Thoughts On My Occupy Atlanta Arrest

I'm on trial this week, and likely to take the stand today to testify about my October 25th arrest in the park. I've been reflecting a lot about my choice to stay in the park that night, and my reasons for joining the Occupy movement last year. Below are some of my thoughts:

There’s more than on reason I chose to remain in the park after 11pm October 25^th last year.

First the obvious, I don’t believe the freedom of speech has a curfew, and our freedom to assemble applies at 12pm and 12am.

Both of these rights clearly trump a fairly recent Atlanta municipal code targeted at keeping the growing number of our cities homeless out of sight.

To be clear, the reason I joined the Occupy Movement was not too simply invoke my constitutional rights.

It is the unprecedented, historic wealth inequity that brought me and thousands into the movement.

Never has there been a stronger need to dramatize the injustice of our false economic crisis, never has there been so few who control and own so much and the symptoms are clear; from the explosion in the homeless population, lack of good jobs, plummeting wages for regular people while CEO compensation is at an all-time high, schools defunded, and more Georgians locked up than ever.

Occupy presented an opportunity to highlight, in a very visible way, our cities, our countries economic injustice which sees 1% of the population controlling an overwhelming amount of our resources.

I was called to the park because I believe we are not in a crisis of economic resource, but rather a crisis of economic priority. We are not broke, there is no fiscal cliff, it’s a moral one. There’s plenty to go around.

I was in the park because I believe we need a shift, a revolution of values. The sparks of the Occupy movement were very intentionally put out by heavy handed police tactics, infiltration of the movement on every level, targeted arrests and surveillance of individuals seen as leaders, and the eviction of our freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

A Constant Light On AT&T's Greed

It was early December when AT&T employees in the South East received a letter thanking them for helping the company make record profits. AT&T racked up so much cash that they were able to pay their CEO, Randall Stephenson, over 27 million dollars!

Just six days later AT&T workers received a second letter, informing workers that 740 good paying Union jobs would be cut in March of 2012. An interesting way of thanking the very group that makes AT&T super rich, it's workers.

Yesterday AT&T experienced a surprise invasion of their Atlanta headquarters. At 12pm, the worlds largest communications corporation , twelve of us enter their building with one simple demand; resend all layoffs, all job cuts. We were willing to talk with whoever,but it was stated plainly that we would not leave unless a commitment to the 740 Union jobs under threat was made.

About ten or fifteen minutes later about 100 Occupy Atlanta and Union members showed up on the outside of the building with signs and tents! As AT&T executives grappled with what to do with us, sixteen tents were being set up on the sidewalk in front of AT&T. That occupation comes with the commitment to stay until AT&T resend all job cuts.


Close to 1pm the police threatened those of us on the inside with arrest. We decided to circle up, doing our large heart necklaces we made over the weekend, and sing slightly remixed love songs. It was only a few minutes later that we were arrested, taken to the basement of AT&T, put in police vans, and driven to Fulton County jail. It was a proud moment for me. Of the twelve we had two retired AT&T workers and CWA members, we had folks from Atlanta Jobs with Justice,Occupy Atlanta, the Teamsters,and of course AFSC in the house. The group represented to kind of alliances we need to turn the corner on the crisis of economic priority that continues to lift up those who already have an overabundance, and push down everyone else.


I got out of jail early this morning. I've just read the press coverage of Monday's action and took notice to AT&T's response. They claim that many of the 740 laid off workers will be given job offers. This is probably true. The problem is that they will be offered jobs that pay considerably less, have no bargaining rights, and have little or no benefits. Workers should never be forced to go backwards for a company that's reporting record profits. If AT&T really were struggling, which they aren't, they should consider taking a chop from the top as a first resort.

Monday's action confronted one of the roots or America's(and the globe for that matter)unprecedented wealth inequities. Perhaps we will wake up one day to a world that's had enough corporate greed. Perhaps we'll grow tired of a world that rewards those willing to build their life on the shattered dreams of their brothers and sisters. Imaging a movement that will not allow workers(profit creaters) to be exploited and discarded, a movement that physically stands in the way of those that create wealth at the cost of human misery. Imagine the unstoppable force of workers, students, the unemployed, shelter less, the Churches working together side by side to demand with their feet a more just world.

Some of us are already beyond imagining that world, some of use are trying to build it.....we need help:)

Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Unions and Allies Risking Arrest Right Now to Protect 740 AT&T Union Jobs

AT&T recently announced the “surplus” of 740 union AT&T jobs despite their revenues soaring to $126.7 billion and a CEO that made over $27 million in 2011.

Occupy Atlanta, Atlanta Jobs with Justice, Communication Workers of America, and AFSC have just entered the AT&T Atlanta headquarters and are refusing to leave until every single job cut is rescinded. Simultaneously, an occupation with tents is being set up outside of the building.

Watch the Occupation of AT&T Now

Multinational Corporations like AT&T have been undermining workers standards of living for decades. If we stand up for union jobs with AT&T we can stand up for a future where there's enough for everyone; a future that creates space for all of us to thrive. Lift up the South, lift up this nation.

Let's not get it twisted, there's enough resources to go around. The crisis isn't about resources, it's about economic priority. It's time that the 99% stand up to the unprecedented wealth consolidation that has been robbing our communities. Together we can take these 740 jobs off the chopping block. Let this action be the beginning of a movement to put human need above corporate greed in a very real tangible way.

It’s time to bring the energy from Wisconsin into the South and it’s time to unite the Occupy movement with concrete worker struggles across the country.

Call AT&T to rescind all of the 740 proposed layoffs now:
205-977-0722 Michael Matthews Vice President Southeast Labor Relations

Send a personal e-mail message about these layoffs to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson here:
randall.stephenson@att.com

Contribute to the Occupy Atlanta Legal fund to support actions like this:



--
Shabnam Bashiri
Occupy Atlanta
action@occupyatlanta.org
occupyatlanta.org

Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee(AFSC)
www.afsc.org
tfranzen@afsc.org

Roger Sikes
Atlanta Jobs with Justice
www.atlantajwj.org
404-782-0737

Ernest Talley
Communication Workers Of America
etalley@cwa.org

Ben Speight
Atlanta Jobs With Justice

Thoughts on My Recent Arrests

My first Occupy Atlanta(OA)related arrest went down the night OA was evicted from Troy Davis Park. It was an intentional act of civil disobedience I proudly took part in with 51 other Atlanta activists.

It was only a few days before that when a local TV station declared me the leader of Occupy Atlanta, a title I certainly didn't want, nor could our leaderless movement afford. It was an uncomfortable position for me to be in. I understand that there's no way to control what or how media outlets report the news, and I knew the consequences(both internal and external) of being named a leader.

There have been internal difficulties that have come with my perceived leadership, and believe me, it is a perception. In this piece I want to focus on a troubling external consequence of perceived leadership, namely state repression.

It was right after the first eviction that several young OA participants took me aside and told me that people from the FBI had visited their homes and questioned them about me. They claimed that FBI agents had asked if I would be open to acquiring weapons, if I had a militant side and such. One of the questioned youth actually gave me the FBI agent's business card. I called it the next day and informed the agent that I knew everything there is to know about Tim Franzen, that I was in fact the worlds utmost authority on all things Tim Franzen. When he asked who I was I stated, "Tim Franzen."

I'm not one who's ever felt the need to operate underground, don't mean to dis those that do. I feel proud of the work I do, and there are no actions I participate in that I'm afraid to have associated with my face. I told the FBI agent that he should be ashamed of his actions, that he had no right to run around Atlanta scaring people for no other reason but to crush a movement to address gross economic injustice through nonviolent direct action.

Several weeks later I participated in an action on the Courtland street bridge. We marched through GSU onto Courtland street. The sidewalks were jam-packed with people. Before the police officers warned the crowd to disperse from the street I had already gotten onto the side walk. One of the police Lieutenants yelled to his officers, "Get him" and pointed at me. The police had to worm their way through the crowd in order to grab me and drag me into the street.

When I was dragged into the street, I asked the lieutenant what he was doing and he said, "arresting you."
"For what", I asked.
"For being in the street", he said.
"But I was on the sidewalk", I replied.
"You're not now", he said with a smile.

This is what folks refer to as a targeted arrest. On that day there was at least one other targeted from the sidewalk. Targeted arrests aren't just meant to punish an individual, they're designed to suppress and damage a movement.

Since that day I've often found myself a target by law enforcement. Recently I was asked to be a dignitary on the annual King Day march. I was to march with Brigitte Walker and be one of the many folks who spoke at the rally which concludes the march. It was an honor to ride on the bus with the Orange family, who's legacy goes back decades before I was born. Halfway through the march Mayor Kasim Reed joined the dignitaries and I immediately was tapped on the shoulder. It was one of the mayor's plain clothes officers. He asked my why I was marching with the dignitaries. I told him I was asked to by the organizers of the event. He then laid hands on me, and waved several other officers to assist him in removing me from the crowd. Several dignitaries, including Brigitte Walker and Carmen Pittman began to protest. Finally the Sheriff of Fulton County, who was in plain clothes as a dignitary, ordered the wrongful arrest to stop. I was flustered, but marched on without getting badge numbers or really thinking too hard about filing a complaint. I remember thinking all in all, it's just not a big deal.


Yesterday, after about a hundred OA protesters marched to a Chase Bank branch and demanded the bank work with one of many families that got ripped off by the very predatory loans that help crash our economy, I was arrested along with Shab Bashiri.

At the protest there where several pieces of household furniture placed in front of the bank door. There was other debrie placed there as well. The idea was to create the painfully familiar scene of an eviction right in front of a bank responsible for so many. Much in the way AFSC attempted to bring the Iraq war home with our "Eyes Wide Open" campaign, organizers of the action brought the foreclosure crisis to Chase Bank's doorstep.

After the demonstration was over Shab and I chose to ride with a friend back to our car. We would have walked with the crowd, but it was Shab's birthday, so we had a party to get ready for. As we drove we noticed police following us right away, then we noticed channel 11 was following as well. When the blue lights came on I knew what was about to happen. I started texting folks right away. By the time police asked Shab and I to get out of the car, there was a small crowd of OA folks and channel 11 was filming. The arresting officers let Shab and I know that we were being arrested for littering. To avoid dealing with more OA folks and the media, one of the lieutenants asked that we be driven to the Manuels Tavern parking lot. When asked why the officers followed us from the bank and waited until we were several miles away to pull us over he replied,"I was ordered to."

Once we were brought to Manuel's parking lot, three unmarked cars pulled up, each one belonging to Atlanta's top brass. Chief Turner's #1, and #2 cops circled the car Shab and I were locked inside of along with about a half dozen other police. I couldn't tell what they were talking about, but I know there was some discussion about what our charges would be.

They put the two of us, just two, into our own paddy wagon. The driver proceeded to drive around the city for over an hour while Shab begged to use the restroom. The officer then stopped at Buddy's on Highland to use the restroom himself and get a snack break. Finally he got us to the city jail, where we were told we should be out in an hour or so. This was around 9pm. We didn't get out until almost 4am, largely due to the fact that there was a problem with our charges and APD had to come back and fill something out. I later found out that Joe Beasley called Chief Turner and told him he needed to get me out. I have no doubt that sped up the process.

Today I attended a rally for international dignity with our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters. We marched to the CNN center and it was beautiful. Hundreds of people from different corners of the globe calling for global resistance to oppression through economic injustice. While participating, my arm was grabbed by a police officer who claimed to know me well. He told me I needed to get off the sidewalk immediately. I told him that he needed to remove his hands from my body and took note that he was bothering no one else in the crowd of hundreds. Thankfully a bunch of OA folks surrounded me, letting the officer know mass arrests awaited if they targeted me.

I've decided that this behavior is worth calling out. It is unacceptable to target a few folks in an effort to shut down a movement. A targeted arrest should be seen as an attack on everyone associated with the Occupy movement. To let this slide is a disservice to others and our movement.

There are many lessons to be learned from the last few months as far as targeted arrests go. One is an old rule, march with the crowd. If you decide to seperate from the crowd, beware. There are other lessons, I'm just not ready to articulate them on this blog.

This is perhaps the most personal blog post I've ever written, but I feel it's somewhat overdue. I'm not the first person in the Occupy movement to be the victim of targeted arrest, and I surely will not be the last. In fact, I'm sure I have several trips to jail in store for me in the near future. From now on, I'm not going to write off this police behavior. Im also not going to allow the threat of targeted arrests to change the way I work. I reject the idea that I should not attend actions, or that I should change my wardrobe or cut my hair, and am willing to pay whatever consequence they have coming.

The simple fact is that we are a threat to an economic system that year after year gives more privledge to the weathiest at the expense of everyone else. We live in an important moment, a beginning, an uprising. You may not know that you are a part of it yet, but we all are.

To Occupy means to exist in a space, and that is what we are fighting for. To exist in a space where our voices are elevated to the same height, a space where opportunity is shared and we all have enough to thrive. This world is beyond possible.


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee