dc mic check volume 2 issue 2

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Even before the raids that ended the encampments at

Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square, Occupy DC’s faith-

based community had begun to shift its focus.

“After a time, we felt the physical encampment had lost

its effectiveness towards the ends of the Occupy movement

[such as] ending inequality, corporate power in govern-

ment, and for us, as Christians, calling out a society that

worships money and economies in place of God,” said Jer-

emy John of Occupy Church.

The Christian activist group started out of a prayer tent

in McPherson Square, where they offered tea and conver-

sation to passersby and held a weekly service on Saturday

night, giving occupiers a space for worship and discussion.

Yet as the occupation continued, the prayer space lost

popularity and the small group lost faith in the encamp-

ment as a means to an end. By the end of December, Occu-

py Church had left McPherson Square to pursue new goals.

Another group, Occupy Faith DC, developed out of the

groundwork laid by Occupy Church and Occupy Judaism.

Unlike its predecessors, who focused on the political work

of the movement, Occupy Faith DC’s mission was to sup-

port the material and spiritual needs of the physical en-

campments by networking with local faith communities.

In the aftermath of the raids on McPherson Square and

Freedom Plaza, Occupy Faith DC played a significant role

in helping feed and house dislocated occupiers at affiliated

churches. But with the encampments gone, Occupy Faith

DC faced a fundamental question of self-definition.

Last month, around two hundred student activists from

colleges and universities around the Washington D.C. area

descended on Sallie Mae and the Department of Educa-

tion. On March 1, they voiced their concerns about ex-

ploding student debt, rising tuition costs, and the lack of

direct stakeholder input in the education reform process.

Responding to a call to action from Occupy Education, the

students brought banners, posters, and chants to demand

real change through a Students’ Declaration of Grievances.

As similar actions were occurring throughout the coun-

try, the students in Washington D.C. were met by a heavy

Homeland Security presence at the Department of Educa-

tion, which kept the protest confined to the sidewalk.

A representative of the Secretary of Education, Tim Tu-

tan, claimed to have carefully listened to everyone in thegroup who wished to express their concerns. Tutan was

given a copy of the students’ grievances and the books

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire and A People’s

History of the United States by Howard Zinn to present to

the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.

Braving torrential rain, police violence, and a sea of red

paint used for street theater, around 60 Occupy DC oc-

cupiers and their allies blockaded Monsanto’s downtown

Washington, D.C. office for almost two hours. The protest was a part of a nationwide “Shut Down the Corporations”

campaign in solidarity with Occupy Portland on the morn-

ing of February 29.

Occupy protesters around

the country targeted vari-

ous member corporations

of the American Legislative

Exchange Council (ALEC),

which represents over 300

corporations. The protest-

ers were bringing atten-

tion to the policy lobbying

group’s ghostwriting of leg-

islation.

The protesters specifical-

ly targeted the agricultural

biotechnology company Monsanto. “Money, for [Monsanto], comes before public

safety and there has to be a line drawn,” said Mike Basillas

from Occupy DC, explaining the choice to target Monsanto.

There was no shortage of targets. ALEC members in-

clude AT&T, Bank of America, Kraft Foods, McDonald’s,

and Walmart. ALEC also counts among its stakeholders 85

members of Congress (of both major political parties), 14

current or former governors, and over 2,000 members of

state legislatures. These individuals often take legislation written by ALEC and present them directly in their legis-

lature.

“[ALEC’s proposed legislation]

is passed to protect corporate in-

terest, usually at the expense of

the working classes,” said Tim

“Gonzo” Anderson of the Anar-

chist Alliance, one of the groups

that planned the action along

with D.C.’s Freedom Plaza and

McPherson Square occupations.

“ALEC is a true threat to democ-

racy and a true threat to the fu-

ture of the planet.”

A set of ALEC-authored voter

ID laws has been particularly

controversial recently. Votingrights groups say the laws could disenfranchise up to five

million voters in the United States. They also drafted Wis-

consin’s law abridging public union organizing and the

Florida “Stand Your Ground” deadly force law, which drew

national attention with the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Continued on page 5

Revs. Karen Brau and Suzanna Blume of LutherPlace celebrate Ash Wednesday. (Coulter Loeb)

Continued on page 4

MONSANTO QUICK FACTS

Headquarters: Creve Coeur, MO

Founded: 1901

Consumer product: Roundup weed killer

Sales (2010): $10.5 billion

Net profts (2010): $1.5 billion

Lobbying spending (2011): $6.4 million

Watchdog group: monsantowatch.org

Sales source: SEC

Lobbying source: OpenSecrets.org

Occupy Faith reaches out to greater D.C. with a message of social justice

By Matthew Santoro

D.C. collegestudents demandeducation reformLocal universities join

national day of actionBy Amal Mimish

Occupy DC targets corporations,lobbyists in nationwide action

By Michael Goldman

Continued on page 3

LIFE IN THESE OCCUPIED WASHINGTON TIMES We the 99%

D.C. Mic Check Washington, D.C. March/April 2012

Kelly Canavan demonstrates against anti-protesting laws at an Occupy DC march. Story, page 5.(Coulter Loeb)



2

On Saturday April 14, Occupy DC’s Corporate Person-hood Solutions working group will be hosting a large, day-

long conference to tackle the issue of money in politics and

its influence on national and local elected officials. The

conference was conceived of as a way to bring citizens, of-

ficials, academics, and activists from across the political

spectrum together to find common ground on the issue of

campaign finance.

The conference, entitled “Money Out of Politics Confer-

ence: How Cross-Partisan Citizen Movements Can Reform

Our Democracy in 2012 and Beyond,” will be held at All

Souls Unitarian Church at 1500 Harvard Street NW.

The event is slated to feature approximately eight speak-

ers and dozens of attendees from a wide variety of back-

grounds and political viewpoints including academics,

grassroots activists, and concerned community members.

Speakers include Harvard Professor and author Lawrence

Lessig and former Republican presidential candidate andcampaign finance advocate Buddy Roemer.

Members of the working group believe that it is pos-

sible to find significant common ground between citizens

from the left and the right on these issues. The organizers

are putting no limits on what solutions the speakers can

propose. “The point of this conference is to have an open

exchange of ideas on how we can decrease the influence

of money in politics,” said Gene Hummel from the work-

ing group. “We want an open platform to exchange a broad

range of innovative ideas.”

The Supreme Court’s controversial 2010 Citizens United

decision struck down congressional limitations on political

contributions on behalf of, but not directly to, a candidate.The resulting rise of influential SuperPACs, often funded

by billionaires or corporations, has caused significant con-

cern within the Republican ranks.

“Americans across the political spectrum are unhappy

with Citizens United. If we wish to move forward, we must

cross the aisle and build alliances across political lines,”

said Devora Liss of the working group. “[We hope] to start

to develop an understanding of how these different groups

can agree.”

Committee members hope the conference will serve as

a forum to learn about, discuss, and plan people-powered

solutions to eliminate what they call the “corrosive influ-

ence of large corporate and personal contributions in poli-

tics.”

“Political representatives should be responsive to the

citizenry,” concluded Liss, “Citizens United allows such an

influx of money that citizen’s voices are drowned out. Or,rather, monied out.”

The event is Saturday, April 14 from 9:15-4:15.

Registration is free but required. Sign-ups can

be completed at moneyout.eventbrite.com.

For the first three issues, this paper was given excellent

service by a sympathetic independent New York printshop,

Linco Printing. However, as D.C. issues grew larger and lo-

cal groups gained interest, it was time for a local connec-

tion. The newspaper team quickly realized that it’s almost

impossible for a shoe-string publication like this to print

both on newsprint and in a union shop.The newspaper committee found that there were almost

no union printshops in D.C., and those that could be found

did not have the equipment needed for a tabloid or broad-

sheet - they focused on leaflets, brochures, flyers, and other

small press. Eventually, the D.C. Mic Check was put in con-

tact with Doyle Printing and Offset in Hyattsville, Mary-

land, thanks to friends at the Metro Washington Labor

Council. But one thing couldn’t be carried over – the paper.

Newsprint was not an option.

In general, North American newsprint manufacturers

are largely unionized, but few union printers are able to

process newsprint paper for publication. This is because

newsprint requires “web presses” which need to be fed pa-

per from enormous rolls, not individual sheets. The mini-

mum wholesale order for these rolls is 40,000 pounds of

paper – a “truckload” in the industry jargon – and smaller

union shops don’t have the equipment, the demand, or thefinancial resources to produce these large orders. As a re-

sult, newsprint jobs tend to be dominated by large printing

firms that profit from volume.

Instead of roll-fed web presses, small shops use sheet-

fed presses that use pre-cut sheets of a certain size, like

those this paper is now printed on. Though small shops

can broker a large newsprint job out to one of the nation’s

large union printers, shipping and large minimum printruns drive up the price and make it inaccessible to small

publications. This kind of arrangement is common around

D.C., since most union business comes from the capital

even though the big printers have moved out.

A manager at a Maryland paper distributor explained

the hurdles facing union print shops in D.C. Mainly, he

said, costs have simply been going up as Washington has

developed over the last 40 years. Wages are higher, leases

are more expensive, and the tax breaks and other consid-

erations that were once available for light industry like

printing have largely been shifted to service and housing

industries. As a result, it doesn’t make business sense to

locate in the District as it becomes increasingly dense and

urban. “They are very sensitive to be close to their clients,

and Baltimore is not a union town,” said the manager.

And that’s why the D.C. Mic Check went glossy: to go

union.

www.dcmiccheck.org

Editors~

Jill Blazek Natalie Camou

Benjamin DanielsMichael Goldman

Joe Gray Devora Liss

Coulter LoebKarina Stenquist

Jason Woltjen

Contact~

[email protected]@occupydc.org

Printing~

Doyle Printing & Offset5206 46th Avenue

Hyattsville, MD

3000 copies

Credits~

Special thanks to the Metro WashingtonLabor Council, the Washington-BaltimoreNewspaper Guild (CWA Local 32035), andthe Communication Workers of America forsupporting this publication.

Back page photo: Kenneth Randazzo

Mission~

The D.C. Mic Check was commissioned by the General Assembly of Occupy DC atMcPherson Square. Free from corporateadvertisers, this paper is dedicated tocovering all aspects of the movement forsocial and economic justice in the D.C. area.Our goal is to show readers that there is realhope for change in D.C. by highlighting whatis being done, and showing them how they can join the ght.

Check MicD.C.

Volume 2, Issue 2

The politics of paper Why isn’t this paper on newsprint anymore?

By Benjamin Daniels

Conference organized to form allianceson campaign finance

By Matt Patterson

by Mike Flugennock

Donate online at dcmiccheck.org



3

After students requested a timeline for when their de-

mands would be met, Tutan promised to meet with the

Secretary of Education personally and to provide an of-ficial response by March 9. The date passed, no response

was received, and American University (AU) students were

unable to contact Tutan. Student groups continue to reach

out to the department for a response.

One common concern voiced by the students was the

high cost of college. “I come from a poor family … a lot of

young people go to the military just so they can go to col-

lege,” said Michael Patterson, who recently returned from

serving in Iraq. “How many of our soldiers have died trying

to go to college?”

“I am fortunate enough to have parents who can afford topay for an education that will open up a world of opportu-

nities for me,” said Ashley Weston, a student at American

University. “A good education should not be out of reach

for anyone. Education is a right, not a privilege, and I stand

by that statement.”

One protester, a student at The George Washington Uni-

versity, said that she was $66,000 in debt and “was not

even done yet.”

Some university students involved have already begun to

take a proactive approach to solving the problem of nar-

row educational choices. An alternative education working

group, formed by Occupy AU, hopes to design free one-day

weekend courses on subjects that are not covered in the

university’s curriculum. Occupy AU hopes to open these

events to all members of the Washington D.C. community

to ensure there are no boundaries between universities and

the communities that surround them.

Follow & contact the DC student Occupy movement

on Twitter as @AUOccupy @OccupyUMD

Since Occupy DC was evicted from McPherson Square,

I’ve been sleeping in a college house known as Porterhaus -a short walk away from American University.

I was eager to see how American University General As-

sembly (AU-GA) functioned since some of my roommates

are involved. After months spent standing in the metro-

politan assemblies of Cincinnati and D.C., I found myself

sitting in a neatly arranged circle of about 25 students in

AU’s School of International Service. I watched, listened

and, in the end, was impressed by nearly every aspect of

the AU-GA.

While there is certainly room for improvement, the AU-

GA runs like a well-oiled machine compared to the open

public general assemblies. In only an hour and twenty min-

utes, they tackled issues so complex that it would take a

‘regular’ GA of equal size hours, if not days, to chew through

them. Standards of interpersonal respect were palpably

stronger and the group adhered closely to stack - a process

which organizes the input of participants.I began to analyze why the student body is well-suited to

this form of organization and came up with the following

theory.

The internet is an information mill: it requires from ev-

eryone the same basic sets of rules and etiquette to effec-

tively interface. Current university students are the first to

have lifelong immersion in internet patterns of behavior.

None in this generation remember a time before their in-

ternet browser. In the era of podcast lectures and online

textbooks, classrooms have never been this technologically

integrated. The internet, a machine of complex social in-

teractions, allows this generation of students to consume

and utilize higher densities of information than ever before.

Interfacing with a system based simply on 1’s and 0’s re-

quires adherence to a standard set of procedures across the

board. Juggling multiple email accounts, blogs, vlogs, and

tweets has become part of the everyday experience. Life-long exposure to these systems builds a strong base upon

which students are able to interact and share information.

Higher densities of information flowing through this

social system allows greater potential for connectivity

among ideas. This structure enables student discussions

to resonate across more wavelengths. When combined

with the standardized rules of a general assembly, just as

when combined with the standardized rules of the internet,

discussion results in more cooperation among individuals.

The machine that is the AU-GA is measurably more com-

plex and capable than the metropolitan assemblies I had

stood in on for the past few months.

This generation’s technological capacity is only a reflec-

tion of how our society is evolving into a digital world. The

internet is the only medium across which GA as we know it

can be fully explored. There are other student assemblies

just as capable as AU’s; they make up the pieces of machin-ery necessary to form a digital national student body far

more powerful than the sum of its parts.

Expanding to an online national assembly which reaches

beyond students to the community would integrate those

previously disenfranchised into the policy process. We

must take the first step towards a more democratic system

by building the infrastructure for an online national stu-

dent GA.

Students are the stewards of our future democracy; we

must embrace our responsibility to this nation. We must

defend our rights and see out our visions; we must let those

powerful few know that we are here to stay. Across the na-

tion thousands have been evicted from encampments; we

the people are running out of time to define ‘freedom’ for

ourselves before those in power define it for us.

Occupy Educationtakes root in D.C.

Continued from page1

Students’ Declaration of Grievances andDemands to the Department of Education

1) Democratize education by giving students,

parents and teachers the primary role in theeducation reform process and implement

budget transparency.

2) All persons must have equal access to

high-quality education.

3) De-privatize the student loan industry.

4) Remove corporate inuence from educa-

tion to allow for multi-perspective under-

standing of existing social, economic and

political paradigms.

5) States must improve funding for educa-

tion to eliminate the lack of opportunity

amongst impoverished and marginalized

communities.

Students march on Sallie Mae and the

Department of Education. (Coulter Loeb)

Top: Students use “book block” shields during the march to the Department of Education.Bottom: Occupy American University mic checks Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. (Coulter Loeb)

The gears of democracy are turningClosing the gap between the people and the power

By Coulter Loeb

Occupy on Campus



4

The colonists who founded this country fought a revolu-tionary war against taxation without representation. Morethan 200 years later, one of the most absurd American iro-

nies is that the people of our capital city pay federal taxes but get no vote in Congress, and are, essentially, colonized.

“We have been conditioned to look at ourselves as slavesand to accept it,” said

D.C. activist Jose-phine Butler in 1994.

“We have to be will-ing to show Congress

that as much as they may try to shackle us, we still know how to break loose.”

Butler spoke those words just 20 yearsafter D.C. was grant-ed the right to vote

for its own mayor andcity council, and 33 years after D.C. residents were permitted to vote for presi-dent. Between 1874 and 1975, U.S. presidents appointed

about 100 different commissioners to run our largely black city. All but one was white and all but one was male.

Today D.C. has one non-voting delegate in Congress – El-eanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) – and it is the only city that

has to pass its new laws and budgets through congressio-nal review. Such review is the duty of the House OversightCommittee – the “overseers,” as one student called themin a recent teach-in. That committee is chaired by Darrell

Issa (R-Calif.), a Republican who represents a district onthe other side of the continent. He is also the wealthiestmember of Congress, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.Issa, who received 94% of his campaign contributions from

outside of his district, successfully called for the NationalPark Service to forcefully evict the two Occupy DC encamp-ments.

In the context of America’s purported dedication tospreading democracy around the world, it is a telling in-congruity that we are the only so-called democracy in the

world whose capital is unrepresented in its national leg-islature. This longstanding injustice and the national lack

of awareness inspired several members of Occupy DC toembark on a hunger strike, demanding that Congress grant

D.C. full representation and autonomy.The five members of Occupy the Vote DC took only water

for different periods of time, ranging from eight to 25 days.They were joined by solidarity strikers for 24 to 48 hoursat a time, including Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-Minn.),longtime civil rights activist Dick Gregory, and many oth-

ers. This lasted for 51 consecutive days, to symbolize the51st state that D.C. should be.

“As long-time devotees of the Occupy movement we feelthat the game is rigged against the 99% of Americans and

people across the world – the silencing and overpoweringof our voices by the 1% is a form of disenfranchisement,”

said a hunger striker. “But we also feel that to exclude100% of Washingtonians from being represented in gov-ernment, especially while taxing us, is to commit a directact of disenfranchisement and colonization.”

Despite this, there are those who remain content to deny the 617,000 residents of Washington, D.C. the same demo-cratic rights they cherish for themselves.

The most common argument against the liberation of D.C.

is Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 of the Constitution, whichgives Congress the power “to exercise exclusive legislationin all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding

ten Miles square) as may,

by Cession of particularStates, and the acceptanceof Congress, become theSeat of the Government of the United States.”

However, constitutionalscholars have noted thatthe “Seat of the Govern-ment” need only refer to the

National Mall and the partsof Capitol Hill where thefederal government build-ings are located. Since the

only requirement is that it be smaller than ten-by-ten

miles, what is considered the seat of government could beshrunken down to solely encompass the federal govern-

ment’s land, thereby withdrawing the blanket of disenfran-

chising oversight from the rest of the city.Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of people inD.C. do not work for the federal government – nor are they

even represented in it.

Sam Jewler can be reached on Twitter as

@luddofthefuture and as part of

@occupythevotedc.

President Obama recently called for a reduction of thecorporate tax rate, frequently cited as one of the highest

rates in the industrialized world. But focusing on one num-

ber oversimplies the issue. There’s more than one way to

look at corporate taxation.

The oft-mentioned 35% rate is the statutory rate – think

of that as the “in theory” tax rate. And yes, among the Or-

ganization for Economic Cooperation and Development

(OECD) nations, the 35% rate of the U.S. is currently the

highest. But the statutory rate doesn’t tell us what propor-

tion of total prots a corporation actually pays in taxes. The

effective corporate tax rate is the “in practice” rate.

The statutory and effective rates are different because

corporations have many ways to keep some of their in-

come from counting as “taxable” income, or the total that

the 35% rate applies to. Some corporations keep income

overseas, and others nd loopholes with bizarre industry

nicknames like the “Double Irish” or the “Dutch Sandwich.” A 2008 report from the U.S. Government Accountability

Ofce (GAO) measured the U.S. effective corporate tax rate

at an average of 25.2% in 2004, almost ten points lower

than the statutory rate. The 2008 GAO report found that

over a third of corporate taxpayers paid effective rates of

10% or less, while only a quarter had rates over 50%.

The World Bank’s 2009 Doing Business report on taxes

compares the effective rate to some other G8 and BRIC na-

tions and the U.S. comes in lower than several, including

Italy, Brazil and China.

Even this gure doesn’t tell the whole story, because it’s

still an average. There’s a lot of variation in the effective

tax rates among U.S. corporations. A report by Citizens

for Tax Justice broke down the “in practice” rate by indus-try. At the high end were corporations working in retail

and wholesale (27.7%), household and personal products

(24.2%), and food, beverage, and tobacco (23.8%). At the

low end were industrial and farm equipment (6.2%), trans-

portation (4.3%), and aerospace and defense (1.6%).

In 2010, U.S. corporations contributed 10.9% to the

overall U.S. tax receipts, placing it sixth among the 34

OECD countries. Just one year earlier however, corporate

taxes were 6.9% of total revenues, pushing the U.S. even

further down the list.

If we look at U.S. corporate taxes as a percentage of the

country’s total GDP, we fall somewhere in the middle of

the OECD countries. In 2010, corporate taxes made up

2.7% of U.S. GDP - compared to Norway (9.7%) at the top

and Germany (1.4%) and Estonia (1.2%) at the bottom.

But again, focusing on one year can be deceptive. In

2009, only 1.7% of GDP came from corporate taxes. The White House budget gures are even lower: 1.3% in 2010

and 1.0% in 2009.

So let’s get some historical perspective, starting with the

“in theory” rate of 35%. This rate has been steadily falling

since the ‘60s, when the top corporate rate was at 52.8%.

The effective corporate tax rate has also fallen over time.

Data from the Economic Report of the President shows it

was around 20% in 2009 and 25% in 2010. This is down

from a high of around 45% in the mid-’70s.

Corporate taxes are also contributing less to overall tax

receipts. White House budget data shows that corporate

taxes used to be as much as 40% of total tax revenue back

in the ‘40s. Ofce of Management and Budget (OMB) data

show that payroll taxes seem to have

lled that gap.

As far as corporate tax as a percent-

age of GDP, there’s been a lot of varia-tion, but it’s been a downward trend

since a high of over 7% of GDP in the

‘40s.

Even beyond what has been out-

lined above, there are other measures

(like marginal effective corporate tax

rate) that add layers to this issue. The

focus on the 35% statutory rate and its

comparison to other nations, without

taking into account other measures or

a historical perspective, is a choice to

see the issue through only one of many

lenses.

Payroll taxes have grown to ll the gap (source: OMB)

Federal tax revenue per capita

D.C. residents pay the highest per capita taxes in the nation by a wide margin. (Source: IRS)

Share of federal tax revenue

“After the raids, the changes in terms of Occupy [DC]

have become more apparent. Before the raids, a lot of peo-

ple had focused [on] the encampments,” explained James

Lee, a founding member of Occupy Faith DC. “Since that

time, it’s become clear that there’s been a shift to more ac-

tion, more organizing, more outreach into the communi-

ties.” The movements are working to keep Occupy’s mes-

sage alive in local communities of faith.

Occupy Church maintains solidarity with members of

Occupy DC, but now focuses its energies on reviving social

justice practices within Christian communities. Their top

priorities include foreclosure resistance, stockholder activ-ism, and supporting the Move Your Money project.

Meanwhile, Occupy Faith DC is developing its own ini-

tiatives. They plan to host an economic inequality and so-

cial justice event the weekend of May 19 that will involve

at least 14 houses of worship around the greater D.C. area.

In addition to building faith-based support for Occupy’s

core issues, Lee expressed concern over what he called an

“exploitive” approach to austerity measures and cutbacks.

Social welfare responsibilities are being shifted into the

hands of faith-based communities that don’t have the re-

sources to handle the overload, he said.

“We can’t do it alone; we shouldn’t be expected to do it

alone,” Lee contends. “We’re going to hold them account-

able so they cannot shirk the responsibility of attending to

the general welfare of our society.”

Occupy Faith

Occupy DC Christians carry an idol of WallStreet’s “Charging Bull” (Coulter Loeb)

Continued from page1

Taxation without representation:The colony in Congress’ backyard

By Sam Jewler

What’s in a number?Statutory rates hide the truth about corporate taxes

By Karina Stenquist



5

Occupiers and other political activists are calling for the

removal of a section of the current Criminal Code Amend-

ments Act (CCAA) being considered by the D.C. City Coun-

cil, charging that provisions in the law create unreasonable barriers to peaceful protests.

Criminal Code Amendment Acts are typically brought

up annually and designed to clean up loose ends related to

the existing criminal code. However, the 2012 bill would

make it illegal to be “disruptive” inside a building, “block”

a park or reservation, or return to a location after being

ordered to leave during a protest.

“The United States as a whole is taking away all the vari-

ous rights that we’ve struggled and fought for,” said Sean,

an activist who wished to withhold his last name.

The bill was introduced by Councilmember Phil Mendel-

son on January 4, after the U.S. Attorney for the District

of Columbia submitted it to him for introduction into the

Council’s Judiciary Committee.

According to the Council’s website, the act is intended

“to permit a charge ... where one or more persons dem-

onstrate in an area where it is not permitted and remainor return to the area after receiving a warning from law

enforcement…to amend the District of Columbia Law En-

forcement Act of 1953 in order to prohibit excessive noise

and disruptive conduct in public buildings.”

The protest-related section of the CCAA could criminal-

ize certain type of peaceful protest. The Council appears to

be slipping it into a bill designed to update existing crimi-

nal statutes as an attempt to restrict our rights by pairing

the protest language with issues that are not only unlikely

to meet much opposition, but to garner support.

If the CCAA of 2012 passes with the anti-protest lan-

guage in place, it is likely that members of Occupy DC or

other groups will bring suit against the government to pre-

serve our constitutional rights. “This is a clear example of

the type of fascist state that the United States government

is putting upon the working classes of the United States,

because capitalism inevitably fails,” said Sean. “Unless theinternational working class uprises against it, the United

States will become a police state.”

The ambiguity of terms like “blocking” or “disruptive” is

a major concern for protesters. Many believe this is intend-

ed to give police the additional legal room needed to quash

peaceful protests at their discretion.

Occupy DC is currently organizing a campaign to contact

council members and insist that the protest language be

taken out of the bill. Several occupiers attended the hear-

ing on March 16 to testify about the possible enforcement

implications.

Occupy DC took its tents to the streets on February 13

for the first planned “targeted occupation.” The one-night

occupations were intended to single out specific entities for

particular grievances. The first protest was meant to targetDarrell Issa’s connection to Merrill Lynch as a major stake-

holder. The protest was met with arrests on the basis of a

D.C. law that has not been used in decades.

The Merrill Lynch office on 15th street was targeted to

highlight the relationship between Darrell Issa (R-Calif.),

the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Govern-

ment Reform, and Merrill Lynch – the largest holder of

Issa’s money. Darrell Issa used his congressional author-

ity to delay a Treasury Department inquiry into the Bank

of America-Merrill Lynch merger. During the 15-day delay,

he traded $206 million through Merrill Lynch.

“Darrell Issa epitomizes pay-for-play politics, social in-

justice and crony capitalism,” stated Matthew Kirkland, a

participant in the protest. Darrell Issa also receives more

money from the oil and gas industries than any other mem-

ber of Congress. He used his power as committee chair to

block an inquiry into the energy sector’s involvement indriving up gas prices.

When they set up tents in front of the bank’s offices, the

30 or so protesters made sure to stay within the letter of

the law of D.C. and ensured that people could pass on the

sidewalk and did not block any entrances or exits. “We

consulted with Jeff [Light of the National Lawyers Guild]

about ten times,” explained Kirkland. He added that no law

was found that forbid setting up tents.

Despite this fact, about 30 police officers arrived to ar-

rest the protesters peacefully exercising their First Amend-

ment rights. The police cited a law, drafted over a century

ago, to justify the arrests. D.C. Municipal Regulation 24-

121 states: “No person or persons shall set up, maintain, or

establish any camp or any temporary place of abode in any

tent ... on public or private property, without the consent of

the Mayor of the District of Columbia.”

Since the protesters intended leave empty tents there forabout 18 to 20 hours, the law did not apply to the protest-

ers. There was no intent to make the tent an “abode” by

living in it, explained Kirkland. “A targeted occupation is a

setting up of ceremonial tents to raise awareness.”

Of the six tents that went up, five went down as people

did not want borrowed tents to be seized. The two protest-

ers who remained entered the lone tent and were arrest-

ed. The charges were dropped after the law was deemed

inapplicable, and the two arrested protesters are now suing

the police department for unlawful arrest.

Syrian-Americans rallied in protest near the White

House on March 17 to mark the first anniversary of the Syr-

ian uprising. Over a thousand attendees chanted condem-

nation of the brutal assaults on protesters by Syrian Presi-

dent Bashar al-Assad’s security forces. Assad is reported to

have killed over 9,000 of his citizens. The diverse crowd

included devotees of both moderate and conservative re-

ligious persuasions, Iranians, Egyptians, and around 20

people from Occupy DC who marched in solidarity.

In Syria, activists began protesting one year ago in the

city of Daraa, outraged at the torture of schoolboys who

had painted graffiti on a grain silo. Sasha Ghosh, who is

affiliated with the Syrian Emergency Task Force and who

recently spoke in McPherson Square, 11 out of 14 provinces

in Syria have protests on a daily basis.

The impassioned protesters’ cries for Syria’s freedom

echoed amidst the beauty of blooming cherry and magno-

lia trees. Many children and families were present at the

protest as well as youth who wore masks to conceal their

faces. Several youths expressed concerns that if their iden-

tities were revealed, security forces would persecute their

family members in Syria. “I have an uncle in Homs and

I’m afraid for him. I haven’t heard from him in two weeks,”

said Ameeri, a young man with a Syrian flag painted on his

face. Like many, he wished to withhold his last name for

fear of retribution by the Syrian regime.

At one point the protest grew so large that park police

told the protest organizers they had to move. The protest-ers then circled around a huge unfurled Syrian flag before

moving to a stage area of the park for impassioned speech-

es and songs of solidarity.

The Syrian protesters say they seek regime change, de-

mocracy, human rights, and the abolition of the court sys-

tem which is used to incarcerate citizens without due pro-

cess. What a great number of Syrians want from the United

States is “more humanitarian aid, more international sup-

port, and more media,” according to Ghosh. Syrian media

is run by the government, he said, so there are few inde-

pendent voices to spread the message. Ghosh hoped the

rally will help to add to the chorus of voices for regime

change in Syria.

At around 7:30 a.m., after protesting at ALEC’s offices

on L Street NW, Occupy DC used artwork and chains to

block the entrance to Monsanto’s offices at 1300 I Street

NW. After attempting to violently shove protesters out of

the doorway and ripping signs out of the their hands, po-

lice set up a perimeter in preparation to arrest protesters.

In total, there were 12 arrests of peaceful protesters, some

still seated as they were handcuffed.

Monsanto came under fire from several occupations. Ac-cording to Occupy Portland’s press release on Shut Down

the Corporations, Monsanto worked with ALEC to draft

bills which strip cities and counties of their ability to regu-

late genetically modified crops and pesticides like those

manufactured by Monsanto.

Some studies have shown that crops grown from geneti-

cally modified seeds are potentially harmful to those who

consume them. In 2010, a study in the International Jour-

nal of Biological Science demonstrated increased rates of

organ damage among animals who were exposed to the ge-

netically modified seed products.

Monsanto is currently responsible for 90% of genetically modified seed in the United States, according to the Natu-

ral Society. The group recently awarded Monsanto with its

“Worst Company of 2011” award.

“Monsanto is killing a generation of Americans,” stated

Lacy MacAuley of Occupy DC, “and they are wielding cor-

porate power to keep us from knowing about it.”

The company is “pushing farmers out and pushing their

own agenda,” said Basillas. “[Profit over people] is some-

thing that is commonly seen in their products. If they’re

mindful of people’s health, I’ll support them. Unfortunate-

ly, they’re going the other direction.”

Monsanto, ALECContinued from page 1

Demonstrators gather outside in downtown D.C. to protest the atrocities

being committed in Syria. (John Zangas)

Freedom in D.C.D.C. crime billtargets protesters

By Kelly Canavan

Police bend rulesto arrest protesters

By Sam Dukore

Syrian community, supporters rally against Assad atrocitiesBy John Zangas

(Will Pierce)



6

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan vowed to help improve the

relationship between city police and journalists during a

recent meeting with news gatherers and professional or-ganizations.

The meeting, held in late February at Oakland City Hall,

was called in an effort to discuss incidents of working re-

porters and photographers being detained and in some

cases arrested by Oakland Police Department officers dur-

ing several Occupy Oakland protests in recent months.

“I think we have OK policies, but can there be improve-

ments?” Quan asked.

The police department’s policy currently states that

“Even after a dispersal order has been given, clearly identi-

fied media shall be permitted to carry out their profession-

al duties in any area where arrests are being made unless

their presence would unduly interfere with the enforce-

ment action.”

Sara Steffens, a CWA District 9 staff representative, said

the flaw lies not with the police department’s policy, but

with its enforcement.“Our concern is that our members should be able to be

out there working and not having to spend the night in jail,”

Steffens said. “We don’t have a problem with the policy,

but what’s happening in the heat of the moment.”

Some of the worst incidents occurred last fall, and in-

cluded police hassling Oakland Tribune photographer Ray

Chavez, ripping the flash from his camera and throwing it

to the ground. Comics journalist and Pacific Media Work-

ers Guild freelance member Susie Cagle endured a 15-hour

stint in jail after being arrested while covering Occupy

Oakland in November, despite her having identified her-

self as a working journalist.

Cagle also was among at least six journalists, includ-

ing credentialed media from the San Francisco Chronicle,

KGO radio news and Mother Jones magazine, detained

and plastic-shackled while covering the Occupy Oakland

rally in late January.Officers ignored reporters presenting their press cre-

dentials - some of them even issued by the Oakland and

San Francisco police departments - and reprimanded them

for not following dispersal orders, according to a letter to

the city from Bernie Lunzer, president of The Newspaper

Guild, and other press leaders.

“Freedom of the press is key to our democracy and must

be vigorously defended,” the letter states. “Arrests of jour-

nalists and other police interference with reporters and

photographers cannot be tolerated.”

The coalition representing journalists included Steffens,

Society of Professional Journalists Northern California

Chapter President Liz Enochs, First Amendment attorney

Geoff King and three working journalists. I also was there

on behalf of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521

of The Newspaper Guild.

During the meeting, Sgt. Christopher Bolton, chief of staff for the police chief, said that he reached out to jour-

nalists he knew were detained during the January Occupy

Oakland protests, but the department needs to be made

aware of all other allegations of misconduct so that addi-

tional investigations can be launched.

Quan said the “fake media around Occupy” are hamper-

ing the city’s ability to discern real media from personal bloggers and others, but she also questioned Bolton re-

peatedly about officers’ reaction to credentialed media

during protests.

Bolton said the incidents the department is aware of are

being investigated and he’s still awaiting the f indings.

Protestors outnumbered officers during the chaotic me-

lee, he said.

“I believe there were most likely mistakes made,” he said.

“When I knew there were incidents, I called editors desks,

I sent someone out to pick up Gavin Aronsen (of Mother

Jones), I spoke personally with people,” Bolton said. “My

point on that is we had an existing policy and an operations

briefing before each operation that clearly said what policy

was and what expectations were of our officers. We’re ac-

countable for those failures.”

Now, the police department’s policy regarding Occupy

and media coverage has been bolstered, Bolton added. A commander, public information officer or Bolton himself

will be dispatched if there’s any disagreement or grievance

made between the police and working media.

The department also has instituted a temporary press

pass policy. Members of the working media who either

lack credentials or want the additional press badge now

can check out a daily press pass from the Oakland PD.

Commanders also have been trained regarding the de-

partment’s media policy, Bolton said, and directives also

have been e-mailed to them.

Bolton said they’re also learning lessons from the less

contentious Occupy actions, and that pool camera access

may be pursued more in the future.

“But that’s impeding on our coverage,” said Jane Tyska,

an Oakland Tribune photojournalist who attended the

meeting.

Steffens, of CWA District 9, said police escorts and poolaccess could have a chilling effect on news coverage. It’s a

good addition, along with the temporary Oakland PD press

pass, but it isn’t all that’s needed.

“We’d love to see a clear directive go out that whatever

happens between an officer and journalist, please don’t in-

terfere with our equipment,” she said.

Quan questioned whether it was city officers or other

agency officers called in as mutual aid that detained or ar-

rested journalists during the January protest. That will be

investigated, she said.

Quan also committed to investigating the police depart-

ment’s policy regarding interfering with journalists’ prop-

erty, better communicating Oakland PD’s media policy to

mutual aid agencies and talking to the police chief about

including Guild and SPJ officials and members as a panel

during officer training.

Niesha Lofing, president of the

Pacific Media Workers Guild, can be

reached at [email protected].

A little over three years after the workers at Republic

Windows and Doors in Chicago won back pay and benefits

from the closing company by occupying their Goose Island

factory in a six-day sit-down strike, they had to do it again.

The workers have occupied the same factory, now owned

by Serious Materials, to protest being laid off without no-

tice after the closing of the factory.

The 2008 occupation was “a perfect parable of all that

was wrong with the financial crisis,” wrote organizer and

journalist Micah Uetricht in Salon. “[It raised] the ques-

tion of whether similar tactics will spread to other parts of

the progressive movement in the near future.”

Then, workers led by Robles organized a sit-down strike

to protest their legally owed severance, accrued vacation

time, and temporary health benefits. They occupied the

plant for six days before emerging as victors. “We [were]

just asking for a little time to find a way to save these jobs,”said Vicente Rangel, a worker at the factory.

What sparked the the 2012 occupation, said Uetricht,

was that “workers were told today was to be last day of pro-

duction. Workers demanded [a] chance to find [a] buyer,

save jobs … or start [a] worker-owned cooperative. [Seri-

ous Materials] said no, so they occupied.”

According to Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Local 1

member and Huffington Post blogger Kenzo Shibata,

“Workers and management were close to an agreement.

Now management wants to back out.”

“We are not leaving until we are satisfied,” Melvin Ma-

clin, a worker at Serious Materials and vice president of

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America

(UE) Local 1110, told the Occupied Chicago Tribune. Arise

Chicago issued an action alert calling for UE members and

supporters to occupy the factory.

Pizza was delivered to the occupying workers, but the

delivery met with some resistance from Chicago police. Ac-

cording to Uetricht, the pizza was let in after chants of “let

the workers eat,” and after one supporter told the police,

“Sir, you don’t want to be on camera denying workers piz-za.” But, according to Chicagoist reporter Aaron Cynic, the

CPD refused to let more food into the building.

Occupy Chicago’s labor committee supported the work-

ers’ occupation of Serious Materials. Reinforcements from

Occupy Chicago arrived at the factory and by 11:30pm had

pitched tents along with a banner reading “WORKERS

UNITE.”

UE union organizer Mark Meinster, who helped plan the

Republic Windows and Doors occupation, made a state-

ment on behalf of the occupying workers in which he said

that a deal could have been reached hours earlier if the

owners had agreed to negotiate in person. Instead, he said,

they would only communicate by phone.

Workers demanded that the company keep the plant

open three more months to explore different options, in-

cluding looking for another buyer. They also demanded

pay for workers during that time. “We had to occupy, that’s why we expect to get everything we asked for this morning,”

said Meinster.

Workers exited the factory through the main doors

around 1 a.m., with the company having agreed to their de-

mands. According to Meinster, “A deal has been struck to

try and save the jobs. Serious Materials has agreed to keep

the plant operational and people on the job for another 90

days while the union workers and the company work to-

gether to find a way to keep the plant open with new own-

ership because the plant will no longer be part of Serious

Materials’ business plan. After 9 hours the occupation has

ended with a hopeful workforce.”

The Occupied Chicago Tribune can be found

on Twitter as @OccupiedChiTrib.

Nathan Grant (“OccupyEye” on UStream) livestreams arrests at the D.C. Merrill Lynch ofce.

(Coulter Loeb)

(Jacob Anikulapo)

Oakland mayor Quan answers questionsabout Occupy journalist arrests

By Niesha Lofing

Serious Materials: Workers occupy Goose Island plant

From The Occupied Chicago Tribune

National Dispatches



7

As Occupy camps spread throughout Southern California

in early October, a small group of occupiers located at City

Hall in Los Angeles reflected on our experiences setting up

a camp and our first assemblies. “It’d be awesome to see

what they do in San Diego,” I remember saying, sitting in

the comfort of Occupy LA’s People’s Library. “Do you think

the cops will even let them put down tents?” The librarian

replied, “We should help them. We should be there so that

their first GA isn’t as bad as ours was.” As we would soon

learn, both the challenges and the potential of coordinating

Occupy assemblies would be far greater than that.

After moving the camp to the Civic Center and doggedly

resisting pressure to leave, OSD was given an eviction no-

tice. Occupiers were pepper sprayed when they decided

to defend one tent in the middle of a public space. I raced

down to San Diego to help arrange bail funds that night. A young man claiming to be from Occupy Wall Street suggest-

ed that remaining members of OSD break off into smaller

groups and spread out around the city. He disrupted the

General Assembly several times. I was perplexed, because

if this person was really from OWS, he should know how to

build consensus rather than cause disruptions. On my way

back from OSD I stopped at Occupy Long Beach to check

in. There, one occupier mentioned Occupy San Francisco

heard 5,000 people were coming from OWS to OSF to pre-

vent eviction. Infiltration was afoot, but I had no direct line

to OWS to confirm or deny these rumors.

I went back to OLA dismayed, eager to find someone

with a connection to OWS on the ground. I thought about

sending an email—but to whom, and how would I know

their information was reliable? At that time, most emails

that were sent around occupations went unanswered for a

variety of reasons, including inability to access computers

and Wi-Fi at the camps. Fortunately, the brother of some-

one at OLA, Jackrabbit, was at OWS. Jackrabbit was pa-

tient with my paranoia and assured me that there wasn’t a

plan from OWS to send anyone to California. In fact, they

didn’t even have 5,000 people at OWS. I relayed the info

back to San Diego, and the infiltrator disappeared from

OSD the next day and never returned. Crisis averted, with

just a simple phone call.

The last week of October, I received notice that the OWS

Movement Building Working Group would be hosting a

conference call with other occupations on October 24th.

The OLA Occupation Communication Committee set up a

speakerphone in the media tent at our camp and dialed in.

There were over one hundred people on that call and near-ly 40 occupations represented. At the end of it, OWS asked

for volunteers to help set up the next call—and thus began

the early makings of InterOccupy. The first “Call Planning”

meeting happened via telephone the following Thursday,

when we decided on some protocols for rotating the hosts

of the Monday night general call and soliciting agenda

items. Occupy Philadelphia led the charge on the second

general call, and OLA took up the third—albeit with techni-

cal support from OWS when the bomb squad showed up at

OLA that night. After much debate, this small call-planning

group settled on registering the domain name InterOccupy.

org and started a call calendar.

InterOccupy is able to put horizontality at the forefront

of its mission to foster coordination across general assem-

blies and working groups. Any occupation can ask for a

call, and no one agenda is given priority. The content of the

calls, therefore, is up to the movement itself, with the goal

of aligning strategy and actions, not to efface the autonomy of local assemblies.

Because many of us started out traveling and connect-

ing with other occupations face to face, we knew that the

virtual network is strengthened, both emotionally and ef-

fectively, by physical encounters with one another. Mod-

eled on the communication networks in the American

revolution, Occupy Philly designed a network model called

Committees of Correspondence. CoCs are encouraged to

spread information about the actions of other occupations,

inform local working groups about upcoming calls through

InterOccupy and arrange face to face regional meet-ups.

This model greatly increased the density of ties between

occupations and, in doing, the volume of calls through In-

terOccupy.

Occupy SoCal in Long Beach recently hosted the first re-

gional gathering with 50 occupiers from 10 occupations at-

tending. We discussed how to better facilitate our commu-nication, how to work together towards the proposed May

1st general strike and how to combat corporatism nonvio-

lently. A second meet-up for Occupy SoCal was scheduled

for Februrary 11, and InterOccupy helped to coordinate it.

Others working with InterOccupy have gone on an OWS

bus tour, spreading the model of CoCs around the north-

east.

Because face-to-face communication is as central to this

movement as the latest technology, InterOccupy seeks to

provide channels that amplify voices and ideas of the Oc-

cupy movement, while simultaneously deepening regional

networks. As InterOccupy organizer Nate Kleinman says,

“We lay the tracks, someone else has to drive the train.”

Occupy the SECproposal drawsnational attention

By C. Elise Van Sant, Occupy New Haven

InterOccupy forges new connectionsBy Joan Donovan, Occupy Los Angeles

The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is the

federal agency tasked with financial regulation, including

the Dodd-Frank Act. But before the Dodd-Frank Act can

be implemented, the SEC is required to seek public com-

ment. And so formed Occupy the SEC – a group of Occupi-

ers with considerable experience in the financial industry.

The group produced a comment letter on Section 619 of

the Dodd-Frank Act, also called the Volcker rule. The pur-

pose of the Volcker Rule is to regulate proprietary trading

by the banks, and to increase transparency. The comment

letter is 325 pages long, answering 244 out of 395 ques-

tions proposed by the SEC regulators in the request for

public comment. The Volcker Rule originally was full of

so many loopholes and exceptions as to make it essentially

self-castrating. Thanks to the action of Occupy the SEC,

however, the Volcker Rule has the potential to turn into

a very powerful regulatory statute, should the suggestions be followed. The group has demonstrated an unexpectedly

keen and thorough understanding of the section.

The letter was extraordinarily well-received. Several

prominent financial bloggers and publications gave high

praise, including Felix Salmon of Reuters. It’s been enough

to make many of the movement’s detractors take a second

look, enough to make people question their notions of this

movement as just a directionless group of dirty hippies.

Now, we are finally able to show the world that we are orga-

nized, that we do have a purpose and a goal–several goals –

and have the talent and ability to identify the change we’re

seeking. Yes, the movement has made other contributions

and comments of similar quality and professionalism, but

none have been so high-profile. The movement’s reputa-

tion is critical to its success, and this letter achieves that.

Part of the beauty of this movement is its free-spirited

nature. It has drawn independent thinkers, people who arenot afraid to be bold and outspoken about their views. It

has drawn together true talent and people with great lead-

ership skills. Incisive minds such as those of letter author

Alexis Goldstein and her collaborators continue to contrib-

ute in vital ways. It is important to demonstrate cohesive-

ness. We have shared goals. We are now developing the or-

ganization and cohesion needed to state our purposes and

make demands. Now is the time to rebuild our morale and

show the world the power of the 99%.

Occupy New Haven can be reached

on Twitter as @OccupyNewHaven.

Perhaps one of the greatest ob-

stacles to overcome in checking

one’s privilege is the luxury of not

having to recognize its existence

at all. Certainly, there are obvious ways in which privilege manifests

itself - education, health care, the

legal system, etc. But oppression

on the basis of sex, race, sexual

orientation and other factors det-

riments not only society at large,

but also our ability to build cohesion and solidarity within

our movement.

There has been much debate in the past few months

about the relative importance of organizing around eco-

nomic issues or having an anti-oppression focus. The argu-

ments in favor of the former seem to hinge upon the notion

that if we focus too much on anti-oppression we will fail to

appeal to the larger public whose eyes are on the economy.

But can’t we do both?

In our movement, we talk a whole lot about solidarity –

we even improvise songs about it. However, there seemsto be a fundamental misunderstanding about what exactly

‘solidarity’ means.

When one stands in solidarity with someone else, it is

precisely because they do not identify with them outright.

Rather, they stand as communities with separate identities,

but with a common goal. Thus, feminists, anarchists, peo-

ple of color, and liberals all stand in solidarity with a social

movement like Occupy. The movement is not comprised of

a single identity, nor should it be.

Rather, it is precisely these identity differences whose

social fissures we are trying to overcome. It is why we oper-

ate on a non-hierarchical consensus model. It is why we

use the people’s mic. It is why our ad hoc institutions are

based on free association. By amplifying all of our voices,

we empower each other to solve problems in the best way

possible. Certainly, too many cooks spoil the broth, but at

the same time, you’re not likely to find the best soup recipeif you only have three to choose from.

Hence the importance of active anti-oppression work.

It’s not so much what mostly male, mostly white activists

are saying “about feelings.” It’s about addressing the real

silencing effect that a culture has when one feels uncom-

fortable asserting her or his personal identity. It’s about

folks getting burnt out not from all the work they do, but

from just trying to get people to take them seriously.

We must remember that this movement isn’t a party. It

is composed of many disparate activists working on issues

that they care about as individuals. We don’t engage in ac-

tions because the listserv says so, we do it because enough

of us say so – enough of us decide to put in the time and

energy to make things happen that matter to us.

Our strength will always lie in our enthusiasm and our

diversity. Does that mean that you have to help organize a

black power march if that really isn’t where your interestsare? No. But the least you could do is listen.

A balanced approach to organizing

By Mike Issacson

Anti-oppression and economic justice go hand-in-hand

Occupy DC April Calendar

1: Carnival of Resistance

7: D.C. Million Hoodie March for Trayvon

Martin

11: Criminal (In)justice rally

14: Money Out of Politics Conference

14-15: Training & workshops for Earth Week

16-19: Earth Week activities

20-22: IMF/World Bank protests

24: Department of Justice rally for MumiaAbu Jamal

28: End the War on Women Day

General Assemblies (6:00 p.m.):

Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays

For a complete listing of Occupy DC actions

and committee meetings, visit:

www.occupydc.org

Editorials

Protesters meet for a general assembly.(Coulter Loeb)

dc mic check volume 2 issue 2

Documents