heroes

american veterans of the wars in iraq and afghanistan lead the largest peace march so far at the 2012 NATO summit.   the march culminates in a rally whereby the veterans introduce themselves, one by one, then hurl their war metals in the direction of the summit, and over a police barricade - returning the metals, so to speak.

an overview from real news:



below, extensive coverage of the veterans' ceremony from democracy now! the video includes veteran scott olsen, who was brutally injured as a peaceful demonstrator by oakland police during the occupy oakland demonstrations.

Reclaiming Space

Iraq veteran Scott Olsen interviewed by Indie Media at Oscar Grant Plaza on November 27th, and during a teach-in on Reclaiming Space. 



As blogged earlier here and here, Mr. Olsen was shot in the head with a police projectile during the widely decried crackdown on Occupy Oakland.  Mr. Olsen's assault and horrific injury, and while he was peacefully demonstrating, was captured on video that went viral.  Although the police officer is graphically circled on that video, his identity remains undisclosed, with 500 officers and 18 police agencies said to be involved in an operation many view more like a virtual battlefield assault on citizens exercising their Constitutional rights.  And all while the mayor, Jean Quan, flew out of town for the show, and later refused to assume responsibility.  An investigation is supposedly still underway.

Mr. Olsen is also interviewed here by Rachel Maddow, here by Ed Schultz, and here by Keith Olbermann.  Keith Olbermann asks if Mr. Olsen is shocked by the police violence.  He responds, “On one hand, it shocks me a lot, and the other hand, it doesn’t.  Because our nation’s peace officers have been militarized to combat terrorism, but they’re combating anyone with an opinion.”  Mr. Olsen expresses opposition to current U.S. military engagements, and in all 4 interviews, the importance of more people getting involved and speaking out about the rights they are losing as Americans.  Scott Olsen is active with both Veterans For Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War as well as Occupy Oakland.  Throughout all 4 interviews, he struggles notably with speech impediments due to the brain injury he now suffers, but optimistically and bravely maintains his daily improvement in the face of continuous physical frustration - and what could be characterized as a whole other level of reclaiming space. 

Rachel Maddow also sums the current status for a number of major occupy sites, including Boston, where a court ordered the city not to interfere  - D.C., where they are welcome as long as they keep the site safe and clean - San Francisco, where they have been ordered to leave without being dispersed - and more news on what happened in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, where L.A. arrests are now tallied at two hundred.

Information concerning another veteran, Kayvan Sabehgi, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, blogged here and here, not spotted at the time of this posting.  Mr. Sabehgi was walking home alone from the Occupy Oakland demonstrations, and at a rather remote location, when he was virtually mugged and beaten up by a group of police officers who confronted him.  He was then thrown in jail, where he lay in critically injured condition on the floor of a filthy cell, overflowing toilet, without access to medical attention for 24 hours - unable to even leave, when summoned, to post bail.  (Hello?  Amnesty International?  United Nations?)  Mr. Sabehgi was eventually taken to the same hospital Scott Olsen was initially taken to - Highland - where Mr. Sabehgi underwent surgery to repair his spleen.  A couple of weeks later, another video surfaced of that assault.

Mr. Sabehgi was not even demonstrating at the time of this assault, with some activists expressing concern that veterans were targeted by police, and especially since they were highly visible leading the front lines of the Oakland marches.

In the video that more recently surfaced, police appear to be engaged in a highly militarized, planned operation, advancing in full line-up, down an empty street, and in completely robot-like fashion.  Except for the few officers directly facing Mr. Sabehgi (and who become violent rather than engaging in sensible dialogue - and as one advances menacingly and Mr. Sabehgi backs away - before he beats him up on the sidewalk with others), the police appear oblivious to the presence of any object, let alone human beings, in front of them.  They appear to have hung up their individual abilities to employ critical thinking and make independent judgment calls.

Capturing aptly what Mr. Olsen criticizes about the direction of the police department, and the kind of behavior this mindless mentality engenders in law enforcement.  Soldiers rather than peace officers.  Whether or not Mr. Sabehgi was identified and singled out in this specific incident beforehand.

For what was this "full regiment" in Oakland at this location - engaged in this exercise - away from the demonstration - doing out there in the middle of the night? When Mr. Sabehgi happened to be strolling home?

What were they dress rehearsing for? Was this to be some weird remake of Glory? Return of Borg? Where was the director? 

And will the alleged investigation let the public know?

Courtesy of Star Trek

Borg mindlessly advance to reclaim what

*The Mind* knows is really *Its* Space.

Because - flashback - to Mr. Olsen's statement to Keith Olbermann - it not only looks like they're combating anyone with an opinion - it looks like they're combating anyone walking down the street.

Vet 2

Guardian reports that a second veteran - of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - has been critically injured by the Oakland police department.

Kayvan Sabehgi is in intensive care with a lacerated spleen after being attacked by a group of officers while walking home Wednesday night following demonstrations reported by LA Times as officially ended.  Some skirmishes with police had broken out after nightfall and in the wee hours of Thursday morning when persons strung toilet paper, spray painted the walls of a fast food chain, and attempted to take over vacant and foreclosed buildings.



Courtesy of the LA Times

Photographer:  Noah Berger

Demonstrators take over a vacant building

Guardian reports speaking directly with Mr. Sabehgi from Highland Hospital where Scott Olsen was originally taken.  Mr. Sabehgi was scheduled for surgery today to repair his spleen, using a clot or patch to prevent internal bleeding:

Sabehgi told the Guardian from hospital he was walking alone along 14th Street in central Oakland – away from the main area of clashes – when he was injured.

"There was a group of police in front of me," he told the Guardian from his hospital bed.  

"They told me to move, but I was like: 'Move to where?' There was nowhere to move.
"Then they lined up in front of me. I was talking to one of them, saying 'Why are you doing this?' when one moved forward and hit me in my arm and legs and back with his baton. Then three or four cops tackled me and arrested me."

Sabeghi, who left the army in 2007 and now part-owns a small bar-restaurant in El Cerrito, about 10 miles north of Oakland, said he was handcuffed and placed in a police van for three hours before being taken to jail. By the time he got there he was in "unbelievable pain".

He said: "My stomach was really hurting, and it got worse to the point where I couldn't stand up. 

"I was on my hands and knees and crawled over the cell door to call for help."

A nurse was called and recommended Sabehgi take a suppository, but he said he "didn't want to take it".

He was allowed to "crawl" to another cell to use the toilet, but said it was clogged.

"I was vomiting and had diarrhoea," Sabehgi said. "I just lay there in pain for hours."
Sabehgi's bail was posted in the mid-afternoon, but he said he was unable to leave his cell because of the pain. The cell door was closed, and he remained on the floor until 6pm, when an ambulance was called.

Apparently, other demonstrators were seriously injured after nightfall by police.  Below, for example, an LA Times photo of an unidentified protester brutally shot in the leg by Oakland police with a tear gas canister:

Photographer:  Noah Berger

In Denver, where police have also used excessive violence against protesters, Occupy Denver is temporarily relocating from its plaza to make way for honorary demonstrations on the approaching Veteran's Day, Friday, November 11th, and as a show of support for American veterans and their dedication to the United States, regardless of people's varying opinions on specific military engagements.  They will coordinate the move with Bank Transfer Day scheduled for Saturday, November 5th.  Occupy Denver has stated:

Occupy Denver will reestablish its Occupation at Skyline Park on 16th Street Mall, directly across from the Denver Federal Reserve building, and has planned a series of actions for Saturday to coincide with the bank boycott known as Bank Transfer Day, in which customers are urged to close their accounts with predatory financial institutions like Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Chase, and redeposit their funds into their local credit unions. Occupy Denver member Mitch Shenassa explains, “The Occupation has deliberately chosen the space across from the Federal Reserve as its temporary site to bring attention to the economic dangers posed by this independent central bank and its short-sighted fractional reserve banking system that cause the devaluation of our currency and the ballooning of our national debt.”

More here on Bank Transfer Day, Saturday, November 5th, and the Move Your Money project, with video shown here:

Vigil

Occupy Wall Street calls for vigils across the country this evening for Scott Olsen who remains sedated in critical condition.

Courtesy of Occupy Wall Street

Scott Olsen

CNN reports demonstrations on Wall Street two days in a row to support Scott Olsen and Occupy Oakland.  The Guardian reports that Oakland's independent police review body will investigate. 

Apparently, the Mayor's office is going to try to put this on an outside police agency.  To wit::

"It's unfortunate that happened. I wish that it didn't happen," [Interim Police Chief Howard] Jordan said. "Our goal, obviously, is not to cause injury to anyone. ... We regret that this injury happened."

Officers from 18 law enforcement agencies were on the streets of Oakland Tuesday night, and authorities said one of the questions they were investigating was whose officers were involved in the incident in which Olsen was injured. Mayor Jean Quan said officers from outside agencies had been told they had to abide by Oakland police procedures.

Meanwhile, Scott Olsen's parents are flying into the Bay Area from Wisconsin.

Oakland demonstrators put their banner back up at Oscar Grant Plaza Wednesday:

 

Courtesy of SF Gate

Photographer: Carlos Avila Gonzalez

Demonstrators Restore Banner To Oscar Grant Plaza

At least 1,607 people reclaimed the plaza, holding a General Assembly and voting overwhelmingly by 1,484 in favor of the following resolution and November 2, 2011 General Strike:

We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.

We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

The whole world is watching Oakland. Let’s show them what is possible.

Courtesy of Occupy Oakland

General Assembly and Vote in Oscar Grant Plaza

Violence

News is still coming in about Occupy Oakland casualities where Mayor Jean Quan had 500 police officers in riot gear brutally disperse peaceful demonstrators with tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash grenades.

Protesters are sharing photographs and youtubes on the violence.  In one youtube widely circulated, an Iraq veteran - Scott Olsen, 24 - was critically wounded by a tear gas canister hitting him in the head.  A second youtube (below) indicates that the officer may have deliberately fired the canister at close range.  Police continue firing canisters in this manner at protesters who attempt to help him lying wounded in the street - preventing them from coming to his aide.  They run, then run back to try to help him again.  Those closest eventually carry him out, and he is taped unable to respond to queries to identify himself.

Huffpost reports Mr. Olsen on a respirator at the hospital in stable but critical condition, awaiting word on whether neurologists think surgery is necessary due to swelling in the brain.  His friend and roommate, Keith Shannon states that Mr. Olsen is an Occupy Oakland activist and that he was protesting non-violently when he was hit.  "He doesn't agree with the way the banks aren't regulated, the way they drove the economy in the ground. He wants there to be regulation of the banks," said Mr. Shannon.

More here by Indy Times.