Tag: Occupy Miami

Occupy Miami Camp to Be Raided at Sunset

Buck Banks

Occupy Miami 11-26-11
I received this press release today:

Miami, FL, Jan. 31, 2012 – Miami-Dade County has issued a memo to Occupy Miami demanding that the West Lawn of Government Center be vacated and cleared of all personal property by sunset Tuesday, January 31, 2012.

Anyone remaining beyond this deadline will be “subject to arrest for trespassing.” This comes three days after a permit to occupy the space was denied, on grounds of “current site conditions and unsafe activities.” These memos follow one issued January 5 by County Commissioner Joe A. Martinez to Mayor Carlos Gimenez, urging the Mayor to declare those staying overnight at Government Center be considered “trespassing” and noting that some activities occurring there were being monitored by an unspecified federal agency.

Since Oct. 15, 2011, the 24/7 Occupy Miami “Peace City” encampment has been a highly visible symbol of the Occupy Miami movement. An overnight encampment based at the heart of politics in Miami-Dade County was employed to congregate and energize activists, serve as a hub of learning and activism, and garner an undeniable, unrelenting community presence.

However, Occupy Miami is much more than simply a camp. It is a fluid, ever-evolving movement, which has matured much since its beginnings. Tuesday’s eviction does not signal its demise, but rather the tangible shift to an exciting, new phase in a movement continually growing stronger, larger, and more powerful. Occupy Miami could never be encompassed by a camp, since its efforts are as diverse and flexible as the occupants of Miami itself. While the County may try to evict the camp, they can never evict the idea.

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Occupy Miami Gets No Respect

Buck Banks

The Occupy Miami camp was soggy and bedraggled after a night of several inches of rain and 30 mph winds.
The Occupy Miami camp was soggy and bedraggled after a night of several inches of rain and 30 mph winds.

It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of the Occupy Wall Street protests — Occupy Miami, which has been on site at city hall for more than a month now, can’t get no respect.

Last week when Zuccotti Park was forcefully emptied and New York’s OWS protesters streamed across the Brooklyn Bridge, a series of messages was projected on the side of the Verizon Building. Among those messages was a list of Occupy sites — New York, Oakland, Portland. But no Miami. The list included “Florida” instead, no Miami.

Besides a few demonstrations in Sarasota, Daytona and several other Florida cities, no place except Miami has maintained a sustained and violence-free effort. They have negotiated with the city for permits to stay on the property, they police themselves pretty well (one heroin overdose and a runaway 11-year-old notwithstanding), and they hold almost daily demonstrations as well as workshops, discussions and a nightly movie projected on the side of the city hall building.

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