May Day General Strike Info Round-Up

Tomorrow!  I can barely contain myself.  In the meantime, here’s DA Mom’s round-up of important information for tomorrow’s actions in New York City.

The May Day NYC website has a schedule of events, list of participating organizations, links to other locations’ actions, and other useful tidbits.

If you use Twitter, some of the hashtags to follow will be #MayDay, #M1NYC, #M1GS, #GeneralStrike, #99PKTS, #May1, #OWS, #MTA, #NYPD, #NYC.  Tweeters who usually have good info include @OWSTactical, @DiceyTroop, @sabokitty, @OccupySteve, @_girlalex, @OWSBC, @PoweredByCats, @occutine, @TimCast, @OccupyWallSt, @OccupyWallStNYC.  Your dear librarians tweet, as always, from @OWSLibrary.

Streamers work from two places, UStream and LiveStream.  On UStream, try stopmotionsolo, pinkladies, timcast, occupiedair, or owsnyclive.  On LiveStream, try owshdtv.

If that’s not enough media for you, there’s also May Day Radio and Media For the 99%.

Enough of that.  On to dressing and packing!  It’s going to be a long day, the weather might not be great, there’s going to be a lot of long walks, and the cops are going to be heavy-handed.   That said, some of your decisions can be made based on your risk level; if you’ll be in green zones all day you might dress differently than if you’ll be going red.  A longer check-list is here.  My advice:

• Comfy, sturdy, water-proof or -resistant shoes, such as hiking boots.
• Full-length pants.
• A couple upper-body layers that are breathable & will still keep you warm if damp.  I’ll be wearing light wool.
• It might rain in the morning, consider a light rain coat that can be stuffed in a bag when the weather clears.
• If you have the space, carry some clothes that allow you to khaki-flage or go civilian.  Or, dress that way in the first place.  For example, I might pack a blouse and a pair of loafers, and wear corduroys instead of jeans.  That way I can look “normal” in a rush-hour crowd or look business-casual if I end up doing jail support later in the day.
• Do not bring anything that you aren’t ok with loosing.
• Do not wear contact lenses.  Really.
• Don’t wear earrings, necklaces, etc. that could be grabbed and ripped off.
• Don’t wear makeup or put on lotion — pepper spray sticks to it.
• Wear long hair so that it can’t easily be grabbed, such as in a bun.
• Smaller bags, worn close to the body, are better.  Harder to grab, and lighter.
• Water and calorie-dense snacks (Clif Bars, nuts, dried fruit, pastries).
• If you expect to be in yellow or red zones, consider a couple bandanas (mind the masking laws!), leather work gloves, air-tight goggles.  Some of this stuff is really specific to the kinds of less-than-lethal weapons your local police force likes to use; for example, tear gas canisters are hot, so you need gloves to throw them back handle them, but aren’t a thing we’ve seen NYPD use.  [By the way, canisters are easily dealt with by either putting a bucket over them or submersing them in water. Just saying.]
• Cell phone & camera.  Bring an extra battery and charging cables.
• Carry a valid government-issued ID, if you have one.  You don’t legally have to, but you might get out of jail faster.
• DO NOT bring anything that can incriminate you or people connected to you.  Weapons, drugs you don’t have a prescription for (bring a doctor’s note or prescription if you have legal drugs), your address book, etc.  Delete interesting photos from your phone or camera.  If you are arrested the cops will go through all your stuff very carefully.

There’re a few important phone numbers.  These are New York City specific.  The National Lawyers Guild (those are the folks in the green hats) is 212-679-6018.  Jail Support Coordination is 774-257-4697.  Medic dispatch is 917-727-8621.  If you  haven’t already committed the NLG number to memory, write it on yourself in Sharpie, somewhere that clothes and sweat won’t rub it off. I go with the inside of my calf.  Especially if you will be in red zones, also consider writing an emergency contact number and medical info (blood type, allergies, etc) on your body, in case you get the shit beaten out of you.  If you witness arrests, or are arrested yourself, call the NLG to report it.  Try to get arrestees’ names, so that we can find them later at precincts and central booking.  If not, give a good description, or at the very least a head-count.  If someone near you is injured, yell “medic!” as loud as you can.

Lastly, we know that the cops are mostly a bunch of jerks who don’t like to uphold the law when it’s inconvenient to do so.  Which means, while there are laws about where we can be and what we can do, it doesn’t mean we won’t be arrested for trying to do those supposedly legal things.  Signs, standing on the sidewalk, running, dancing, saying mean things, et fucking cetera, have all gotten folks arrested lately.  That said, there are some things you can do to decrease your chance of arrest, or at least give yourself a stronger case in court.

Know your rights!  The NY Civil Liberties Union has a lot of information, but I’ll also sum it up for you.  As we said at summer camp, this is a repeat-after-me song; as you read this paragraph, repeat the things you might have to say a few times out loud.  If police stop you, ask, “Am I free to go?”  If they say yes, leave; if they say no, ask “Am I being detained?”  If they say no, leave; if they say yes, holler for legal and media.   If cops try to search you, say, “I do not consent to this search.”  They’ll probably still search you, but anything they find may not then be admissible in court.  Of course, if they have a warrant, they can search you and it’ll be admissible, no matter what you say; in that case, demand to see the warrant, don’t let them bullshit you.  This also applies if cops show up at your door.  Do not let them in — don’t even open the door! — unless they show you a warrant with all the correct information on it.  Other than the above, the only other thing you should ever say to a cop (or other law enforcement agent) is “I am going to remain silent; I would like to speak to a lawyer.”  You can (and probably should) give them you name and address, but after that, shut up.  Really, anything you say can and will be used against you, so zip it!  As Safer Spaces said at GA on my first day at the occupation: rule number one, don’t talk to cops, rule number two, don’t talk to cops!  You are allowed to video the cops, including any interactions you have with them.  They won’t like it, but it’s legal and good idea.

A short word on horses — the NYPD likes to bring them out for crowd control on big action days.  We may see some tomorrow.  Horses are naturally disinclined to step on people, though some of that gets trained out of police mounts.  So, if you’ve got some coming at you, and you can’t get out of the way, make yourself compact, cover your head, keep your limbs tucked in, and stay still.

 

So, I’ll see y’all in the morning.  I plan to eat a good dinner, polish my boots, kiss one of my menfolk, and go to bed early.  We’ve a long day ahead of us.

Further May Day Prep

Four day, folks, just four days until May Day!  Are you excited?  I’m excited.  The weather is projected to be mixed sun and clouds, with temperatures in the mid-60s.

In the meantime, the street medics could use a boost.  Remember, the ass they save could be yours.  Kitchen could also use a little help from their friends, but I can’t seem to find the WePay link for them at the moment.  Anyone?  If you can’t spare the cash, in-kind contributions can be brought in on May Day; there will be oodles of mutual aid going on at Bryant Park from 8am to 2pm.

And, as mentioned in my last post, keep us on the streets with the bail fund.

May Day!

Just one week until May Day, friends!  (Which will also be my 28th birthday.  A general strike: great birthday present, or best birthday present ever?)  As Betsy mentioned below, the People’s Library will be out and about at Bryant Park, Madison Square Park (with Free University), and Union Square.

It’s going to be a big, exciting day.  But, since the NYPD doesn’t like us to have nice things, we expect to see some of our friends end up in jail (again).  If anyone out there has a few bucks to spare, we’d all really appreciate contributions to the OWS May Day Legal Expense Fund.  That’s the bail fund, folks, and more money means more of our people bailed out, on May Day and in the future.  After trials are complete, bail money circulates back into the fund, so it’s a gift that keeps giving.

And, if you just can’t wait for May Day to hit the streets, there are a few actions between now and then.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 25, ACT-UP is holding a 25th anniversary action, and calling for a financial transaction tax to raise the funds needed to end the global AIDS epidemic.  Meet at City Hall at 11am for a rally and then march down towards Wall Street.  ACT-UP has always rolled pretty hard, and lots of folks are coming from out of town, so it should be very exciting!

Also tomorrow, 4pm at Union Square,  the Occupy Student Debt Campaign is having a mocking party to recognize that the combined student debt in the USA has topped $1trillion.  Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, Plus Brigades, and Billionaires for Debt will all be in attendance.

And then, this Friday will be the last weekly Spring Training before May Day; meet at Liberty at 2pm.  See you in the streets!

so much meetings in the world

Today, the library working group held not one, but two different meetings. Here are some notes from the 2nd meeting that took place in the café of the Barnes & Noble at Union Square at 6pm.

Library storage space
Top of the agenda was getting the library collection out of SIS before the end of the month. Folks from the first meeting at Carmine secured a storage space for the books. A detailed list of rules and regulations (from the storage company) for the unit will be sent out to working group members & interested parties on the email lists. The space has 24-hour access and is intended for storage of the library collection. There are two sets of keys and the group consensed that the keys will remain with Zachary and James.

Moving books
Monday at 5:30 we will meet at SIS to move the evidence books to the agreed upon safe location. On Wednesday we will meet at 11 am to move the rest of the collection from SIS to the storage facility. Come help us move stuff! Cars especially welcome. Rumor has it one of our favorite Canadians is going to be in town–maybe he’ll make an appearance? We love you Sean!!

 

 

 

 

 

May Day
There’s a lot going on for May Day. We will be setting the library up in Bryant Park in the morning, Madison Square Park later in the day and doing other exciting things that we aren’t going to be discussing on this website. Want to know more? We’ll be having another meeting next Sunday after the Town Square pop-up at Union Square. We’ll meet at 6 pm near Gandhi, weather permitting.

 

POETRY MONTH~ OWS Poetry Anthology @ Jefferson Market Library

For the month of April, the Jefferson Market Library is holding an exhibition of poems from the OWS Poetry Anthology on the wall of the spiral staircase leading up the beautiful tower. It’s a great chance for library goers to absorb the many, varied poems in the anthology and simultaneously enjoy voices from those directly involved with the movement and from supporters from around the world.

On April 14th, we’ll be hosting a reading at the library from 2-5pm. Everyone is encouraged to bring a poem to share! Poets will get 3-5minutes depending on the amount of people that show up, and the event will start out with quick lecture on the significance of the GENERAL STRIKE the occupy movement has called for on May 1st. We’ll also be giving the NY Public Library copies of the OWS Poetry Anthology on the 14th to add to their collection! One copy will go to the archives at 42nd street and another copy will remain at the Jefferson Market location. If you want to check out the exhbition but aren’t sure when to go, I really suggest saving date, Saturday afternoon on April 14th!! If you want to add a poem to the copy of the anthology that will be given to the NY Public Library, please send poems by the evening of April 8th, 2012 to “stephenjboyer(AT)gmail.com.

Here’s a couple photo’s taken by one of the librarians at the Jefferson Market Branch, Marie Hensen… it seems all the librarians are really excited about the exhibition!

And here’s a photo of Frank Collerius (head librarian at the branch) and I… when you stop by, be sure to say hi!

And here’s a few more photo’s, taken by the poet Lee Ann Brown…

My partner in crime, Miranda Lee Reality Torn, her poem “Corporations!” is hanging up now…

Another partner in crime, the poet Patrick Hammer, thanks again for all your help!

AND AGAIN~~THANK YOU AGAIN, JEFFERSON MARKET LIBRARY, AND WE’LL SEE YOU ON APRIL 14TH AND CHECK OUT THE CAMPAIGN TO PRINT THE ANTHOLOGY ON INDIEGOGO!!!!

Spring Fling! Mark Your Calendar!

Happy Sixth Month Anniversary! Spring has come to New York City! Which means, if you’ve been hiding and resting this winter (like I did for a bit) it’s time to dust off your signs and hit the streets! The flowers are in bloom and job prospects are still scarce, so it’s the perfect time to fall in love and with Cupid’s arrow hanging out of your side, run around the streets of New York demanding a better world for you and your new found lover. Today, at the six month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, I was struck by Cupid’s arrow when I noticed a boy screaming hysterically at a swarm of nypd officers, “fuck you you fucking pig you cant push me on a fucking public sidewalk you fucking pig!” Swoon!

Here are some more photo’s I took with my phone today:

Also, I’d like to announce the next OWS Poetry Anthology Reading! It’s going to be April 14th at the Jefferson Market Library in the West Village. The reading will be from 2pm-5pm and it’s a chance for us to CELEBRATE POETRY MONTH! This is a great opportunity for the OWS Community, The People’s Library, the OWS Poetry Community, and the West Village Community to meet, talk and discuss through the form of poetry. Like all readings past, the reading is open to everyone, readers will get 3-5 minutes depending on how many people show up and everyone is encouraged to invite everyone. Like the anthology, all points of view accepted. I’ve been talking with the head librarian and he’s also opened the doors for us to put up a bunch of OWS Anthology poems throughout the library as decorations so library goers can read poems while they peruse the shelves. The occasion will also provide us the opportunity to place a copy of the OWS Poetry Anthology in the library, so the NYPL will officially have a copy of the OWS Poetry Anthology for the community to enjoy. Yes! And if that isn’t enough, we’ll be opening the reading with a quick talk by one of the OWS communities many organizers, to explain the significance and the history and the reason why we are calling for a GENERAL STRIKE on May 1st. If you can’t tell already, I’m excited! Get in touch if you’d like to help or if you can assist with printing and laminating costs as it’s gonna cost a bit to get the poems ready to hang around the library.

So yeah, it’s Spring! May Day is coming! Hopefully I’ll be seeing you in the streets!

And PS: Recently I spoke to my cousin about his time in the Middle East working for the US Military, and it ripped me apart and I was appalled and disgusted beyond belief and for a week I couldn’t think and all I wanted to do was cry but then I was finally able to write about it, and if you want the full gory details, then go here.