‘Base Camp’ for Anti-Capitalism Struggle Occupy Oakland Fights Racist Cops’ Attack; Calls for General Strike

OAKLAND, CA, October 28 — At Occupy Oakland, workers and students reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza after the occupation was brutally attacked on October 26 by a full-scale military action of 500-600 kkkops from 17 different Bay Area agencies.  The cops invaded the camp, which included children, at 5:30 AM with flash grenades, percussion bombs and tear gas. Eighty-five people were arrested that morning, and more than 100 during the day.

Like the fascist response to the Oscar Grant demonstration protesting his murder by racist
cops several months ago, this was a well-planned domestic version of the “Shock and Awe” invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Oakland politicians and police are well-rehearsed from years of attacking black and Latino youth. Now they have redesigned their security to handle mass uprisings.

Far from being intimidated by this police brutality, over 1,000 Oakland workers and students fought back. They gathered at the main library for a rally, then marched to the police department and jail to demand the release of arrested comrades before returning to City Hall. CHALLENGE was distributed along the way.

At 6:30 PM, the cops gave protesters five minutes to disperse or face mass arrests. But it wasn’t until 7:45 PM that the cops again attacked with tear gas and flash grenades. One Iraq vet, Scott Olsen, had his skull broken by a tear gas canister. These fascists wouldn’t even let people carry him away without tossing a flash grenade near him. The rebellion lasted until midnight.

By Wednesday night, workers and students had taken back Oscar Grant Plaza at 14th and Broadway and torn down the fences around the park. The daily General Assembly (GA) began at 7 PM.  By 10 PM, 1,486 people had voted to have a one-day general strike on November 2nd. The tents had returned the next day.

Over 1,000 people have attended the GA each night since the camp was raided. Liberal mayor Jean Quan tried to speak but was told to “go home!” She did. For now, the cops are laying low. Such a fascist attack proves that the cops are enemies of the working class and a direct arm of the state.

For some, Occupy Oakland is a base camp for the local struggle against capitalism. While the Occupiers and their supporters span the political spectrum, there certainly are many who want a new economic and political system. PL’ers had conversations where Occupiers actively shared their ideas about how to organize a new society as an alternative to profits and capitalism.

On visits, PLP members talked with individuals about producing things for need and voluntary commitment to work for all instead of a wage system. Many wanted to “tax the rich,” but others wanted something more fundamental.  We had a good reception to the CHALLENGE headline, “Only Revolution, Not Voting, Can End Capitalism’s Racism, War and Unemployment.”

A few transit workers and other friends have joined us at the camp visits, rallies and meetings. Occupy Oakland called for a general strike “against an economic system built on inequality and corporate power that perpetuates racism, sexism and the destruction of the environment” (see later report on page 1).

This movement gives us opportunities to connect Occupy Oakland to the jobs where we are actively fighting back. Some are promoting the general strike at work. This encourages political strikes against the system as a whole rather than just for wages and benefits. One bus driver recently commented, “I get it!. All that stuff you’ve been saying about how banks  and corporations control transit — it’s all coming true.”

Others, however, express hesitation due to their experiences with racist cops and bosses, who use racism to divide workers and attack in particular dark-skinned workers. Yet the constant attacks enrage these same workers. The Occupy movement makes it easier for PLP to expose the class rule of finance capitalists.J

Bankers Are Vultures on Carcass of Public Services

The big banks have an organized apparatus of “public” transit agencies, commissions, managers, legislators and court decisions that feeds money collected from the working class to private capitalists. Communists call this state power.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) controls funding for Bay Area transit. The MTC is subsidizing hedge funds while attacking transit workers and passengers.

Hedge funds Amerimar Enterprises in Philadelphia, and Angelo, Gordon and Co. in New York made $33 million in profits from the sale of a U.S. Postal Service property in San Francisco to the MTC. These transactions allowed public tax dollars (the post office property) and fees paid by the public (MTC-collected bridge tolls) to go directly to profit finance capitalists.

Bay-Area wide, the MTC plans to cut service and jobs by $80 million per year. With control of funding, the MTC will demand scrapping work rules, and will use part-time bus drivers to cut service. SF MUNI Management is well on its way. By 2014, they plan to cut the budget almost $24 million by using part-time jobs to reduce service.

Look at the massive New York transit system. It has always been an ATM machine for Wall St. The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is currently proposing its biggest-ever borrowing program of $14.8 billion over a five-year period to fund its capital projects. In addition to paying interest to bondholders, the MTA must pay fees to the bankers who package and sell the bonds, amounting to between $2.50 and $5 on every $1,000 worth of debt.

Financial institutions underwriting the bonds include Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Merriill Lynch, J.P Morgan, Jeffreys and Co, Jackson, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. Over the last two years, these capitalists earned $39.7 million in fees by issuing bonds.J