Lt. Dan Choi is on his way to Occupy Atlanta’s new encampment in front of AT&T headquarters right now. He’ll be in Atlanta for the next 3 days to celebrate the tent that Atlanta won for their outstanding local activism from Occupy Supply. Today also kicks off our FDL Membership drive. The annual contributions of our members pays for the salaries and benefits of our employees who do the organizational work, and that’s how we were able to use 100% of the money we raise through Occupy Supply to get supplies to occupiers who needed them.

I’m at Occupy Delaware (Wilmington) today to put up the command post tent that Occupy Philadelphia won in the Occupy Supply contest to reward excellence in community activism. Occupy Philadelphia is giving the tent to Occupy Delaware, who has invited occupiers that have been evicted to come live at their encampment.

Occupy Philadelphia will be livestreaming the event, which will be broadcast here (video above). Thanks to everyone for making this possible, and if you can’t make it down to Occupy Delaware, we hope you can join in virtually.

Please join me at Occupy Wilmington, Delaware this Saturday for a tent-raising party with DADT activist Lt. Dan Choi, Captain Ray Lewis, members of Occupy Philadelphia and many others .

RSVP TO OCCUPY WILMINGTON’S CELEBRATION
Saturday, February 18th, 2012 from 2:00-4:00PM
Spencer Plaza, Wilmington, DE 19895
» Click here for directions and to RSVP

I decided to join FDL’s Occupy Supply project after defending the OWS movement to some friends on Facebook. I figured if I felt so strongly about it, I’d better walk the talk. I also realized that my fair city was the site of the Republican National Convention this year, and I wanted to see Occupy Tampa survive to welcome them.

I had expected a much lower number at this point in time just due to attrition, cold weather and February sluggishness. The recent rash of crackdowns may actually have helped generate enthusiasm and support in places it was lagging. Even as Occupy Nashville and Newark get their eviction papers, Occupy Berkeley has tents up once again in Sproul Plaza. And Occupy Pocatello joins the list. As the big occupations get torn down, new ones spring up to take their place, while others regroup and re-occupy.

We’ve received a few diaries in the last week but we’ve also gotten some great pictures and a couple of nice videos from folks.

When this movement started in New York City I felt something in me spark. I had always known that there was something wrong with the way the country was being run, especially after watching the stock market crash in 2008. I started researching more into what Occupy Wall Street was doing, why they were protesting, and finally knew I had found my answer. I was so happy when I found that there were others that felt the same way as i did about the state of affairs in our country, even around the world. In the first few weeks, I watched the OWS livestream and watched as the four women got pepper sprayed. I watched many of their actions, and even from home, I felt my heart sink because I couldn’t be a part of it, though I knew with everything that I saw that I wanted to be there with them. Then I found Occupy Erie on facebook. There it was, the calling that I had been waiting for.

Our next Occupy Supply online meet-up is Sunday, February 12th, at 2:00 PM Eastern. Register now.

In an effort to share strategies and best-practices among Occupy groups, Sunday’s Occupy Supply town hall webinar discussion will be: “My Occupation Was Raided: Now What Do I Do?”

Kevin Baron, a wizard at Freedom of Information Act requests, has generously agreed to give a webinar presentation tomorrow night for Occupy Supply on how to submit FOIA requests regarding the government’s actions against occupations across the country — and more importantly, what to do when the government won’t comply.

The FDL community has voted to award five occupations with a command post tent from Occupy Supply for their outstanding community activism. Three others will receive computers, while 12 runners up will get gift certificates to the OccupySupply store. Dan Choi will help deliver the tents. Check out the winners!