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Originally Posted by Autotune
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So from what you are saying, they've done this to a port in Oakland and was successful. I take it that the "port master" (or whatever) allowed this and didn't press the issue with police or some city official decided to try and keep it peaceful so that they wouldn't be remembered as the person that lit the fuse and made the police stand down.
Color me surprised, I'd like to know more details about the port in a way, but I suppose it doesn't matter because not much was really accomplished.
However, I also imagine that the occupy crowd didn't press the issue much either. I suppose if the ports the are planning to mess with come the 12th are less worried about the media impact they will involve the feds and their will be a much different result. All will be revealed in due time i suppose.
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Yes, we shut down the Port of Oakland from 9am on November 2nd to 9am on November 3rd. We turned outgoing trucks around to go back into the port and wait, and incoming longshoremen were turned away from work, and incoming trucks were turned away as well. This was accomplished by main force for most of the day, as there were between 30-40,000 people physically occupying the entrances and exits, but as time wore on it was a small group of militants that stayed behind the barricade and went toe to toe with angry workers UNTIL
The
president of (one chapter of)
the ILWU came and spoke with us, me, actually.
He didn't really know what was going on at that point. When I explained it to him, he gave us his unconditional support, thanked us, and explained what was going on to the crowd of angry longshoremen trying to tear down our barricades. Since then, I have personally seen him at no less than 2 marches, and 3 direct actions, at least 2 of which involved a large mass of riot cops which he faced down in solidarity with Occupy. I've also seen several other ILWU chapter presidents make public statements in support of us and both port shut downs.
There was no Union support going in to the first shut down, which was 100% successful. Now we have the support (and I'm not talking fucking lip service, like I said, this guy and a bunch of his men faced down riot cops with us - several labor leaders have actually been arrested in solidarity) of every major labor union in the country going into this.
The police weren't involved at the port on the 2nd/3rd because during the day the march was literally 30k+ people, and they just don't have the manpower (homeland security feds were definitely there, but didn't lift a finger other than to make an honor force known, because they knew we were 100% nonviolent). Later at night was when they had "Mutual Aid" come oppress Occupy Oakland because simultaneous to the nighttime shifts at the port, (partially chosen to occur at this time as a distraction) was the precedent-setting takeover of the Travellers Aid building at 16th and Telegraph (very near Oscar Grant Plaza). Because we seized property from a bank, the riot cops came in in force, leaving the small band of militants at the port unmolested until the 6am shift, which included a lot more workers who were - at the time - ignorant of our talks with their president. This is what you may have seen on the news with angry workers clashing with protestors at the port.
This will of course be different on 12/12/11, and we all expect more police presence. That being said, it is a major theme of this action that if the police cause any trouble, we will extend the shutdown long past one day. They can either comply and take their lumps for the day or spend massive amounts of resources keeping us away over a much longer period of time.
I must take exception with your statement that the November 2nd/3rd shutdown didn't accomplish anything. That is the same old hackneyed propaganda everyone who disagrees (doesn't understand) with Occupy uses, and I think you're probably smarter than that. We reduced annual trade into and out of Oakland by 1/365th. That may not seem like a lot, but when you consider what the total product of the Port of Oakland is in the course of one year, you may need to rethink your "didn't accomplish much" statement.