Thousands of protesters are expected to gather in Oakland on Wednesday for a general strike and mass day of action, organisers said on Monday.
The strike, organised by Occupy Oakland, aims to "shut down" the city, culminating with a march to the Port of Oakland to prevent the transit of cargo. Workers, university students and school pupils are all being urged to rally near the Occupy camp, with banks and large corporations expected to be targeted by marches.
"Oakland was the site of the last general strike in the US," said protester Tim Simons, at a press conference on Monday – drawing what would be an oft-repeated parallel between the Occupy action and Oakland's general strike of 1946.
"On Wednesday, we're going to make history once again. We're gonna make Oakland proud."
Simons told the Guardian "it is safe to say there'll be 10,000 or more" people joining in the strike, which will centre around 14th Street and Broadway – where Scott Olsen, a former marine, was hit and seriously injured by a police projectile last week.
The action was proposed and passed at a general assembly at Frank Ogawa plaza – home of the Occupy Oakland movement – on Wednesday 26 October, the day after Oakland police cleared protesters' camp.
The strike will centre around three separate demonstrations on Wednesday, at 9am, 12noon and 5pm, with spontaneous "autonomous actions" – likely to be marches on banks and large corporations – taking place through the day.
Plans for the strike were officially unveiled to the media on Monday at the intersection of Broadway and Telegraph Avenue in Oakland – described as the "epicentre" of the 1946 strike, the last general strike in the US.
That action, which has become known as Oakland's "work holiday", involved over 100,000 workers, who shut down Oakland for over two days after unions came out to support retail clerks at Kahns and Hastings department stores.
Protesters warned that banks and large corporations which continue to operate on Wednesday will be subject to marches.
The day will have the feel of a "mass rally", Simons said, with demonstrators gathering in the centre of the crossroads at 14th and Broadway.
"I think most of the roads in downtown Oakland will be closed, and people should be prepared for that."
Boots Riley, a local hiphop artist and community organiser, said the aim of the picket at the port was to "blockade the flow of capital on the day of the general strike" while "showing solidarity" with Washington-based workers from the international longshore and warehouse union.
ILWU members in Longview, Washington, claim they are being overlooked by the owner of the newly built port there in favour of non-union workers.
Clarence Thomas, a third generation longshore worker and co-chair of the million worker march movement which organised a civil rights rally in Washington DC in 2004, said Oakland "is now the epicentre of the Occupy Wall Street movement".
He said he would normally be working at the Port of Oakland on Wednesday, but will be joining in the strike.
"A lot of young people don't realise the sacrifices the working class have made in this country," he said.
"I understand the importance of workers withholding labour. That's how we got the eight hour working day. That's how we got social security."
Protesters hope the strike will be observed beyond Oakland, even if the demands may not be as focused as those of the 1946 action.
"We call for general strike around the country and around the world," said Louise Michel, who has been involved in Occupy Oakland from the first day.
"There is no one answer to what we want from this. We're looking for lots of different things."
Organisers said they had deliberately not discussed their plans for Wednesday with police or the city administration. Oakland police, which has a long history of controversies, was heavily criticised for deploying tear gas and 'less lethal' projectiles on Tuesday 25 October.
Oakland mayor Jean Quan has since promised a "minimal presence" of officers policing the protest.
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