All Hell Breaks Loose on Occupy Philadelphia Facebook Page
Total chaos is breaking out over at Occupy Philadelphia’s Facebook page. Either the administration went berserk or someone else—someone identifying himself as ‘Jay’—has hijacked the keys to the movement’s digital kingdom.
Posts have been fast and furious, full of ALL CAPS and curses. Many address Cindy Milstein, an activist based in San Francisco who has spoken at the rally.
The first bizarre post came at 1:20 p.m.:
“To the people of this fanpage, I(Jay) have removed all other admins for the time being. Truth is Philly there’s a major issue happening at City Hall. A national anarchist committee have integrated themselves and attempt to control the peaceful movement through violence. Please educate yourselves on Cindy Milstein she isn’t from Philadelphia she does not know the violence we endure everyday in our neighborhoods. This group of anarchist commit themselves to prey upon movements like ours. Please research. Again I willingly removed all other admins to preserve our movement in the purest form that it should remain.”
And that is the sound of the shit hitting the fan.
“Don’t you think the decision to ban other admins should first be agreed upon by those in attendance?” responded Naman Hampton. “So the Occupy Philly movement just died,” responded John Murphy.
“[Milstein] is also the lady who is trying to siphon donations from this site in the name of the institute she boards. She is from California, and not from Philly. She is preaching nothing but hate, and trying to make this a demonstration against the cops and not the banks,” wrote Sean Kitchen.
About 1:45, the mystery admin posted the following, along with a link to Cindy Milstein’s wikipedia page:
“Head facilitator at City Hall, Philadelphians how the fuck do we have someone from San Fran and Vermont telling us how to handle things in our god damn city!!!!!!!”
And then:
“That racist fight that occur at City Hall really did happen I apologize to the sisters for the behavior a few assholes.
please confirm the visual of tosh who called you the N word please notice the big A on his arm in this video”
And then:
“16,562 people will know the truth. Steve was kicked out of City Hall the other evening. “It was voted on” How can you vote on a free man and the decision of a free man. You started something that you will not finish.”
The number refers to the number of “likes” on the page, which is falling by the minute.
A final note:
“I am standing up for the free people, the people I spoke to last night under my mask. The people too scared to say THAT THE CURRENT FACILITATORS MUST GO AND A NEW TEAM MUST BE SET. You guys favor only your cause the people do not feel confident enough to speak to you. Why they all state that you do not listen. Now you will listen!”
PW has requested comment from Milstein.
Thanks for writing about this. I’m struggling to make sense of what trigger the rants on the Facebook page.
Hope you’re able to give additional updates on this topic.
It was a scary two and a half hours, but we have control back. The incendiary posts have been deleted, and the perpetrator has been banned. The facebook is back under our control, and we will continue to publish news, photos, schedules, and donation requests as our own, with tighter security.
Hackers, they like chaos. It’s their job. They dont have real friends. They have keyboards and a mouse and a box of kleenex.
What do you expect?
As much as this guy was completely out of line with what he did, he is bringing up a valid issue. The “facilitators” have a number of anarchists in their ranks and they are clearly pushing their agenda under the auspices of democracy (sure its democracy, but we all know how easily voters are manipulated, especially with a pseudo-ruling class who “facilitate” the votes). Donations were being “siphoned,” in a way. People with vital roles have been kicked out. Judge for yourself if that’s all bad or not.
Check The Anonymous Press on Facebook. Much of the Occupy movement believe the hackers are their Robin Hood protectors. They call women filthy names, they advocate communism, but they dont know what communism is so they are screwed.
I think it will be very funny if the hackers get their way. They want the world to be a communist utopia. What they dont understand is that if they get their way, the whole world will be like china. When their rulers are finished using them they will be thrown into work camps the rest of their lives for conspiring against the government.
Let the truth be told these are actual situations occurring at Occupy Philadelphia. This page wasn’t hijacked or hacked. I’ve been an admin before the beginning or the 1st meetings. The problem with Occupy Philly is it’s becoming a racist, leftist radical movement, with facilitators believing that they’re leaders.
Reality check:
1. There are no leaders everyone is a leader
2. There is no one idea there are many ideas
3. There are many races, religion, political beliefs not one!
I sure hope they do an episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” where the gang all heads out to Dilworth Plaza for an night of fun that splits the group into anarcho-punks vs. fem-Dems vs. poser boozer pot boys who make grand airy summarizing pronouncements but everyone ignores them.
@Philly RN: welcome to politics. many different ideas about how to do things, with very little getting done. lol
Gary and Jay, so the question is how do we have this addressed?
[...] Ryan Allen says: October 13, 2011 at 3:26 pm [...]
I don’t agree with J’s method’s yesterday, I do agree with 90% of what he is saying.
Cindy Milstein HAS ALREADY attempted to siphon funds by attempting to divert monetary donations to Occupy Philadelphia sent to her organization the IAS.
They espouse a bankrupt philosophy that embraces “direct democracy” and “transparency” when it suits their needs and goals – yet they remain highly secretive and exclusive and have turned away numerous people who have attempted to join their working group that now meets away from City Hall… What happened to the mantra of “Everyone is welcome to join ANY working group” that is constantly drilled by many of the facilitators?
The majority of its adherents are political dilettantes who delight in theories and abstract concepts but shun practicality in thought and deed. To some, the very word “practical” is anathema. Combined with their inability to grasp the lessons of history, the result is the occasional scheme to run off to live apart together… or kind of together. But not as a collective or a commune or anything; just all anarcho-capitalists. No trespassing. Unfortunately, this one keeps bumping its pointed head up against the Immovable Object of practicality. Not constituting anything like an Irresistible Force, anarchy gives way in short order.
I saw Cindy on the people’s mic yesterday with the anarchists cronies ranting about not being violent and being there to ’stand up against the only one’s who’ve perpetrated violence here, the police”. Clearly instigating animosity between the protesters and the police who’ve been more or less accommodating. The anarchists are adrenaline junkies who want a stand off with police and they’ll do anything to get it. For all their claims of inclusiveness, the amount of times they’ve talked among the groups about “targeting Ron Paul people and libertarians” betrays them for they hypocrite hijackers that they are. Don’t let these people take over this thing, it’s more than what they could ever aspire to be.
Anne, I just have to point out that the Anons are not communists. That’s just silly.
This movement draws from consensus and direct action, tactics anarchists have been using for decades. In avoiding leaders and hierarchy, it is basically an anarchistic movement. It is very sad to see some people trying to organize anti-anarchist witch hunts all the same.
When they accuse anarchists of power plays, it seems they are just looking in the mirror and seeing their own motives and machinations. Let’s not let them divide us!
Like “Friend” says above, this power play by people who want to organize anti-anarchist witch hunts draws on a long history. Some people call it redbaiting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbaiting
This tactic has been used to marginalize and repress the radicals that fought for the 8 hour work day, opposed wars, invigorated the labor movement, and paved the way for the civil rights struggle. I’m sorry to disappoint, but none of the above was achieved by saying ‘let’s all follow every rule to the letter and do exactly what the police order us to do.’
And now what do we see: character assassination, allegations of ‘instigation’ and ‘wanting to see violence’ and ’siphoning funds.’ Old, old playbook, and if you look at statements police in other cities make after breaking up other #occupys about “good” protestors and “bad” protestors, it plays right into the hands of the 1% who would love to see this all go away. And they are the ones who still give police their orders.
Who is surprised that anarchists are involved in this, and perhaps even influential? They were instrumental in the last wave of anti-corporate and anti-capitalist protest (the anti-globalization movement, WTO/World Bank Protests). Anarchists here in Philly helped organize huge protests against the RNC in 2000, and since then have been opposing Bush’s wars, standing up for civil liberties, opening community centers, practicing consensus, opposing police brutality, fighting against pool and library closures, and developing alternative media. Seems to me that anarchists have a lot of practical experience in stuff like this.
I agree with Friend and Debri. These are lies about Cindy, the facilitators, and others at the occupy movement. They are working tirelessly to increase democracy and transparency, not subvert it and certainly not stealing money from it (which is TOTALLY UNTRUE AND RIDICULOUS) People with many different political beliefs and experiences are participating in this movement, and we all contribute to it. We are all the 99% Just because there are people involved who have cared about things like social and economic justice, and have dedicated their lives to its pursuit before before the last month doesn’t mean that they are any less “the people” than you are. These smear campaigns seem like they can only be disingenuous and an attempt to divide a movement that has the potential to grow strong and make a difference!
This is all nonsensical.
As an anarchist, I see nothing wrong with political criticism from folks who disagree with my beliefs. In fact, I welcome an honest and open debate. But that is not what happened here. Lies were made about anarchists, particularly Cindy Milstein. She was accused of promoting violence and hate. Anyone who has met her or heard her or jusst read her work (very available) would know how much this contradicts her views and those of most anarchists. In fact, probably half of those who call themselvses anarchists are absolute pacifists. I am not, nor is she, but that is not the same as calling for violence.
As to the police. We anarchists think that they are part of the state and therefore agents of big capital. Sure, many rank and file cops may be decent individuals and may even sympathize with the Occupation. But they have a job to do and they will follow orders. If told to clear away the occupiers, they will do it, whatever their personal feelings. I am not saying we should provoke them, but we should be realistic about what they are.
Just want to throw in my agreement with Friend, debri, Concerned and Wayne Price above. People need to educate themselves on anarchism before they bash it.
One of the biggest criticisms of the left is that they cannot get anything done because of in-fighting. It’s really a shame how true that is.