Military Resistance:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

10.30.11

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Military Resistance 9J19

[Ignore stupid costumes: E for effort. T]

National Guardsman Says I Support This Movement 100%

A Thinking Soldier, A Soldier With A Conscience, Is The 1%s Worst Nightmare
If The Rank And File Of The U.S. Military Become Aware Of The Fact That They Too Are The 99%, They Wont Have Enough Cops In The Country To Stop Us
October 28th, 2011 by Pham Binh, Dissident Voice

A black National Guardsmen in uniform showed up in Liberty Plaza less than two days after Oakland police brutalized a U.S. marine Iraq war veteran in the crackdown on Occupy Oakland. He allowed people to take his photo and quite a few people made it a point to personally thank him and shake his hand. This is remarkable. It is against military regulations for troops to attend demonstrations in uniform, although standing in a park surrounded by dozens of tarps and tents in the middle of a cold rainy afternoon without a sign or banner in sight probably does not count. During protests against the Afghan and/or Iraq wars, active-duty personnel who attended them usually made it a point not to appear in uniform because of these rules. I support this movement 100%, he told me. He would have come down before today if he hadnt been busy with National Guard training. He was bothered by what he described as the governments imbalanced approach to fiscal issues; namely, massive tax cuts for the 1% while social services for the 99% saw their funding slashed to the bone. Shelters for homeless teenagers faced cuts, and he feared what kind of trouble these kids would get into with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. As we spoke, a young Hispanic guy asked him if the military would help him get his G.E.D. (the equivalent of a high school diploma) and how the training was. I asked the Guardsman why he joined the military. He said he chose the National Guard so that he could go to school part time (he committed to six years of part-time duty so that he could attend school at the same time). When I asked him about the militarys health care benefits he chuckled and told me that he had to pay into the system known as Tricare. He noted the irony of being forced to pay into the militarys health care system when it was his life and limb that would be at risk in a future military deployment. Meanwhile Congress had no problem voting to give themselves raises every year. British activist Richard Seymour reacted to the crackdown in Oakland by asking, How can you uphold your right to protest when that right is gainsayed by tear gas, rubber bullets, and bean bag rounds?

U.S. Marine sergeant Shamar Thomas showed us how a few weeks ago when he single-handedly shamed and stopped 30 cops with flex cuffs on their belts from arresting peaceful Occupy protesters at a massive Times Square demonstration. A thinking soldier, a soldier with a conscience, is the 1%s worst nightmare. If the rank and file of the U.S. military become aware of the fact that they too are the 99%, they wont have enough cops in the country to stop us.

MORE:

The Future Confronts The Past

Oct 26th, 2011 Photo by hank jellyface [Thanks to Fabian Bouthillette, Military Resistance Organization & Iraq Theatre Veteran U.S. Navy, who sent this in. He writes:] Oct 26, 2011 This sailor was at Occupy Oakland. It's legit. On the footage from the news helicopter you can see him leaving with his flag after the tear gas starts firing. He's holding a Veterans For Peace flag and the constitution. We need to get him support. I am so ready.

MORE:

There Is A Special Sense Of Betrayal That Veterans Experience When They Realize That The Political System They Risked Their Life Defending Is Prepared And Willing To Attack Them For Voicing Opposition To Its Policies
Many Veterans Have Been And Will Continue To Participate In This Movement Because We Have Offered To Put Our Lives On The Line For This Country Just To Come Home And See That Our Rights Are Being Blatantly Disrespected
I Dont Feel Safe In The Presence Of Politicians Or Cops, I Feel The Opposite

I Have Lost All Trust In The Dignity And Integrity Of The Government And Their Police Forces
October 27, 2011Voiceshakes.wordpress.com [Excerpts] Scott Olsen served two tours in Iraq with the United States Marine Corps before coming home to a country lacking in jobs but thriving with high-level corruption. He thought the banks pretty much run free and unregulated and are never held accountable for their actions, his roommate and fellow veteran Keith Shannon told reporters. Olsen was shot in the head Tuesday night with a tear-gas canister fired by Oakland police, fracturing his skull and causing his brain to swell. He had been marching with 2,000 others from Occupy Oakland after a brutal attack that morning ended with 100 arrests. Unfortunately, Olsen is not the first Iraq veteran to sustain potentially life-threatening injuries from a police attack while peacefully demonstrating. In 2008, former Sergeant Nick Morgan was crushed by a police horse in New York as veterans and allies protested the Iraq-war and the treatment of veterans outside of the presidential debates. Morgan and Olsen are both members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, whose members have been participating in occupations around the country. Morgan says that many veterans have been and will continue to participate in this movement because we have offered to put our lives on the line for this country just to come home and see that our rights are being blatantly disrespected. Indeed, there is a special sense of betrayal that veterans experience when they realize that the political system they risked their life defending is prepared and willing to attack them for voicing opposition to its policies. I have lost all trust in the dignity and integrity of the government and their police forces, Morgan continues. I dont feel safe in the presence of politicians or cops, I feel the opposite. In a press release sent out Wednesday, Iraq Veterans Against the War condemned the attack on Olsen and the Occupy Oakland march: Its ironic that days after Obamas announcement of the end of the Iraq War, Scott faced a veritable war zone in the streets of Oakland last night. Its not going to be an easy thing to deal with, Morgan says of Olsens recovery. The mental ramifications of this are difficult to deal with, I can attest to that.

Morgan filed a lawsuit against the Nassua county police in 2009 for violations of his 1st, 4th, 5th, and 14th amendments rights, as well as a litany of New York State and civil rights, and he is currently awaiting a January conference to set a trial date. The Nassau County Police Department has refused to settle out of court. We need to hit them on as many fronts as we can, including in the courts, he says of both his lawsuit and the current wave of occupy protests. The only way these people will listen is when you start breaking down their modes of power.

MORE:

Same Thing
October 27, 2011 Democracy Now!: Report on Occupy movement: [Excerpt] AMY GOODMAN: I just came from Louisville, Kentucky, and there were several vets there. I was in Kansas City before that, same thing.

MORE:

More Iraq And Afghanistan War Veterans Wind Up Homeless:

The Department Of Veterans Affairs Blames The Rise In Young Veterans Without Shelter On A Poor Economy And An Unprecedented Pattern Of Lengthy Warfare In Which Troops Are Deployed To Combat Multiple Times
10.28.11 By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY [Excerpts] As wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, federal officials are seeing a growing number of young veterans on the street, according to a joint homeless study by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Veterans Affairs released Friday.

About 13,000 of the nation's homeless in 2010 were ex-servicemembers between ages 18 and 30, a disproportionately large number of the nation's overall homeless veteran population, the study says. "These findings are particularly concerning given the anticipated number of new veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq," the study concludes. The HUD-VA study noted that while young veterans make up only about 5% of the nation's veteran population, they constitute nearly 9% of all former servicemembers who are homeless. The Department of Veterans Affairs blames the rise in young veterans without shelter on a poor economy and an unprecedented pattern of lengthy warfare in which troops are deployed to combat multiple times.

MORE:

In The Current Poll, 46% Of The Public Said The Occupy Wall Street Movement Reflected The Sentiment Of Most Americans
Two-Thirds Object To Tax Cuts For Corporations And A Similar Number Prefer Increasing Income Taxes On Millionaires
Two-Thirds Of The Public Said That Wealth Should Be Distributed More Evenly In The Country
89% Of Americans Say They Distrust Government To Do The Right Thing
[This is dedicated, with complete disrespect, to the elitist slime who yap about how the U.S. is made up of stupid sheep, hopelessly brainwashed by the media,

the government, blah blah blah. Those who so argue merely expose their own rotten politics and lack of situational awareness. T] October 26, 2011 By The New York Times, Herald-Tribune With Election Day just over a year away, a deep sense of economic anxiety and doubt about the future hangs over the nation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with Americans distrust of government at its highest level ever. With nearly all Americans remaining fearful that the economy is stagnating or deteriorating further, two-thirds of the public said that wealth should be distributed more evenly in the country. Seven in 10 Americans think the policies of Congressional Republicans favor the rich. Two-thirds object to tax cuts for corporations and a similar number prefer increasing income taxes on millionaires. Not only do 89 percent of Americans say they distrust government to do the right thing, but 74 percent say the country is on the wrong track and 84 percent disapprove of Congress warnings for Democrats and Republicans alike. I dont want to blanket the whole government that way, but its getting scary, said Jo Waters, 87, a Democrat and a retired hospital administrator from Pleasanton, Calif., speaking in a follow-up telephone interview. Everything is for the wealthy. This used to be a lovely country, but everything is sliding. A remarkable sense of pessimism and skepticism was apparent in question after question in the survey, which found that Congressional approval has reached a new low at 9 percent. The disapproval toward Congress has risen 22 percentage points since the beginning of the year when Republicans took control of the House. Nearly all Americans agree that the nations economic outlook is dark, with 49 percent saying the economy is at a standstill and 36 percent saying it is getting worse. But nearly three-quarters of the public lack confidence that Congress will be able to reach agreement on a plan to help create jobs. In February, a CBS News poll found that 27 percent of the public said the views of the Tea Party movement reflected the sentiment of most Americans. In the current poll, 46 percent of the public said the same of the Occupy Wall Street movement. They do reflect the discontent of most Americans, said Sheila Shriver, 69, a retired special education teacher and independent voter from Columbus, Ohio. People are unhappy with the way the country seems to be moving, especially when it comes to lack of jobs. Washington hasnt even been concerned about that.

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN MILITARY SERVICE?

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish and well send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars and economic injustice, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Gulfport Seabee Killed In Afghanistan By IED

Chief Petty Officer Raymond J. Border Oct. 21, 2011 By KAREN NELSON, Sun Herald GULFPORT -- The body of Chief Petty Officer Raymond Border, 31, a Gulfport Seabee who was killed in Afghanistan, was to be flown to Delaware on Thursday night, his family said, where loved ones were waiting. He was killed Wednesday.

According to the Department of Defense, Border died inspecting a highway in Paktika province. Insurgents attacked with an improvised explosive device. Borders parents, Craig and Julie Border of West Lafayette, Ohio, said their son was inspecting a road for a convoy to pass and had stepped out of his vehicle when the mine went off. Killed with him was Army Staff Sgt. Jorge M. Oliveira, 33, of Newark, N.J. Raymond Border had been a Seabee for 12 years and loved the work, his father said. He had served one tour in Iraq, and this was his second in Afghanistan. He served with the Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 74, but was on an individual assignment separate from the battalion when he was killed. He has had a home in Gulfport for 12 years and leaves two children of his own, Donovan, 13, and Shelva, 8, both of Gulfport and a fiance, Terrence Boyd, who has three children Border was helping raise, his father said. His ex-wife is Karen Kelly, also of Gulfport. Border attended Ridgewood High School in West Lafayette and excelled in building trades, his father said. He was a Boy Scout and an athlete who was a two-time state qualifier in wrestling. He liked the military. He liked doing what he did, Craig Border said in an interview with the Sun Herald late Thursday from his home in Ohio. Julie Border said, He liked building things all his life. Border used those skills with the Seabees, and traveled the world. His parents said he built roads, runways, officers huts and bridges. His work took him to Japan, Guam, the Philippines and Spain. He was a wonderful person, always had a smile on his face, his father said. He enjoyed his family. He was the oldest of three children. The family expects to hold a memorial service for him in Gulfport within a few weeks. He was the recipient of more than 20 medals and awards including the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal; the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal, which he received three times; the Joint Meritorious Unit Award; the National Defense Service Medal; the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Service Medal; the Humanitarian Service Medal; medals for expertise with a rifle and pistol; and the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.

Lance Cpl. Scott Harper, 21, Douglas County Marine Killed In Afghanistan

Lance Cpl. Scott Daniel Harper, of Winston, died Oct. 13 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was 21. [Harper family] October 19, 2011 by Michelle E. Shaw, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Lance Cpl. Scott Harpers high school nickname was Boots. Coincidentally, Lance Cpl. Harper, who had been deployed to Afghanistan for the past four months, was expecting a new pair in the mail, said his father, Brian Harper. He had ordered himself a new pair of combat boots and had them shipped to his grandmothers home, said Mr. Harper, who lives in Carrollton. I was supposed to send them to him. I mailed them on a Tuesday. Lance Cpl. Scott Daniel Boots Harper, of Winston, died two days later on Oct. 13 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. He was 21. A funeral service will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, at Ephesus Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Ephesus Baptist Church Cemetery with full military honors. Whitley-Garner at Rosehaven is in charge of arrangements. Lance Cpl. Harper graduated from Douglas Countys Alexander High School in 2008. He was on the golf team for four years and had a good game, his former coach Rick Blackstone said. Around Alexander High, everybody knew Boots, said Chad Jenkins, a friend of Lance Cpl. Harper. He was that guy, Mr. Jenkins said. You know, the guy who wanted to be friends with everybody, and everybody wanted to be friends with him, Mr. Jenkins said.

Brian Harper said his son, wanted to be a Marine because he believed they were the best. You know, the few the chosen and thats what he wanted to be, one of the few and the chosen. Lance Cpl. Harper was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to the Pentagon. This was not his first deployment to Afghanistan, his father said. Hed been in March 2010 and returned seven months later. Mr. Harper said he and his son communicated often via Facebook during deployments. Hed look at the pictures Lance Cpl. Harper posted and theyd chat often. Thats how he knew his son had received a special package sent just after Lance Cpl. Harper left. He was serious about his guitar playing, so he asked me to send it to him, his father said. I saw pictures of it on Facebook and a lot of his friends had signed it. There were signatures all over it. Mr. Harper is anticipating the return of the guitar, which he says he will treasure forever, just like he does the last conversation he had with his son. The last time I talked to him was the Saturday before he died, Mr. Harper said. He had called and asked me if the boots had arrived and I told him they had. Mr. Harper said he went to the post office as promised, and mailed to boots, along with a few snacks and other little things that would fit in the box. I dont think the boots had time to leave the country before he died, his father said. I boxed them up and mailed them on a Tuesday and he died on a Thursday, Lance Cpl. Harper is also survived by his mother, Deborah Busbin Staples of Villa Rica; brother, Mitchell Staples of Cobb County; sister, Amber Staples of Villa Rica; stepmother Angela Harper of Carrollton; stepbrother, Joseph Hulsey of Carroll County; stepsister Holly Harpe, of Carrollton; paternal grandmother, Diana Harper of Winston; maternal grandparents, J. R. Buzz and Janet Busbin of Villa Rica and maternal greatgrandmother, Era Streetman of Villa Rica.

POLITICIANS CANT BE COUNTED ON TO HALT THE BLOODSHED THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WARS

ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT; ALL HOME NOW

A wounded U.S. soldier is carried away from the site of an attack in Kabul October 29, 2011. U.S. soldiers were killed and wounded when a car bomber attacked a convoy of foreign soldiers in the Afghan capital. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

LIBYA WAR REPORTS

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. Frederick Douglass, 1852

The past year every single day of it has had its consequences. In the obscure depths of society, an imperceptible molecular process has been occurring irreversibly, like the flow of time, a process of accumulating discontent, bitterness, and revolutionary energy. -- Leon Trotsky, Up To The Ninth Of January

Drones

Washington DC, Oct. 4-11, 2011. Photo by Mike Hastie From: Mike Hastie To: Military Resistance Newsletter Sent: October 17, 2011 Subject: Speaking in front of the White House about Drones Drones The killing of children from thousands of miles away. What the American people know about the truth of war you could put into a thimble. The killing of civilians ARE military targets. The Vietnam War personified this reality. Day in and day out... Mike Hastie Army Medic Vietnam Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T) One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a

so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions. Mike Hastie U.S. Army Medic Vietnam 1970-71 December 13, 2004

The Origin Of The Golden Rule: [Those Who Have The Gold Make The Rules]
[Via Gerald Ali] By Frederick Engels 1887. Source: Marx and Engels On Religion, Progress Publishers, 1957 The world outlook of the Middle Ages was substantially theological. The unity of the European world which actually did not exist internally, was established externally, against the common Saracen foe, by Christianity. The unity of the West-European world, which consisted of a group of nations developing in continual intercourse, was welded in Catholicism. This theological welding was not only in ideas, it existed in reality, not only in the Pope, its monarchistic centre, but above all in the feudally and hierarchically organized Church, which, owning about a third of the land in every country, occupied a position of tremendous power in the feudal organization. The Church with its feudal landownership was the real link between the different countries; the feudal organization of the Church gave a religious consecration to the secular feudal state system. Besides, the clergy was the only educated class. It was therefore natural that Church dogma was the starting-point and basis of all thought. Jurisprudence, natural science, philosophy, everything was dealt with according to, whether its content agreed or disagreed with the doctrines of the Church. But in the womb of feudalism the power of the bourgeoisie was developing. A new class appeared in opposition to the big landowners. The city burghers were first and foremost and exclusively producers of and traders in commodities, while the feudal mode of production was based substantially on self-

consumption of the product within a limited circle, partly by the producers and partly by the feudal lord. The Catholic world outlook, fashioned on the pattern of feudalism, was no longer adequate for this new class and its conditions of production and exchange. Nevertheless, this new class remained for a long time a captive in the bonds of almighty theology. From the thirteenth to the seventeenth century all the reformations and the struggles carried out under religious slogans that were connected with them were, on the theoretical side, nothing but repeated attempts of the burghers and plebeians in the towns and the peasants who had become rebellious by contact with both the latter to adapt the old theological world outlook to the changed economic conditions and the condition of life of the new class. But that could not be done. The flag of religion waved for the last time in England in the seventeenth century, and hardly fifty years later appeared undisguised in France the new world outlook which was to become the classical outlook of bourgeoisie, the juristic world outlook. It was a secularization of the theological outlook. Human right took the place of dogma, of divine right, the state took the place of the church. The economic and social conditions, which had formerly been imagined to have been created by the Church and dogma because they were sanctioned by the Church, were now considered as founded on right and created by the state. Because commodity exchange on a social scale and in its full development, particularly through advance and credit, produces complicated mutual contract relations and therefore demands generally applicable rules that can be given only by the community state-determined standards of right it was imagined that these standards of right arose not from the economic facts but from formal establishment by the state. And because competition, the basic form of trade of free commodity producers, is the greatest equalizer, equality before the law became the main battle-cry of the bourgeoisie. The fact that this newly aspiring classs struggle against the feudal lords and the absolute monarchy then protecting them, like every class struggle, had to be a political struggle, a struggle for the mastery of the state, and had to be fought on juridical demands contributed to strengthen the juristic outlook. But the bourgeoisie produced its negative double, the proletariat, and with it a new class struggle which broke out before the bourgeoisie had completed the conquest of political power.

As the bourgeoisie in its time had by force of tradition dragged the theological outlook with it for a while in its fight against the nobility, so, too, the proletariat at first took over the juristic outlook from its opponent and sought in it weapons against the bourgeoisie. The first elements of the proletarian party as well as their theoretical representatives remained wholly on the juristic ground of right, the only distinction being that they built up for themselves a different ground of right from that of the bourgeoisie. On one side the demand for equality was extended so that equality in right would be completed by social equality; on the other, from Adam Smiths proposition that labour is the source of all wealth but that the product of labour must be shared with the landowner and the capitalist the conclusion was drawn that this sharing was unjust and must be either abolished or modified in favour of the worker. But the feeling that to leave this question on the mere juristic ground of right in no way made possible the abolition of the evil conditions created by the bourgeois-capitalistic mode of production, i.e., the mode of production based on large-scale industry, already then led the major minds among the earlier socialists Saint-Simon, Fourier and Owen to abandon entirely the juristic-political field and to declare all political struggle fruitless. Both these views were equally unsatisfactory to express adequately and embrace completely the working classs desire for emancipation created by economic conditions. The demand for the full product of labour and just as much the demand for equality lost themselves in unsolvable contradictions as soon as they were formulated juristically in detail and left the core of the question the transformation of the mode of production more or less untouched. The rejection of the political struggle by the great Utopians was at the same time the rejection of the class struggle, i.e., of the only form of activity of the class whose interests they represented. Both outlooks made abstraction of the historical background to which they owed their existence; both appealed to feeling: some to the feeling of justice, others to the feeling of humanity. Both attired their demands in the form of pious wishes of which one could not say why they had to be fulfilled at that very time and not a thousand years earlier or later. The working class, who by the changing of the feudal mode of production into the capitalist mode was deprived of all ownership of the means of production and by the mechanism of the capitalist mode of production is continually engendered anew in that hereditary state of propertylessness, cannot find an exhaustive expression of its living condition in the juristic illusion of the bourgeoisie. It can only know that condition of life fully itself if it looks at things in their reality without juristically colored glasses.

But Marx helped it to do that with his materialist conception of history, by providing the proof that all mans juristic, political, philosophical, religious and other ideas are derived in the last resort from his economic conditions of life, from his mode of production and of exchanging the product. Thus he provided the world outlook corresponding to the conditions of the life and struggle of the proletariat; only lack of illusions in the heads of the workers could correspond to their lack of property. And this proletarian world outlook is now spreading over the world.

ANNIVERSARIES

October 31, 1978: Honorable Anniversary

Striking Iranian oil workers: Photo: December 1978 issue of Resistance, A publication of the Iranian Students Association in the U.S. (ISAUS) Carl Bunin Peace History Oct 29-Nov 4 Thirty thousand Iranian oil workers went on strike against the repressive rule of the U.S.installed Shah and for democracy, civil and human rights.

GOT AN OPINION?
Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially
welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send to contact@militaryproject.org: Name, I.D., withheld unless you request identification published.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

CLASS WAR REPORTS

Class War Oakland:

The Vicious Attack On The Occupy Movement Has Only Sparked People To Stand Up In Defense Of Our Movement
October 27, 2011 By Alessandro Tinonga and Scott Sliauzis, Socialist Worker [Excerpts] Alessandro Tinonga and Scott Sliauzis report from Oakland on the aftermath to a brutal police attack--and the determined stand by Occupy protesters. *********************************************************************** As many as 2,000 people reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza in front of Oakland's City Hall on Wednesday night, 24 hours after the city's police and a dozen other law enforcement agencies unleashed a savage assault on the Occupy Oakland encampment in which one demonstrator was critically injured and more than 100 were arrested. The October 25 attack on the Occupy movement--carried out by one of the most liberal Democrats holding office anywhere in the country, and in a city with a long history of radical political activism--outraged people in Oakland and far beyond. City officials are facing calls to resign, and the police had to retreat when Occupy activists returned on Wednesday night. The initial raid on the encampment in downtown Frank Ogawa Plaza--renamed Oscar Grant Plaza by protesters in honor of an unarmed Black man killed by a transit police officer on New Year's Day in 2009--took place in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday when police from around the region suddenly surrounded the camp and stormed in, overturning protesters' tents and ripping up stalls that housed medical and food facilities. Protesters regrouped in the afternoon and marched back to the plaza to demand their right to free speech. By mid-evening, the crowd had swelled to several thousand, and police clad in riot armor once again moved in, firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. The scene was like something out of a Hollywood war movie. Shock waves from the bloody police assault reverberated the next day. The city also spent the day trashing the remains of the Occupy camp and making Oscar Grant Plaza as uninhabitable as possible.

But Quan was forced to announce that the square would be reopened that day to demonstrators. When it was, hundreds of people immediately streamed into the area, and that night, several thousand convened for a General Assembly. A fence surrounding the grassy section of the plaza was torn down--and still police stayed away. The backlash against the police attack in Oakland was felt across the bay in San Francisco, where Occupy demonstrators were facing increasingly pressing threats against their encampment in Justin Herman Plaza along the waterfront. Hundreds of people gathered to defend the Occupy San Francisco camp from an expected repeat of the Oakland attack. But after gathering a force of cops in riot gear in the early morning hours, the police disappeared. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that police gave the demonstrators "a written notice saying they were calling off the raid." Activists made plans to return to the square the next day to hold a General Assembly. At that point, no one knew if the protest would be savagely attacked again. But Quan and city officials ordered that the park be reopened--though with fencing surrounding the area where Occupy activists had their encampment. By 7 p.m., some 2,000 demonstrators had convened in front of City Hall, and a group of them took down the metal fences erected to prevent a new encampment. Police--apparently under orders from city officials frightened by the anger provoked by their attack the night before--kept a low profile. Authorities once again managed to anger people who were merely exercising their right to protest--by closing down the subway station at the plaza, which prevented anyone from leaving the area easily. Across the bay in San Francisco, the BART stop at the Embarcadero, near the Occupy encampment, was also closed down in an apparent attempt to disrupt the effort to defend it from eviction. But the vicious attack on the Occupy movement has only sparked people to stand up in defense of our movement. Without the thousands of people--young and old, Black and white, unionists and community activists--who came out on Wednesday, it wouldn't have been possible to retake the square. "I saw on the news that a woman in a wheelchair got tear-gassed," said Wesley Barton. "And I realized that I knew her. Plus, me and 300 other people got laid off from my company today. People are just getting screwed, and I knew I had to be down here." Jessica Codispoti echoed the same sentiments. "After hearing about last night, I was outraged, and I wanted to join my fellow 99 percent," she said. "The city

should use money to create jobs. They should stop closing schools while they spend money on cops to shut down protests."

Traitors At Work:
Here Is The Enemy:
Bring The War Home Now

Enemy combatants aim weapons at photographers and protestors standing around talking to each other. October 29, 2011 OccupyDenver:

An enemy combatant aims weapon at photographer. October 29, 2011 OccupyDenver:

Photo of rubber bullet wounds suffered when an enemy combatant shot a 21 year old out of tree at Occupy Denver. October 29, 2011 OccupyDenver:

Enemy combatants in action: October, 25 2011: Occupy Oakland (photo: Andrew Kenower/flickr)

A Special Offer from Americas Corporations:

Inviting You To Share In The American Dream

October 27, 2011 Borowitz Report Dear American: American corporations have taken a beaten recently. Weve been accused of everything from buying elections to subverting the Constitution to being puppet-masters of the Supreme Court. To these charges we say: Well, duh. As a wise man once said, Corporations are people. Therefore, to be treated like a person in America today, it stands to reason that you must become a corporation. Thats why, for a limited time, we are offering every man, woman and child in this country a chance to incorporate and become a card-carrying member of Corporation of American Corporations (CAC). As a newly-formed corporation, youll immediately reap the benefits that such other CAC members as the Koch Brothers enjoy, such as: -- Exemption from Federal, State and local taxes -- Freedom to despoil Americas air, water, and birdlife -- Exclusive opportunities to sell weapons to Iran So join us, wont you? Wire the Corporation of American Corporations a payment of $10,000, and start enjoying the rights and privileges that the U.S. Constitution used to grant to ordinary individuals. Dont pass up this amazing offer. We promise you: its too big to fail.

Sincerely, The Corporation of American Corporations

Troops Invited:
Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or email contact@militaryproject.org: Name, I.D., withheld unless you request publication. Same address to unsubscribe.

RECEIVED:
The First Photograph Of Scott Olsen Taken By Jay Finneburgh Needs To Be Sent Around The World
From: Mike Hastie To: Military Resistance Newsletter Subject: Re: Military Resistance 9J18: First Blood Date: Oct 29, 2011 11:20 PM The first photograph of Scott Olsen taken by Jay Finneburgh needs to be sent around the world. This image is extremely powerful. As a Vietnam veteran, and photojournalist, the one thing that startled me was seeing the betrayal in Scott Olsen's eyes. His government not only shot him in the head, but they also shot him in the back. That is what millions of veterans across this country felt, shot in the back for Wall Street Wars. Scott Olsen's wounded eyes say it all, because they say to the entire world that the U.S. Government will go to any extreme to keep the lies of these wars alive. As always, lying is the most powerful weapon in war. The most evil piece of real estate the world has ever seen is the Pentagon. This is the great truth that has great silence. Mike Hastie Army Medic Vietnam

October 29, 2011 PS: The poem by Lesley Docksey was beyond great writing. We need to hear more from this gifted poet. She gets it... and everyone who read this has now got it.

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Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization. Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the government in Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to Imperial wars and all other forms of injustice inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties enlisted troops inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help organize resistance within the armed forces. We hope that you'll build a network of active duty organizers.

The single largest failure of the anti-war movement at this point is the lack of outreach to the troops. Tim Goodrich, Iraq Veterans Against The War

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