Daily Archives: November 15, 2011

OWS Update

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This morning I noted that a judge had issued an temporary injunction against Mayor Bloomberg to keep Zuccotti Park open for demonstrations. I still don’t know what’s going on with that. According to the Daily News,

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings signed an early-morning order temporarily barring cops from keeping protesters and tents out of Zuccotti Park.

But within hours, she was off the case as court administrators chose a new judge — and excluded Billings’ name from the list of candidates.

Billings’ biography notes that before she became a judge in 1997, she spent three years as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union and also worked work community legal services.

And I’m thinking, WTF? But if you keep reading, it says,

Court officials used a computer program to pick a new judge for an afternoon hearing on the restraining order — and Billings’ name was not included because she usually handles real estate cases, court officials said.

The judge assigned to the case is Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman, an elected civil court judge who has been appointed to serve in the higher court for years.

OK, but … citing the same article, Little Lulu informs her readers —

Update: Hmmmmm….ACLU-tied judge who assisted Occupiers is ordered off the case:

No, she was not “ordered off the case.” She was never “on the case.” And her past association with the ACLU is irrelevant. But — Godwin’s Law can go hang — Malkin and her ilk really are Nazis at heart, aren’t they?

Zuccotti Park Cleared (Updated)

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In the dead of night the NYPD came, evicting everyone in Zuccotti Park and destroying what infrastructure had been cobbled together there.

Juan Cole has written an eloquent argument about First Amendment rights; worth reading.

The obvious question — what’s next? This development could be an opportunity, not a defeat, for OWS. It was probably about time to move on to a new phase, anyway. Earlier this week the founder of Adbusters — the magazine/organization that originally called for the occupation — had suggested it might be time to declare victory and scale back the occupations.

The founder of Adbusters, Kalle Lasn, raised the idea that it might be time for a tactical retreat earlier this month, telling CBC Radio, ”Now that winter is approaching, I can see this first wild, messy, crazy occupation phase kind of slowly winding down.”

Last week, Mr. Lasn added, in an interview with The Guardian, that he was concerned that “The other side is owning the narrative right now. People are talking about drugs and criminals at OWS.” To change that, Mr. Lasn said, it might be time for “a grand gesture.”

Lasn’s idea was a weekend of big global demonstrations followed by cleanup and evacuation of the encampments. I’m thinking that frequent, smart, coordinated, and nonviolent “guerrilla” demonstrations — something like raves — could serve to keep OWS alive.

Prairie Weather has a good roundup of news and comments. See also comments by the Talking Dog and Steve M.

Update: See the Maddow Blog for photographs and links to videos.

Update: Mayor Bloomberg is served with a temporary restraining order requiring the park to be re-opened to protesters. I understand there is to be a hearing. Whether BLoomberg is abiding by the order, I do not know.