MEDIA ROOTS — On
November 14, 2011, Abby Martin of Media Roots interviewed award-winning
journalist and best-selling author Greg Palast after his talk at the First
Congregational Church of Berkeley.
Greg Palast, a freelance journalist for the BBC as well as British newspaper The Observer, discusses his newly published book Vultures’ Picnic, corporate
collusion, the bought-and-paid-for-media establishment, the role of citizen
journalism around the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and the value of organisations
such as Project Censored.
MR
***
Abby Martin of Media Roots Interviews Greg Palast about Vultures’ Picnic
MEDIA ROOTS – On Wednesday, November 2, 2011, I documented an incredibly inspirational and monumental event. For the second time in sixty years, Oakland held a general strike that shut down the city– this time in response to the brutal police state crackdown on the Occupy Oakland encampment.
Upwards of 20,000 people participated in the strike and march to the Port of Oakland, per aerial estimates, where protesters blocked the gates in an act of civil disobedience in order to call attention to the Occupy Wall Street movement. It was beautiful to witness thousands of people from all walks of life standing together to call an end to class warfare, corporate greed and the impunity of the 1%’s illegality.
I took some photographs throughout the course of the day highlighting some epic moments of the bank shutdowns, the march to the port and the dance party in the streets that ensued.
Photography from Occupy Oakland’s Historic General Strike on November 2, 2011.
MEDIA ROOTS- Abby
Martin of Media Roots discussed today the historic Occupy Oakland General Strike, rallies, and marches on KPFA’s
“The Morning Mix with Project Censored.”
This general strike, the first in 65 years, drew tens of thousands of
supporters to shut down banks as well as the Port of Oakland, the nation’s
fifth largest port.
MEDIA ROOTS – On Wednesday, November 2, 2011, Abby
Martin of Media Roots was on the front lines of the bedlam in the streets of
Oakland providing unembedded coverage during the aftermath of the Occupy Oakland general strike and shutdown
of the Port of Oakland.
Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters successfully shut down the Port of
Oakland, the nation’s fifth largest port, at 8pm earlier that evening. About two hours later, so-called “Black
Bloc” ‘anarchists,’ or opportunists, arrived in downtown Oakland, smashing
windows of banks and setting trash cans on fire.
In full riot gear, the Oakland PD lined up at about 11:30 pm and marched toward the rally, now tainted by masked “Black Bloc” saboteurs. Police started
firing smoke grenades and tear gas into the crowd of people, provoking some, particularly the masked “Black Bloc” individuals, to respond
by throwing bottles and other objects back at the police. Rather than detaining the individuals engaging in property destruction, the police advanced on everyone in sight.
After the crowd scattered, the police lined up in apparent hammer-and-anvil
formation to close in and arrest the remaining protesters at the Occupy Oakland
encampment.
MR
***
Abby Martin, Media Roots Founder, catches a dose of tear gas reporting from the front lines.
MEDIA ROOTS— On Thursday, November 3, 2011, Abby
Martin of Media Roots spoke with Russia Today TV (RT) about the Occupy
Movement, Occupy Oakland, the police-state response, and the historic general
strike called by Occupy Oakland, which drew tens of thousands of supporters to
shut down banks and the Port of Oakland, the nation’s fifth largest port.
Abby Martin, Media Roots founder, is interviewed in this RT segment.
***
RUSSIA TODAY— Occupy protesters demonstrate resilience to crackdowns and cynicism
in the media but it is still unclear what lies ahead for the
movement. Abby Martin, founder of Mediaroots.org, says that Occupy can
become a real political force.
While camping out and singing songs is one thing, getting the right
politicians elected quite another. Martin says that the movement is
unified and people are waking up to the two-party dictatorship, and
realizing that the political system does not represent them anymore.
”A
lot of people tried to paint this movement as not unified and we do not
have a cohesive message, but as far as I can see we have one message
and it is corporate greed and we are not standing for it anymore,” she declared. “No matter what your sign says, it all stems from the same source and that is corporate greed running amok.”
Martin
believes it was a huge success for the movement when up to 20,000
people peacefully marched and successfully shut down the Port of
Oakland. She says that getting their point across justifies shutting
down America’s fifth largest port.
“It was almost necessary to
get the point across, no-one is really listening to us. Mainstream
media is trying to marginalize this movement. So maybe it will take
something like that to really get people to recognize our force,” she said.
The
mainstream media in US accuses the Occupy movement of being envious of
the rich. Martin laughs it off arguing that it is about
disenfranchisement and the extreme desperation that people are seeing.
”The
rich keep getting richer. We are talking about corporations not paying
taxes. Why should we? It is a two-tier justice system. We are held to a
different sort of justice system in America. We are not standing for it
anymore,” she says.
Allan Rivlin, co-editor of
CenteredPolitics.com, says there is an explanation why people are
demanding a change in the rules that have been in effect for decades.
“I think the success of the movement is the simplicity of the message,” he says. “They
got it down to four words: ‘We are the 99%’. And that message, as
simple as it is, really cuts to the heart of what a lot of people are
experiencing, which is a tremendous inequality that has been growing for
years. They are also seeing a system that is out of balance with
respect to too much corporate influence over politicians and over
Congress.”
MEDIA ROOTS – On Wednesday, November 2, 2011, I documented an incredibly inspirational and monumental event. For the second time in sixty years, Oakland held a general strike that shut down the city– this time in response to the brutal police state crackdown on the Occupy Oakland encampment. 