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Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

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Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#161

Post by jessedhillon »

9999 wrote: post #112
jessedhillon wrote: post #48

West Oakland is a traditionally black neighborhood that surrounds the Port of Oakland. It has been heavily gentrified, developed, and restructured over the past three decades. Now there is an upper class enclave that has been established near the West Oakland BART station, in Jack London, and in the city of Emeryville. Oh fuck you and your dreadlocks. There are only two photos on that page, so I don't definitively kn…

Re: The port shutdown: The longshoremen's union supported the Occupy shutdown, but were contractually obligated not to participate in the protest. Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/occupy-oakland-shuts-down-port/ Since almost everything else you said is anecdotal, it's hard for me to respond to, but your statement about the longshoremen, that's certainly wrong. In general, the people that you are deriding and caric…

...but your statement about the longshoremen, that's certainly wrong.

No, it's right. ILWU (the union) leadership has made statements such as

"Organization from outside groups attempting to co-opt our struggle in order to advance a broader agenda is quite another and one that is destructive to our democratic process and jeopardizes our over two year struggle in Longview." [1]

So I may not have been right about them speaking out specifically against the Oakland shut down, but in general the union leadership is against strikes. Although, of course, they take great pains to not alienate potential ideological allies while rejecting calls to shut down ports.

The sentiment is at least mixed, as you can see from other coverage: [2]

"Leaders of the ILWU, which represents thousands of longshoremen, spoke out in recent weeks against the coordinated effort by Occupy protesters to blockade ports from Anchorage to San Diego"

"This is joke. What are they protesting?" Christian Vega, 32, who sat in his truck carrying a load of recycled paper from Pittsburg said Monday morning. He said the delay was costing him $600.

"It only hurts me and the other drivers. We have jobs and families to support and feed. Most of them don't," Vega said.

[1] http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/occupy-oakland-west-...

[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/12/occupy-oakland-port...

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#162

Post by api »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #141
api wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to live somewhere where I constantly saw these sorts of "activists" protesting: GMO foods, "chemtrails" (which probably don't exist), all kinds of trendy things to protest. I never once saw them protesting for higher wages for the underprivileged, health care, or anything else that actually matters to poor people. They were for the most part not poor. They were white middle class pseudo-artists engaged in an e…

Well, I don't know that I would say chemtrails don't exist. I think there's pretty compelling evidence that they do apart from contrails (have no idea what they are or whether they matter though). I am also a proponent of labeling food so that people have the information to decide for themselves what they ingest. I realize that you were just giving examples, and I'm not doubting that these poverty tourists exist. I a…

The only plausible theory I've read on why chemtrails might exist is that they're tests of some kind of anti-global-warming geo-engineering tech that involves spraying of nano particles to increase the Earth's albedo.

So they either don't exist or don't really matter to anyone.

My point is that these and some of the other examples I gave are clueless bullshit LARPing issues of the faux-left and are not relevant to actual disadvantaged people, poor people, or minorities. The faux-left does these groups harm by stealing the spotlight and bogarting the discussion, drowning out any actual protest from people who are really struggling with issues that matter to them.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#163

Post by marquis »

djs1sjd wrote: post #75

I take that bus routinely (though not this morning), and I can assure you that its occupants are a diverse group of East Bay residents of many races and ethnicities (black, white, asian, hispanic, etc), and though I haven't done a survey, I doubt any of us are 1%s. Many of us, myself included, support strongly progressive economic policies, but there is no real conversation to be had with people who will resort to vi…

In our industry we are privileged. I am not sure another time in history when anyone (almost) could bootstrap themselves to relative wealth compared to their neighbours and families with determined effort rather than hard labour and luck (such as the gold rush or being born into wealth). To assume that there is no problem, that everything is fine and people are just upset for the hell of it is hubris. We could become the new oil barons, and be glad of low wages so we can live like kings. Or we could adjust to our wealth, at least acknowledge it and even if you never donate to your local foodbank or get involved with a local community group or night school, understand that you have privilege. Noblesse oblige and all that.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#164

Post by api »

jessedhillon wrote: post #161
9999 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: The port shutdown: The longshoremen's union supported the Occupy shutdown, but were contractually obligated not to participate in the protest. Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/occupy-oakland-shuts-down-port/ Since almost everything else you said is anecdotal, it's hard for me to respond to, but your statement about the longshoremen, that's certainly wrong. In general, the people that you are deriding and caric…

...but your statement about the longshoremen, that's certainly wrong. No, it's right. ILWU (the union) leadership has made statements such as "Organization from outside groups attempting to co-opt our struggle in order to advance a broader agenda is quite another and one that is destructive to our democratic process and jeopardizes our over two year struggle in Longview." [1] So I may not have been right about them s…

"Organization from outside groups attempting to co-opt our struggle in order to advance a broader agenda is quite another and one that is destructive to our democratic process and jeopardizes our over two year struggle in Longview." [1]

Which is why I call the IndyMedia LARPing crowd "independent volunteer agents of Cointelpro."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#165

Post by manicbovine »

nknighthb wrote: post #158
manicbovine wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What assumption did I make about your politics? You wear your politics loudly enough so as to preclude any need for assumption. Why have you characterized me as a dangerous criminal? I just very simply do not suffer fools or borderline racists. I'm glad that you'd fit in with the European socialists, but your thinking is just so remarkably confused that it's comical. Actually, this strongly qualifies you to be a Euro…

If you think the post you replied to had any racist content in it, you either didn't even try to read it, or are functionally illiterate. The comment was replying appropriately to the linked article's racially-charged rhetoric.

I hope that you include a link to your hacker news profile on your resume in order to help employers like me to avoid hiring you.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#166

Post by [deleted] »

9999 wrote: post #112
jessedhillon wrote: post #48

West Oakland is a traditionally black neighborhood that surrounds the Port of Oakland. It has been heavily gentrified, developed, and restructured over the past three decades. Now there is an upper class enclave that has been established near the West Oakland BART station, in Jack London, and in the city of Emeryville. Oh fuck you and your dreadlocks. There are only two photos on that page, so I don't definitively kn…

Re: The port shutdown: The longshoremen's union supported the Occupy shutdown, but were contractually obligated not to participate in the protest. Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/occupy-oakland-shuts-down-port/ Since almost everything else you said is anecdotal, it's hard for me to respond to, but your statement about the longshoremen, that's certainly wrong. In general, the people that you are deriding and caric…

[deleted]

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#167

Post by vdaniuk »

yarou wrote: post #80
null_ptr wrote: post #58

Gotta love “TECHIES: Your World Is Not Welcome Here” I find it hard to sympathize with a bunch of lazy thugs who do nothing to improve their situation. Engineering and white collar jobs in general have always paid well. Industries who are in demand even more so, and for just reason. Did similar protests happen in Detroit 50 years ago during the auto boom? Did unskilled rubes that do nothing all day put up banners say…

These kids never worked a day in their life, though. Their parents provided them with all the tools to succeed, but they still managed to fuck it up. They have no desire to improve themselves, they simply want to continue to leech off of whatever person will tolerate them the longest. Sickening.

That is the most unsubstantiated claim I've seen in a comment in this thread. Pure hate and vitriol. Sickening.

And mind you I don't support these protests and the general animosity towards the techies.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#168

Post by nknighthb »

manicbovine wrote: post #165
nknighthb wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think the post you replied to had any racist content in it, you either didn't even try to read it, or are functionally illiterate. The comment was replying appropriately to the linked article's racially-charged rhetoric.

I hope that you include a link to your hacker news profile on your resume in order to help employers like me to avoid hiring you.

Please tell me your company's name, so I can avoid ever patronizing it, and be ready to dial 911 should any of your employees ever approach me.

Edit: Nevermind, I found you. I wouldn't be caught dead in Arizona, and I'm not an educator, so we're both quite safe.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#169

Post by kasey_junk »

aetherson wrote: post #71
defen wrote: post #41

As if the real problem with Oakland is that there are too many Google employees living there. Let's be honest - the only reason they do this is that Google employees sitting in a bus are a "soft" target. There is essentially zero chance of reprisal or consequence, at least if it's done as a one-off thing. You get to feel self-righteous for fighting "the man" without any risk. Let's say they win this quixotic crusade…

Yeah, I want to know what people think that alternative to gentrification is. Do they imagine that high income people will eventually just not live anywhere? Do they imagine that life would be better if all growth in the Bay Area were new construction sprawl out in the edges of the urban area where there's no displacement? Is it explicitly selfish, like, "go gentrify San Jose, those guys are assholes anyway"?

I don't have a dog in this fight, but there are some pretty obvious things you could do to fight the burden of gentrification on lower income original members of the population (they may have other side effects that are burdensome).

Off the top of my head: - Massive taxes on "teardown" or size exploding renovations. - Zoning laws that require at least 1 (or a % based) Section 8 unit per multi-unit development/renovation. - Massive subsidies on empty lot development that implement affordable housing practices.

It would be even better if you implemented these changes throughout the entire metro area, not just the areas currently under development. But if you think protests by the poor for rich folks moving into their neighborhood are bad, wait until you see the inverse.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#170

Post by notdonspaulding »

johnward wrote: post #53
sp332 wrote: post #2

The bus remained where it was, the thought of driving to Mountain View with a broken window and flooded with cold air an unthinkable horror they could not endure. Or maybe because it was a crime scene?

TIL: "cold air" is ~54f.

Meanwhile, in Illinois, we're enjoying a high in the lower 40's as if it were a heat wave. ;-)
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