Using a tragedy to attack Occupy

SHORTLY AFTER 2 p.m. on November 10, Josh Pfenning, a 35-year-old veteran and Occupy Burlington activist, shot himself. He was taken to Fletcher Allen Hospital where, a few hours later, he passed away.

This tragedy is a grave loss to our community and to our movement. Josh was a veteran, a worker and a homeless member of our community. We don't yet know the details surrounding his death orwhy he decided to take his own life.

We do know that his death is an indictment--not of our movement, but of everything that our movement is fighting against. It is an indictment of the system of the 1 percent, a system that tolerates homelessness while foreclosed homes lie vacant, a system that fails to provide our communities with the resources and the mental health-care services we need.

As the mainstream media descended upon Occupy Burlington following the suicide, it became clear that they were more interested in sensationalizing our tragedy and blaming our movement than in mourning Josh's death or discussing the real causes of mental health crises.

As one of Occupy Burlington's delegated media spokespeople explained, "The media didn't want to listen to what I had to say, and they kept asking me how I felt about gun laws. This is a systematic problem: we have a veteran who's homeless and doesn't have access to mental health care who killed himself. We're standing behind Josh--that is where this movement is."

The 1 percent and its representatives are cynically using this tragedy as an excuse to crack down on the Occupy movement. Immediately following the shooting, police cordoned off the south end of the park where the encampment is located. They left open the unoccupied north end of the park and the central fountain, where General Assembly (GA) meetings take place. At 5 p.m., Occupy Burlington came together for a GA to mourn Josh's death and to collectively share our loss.

Burlington's "Vermont Progressive Party" Mayor Bob Kiss and his chief of police briefly addressed the assembly to invite the Occupy movement to a meeting inside City Hall (adjacent to the park) at 6 p.m. to discuss how to deal with our tragedy. In good faith, the majority of occupiers went into City Hall following the GA to meet with the mayor and the police.

There, they explained to us that the park would need to be shut down for 24 hours to allow a thorough investigation, and that the park would be re-opened, but only between 6 a.m. and midnight each day, and that tents would be banned from the park.

As we tried to negotiate and ask questions, an occupier entered from outside and announced that while we were meeting inside, the police had closed off the rest of the park and were evicting the remaining occupiers. Our "progressive" mayor had deceived us by luring us inside so that his cops could take over the rest of our park.

The occupiers immediately stormed out of City Hall and into the park, where we saw that the police had cordoned off the entire park and that about 15 police officers were deployed, armed with guns, paintball guns, Tasers and tear gas launchers. Defiantly, the crowd of about 100 activists marched toward the fountain to reclaim our democratic right to assemble, chanting "Whose park? Our park!"

Three large, male, police officers then grabbed Occupy activist Hayley Mason and began pulling her away. "They grabbed me and said I was under arrest," Mason recounted. "'Don't make me Tase you,' one of them repeatedly threatened, as he jabbed his Taser at me."

The crowd of activists followed Mason and the police, chanting, "Let her go! Let her go!" When they got to the police car, the activists surrounded Mason, several cops and the mayor, and continued chanting, "Give us Hayley! Give us Hayley!" When one of the cops asked for her full name, Mason yelled out: "My name is Troy Davis!"

After a 20-minute standoff, with nonstop chanting by activists, the police finally gave in to our demand and let Mason go. She later recalled that she "could hear the mayor and the police chief debating what to do. Eventually the police chief said that he was afraid that 'this is escalating, we need to let her go. I heard that the media are saying that the mayor intervened to have me released. They're lying. It was all of the activists there who surrounded us and kept chanting and supporting me. We need to say that the people forced the police let me go."

OCCUPY BURLINGTON has witnessed a setback for our movement. Josh's death is a tragic loss that we have only begun to cope with. We lost our occupation, a major defeat for the Occupy movement. And while we were fighting to free Hayley Mason, the police arrested another Occupy activist and charged him with illegal trespass.

However, we did win one small but important victory. We learned that the media and the police and the mayor are not on our side, but we also learned that we don't need them on our side. When we stand together and unite our voices, we have the power to defend our ranks. We need to demand that tragedy not be used as an excuse for repression. We need to honor Josh by continuing to raise our voices, strengthen our movement, and unite the 99 percent against the 1 percent.

As a formal statement by Occupy Burlington explains: "This tragedy draws attention to the gross inequalities within our system. We mourn the loss of a great friend tonight, while discovering an ever-deeper resolve to stand with our most vulnerable citizens...It is our hope that this tragedy will serve as a rallying cry for occupations around the country to continue the fight for system change."

Over the weekend, the Burlington police announced that they would dismantle any infrastructure not removed by Occupy activists before Tuesday morning. Activists coordinated efforts to remove the camp: some of the unclaimed supplies are being donated to local charities while some are being stored for use in future occupations.

Organizing meetings that have taken place since the loss of the park make it clear that our determined movement is far from ready to give up--and we are making plans to spread the occupy movement to the University of Vermont.