The People Occupy Occupy our Homes Baltimore June 12, 2012|By Jessica Lewis, Alex Bennett and Saba Nazeer Those who rely on mainstream media to tell them what's happening can be forgiven for coming to the same opinion as ex-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who wrote in his recent column "Capitalism on trial" (June 3) that the Occupy movement has disintegrated. While aggressive law enforcement has prevented Occupy in many cities from re-establishing a prolonged and public presence, activists have put their energy to use by linking with community and neighborhood activists to fight the most visible footprint of the speculative 1 percent: foreclosed-upon homes. Occupy Our Homes Baltimore, one of a number of local activist groups that has emerged from the Occupy Baltimore demonstration last October, is currently visiting the homes of families targeted for foreclosure in the Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore. Similar Occupy Our Homes' groups have formed around the country. This is a mystery to us.
#OWS Scoop.it Exclusive Behind The Scenes With Occupy Wall Street Daniel Goodman / Business Insider The big protests and the public occupation of Zuccotti Park that raise attention and disrupt the normal schedule of daily life have been widely covered by the media. But how do these actions really get planned? Click here to see what it was like to organize Occupy Our Homes > We went behind the scenes at Occupy Our Homes in Brooklyn with Karanja Gaçuça, a former Wall Street analyst turned activist. Gaçuça is an active member of the Occupy Wall Street movement affiliated with the New York City General Assembly. In the beginning, Gaçuça was simply attending meetings on the Occupy Our Homes action to serve as media liaison. "It became a very personal action about needing to make sure that this one family who needs a home gets into a home that is reclaimed for them," he said. After a few years he moved to London to pursue a Master's Degree at the London School of Economics. Gaçuça told to us how the Occupy Our Homes action started:
We ARE the 99 Percenters ! In history, the FBI has infiltrated the mob, some 1% biker gangs, white Aryan resistance , KKK, Neo-Nazis, and more groups. For the majority of these groups, arguably, there were actually bad people, many of them committing murder, selling drugs, in short, engaging in much of what legally would be called “malum in se” meaning, something like murder or child abuse, something that is wrong from a moral and ethical viewpoint. There are other classes of “crimes” which are called “malum prohibitum” meaning they are wrong solely because you have passed a law making them wrong. Making alcoholic beverages and selling them, became malum prohibitum with passage of the Volstead Act…even though, beer and wine had been made for centuries…and it was not illegal then, so, for a period of time, alcohol production, sale, distribution became malum prohibitum, but really, in the minds of most, it was never malum in se. I have been someone who generally has tried to not violate laws most of my life. (d) (i)
Occupy’s next frontier: Foreclosed homes Occupy Wall Street is promising a “big day of action” Dec. 6 that will focus on the foreclosure crisis and protest “fraudulent lending practices,” “corrupt securitization,” and illegal evictions by banks. The day will mark the beginning of an Occupy Our Homes campaign that organizers hope will energize the movement as it moves indoors as well as bring the injustices of the economic crisis into sharp relief. Many of the details aren’t yet public, but protesters in 20 cities are expected to take part in the day of action next Tuesday. “This is a shift from protesting Wall Street fraud to taking action on behalf of people who were harmed by it. The backdrop for all this is a new study suggesting the foreclosure crisis is only half over, with 4 million homes in some stage of foreclosure. Like many of the Occupy actions that have focused on specific policy questions, this one is being organized by established progressive and labor-affiliated groups along with their allies in the movement.
occupy blogosphere 'Occupy Our Homes' Campaign Brings Protests to Foreclosed Homes A subset of Occupy Wall Street protesters across the country are bringing their fight indoors with plans to stay in foreclosed homes for months. The group launched a national campaign on Tuesday called Occupy Our Homes -- literally living in the homes of foreclosed homeowners, giving temporary reprieve from the bitter cold. Nick Espinosa, one of the organizers of Occupy Minneapolis, which officially launched Oct. 7, said Minnesota's cold makes it difficult for people to spend the winter outdoors, where the temperature is forecasted to reach a low of two degrees on Thursday just as Hennepin County authorities removed unattended tarps and chairs at the plaza outside the Minneapolis government center, the Associated Press reported. The numbers at the plaza fluctuate, but they are "dwindling," Espinosa said. "It makes sense to be indoors but really this is a larger issue," he said. Peter Leeman/Kyle Kehrwald Postal Service Could Eliminate 1-Day Delivery Watch Video "They haven't said much.
OCCUPY UNITED Occupy Our Homes Faces Off With US Marshals in Washington Share Occupy Our Homes engaged in a dramatic faceoff this morning with US Marshals and local police in northeast Washington D.C., less than a mile from the US Capitol building. About thirty Occupiers arrived at the home of Dawn Butler around 8 am, in the 900 block of Maryland Ave NE, to block a looming eviction—and what followed left one Occupier and one US Marshal in the hospital. Butler doesn’t own the home, but has rented it since 2006. Her landlord fell behind on her mortgage payments while sick with cancer, and the property was foreclosed on—but D.C. law says tenants have the first right of purchase on a home where the landlord loses the title. Butler claims she has repeatedly tried to buy the home but has been repeatedly ignored or thwarted by JP Morgan Chase and a local foreclosure firm. An eviction notice came last night, and this morning the protesters showed up to help. Heavily armed US Marshals, however, made quick work of the protester’s blockade.
OccupyArrests “The Chief of Police Stepped On Me and Then He Charged Me With Rioting”: Activists Face Jail Time for Defending Homes Police Chief Dolan steps on protesters on his way into the Cruz home. (Peter Leeman)Photo Credit: Peter Leeman August 21, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. The police came at four in the morning with a battering ram to the Cruz home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “After we had been peacefully occupying this house for over a month without any incidents, then they come in with a battering ram and blame us for disturbing the peace,” said Nick Espinosa, one of the organizers with Occupy Homes Minnesota, which has taken the lead in saving local families from being put out on the street. The battering ram was just adding insult to injury—the Cruz family was being evicted through no fault of their own, because PNC bank had made a mistake in processing their payments. They face up to two years in prison. “The chief of police was there the night I was arrested. Evicted by Bank Error
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