The video below by “dukkhaboy” on YouTube gives some of the flavor of last night’s Oakland City Council Hearing, as Port Of Oakland Executive Director Omar Benjamin talks against the Occupy Oakland Port Shutdown Action of last week, (and in support of a wild resolution to grant extraordinary police powers to prevent future Port shutdown attempts), and Oakland Council President Larry Reid works to try and give Mr.Benjamin more time to speak amid angry Occupy Oakland supporters.
(The video itself is terrible, but it was the only one of its kind posted, and shows just how many people don’t know how to use the tech in their hands. Consider that with a packed house, there’s only one uploaded video, and no, this blogger wasn’t there.)
According to Mr. DaveyD, and contrary to blogs and reports and videos of the past, the Unions (in cap), showed up to provide support for Occupy Oakland:
More union members spoke.. Some from ILWU, some from SEIU. We heard the head of the teachers union speaking. Person after person expressed support for Occupy Movement and slammed the proposal to allow police extra powers to keep Ports open. City Council was called into question and asked why they were beholden to 1% interests…The highlight of the night was when legendary Longshoreman Jack Heyman spoke..he talked about key moments when Longshoremen illegally shut down the ports and what it meant to particular movements. He talked about the Port shutdowns in the 80s and how that help in the fight to end Apartheid.
Here’s Davey D’s interview:
Davey also reports that the City Council delayed talks on the proposal until after 11 PM, when the media left. Sad.
What’s equally sad is that Davey D does a lot of great blogging, but seems to insist on not making money from it. To some, that’s noble, to me, it’s tearful.
Stay tuned.