next to me loudly yelled over the director of the school “F*@$ charter schools!” to my astonishment. That is NOT a part of the process. Being a female-bodied person, I found myself actually feeling threatened by this person and others like him around me. There probably were people in support of the proposal who didn’t get how GA works. It takes a while to learn, and last night was odd because of the 2 emergency proposals that started the meeting. They should have been quiet and learned from the process, I agree, but it is unfair to act like all regular GA attendees were saints last night. It was a very aggressive crowd overall.
Being female bodied doesn’t mean you get to paint ALL raising of voice from males around you as threatening behavior. Especially since it wasn’t directed at you. That’s an abuse of this discourse, one that delegitimizes it. What I found more obscene than anything was the director’s implication that a “child’s state of grace” is threatened by the occupation movement.
What was said was rude, inflammatory, and not a part of the GA process. If you do not agree with the man, go stand in the stack like everyone else.
Also, it was not just this voice alone. It was the cumulative effect of many aggressive voices coming from around the crowd and the fact that I was a female alone in this crowd. All of the aggressive behavior (from both sides of this proposal) was totally unnecessary, does nothing to move OO forward, and creates an intimidating situation for real discourse.
Actually, the police will be at 19th street to prevent you from entering the park. You will be arrested.
I could see both sides of the issue, and I think this is a good, brief summation of what happened. In fairness I want to point out that there was some disruption from those in favor of the move to 19th and Telegraph (stating cons to the proposal,) who were also yelling, grabbing the mic out of turn etc. The whole thing was chaotic, due to 1) anti-camp people who wanted to lay the blame on OO for bringing police brutality to the neighborhood, and 2) a hasty decision by the Oakland GA to move in without a temperature check of this residential neighborhood. Please take your complaints to the police! They are the real problem here.
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Right on.
It might help to occupy occupy with a bit more mindfulness of the other 97%… I am shocked at this article- calling concerned residents of that area (definitely not 1%-ers!) “sanctimonious assholes”? People have a right to their opinion and feelings, and it scares me that occupy is becoming a “if you’re not for us (and all our decisions about your community), you’re against us” kind of movement.
Sure, maybe they didn’t respect your process as much as you wanted, but democracy is messy, and occupy oakland has sure not always been respectful of the Oakland community it calls home, either.
The article isn’t calling anyone sanctimonious assholes, it’s a quote.
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Shrill? Sanctimonious? “Use your inside voice?” We need a lot more self-reflection in this movement. OO has lost the narrative to in-fighting. OO has gone from fighting small/business to fighting against a public school. Something isn’t working and must be addressed in order to refocus on economic justice.
This is really no way for OO to respond to residents that they were planning to Occupy without notice. The Uptown housing is a mixed income complex. There are some yuppies for sure, but there are also some hardworking lower income families that have a nice place to call home for once. Very ironic comment “But when you are invited into somebody’s house, don’t shit on their carpet.” Wait, didn’t OO plan on Occupying in their neighborhood without notice? Wasn’t it OO that was having their Burning Man rave late into the night in front of homes until they got their sound truck towed? Way to build community support, or do you just want to “Occupy”? As for the GA, pro Occupy of 19th supporters yelled down children who where brave enough to take the stage. Apparently they weren’t the only children in attendance.
This article is DISGUSTING… the OSA parents and CHILDREN were the ones getting booed by some rowdy and inappropriate occupiers. You have everything all twisted Oakland Tribune. I was the person to write and present the proposal and those disrespecting myself and other speakers were NOT OSA parents. I was disgusted by the behavior of the occupiers towards fellow 99% community members. This is truly pathetic reporting.
One more thing… the majority of students at OSA are eligible for free and reduced lunch and are predominantly students of color… these are NOt yuppies who have taken over the Uptown as you describe. Finally… since when is the GA “your” venue… is it not the venue of the Oakland community? Don’t the OSA parents and children deserve to be there just as much as you do?
there was no outreach to the community until AFTER it was decided, and even then there was no official OO outreach… the residents had every right to be pissed off, even though it’s debatable whether they actually were… how dare you decide to go up in someone else’s neighborhood and be pissed at them for being pissed at you… talk about entitlement. not even going to mention the burning man lite rave (with glow-sticks and all)…
My experience at the GA during this proposal was that many people against the proposal were being aggressive (yelling “F that” etc) and that many people for the proposal were being passive-aggressive (using the “move along” hand gesture when they didn’t like something said.) Both were a little embarrassing, but these tendencies are part of horizontal decision making too. No one was being so disruptive that the speaker could not speak. It’s just that people aren’t content to sit politely while someone says something that, to them, is total b.s. This was a contentious issue; I would not have expected people to smile and nod during some of the ridiculous things said on that mic. The facilitator’s job is to keep things contained enough for the meeting to continue, and they did a fine job.
On the issue of yuppies or not, I think more important is what was actually being said. Almost all speakers for the proposal were using rhetoric of keeping the children safe, the innocent children, how could you interrupt the sanctity of the educational process, etc. These things to me are silly. We’re trying to change the system. That includes the education system. Interruptions of the educational process can be beneficial to students’ political development and break up the monotony of our current educational system.
The arguments about “the children” were even more absurd. This is a middle and high school we’re talking about. Even the kids with good grades are already drinking, smoking weed, or having sex by the time they’re 15 or 16. That’s not a statement about their socioeconomic status or decision-making abilities, just how high school is. The occupation can be a productive place for students to go when (and I don’t mean if) they ditch class. They can learn about the destructive systems we’re trying to change, create works of political art, help maintain the camp, or just observe resistance in action.
I’m glad the proposal didn’t pass, if only for the reason that the neighbors we may have are no more special than the people who live out on the streets near the camp or the people who kick it nearby or the workers in the neighborhood. They don’t get a special pass because they’re organized and persistent. The occupation doesn’t get flustered and give in to a group of indignant parents; we’ve dealt with worse (OPD for instance.)
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