Tuesday, November 22, 2011

L.A. offers Occupy office, farm (video)

Wisdom Quarterly (REPORTING); Occupy Los Angeles
Watch live video from #OWS Los Angeles at livestream.com

In the most fractious and rambunctious General Assembly (GA) in Occupy LA's history, the debate was deceptively simple:

Accept 10,000 feet of office space for $1 a year and a farm to grow food on (the Brave New World carrot) or endure beatings, tear gas, plastic cuffs, live ammo, and potentially deadly projectile munitions (the Orwellian New World Order stick). Your choice. No pressure. We already have a plan (pretext) to displace your encampment.

Jim Lafferty, Esq. (The Lawyer's Guild) tried to reason with the crowd and answer questions with Scott and Mario and others. But they were frequently shouted down by a homeless woman and Juan the beloved but violent homeless court jester.

The issues were not directly related to making a choice. People wanted to talk about the meta-issue of someone, anyone, negotiating behind the back of the GA. We have a movement to consider, OM (Occupy Movement). This is not about Los Angeles, the largest Occupy Movement encampment in the country now that #OWS, New York has been de-tented.

() An unfriendly voice tries to explain the movement's origins and process.

No one has to leave (anyone choosing to stay can stay, splitting the movement but taking up a legal and permanent location for OM). While the City Council supported the use of the City Hall lawn, it will not do so indefinitely. There are no demands they or anyone could meet to move the camp, so no one can actually "negotiate." The Lawyer's Guild will defend everyone petitioning the government for a redress of grievances.

But attorney Lafferty opined that it was a good deal to consider. The GA uses (misuses) a system of consensus that is so easy to bog down, it has yet to make a decision. It is argued that the system, superior to voting and majority rules, is not used correctly, so to no one's surprise it often does not get anywhere.


Easily disrupted or ruined by provocateurs and spoilers

This means some will take the space and others will remain homeless and at the mercy of police brutality. Come make your voice heard tonight... or watch history in the making through the livestream.

Life during wartime means endless hypocrisy from chameleon politicians of all stripes.

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