I’ve been a busy gonzo journalist lately, with more potential stories to cover than I can write. Here are two recent reports I made to Firedoglake.
First, Occupy Austin had a truly fabulous time shaking things up at Austin Pride parade, drawing controversy and attention from all the right places. The party wagon rolled in the streets to much acclaim and the OccuQueers performed a highly confrontational banner drop:
Hyatt sponsorship was deemed especially problematic — though Hyatt is publically welcome to LGBTQ clients, it is also increasingly well known for its poor treatment of workers in a field that is traditionally highly populated by queer people — hospitality. Over 5,000 unions, organizations and individuals have joined the Hyatt Boycott. When we reached out to hospitality union organizers, we heard horrifying tales — in just one incident, a $5,000 tip left by a major sporting team intended for housecleaning workers was stolen by the hotel.
In retaliation, an affinity group formed by the Occupy Austin OccuQueers scaled the outside of the Kiss & Fly, a gay bar shut down after the owner became notorious for dealing drugs and stealing worker tips. The banner, depicting the Hyatt logo with the word ‘Fuck’ in bold letters above it, was painted on a pink satin sheet. It hung along the parade route, visible from a block away even as night fell, for the entirety of pride parade and about an hour after.
And today, a federal district court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the City of Austin to ban Occupy protesters from City Hall:
Almost from the start of the movement’s history, police, security guards and city officials used criminal trespass notices banning occupiers from City Hall as a way to break up and divide the movement’s key volunteers and those most dedicated to direct action. Even recently, when Austin Police want to justify the eviction, infiltration, and suppression of the movement they point to the over 100 arrests which took place at the encampment — over 80 of which were for ‘Criminal Trespass.’
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The criminal trespass notices and arrests had a profound effect on Occupy Austin. Suddenly dozens of its key members could not longer come onto the site of its major encampment. Some took to protesting and holding meetings across Cesar Chavez Street on a tiny patch of land which is technically Margaret Hoffman Oak Park, but became known as ‘Exile Island.’ Some were energized by the Halloween weekend arrests — they inspired this reporter to join the movement; I witnessed one of the newly released prisoners mic-check a demand that Occupy Austin march in the street, not on the sidewalk, a commandment we follow to this day.
