OaktownLive

The subject of stay-away orders has been something that TOL has been mentioning on the stream for a while now. To summarize, the Alameda County District Attorney has has been issuing so-called “Stay-Away Orders” against people taking part in Occupy-related protests and activities, most noticeably in Oakland and at UC Berkeley.

These orders require people to stay 100 to 300 yards away from Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza or, in the case of the UC orders, away from ANY UC PROPERTY IN THE STATE, with the exception of going to class or to work-related activities. One of the recipients of a UC-related stay-away lives in student housing and had to get a court order to be able to legally return home.

These orders have been issued against people who have been charged but not convicted of any crimes. Like anti-gang injunctions in Oakland, they are considered by many local activists to be targeted repression against citizens with unpopular political activities and affiliations (in this case, Occupy). The Oakland injunctions in particular make it impossible for people under such orders to attend the Occupy Oakland General Assembly (held at the Plaza) or the Oakland City Council Meetings (City Hall abuts the Plaza). As the plaza has also been a center for organizing and meetings related to Occupy, the orders also prevents people from assembling and partaking in protected political speech.

The ACLU has filed suit against the DA, asserting that these orders are a fundamental violation of people’s civil rights, especially since the people they have been issued against have not been convicted of crimes and are for the most part charged with nothing worse than misdemeanors; moreover, virtually all of the alleged incidents happened nowhere near the plaza, and often many blocks away in Oakland.

The Occupy Oakland Anti-Repression Committee (press conference video) has been working and speaking out with local groups fighting against the Oakland Gang Injunctions. The gang injunctions are civil in nature while the stay-away orders are criminal, but both are aimed at exiling certain people from a certain geographic area because of their affiliations. Both are contentious issues in Oakland.

Recently, as part of their Occupy Faith national conference here in Oakland, the Occupy Oakland Interfaith Tent held a “Sanctuary for Stay-Aways” service at Oscar Grant Plaza. A canopy was raised, decorated, and sanctified as “Sacred Space” by Starhawk, beneath which several folks wearing masks (who may or may not have had stay-aways) walked inside the veil of sanctity with the protection of clergy who had vowed to put themselves between OPD and anyone they were trying to arrest.

All so that people with stay-aways could (even if only symbolically) attend the multi-faith service at the plaza put on by the Interfaith Tent.

Several weeks ago at a protest, Pirate bumped into Joseph (“L.A. Joe”) Briones, one of the recipients of a stay-away (and the first to be arrested for violating his order… or did he?) who had just been released from custody. At the time, Joe was recently free from a week in Santa Rita jail and didn’t feel up for speaking about his experience.

Wednesday afternoon, while attending an OO rally in support of Oaksterdam after Monday’s Federal raids, Joe caught up with Team Oaktown Live and was ready to talk about his situation, his experience with the stay-away orders, and how he never got arrested before Occupy.:

Big thanks from the Team to Joe for sharing that with the world. TOL is not about shoving the camera in people’s faces who don’t wanna talk, and nobody should ever feel bad about saying “no, I don’t want to talk now.” And… wow, that was absolutely worth waiting for.

This is the situation on the ground in Oakland. This is what Americans are facing as they speak out against economic injustice and a system rigged in favor of the powerful few: police repression and the substantial weight of the legal system coming down in a full-on assault against some pretty basic American rights of assembly, expression, and presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court of law.

Team Oaktown Live very much recommends you pick up a camera and show the world what’s happening where you live. Be the media. And always remember… FILM THE POLICE!

P&L

Thu M8 10:00am TOL will be #LiveAndDirect @ #OO’s press conf re: stay-away orders against Occupiers. #StayawayClub http://Ustream.tv/channel/Oaktownlive

NOTE: Social Stream will be disabled during this broadcast. Lexica will be at the jobby-job Thursday, leaving the stream w/out moderator (and Pirate w/out adult supervision).

Without a mod to enact the team’s social stream policies (No personal attacks/no d0xing/no relaying police scanner info), our choice is to turn the S2 off rather than leave it unmoderated.

The ACLU on the stay-away orders.

While it’s possible Pirate may go L&D before the 10am presser, he expects to definitely be live for that.