Occupy SF, in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, is in desperate need of some fine tuning. Many, many people have complained that the encampment and General Assemblies are alienating and dominated by very loud men. This is a proposal to restructure OSF, with greater participation from those of us directly affected by this economy, police and state violence and, patriarchy. Let’s address oppression in the 99%!

While we acknowledge our growing movement, it is important to view critically our alliances. It is not enough to merely say that “We are the 99%” at our meetings and General Assemblies if those spaces are not inclusive of the voices of people of color, of women identified people, of poor and working class people, of queer and trans people, of families with children. We risk the very impact of this popular movement if we do not call out and demand, immediately, that would-be comrades and allies abandon all sexist behavior. Patriarchy and hierarchical thinking are both at the very center of this country’s policies and laws. If we allow sexism to go unchecked in our movement, then we have no hope of affecting the change and revolution that our communities require.

Currently, the Occupy SF General Assemblies are relatively well attended yet, directly dominated by the voices of men who, time and again, disregard consensus based process by talking out of turn, talking louder than everyone else, co-facilitating without being asked to, dominating committee minutes, and out-right ignoring the voices (usually women) calling them back to order. This is not an indictment of all of Occupy SF, nor is it an indictment of all men involved in the Occupy SF movement. However, it is important to note that Occupy SF has been unable to deal with this problem in camp and at General Assemblies, at great risk to the larger movement.

Blatantly unchecked patriarchal behavior models precisely the very power structure with which we are fighting. it is not enough to claim the “99%” – we need to challenge the majority who prioritize talking over listening; verbal and physical aggression and coercion over consent. Coercion, not laziness, is what lumps us all into the category of the 99%. We have been coerced into violent social and economic relationships, houselessness, lost opportunities to live at least comfortably. We have been bullied by the state so much that many of us have been convinced that it’s not even worth it to fight for our rights in the streets. While challenging the 1% to give up the loot and the resources, we need also to challenge the 99% to not replicate the current system of power!

In solidarity with the occupywallstreet movement, I propose the following agenda, for a new General Assembly, to be scheduled by y’all:

1) Encampments that are safe for those most directly affected by and most vulnerable to the current system and power structure. This list includes, but is not limited to; people of color, the poor, immigrant populations, indigenous populations, women, families with children, trans folx, queer folx, differently abled folx.

2) A dedication to mutual aid which means sharing skills and resources, respecting group decision making and autonomous actions, defending the encampment and those most vulnerable from police/state intervention and violence.

3) Promoting education within the community with emphasis on including voices throughout San Francisco.

4) Encouraging and promoting health by respecting each others needs and making space for all of us to do what we need to.

5) Open participation. That is to say that people are always free to join in popular discussion, even if they are not present 24-7.

6) Adherence to typical GA norms including hand signals, listening, mic-checking only when requested by a speaker. An amendment to this would be a feminist-consensus based agreement on how to deal with masculine, coercive, or overly-disruptive behaviors.

7) People are free to be in as many committees as they choose, however are limited to mic time at report back, to only one committee.

These are ideas right now. If an alternate occupation sight/encampment/occupation-

action were to occur, I would hope that most of us could participate long enough to see it function in a truly autonomous, non-coercive way.
What say you? Shall we re-organize and reclaim the 99%?

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. it is our duty to win. We must love each other and protect each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.” Assata Shakur

1. Because
   the “real life” stories from the declining middle-class have
   been the real-life stories of the working poor and people of color
   in this country and in this town since time immemorial.
2. Because
   social and geographical segregation is involuntary in San Francisco.
3. Because
   it is illegal to sit or lie on the sidewalks.
4. Because
   the police will ticket you, beat you, or shoot you, even if you
   don’t “deserve” it.
5. Because
   teachers and nurses and janitors are being laid off.
6. Because
   violence against women has not yet ended.
7. Because
   children are still abused and neglected in this city.
8. Because
   I.C.E. Is everywhere, even though we vote, again and again, to keep
   them out of our neighborhoods
9. Because
   domestic workers have no rights in San Francisco.
10. Because
    undocumented workers have no rights in San Francisco.
11. Because
    you can go to jail for holding drugs in San Francisco.
12. Because
    good healthcare is still a privilege in this town, not a right.
13. Because
    Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup (and more) make money from
    you, hand over fist, and pay no taxes.
14. Because
    almost 12% of San Franiciscans live below the poverty line.
15. Because
    the President and Congress have slashed social services and
    so-called “entitlement” programs.
16. Because
    working class and poor families can’t afford to live here and are
    being pushed out of the city.
17. Because
    the country is still at war, 10 years later, and some of the people
    making a profit from the war work and live here, in San Francisco.
18. Because
    we only have the choice of the lesser of two evils in our
    “democracy”.
19. Because
    Goldman Sachs is here in San Francisco, too.
20. Because
    the banks own your homes and your taxes bailed the banks out.  The
    government can’t prevent foreclosure.
21. Because
    the rent is too high.
22. Because
    this movement can not move forward without you. 
    

I’m left with feelings of relief and joy. I reflect on my first ever Dyke March over a

decade ago, my heart overjoyed and overwhelemed by the legions that

converge on the city streets, making Dolores Park our home base for

the weekend, reclaiming the Castro from the corporations. I remember

with mixed feelings of nostalgia and mourning, the first ever Trans

March, in honor of Gwen Araujo and countless other Trans victims and

survivors of male violence and misogynistic culture. I’m always

impressed with the organized chaos – the infrastructure that seeks

only to ensure that the the unrepressed revellers and rebels will

have their days to express and rejoice in our ongoing struggle for

liberation. The relief I usually feel by the time the weekend winds

down is that we did it again. We didn’t seem to hurt ourselves too

badly. We were a loosely organized force, dancing under the banner

of collective liberation. Politics aside, for a couple of days in June,

we’re all in this together.

The Dyke March and the Trans March have

been our own – a celebratory rebellion that scoffs in the faces of

corporate interests, capital and patriarchy. There is no necessary

planning to strategically take Dolores Park and the surrounding

environs for the Queers because it’s a foregone conclusion that, for

at least this last weekend in June, the park and the streets are

ours. This will remain true for me until I spy the first corporate
sponsor on a stage in Dolores Park.

While so far we’ve managed to carry on

without Virgin America or Bud Light, I’m still disheartened by the

increasing cooperation with the police and city council. Every year

the Dyke March is urged to get a permit; purportedly to help the city

maintain the costs of street cleaning and porta potties. However the

Dyke March has been sufficiently organizing for these things for

years. I feel that there is a deeper reason behind the permits Dyke

March is always asked (and consistently rejects) to obtain: the city

wants to remain in control and, in effect, to control the narrative

of this government’s role in Dyke March and the struggle for Queer

Liberation. Rather than acknowledge that scores of thousands of

Dykes and their allies do not need the city in order to claim their

autonomy, the city wants to remind us that it can shut us down with

its armed force (sfpd) if we do not comply and seek their legitimacy.

This is a thinly veiled threat. Extortion is not protection. Our

government’s mere tolerance of our celebration and resistance is not

a promise of equality. A government can not legitimize it’s
subjects.

Queer people’s quest for mainstream legitimacy is not exactly new.

One only has to turn on the tube or

open a mainstream newspaper to find out about this or that state or

politician granting us the “right” (re: privilege) to marry, to

fight wars, to pray… While seeking the comfort and assurances of

middle-class values, the Queer mainstream ignores the obvious

connection between our social oppression, patriarchy and, the ongoing

quest for more and more capital. To find further evidence of the

legitimacy agenda, every June, one can look at the scores of

corporate sponsors for the official “Pride” events. These

sponsors, these politicians and news sources, do not have our

liberation in mind. They are interested in a fiscal bottom line.

It’s called Capitalism, baby, and right now we’re no more accepted as

before – we’re tolerated and we’re exoticized; we’re dollars and
cents.

Those who seek mainstream legitimacy

would ask, why should we defiantly refuse the city’s order of permit?

Why would we bother to reject the SFPD chaperones containing a

people who, paradoxically, can not be contained by strict social

barriers (re: Trans folks, the gender-queer, their allies)? To them

I answer, remember Stonewall? Remember (Trans March committee) the

Compton’s Cafeteria Riots? Remember the American Psychological

Association condemning us and those who came before us to psychiatric

wards? Remember that the police beat our people every day in every

state and that none of your mainstream news outlets see fit to print

a word about it? I say that the corporations and politicians you

seek support from have no love for you and would rather throw you off

the gravy train for the right price. I say, remember gay teen

suicides, gang rapes, brutal murders? Did you know what this

mainstream culture did to Matthew Shepard, to Gwen Araujo, to Murray
Seidman, to Samantha Jane Dorsett?

The 2009 Dyke March Theme Statement

said, among other things:

“Our dyke sisters Renata Hill and

Patreese Johnson are still in prison for defending themselves against

homophobic and misogynist violence in New York. The family and

friends of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, the first black man to be killed

in 2009, are grieving his loss at the hands of transit police in

Oakland, California. Each of us has the right to live and be free

from the terror of renegade law enforcement. The right to live is a
human right!”

The statement goes on to name other

ills of civilized, mainstream society including; the prison

industrial complex, the practice of torture, the united states’ art

of war, the elimination of reproductive rights, the proliferation of

rape in Oakland and the rest of the world, the tragic destinies of so

many undocumented people in the u.s., corporate tax breaks and

incentives, increasing homelessness, the marginilization of queer

youth… This statement acknowledges our struggle and does not seek
legitimacy.

The 2011 Trans March Press Release

states:

“The mission of the San Francisco Trans March is to inspire

all trans and gender non-conforming people to realize a world where we are safe,

loved, and empowered. We strive to create a space for our

diverse communities to unite and achieve the social justice
and equality that each of us deserves.

“The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot occurred in August 1966 at the Gene Compton’s

Cafeteria in the Tenderloin when transgender people rose up in

anger against years of harassment at the hands of the San

Francisco police department. The ensuing riot, brought to

light in Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker’s documentary

*Screaming Queens*, marked the first known instance of

collective, militant, queer resistance to the social

oppression of transgender people in United States history,

three years before the riots at New York City’s Stonewall
Inn.”

With all of this acknowledgement of an

unjust mainstream society, of a government that cares only for

capital, HOW can we possibly collaborate with any government on

issues of safety or crowd control? I contend that we do not honor

the militant spirit of Queer resistance by offering Bevan Dufty a

spot at the mic to give a campaign spiel. It is erroneous to assume

that we can possibly collaborate with the police to “keep us safe”

as I heard a number of organizers tell me on Friday when, in fact,

the number one job of the police is to serve corporate interests

within the patriarchal structure of government. We can not be fooled

into believing that a few Queers in a few chambers of a massive
government bureaocracy equals representation and protection.

I reiterate that we take to the streets

to celebrate our struggle. Because everyday is a struggle. Our

presence in the streets is not simply a parade of extravagance. It

is a reminder that we are here, we are Queer, and we will never
disappear.

We do not need more legitimacy. We

need more frank conversations, more radical education, more

solidarity. It is not important for Trans March or Dyke March to be

an “official Pride event”! By allowing the local government and

the police to determine our routes, to determine how and where we

will celebrate our ongoing struggle for true liberation, we only end
up serving them.

I think I understand why so many are

willing to seek legitimacy. It would be insane to ommit that

historically Trans folks and Queer folks have lacked or foregone

altogether adequate healthcare and equal protections in society. It

is alluring to believe that we have only to strive hard enough in

order to obtain what we need. I do not disagree with this notion. I

do think that it is naïve to assume that the very society which

rejects you will eventually come around to “help” you. Those who

are working to support our communities are amazing and their work

needs to continue. We need to continue to support one another so

that the next time the police come knocking for a Trans March permit,

no one will feel like we need to sacrifice mutual aid and collective
struggle for the right to march on the streets we pay for.

This year at Trans March, I nearly

wretched when the pro-gentrification (re: anti-poor) supervisor Bevan

Dufty took to the stage to proclaim his love for us. I was appalled

at the sightings of police chief Gascon talking of a safer San

Francisco. Moreover, I was not ready to be told by

men in pink shirts and officers in blue that I needed to stay between

the lines or risk arrest. I was not prepared to hear the menacing

double-speak, in the middle of a celebration for liberation, that if

we marched outside of the white lines, we would be putting ourselves

in danger. I reject this notion of “protection”.

Next year, I will be prepared. I see

that some members of my communities are willing to sacrifice

collective liberation for middle-class values and legitimacy. Next

year, if the mayor takes to the stage in the park my people are

occupying, we will shout him down. And next year, if the police

chief comes to the park to share his dream of a “safer” San

Francisco, then I will tell him that I intend to march all over his
pretty white lines.