Taking Back Oakland

zun­guzungu:

But the most impor­tant point, I think, is this: when we left the Oak­land Pub­lic Library, the last speaker’s last words (after mak­ing as clear as pos­si­ble to the crowd that we were march­ing to lib­er­ate Oscar Grant plaza from massed riot cops, and telling peo­ple who couldn’t be down for that to stay at the library) were some­thing along the lines of “No mat­ter what hap­pens, this is only the begin­ning of a long strug­gle.” At the time, I was wor­ried. He said that after this march, we should meet at 14th and Broad­way every day at six p.m., from now on, and take “what­ever space we can.” But before the police tear gassed a non-​​violent protest, I was not con­fi­dent that this thing would con­tinue, was wor­ried that today would be not the begin­ning but the end­ing. It didn’t seem like much of a strat­egy, and with­out the camp to give the move­ment a cen­ter, well, I was wor­ried. “What­ever space we can” is not likely to be much. But now, who knows? I’m ready to occupy some space. So I’ll see you at 14th and Broad­way, today at six.

26 October 2011 – 2:15 pm | By Benjamin Daniels | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (242)