Occupy May 2, 2012 at 9:44 am

Portland's May Day, the Morning After

Denis C. Theriault
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Comments

1
Liberals used to stand for something. Now they fall for anything.
thebadsteed on May 2, 2012 at 10:06 AM Report this
2
What the police have learned is that you can do anything with impunity, especially after Ronald Frashour was reinstated. And it's not about the law, it's about cracking heads and "respect my authoritah!"

And cons got conned again, about to nominate another boob with a silver foot in his mouth for President.
on May 2, 2012 at 10:18 AM Report this
3
DT, are you saying that there is a message that would be spread/heard if the police would just let it be? Or are you saying that after all these 'actions' and encampments, etc. that maybe the message needs a new means of being spread? I'm confused. You talk of talk of the police response drowning out a message after spending most of the article talking about the police response.

shaitan on May 2, 2012 at 10:24 AM Report this
4
1) One of the points of these protests is to draw police intervention. To claim otherwise is rather naive. It might be non-violent, but that doesn't mean it's not confrontational.

2) How do you end up owing over $300,000 on a $200,000 house? http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.s…
Chuck Garabedian on May 2, 2012 at 10:26 AM Report this
5
What I saw on video was the cops arresting Jesus, then the female jumped in the middle and the cops put her in a "hair hold," which worked pretty good on my sister back in the day...

I'm pretty sure the cops could give two shits if tommy is a member of the media or not - I want to know more about this charismatic 15 year old pied piper who can make adults who should know better to do his bidding.
St. Johns Flasher on May 2, 2012 at 10:38 AM Report this
6
@shaitan: I think there's a shared responsibility for the messageā€”cops vs. protestersā€”that gets picked up by most outlets. The best actions are the most focused actions, as I see it. But it bothers me to see people getting tackled and beaten up for breaking traffic lawsā€”and I think that response inflames the crowd and is just as much a driver of the confrontation narrative.
Denis C. Theriault on May 2, 2012 at 10:48 AM Report this
7
@Chuck - Missed payments and late fees, right? And maybe home equity loans - I've heard of cases where they allowed up to 120% of the home value.
Reymont on May 2, 2012 at 11:56 AM Report this
8
@Denis - Deep down, I like to see people beaten and tackled for breaking traffic laws. I wish I could tattle on people on my morning commute, every day! "He didn't signal that lane change! Taser him! Taser the fuck out of him!"

I'm a tiny, bitter person sometimes.
Reymont on May 2, 2012 at 12:04 PM Report this
9
DT: I see where you're coming from, but this looks to me just like years of past protests did in terms of what you shouldn't do to give the cops an excuse to beat you down/cite you, etc.. I'm by no means justifying the cops' approach, but it's not like it's a secret or new tactic they're employing. Nor is it a secret or new force continuum/definition of 'resist' that is employed once someone does something like jerk their arm away, etc..

Also, it's hard for me to believe that if the cops had just stayed away everything would have been fine and a very clear and edifying message would have been broadcast, especially since they basically did just that during the months of the encampment.
But I'm trying to be more receptive about all this so I'll STFU now.
shaitan on May 2, 2012 at 12:28 PM Report this
10
I went out and watched for awhile as they marched down streets with the cops in tow. There was no violence or confrontation to speak of while I watched.

My general conclusion was that this type of thing is harmless, but achieves zero. This group needs to come up with an actual platform. One or two concrete things they'd like to see on a local or state level. And focus on those things.

As it is, no one can make these people happy, because they aren't coherently identifying a problem or asking for any specific remedies. How would one go about appeasing these people even if you wanted to? What is it that they're asking for? I have no idea...
Blabby on May 2, 2012 at 1:28 PM Report this
11
The other thing is it seemed like at least 30% of the people there were there to film it from the edges. It turns it into a meta-event instead of a genuine event.
Blabby on May 2, 2012 at 1:30 PM Report this
12
I have to tip my hat to the protesters for keeping it very civil here in Portland despite the somewhat intimidating police presence in certain stops. The Black Bloc didn't have much of a show around P-town fortunately. Maybe a few posers and wannabes. Guess the BB sent all their reinforcements to Seattle or Oakland for this May Day. Once again Occupy's message has been diluted with a dozen or so special interest groups: illegal rights, school budget cuts, foreclosed home owners. What happened to the worker's rights aspect of May Day?

The OP folk who helped the woman break into her old foreclosed home seem a bit misguided though. She couldn't or wouldn't make payments so at some point she should have been kicked out. No one forced her into taking a loan out..but she did. Was it a predatory loan? Well to me all loans from banks are predatory. That's why you gotta have at least a little financial common sense. No one ever said life is fair. But it will definitely get a lot worse if you bite out more than you can chew.
on May 2, 2012 at 2:13 PM Report this
13
@12 Posted by bullnose on May 2, 2012 at 2:13 PM

Black Bloc is not a group, it is a tactic. There is no "BB sent all their reinforcements to Seattle or Oakland for this May Day." It just isn't a cohesive "group", it is small autonomous groups of people using the same tactic.

maybe this will educate you a little: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_bloc
on May 2, 2012 at 3:58 PM Report this
14
@13: That's exactly what the Black Bloc group would say.
($8239f8h248cerfehjf23@&*@ebdjhb23f237OCDBO#BD*(# on May 2, 2012 at 4:08 PM Report this
15
@14, it's not really debatable. There is no 'black bloc' organization. It is simply a tactic used by protestors, worldwide, under a variety of ideological banners, many of which would be diametrically opposed to each other were they to come in contact.

@10, this wasn't an Occupy event. It was May Day. I saw a large chunk of people out there who are generally opposed to Occupy. May Day IS a meta-event. But your proclamation that meta-events are somehow not genuine is stated, not justified. Please justify itā€”because by the same logic, the United States government, by being (in theory) an amalgamation of the populous' viewpoints, is not, itself, a genuine government.
on May 2, 2012 at 6:45 PM Report this

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