Max Blumenthal and Occupy Oakland: The Epitome of Hackery

Late last night and early this morning the scene at the ‘Occupy Oakland’ protests got ugly. While it is difficult to accurately determine what  happened without actually being there, Max Blumenthal of The Nation Institute decided he give it a try. Blumenthal, who is a vocal supporter of the ‘Occupy Protests,’ and compares them to recent events in places like Yemen, Egypt, and Tunisia freely admitted he was not in Oakland, stating of his tweets: “No these are coming to me through friends” and even going so far as to refer to them as “My #Oakland ppl.” This alone should be enough to raise some eyebrows about the “reports” he chose to relay via Twitter, but I think what is more important is what he was actually relaying, what was left out, and the narrative he was obviously trying to craft.

This is a screenshot of the first thing Blumenthal decided to “report:”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He then continues to try to paint the protesters as innocent victims with these tweets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can run through his timeline and see even more attempts to paint Oakland Police as violent aggressors oppressing innocent victims. What’s curious is what Blumenthal fails to “report.” Predictably, no mention is made of the actions taken prior to the above events or an attempt to tell the whole story.  From the City of Oakland:

From the start of the demonstration two weeks ago, the City of Oakland
focused on facilitating the protesters’ right to free speech and peaceful expression
while maintaining public health, safety and crowd control. Over the past weeks,
the City provided multiple and frequent written notices to outline requirements to
protect the health and safety of the group and of the City Hall area. After the first
weekend, the City received reports of problems, and communicated to the
protesters about additional health and safety concerns. But by the end of last
week, it was apparent that overnight camping would have to end due to health and
safety issues and continued violations of the law. On Oct. 21, Frank Ogawa Plaza
was red tagged, requiring protestors to vacate. On the morning of Oct. 25, many
protestors left the plaza after Police announced that they would be arrested if they
did not disperse.

What were the health concerns? More from the City of Oakland:

There were a series of safety conditions, including numerous reports of fighting, assault and threatening/intimidating behavior. Medical responders (AMR Ambulance Company) were denied access on at least two occasions to provide medical care. Furthermore, the Oakland Fire Department and Police Department were denied access to the Plaza to respond to calls for service. Sanitation conditions worsened with frequent instances of public urination and defecation, as well as improper food storage. The existing rodent problem on the Plaza was exacerbated and vector control was unable to implement measures to control the rat problem due to the presence of overnight campers. The Plaza was physically damaged on a daily basis by graffiti, litter and vandalism. Fire hazards continued unabated, including cooking with open flame, improper storage of grease, inadequate fire extinguishers, density of tents and flammable materials and smoking in tents. There were reports of public drinking and intoxication. Numerous complaints from employees and businesses were received regarding concern for safety.

Now we begin to see a bit of a different story than the one Blumenthal is trying to create. The Plaza was damaged, medical and fire crews were denied access, public urination/defecation, numerous fire hazards, and so on. Not only did Blumenthal leave all that out, he makes (as of this posting) no mention that the area was red-tagged, requiring protesters to disperse back on Oct. 21st and on the morning of Oct. 25th protesters were told they would be arrested if they did not comply with the law and disperse.

Just like Blumenthal, I’m not in Oakland either. However, this statement can be easily verified, right? Yep, sure is. From SFGate.com:

Oakland officials Thursday night ordered protesters inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement to vacate Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall, where hundreds of people have lived since Oct. 10 in an elaborate tent city complete with a kitchen, a school and a medical tent. ”We believe that after 10 days, the City can no longer uphold public health and safety,” the notice said. “In recent days, camp conditions and occupants’ behavior have significantly deteriorated, and it is no longer manageable to maintain a public health and safety plan.”

OK, so now we know the protesters were told that they would have to leave the area 4 days prior to this whole thing occurring. Now we can move on to Blumenthal leaving out an important detail regarding the use of tear gas and even going so far as claiming “police violence.” What he & his “ppl”choose to leave out is that the protesters were warned once again that if they did not obey the law tear gas would be employed. How do I know this? I asked photojournalist Erik Verduzco of who was, ya know, actually there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is even another writer at the protest, Joshua Holland of AlterNet, tweeted this: “Then maybe 10 riot cops crossed st in show of force. Some in crowd threw bottles at them. Tense here.” this was at approximately 3PM yesterday. He also tweeted that warnings were issued by police that people had to disperse or face arrest and also that if the protesters refused to move chemical agents would be deployed.

What you see here is the narrative that Blumenthal is trying to create crumble. No one, not even the City of Oakland, disputes that police intervened last night, people were arrested, and tear gas was used. The problem occurs when people like Blumenthal only want half the story told.  ’Occupy Oakland’ protesters were warned days ago they needed to leave the area and chose not to. Earlier today, some threw bottles at police. Prior to police intervention they were again told to disperse and chose not to. They were warned to leave the area prior to tear gas being deployed and chose not to. At every turn the protesters decided not to obey the law and remain where they were. But Blumenthal fails to relay any of this easily obtained information because he isn’t interested in an accurate accounting of what’s going on in Oakland. He’s only interested in promoting a group of protesters he agrees with and is more than happy to hide behind what others tell him to do it. Pathetic.