Occupy Quezon City Hall!

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
Linggoy Alcuaz
10/24-26/2011



Occupy Quezon City Hall! That is definitely a much better thing to do than to try to occupy Malacanang Palace or to try to convince people to occupy Tektite Towers.

Malacanang is from where P-Noy does not govern well enough. Tektite Towers is where the Philippine Stock Exchange is located.

There are a couple of other places that should have been occupied a long time ago. These are the Energy Regulatory Board, the Manila Water and Sewerage System (MWSS) ,and the Local Water Utilities Authority (LWUA), as well as the oil companies.

Additional Taxes
The reason for occupying QC Hall is Proposed Ordinance 2010-91 entitled “An Act Further Amending the QC City Revenue Code, As Amended, To Impose an additional 0.5% on the Assessed Value of all lands in Quezon City Exceeding P100,000.00.

PO 2010-91 allocates the additional collected tax to the City Government’s Socialized Housing Program as provided for under Section 43 of Republic Act No. 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 (UDHA).

Following that, meaning after QC residents and taxpayers occupy and symbolically squat on the QC Hall Complex, occupy your own City Hall or Municipality’s Town Hall.

You be the judge. You know best.

If your own local seat of government is not worth occupying, just come to Metro Manila and help us.

Corporate Greed
In suggesting the above course of action, I am coming from my take on, and understanding of several things that developed and happened in history:

1. Last July 13’s single blog post and September 17’s “Occupy Wall Street Movement” march and rally at Zuccotti Park and its expansion to hundreds of cities in the USA and thousands of cities worldwide:
2. The birth or expansion of the Anti-Vietnam War Movement 46 years ago;
3. The First Quarter Storm of Student and Youth Activism 41 years ago;
4. EDSA I 25 years ago;
5. EDSA II 10 years ago;
6. EDSA III 10 years ago,
7. And the failure of the Anti-GMA Movement to oust her over a period of nine and a half years.

OWS in 190 Cities
On Saturday, Sept. 17, about 50 demonstrators gathered at Zucotti Park near Wall Street in New York City to denounce Corporate Greed.

They were jeered by the Establishment and roughed up by the police.

They stuck at it and maintained a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week vigil under the concept of “Occupy Wall Street.”

Within a month, on Saturday, Oct. 15, Occupy Wall Street was being replicated in 190 US cities and almost a thousand cities worldwide.

Here, in the Philippines, the usual suspects, meaning, the full time activists, advocates, demonstrators and rallyists, have done their token, “Occupy Wall Street” in various venues.

However, it has not yet captured the imagination of the Filipinos, in general.

From a Blog Post
In order for us to understand the immediate beginnings of the phenomenon, may I quote from an article in www.NPR.org dated Oct. 20, 2011, entitled “ Occupy Wall Street: From A Blog Post To A Movement” by Bill Chapell:

“After more than 30 days, the Occupy Wall Street movement has evolved from a protest in New York City into a growing international movement.

And it all started in July, as a single blog post inspired by the Arab Spring.

“Here's a look at significant developments in the Occupy Wall Street timeline, as it gathered momentum and spread to other US cities.

“Timeline: Tracking Occupy Wall Street's Growth

“July 13: Adbusters publishes a blog post calling for "a shift in revolutionary tactics" and urging tens of thousands of people to converge on lower Manhattan.

The plan: "set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices."

“The protest will have no leadership, the post notes. And its sole demand will not be determined until the gathered mass of protesters agree on what it should be.

“But the post's authors can't resist offering a candidate: "[We] demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington. It's time for Democracy Not Corporatocracy, we're doomed without it."

“The post, signed "Culture Jammers HQ," also introduces the #occupywallstreet hashtag."

Chronology: Ongoing
“July 26: The Occupy Wall Street website is launched; the group also uses Twitter and Facebook to promote the Sept. 17 demonstration. Adbusters calls for similar protests to be held in central financial districts in Germany, Japan, Britain, and around the world.

“Aug. 23: The activist hacking group Anonymous releases a video supporting Occupy Wall Street and uses its Twitter feed to promote the demonstration.

“Sept. 17: The rally and march take place, and the protesters set up a temporary city in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. Soon it will have its own newspaper, food supply chain and WiFi. Reports of arrests and clashes with police emerge almost daily. Many of the incidents are filmed and posted on YouTube.

“Sept. 24: New York police officers arrest more than 80 protesters as they march to Union Square. The conflict brings fresh charges that the police were overly zealous in using force and pepper spray.

“Oct. 1: More than 700 demonstrators are arrested during a march across the Brooklyn Bridge. Police officials say they targeted only those protesters who clogged traffic lanes instead of taking the pedestrian walkway.

“Oct. 5: Many of America's largest unions announce their support for Occupy Wall Street, as the movement holds a large march in Manhattan. In a poll, the group's approval rating is measured at 33 percent — 19 points higher than that of Congress.

“Oct. 6: Demonstrations spread to more cities, including Washington, D.C., where protesters pledge to remain in place for weeks to come.

“Oct. 11: Reports spread about a group seeking to counter Occupy Wall Street by claiming to be 'the 53% of Americans subsidizing these people so they can go hang out on Wall Street to complain'. Inspired by conservative blogger Erick Erickson's blog post on Oct. 5, the group's slogan is a play on "the 99 Percent."

“Oct. 12: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg visits the protesters' camp in Zuccotti Park, telling them they have two days to vacate the park, so that its owners, Brookfield Office Properties, can clean it. His office cites 'unsanitary conditions.' Protesters begin cleaning the park themselves.

“Oct. 14: Brookfield Properties announces that it will not force Occupy Wall Street to leave Zuccotti Park. On his radio show, Bloomberg says the company bowed to pressure from elected officials.

“Oct. 15: Loosely coordinated demonstrations inspired by Occupy Wall Street take place in 951 cities in some 82 countries, according to organizers.

“Oct. 17: Adbusters proposes an Oct. 29 '#RobinHood Global March' — and a candidate for the group's unifying demand: 'On October 29, on the eve of the G20 Leaders Summit in France, let's the people of the world rise up and demand that our G20 leaders immediately impose a 1% #ROBINHOOD tax on all financial transactions and currency trades.'

“Oct. 19: The New York City Police Department says that one its officers — who famously pepper-sprayed women during a Sept. 24 protest — will be disciplined and is likely to lose vacation days.”

In our continuation, we will explain how in the sixties and seventies, we imitated the wave of activism and protests that swept the USA and Europe.

We will also theorize whether we will follow in the footsteps of the “Occupy Wall Street” Movement.