Occupy Atlanta Media
February 29, 2012
Occupy Atlanta Rallies to Save Freedom of Speech in Georgia
With at least one American Legislative Exchange Council lobbyist in attendance, Georgia Senate Bill 469 which would impose hefty fines on pickets and turn planning a protest into a crime, was passed in committee today despite testimony that it was unconstitutional and unenforceable. The room, packed mainly with union members erupted in a chant of “KILL THE BILL!” and one Occupy Atlanta protester was arrested while others were escorted out.
AT$T is on the board of ALEC, and this legislation has their clear stamp on it. Tomorrow, February 29, Occupy Atlanta will rally in front of the Capitol at 10 am, followed by a march back to AT$T at noon to address the source of this attack on the First Amendment and labor rights in Georgia.
For more information on how corporations are pushing “model legislation” through state legislatures nation-wide, see www.alecexposed.org
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“A Restorative Circle is a community process for supporting those in conflict. It brings together the three parties to a conflict – those who have acted, those directly impacted and the wider community – within an intentional systemic context, to dialogue as equals.
Participants invite each other and attend voluntarily. The dialogue process used is shared openly with all participants, and guided by a community member. The process ends when actions have been found that bring mutual benefit.
Restorative Circles are facilitated in 3 stages designed to identity the key factors in the conflict, reach agreements on next steps, and evaluate the results. As a circle form, they invite shared power, mutual understanding, self-responsibility and effective action.”
This training is completely free to everyone! But to help pay for this training, which will likely be a minimum of $1,300, please donate to this WePay account. Someone has already agreed to pay for the training but they would love help paying for it.
For more information, e-mail Conflict Mediation at mediation@list.occupyatlanta.org
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Earlier this morning at around 9:30AM, eight people (The Chase Eight) participated in a sit-in at Chase Bank in the Edgewood Retail District. One of the occupiers arrested was Carmen Pittman. The action shut down the bank. They refused to leave, and about 15 cop cars and a prisoner transport vehicle circled the bank. The police caution-taped the bank entrance off, pulled down the blinds, zip tied the protesters, and proceeded to drag them out one by one. The scene drew a crowd of about 30 people who were shocked that all of this commotion was due to a sit-in, and were angered by such excessive police force & presence–some police refused to identify themselves. The police then told the crowd they must leave the Edgewood Retail District property or face arrest. We were also told that we were not allowed to flyer cars that passed by and asked what was happening. Some protesters who were not arrested followed the prisoner transport vehicle to ensure that those arrested were safe. A police car was staged in-between those concerned and those in the prisoner transport vehicle so following them became increasingly difficult. They were taken to the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Headquarters on Memorial Drive. – by Carter Moore]]>