Full announcement below:
"Occupy Asheville" will "officially" kick off this Saturday, October 1, 2011, at 11 am in front of Jubilee Church on Wall St in Asheville, NC, with a memorial service for Troy Davis, in conjunction with his funeral in Savannah, Georgia occurring at the same time, and thereafter from 1pm onward, we will launch our local “occupation” to stand in solidarity with protests in New York, and across the nation and world. At 2pm Occupy Asheville will convene a "General Assembly" in Pritchard Park.
There is a great people's movement afoot in the entire country, yet, most people are completely unaware. "OccupyWallStreet" is a protest occupation that has been going on for 14 days in New York's Liberty Square. Protesters are streaming live as the world is watches, although there has been little mainstream media coverage.
https://occupywallst.org/ and http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
Solidarity Occupations have sprung up all over the country, including Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, London, and elsewhere globally. These protesters are demanding economic justice and the end to corporate pillaging and raping of our people's, earth and democracy.
A groundswell of concerned citizens in Asheville have joined together through social media to launch a solidarity “occupation” of Asheville.
MORE THAN 1500 PEOPLE JOINED THE LOCAL FACEBOOK GROUP, @OCCUPYWALLSTREETASHEVILLE, IN THE FIRST 48 HOURS, AND IT CONTINUES TO GROW.....
THE EVENT
OCCUPY ASHEVILLE stands in solidarity with those occupying Wall Street in New York City to protest corporate greed and occupation of our government and economic system. This is a people's movement designed to take power back to the 99% of people who no longer feel our politics or economics is working.
Asheville will be a 100% peaceful protest, with community, drum circles, singing, speaking, candlelight vigils, typical Asheville style. Participants will follow all City Ordinances, which as set forth below, require only that pickers not impede public access. Merchants on the Wall Street corridor are excited about featuring local community owned models rather than the greed and abuse of Wall Street, NYC.
We launch our Asheville Occupation by celebrating the life and sacrifice of Troy Davis, who was executed by the State of Georgia last week despite international calls to halt his execution due to vast doubts of his guilt. Starting at 11 am, we will hold a memorial service for Troy in conjunction with his funeral being held in Savannah, Georgia at the same time. Please plan to be there at 11 am to honor Troy, hold vigil (bring candles) and protest our government's ultimate authority to kill it's citizens, even when they know they are likely innocent.
After the memorial, we will have introductory speakers to set the tone for Asheville's occupation, which is expected to be ongoing. Jennifer Foster, activist Attorney and spearhead behind Occupy Asheville will share her vision of what justice looks like for Asheville, including recent corruption uncovered in the Buncombe County justice system. Legal points and analysis regarding the basis of corporate control over our political and economic systems will be explored. Other speakers will include Howard Hanger, leader of Jubillee! and music by Daniel Barber, music director at Jubillee. All are welcome and there will be time allotted for key people to share their vision of what is Occupy Asheville.
Thereafter, at 2 pm, we will convene a General Assembly in Pritchard Park for further decision-making and leadership. Blue Ridge Pride will be ongoing in Pack Square from 12-5 on Saturday and we are expected to march to join our brothers and sisters in their noble cause for human rights and equality under the law.
Central to the message and intent of Occupy Asheville is also musical celebration of freedom and the massive awakening and change occurring all over the world in Solidarity with the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests in NYC. Come prepared on Saturday and thereafter to drum, sing, dance, chat, freestyle, and bring truth in the way only that music can. If you have a drum or other percussion instrument, please bring it with you.
THE REASONS BEHIND OCCUPY ASHEVILLE
The reasons behind the Occupy Asheville solidarity event is simple. It is a groundswell, a people's movement, to say: “Hey, there is something seriously wrong with our Country, and we aren't sitting around silent anymore with our heads in the sand.”
The reasons for this sentiment varies widely with each individual, but one thing is clear, the majority of the people are controlled, abused, and exploited by the upper 1%. We are the 99%. Most people do not realize the situation they are in. That is because the corporate media controls what you hear and what you think. It is time for people to wake up and to think for themselves, do their own research. Many have no choice, as they plunge into poverty and lives unravel around them. Desperate times, call for desperate measures.
We believe the root of our decline as a society is the lack of any check on corporate interests. Corporations are created by the State, would not exist for their charter, yet they are not required to account for health, safety or welfare of the people, the planet, or animals. Rather, their only purpose is making as much money as possible.
Corporations have blatantly raped and pillaged our planet and seek to destroy human welfare, and even life. BP has poised our Gulf. The Japanese nuclear industry has contaminated the Pacific Ocean with radiation, to what extent, we don't even know. The pharmaceutical and medical industries keep us sick and medicated, and the prison industrial complex lobbies to incarcerate as many people as possible, especially the black and poor. We allow our government to take human life, and we inject religion to deny the fundamental right to marriage to a large segment of our society. The Great Industrial Hemp coup of 1937 prevented a massive domestic agricultural industry from emerging in this time of economic need.
Just about every system in this Country is corrupted. We believe it is time for structural Constitutional change. Boliva recently grafted the natural rights of the planet, animals and plants into their Constitution. At a minimum, our Constitution needs to be amended to change the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Citizens United v. F.E.C. , which held that corporations are “persons” for election law purposes. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has been infiltrated.
We are in an age of awakening; a time of great change. It is an honor to be alive at this time in history. To create massive social change, every person needs to give a little. With unified participation, we can restore democracy of the people.
REASONS FOR THE TROY DAVIS MEMORIAL AND LOCAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
Asheville stands in a unique position to positively affect this national movement and debate. The very next day after Troy Davis was executed as innocent, the North Carolina Innocence Commission, the only one in the country, found three Buncombe County men completely innocent for murder and released them immediately from the Buncombe County Jail after serving a long ten years.
These so-called “Guiding Light 3” pled guilty upon threat of the death penalty, but ten years later, their attorneys found a suppressed video tape of the convenience store shooting. Unbelievably, the shooters' faces had been taped over with an episode of the soap opera, “Guiding Light,” within two hours after the tape arrived in the possession of the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department. No, this is not fiction. Three Buncombe County men were convicted for a murder they did not commit while the Buncombe County Sheriff's office framed them with a soap opera, evidence that was withheld by our DA's office.
In addition, the Asheville Police Department has been rocked with criminal scandal when it was discovered that large amounts of drugs, guns and money turned up “missing” from the evidence room and many large-scale drug trafficking cases had to be dismissed. Our Police Chief, Hogan, immediately “retired.” The SBI and independent auditors were called in and are expected to issue preliminary findings in coming weeks.
Other instances of local police and prosecutorial misconduct include racially targeting a Mexican man with trafficking 90 lbs of “tortilla dough,” (also, true story), and the random, unwarranted brutality of local musician Juan Holliday, as well as increasing excessive force and illegal searches, seizures and arrests. Anyone familiar with our local criminal justice system, as myself, can testify to the corruption in both law enforcement and prosecution. We have several bad apples that need to be removed, and to support our exemplary police officers, of which there are many.
Asheville must come together to educate itself about our local corruption and demand its end, as we stand ready to employ a new Asheville Police Chief.
The execution of Troy Davis was a clear human rights violation, as leaders from all over the world strenuously called for it's halt. Seven of the nine witnesses recanting ever implicating Troy, one of the remaining two was the real killer. Pages of affidavits revealed police intimidation and threats to implicate Troy. Anyone with any sense could read those affidavits and their corroborating details and immediately see police misconduct against a black man led to Troy's conviction and ultimately execution by the State of Georgia.
As the spectacular timing suggests, North Carolina, and, in particular, Buncombe County, hold a key towards preventing wrongful convictions and ending execution of the innocent in the future, and perhaps ending the death penalty all together. The North Carolina Innocence Commission worked. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles did not.
"Occupy Asheville" will "officially" kick off this Saturday, October 1, 2011, at 11 am in front of Jubilee Church on Wall St in Asheville, NC, with a memorial service for Troy Davis, in conjunction with his funeral in Savannah, Georgia occurring at the same time, and thereafter from 1pm onward, we will launch our local “occupation” to stand in solidarity with protests in New York, and across the nation and world. At 2pm Occupy Asheville will convene a "General Assembly" in Pritchard Park.
There is a great people's movement afoot in the entire country, yet, most people are completely unaware. "OccupyWallStreet" is a protest occupation that has been going on for 14 days in New York's Liberty Square. Protesters are streaming live as the world is watches, although there has been little mainstream media coverage.
https://occupywallst.org/ and http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
Solidarity Occupations have sprung up all over the country, including Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, London, and elsewhere globally. These protesters are demanding economic justice and the end to corporate pillaging and raping of our people's, earth and democracy.
A groundswell of concerned citizens in Asheville have joined together through social media to launch a solidarity “occupation” of Asheville.
MORE THAN 1500 PEOPLE JOINED THE LOCAL FACEBOOK GROUP, @OCCUPYWALLSTREETASHEVILLE, IN THE FIRST 48 HOURS, AND IT CONTINUES TO GROW.....
THE EVENT
OCCUPY ASHEVILLE stands in solidarity with those occupying Wall Street in New York City to protest corporate greed and occupation of our government and economic system. This is a people's movement designed to take power back to the 99% of people who no longer feel our politics or economics is working.
Asheville will be a 100% peaceful protest, with community, drum circles, singing, speaking, candlelight vigils, typical Asheville style. Participants will follow all City Ordinances, which as set forth below, require only that pickers not impede public access. Merchants on the Wall Street corridor are excited about featuring local community owned models rather than the greed and abuse of Wall Street, NYC.
We launch our Asheville Occupation by celebrating the life and sacrifice of Troy Davis, who was executed by the State of Georgia last week despite international calls to halt his execution due to vast doubts of his guilt. Starting at 11 am, we will hold a memorial service for Troy in conjunction with his funeral being held in Savannah, Georgia at the same time. Please plan to be there at 11 am to honor Troy, hold vigil (bring candles) and protest our government's ultimate authority to kill it's citizens, even when they know they are likely innocent.
After the memorial, we will have introductory speakers to set the tone for Asheville's occupation, which is expected to be ongoing. Jennifer Foster, activist Attorney and spearhead behind Occupy Asheville will share her vision of what justice looks like for Asheville, including recent corruption uncovered in the Buncombe County justice system. Legal points and analysis regarding the basis of corporate control over our political and economic systems will be explored. Other speakers will include Howard Hanger, leader of Jubillee! and music by Daniel Barber, music director at Jubillee. All are welcome and there will be time allotted for key people to share their vision of what is Occupy Asheville.
Thereafter, at 2 pm, we will convene a General Assembly in Pritchard Park for further decision-making and leadership. Blue Ridge Pride will be ongoing in Pack Square from 12-5 on Saturday and we are expected to march to join our brothers and sisters in their noble cause for human rights and equality under the law.
Central to the message and intent of Occupy Asheville is also musical celebration of freedom and the massive awakening and change occurring all over the world in Solidarity with the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests in NYC. Come prepared on Saturday and thereafter to drum, sing, dance, chat, freestyle, and bring truth in the way only that music can. If you have a drum or other percussion instrument, please bring it with you.
THE REASONS BEHIND OCCUPY ASHEVILLE
The reasons behind the Occupy Asheville solidarity event is simple. It is a groundswell, a people's movement, to say: “Hey, there is something seriously wrong with our Country, and we aren't sitting around silent anymore with our heads in the sand.”
The reasons for this sentiment varies widely with each individual, but one thing is clear, the majority of the people are controlled, abused, and exploited by the upper 1%. We are the 99%. Most people do not realize the situation they are in. That is because the corporate media controls what you hear and what you think. It is time for people to wake up and to think for themselves, do their own research. Many have no choice, as they plunge into poverty and lives unravel around them. Desperate times, call for desperate measures.
We believe the root of our decline as a society is the lack of any check on corporate interests. Corporations are created by the State, would not exist for their charter, yet they are not required to account for health, safety or welfare of the people, the planet, or animals. Rather, their only purpose is making as much money as possible.
Corporations have blatantly raped and pillaged our planet and seek to destroy human welfare, and even life. BP has poised our Gulf. The Japanese nuclear industry has contaminated the Pacific Ocean with radiation, to what extent, we don't even know. The pharmaceutical and medical industries keep us sick and medicated, and the prison industrial complex lobbies to incarcerate as many people as possible, especially the black and poor. We allow our government to take human life, and we inject religion to deny the fundamental right to marriage to a large segment of our society. The Great Industrial Hemp coup of 1937 prevented a massive domestic agricultural industry from emerging in this time of economic need.
Just about every system in this Country is corrupted. We believe it is time for structural Constitutional change. Boliva recently grafted the natural rights of the planet, animals and plants into their Constitution. At a minimum, our Constitution needs to be amended to change the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Citizens United v. F.E.C. , which held that corporations are “persons” for election law purposes. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has been infiltrated.
We are in an age of awakening; a time of great change. It is an honor to be alive at this time in history. To create massive social change, every person needs to give a little. With unified participation, we can restore democracy of the people.
REASONS FOR THE TROY DAVIS MEMORIAL AND LOCAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
Asheville stands in a unique position to positively affect this national movement and debate. The very next day after Troy Davis was executed as innocent, the North Carolina Innocence Commission, the only one in the country, found three Buncombe County men completely innocent for murder and released them immediately from the Buncombe County Jail after serving a long ten years.
These so-called “Guiding Light 3” pled guilty upon threat of the death penalty, but ten years later, their attorneys found a suppressed video tape of the convenience store shooting. Unbelievably, the shooters' faces had been taped over with an episode of the soap opera, “Guiding Light,” within two hours after the tape arrived in the possession of the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department. No, this is not fiction. Three Buncombe County men were convicted for a murder they did not commit while the Buncombe County Sheriff's office framed them with a soap opera, evidence that was withheld by our DA's office.
In addition, the Asheville Police Department has been rocked with criminal scandal when it was discovered that large amounts of drugs, guns and money turned up “missing” from the evidence room and many large-scale drug trafficking cases had to be dismissed. Our Police Chief, Hogan, immediately “retired.” The SBI and independent auditors were called in and are expected to issue preliminary findings in coming weeks.
Other instances of local police and prosecutorial misconduct include racially targeting a Mexican man with trafficking 90 lbs of “tortilla dough,” (also, true story), and the random, unwarranted brutality of local musician Juan Holliday, as well as increasing excessive force and illegal searches, seizures and arrests. Anyone familiar with our local criminal justice system, as myself, can testify to the corruption in both law enforcement and prosecution. We have several bad apples that need to be removed, and to support our exemplary police officers, of which there are many.
Asheville must come together to educate itself about our local corruption and demand its end, as we stand ready to employ a new Asheville Police Chief.
The execution of Troy Davis was a clear human rights violation, as leaders from all over the world strenuously called for it's halt. Seven of the nine witnesses recanting ever implicating Troy, one of the remaining two was the real killer. Pages of affidavits revealed police intimidation and threats to implicate Troy. Anyone with any sense could read those affidavits and their corroborating details and immediately see police misconduct against a black man led to Troy's conviction and ultimately execution by the State of Georgia.
As the spectacular timing suggests, North Carolina, and, in particular, Buncombe County, hold a key towards preventing wrongful convictions and ending execution of the innocent in the future, and perhaps ending the death penalty all together. The North Carolina Innocence Commission worked. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles did not.
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Of course the mainstream media (and other, not so main street media venues) are ignoring this story (and it is a big story); they're owned, largely, by the same oligarchs that are terrified of the focus on their pernicious undermining of democracy and their greed. No Murdoch owned or Gannett newspaper is going to report on it. Anyone paying attention to what has been going on in NY has seen the spectacle of NY police being used as jack-booted enforcers for the plutocracy. Fortunately, no amount of suppression has been able to keep this from developing as a movement. We're also seeing many other groups, including several unions and progressive organizations, joining the peaceful protesters on Wall Street.
It's past time for a storming of the Bastille (metaphorically speaking). I for one hope the movement spreads like wildfire. Sooner or later, the complicite media will be forced to actually report on it.
By Dionysis
09/30/2011
Sooo - what's this about? Prison reform? Conviction reform? Fighting evil corporations? Banking misconduct? The BP oil-spill? The execution of Troy Davis? Supporting Bolivia? Blue Ridge Pride?
Y'know what? I'm against the way food companies pump High Fructose Corn Syrup into everything. Can you add that to the laundry-list?
Note to organizers: The real "Occupy Wall Street" is working* because, while there are many interest-groups involved, the primary message is about banking reform & how corporations are able to buy the political process.
A scattered message is a weak message. Pick an issue then rally people to it.
- pvh
* I'm not convinced the real "Occupy Wall Street" will encourage change. When the occupation(s) of Iraq/Afghanistan started the peace movement had dead bodies to point to - yet they were utterly marginalized by 2007.
What gives me a glimmer of hope in this case is that the real "Occupy Wall Street" organizers appear to have a unity of purpose that the peace movement didn't have; and their messaging is fairly tight.
By Paul -V-
09/30/2011
I am not Anonymous. I am an American.
I am not just a Consumer. I am a Citizen.
I will no longer be labeled Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative, Demopublican or Republocrat.
I will no longer follow Puppets labeled Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative, Demopublican or Republocrat.
I am the People. And I am coming for the Puppetmasters.
I am part of the 99 Percent. And I demand the following:
1. End the Fed.
2. Reverse Citizens United.
3. Repeal PATRIOT Act.
4. Expose 9/11 Truth.
5. End Profit Wars.
6. Refund Taxpayer Trillions.
7. Imprison the Kleptocrats.
8. Single Term Limits.
By ironboltbruce
09/30/2011
Oh well. I guess that replacing the late 1990's Critical Globalization Movement with terror and dangerous avarice (again) didn't work out.
What do we want in place of the garbage and danger we've stacked up? What is civilization in 2012 going to look like? What can we do about taking a new direction?
By Viking
09/30/2011
At least no one will miss work.
By J
09/30/2011
Dude, even if this took place during from 9-5 the week, I bet most of the attendees still wouldn't miss a minute of work.
By The Trolls Troll
10/01/2011
The FB site this ad directs you to only has 5 likes. NOT 1500
By Liam Mason
09/30/2011
OccupyWallStreetAsheville facebook group now has 2,188 members.
By Lyte
10/03/2011
OccupyWallStreet has not been pushing "green" policy, except insofar as tighter economic regulation might also enable more stringent environmental enforcement. There's only so much momentum in the movement right now; hitching anti-nuke/animal rights/9-11 Truther stuff to the agenda will only serve to drag it down and make the message even less intelligible. None of that stuff will get traction anyway, so long as corporate money controls the government's attention and the media narrative.
In the immortal words of Gold Five: "Stay on target!"
By Ribis
09/30/2011
OCCUPY WALL STREET SUPPORT Bringing Supplies to NYC
Donations for this will be gladly accepted by: HIP THRIFT WEST ASHEVILLE, NC MELLOW MUSHROOM DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE, NC
here is a list of what is needed ..... feel free to add to it
batteries
memory cards
flash drives
high protein,
non perishable,
portable food (like granola bars, packaged nuts and fruit, etc)
winter clothes (hoodies, thermals, socks)
rain gear
old sports gear padding (including old helmets)
tarps
dry socks
dry cloths
tarps,
goggles,
gas masks
surgical masks,
ace bandages,
splints
nut free energy bars,
non perishable foods
blankets
markers
Tiger Balm
books
all the obvious things that they can use for first aid. vitamins, emergen-C, stuff like that
things showing love and support
notes of love and encouragement
anyone who can help with gas money would be GREATLY appreciated, it can be enveloped and given to either business management,
please label if it's for gas or shipping costs to get it where it needs to go our
planned dates of delivery are Oct 14, 15 and 16 .....
WE ARE IN SOLIDARITY WITH
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002560436703 http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=252282898147039 http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144937025580428 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anonymous-on-Youtube/212890868756796 http://www.facebook.com/AnonymousNCarolina http://www.facebook.com/Anonymous.Legion.Zero
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=287132791299626
and the 99%
By davz
10/01/2011
Are 'they' going to occupy Asheville's Wall Street
in solidarity?
By Unaffiliated Voter
10/01/2011
"These protesters are demanding economic justice and the end to corporate pillaging and raping of our people's, earth and democracy."
While I agree these are noble pursuits, I remain skeptical that most these people even know what sort of slide in our collective level of economic prosperity would incur with a true equitable distribution of the world's resources.
In other words, real 'justice' will mean some serious sacrifices here on the homefront.
By bill smith
10/01/2011
Lot of astroturf in this thread.
By mat catastrophe
10/01/2011
what's happening re occupy wall street asheville on sunday, oct. 2?
By vee
10/02/2011
Sure is cold out there tonight. This capitalist lackey is happily keeping warm on the crumbs from the table of the proletariat.
"storm the bastille" and "coming for the puppet masters"? Not likely. The meat-eaters have all of the guns, and all of the balls. Even the Reds had a better chance of overthrowing the system, but they shot themselves in the foot with constant purges of anyone showing faith or initiative.
I thought the prophet Obama was supposed to stick it to the man and end all of these problems. How's that hope and change workin' out fer ya? Oh, I forgot, he GAVE half of the congress BACK to the capitalist/imperialists. Maybe with the messiah's "ascension"?
Until then keep chanting: One, Two, Three, Four, we don't wanna go to...WORK today!
By Big Al
10/02/2011