This is a statement from the group charged with tactical planning for the
Move-in Day building occupation.

The Battle of Oakland from brandon jourdan on Vimeo.

A statement from Occupy Oakland's Move-In Assembly*

To the Occupy Oakland family and all supporters of Occupy Oakland:

We are writing in regards to any misconceptions you may have regarding last Saturday's (1/28) Move-In Day to reclaim the unused Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. We have had to brave a heavy campaign launched by the city and the mainstream media to discredit us, and unfortunately some within our ranks have taken such misrepresentations at face value. We hope that this statement can help clear things up.

Oakland Rise Up Festival is on for Sunday at Oscar Grant Plaza. All events will happen as scheduled.

[Note: We are currently collecting statements ready by OO committee members for the press conference on 1/25. They will be added as they are received.]

Lindsey, Raheim Brown Free School

1. How long will we be able to hold the building, won't the police just come and evict us?

We believe that a successful, long-term occupation is contingent on a high number of occupants and supporters. Therefore, please prepare to stay overnight, at least throughout the festival. The first two days, will give us an opportunity to self-organize and determine the future of the building. There has been lots of discussion about how to hold the building (refer below to the question of defense), but obviously we won't be able to hold it unless we can deter the cops and the city from throwing the full weight of the police state against us. Since this is a mass, public action, we are counting on large numbers to enter the building, and solid numbers to STAY in the building 24/7 until we get guarantees that there will be no raids.

The Occupy Oakland Move-In Assembly has decided on the following guidelines for our new social center. They come in two parts. One is a document outlining on what grounds individuals will be kicked out of the building and the other is our Community Guidelines. Please refer to the documents below. 

Prepared by the Occupy Oakland Medic Collective

PDF attached below

Dear Mayor Jean Quan, Oakland Police Department, and Oakland City Council,

As you probably know, Occupy Oakland is planning the occupation of a building on January 28th that will serve as a social center, convergence center, headquarters, free kitchen, and place of housing for Occupy Oakland. Like so many other people, Occupy Oakland is homeless while buildings remain vacant and unused. For Occupy this is in large part because of yourselves, having evicted us twice from public space that was rightfully ours. For others it is because of the housing bubble, predatory lending, the perpetual crises of capitalism, and far reaching histories of imperialism and systemic violence.

from Hyphenated-Republic

On December 28, in the midst of Occupy Oakland’s continuing battle against the city and OPD at Oscar Grant Plaza, another kind of Occupation battle was taking place in Sacramento, largely out of sight of both activists and media. Homeless campers were experiencing another raid, as police cleared out their encampment. Despite the fact that Sacramento’s shelters are at full capacity already, the city nevertheless used anti-camping ordinances to clear the camp and scatter homeless people to the city’s doorways and park benches. The action by Sacramento’s city government and police parallels the cynical raids on homeless encampments throughout the last decade in Oakland and other parts of the East Bay.

Oakland Rise Up Festival!