Occupy Santa Cruz Looks to the Future

The Occupy movement has a new focus Friday: protesting the Supreme Court decision two years ago to give corporations the same rights as people.

Only, Friday, most of Occupy Santa Cruz will be occupying San Jose on a protest march from St. James Park to the Federal Courthouse starting at noon.

The Raging Grannies from the Santa Cruz chapter of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom will lead what is being called the Occupy the Courts march sponsored by a group called Move to Ammend.

However, few other local Occupiers plan to join the Occupy The Courts march on federal courts happening across the nation Friday. Many couldn't afford the trip or didn't know about it.

Immigration attorney Richard Hobbs, a leading voice in the Move To Amend San Jose affiliate, said that getting money out of politics is the first step to restoring democracy in America.

“We are there on the second anniversary of Ciitizens United v. the Federal Elections Campaign saying we need to take our democracy back,” said Hobbs. “The voices of people should matter more than the million of dollars spent by corporations.”

Move To Amend San Jose is pushing the Santa Clara County Board Of Supervisors and the 15 city councils in the county to sign a resolution supporting a constitutional amendment to repeal corporate personhood.

Members of Occupy Santa Cruz talked about their next directions Wednesday night at a forum at the Santa Cruz Resource Center for Nonviolenct called "How Would You Occupy 2012?"

The group of more about 70 people broke into 10 work groups to form actions in the coming year. Every issue they discussed from excessive military spending to environmental damage circled back to the issue of excessive money in the American political system, but few committed to participating in the Move To Amend event.

Some members of Occupy Santa Cruz will instead hold a symbolic rally in solidarity at the Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

One group at “How Would You Occupy” proposed a protest of a storage warehouse.

“It is amazing that we have thousands of homeless but we can find homes for all the stuff we can't fit in our homes,” said one Occupy supporter.

Following the eviction of their camp in San Lorenzo Park in December, numbers at the General Assembly meetings have fallen well below the 50 to 100 people they had been attracting. Cindy Maiorino said they need to let people know the eviction did not kill the spirit of the movement.

“We have a core of about 20 people at [General Assemblies] every night and then a few that come and go,” she said.

Other ideas included finding warmer places to hold General Assembly meetings through the winter and having a prison solidarity march. They would march to the Santa Cruz County Jail in handcuffs and hold a rally outside.

All of these were offered in the interest of boosting numbers, which most agreed led to the success of the Tea Party in the 2010 elections, and could overcome corporate money in elections.

“There are probably a ton of kids my age that think what we are doing is boring,” said one occupier in his early twenties. “There are so many barriers to getting the new generation involved. How do we bridge the gap?”