Allison Kilkenny

Thousands Expected to Converge on Spain's Parliament to 'Occupy Congress'

Allison Kilkenny on September 25, 2012 - 9:41 AM ET

Spain’s Parliament “took on the appearance of a heavily guarded fortress” today, according to the AP, as police sealed off the perimeter in anticipations of thousands of protesters converging on the conservative government for an event dubbed “Occupy Congress.”

Police (the BBC reports some 1,300 police are at the Congress building) surrounded Parliament even though protesters state they have no intention of storming the chamber, but instead plan to march around it.

One of the main protest groups, Coordinadora #25S, said the Indignants did not plan to storm parliament, only to march around it.

Chicago Teachers, Verizon Workers and Quebec's Students Prove That Resistance Works

Allison Kilkenny on September 24, 2012 - 9:27 AM ET

Teachers in Chicago, Verizon workers, and students in Quebec recently proved that not only are strikes and general resistance and dissent essential to any democracy, they also work.

Despite ongoing efforts by private education lobbyists and a complacent national media working to smear teachers as being selfish, greedy leeches on society, educators in Chicago secured a major victory for themselves and their students.

After just nine days on strike, the Chicago teachers union fought for and won a contract that includes hiring more than 600 additional teachers in art, music and physical education, making textbooks available on the first day of school, and bringing the percentage of teacher evaluations that are decided by standardized test scores down to the legal minimum of 30 percent.

More Than 180 Arrested on Occupy Wall Street's First Anniversary

Allison Kilkenny on September 18, 2012 - 10:35 AM ET

All photos by Allison Kilkenny

In the early morning hours Monday, Occupy Wall Street activists marked the first anniversary of the movement by protesting in the financial district. Hundreds gathered on Water Street and hundreds more in Zuccotti Park, the birth place of the movement, before marching through Lower Manhattan, occasionally pausing to occupy intersections and protest financial institutions like Chase and Bank of America.

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Year One: Occupy Wall Street Plans Anniversary Protest of Wall Street

Allison Kilkenny on September 10, 2012 - 9:40 AM ET

Occupy Wall Street, one of the largest grassroots mass movements in US history, celebrates its first anniversary next week on September 17, and the group has planned not only a day of protest and direct action but also weekend workshops in which protesters will bring awareness to ongoing projects, and lay out Occupy’s vision for what will happen September 18 and beyond. The week leading up to Occupy’s anniversary will include training in direct action, reflection on the past year of popular resistance, and ultimately the September 17 action on Wall Street.

Washington Square Park on September 15 will be a site of convergence, for gathering and information-sharing under the banner of “Education for Liberation,” according to Nina Mehta, an Occupy organizer who has been working the convergence spaces around S17.

Undocumented Protesters Arrested at DNC, Police Pre-emptively Detain Prominent Activist

Allison Kilkenny on September 5, 2012 - 9:38 AM ET

Police arrested ten undocumented activists following an action to shut down an intersection nearby the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. The arrestees were all passengers on the Undocubus, part of the “No Papers, No Fear” tour that set out from Arizona in July.

Multiple media outlets have remarked on the overwhelming police presence at the protest. The AP reports that “hundreds” of officers “swooped in to surround” the protesters, ultimately waiting around forty minutes before taking action.

Among those arrested was Rosi Carrasco, a Chicago woman whom the group identified as an illegal immigrant first brought to the United States as a child. A married mother, she said she wanted to set an example for her two daughters by protesting the mass deportation of illegal immigrants.

Hundreds Protest Corporate Greed at the DNC

Allison Kilkenny on September 4, 2012 - 9:38 AM ET

Hundreds of protesters turned out to this weekend’s “March on Wall Street South” in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the Democratic National Convention kicked off. About 800 marchers (organizers put the count at more than a thousand) carried signs and banners, banged drums and chanted slogans, in what Police Chief Rodney Monroe described as a “mostly uneventful” demonstration (protests are usually described by the establishment media and law enforcement as either being “uneventful” or exercises in chaotic anarchy).

Activists expressed an array of grievances, but the main issues centered around the peace movement, unionized labor, immigration, corporate greed and a perceived betrayal by President Obama.

For example, the AP reports that one demonstrator marched with a sign that read: “OBAMA MURDERS CHILDREN WITH DRONES.”

As Protests Outside Stadium Continue, Ron Paul Supporters Walk Off the RNC Floor

Allison Kilkenny on August 29, 2012 - 10:59 AM ET

As activists faced down Hurricane Isaac and an inflated police presence in Tampa (police outnumber convention demonstrators by 4-1), protest also erupted within the taxpayer-funded Tampa Bay Times Forum.

While Conservative celebrities such as Chris Christie, Ann Romney and Rick Santorum attempted to invoke imagery of unity among the GOP, a contingent of Ron Paul delegates from several states shouted “several times” during the proceedings, according to the New York Times. Part of Maine’s delegation then walked out in protest over a decision to strip away half the candidate’s delegates from the state, a move Paul supporters say is designed to squelch the faction’s rise within the larger party.

Most Americans never saw this protest, just as they didn’t see a young woman yelling about getting money out of “politics and corporations,“ the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart tweeted.

Hundreds of Activists Protest at the Republican National Convention

Allison Kilkenny on August 27, 2012 - 10:52 AM ET

Hundreds of senior citizens, religious leaders, community organizers, and Occupy Wall Street activists have descended upon St. Petersburg to protest at the Republican National Convention’s welcome event at Tropicana Field.

More than 1,800 law enforcement officers from federal, state, and local agencies worked in tandem over the last 36 hours to secure the stadium by closing surrounding roads, implementing parking restrictions, and monitoring traffic flow to facilitate the peaceful protests.

Some protesters rode down on buses provided by Occupy, including an activist named Susan, 62, who told the Huffington Post she was laid off from her job in a hospital last fall and has since been receiving unemployment benefits.

Massive Student Protests Continue in Montreal

Allison Kilkenny on August 24, 2012 - 10:03 AM ET

A protester shouts slogans during a march against student tuition fee hikes in downtown Montreal, August 22, 2012. Reuters/Olivier Jean

Tens of thousands of students and their supporters flooded the streets of downtown Montreal Wednesday to protest university tuition fee hikes (the Liberal Party plans to drastically increase tuition fees to $1,794 over a seven-year period, a hike of 82 percent). The action follows a vote last week in which six junior colleges, called CEGEPs in Quebec, voted in favor of ending the strike and returning to class.

Occupy Activists Prepare to Protest Political Conventions

Allison Kilkenny on August 20, 2012 - 11:15 AM ET

Occupy Wall Street activists are preparing to travel to Tampa and Charlotte for the upcoming Republican and Democratic conventions. The group is planning to charter busloads of protesters south as part of demonstrations beginning in Tampa on August 27.

Local Occupy Tampa activists will likely remain in place through the RNC, despite efforts to move the group from a West Tampa park, ABC reports. Protesters moved to Voice of Freedom Park back in January following the city evicting the group from downtown. West Tampa park is owned by strip club mogul Joe Redner who has given the group an eviction date of September 15.

“Occupy Tampa has stood in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street since its inception, and will function as the host occupation for the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL on August 27th–30th, 2012,” the group said in an official statement regarding the RNC, adding that ongoing preparations are being made for the convention protests, including securing sleeping arrangements for occupiers, in addition to canopies, sun screen and portable water containers for protection from the weather.