An Important Week Lies Ahead for the #Occupy Movement
After a violent and ugly battle at Occupy Oakland this weekend, the Occupy D.C. protest is bracing for a fight today when a noon deadline to evacuate two Washington parks expires. On Friday, the National Park Service began informing campers in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza that they had until 12:00 p.m. on Monday to remove all camping supplies from those areas or face arrest. That has already led to some confrontations and arrests as protesters made it clear they had no intention of obeying the order.
The developments in Oakland appeared to re-energize the movement somewhat after several weeks of relative tranquility and dwindling winter support. After the nearly 400 arrests on Saturday, sympathetic marches sprung up in other cities, including New York were 12 people were arrested on Sunday.
29th January
On December 17th, 2010, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouaziz set himself on fire to protest the near daily harassment he was suffering at the hands of corrupt Tunisian police. His death sparked a maelstrom of civil resistance and public protest that eventually forced then President Zine Ben Ali to step down after 23 years in power. Bouaziz's desperate act ignited the Arab Spring. It remains one of the most transformative movements of our time and a year ago this month it was on the verge of exploding even further in Egypt. Anonymous, teaming up with other hacktivist groups like Telecomix, joined the resistance - at times armed with internet tools you haven't seen since the 90s.
A clip from the film WE ARE LEGION: The Story of the Hacktivists
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