Occupy WSHC

We want to thank Don Diego Ramirez and John Christensen for doing the Winners and Losers radio show. They truly did a fantastic job today! We also want to thank John Case for having us on his program. We hope to Occupy WSHC, every Tuesday from 7:30-9am for as long as John will have us!

There were a number of things that were talked about that we wanted to include links to, so that you can access that info.

Here are the links to the Rolling Stone articles by Matt Taibbi.
Why Occupy Wall Street Is Bigger Than Left vs. Right
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests
Wall Street Isn't Winning It's Cheating
Washington Still Doesn't Get It

Here is a link to the blog, by Lauren Leonardi, that John Christensen was talking about.
11 Simple Ways You Can Support the Occupy Movement Without Sleeping In a Park

I'm going to include some additional links to some other occupy websites.

occupycoordination.org This is the website that is trying to coordinate all of the national occupations. They are hosting weekly webinars on a variety of national topics, including campaign finance reform. They also have national working groups. So if you want to help out on the national level, this is the place to go.

occupywallst.org This is the "O.G." occupation website. If you want to know what is happening in NYC, then check this site out. They have a great forum on here for discussing ideas. Just remember that everything you read on the forum is not endorsed by OWS or the occupy movement at large. These postings are people's opinions and ideas. Anything adopted by OWS will be posted within the main site itself, not the forum.

occupydc.org I keep hearing people saying "They need to be occupying K Street or the White House, that's where the real problem is." Well K Street is occupied and the encampment is a stones throw from the White House. The people at Occupy D.C. are a great bunch, and they have been extremely helpful in regards to getting our local movement going.

occupyoakland.org Here's one that everyone should keep up with. If you want to know what a police state looks like, Oakland is the not-so-shining example.

Consensus and Facilitation Training

Just a reminder.
We have our usual protest tomorrow from noon to two. After that we have special guest from Occupy Charlotte, Scottie, to do a teach-in for us on facilitation and consensus.
We will be learning the ins and outs of how to facilitate the General Assembly. We will also be learning how the consensus process itself works.
These are all very important, as keeping the GA productive, and running smoothly is everybody's responsibility. We encourage everyone to participate in this opportunity tomorrow.

Non-violence in action

I just wanted to post some videos of the incident at UC Davis that happened last week.
Students were occupying the quad in a protest of solidarity. The campus police came in and shocked the country with incredible feats of sadism and brutality.
As I watched then footage, my heart sank and I was left shaking my head in disbelief.
Fortunately there was a happy conclusion to the video.
Those students dispersed the police with non-violent tactics. Freaking brilliant. By the end of the video I was cheering.



There is a lot that we can learn from this. I think one really important lesson is that your camera/phone/ipad is your best friend, and your best weapon against corruption. We can show the world what is really happening.


In this video we see the Chancellor of UC Davis, Linda P.B. Katehi, being escorted to her car after the incident. Another beautiful display of non-violent tactics. I feel like she was expecting to get shouted down by all those present, and wasn't prepared for silence. I feel it had a much more powerful and resounding effect. What do you think?



One of the many things that bothers me about this is the official report. "Officially" the reason those students were pepper-sprayed was because the officers were being surrounded and felt threatened. Surrounded and threatened the sprayed, not the people who were surrounding them but the ones who were sitting. On the ground. Peacefully and lawfully.
That makes sense, right? How is this not being questioned? How stupid do they think we are?
Chancellor Katehi ordered those police in there. She needs to go. Police Chief Annette Spicuzzam was complicit in this as well. She is currently on leave and also needs to go. Lt. John Pike and the other officer(whose name I can't find) are both on paid leave/vacation. The need to have criminal charges filed against them. They no longer deserve the honor of being police officers. They no longer deserve the honor of being a protector of citizens.

What's the 411?

You've got questions, we've got answers. Well at least some.

In case you've missed the past couple of GA's (like I did) there have been some interesting developments.

The Local Economy Committee (LoEcon) have moved forward with the proposal to start work on a community garden for Martinsburg. This is really exciting, as it is something that this town is sorely lacking in, and desperately needs. We are currently in the location scouting phase. We are hoping to find somewhere centrally located near the downtown area. After we secure the location the logistical fun begins. There is a lot of work that will need to be done in order to prep the site for spring, and we will need as many hands on deck as we can get!

We also now have an Education Committee. They will be in charge of, well, education of course. some of the stated goals of the EdCom (That has a nice ring to it, eh?) are:-

To promote awareness of our collective power.

To inform ourselves and the wider community on issues pertaining to holding power accountable.

To building a movement of informed activists.

We are really thrilled about this group, and feel that there will be many exciting things to come from them.

Just a reminder; there are committee meetings and a GA this evening at the Race Street Artist Co-op at 7pm.

We should have the flyers on hand to distribute tonight.

For anyone interested in sporting them, I believe that we are now taking orders for the Occupy Martinsburg T-shirts.

One last note; Let's all try and think about what we can do, both as a group and individually, to bring more people into this movement. We need to grow our numbers. There are a lot of things that we all want to accomplish, but we need help to do so. The flyers should help quite a bit, but let's also each try to bring a friend the next time we attend.

New Blog Features

Hey everybody! We've added a few new features to the blog.

We now have our twitter feed posted right here on the page. So all you non-twitterers(?) can see what is happening on Twitter in real time.

We also now have a podcast that we can stream on here. Currently we don't actually have anything recorded for the podcast, but rest assured there is something in the works!

We should have something up by the weeks end.

Minutes from General Assemblies will now be getting posted on here, as well as all sorts of other pertinent information. We are trying to make this blog a little one-stop-shop for all things Occupy. Martinsburg or otherwise. Please leave us comments and let is know if there is something you like, or something else you would like to see us doing on here!