my night at Occupy Boston

[juldea]

Last night I went to Occupy Boston to assist the movement in the face of probable police activity after a judge ruled yesterday that the occupiers didn't have a First Amendment right to occupy the square, leading Mayor Menino to announce he wanted the encampment gone by midnight. Like many, I support the Occupy movement while at the same time

Comments

[usernamenumber]

Could you talk a little more about your motivations for defending the encampment? Do you disagree with the court order, feel it necessary to buy more time, something else?

[juldea]

Honestly, I do not know much at all about the text of the court order and the legality of the encampment's existence given the fine print on what the Greenway is and all that. I was coming at it from a higher level: I think the arguments of the Occupy movement are super important and worth civil disobedience to keep them in the public eye. I want the camps around as long as possible, because as long as they are still there and still in people's face, the issues can't be buried (as effectively as otherwise.)

[usernamenumber]

...also, especially given that the cops didn't raid even when the rest of the occupation, as you put it, encouraged them to with the shenanigans on Atlantic Ave, why assume that the "let's lock the mbta door" guy was an undercover cop instead of just an overzealous asshole?

[juldea]

I don't think that any point of the cops not raiding on Thursday night was because of some benevolent attempt to let us have our party. It was pure tactics; the camp was obviously going to be bursting at the seams Thursday, less so Friday, and even less so 5am Saturday morning. (Because, you know, cops clearing the camp with goodwill will choose 5am to do it--not even getting into the possible issues with press that I haven't researched enough to verify claims for

[usernamenumber]

...but on exactly the tactical level you're talking about, why would the cops seed Occupy with provocateurs, get exactly the kind of provocation they would be looking for in that scenario... and then do nothing? At least as I see it, that contradiction makes the guy you met just being an asshole the far simpler explanation.

[rustycoon]

Thank you for posting this, thank you for being there.

Sadly, participation = loss of future job prospects or I'd be inclined to get out there, myself.

[juldea]

Just participation, or arrest? (Asking out of curiosity.)

[rustycoon]

Participation carries risk of arrest (claims to the contrary are naive). But a) a criminal record would bar me from seeking many of the jobs I plan to seek in the future, and b) a criminal charge has special consequences for me that most people don't face. I'm happy to go into details in a non-public, non-internet forum if you're still curious.