A war vet, college students, teachers and retirees were among over twenty people who attended the Erie County Industrial Development Agency’s public hearing on Monday, April 9 all of whom are affiliated with Occupy Buffalo.

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speechs on current issues that may be of interest.

Be peaceful. Be organized. Share the message. Share the love.

An account of events at Zuccotti Park on the night of March 17, 2012. #OWS #M17

Right wing sites were atwitter over a report about a rape supposedly involving an Occupy encampment. But it turns out the rape involved homeless people not associated with any occupation. But the celebration continues.

Thursday, I participated in a ‘MIC CHECK’ confrontation with Arne Duncan, the US Secretary of Education, at a town hall meeting at Austin Community College. Duncan is criticized for many reasons, but he came under fire from Occupy Austin for his support of charter schools and privatization which puts teachers out of work, puts taxpayer money and our students in the hands of 1% corporations with little accountability.

I would like to think that if we hadn’t had such a deluge on Wednesday, we would’ve had an even larger turnout.

There are stories about how the 1% are running the show in offshore fisheries all over the planet. They’ve raped many, many places, destroying coastal fishing cultures that had survived for thousands of years. It is why we have Somali pirates on the level they now exist. Most used to be coastal fishermen. The fish are gone, raked up mostly by large factory ships.

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.

We can debate all day long about what’s really violent; about whether Black Bloc is a part of Occupy, an offshoot, an infiltrator or a welcome counterpart; about whether actions taken during demonstrations need to be understood within a longer historical context. In the end, such fine distinctions will mostly be lost on those watching what little coverage is available.