Welcome to my second Dkos diary evah!!!
Several weeks ago I wrote a diary about how Albuquerque's OccupyWallStreet group was having problems with the term "Occupy," due to a large, active indigenous population and many people, also, from all over the world. For many of our people, whose homelands have been already occupied, sometimes for centuries, another Occupation of this land was not altogether popular.
I intended to write more about that sooner, but events unfolded faster than I could keep up with them (while doing six tons of photography). The Sunday after I posted that diary (which sunk to the bottom of the ocean here, but went viral as a source document on the larger internet), our General Assembly consensus-agreed to change the name to (un)OccupyAlbuquerque. I meant to write about that but, alas, many people who were not at that GA didn't like that decision. We are still struggling with it. To me, it illustrates a problem that may haunt other GAs when the GA is smaller than the community surrounding it and it makes a controversial decision which may not be warmly embraced (or even understood) by many people connected to it.
So we are still conversing, sometimes arguing, sometimes breaking through, about who we are and how conflicts and such impact us, divide us, and may, eventually, make us stronger. Join me over the squiggle of complexity for more on what has happened in Burque.
In the midst of this conversation, our encampment at Yale Park, Camp Coyote, at the University of New Mexico, was forced out of its place, despite an amazing show of support from about 600 people on October 25. It was a beautiful, even celebratory, evening of non-violent civil disobedience in which 34 people were arrested.
Excellent video by Michael Palombo:
There were a few instances of not-so-non-violent action, and a crowd was pepper-sprayed and batoned by Albuquerque Police when someone ran from them into the crowd. Think about how your actions have consequences, folks!! That being said, I in no way condone the excessive use of "less than deadly force" by APD, which may be in violation of their own policy.
Video of that thanx to Michelle Line:
We were told by UNM that anybody associated with our group could not set foot on UNM property, so we met across the street at friendly Schlotzky's/Satellite in the rain to strategize. The next night we had a vigil for Scott Olsen on the sidewalk and received a message from the UNM Police that they respected us and had no idea why they were being ordered to do what they were being ordered to do.
We have continued to Generally Assemble at Yale Park on
limited permits (gained via a pair of
hunger-strikers and a
national campaign of support) as we decide what to do next. There may be a Relocation in our future, so stay tuned...
Meanwhile, we are quite active, even though our partial diaspora is a challenge. We have
teach-ins,
foreclosure events (New Mexico now has the second highest foreclosure rate in the US),
bank protests, and we marched to mourn the death of our First Amendment rights.
Friday, we are gathering downtown at Robinson Park, bringing our voices, our moves, our kitchen sinks, and our signs for a musical/artistic occupation,
11.11.11 Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. If you are near Burque, come on down for Concepto Tambor, Element 37, Aztec Dancers, Belly Dancers, Poetry and more!
We have been covered by Alternet, Amy Goodman, and The Nation as we push the envelope by challenging ourselves and each other to think deeply about what Occupation means, positively and negatively, in its various ways, to various people, when "99%" includes, in reality, many harsh divisions between us, including those which make more and more of us homeless.
We have been developing our own skills at making our own media, as this powerful video, again by Michelle Line, shows:
We communicate mostly via our Facebook home and two interlinked websites: (un)Occupy Albuquerque, Albuquerque's General Assembly consensed upon website, and Occupy Albuquerque, where "The resistance continues in Albuquerque and Worldwide!!!"
We started a very successful "occupation" of the busses in Burque in which the 99% are interviewed about their lives and their perceptions of (un)OccupyBurque. We are learning how important it is to not just protest, but to engage with the people in our city to address the problems we are having as a result of both the economic collapse caused by the Powers That Be and the structural injustices that have been perpetrated on colonized people here for centuries.
This past Sunday we had one of our best community actions, yet! We were invited to march in the Dia de Los Muertos Marigold Parade, a long-time celebration of death and life in the South Valley. It was clear from the general tone of things that, at least in Burque, many of the 99% Get It!
Rather than say more, I will let the pictures speak their thousand words as (un) Occupy / Occupy Albuquerque the 99% Speak!!!