It's official, Occupy Berkeley.Org is the name of Berkeley Anti-Wall Street protest--but How Berkeley is it?
Ted Friedman
It's official, Occupy Berkeley.Org is the name of Berkeley Anti-Wall Street protest--but How Berkeley is it?

Page One

Day 4:As Berkeley Anti-Wall Street Protest Aligns With National Occupation Movement, Some Locals Feeling Squeezed

By Ted Friedman
Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 12:24:00 PM
Female facilitator, center and seated, for the 6 p.m. general assembly of Berkeley anti-Wall Street protest at BA Plaza last night. Russell Bates to her left. Michael M. a blur, is right with long hair and beard. Note the flow chart at left. This update on reports and proposals guides the protest. All important note-taker is to facilitator's right

It looks official; the Berkeley branch of the anti-Wall Street movement has branded itself "Occupy Berkeley"--a marketing concept to make it convenient to find your local Bank of America. Now you can pick the occupation movement nearest you.

And some, but not all veterans of Berkeley's often fractious activist community are feeling squeezed out.

Aware of this, one of the founders of Occupy Berkeley, who continues to oppose the idea that he is a leader, vows to give the locals a voice. But to influence "Occupy," you must know and play by the (franchise) rules, the non-leader says. -more-



Why No Demands? Occupy Wall Street is a Rebellion, Not a Protest. (News Analysis)

By Michael Levitin (New America Media)
Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 03:23:00 PM

Let’s get something straight: this movement has issued no demands. It is not a protest. It’s an occupation. Rebellions don’t have demands.

As we wrote in the editorial that appeared in the second edition of The Occupied Wall Street Journal on Saturday: “We are speaking to each other, and listening. This occupation is first about participation.” -more-



Features

Bon Appetit

By Dorothy Snodgrass
Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 03:20:00 PM

After studying me critically, in ill- disguised disgust, my Kaiser doctor recently ordered me in stern tones to go on a diet. O.k., so that's easy for her to say -- she weighs all of 95 pounds, soaking wet. I know she would strenuously object to the many times a week I go out for breakfast/lunch with friends and neighbors. But, what the heck, this is one of life's pleasures. And there are so many great restaurants in Berkeley and the bay area where one can hang out (and pig out). -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 03:34:00 PM

Each day I wait to see relief on the faces of people who are hoping to get their needs for survival met by other kind people but at the end of the day most of them are still desperate and depressed. I always thought life is lived now first and that today's needs are more important than needs of the unseen tomorrow. Our readers of the U.S. Constitution remind us of the unseen tomorrow by ignoring today for the one-third of the U.S. that lives in poverty. Ask those about tomorrow whose child went to sleep without food. Ask those about tomorrow whose child is undernourished and sick. Will the child keep alive without help until tomorrow? Well, the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. People who sit in Congress or govern the country may not have ever missed a meal in their lives. They may never have gaped in bewilderment at the sky. -more-


Editorial

Planning More of Those Robot Apartments for Berkeley

By Becky O'Malley
Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 02:29:00 PM

Much to my surprise, last week’s New Yorker cover seemed to be devoted to Berkeley’s in-the-works new Downtown Area Plan.

Thanks to sometime Planet contributor Tom Lord, we’ve learned that cover artist Eric Drooker, who lives in downtown Berkeley, seems to have been riffing on an animation he did to go with a film version of Alan Ginzberg’s Howl—the sinister figure at the top of the skyscrapers is Ginzberg’s Moloch:

"Moloch whose Soul is electricity and banks!"
"Moloch whose Poverty is the specter of Genius"
"Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen"
"Moloch whose name is the Mind. Robot apartments"

Drooker’s visual imagery reprises Fritz Lang's 1927 expressionist film, Metropolis.

Oh sure, you say. Well, I had the misfortune to watch as much as I could stand of yesterday’s city council workshop on “development fees”, and let me tell you, it was all about building robot apartments with souls of electricity and banks. -more-


Columns

The Poetry of Money: a New Irregular Personal Column

By R.M. Ryan
Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 03:43:00 PM

I worked in the sales, research, and management departments of a major regional brokerage firm for over twenty-five years. I left as a Senior Vice President to become a private money manger in 2005.

While I never literally worked on Wall Street, I lived in the air of that synecdoche.

I learned quite early in the game that, if I wanted to survive, I had to pick and choose very carefully among the investments offered to me and my clients. Many of them—such as, for instance, most tax shelters back in the 1980's and numerous mortgage-backed products—were financial poison.

Once you hung around a while, it got to be fairly easy to spot the bad products—the first test was simple: crappy investments usually had the largest commissions for the brokers. -more-


Cartoon Page: BOUNCE:

By Joseph Young
Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 02:24:00 PM

Cartoon Page: Odd Bodkins: Perfect Happiness

Dan O'Neill
Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 02:08:00 PM

Arts & Events

Around & About Theater: Ragged Wing Ensemble--Innana's Descent--free performances & celebration

By Ken Bullock
Wednesday October 12, 2011 - 03:13:00 PM

Ragged Wing Ensemble, the East Bay's plucky little physical theater troupe, will stage Innana's Descent--the story of the Mesopotamian queen of Heaven & Earth, goddess of love, entering the underworld--as 'a celebration of the darkening of days" from this weekend through October 30, Saturdays and Sundays, 1-5, at Codornices Park, 1301 Euclid (near the Berkeley Art Center; just east of Live Oak Park) with interactive art installations and continuous performances all afternoon--and a special Halloween show, October 31, 5-8 p. m. Free. raggedwing.org -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Planning More of Those Robot Apartments for Berkeley 10-12-2011

The Editor's Back Fence

This Is the Weekend Issue: Good until Monday 10-09-2011

Hancock Bill Extends Berkeley Solar Finance Scheme to State: Was it a Success or a Failure? 10-06-2011

Cartoons

Cartoon Page: BOUNCE: By Joseph Young 10-12-2011

Cartoon Page: Odd Bodkins: Perfect Happiness Dan O'Neill 10-12-2011

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 10-12-2011

AB 292 and SB 900: Both Bad for the Environment;
Why Did Skinner and Hancock Vote for Them?
By Antonio Rossmann 10-11-2011

Local Activists Join New National Movement to “Take Back the American Dream” By Ken A. Epstein 10-11-2011

New: Occupy Berkeley Report By Steve Martinot 10-09-2011

New: Hancock's Senate Bill 555 Release is Wrong: Berkeley's Solar Program Went Up in Flames By Nigel Guest 10-08-2011

A Nurse's Viewpoint By Berit Block, RN 10-07-2011

News

Day 4:As Berkeley Anti-Wall Street Protest Aligns With National Occupation Movement, Some Locals Feeling Squeezed By Ted Friedman 10-12-2011

Why No Demands? Occupy Wall Street is a Rebellion, Not a Protest. (News Analysis) By Michael Levitin (New America Media) 10-12-2011

Bon Appetit By Dorothy Snodgrass 10-12-2011

Flash: Power Outage Closes Downtown Berkeley BART Station By Bay City News 10-11-2011

Day 3: "Occupy Berkeley" Emerging as Berkeley Version of Anti-Wall Street Movement By Ted Friedman 10-11-2011

Protestors Begin Day Two of "Occupy Oakland" Demonstration By Hannah Albarazi (BCN) 10-11-2011

Glover, Mayors of Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond to Speak at "Jobs not Cuts" Rally on Saturday By Zipporah Collins 10-11-2011

Day Two: As Occupy Wall Street Movement Builds in Berkeley, How Berkeley Will it Be? By Ted Friedman 10-10-2011

Occupy Oakland Starts Today at 4 at Oakland City Hall By Scott Morris (BCN) 10-10-2011

Berkeley Meeting Introduces Ashby Village By Dorothy Snodgrass 10-10-2011

New: Berkeley Dodges End of the World, Joins National Anti-Wall Street Revolution Saturday at Bank of America Plaza Downtown By Ted Friedman 10-08-2011

U.S. Prosecutors Announce Crackdown on Medical Marijuana Stores By Julia Cheever (Bay City News Service) 10-07-2011

Berkeley's New Smart Boot System: The Potential for Abuse (News Analysis) By Thomas Lord 10-06-2011

Steve Jobs: Arab-American By Shirin Sadeghi (New America Meda) 10-06-2011

Columns

The Poetry of Money: a New Irregular Personal Column By R.M. Ryan 10-12-2011

My Commonplace Book (a diary of excerpts copied from printed books, with comments added by the reader.) by Dorothy Bryant 10-11-2011

It’s the Water, Stupid: The Perils of Clearcutting By Bob Burnett 10-07-2011

On Mental Illness: Smoking, Obesity and Type II Diabetes By Jack Bragen 10-09-2011

Senior Power: The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune. English proverb. By Helen Rippier Wheeler 10-06-2011

American Pie: A Cautionary Tale About Three Sixth Grade Misfits By Ruth Rosen 10-06-2011

Arts & Events

Around & About Theater: Ragged Wing Ensemble--Innana's Descent--free performances & celebration By Ken Bullock 10-12-2011

Berkeley Arts Festival Continues By Bonnie Hughes 10-06-2011