Did Occupy Oakland Believe Their Move-In Day Would Succeed? [View all]

[MineralMan]

http://occupyoaklandmoveinday.org/

Occupy Oakland publicized their intent to move into a vacant building in advance of their action this weekend. Did they actually believe that the city would allow them to enter and take occupancy in the vacant Convention Center? That seems like a valid question to ask, I think. Clearly, it was an open challenge to the city and the city did respond by sending police to the gathering place in the organization's flyer. I'm sure the city's intent was to prevent any such thing from happening.

It seems to me that Occupy Oakland must have known that they would be prevented from moving into any vacant building, never mind the Convention Center, which was surrounded by construction fences. I don't know what work was going on to that Center, but clearly no city is going to allow people to enter and take possession of such a place.

If Occupy Oakland did understand that the City of Oakland would try to keep them from occupying that building, then the entire goal of the protest action was one of civil disobedience. But, was that conveyed to the people who showed up for the event? Did the attendees know that Occupy Oakland had actually notified the Mayor, Police Chief, and City Council of their intent?

The result was what you'd expect. Police were told that no entry would be allowed, leading to police action that included, as usual, excessive force used. People brought children to the event, so it seems that some, at least, were not expecting a violent confrontation.

I don't believe that Occupy Oakland had any belief that they would actually be able to move into the Convention Center. It just doesn't make sense. I think they had something else planned for that day, and that was exactly what happened. Look at the web site, and scroll down to see the sequence of this. While they have an absolute right to attempt any act of civil disobedience they can conceive of, I think this event may have been promoted in a way that left some people unaware of what might occur during the attempt. If so, that's a serious error on the part of the organizers.