On January 19, Occupy The Stage rolled in krewedelusion - the parade that follows Krewe du Vieux, which kicks of Mardi Gras.
Our Krewe "Guise of Fawkes" made a "You can't jail an idea" float to show solidarity with imprisoned hactivists and Free Anons.
We were thrilled to receive donations of flags and stickers from Hammond Support Network and Blastedrat to use as throws during the parade. Along with our own handmade throws (voodoo dolls, chalk with Chalkupy instructions, and buttons we made with our button machine), these stickers made our parade great, and we hope to have raised awareness about Jeremy Hammond's unfair bail denial and the prison sentence he is facing.
Check out our full write-up and the photo set below!
Guise of Fawkes "Go Fawkes Yourself" in krewedelusion 2013
#OpSuperBowl
We won the right to carry signs and banners that did not contain 60% NFL branding.
See Our Press Release! and The Gambit Weekly's Update "ACLU reaches agreement with city on Clean Zone lawsuit" for details.
It didn't end there. We spent the week leading up to the Super Bowl conducting outreach about the NFL's non-profit status and the negative effect the Super Bowl had on local businesses and New Orleans taxi drivers (for full coverage of small_affair's citizen journalism, see her blog Whose Streets.
#OpSuperBowl Info!
Interview with Local Artist
Interview with NOLA Cab Driver unable to get inspected despite fact that he upgraded to meet city standards.
ResistSB47 Action:
The Super Bowl Should Not Be NOLA's Cross to Bear
Occupy The Stage met at 3pm in Jackson Square on Super Bowl Sunday and held a creative procession to celebrate our First Amendment right to free speech show solidarity with local artists, vendors, and workers. A female Jesus led a procession of monks who chanted while holding wooden hand-painted signs bearing slogans that included "Thou Shalt Not Create a Police State" and "Honor The Small Businesses." Our slideshow and video are below.
Our antics did not go unnoticed by the FBI's Joint Task Force. When the power went out in the Super Dome, police radio scanners mentioned that the FBI was monitoring Occupy NOLA members.
AUDIO: at 18:26 mark dispatcher says FBI monitoring “Occupy NOLA” movement during Super Dome outage.
Mardi Gras and #OpValentine
Our Free Anons float included paper hearts people could use to write Valentines to mail to political prisoners as part of #OpValentine! We've collected and addressed the Valentines and will be sending Mardi Gras love to political prisoners.
See our Mardi Gras Day slideshow below!
Happy Valentine's Day!
~ OTS