Posted on 28 January 2012 by Benjamin Phillips
Occupy Oakland Weekend of Action Detailed Schedule
Occupy Oakland will be holding a weekend long festival starting this Saturday, January 28 with the takeover of an empty building where it will host workshops, panels, a film festival, live music, assemblies and more. The Oakland Rise Up Festival runs through Sunday night and features over 50 speakers and performers including former Black Panther Party leader Elaine Brown, anarchist anthropologist and member of Occupy Wall Street David Graeber, feminist, revolutionary & historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and many more. Saturday has been designated the Move-In day and activities will focus around settling into the building and celebrating Occupy Oakland. Sunday is organized as the Conference Day and a wide range of panels, presentations and workshops are scheduled. Music and cultural events in the occupied building are planned throughout the weekend. Below is a detailed schedule of the Festival’s planned events. The Festival also encourages self-organized discussions, workshops and events and will help to publicize additions to this schedule to the best of our abilities.
Look for the festival table during the weekend & occupyoaklandmoveinday.org for the latest updates!
Video of the Attack on the First March to the Colosseum:
SATURDAY JAN 28: Move-in Day Schedule
• 12-1pm : Rally at Oscar Grant Plaza – featuring Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Gerald Sanders & special guests
– lunch will be served at the plaza by the OO kitchen committee
• 1pm: March to the space led by OO sound truck
– featuring Brass Liberation Orchestra
• 2-5 pm: Move in time
– help set up & settle into OO’s new occupied social center! – Featuring music & poetry inside and outside from the OO sound truck including Hip hop by Eddie Falcon, folk music by Marie Sioux, a performance by Rocker T, spoken word from DeWayne Dickerson & special guests
+ arts and crafts time & workshops including a know your rights training, an open discussions on gender dynamics within Occupy, a foreclosure defense action workshop and bike repair!
• 5-6 pm: Dinner provided by the OO kitchen committee
– bring food to donate and share!
• 6-9 pm: Building orientation & assembly – 6-7 pm Presentation from Building Committee on safety, security, and respecting each other in the space – 7-8 pm Committee Reports & how to get involved
– 8-9 pm Open Forum on what we all want out of the space and community guidelines
• 9-11pm: OO Film Festival
– featuring documentary shorts covering uprising across the world over the past year with filmmaker Brandon Jourdan and ‘Better This World’ documentary with filmmaker Kattie Galloway
• 11pm-sleepy time: music and entertainment – Hosted by OO’s MCs Shake & Teardrop
– featuring guest djs & bands
• Ongoing: Outside Bus Show
– featuring local bands in the OO Bus
SUNDAY JAN 29: Conference Day
• 8-11am: Breakfast, Coffee & Morning Workshops
– Yoga & meditation – Body Workers will also be on site – Arts & Crafts time
– including workshops on the Paris Commune with Gerald Sanders, De-escalation training with Melissa and Mike from Sugetsukan, Trauma & Self Care with OO Safer Spaces, Divide and Conquer: Mapping Exploitation with Ryan Smith, Basic pepper spray and CS gas training with the OO medics, What California can learn from Latin America with Laura Wells and Andres Soto & much more!
• 11-1pm: First round of panels & discussions on – Current Crisis of Capitalism featuring Laura Fantone, Jim Davis, Eddie Yuen & Francesca Manning – Connecting the struggles from Oakland to Syria, Egypt and Palestine featuring Miriam Zouzounis, Noura Khouri and Shimaa’ Helmy
– Anti-bureaucratic critiques of Occupy featuring Lawrence Jarach, Red Hughes & Greg
• 1-2 pm: BBQ & Voices of Liberation Rally – Featuring Corrina Gould, speakers from Occupy the Hood, Gerald Sanders and an open forum with comrades from other movements across the region. – BBQ provided by the OO kitchen committee and donations
– bring food to donate and share!
• 2-4 pm: Second round of panels & discussions on – Police Repression & Prisons featuring Elaine Brown, Jack Bryson, Bo Brown, & a member of the OO anti-repression committee – Indigenous and Anti-Colonial Struggles featuring Corrina Gould, Michelle, V, Luta Candelaria and Chris Oakes – Crisis of Oakland public schools featuring Nick Pomquist, Jack Gerson, Javier, Alex Mejia & Emily Macy
+ Guerrilla Storytelling with kids by Amy from the Oakland Public Library
• 4-6 pm: Third round of panels & discussions on – Oakland Radical history featuring Elaine Brown, Gifford Hartman, Larry Shoupe, Robert Ovetz & Ricardo – State of the labor movement and radical organizing featuring Kim Rojas, John Reiman & Chris Carlson
– The Relationship Between Gender, Sexuality and Political Violence featuring Oki, Lobna Darwish, Devin, & Barucha
• 6-7pm: Dinner provided by the OO kitchen committee – featuring a conversation between David Graeber & Andrej Grubacic
– bring food to donate and share!
• 7-9pm: Occupy Oakland Sunday General Assembly
– organized by OO Facilitation Committee
• 9-12pm: Concert, Poetry & Films – Hosted by OO’s MC Shake & Teardrop – featuring DJ G Star & special guests
+ Poetry by Jasper Bernes, J.Clo & more
• Ongoing: Outside Bus Show
– featuring Acid Fast, Alabaster Chode, Bad Blood, Neon Piss, Mugwart, Que Se Mueran
1. How long will we be able to hold the building, won’t the police just come and evict us?
We believe that a successful, long-term occupation is contingent on a high number of occupants and supporters. Therefore, please prepare to stay overnight, at least throughout the festival. The first two days, will give us an opportunity to self-organize and determine the future of the building. There has been lots of discussion about how to hold the building (refer below to the question of defense), but obviously we won’t be able to hold it unless we can deter the cops and the city from throwing the full weight of the police state against us. Since this is a mass, public action, we are counting on large numbers to enter the building, and solid numbers to STAY in the building 24/7 until we get guarantees that there will be no raids.
2. What should we bring?
As publicized, we will march to the building and occupy it together. Naturally there is a significant likelihood that the police will try to prevent us from reclaiming unused property and putting it to better use. Therefore, as goes with all Occupy Oakland direct actions, it’s a good idea to come prepared. Please refer to the “Tear Gas and Pepper Spray 101″ pamphlet prepared by Occupy Oakland Medics for ways to prepare yourself for the march and occupation. Bring enough of any prescription medication (3 days worth) in case of arrest.
While the Move-In Assembly is trying to get as many supplies as possible for our new social center such as sleeping bags/pads, food etc. It’s a good idea to think of this as indoor camping. Bring a sleeping bag, snacks, flashlight, water bottle etc. etc.
We also highly encourage you to organize yourself into affinity groups. Affinity groups are a smaller group of close comrades and friends who can act together on the streets with similar comfort levels and take care of each other.
3. How was the building chosen?
The building was chosen to accommodate the proposal that was passed at the Occupy Oakland GA “The building will have sufficient office space for all of the Occupy Oakland committees and an auditorium large enough to hold Occupy Oakland general assemblies and adequate sleeping space. It will be a vacant building owned either by a bank, a large corporation of the 1% or already public.” There are multiple targets identified that fit this description and one (or more!) will be chosen on saturday depending on the situation (our numbers, the numbers of the police etc.)
4. How can we help with the taking and setting up of the building?
It will be obvious when we reach our intended target and we will try to enter the building all together but of course there is no predicting how it is going to look. There will be announcements made about where to be depending on your comfort level. Once we take the building, the working groups of the move-in assembly will be available to join, and help set up our new social center.
5. What are the defense strategies if the police come to evict us after we have moved in?
The defense strategies are being worked out and they will take into consideration a diversity of tactics: in other words, some people are more comfortable with an aggressive stance while others are not. Nobody will be trapped in the building unwillingly during the festival and clear announcements will be made before the building is locked down against the police.
We have created zones that make it clear where passive resistance can take place as well as more confrontational tactics. These zones have been decided as part of the open Move-In Assemblies at OGP. The current plan is as such: 1) Inside the building, barricading the doors and holding them to prevent the police from entering; 2) In front of the doors as the police try to enter, sitting down, locking arms; 3) In the streets around the building,: active resistance against the police. We also understand that it is every individual’s right to defend themselves and if the police are being violent towards us we respect peoples decisions regardless of the zone that they are in.
It goes without saying that there will be areas outside of any police operation perimeter where those who don’t feel comfortable with any of the above can be to act as witnesses to whatever situation develops. Please try to move in groups as there is power in numbers and this will make us less vulnerable to the police.
6. Will there be families with children there? What about their safety?
This is a family friendly event. The Occupy Oakland Children’s Village will be on the Move-In March. Before we reach our target they will brake-off and hang out at a nearby location. Once the building has been secured and the festival begins the children, their families and allies will come and join us.
7. How will the building be a safe and welcoming space for the Occupy Oakland Community?
After much discussion, the Move-In Assembly has decided on Guidelines for Exclusion from the building as well as Suggested Community Standards inside the building.
