The Official Site of the #OccupyCleveland Movement

Digest for Mar. 30-April 1 (Fri. & Weekend)

Key Events – Rally for Trayvon Friday (today) and Occupy Benefit II – Another World is Possible – this Saturday * National Womens Month: March coming to a close * Ohio’s Democratic / Self-Determination Infrastructure – Call for help to edit document * Occupy Cleveland poetry anthology * Current needs * International, national, state news * Upcoming events * Today’s quote * GA recap links * What does Occupy do? * Concensus on adopting Chicago principles * HeartFest in the works * Call for help to stop fracking – Massillon area * Occupy Movement Music! * Call to shut down Monsanto with solidarity march in Ohio * More upcoming events *  More reading / links

Weekday Schedule: Today and Tomorrow’s Special Events; 6-7 PM GA M-W-F, OPEN FORUM T-Th; 7 PM Community Chat; 8-10 PM Entertainment; 10 PM-2 AM Night Shift #1; 2-6 AM Night Shift #2; Upcoming Events; We are continuously in the NW Quadrant of Public Square 24/7 at the Info Tent

Weekend Schedule: Today and Tomorrow’s Special Events;  10 PM-2 AM Night Shift #1; 2-6 AM Night Shift #2; Upcoming Events; We are continuously in the NW Quadrant of Public Square 24/7 at the Info Tent

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Key Events – Rally for Trayvon Friday (today) and Occupy Benefit II – Another World is Possible – this Saturday

Fri., Mar 30 @ 4-6 PM – Public Square in Cleveland – Rally regarding sad death of Trayvon Martin. Coalition of 50 plus grassroots, Civil Rights, college and faith based groups, elected officials, Cleveland NAACP officials to rally Fri. March 30, 4-6 pm, Public Square in Cleveland for Trayvon Martin, Wear hoodies. More info at clevelandurbannews.com.

Sat., Mar. 31 @ 7 PM – This is the second benefit show for Occupy Cleveland! $5 cover and we are encouraging donations of canned food, or anything of use to the Tent Occupiers and or the Occupy Movement. The show will take place at the 5 O’Clock Lounge on 11904 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. $5 cover charge.

Line-Up:

11:00 – 1:00 – Dead Ahead

9:15 – 11:00 – Katty Whomp-Us

8:30 – 9:15 – Zach Freidhof

7:45 – 8:30 – Charlie Mosbrook

7:00 – 7:45 – ZachyIraqi

We ask you to please be at the event as close to 7pm as possible so as to take in every note from these wonderful and generous acts committing their time and resources for the betterment of the movement! The 5 O’Clock Lounge is very supportive of Occupy – features drinks modestly priced, a great stage and an awesome patio area for smokers! Special thx to Angelo for helping make this happen! Don’t miss this as we have a thunderous line-up and a great venue! this will be an Occu-Party for the ages!

http://www.facebook.com/events/230612580354632/

National Womens Month: March coming to a close

Well, it’s the end of March, and we’ve been experiencing all kinds of issues regarding women and their bodies and women and repect in society. Here’s a petition to ask sponsors to drop Rush Limbaugh so that the ill speech that he has been using is not widely condoned in our society. And here’s an article that examines the stance of some Republicans’ stances on Planned Parenthood and birth control.

Thank goodness months for African Americans and women are not only limited to February and March. All the months are our months, and everybody’s months. So let’s look forward to some progress on issues of respect towards all people in coming months!

Ohio’s Democratic / Self-Determination “Infrastructure” – Call for help to edit document

There are many new formations (Occupy the most noteworthy), groups and campaigns that should be listed…as well as some that are no longer around. Please take a moment to share what you know. It’s critical to be aware of and chronicle our current democratic and public spaces (almost all of which are under constant assault) as we struggle to expand them on all fronts. Thank you for taking the time to offer additions or deletions.

http://www.afsc.net/PDFFiles/DemocraticInfrastructureJune2010.pdf

Occupy Cleveland poetry anthology

We’re putting together a poetry anthology and would like to get this published in time for HeartFest. Please send submissions to stevens.connor23 [at symbol] yahoo.com.

Current needs & haves

• Help for info tent regulars covering shifts.
• Respect, tolerance, peace, love, patience, endurance, mutual respect, healthy environment, kindness, community.
• Still need consistent food donations of prepared meals at the tent.
• Donations

International, National, State News & Opinion

International:

• The Guardian – The itinerant US left has found its home in the Occupy movement

National:

• 3-29 – HuffingtonPost – Occupy Wall Street May Actually Be Changing Wall Street Firms
• 3-26 – Wagingnonviolence.org – Finally, OWS gets police to arrest the people in suits
• 3-25 – Economicsonlinetutor.com – OWS Music for Inspiration
• 3-18 – Daily Kos - Compilation of Tweets from Journalists Beaten, Obstructed by NYPD in Zuccotti Raid
• 3-17 – NYT – Scores Arrested as the Police Clear Zuccotti Park
• 3-8 – ACLU – The ACLU’s take on HR 347
• 3-3 – World Socialist Web Site – US Congress passes authoritarian anti-protest law

Ohio & Cleveland:

• 3-29 – Examiner.com – More Regions Joining Cleveland Red Cross Strike
• 3-25 – Salon.com – Lessons from Israel’s Occupy
• 3-7 – MSNBC Cleveland – Helping homeowners avoid foreclosure – Series of events happening in March
• 2-28 – Cleveland Urban News – Ohio State Rep. Patmon, community activists, want state law for metal detectors like Cleveland schools have in aftermath of Chardon school shooting that left 2 students dead, 3 hospitalized, Gov. Kasich calls for prayer
• 2-27 – OhioFraction – BREAKING: Concerned Residents Mic-Check Rigged Congressional Hearing on Fracking

Upcoming events

In addition to our regularly scheduled weekday events, here are some special events that are happening today! Lots to do! Unless otherwise noted, events are in NW Quadrant (Tom Johnson/Free Speech Quadrant) of Public Square or nearby in the white tent area. More upcoming events after today are here…

Special Events Through Friday

• Fri., Mar 30 @ 4-6 PM – Public Square in Cleveland – Rally regarding sad death of Trayvon Martin. Coalition of 50 plus grassroots, Civil Rights, college and faith based groups, elected officials, Cleveland NAACP officials to rally Fri. March 30, 4-6 pm, Public Square in Cleveland for Trayvon Martin, Wear hoodies. More info at clevelandurbannews.com.
• Sat., Mar. 31 @ 2 PM – Cleveland Janitors’ Rally and Convention – 2230 Euclid Ave. at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland – Info
• Sat., Mar. 31 in Detroit – National Conference for a Moratorium on Foreclosures & Evictions – United Methodist Church - http://nationalmoratorium.org/
• Sat., Mar. 31 @ 7 PM – 1 AM – Occupy Benefit II: Another World is Possible – The 5 O’Clock Lounge, 11904 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. $5 suggested donation. http://www.facebook.com/events/230612580354632/
• Sun. April 1 @ 2 PM – Film and discussion at Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave. Showing the movie, “Inside Job.”
• Mon., April 2 @ 11:30 AM – March presenting Cleveland Clinic and EMS with a list of demands RE the death of Elissa Hereford – Info
• Wednesdays @ 8 PM – Drum Circle at Info Tent
• Wednesdays @ 8 PM – Womens meeting
• More Events

Upcoming GA Votes - see Proposals section

Regular Daily Events

• 6 PM General Assembly on M-W-F, Open Forum T-Th- GAs are formal assemblies at the NW corner of Public Square or in white info tent west of this area. At this assembly, proposals and announcements are made. This is where consensus items are decided. Please review stances/thoughts at viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1003 for discussion in today’s GA. Recent GA recaps
• Community Chat Following GA Today & Tomorrow – Informal assembly
• Today & Tomorrow – 10 PM – 2 AM and 2 AM – 6 AM Evening Shifts – Please sign up at the white tent for an evening shift so that we can maintain effective occupancy overnight and relieve people who are overburdened. Dress extremely warmly with lots of layers and bring appropriate gear to keep yourself warm.

Working Group Meetings

• Check for Meetings Here

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“Peace has a great deal to do with warm-heartedness and respect for the lives of others, avoiding doing them harm and regarding their lives as being as precious as our own. If, on that basis, we can also be of help to others, so much the better.”

~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Please send poetry submissions/thoughts/quotes to occupyclevelandpoetry (_at symbol_) gmail.com. If you agree, let’s work on keeping things positive and promoting positive perspectives in this space…

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GA recap links

Thanks to all who help with the movement, and thanks to notekeepers and videographers! Please post written GA minutes in the GA portion of forums in written format: http://unju.st/forum.

Wednesday Mar. 28 Minutes | Monday March 26 Minutes | Archived Minutes and Videos

Recent Concensus Items

• 3-28 CONCENSUS on proposal to show solidarity for Now DC (nowDC.org). The proposal was to list Occupy Cleveland on their site as a supporter of Occupy actions/learning/festivals in DC, beginning on Friday, March 30th.
• 3-25 CONCENSUS on proposal to adopt Chicago principles with the caveat that “we understand that it does not override any principles on which we had previously achieved consensus. The proposer specified that this means that Occupy Cleveland is still a strictly non-violent movement.”
• 3-21 CONCENSUS on proposal for dedicated funds including setting up WePay options for various funds.
• 3-12 CONCENSUS on proposal for legal fund with friendly amendment.
• 3-2 CONCENSUS Emergency Proposal to hold GA at a special location on Monday, March 5. 100% consensus. Email occupyclevelandoutreach [at symbol] gmail [dot] com or ask at tent for more details.
• 2-29 CONCENSUS to have a test GA at city hall steps Friday March 2
• 2-22 CONCENSUS to hold Occupy the Heart Street Festival, tentatively starting May 1.

Recent proposals

• 3-28 PROPOSAL start an Occupy baseball team and form an Occupy Baseball working group.
• 3-21 PROPOSAL announcements from Occupy Midwest
• 3-12 PROPOSAL announcement for Occupy the Heart Fest funding
• 3-12 PROPOSAL announcement for May 1 General Strike solidarity
• 3-12 PROPOSAL announcement regarding how to focus message on strategies that emphasize compassion and joy
• 3-9 PROPOSAL – Legal fund

What does Occupy do?

An activist recently came up with a nice summary: “Essentially we’re working on minimizing the influence of big corporations over our political system. Locally we’re working to strengthen our community through foreclosure prevention and strengthening our community’s social infrastructure.”

Many in the movement would like to help solve every issue but of course we are focusing on where we can be most effective, locally, nationally, and worldwide. But for those who aren’t yet familiar with the gist of the movement, the issue of wealth disparity/corporate influence has been a big one that we’ve been working on solving from the start. Many are also involved in the environmental, peace, and human rights movements in some form or another.

Concensus on adopting Chicago principles

On Friday Mar. 23 we adopted the Chicago Principles:

• Our solidarity will be based on respect for a political diversity within the struggle for social, economic and environmental justice. As individuals and groups, we may choose to engage in a diversity of tactics and plans of action but are committed to treating each other with respect and working towards a common goal of peace and justice.
• As we plan our actions and tactics, we will take care to maintain appropriate separations of time and space between divergent tactics.
• We oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption, limiting our action to “free speech zones,” and violence, or attempts to divide our movement through the conscious creation of divisions regarding tactics, organization, strategies, and alliances.
• Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.
• Friendly amendment: we understand that it does not override any principles on which we had previously achieved consensus. The proposer specified that this means that Occupy Cleveland is still a strictly non-violent movement.

HeartFest in the works

We’ve had a number of meetings to help make HeartFest a success. People are taking on responsibilities to bottomline food vendors, cleanup, and many other activities. Donations are welcome! Stay tuned for info coming soon on our HeartFest page on the occupycleveland.com website.

Call for help to stop fracking – Massillon area

OccupyCanton–Yesterday I found out that if not stopped at the next Massillon City Council meeting, fracking will commence within 3 to 5 miles from my family’s home. This means a horizontal well could be drilled and exploited directly beneath the yard my step daughter plays in. It feels like a violation. An industry is able to sneak below my home and pump millions of gallons of toxic and carcinogen saturated water while belching out asthma inducing gas into the air my family will breath because they can make money at the expense of my wife and daughter’s health and well being. Please come to the city council meeting in Massillon on Monday, March 19 at 7:30 pm and help protect the lives and livelihoods of my family, my neighbors and thousands of people who are complete strangers to me. Help me look into my beloved step daughters face and tell her I did something. That we as a community tried. Thank you. An action will be discussed at GA on Saturday.

Occupy Movement Music!

Jonathan Blackshire is promoting his song, “99 to 1″ and has asked everyone to help spread word. Wouldn’t it be great if this could be adopted by Occupy Wall Street as its official song? Well, this is what he’s asking! Can you please post, “This song should be the theme song of Occupy Wall Street!” on the movement’s facebook pages?

Call to shut down Monsanto with solidarity march in Ohio

OccupyMarines has asked us to perform a solidarity event regarding shutting town Monsanto March 16 and March 17. The issue with Monsanto is that they’ve been very aggressive in their business practices and have promoted unhealthy ways of farming and living. Some feel that the high rate of suicides among Indian farmers is because of the way Monsanto has imposed genetical modified seeds there, and the high cost of the seeds. They are also one of the companies responsible for the notorious chemical “Agent Orange.”

More upcoming events through March

Events are in the NW Quadrant (Tom Johnson Quadrant) of Public Square unless otherwise noted.

• Fri., Mar 30 @ 4-6 PM – Public Square in Cleveland – Rally regarding sad death of Trayvon Martin. Coalition of 50 plus grassroots, Civil Rights, college and faith based groups, elected officials, Cleveland NAACP officials to rally Fri. March 30, 4-6 pm, Public Square in Cleveland for Trayvon Martin, Wear hoodies. More info at clevelandurbannews.com.
• Sat., Mar. 31 @ 2 PM – Cleveland Janitors’ Rally and Convention – 2230 Euclid Ave. at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland – Info
• Sat., Mar. 31 in Detroit – National Conference for a Moratorium on Foreclosures & Evictions – United Methodist Church - http://nationalmoratorium.org/
• Sat., Mar. 31 @ 7 PM – 1 AM – Occupy Benefit II: Another World is Possible – The 5 O’Clock Lounge, 11904 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. $5 suggested donation. http://www.facebook.com/events/230612580354632/
• Sun. April 1 @ 2 PM – Film and discussion at Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave. Showing the movie, “Inside Job.”
• Mon., April 2 @ 11:30 AM – March presenting Cleveland Clinic and EMS with a list of demands RE the death of Elissa Hereford – Info
• Wednesdays @ 8 PM – Drum Circle at Info Tent
• Wednesdays @ 8 PM – Womens meeting
• Tues., April 6 – Street Cleaning Direct Action on West Side
• Thurs., April 12 @ 6 PM – “The New Jim Crow” study group – Visible Voice Books – also, April 19 & 26th. – Info
• Fri., April 13 – Sun., April 15 – Fracking Prevention Action Camp by Ohio Fraction – Cleveland – Info
• Sat., April 14 – Second Annual Save Our Communities Forum – Info
• Tues., April 17 – Make Taxation Fair! – Rally in Public Square – Info
• April 28 – May 5 – HEARTFEST
• Sat., May 5 NOON – 2:30 PM – Immigrants Are Us Freedom March – at Market Square, Cleveland – Info

Events for next month and the future can now be found on the Events page of the Occupy Site.

Interesting Links

• Occutrip.com – a chronicle of the travels of a person surveying the Occupy movement in Europe to report back to the U.S.
• The Occupied Wall Street Journal
• Occupy First, Inc. – Banking for the 99%
• OCCUPY CLEVELAND T-shirts

Recurring info

Weekday Schedule: Today and Tomorrow’s Special Events;  6-7 PM GA M-W-F, OPEN FORUM T-Th; 7 PM Community Chat; 8-10 PM Entertainment; 10 PM-2 AM Night Shift #1; 2-6 AM Night Shift #2; Upcoming Events; We are continuously in the NW Quadrant of Public Square 24/7 at the Info Tent

Weekend Schedule: Today and Tomorrow’s Special Events;  10 PM-2 AM Night Shift #1; 2-6 AM Night Shift #2; Upcoming Events; We are continuously in the NW Quadrant of Public Square 24/7 at the Info Tent

Info Tent #: (216) 202-4999 | Phone Rules

Wiki: http://wiki.occupycleveland.com

Read more at Occupy Cleveland