[Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas/Reuters]

The United Nations General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a nonmember state Thursday, in a move that strengthens the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The vote tally was 138 yeas to 9 nays with 41 countries abstaining. The United States certainly seemed in the nay camp, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling the vote "unfortunate and counterproductive," and Ambassador Rice arguing the vote does not establish Palestinian statehood, and places "further obstacles in the path of peace."

NYT:

More than 130 countries voted on Thursday to grant Palestine the upgraded status of nonmember observer state in the United Nations, a stinging defeat for Israel and the United States and a boost for President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, who was weakened by the recent eight days of fighting in Gaza.

The new ranking could make it easier for the Palestinians to pursue Israel in international legal forums, but it remained unclear what effect it would have on attaining what both sides say they want — a two-state solution.
...
“The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the state of Palestine,” he said before the vote.

But in the run-up to the vote, he and Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, blamed the other side for not doing enough to pursue peace.

”We have not heard one word from any Israeli official expressing any sincere concern to save the peace process,” Mr. Abbas said.

“On the contrary, our people have witnessed, and continue to witness, an unprecedented intensification of military assaults, the blockade, settlement activities and ethnic cleansing, particularly in occupied East Jerusalem, and mass arrests, attacks by settlers and other practices by which this Israeli occupation is becoming synonymous with an apartheid system of colonial occupation, which institutionalizes the plague of racism and entrenches hatred and incitement.”

“The moment has arrived for the world to say clearly: enough of aggression, settlements and occupation,” he said.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office released a statement calling Mr. Abbas’s speech “defamatory and venomous” that was “full of mendacious propaganda against the IDF and the citizens of Israel.”

Via Occupy Oakland:

On October 25 of last year, the Oakland Commune at Oscar Grant Plaza was raided with enough brutal force to gain international attention. Since then, continuous state repression and police brutality have sought to divide Oakland and keep its residents from reclaiming public space in a time of local, national and global austerity.

The Oakland Commune served as a socio/political refuge for Oakland residents. It was open and free to all and provided a space where people could traverse race and class divides in order to share food, discussion and visions of a more just world. During this time, it was reported that crime within the beat that contained Oscar Grant Plaza went down 19 percent, which highlights the social efficacy of the community when allowed to come together and care for itself.

This Thursday October 25, Occupy Oakland will take back Oscar Grant Plaza with the intention of reclaiming the commons and the right of the people to organize in City Centers. This is a call out to all those who either experienced or were intrigued by the power of the Oakland Commune to come and contribute to the evening’s planned discussions on racism, patriarchy, state repression, and bridges to building a mass movement. A pot luck, community forum and general assembly are scheduled to begin at 4:00pm, followed by a march at 7:00pm. Films will be shown in the evening.

Come gather with us in the commons!

Speaking via videolink from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressed a side meeting of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday evening. In his remarks, Assange gave thanks to the United Nations for its treaties on political asylum and denounced the U.S. treatment of alleged Army whistleblower Bradley Manning. Assange also accused President Obama of exploiting the Arab Spring and called on the U.S.to end its persecution of WikiLeaks and its supporters.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may have been designated an "enemy of the state" by the United States. U.S. Air Force counterintelligence documents show military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or its supporters may be at risk of being charged with "communicating with the enemy," a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death. The designation is the same legal category as al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The report came just before Julian Assange spoke via videolink to a side meeting of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday. Assange spoke from inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Ecuador granted him diplomatic asylum to prevent Assange from being extradited to Sweden over sex crime accusations. Assange is seeking asylum because he fears extradition to Sweden may lead to his transfer to the United States, where, he is concerned, he could potentially face charges relating to WikiLeaks.

Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow! also speaks with Julian Assange’s attorney Michael Ratner after the UN Speech.

Full transcript of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressing a side meeting of the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday night is below the fold.

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American Autumn Trailer: World Premiere, Tuesday June 26th at the Indie Screen Cinema and Bar/ 26 Kent Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn.

Come see the World Premiere, Tuesday June 26 at the Indie Screen Cinema and Bar/ 26 Kent Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn.

Doors open - 7pm

Tickets: FREE

RSVP facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/383559275025108

First 50 people through the door get 50 free copies of the American Autumn DVD and a free copy of Lee Camp's new comedy CD "PEPPER SPRAY THE TEARS AWAY."

See Lee Camp perform, watch the World Premiere of American Autumn, and stick around for the opening night party.

via Occupy Los Angeles

We are occupying!!!

Join LA CAN, Occupy the Hood, Occupy Skid Row and Occupy Los Angeles at Wilshire/Hope (626 Wilshire Blvd.) at 8:30pm tonight to fight gentrification and the corrupt practices of the lobby group Central City Association. BRING TENT.

We are peacefully gathering to protest the Economic Development Meeting and the downtown 2020 plan to build new high rises, the AEG Stadium and further criminalize and push out the homeless. The CCA is the localized manifestation and microcosm of everything wrong with policy, the 1% and obsession with wealth and prestige. In this hyper-localized resistance, everyone must fight the bully in their respective backyards, as a community.

We have power in numbers and will be OCCUPYING the CCA, who monitors the public spaces of downtown with private security for the one percent. Red shirt, green shirt, purple shirt, police all working together to criminalize the homeless, communities of color and more recently, to patrol protesters in the area.

Facebook event | Twitter: @OccupyLA

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Via:

Yesterday, people from across France converged in Paris ahead of French national elections. Seizing upon the elections as an opportunity to demonstrate alternatives to a party system that merely serves the interests of bankers and the European financial elite, Réelle Démocratie Maintenant occupied public space to declare, ¨They do not represent us!¨

Paris is the first French city to re-occupy. Les Indignés have established an encampment at the Trocadéro and have experienced major police harassment. At least two people have already been arrested. The Occupiers are planning a communal meal, general assembly, and discussions on debt and other topics today. Tous à Paris sont invités à participer!

Follow on Facebook and Twitter: @AcampadaParis, #PrintempsFrancais.

The rest of Europe will be re-occupying during twin days of action on May 12th and May 15th. For more information, see here and here.

Occupy Wall Street // Spring Training // April 13, 2012 from Mo Scarpelli on Vimeo.

On a more positive note, Sunday an Occupy Wall Street demonstration drew hundreds of peaceful protesters to Central Park for a "Spring Awakening" and General Assembly, and on Friday in Lower Manhatten, the group engaged in Spring Training, hoping to unite and better organize supporters by their next major campaign push -- May 1, 2012. Watch the video by Mo Scarpelli.

Occupy LA:

Bring your tents, bring your blankets, bring some extra tarps if you can! Hot drinks and food are always welcome as well, tonight hot drinks would be awesome with the terrible weather! Every Friday night, OLA, Occupy the Hood LA, Occupy Skid Row, and visitors from other southern california occupations Occupy Main Street between 5th and 6th. (Near LACAN) We do this to raise awareness of the over 13,000 people who live on Skid Row, and are being pushed out of the only place that has services for them by gentrification.

Please join us, every friday night, we march from Pershing Square to Main Street after our General Assembly!

Austin Police evicted Occupy Austin late last night, and it seems the move came as somewhat of a surprise to the group.

Via:

Austin Police began enforcing a new policy on City Hall property banning people from the building during overnight hours. Around 10:00PM Police notified Occupy Austin protesters that they would have to leave the premises.

APD reports they gave protesters time to leave, but when protesters refused, police began making arrests. In all, seven demonstrators were arrested on criminal trespassing charges.

"The thing is they never mentioned a full on eviction," says protester Michelle Millette. "They said they had no plans for that."

The group plans to return to City Hall tonight at 7 p.m. for a general assembly, with a march to follow at 9p.m.

I’m an activist from Occupy LA and I will be checking in with you guys every now and then to report on some of the on-the-ground, front line work being done.

The biggest question for most people when I talk about the Occupy movement is where in the hell is this thing headed. Is it an unmanned ship headed for disaster or is it a house of mirrors illuminating light on a possible new world.

Well, it looks to me that, 2012, Occupy 2.0 will be all about action, action, action…minus the action hero. You will see flash Occupy’s like the one I was just involved in- Occupy The Rose Parade (OTRP). A flash should have some standard operating procedures: a website and social networking, a group of organized people, an invitation to the media, and then the actual event, the action shot. Even though OTRP was more of a family orientated event, it still served its purpose. Five thousand participants did show up.

The next biggest Occupy LA action being planned is the General Strike committee for May 1st. There are about 80 activists organizing. That’s the size of a regular Occupy LA general assembly. This is the future of Occupy. You'll see in the above video from Spain, where they have a head start in true ultra-horizontal assemblies. The video is in Spanish but let me sum it up for you…they are organized and they're ready.