Be sure to check out the new Occupy Oakland website. And some great pictures (including the one above) are over at Indybay. Now for some videos.

From the blog of the occupation:

To the people (aka the 99%):  Our only demand is an invitation: Join Us!

We are reclaiming public space to use as a forum for the people to come together, meet one another, listen to each other, and build power for ourselves.  Occupy Oakland is more than just a speak-out or a camp out.  The purpose of our gathering here is to plan actions, to mobilize real resistance, to defend ourselves from the economic and physical war that is being waged against our communities.

We look forward to making this occupation a space that is welcoming and inclusive of the diverse communities of Oakland (and the bay area).   We will acknowledge and learn from each other’s histories of struggle.  And we commit to challenging oppressive ideas, behaviors, and politics, even – or especially – when they come from ourselves or our comrades.

Oakland represent!

To the Politicians and the 1%:  This occupation is its own demand.

Since we don’t need permission to claim what is already ours, we do not have a list of demands to give you.  There is no specific thing you can do in order to make us “go away”.  And the last thing we want is for you to preserve your power, to reinforce your role as the ruling classes in our society.

It may not be obvious to you, but the decisions you make daily, as well as this system you are a part of, these things are not working for us.  Our goal is bring power back where it belongs, with the people, so we can fix what politicians and corporations have screwed up.

Stand aside!

To the Media: Our struggle won’t fit in a 15 second soundbite.

This occupation is a beginning, and we have a long way to go.  And while we have much in common, we believe the people are stronger united behind many banners, rather than a single one.   We want to make it very clear that Occupy Oakland is not putting forward leaders, tactical or strategic directives, or a uniform message or political platform.

- October 8th, 2011 Message from the Oakland General Assembly in preparation for Occupy Oakland!

Last night, what may have been the last conduct hearing regarding the fall 2009 occupations at UC Berkeley took place. Josh Wolf, a graduate student in journalism as well as a press pass-carrying journalist, was in Wheeler Hall during the occupation to report on the action from the inside. The extended hearing involved the university's attempt to prohibit the use of Twitter and, more importantly, turned on the administration's inability to understand what journalism means. Jeff Woods, the prosecutor from the Office of Student Conduct (OSC), argued that Wolf should have physically intervened, attacking and overpowering the other students involved in the occupation instead of observing, taking notes, and filming. (How's that for health and safety?)

During this hearing, unlike the last two, Wolf was denied the right to have his adviser represent him, which many believe (including the ACLU of Northern California) constitutes a fundamental violation of the constitutional right to due process. In the last two hearings, in which advisers were allowed to speak for their clients, the defendants were found not guilty of any of the charges. Wolf, on the other hand, did pretty damn well for having to defend himself -- not guilty on the charges of endangering health and safety and unlawful assembly, but guilty on the charges of failure to comply, trespassing, and obstructing teaching. Fortunately, his performance was good enough to make the hearing panel recommend a sanction of... nothing! Not even a warning, which is the lowest possible sanction. (Maybe it had to do with the fact that he played this video during the hearing.) If you're interested in checking out line by line coverage, use this Twitter list (thanks to @callie_hoo).

It looks like Jeff Woods, perhaps the most incompetent bureaucrat to ever work for UC Berkeley, has lost another one.

Even if this round of conduct charges has concluded at UC Berkeley, that doesn't mean we can let our guard down. Student conduct -- as well as criminal charges -- are still being leveraged against student protesters at other campuses. Today, the Sacramento State administration is coming down hard against the protesters who launched the sit-in that would last four days before being evicted in the middle of the night by riot cops. Here's their call for support:

The Sac State 4 are four students who are being singled out by administration, and facing disciplinary action for their supposed involvement in the April 13th day of action and sit in.

They have a meeting today (4/28) with the administration to discuss what will be done. There will be a silent protest outside of Lassen Hall in support of these sudents. What the administration is doing to these students is unacceptable. Please show your support!!

Solidarity with the Sac State 4! Drop the charges! Abolish the Code of Conduct!

[Updated Thursday 7:22pm]: This just came over the Twitter:

Despite threats from the police and the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD), the body responsible for the development plans, the occupation continues, drawing support from communities around the Bay Area and beyond. This update is from day 10, which was last Saturday:

Over 300 people attended today’s Indigenous Peoples Earth Day celebration, in support of the ongoing struggle to protect the Glen Cove sacred burial ground from desecration. Many races and creeds were represented in the attendees, who included Alcatraz Occupation veterans. Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis received a guided tour of the land. News media on the scene were KPFA, KCBS, KPIX, KTVU, Indybay, and the DC Radio Coop.

Speakers included Jimbo Simmons (Choctaw), Fred Short (Ojibwa), Mark Anquoe (Kiowa), Bradley Angel of Greenaction, and a Seneca man who spoke about the Great Law of Peace. Songs and dances were offered by Pomo, Rumsien Ohlone, Miwok, and Aztec people.

It was a beautiful day. We are inspired and encouraged that even with short notice and minimal outreach, so many came from near and far in support of this work of honoring and protecting our indigenous ancestors. We send a heartfelt Thank You to everyone who was present, in body or in spirit.

Also, protesters have written a detailed response to an op-ed published last Thursday in the Vallejo Times Herald. Most striking is the fact that Janet Roberson, the author of the original piece, completely left out the fact that she had not only been on the board of the GVRD for several years, but had also lived in the Harbor Homes development right next to Glen Cove. Must have slipped her mind.

There's an op-ed in the Daily Cal today from Josh Wolf, a graduate student of journalism whose recent conduct hearing gave rise to what we have labeled "the new censorship" -- the attempt by UC officials to prohibit students from using Twitter at inopportune moments. In the article, Wolf deals with a different form of censorship, one that mediates the relationship between the UC and journalism. (It is worth noting that Wolf previously served 226 days in federal prison for protecting a source -- longer than any other US journalist.)

On Nov. 20, 2009, a group of students occupied Wheeler Hall in protest of the impending fee hike and the way the UC spends what money it has. It was my first semester at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, and although we aren't exactly encouraged to focus our reporting on the campus, I knew this was a story I wouldn't want to miss.

(...)

For more than a year now, the Center for Student Conduct has acknowledged that my role was that of a journalist and not a participant. But the campus still insists that I face sanctions for simply being inside the building.

Their position is that I'm a student first and a journalist second. When those responsibilities conflict, student conduct insists my role as a student takes precedence. In other words, when the police ordered the protesters to take down their barricade, it became my responsibility to overpower the protesters and open the door.

In fact, during the first part of my hearing, UCPD Lieutenant DeColoude said that it would've been acceptable for me to physically interfere with the students in order to help the police, provided I used "reasonable force."

I'm not sure how he defines "reasonable force," but in the two years I've spent studying journalism at UC Berkeley, I haven't heard any of my professors talk about when it's appropriate to beat up your subjects.

While I've never believed in objectivity, I do believe that it is my job to remain independent and avoid interfering as much as possible. After all, if journalists are forced to work as agents of the police, then their sources won't trust them and the entire campus community will suffer.

Similarly, if student journalists fear conduct charges for aggressively covering contentious issues on campus, they will become much more cautious, and our community will again suffer. The Supreme Court has ruled that government has a duty to inoculate against such a chilling effect.

That quote from Lt. Decoloude is priceless.

The occupation at Sacramento State continues into its second night, after 18 students slept there last night and kept the building open. Check em out on the blog and the twitter. Here's the demands, as of this morning:

1. A moratorium on managerial raises and salaries; Funding must be focused on instruction and student services.

2. Publicly support AB 1326. The oil extraction fee for higher ed bill.

3. Publicly support SB 8. The transparency bill.

Their full communiqué is after the jump:

From occupyca,

This is a clip from an upcoming documentary about the student struggle so far at the University of Puerto Rico. It covers the recent establishment of the $800 fee increases, the police brutality against demonstrators, Governor Fortuño’s plan for privatizing the public sector, and the subsequent ban on large gatherings at the university.

Oh the irony. The UC Berkeley administration has long demonstrated a tendency toward censorship, despite its supposed "free speech" credentials. From "Time, Place, and Manner" regulations which attempt to restrict political activity to Sproul Plaza, to UCPD cops breaking into department libraries to steal students' materials, to the criminalization of chalking and distributing fliers, the so-called "home of the free speech movement" has become a complete joke.

Now they're trying to keep students from using Twitter.

This past Monday, during journalism student Josh Wolf's student conduct hearing for his presence at the Wheeler Hall occupation, the hearing panel all of a sudden discovered that @callie_hoo was live-tweeting the proceedings. Threatening the defendant, they demanded that the tweeting immediately stop. It is the height of irony that they would do this to a journalism student who was in Wheeler to document the action.

Now, we've just learned that the UC Berkeley administration is unilaterally threatening to cancel the negotiations about Operational Excellence planned for Friday afternoon. Chancellor Birgeneau agreed to meet with students as part of the concessions won during the occupation of the Wheeler ledge. The administration has thrown around the idea of canceling the meeting because they're scared that a rally might take place at the same time. Pobrecitos. In any case, we wanted to quote a line from the email sent to the negotiating team by Felicia Lee, Birgeneau's bureaucratic lackey. If the "dialogue" takes place, she writes,

As a matter of respect for all attendees, no tweets, texts, or recordings during the meeting are permitted. I trust you and the others will honor this request.

Home of the Free Speech Movement, indeed. Remember, these are some of the same folks who wanted to call a administrative unit specifically designed to monitor and infiltrate student protest actions the "Freedom of Expression Support Team." These people are sick.

Above, our compañero Brandon put together this video on the massive protests in London last Saturday, in which 500,000 people from many sectors came out to protest the government's devastating budget cuts.

Below, the Guardian obtained video from inside the Fortnum and Mason occupation in which the cops promise to let the occupiers go if they leave voluntarily. Then, as soon as they get outside, they're arrested.


[Update Tuesday noon]: Some interesting, critical thoughts on the day from Really Open University.

Today's conduct hearing, for one of the Wheeler Hall occupiers from 2009, was live-tweeted by @reclaimuc, @callie_hoo, and @sgnfr. All of these twitter feeds are conveniently available on a twitter list we've put together, appropriately titled "kangaroo court." The cast of characters includes Thomas Frampton, star counsel for the defense coming off a huge victory in his last case; Jeff Woods, prosecutor for the Office of Student Conduct (OSC) and widely seen as one of the stupidest and most incompetent people in UC Berkeley's administrative bureaucracy; Ron Fearing, professor of electrical engineering and the faculty chair of the hearing panel; and, in a minor role, Stacy Holguin, who interprets the Code of Conduct as OSC's "procedural adviser" and monitors protest actions as administrative spy. The hearing ended for the day around 5 pm, and will be taken up once again on -- and this is entirely appropriate -- April Fool's Day.

In the middle of the hearing, we received the following update from thosewhouseit:

What a joke this whole conduct process is. We just learned that Student Regent Jesse Cheng was found guilty of sexual battery by UC Irvine’s OSC. The sentence? Disciplinary probation. To put this in perspective, this fucking rapist gets off with probation, while one of this blog’s own contributors was given a stayed suspension and 20 hours of community service . . . for his participation in the 2009 occupation of Wheeler Hall. Even more egregiously, Cheng will not be removed from his position on the Board of Regents, in effect condoning sexual battery. Again: non-violent civil disobedience gets stayed suspension and community service; rape -- let’s dispense with the technocratic minimization as “unwanted touching” and call a spade a spade -- gets disciplinary probation, a markedly lighter sentence. What the fuck is wrong with these people?!

This is not a new or accidental phenomenon, nor is it only a question of Cheng's position as student regent. Rather, it speaks to the nature of the university's quasi-legal student conduct apparatus itself. The system operates according to assumptions of difference, inferiority, and hierarchy -- whether they are based on politics, age, race, or -- as is the case here -- gender. Again, this speaks to not some sort of idle speculation but a striking pattern of impunity. Take the following examples, just published in the last couple weeks. First, an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer discusses the case of a female UC Berkeley student who was raped four years ago by a "persistent upperclassman." Pay close attention to what OSC does and does not do in the context of these rape allegations:

Fuck the regents. More information here.

The February/March 2011 issue of the Berkeley Campus Monitor, a broadside serving up "subterranean student news," has been released and is circulating around campus. This issue features an article by Slavoj Zizek on the revolution in Egypt, as well as articles taken from the blogs. Keep your eyes out for a hard copy, or check it out here.

Issue 1, January 2011, contains both original pieces and some stuff taken off the blogs. The next issue, which should be coming out in the next couple days, will include Operational Excellence, political issues in the greater Bay Area, and more -- keep your eyes out for it.

Reclamations is back with issue 3. Table of contents (with links) is below the fold:

On the morning of October 7, the national day of action, UCPD officers broke into the Rhetoric Department library and confiscated banners.


The note reads:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
THE BANNERS IN THIS ROOM
WAS [sic] RECOVERED BY UCPD
AS FOUND PROPERTY IT IS
HELD AT UCPD ANY QUESTIONS
PLS CONTACT CAPT. RODRICK
LT. TEJADA

They did it again this week. This time, they stole the following materials, which had to be "re-recovered" from UCPD: a few boxes of paint, medical supplies, water, plus a couple of signs.

UC Berkeley: Home of the Free Speech Movement.

(via)

Via email:

We, the hunger strikers of UC Berkeley, are calling out to all people of color, to our communities of color, to take a stand this Friday, May 7th at noon against racism and all the many forms that this oppression takes in our society. We call upon communities of color and all our allies to protest at locations of power, wherever it may be that you are best able to protest, whether that be an administration building or city hall. We must unite and let those in power know that we are standing together to oppose the criminalization of our communities. Let them know that we will not allow them to target workers for firings on our campuses through the misguided privatization policies of our campus administrations. Let them know that we will not allow them to target our fellow students that have stood up to them in past, that stand up to them in the present, and that will stand against them in future protests. Let them know that we are all one: workers, students, community members. Let it be known that we will not be divided.

The people in power do not think that we are a force to be reckoned with, they do not believe that our people will come together to oppose them. We began our hunger strike at noon on Monday and were met with abusive police tactics throughout the night. We were subjected to sleep deprivation, with threats of arrest if we were caught sleeping. The police would drive in circles around us throughout the night revving their engines and flashing their lights at our strikers as they huddled together for warmth. We did not break and will not break under these practices of torture.

Our administration told us that they would enter into discussions with us, but when we tried to bring in a representative of the workers, a member of our community, the doors were closed before her face. When one of the hunger strikers turned to leave in disgust, to leave this so called meeting, he was met with police force. One cop threw him to the steps twisting his arm behind him, while another cop knelt on his legs. We shall not be treated this way. As we sit here and see yet another hour pass of not eating, we now see that the police are coming out in numbers not yet seen, all armed with riot sticks...

As you read this know that students in a Los Angeles area high school have also begun a hunger strike in solidarity with the struggles of our communities in Arizona. They have decided that they will not end their hunger strike until we end the hunger strike at UC Berkeley. Know that the city of Oakland voted unanimously to boycott Arizona on May the 4th. Let us all come together and hold protests throughout the state, let our people in Arizona hear our cries of protest, that we will stand with them and not take this oppression any longer.

This is why we are calling upon our sisters and brothers, why we are encouraging everyone to protest and initiate hunger strikes at the offices of your campus administrations. The administration is afraid. They are afraid of our power as a community. On Friday at noon let us all stand together and show them our communities united in struggle.

In Solidarity & In Struggle,
the students on hunger strike at UC Berkeley

Rally Friday Noon California Hall.

Another statement, this time from the UC Berkeley Faculty Association, rebuking the the administration regarding both the Code of Student Conduct and its implementation:

Dear Chancellor Birgeneau, EVC Breslauer and Dean Poullard,

The Berkeley Faculty Association joins the Northern California ACLU, the Campus Rights Project, the Berkeley Faculty Petition on the Office of Student Conduct Procedures, and the UC Berkeley Divisional Council in expressing profound concern about the fairness of disciplinary proceedings against student protesters at this time. We note that several flaws in the current procedures cast doubt on the legitimacy of the charges and the hearings. They include: the failure to afford due process to students charged, the imposition of sanctions without adjudication, the failure to specify evidence necessary to ground the charges, the inadequate protection of the right to protest, and the failure of the Office of Student Conduct to follow its own procedures. We urge the cessation of all proceedings against student protesters on the basis of flawed procedure. Before any further disciplinary actions are take, we call for a re-engagement with and revision of the student code of conduct that honors rights of peaceful protest.

Sincerely,

Wendy Brown
Co-Chair, Berkeley Faculty Association

Chris Rosen
Co-Chair, Berkeley Faculty Association

Richard Walker
Vice Chair, Berkeley Faculty Association