May His Legacy Be: Bloomberg, Book Destroyer

Submitted by Justin Wedes:

Friends-

Today, librarians from The People's Library at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) held a press conference with renowned civil rights attorney Norman Siegel to denounce the destruction and disappearance of thousands of books during the midnight raid last week on Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park). Staff and patrons at the people-powered library gave heartfelt testimony about the city's trashing of the library, which at the height of its operation had over 5,000 books, newspapers, zines, digital media and rare documents housed under a half-cylindrical covering donated by Patti Smith. 

At the conference, hundreds of severely-damaged books were presented as evidence that the Bloomberg administration lied about its treatment of the People's Library during the raid. They claimed, through the Mayor's twitter feed, that the library items were "safely stored at the 57th St Sanitation Garage". In fact, thousands of books and other media remain unaccounted for and requests for information and comment from the City have not been returned. 

[Ed Note: They say OWS have no demands. Here are a few simple ones]

These are the immediate demands of the OWS People's Library:

~The Bloomberg administration must replace every single book missing or damaged, about 3161 books.

~The Bloomberg administration needs to acknowledge that a wrong was committed and this can never happen again.

~We need a space to recreate the People's Library (12% of city storefronts are vacant right now.)

The OWS People's Library remains committed to rebuilding itself in the coming weeks, with the support of the broader #occupy movement. But in the meantime, the sad reality is that 'Banks got bailed out. Books got thrown out.'

There is a formal press release coming in the next few hours on the OWS People's Library website.

Video from the event is forthcoming, but preliminary (low-res) video available here and here.

Ed Note: Let me remind you of the intentional destrucion of laptops that look as if smashed with a bat.

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

Sunday 2PM: 24 Hour Drum Circle at Bloomberg's Mansion

UPDATE: Sunday, Nov. 20, 9PM

From Leonie Haimson:

This afternoon, I went to see the drummers who, after being kicked out of Zuccotti Park, decided to protest outside Bloomberg's townhouse on E. 79 St.  Sadly, the police blocked off the street, but the drummers gathered anyway on 5th avenue next to Central Park instead.

As you will see in the video posted on the blog,I bumped into my hero, Norman Siegel, who told us that barring the drummers from E. 79 St. was a violation of their first amendment rights.  In fact, in January 2010, Norman sued the city on behalf of teachers and parents, and we gained the right to march on the south side of 79 St, to protest school closings and charter co-locations.

Off camera, Norman also said that the arrests of reporters that I videotaped a week ago were illegal , and that he had sent a letter written with Sen. Eric Adams to Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly to that effect. Because of Norman's work, NYC press credentials now require that reporters have to right to cross any barriers, along with police lines etc. During the course of his conversation with a reporter who had been assaulted by the police, we also found out that tomorrow Norman Siegel will turn 68 years young. Happy Birthday Norman!

For more see:

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/11/video-drummers-from-occupy-wall-st-and.html
 

Video below by Casey Neistat of NYC as police state sung to Sinatra's New York, New York. Casey writes: 

My office isn't far from Zuccotti Park and when I heard it was being cleared I went down with my camera. I ended up filming for 18 hours until the Park was reopened at 6pm on November 15, 2011. The police presence was overwhelming, more than I've ever seen - more than during the blackout, more than the days after September 11th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mhQCpXM-Sm4

FB page: http://www.facebook.com/events/285128768194258/ 24 hours of drumming! 

If Bloomberg is not there (how about Bermuda) his next door neighbor Merryl Tisch can enjoy!

Bloomberg Drum Circle

By Andy Bichlbaum

Project: Occupy Wall Street actions

Word on the street is that Bloomberg loves hippies. So now, finally, a drum circle you don't have to be high to enjoy: this Sunday at 2pm, for 24 hours, bring the love to Mayor Bloomberg's personal townhouse: 17 East 79th Street.

Tie-dye, didgeridoo, hackeysack welcome! No shirt, no shoes, no problem! And if you don't have talent, don't worry: FREE DRUM LESSONS offered! Also on offer: collaborative drumming with the police!
Even though this is a 24-hour drum circle, don't be late! The mayor loves evictions. Who knows what'll happen? But no matter how long it lasts, there'll be an afterparty and love-in in world-famous Central Park just next door.
Please spread this announcement (www.yeslab.org/drumcircle) as far and fast as you can!

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

Video Report: Eviction Reinforces OWS Determination

20,000 people marched on Wall St. on May 12 and no one noticed. At OWS a few hundred people camping in has captured the attention of the world.

This is a great point made by Nathan Schneider in Jaisal Noor's video summing up the actions yesterday (one reason I no longer feel it necessary to race around to every event to film is because of real film makers like Jaisal.)

Nathan points out to the disruptive nature of OWS which is so different than the non-disruptive actions of the unions like the UFT which often wants to partner (collaboration it is called) with the very powers they are supposedly protesting against. You know, that seat at the table they so hunger for.

In the video Justin Wedes talks about the big demo tomorrow which on the surface may look like the May 12 event which was mainly under the control of unions like the UFT. They are also involved in the event tomorrow but are they any longer in a position to control the direction of the movement? One aspect to watch will be the Occupy DOE group that meets up on the steps of Tweed at 4:30. See my report earlier today: Calling all future Occupiers of the Department of Education!

This is the OWS ed spin-off that disrupted Walcott's PEP Common Core standards scam a few weeks ago followed by the General Assembly on the steps of Tweed on Nov. 7, both events ignored by the UFT leaders - similar to their boycott of our movie. When it comes to educators applying the lessons of OWS, they UFT is not interested.

I think if you watch carefully over the next few months as the DOE escalates the closing of schools and co-locos of charters and pushes teacher evals and common standards down our throats - and if the ODOE teachers can really build something - you will see the UFT leaders in a quandary as to how to react - of course co-opting the movement would a major part of their strategy and they may succeed as they have in the past - I see all too many people who still hunger to partner with the UFT even when they understand exactly what they are doing.

ODOE will meet again on Sunday at noon at 60 Wall Street if you are interested in moving that forward - in case you can't make the 4:30 meet-up at Tweed tomorrow.

The Real News Report on OWS protestor eviction, protestors' return!
http://youtu.be/iL6HgtwWrTA




Also video from Tues. AM arrests at Canal and 6 on her blog from Leonie.

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/11/video-of-arrests-this-morning-of-occupy.html