OWS Staff

taken from “Meet the Staff of Occupy Wall Street’s Downtown Manhattan Offices”
(source)

OccupyKISS post from Jan 14th, 2012

CNN had an interesting look last week at the “Occupy Wall Street” offices in downtown Manhattan. The fact that they have offices seemed noteworthy in itself, given that Occupiers frequently bill their protests as leaderless and completely decentralized.

We decided to look into some of the names that popped up among the group’s staff there. Two of the staffers in particular offer a glimpse into the backgrounds and motives of the people running the supposedly leaderless protests.

Han Shan, a former program director for a group called the Ruckus Society, was identified by CNN as “a member of Occupy Wall Street’s press relations and direct-action working groups.” The Ruckus Society has reportedly been handing out literature to OWS protesters, including items titled “Anonymous Riot Guide,” and “Blockading for Beginners.”

Ruckus’s executive director has advocated “us[ing] vandalism strategically.” Shan, through Ruckus, was very involved in the mass rioting that took place outside of the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, which reportedly cost local businesses about $20 million in damages and lost sales.

Haywood Carey is identified in the CNN piece as an OWS “activist.” He appears to be the same William Haywood Carey that starred in a documentary about the protests titled #whilewewatch. A Willie Carry was also among OWS staff alerted to CNN’s upcoming presence at the offices.

Carey was a paid employee of the Change to Win labor federation from 2008 to 2009. In that role, by his own account, he worked “with labor unions to partner with other like minded groups to help build an effective and sustainable progressive infrastructure in North Carolina.”

A number of other employees were alerted to CNN’s upcoming presence at the protesters’ offices, Heritage has learned. Some of those names stuck out as well.

While he doesn’t appear to have Shan’s lengthy resume as an agitator, Shazz Baric certainly talks the talk. Baric, who says his legal name is David McNerney, is the author of the book The Complete American’s Guide to REVOLUTION. The book encourages readers to “dismantle the American Empire,” which he dubs the “most efficient killing machine in the history of ‘civilization.’”

Baric’s book also sings the praises of communist leader Che Guevara, whom the author quotes as saying, “the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.” Never mind that Guevara, who explained that his “nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood,” is believed to have ordered the execution of several thousand Cubans – and even executed a dozen or so himself.

Less radical if far more active in mainstream political channels is Beth Bogart, who reportedly handles press relations for OWS. Bogart’s biolists her as the former co-owner of Fenton Communications, a liberal PR shop with offices in Washington, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Fenton’s client list is a who’s who of liberal groups, including MoveOn.org, Healthcare for America Now, and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The fact that OWS protesters have established something of a headquarters separate from the actual protest sites suggests, their protestations notwithstanding, that there is some hierarchy within the group. These names should give folks a taste of who is pulling the strings.