why Occupy needs Days of Action

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http://www.nationofchange.org/why-occupy-needs-days-action-1332234128

As I sit in the New York City Po­lice De­part­ment’s cen­tral book­ing, which has be­come my sec­ond home over the course of the last 48 hours, I’m re­minded again why we keep mount­ing days of ac­tion and protest. Since last Sat­ur­day’s at­tempt to re-oc­cupy Lib­erty Square, my role as an or­ga­nizer in the Oc­cupy move­ment feels more and more like it did back in the late fall. While doing jail sup­port for ar­rested and bru­tal­ized com­rades, my phone has been ring­ing and buzzing re­lent­lessly with in­quiries from fel­low Oc­cu­piers, press, com­mu­nity-based or­ga­ni­za­tions and union al­lies. Mem­bers of our move­ment, em­bold­ened by #M17, have been liv­ing, sleep­ing and or­ga­niz­ing in Union Square for the last two days, an oc­cu­pa­tion that con­tin­ues as I write. It is safe to say that spring is here and that, once again, we have a day of ac­tion to thank for this resur­gence.

An im­promptu Di­rect Ac­tion Work­ing Group meet­ing on the steps of the cour­t­house on Sun­day turned into an hours-long whirl­wind of or­ga­niz­ing, re­gained mo­men­tum and vigor. We quickly reached con­sen­sus to ac­knowl­edge that the un­war­ranted acts of bar­barism which ended Sat­ur­day’s cel­e­bra­tion of the move­ment’s 6-month an­niver­sary are not ex­cep­tions under Ray Kelly’s NYPD, but the rule. Sys­tem­i­cally mar­gin­al­ized com­mu­ni­ties all over New York City live in fear of Kelly and his cronies every sec­ond of their lives. Plans were made to host a press con­fer­ence on the steps on 1 Po­lice Plaza at noon on Tues­day to high­light this re­al­ity. Speak­ers have been in­vited from the Mus­lim com­mu­nity, the home­less com­mu­nity, the LGBTQI com­mu­nity, com­mu­ni­ties of color, sex work­ers, the Oc­cupy move­ment and count­less oth­ers, to at­test to the NYPD’s on­go­ing as­sault on the peo­ple of New York.

Plans are also being made to strike back on Sat­ur­day the 24th with a broad coali­tion of peo­ple from all over the city in sol­i­dar­ity against the cap­i­tal­ists and their ser­vants in the po­lice force, which the one-per­center mayor has ac­cu­rately de­scribed as “my own army.” This Sat­ur­day, with our al­lies from labor and com­mu­nity-based or­ga­ni­za­tions all over the city, we will de­mand the res­ig­na­tion of Ray Kelly and an end to the prison-in­dus­trial com­plex that has buried us in a cli­mate of fear for far too long.