Occupy Oakland ... to Occupy 2012

2011 was just a dress rehearsal

​Interestingly enough, people are more likely to associate the year 2011 with the Occupy movement than they are with the assassination of America's favorite person to hate, Osama bin Laden -- and that should tell you something about the state of the American consciousness.

But this anti-big bank movement wasn't here to, uh, occupy just 2011. And to prove the movement will persist into 2012, occupiers rang in the new year uttering just three words "Oh. Hell. No."

That's how Occupy Oakland is responding to the latest bout of police raids on Occupy camps, including a makeshift encampment on a vacant lot in West Oakland. Squatters were also arrested last week after moving into a foreclosed home, and on Friday, police rounded up another dozen protesters on Frank Ogawa Plaza, where there is an ongoing vigil. In that case, the cops arrested folks for "random crimes," including carrying a bicycle and picking blankets from the trash (yuck! That should be a crime).

True to form, occupiers aren't taking anymore shit from Oakland (that includes you, Mayor Jean Quan). They've asked supporters to show up at the arrested protesters' arraignments starting today and do what they do best -- create a scene.

Meanwhile, Occupy Oakland, which has been booted from every location squatters have tried to occupy, has bigger plans for the new year, including taking over a building for the movement's permanent headquarters.

The time and place of said takeover is TBD.