There are currently 21 responses to “Occupy Oakland General Strike and the Whole Foods Incident”

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1. 1 On November 3rd, 2011, Ben said:

   Even if they were mad at Whole Foods, to be violent while shoppers were inside and sitting outside enjoying their lunches, that’s just not right. They say they’re peaceful but this says so much the opposite. 99% is a big group of people. Stop picking on the innocent bystanders.

2. 2 On November 3rd, 2011, C Decker said:

   This vandalism makes me angry. So the group “resolved the problem” after the vandalism had occurred? They should have turned the vandals into the police. This Whole Foods Market makes an enormous contribution to our neighborhood. They are part of the community. WF isn’t creating the economic inequality plaguing the country, but they are supporting organic farmers, local farmers and employ a number of people in the area.

   I support the general ethos of the Occupy Movement, but do not in any way support the anarchist contingent trying to use the movement to its own end. The police should have been moving around with the protesters.

3. 3 On November 4th, 2011, eclecticdeb said:

   I’d recommend referring to the vandals as just that — VANDALS (i.e. not protestors).

   Example: “Conflict ensued as a protestor tried to physically stop the protester who had been trying to break the window.”

   would be changed to

   “Conflict ensued as a protestor tried to physically stop the VANDAL who had been trying to break the window.”

   I may be one of the few who has issues with the “Anti-Capitalism” focus of these protests. It’s not perfect, but it allows the most personal freedom and provides opportunity for everyone.

4. 4 On November 4th, 2011, hailstate said:

   Nice use of the N-word there after the black guy takes one of the anarchist’s flags. Hell of movement you got there, kiddies.

5. 5 On November 4th, 2011, rodpeters said:

   time for something a little stronger than tear gas. these people serve no purpose to the advancement of mankind.

6. 6 On November 4th, 2011, sherirozie said:

   Who are the guys in black hoods, it’s like they came just to cause problems, along with their flags. They seemed to have another agenda then most of the other protesters. And so much Cursing in your marching chant! Shameful!

7. 7 On November 4th, 2011, Darth Chaos said:

   The black guys in hoods are most like OPD officers posing as agents provocateurs.

8. 8 On November 4th, 2011, Darth Chaos said:

   I meant to say “The black guys in hoods are most like OPD officers posing as agents provocateurs.”

9. 9 On November 4th, 2011, cath said:

   they need to be very careful of provocateurs …who encourage others to do “whatever” – police were no doubt WITH the march…make no mistake about it.

10. 10 On November 5th, 2011, The Vegan Police said:

    [...] We have gotten quite a bit of site traffic recently because of an article written by Bay Area Bites for KQED News. The article is a first hand account of the Anti-Capitalist March on Whole Foods as part of Occupy [...]

11. 11 On November 5th, 2011, Francis said:

    There is a huge misconception in this article. These people covering their faces and dressed in all back are anarchist who were NOT part of the general strike and peaceful march. They are a SEPARATE group of people who have their own agenda.

    It’s so sad to see that this article only focuses on the handful of the people who were aggression instead of the thousands of productive occupiers who were joyful, peaceful, playing music, cleaning up after vandalizes.

12. 12 On November 5th, 2011, Wendy Goodfriend said:

    Francis-
    The focus of this post was to share my perspective of the incident that occurred at Whole Foods and raise a few questions about why Whole Foods was a destination for the Anti-Capitalist March. The questions I hoped to raise were: Was Whole Foods originally planned as a destination for the Anti-Capitalist March? Or did the marchers go to Whole Foods based on the information heard at the main protest stage earlier — that a Whole Foods Manager told an employee they would jeopardize their job if they did not work and attended the General Strike. Did misinformation fuel this protest? How does misinformation and the ability for rumors to spread rapidly via social media affect the protest efforts? Who actually started this rumor? Have any Whole Foods employees come forward to verify this story? Was this rumor misinformation or disinformation?

    This post also focused on the divisions amongst the marchers and the struggle that ensued between them. I think both the text and the videos reveal that there were numerous protesters in this march who were attempting to preserve a peaceful protest as well as those who chose to protest through vandalizing property.

13. 13 On November 5th, 2011, East and West High Students Walked Out in Solidarity with Oakland and a Global Movement | said:

    [...] Whole Foods got vandalized as did several banks. A rumor circulated on twitter that a Whole Foods employee was told by management that his/her employment status would be jeopardized if he/she chose not to work to attend the General Strike. The Whole Foods twitter account @wfmnorcal tried to dispel the rumor but it was no use. More from Bay Area Bites [...]

14. 14 On November 5th, 2011, Stephen said:

    * The OPD have done a good job of teargassing peaceful people trying to do what democracy movements in Tahrir or Tienanmen aimed to do, and an absolutely terrible job of arresting actual vandals.

    * The tear gas is the biggest recruiting victory possible for the black block — it happened this way at the WTO protests in Seattle too, where everyone remembers broken windows that happened *after* tear gas interferes with the efforts of the peace-oriented vast majority. If the police teargassed a politics-free baseball game, there’d probably be an angry reaction and broken windows the next day, too.

    * From another angle, as a friend pointed out, it makes me wonder how racist the Tea Party is, or whether 99% of them wish their wackos would go away but can’t figure out how to ban them either.

15. 15 On November 5th, 2011, V L W said:

    You just lost my support. Vandalizing Whole Foods crosses the line. Whole Foods is a supportive organization that has done wonderful things for many communities and this was not good. This reflects on your attitudes and I don’t want any part of it. Enjoy your rioting. May you get arrested.

16. 16 On November 6th, 2011, Stephen said:

    Dear V L W –

    I have the same feelings, but I have to ask, who just lost your support? I don’t really like slogans but “this is what democracy looks like” — and just like at the national level the vast majority of people who believe in peace and decency need to hold it together and keep speaking up in the face of disgusting behavior.

    Come to the General Assemblies and tell these white boys (that’s all I saw in the videos of the destruction) to go home. Participate in the democracy as well as the marches.

    And yes, it’s very very hard now to know what to do when protecting the Tiananmen/Tahrir style “peacefully holding our place in a city square” protest from police violence, without accidentally being transformed into protectors of people who I’d call the police on if I thought we had a sane police system. Come to the General Assembly, walk up to the people in the masks and ask them to tell their stories and try to talk them down just like we try to talk down angry police.

    There will always be provocateurs (there are many voices that think these idiots are being led by paid provocateurs for exactly what’s happening here: we need you, and you’re giving up. Neither the banks nor the movement care about a few windows. Paid provocateurs have been found at many similar events… I’m not ready to accuse OPD of doing this, but I am ready to accuse the masked boys of being indistinguishable from paid agents of the banks) I’m sure there were 20 jerks at Tiananmen, at Tahrir, at every city in the American Revolution. Speak truth to power and the abuse of power wherever you see it!

17. 17 On November 6th, 2011, Howard Williams said:

    On November 2 we showed ourselves and the world the great power we have. After resisting eviction attempts by SFPD & OPD, we closed banks and the nation’s 5th busiest port. But with power comes responsibility. A major and urgent responsibility is to educate each other about representing our movement : You can’t represent if you hide your face.

18. 18 On November 7th, 2011, C Decker said:

    This movement seems to be happening in the wrong place. The LAST thing downtown Oakland needs is a temporary encampment of people and sporadic violence. I feel like my whole community was attacked when Whole Foods was attacked and then more violence later the same evening.

    There are numerous small business owners who are working hard to offer an interesting and vital neighborhood for all of us to enjoy and to enrich the quality of everyone’s life here. This movement is not helping them. This movement should be in Walnut Creek or Danville where many of the 1% live. The occupy movement is not helping Oakland.

    The Oakland community deserves better.

19. 19 On November 7th, 2011, Consensus, Autonomy, and the Outside « umul said:

    [...] that was “violent.” In the Nov. 2 general strike, this escalated to some protesters attacking black bloc’ers with chairs, etc. Although the “peace police” have always been an extreme minority, they are part of a [...]

20. 20 On November 8th, 2011, 1% of 99% use ‘Black Bloc’ tactics « Second Magazine said:

    [...] via: KQED.org [...]

21. 21 On November 20th, 2011, Marcy Sheiner said:

    Well, I’m sure happy that I was out of the country and not at this melee. The Occupy movement looks very scary here. It’s no way to do it, they’re only going to alienate people.