The 25-person “Occupy Neighborhood” meeting last Sunday (6/9) at Left Forum 2013 included people from New York neighborhood general assemblies in Kensington, Harlem, Astoria/LIC and Sunset Park, and also from OccuEvolve, Granny Peace Brigade, Green Party, “No 7-11″ and La Jornada. Others came from as far away as Syracuse, Vermont, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Spain. Sofya Aptekar has produced a record of it in nine parts on the Occupy Astoria LIC youtube channel. (Further comments, see FB event.)

1) Which New York Occupys Are in the House (0:00)? Opening statement by Nicholas Levis, Occupy Astoria LIC (5:00).

2) …Levis. Nellie Hester Bailey, Harlem General Assembly (2:49).

3) …Bailey. Eleanor Rodgers, Occupy Kensington (7:22). Golden Farms.

4) …Rodgers. Comments on Panel (5:00). Introductions (8:40).

5) …Intros. Sunset Park report (8:05). What Is Our One Question? (11:16).

6) Discussion. Neighborhoods, real estate, confronting atomization…

7) Discussion. Being the media, politicians…

8) Spain, creating our own spaces (Occupy Cafe), joining block associations…

9) Participating in elections? Toward a Peoples Assembly?

Not the End But Au Revoir

Photo, video: Sofya Aptekar.

By Ted Alexandro

Yesterday, I drove down to Raleigh, NC with two friends. What motivated us to hop in the car and drive nine hours was not just a fun road trip, though we did have fun. We wanted to go down to see the growing “Moral Mondays” protests at the NC state capital. Spearheaded by the NAACP and rooted in Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s principles of non-violent civil disobedience, it is a call to North Carolina’s religious leaders and their communities to advocate for the poor and speak out against Governor McCrory’s right wing agenda, which targets the most vulnerable North Carolinians.

Each of the past several Mondays, North Carolinians have flocked to the statehouse to protest a government that they view as failing the needs of the people. In the previous two Mondays alone, two hundred people were arrested for civil disobedience and led out of the statehouse in handcuffs.

All Photos: Adrian Resa Jones / Nomad New York

As someone involved in the Occupy movement, I was intrigued to see for myself, as were my friends. When we arrived in Raleigh and walked to the great lawn outside the capital, we were impressed by what we saw.

Under a gray, rainy sky, hundreds of people were gathered, many carrying signs advocating for issues of all sorts. I didn’t need to ask “What are their demands?!” I knew damn well…

What was intriguing about this gathering was that it was clearly rooted in religious communities. These weren’t “dirty hippies” as the media, in service of their corporate employers, so readily labeled Occupy protesters. These were priests, rabbis, reverends and their congregations. These were black folks and white folks, husbands and wives, children, LGBT communities. These were grandparents and their grandchildren. In other words, this was America. Certainly, Occupy Wall Street is America, too, but what I saw down in Raleigh was the America that the mainstream media will have a hard time ignoring.

What it said to me is “This movement is growing.” These were “everyday people,” the Sly Stone lyric that Dr. Cornel West so often invokes. These were grandmothers and grandfathers, priests and rabbis willing to subject themselves to arrest for their fellow citizens. It was pretty overwhelming to witness. It signaled to me that something is growing.

Hundreds lined the streets chanting and singing their support as bus loads of protesters were led away in handcuffs. And let me tell you, a southern church choir singing out on the streets is pretty powerful to behold.

The young folks were out in force, too, lending their invaluable vitality to the protest. As the buses of arrestees drove off, a few vibrant young men floated up and down before the assembled protesters, leading spirited chants of “You gonna need another bus, ’cause baby there are more of us!!!”

As the night wound down and the final bus load of arrestees were taken away (totaling about eighty), I asked my friends if I should do a mic check and let these folks know we drove down from NYC. They encouraged me to do so, so I shouted “Mic check!” a few times until people repeated. I began to speak, mentioning that we were here from Occupy Wall Street. Suddenly a man at the front of the crowd with a microphone called me forward. Folks parted to let me through. I took the mic and said “I wanted to let you know that a few of us from Occupy Wall Street drove down today to show our support. We are so impressed and encouraged by what you are doing here. Your example is truly inspiring so we wanted to come experience it and report back on what is happening here. Thank you so much for what you are doing and solidarity from NY!”

People clapped and hollered and a thunderous chant of “We are the 99%!” burst out. Folks came over to say “Thank you” and shake our hands. One woman even took my hand and slipped a twenty dollar bill into it, saying “Thank you so much for coming down here. Take this as a little something for gas or meals.” I said “No, that’s okay,” and she said “I insist. You all in NY inspired us!” I felt the emotion well up in me. This was exactly the kind of unbridled generosity and kindness I’ve witnessed countless times throughout my involvement in OWS. It’s like people are starving to connect with and show support for their fellow human beings. There is an untapped well of generosity, and not just monetary, that is waiting to be unleashed. People want to care for one another. We see it time and again in the aftermath of a disaster, whether natural or economic.

A movement is building. It may call itself different things in different places but it is all rooted in the same principles; the people pushing back at government that has turned its back on the people to serve corporate interests.

We saw it in the Arab Spring, where people in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and countless other countries have risen up against their governments.

We saw it in Madison, WI where hundreds of thousands showed up to take the state capital and push back in an attempt to recall Governor Scott Walker, the corporate puppet sponsored by the Koch brothers.

We saw it in Zuccotti Park where citizens gathered in the heart of Wall Street to focus attention on the pervasive and destructive effects of the corporate stranglehold on all areas of life. Certainly, billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who illegally bought a third term, embodies the unchecked and basically unstoppable greed and arrogance of the corporatocracy.

We saw it in the hundreds of Occupy groups that sprang up in cities, large and small, across the country and the globe.

We are seeing it in Turkey where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is unleashing brutal police violence on protesters in Gezi Park and across the country. Again, it is a people’s movement pushing back against an authoritarian government that has lost touch with the populace.

Increasingly, I see this as one movement, devoid of geographical boundaries. I think we do well to dispense with labels and recognize it as a human struggle; a struggle for basic human rights and dignity of all people, especially the most vulnerable among us. As each person/city/nation steps up and fights back, I applaud and celebrate in support of my people.

Everyday people.

All Films: Tuesday evenings at the Church of the Redeemer in Astoria. Doors open 6:30. Film starts at 7:00. Lively discussions, usually hosted by the filmmakers or experts on the issue. Light refreshments served. Potluck is invited!

6/18: THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD
(with Comedian Lee Camp)
***
6/25: HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE
(with activist and “St. Pat’s For All Parade” founder Brendan Fay)
***
5/7: BROTHER OUTSIDER – LIFE OF BAYARD RUSTIN
5/21: #whilewewatch – #OCCUPYWALLST MEDIA REVOLUTION
5/28: GREEK AMERICAN RADICALS – THE UNTOLD STORY
(with AKNY-Greece Solidarity Movement)
6/4: INCONVENIENT TRUTH BEHIND ‘WAITING FOR SUPERMAN’
(with educator, filmmaker and performer Brian Jones)

Sunday, March 17th, Occupy Astoria Long Island City was out in force supporting the locked out workers of the Trade Fair supermarket on 30th Avenue in Astoria. Shoulder to shoulder, we stood with the workers and representatives of their union, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 342. We handed out flyers and helped to alert the community of the lock out.

Employees of nine Trade Fair supermarket locations throughout Queens have been locked out of their jobs since Wednesday, March 13th. The chain’s 100 meat department workers have been working without any type of contract since the last one expired in October of 2012.

In a letter to his constituents, NY Councilman Daniel Dromm of Jackson Heights succinctly explained the situation the workers are facing:

“Trade Fair has refused to bargain fairly. Instead they have insisted on wage freezes throughout the length of a new contract, cutting workers’ hours, taking away workers’ Sunday premium pay, and gutting their healthcare benefits.”

As the workers have been locked out, Trade Fair has hired replacement employees. Displayed outside the store, were oversized posters advertising help wanted for part-time meat workers. The qualifications of these new workers were brought into question this past brisk Sunday afternoon. Locked out workers informed OALIC that the meat being marked Halal by the replacement workers was not in fact Halal. This is a serious issue considering that many Astoria residents shop at Trade Fair specifically for their Halal meat. On the street, we encountered a Bengali Astoria resident who has shopped at Trade Fair for his Halal meat and who also had heard the startling news that the meat being put out on the shelves was not Halal. He seemed very dismayed by the news and supported the workers. He made a point of saying that local Muslims developed a relationship and trust with their butchers and that the situation with the Halal meat should be made aware to the larger Muslim community. We also met other residents who also were supported the workers and therefore were boycotting until the unfair labor practices were resolved.

As for now, the workers are locked out in the cold. Their union is continuing to work toward better working conditions and a fair contract. Until then, OALIC supports the Trade Fair workers both in spirit and in the streets.

What you can do:
• Boycott Trade Fair supermarkets until the workers are brought back!
      Your dollar is your vote. Put your money where it matters. Money talks.
• Sign this petition in support of the workers
• Spread the word about the Trade Fair lockout to your neighbors
• Educate yourself with some of these resources:
  * For up-to-date news on the lock out, visit UFCW Local 342’s Facebook page
  * Local Astoria blog interviewing Locked Out employee by local Astoria resident
  * Watch NY 1 piece on the lock out

Trade Fair management wants to cut workers’ hours to 24 hours a week! Many workers are left to question how they can live on that. The owner wants to cut back the workers’ hours from full time to part time. The rise of part-time work notes an alarming trend chronicled by NY Times writer Catherine Rampell:

“We are nowhere near recovering the jobs lost in the recession, and the track record looks even worse when you consider that so many of the jobs lost were full time, whereas so many of those gained have been part time…. These trends are part of the reason that many people believe the standard unemployment rate of 7.7 percent understates the extent of underemployment. If you include both part-time workers who want full-time work and people who have stopped looking for jobs but still want to work, the unemployment rate is actually 14.3 percent.”

The Declaration of the Occupation of NYC declares that “all of our grievances are connected.”
OALIC knows that the fight being now fought by Trade Fair workers is not an isolated incident. We stand in support of Trade Fair meat workers and workers everywhere!

Workers’ Rights: Fight Back
For the Workers: Fight Back!
For their Families: Fight Back!
Together We Stand! Together we win!

The auditorium at P.S. 122 was filled with over 600 people on March 6, 2013. Parents, teachers, students and neighbors showed up on a cold night, whose forecast called for snow, in order to voice their frustration at the recent Department of Education announcement to phase-out the gifted program at the school. Among the panelists were Costa Constantinides, an alumnus of the coveted Academy for the Intellectually Gifted, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., and Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.

Parents, students, teachers and residents rallied at P.S. 122.

At this point, one might be wondering what all the fuss is about. The problem is that P.S. 122 has never been a zoned K-8 school. The building, located at 21-21 Ditmars Blvd, Astoria, has historically been the home of an elementary school until about 1985. At that junction, a very small yet distinct District 30 gifted program, grades 6-8, was opened which eventually grew in size and scope. The specific goal of this new program was to serve the needs of District 30’s gifted middle school students. Such a program did not exist until this one was opened. Over time, “The Academy” expanded to include a strand of gifted classes within the existing elementary school. These changes never constituted the creation of a zoned middle-school at P.S. 122. The neighborhood’s zoned middle-school was and still is I.S. 141. At this point I must add something critical to the conversation. At many schools, similar constructs have been created and staffed by an additional school administration. The cost savings, coupled with stellar academic results, which no one refutes in relation to 122, would be more than enough to characterize the 122 community as successful and innovative.

One of the arguments against the DOE’s policy shift states that the rights of gifted children will be violated. Like all sub-groups within a school’s population, gifted children are entitled to a fair and appropriate education. The Academy for the Intellectually Gifted, which is housed within P.S. 122’s building, has done an exemplary job at educating these students for almost three decades. The results speak for themselves. Over 90% of the middle-school’s graduates attend Stuyvesant High School, Bronx H.S. of Science, Brooklyn Tech, Townsend Harris and Bard H.S. Early College. Almost all get into screened programs. It is also important to note that the vast majority of these students come from immigrant families that are either low or lower middle income households. Shouldn’t the Department of Education consider emulating rather than jeopardizing this program and school? Instead, middle school gifted classes will be slashed from 11 down to 3 according to the DOE’s proposed plan!

Other perspectives do exist however as well. In addition to the damage that The Academy will incur, the entire P.S. 122 school will also feel the impact. Currently, 1,364 students attend the school. This figure includes the students for both the elementary school, gifted and non-gifted, as well as the gifted middle school population. This total places P.S. 122 at 102% of its historical capacity. Simply stated, this means that the school is already maxed out. If the Department of Education’s policy is applied, as was announced, opponents claim that enrollment will rise to about 1,665 students which will result in the school operating at about 124% its historical capacity. Now one begins to understand what all the fuss is about. Besides the obvious concerns related to overcrowding and safety, vital rooms, such as the Library, Art, Computer, and Science rooms will be jeopardized.

Those who attended the emergency Parent-Teacher Association meeting on March 6, were hopeful that their concerns would be heard. Given the reputation of P.S. 122, and The Academy in particular, they felt that they had a fighting chance. Their hopes were continually dashed though, when the DOE’s representatives, Savita Iyengar and Rebecca Rawling, appeared to ignore the community’s specific questions. Instead, they chose to repeat their mantra about needing to comply with Chancellor’s regulation A-101 and the need to create equity. “They say the chancellor’s regulation is implemented because of equity,” said attorney Laura Barbieri, of counsel at Advocates for Justice. “This ‘equity’ word is problematic for us. “First of all what does it mean?” she asked. “Why is it applied now? Why applied to a school where the gifted and talented program is number one in the state?”

As a follow-up to the unsatisfactory response that evening, a core-group of District 30 parent-activists, organized a rally at the Department of Education’s Tweed Building that took place on March 14. The group held a joint press conference with Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. whose office was bombarded with calls and emails for almost two weeks prior. Consequently, he came to the support of the school which is located just a few blocks from his home. On the steps of Tweed, Vallone declared, “Our school system has enough problems, so it defies logic for the DOE to want to dismantle a highly successful program which is a model for the entire city.” “Bureaucrats are trying to blame the Chancellor’s regulation, as if it was one of the Ten Commandments, but those regulations are changed constantly. That excuse doesn’t hold water, and the Astoria community demands to know the real reason behind this.” Subsequently, representatives of the group entered the building and delivered petitions with approximately 2,200 signatures as well as hundreds of signed letters asking Chancellor Dennis Walcott to reconsider his stance on this matter.

Rally at the Department of Education’s Tweed Building

At the most recent meeting of the Panel on Educational Policy on March 20th, Chancellor Dennis Walcott was confronted by those advocating on behalf of P.S. 122 and the Community School District 30 schools in general. He was asked to visit the school and speak to a broad group of stakeholders regarding this situation. He agreed to do so and a meeting is currently being arranged. It appears that the Chancellor has gotten the message from all of the aforementioned organizations and individuals. The question now is what will he do upon arriving at the school? According to the DOE’s spokesman Devan Puglia, “Chancellor Walcott and his team are very responsive and listen closely to feedback from families. We look forward to meeting with this community once again and articulating our rationale for this plan: equity and fairness for all students.” Hopefully the Chancellor will be inclined to do more listening than explaining.

If you’d like to help Save The Academy at P.S. 122 you can:
Sign the online petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-the-academy-at-ps-122/
Call/Write your local representatives to tell them that you support the #1 rated middle school in NYC
Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. @ (718) 274-4500
Costas Constantinides @ Costa4Astoria@gmail.com
NYS Assemblywoman Simotas @ (718) 545-3889
NYS Senator Michael Gianaris @ (718) 728-0960
Call/Write the Department of Education
Chancellor Dennis Walcott @ (212) 374-0200
Deputy Chancellor Mark Sternberg @ (212) 374-0225
Deputy Chief Executive for Admissions Sandy Ferguson @ (212) 374-7636

On Tuesday evening, March 19, I took the 3-train out to the Saratoga Avenue stop in Brooklyn. I was hoping to get to my destination — East 55th Street and Church Avenue in East Flatbush — by 7 o’clock. That was the start-time set for the nightly vigil for 16-year-old Kimani Gray, shot and killed by New York police on March 9. The neighborhood was new to me, so I had no idea if I’d be able to find my way to the vigil by 7:00. I was a little nervous.

I had heard that Jumaane Williams, the City Council member for the area, had angrily demanded that people from outside the neighborhood stay away from the vigils. He was obviously concerned about the violence that had broken out in the neighborhood the night of March 13, when about 40 people were arrested.

Yet OALIC member Jenna Pope, who photographed the protest and march that night, reported to our General Assembly that cops on scooters cut off the marchers, blocking their way. There is nothing illegal, of course, about walking down the sidewalk, even with a large group of people. According to Jenna, this blocking the crosswalk was the NYPD’s way of provoking the marchers and, as it were, inciting the disturbance that followed. I couldn’t help remembering the reports that journalists were arrested at Zuccotti Park on the night of November 15, 2011 — a clear case of City government stomping all over the First Amendment…

NYPD scooters flood the streets of East Flatbush at the Kimani Gray vigil.

It may well be that Williams’ remarks were motivated by a genuine desire to restore peace to the neighborhood. But he might have also have been genuinely angry at the “outsiders” coming to participate in the actions. If his feelings were widely shared by the residents, then I wouldn’t be very welcome there. But after hearing Jenna’s report, I really wanted to see for myself what was going on.

The walk from the train took about 20 or 25 minutes. Every few blocks there was a group of two or three cops standing on the corner, all along Church Avenue. I saw more and more patrolmen and patrolwomen, and more police vehicles, as I got closer to the site. I got to 55th Street around 7:15. Everything was pretty quiet…except for the gigantic police presence. I counted about 35 or 40 cops, and more arrived over the next hour or so.

Sitting on the sidewalk, against the wall of a restaurant on the southwest corner, were dozens, or maybe hundreds, of candles. Taped to the wall were many home-made posters with many handwritten messages addressed to Kimani (or “Kiki,” in many messages). Only about a half dozen or so younger black men were gathered around the candles, lighting them one by one.

“You a reporter or a photographer?” one young man asked me, conversationally.

“Neither,” I said. “I’m just a citizen.”

“That’s good too,” he said.

I was wearing my black-and-yellow “Occupy Astoria L.I.C.” button. I’m not sure anybody noticed it, but as time went by it was clear to me nobody had any problem with it.

Around 7:30 or a quarter to 8:00, about 15 or 20 officers in riot gear lined up, surrounding all five or ten people gathered around the candles. The cops stood in the street, a few feet behind the barricades. I overheard one man answer someone’s question about the plan for this vigil: “No…no marching tonight.” I was relieved to hear that, of course, just as I was relieved by the feeling that I was welcome there.

About 8:00 the vigil proper seemed to begin. A younger black woman with an aluminum cane arrived and began to speak directly to the cops. “Hello, officers!” she cried. “We’re just speaking our minds here. Why do you need to be here at all?”

Just a few people joined us. The group around the candles grew to about 20 at the very most. Most of those folks seemed to be from the neighborhood, but I overheard one younger black man say he was from Queens. Later one young white woman arrived, offering to serve as a medic if the need arose. Two middle-aged white men (one of whom later told me he recognized me from OALIC’s day-long gathering at the Citibank building in Long Island City last summer) came along, both joining in the speaking, which was directed both to the cops and to the other members of our small group. Two young Russian guys came later, one angrily describing his own arrest by a plain-clothes cop.

There was no speaking platform, nor was there any parliamentary procedure — but none of that was necessary. It was an orderly general discussion, though a very spirited one. One middle-aged man named Carlos, who later told me he lived a few blocks away, directed most of his comments to the younger people, warning them about tactics he said the NYPD used in African American neighborhoods — notably carrying handguns with the serial number scraped off, in order to drop them at crime scenes to implicate just such people as Kimani Gray.

I hadn’t even noticed that there were four cops standing on the roof of the 3-storey building across the street, until the woman with the cane pointed them out, calling out loudly enough for everybody nearby to hear. Then she shouted: “Jump! Jump!” It turned into a chant, and soon we were all shouting “Jump! Jump!”

Around 8:30 or 8:45, the cops in riot gear turned and marched away in single file, like soldiers. A cheer went up. But the place still felt like an armed camp.

Carlos also spoke to the assembly about the “frozen zones,” which he said was a euphemism for an area under martial law. But even some of the other speakers mentioned that a TV team from News 12 (which covers the Bronx and Westchester) had been there earlier. And there were a couple photographers among us. Remember, this was almost a week after the night of the march when there were so many arrests, so perhaps it’s not surprising there wasn’t much press there. So it didn’t seem that the media was being “kept out” of the neighborhood. On the other hand, it did seem like there should have been some reporters there, especially given the enormous police presence.

Before I left, I asked Carlos about Jumaane Williams’ tweets and comments to the press the week before, and my earlier apprehension that East Flatbush didn’t want us “outsiders” there. “No, it’s not true. If he said that…” he paused. “Well, I don’t support it…We *welcome* you. *Everybody* should come here.” And he tried to assure me that many other people in the neighborhood felt the same way.

I’m happy to respect the feelings of the residents of that neighborhood, if indeed there are some who don’t want ongoing marches and protests that involve people from other parts of the city. But I got an entirely different feeling from the people I saw that night. I didn’t encounter any hostility at all. I not only felt relieved about that — it also made me feel hopeful. Even optimistic.

This week, there have been vigils and marches in response to the NYPD shooting and killing Kimani Gray in Brooklyn. I was there on Wednesday, and although the vigil and march started out peacefully, the cops decided to block us from using a crosswalk while we were on the sidewalk, and continued agitating the whole night. I believe that’s what we call a “police riot.” Click here for more info. Below are two of my photos from the night of March 13, 2013. Follow this link for more photos. – Jenna Pope

Candlelight vigil for Kimani Gray in East Flatbush

OA-LIC at St. Pat’s For All, 2012

This is a festive, family-friendly event! Look for the big yellow “Occupy Astoria LIC” banner at the 12:30 pm Assembly Point, 47th Street and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside, Queens. The parade begins at 2 and marches to Woodside Ave and 58th Street. Annual post-parade party at Saints & Sinners, 60th Street and Roosevelt Ave. The whole universe is welcome!

The St. Pat’s for All parade celebrates the diversity of the Irish and Irish American communities of New York. First held in 2000, St.Pat’s for All cherishes and celebrates an inclusive St. Patrick’s season. Ours is the first in the 260 years + of Irish parades in New York City to be open and welcoming to all who wish share the spirit of the day. We err on the side of hospitality.

For directions by subway and bus and the full story of St. Pat’s For All, see the St. Pat’s For All site.

The average fast food CEO makes more than $3,000 an hour while the minimum wage employee makes $7.25 an hour. We will visit retail and fast food establishments in support of raising the minimum wage.

Sunday, December 16th
2pm
Steinway and Broadway

Please share our Facebook event!