Media Roots TV – Occupy Oakland General Strike

Posted on November 10, 2011 by felipe

MEDIA ROOTS – On Wednesday, November 2, 2011, the Media Roots team was on the ground in the streets of Oakland witnessing some great energy and bringing you first-hand coverage of the historic Occupy Oakland General Strike.

Although the corporate media tried to shift the focus from the crimes of the ruling-class to petty vandalism by unrelated opportunists, for the tens of thousands in attendance, as this footage evidences, the daylong events were about solidarity and peaceful protest against the obscene inequality borne of class warfare waged by the 1% against the 99%. Various businesses closed in solidarity, as the Oakland City Administrator gave City workers the day off to participate.

Media Roots covered the day’s events from Oscar Grant Plaza where a festive atmosphere of unions serving barbeque, speeches, arts, and multicultural activities set the positive tone. Participants included parents with children and teachers amongst the diverse spectrum of people. As the day progressed, the marches swelled to some 10,000 protesters with multiple marches shutting down various Oakland banks, including Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank. By that evening, tens of thousands of peaceful protesters successfully shut down the Port of Oakland, the nation’s fifth busiest port.

Messina

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Media Roots delivers first-hand coverage of Occupy Oakland’s historic General Strike.

Check out our live Media Roots Radio two hour coverage of the strike here.

Check out Abby Martin’s photojournalism from the day of the strike here.

Occupy Oakland – Media Roots on Pacifica Radio

Posted on November 4, 2011 by felipe

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.

The Occupy Oakland segment begins at 31:00.

Media Roots TV – Occupy Oakland Strike Aftermath

Posted on November 4, 2011 by felipe

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.

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Abby Martin, Media Roots Founder, catches a dose of tear gas reporting from the front lines.

Occupy Wall Street – Media Roots on Russia Today

Posted on November 4, 2011 by felipe

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.

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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 Photographs Occupy Oakland

Posted on October 11, 2011 by abby

MEDIA ROOTS- Yesterday I went out to cover the first day of Occupy Oakland at Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown. Despite the thick mud and slick rain, there was a solid crowd of about 300 people buzzing with energy and lively discussion. Grievances were expelled by chanting and marching together, all with passionate determination.

Those of us who shared the evening together put our differences aside to stand upon one common thread– the system has failed us, and we demand representation. We were participating in something bigger than ourselves, and it was beautiful to witness the movement coalesce in my own backyard. It’s nothing short of thrilling to see people spilling out in the streets demanding real change, and I can’t wait to see where this leads.

Writing and Photography by Abby Martin