Weekly Update: The Blockade Grows, Nonviolence in Oakland and a War on Women

A big expression of gratitude to those of you who have joined the Tar Sands Blockade. It is growing! 

Following a weekend of direct action training, 50 blockaders attempted to break through police lines and some succeeded in reaching the people sitting in trees to restock their food and water supplies. More engaged in other types of actions to stop the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. OWDC Occupier Dave Warren was moved by his experience at the training to write a poem. Chris Hedges interviewed Tom Weis of Climate Crisis Solutions this week. Tom is riding his rocket trike throughout Colorado delivering letters to campaign headquarters asking both candidates to withdraw support for the pipeline. You can learn more about his travels on this week's edition of Clearing the FOG Radio Show. And if you are still not convinced that this campaign is not only winnable, but necessary for our future survival, watch the newest Planetary Service Announcement - please share this video widely so we can stop the pipeline!

Great news from our friends in Oakland - nonviolence is the word. Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan is disciplining 44 officers for misconduct in their handling of Occupy protesters. And Occupy Oakland is formally breaking with a fringe group of the Black Bloc who have come from out of town to engage in property violence. The actions of these Black Bloc have alienated people in the community, turned Occupy Oakland into a fringe movement and thus undermined their actions. Occupy Oakland is making reparations through an Apology Campaign. The evidence shows that social movements are successful when they become mass movements, so it is great to see Occupy Oakland taking steps to reconnect with their community. Other good news is the successful press conference on behalf of Alan Blueford who was murdered by Oakland Police.

Many of you may have participated in last weekend's O13 Day of Global Noise. Here are pictures from actions that went on all over the globe! And here is video from Spain where the public bank and real economy defeated the private bank! The next day of Global Action is November 3 to protest austerity measures. And if you want to learn more about how the people of Iceland overcame austerity and rewrote their constitution, check out "Pots, Pans and Other Solutions." It reminds us of the October2011 call to both "stop the machine" meaning to protest what we want to end and to "create a new world" by building what we want to replace the current systems.

One policy that must be stopped is the encroachment of the national security state into our public schools. Students in San Antonio are now required to wear RFID chips and students in Maryland schools are using their palm prints to buy lunch. These new policies are likely being subsidized by the corporations who hope to put them into all schools and make huge profits, similar to the way that former head of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and others profit from pushing TSA body scanners. 

We will have to protest these policies to stop them. Here are ten lessons that the organizers of the successful student uprising in Quebec can teach us in America.

And last, but definitely not least, we are learning more about the ways that the Obama administration's war on whistleblowers is targeting women. Occupy EPA organizers Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a former White House liaison, and Susan Morrris share the stories of 12 women who work the USDA and reported harrassment. Instead of addressing it, the women are being retaliated against and the USDA and White House are ignoring their requests for help. 

We hope to bring you occupy news from around the country and around the world as well as information about ways to shift power to the people. If you have suggestions, please contact us at info@october2011.org.

In peace and solidarity,
October2011/Occupy Washington DC