Protesters attack Google bus in West Oakland, smashing window
▻http://pando.com/2013/12/20/breaking-protesters-attack-google-bus-in-west-oakland-smashing-window
Tensions between Bay Area activists and tech institutions ratcheted up this morning when protestors attacked a #Google bus in West Oakland, smashing the bus’s rear window while Google employees were inside.
Protestors published a colorful account of the incident on local forum IndyBay.org: “[A] person appeared from behind the bus and quickly smashed the whole of the rear window, making glass rain down on the street. Cold air blew inside the bus and the blockaders with their banners departed. The kind young man left the bus and outside someone threw fliers with a smiley face logo and the message ‘ disrupt google ’ into the air.”
#disruption :-D
L’action semble avoir d’abord concerné l’augmentation des loyers à Oakland, mais avait également un contenu #antitechnique et contre la #surveillance. Sur Indymedia, l’un des communiqués est signé « anti-cyborg conglomerate » :
West Oakland is a traditionally black neighborhood that surrounds the Port of Oakland. It has been heavily gentrified, developed, and restructured over the past three decades. Now there is an upper class enclave that has been established near the West Oakland BART station, in Jack London, and in the city of Emeryville. Many tech employees currently reside in these locations and have driven up the property values and rent prices, creating animosity, evictions, and poverty.
While this is taking place, the City of Oakland and Federal law enforcement are attempting to spread a surveillance network called the Domain Awareness Center throughout Oakland. Intended to secure the Port of Oakland against terrorist attacks and labor struggle, this surveillance network will actually monitor the entirety of Oakland through over 800 cameras. The authorities want to monitor the crazy and uncontrollable city that is pressed right up against the Port of Oakland. For them, the entire city is a variable that they want to control. The surveillance network and the gentrification serve the same purpose: to pacify, contain, and sterilize a city that carries rebellion deep inside its heart. Already, the surveillance center has been used against Oakland residents taking action against police violence. West Oakland is a concrete and clear example of the transformation that has occurred in the areas around the Port. This is why the action took place were it did.
The Google bus was an obvious target, but obviously the situation is more complex than one corporation and its specific employees. Gentrification is a dynamic and nuanced problem that is only beginning to be addressed and alleviated. It has many layers, players, and levels which undoubtedly will be exposed and elucidated in the near future by numerous individuals and groups.