COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Occupy Wall Street: Michael Moore connects the federal government to encampment raids

Keith and filmmaker and activist Michael Moore discuss the early-morning raid on New York’s Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park. Noting that the movement will be revitalized by the setback, Moore also stresses that the federal government has been involved with coordinating the strategy and tactics of the raids that took place across the country over the past 48 hours: “This is not some coincidence. This was planned and I think the question really has to be asked of the federal government and of the Obama administration. Why? Why? Why are you participating in this against a non-violent mass movement of people who are upset at what Wall Street and the banks have done to their lives?”

Read and download the complete transcript for the November 15, 2011 edition of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”

KEITH OLBERMANN: And in our third story tonight -- Michael Moore has been visiting Zuccotti Park since the Occupy movement first began there in September. He has also been to some of the other sites across the country that has seen similar police raids in the last 48 to 72 hours -- Occupy Oakland and Occupy Portland. For now, he is occupying right here.

Michael Moore, author of the new book, 'Here Comes Trouble.' Thank you for coming in, sir.

MICHAEL MOORE: Thank you for having me on this very important day.

OLBERMANN: Bloomberg got his court order -- no tents, no sleeping bags. You're not involved with them per se, but you're involved with them in a larger sense. What should the Occupiers do tonight?

MOORE: Well, it doesn't really matter much what I say. I think that there's --

OLBERMANN: No -- advice.

MOORE: Well, there's hundreds of people gathering right now in lower Manhattan. My first piece of advice, of course, is to always remain peaceful and non-violent. Our strength comes in our numbers and in our different value system that we have, which is one that does not include violence. So, that's my first hope. Secondly, you know -- this movement is really driven by young people. And they don't suffer fools, like you and I have learned that we have to as we get older.

OLBERMANN: Yeah. It's true.

MOORE: We learn, you know -- all of that. But at that age, uh-uh. So I am -- I will anxiously await their direction as to what to do, because I know -- first of all, everybody knew this night, this day, would come.

OLBERMANN: Uh-huh.

MOORE: And so don't think that there hasn't been a Plan B and Plan C and Plan D already afoot here. I mean, just the fact that that Occupy Wall Street was in court at 7:30 this morning --

OLBERMANN: Yes.

MOORE: -- to get the temporary restraining order in our favor against Bloomberg. That, I think, shocked a lot of people that, 'Hey, what happened to all these dirty hippies?'

OLBERMANN: The marijuana smokers sleeping in all day. Free love!

MOORE: They're in court at 7:30. You know, by 9:00 am, we have a restraining order. So. there is quite an operation afoot here with, all of the various elements involved. And you are going to see -- this is only going to increase the movement. Not only here in New York, but across the country.

OLBERMANN: But you tweeted, 'Phase Two of this massive, nonviolent majority movement will now commence. Wall Street will wish they had left it alone in the park.' What is Phase Two?

MOORE: Well, if I told you, I would have to have you run for mayor.

OLBERMANN: Oh, Lord!

MOORE: No. I -- there is -- I think people will begin to see, there will be various calls for rallies, demonstrations. But there will be other occupations. The thing is is that, eventually, you know -- within the next few hours, or tomorrow -- they are going to have to reopen the park, as the judge has said it has to be open to the public. Well, the public is going to come back to the park.

OLBERMANN: Right.

MOORE: And that includes the protesters. And just as it happened in Oakland -- when they moved everybody out of Oakland two, three weeks ago -- everybody came back. And they had a massive movement this weekend, which I think -- I don't know if you have touched on this here on your show -- but, you know, this has been coordinated by the federal government.

OLBERMANN: I wanted to ask you about that. Is that -- because Oakland has rolled up, Albany was rolled up, Portland was rolled up, New York has been rolled up.

MOORE: And all in the same way.

OLBERMANN: And poor Jean Quan, the mayor of Oakland -- who is like a weather vane in a windstorm out there -- admitting she was on a conference call with 18 mayors. This is a plan. Whose plan is it? And who do we assign responsibility to?

MOORE: Well, there was just a piece that came out from The Minneapolis Examiner a couple hours ago, where they quote a justice official in the Obama Justice Department who did not want to be identified, but he said that the federal government has been providing logistical and tactical advice and support.

They said that it's up to the local law enforcement officers or agencies as to what, you know, what to do. But Homeland Security and the Justice Department have been coordinating the, sort of, advice and strategy and tactics of this so that -- because you have seen all of the tactics of the police have been the same in every city in terms of how they have done this in the last 48 hours. So, this is not some coincidence. This was planned. And I think that the question really has to be asked of the federal government, and of the Obama administration -- why?

OLBERMANN: Yeah.

MOORE: Why? Why are you participating in this, against a non-violent, mass movement of people who are upset at what Wall Street and the banks have done to their lives?

OLBERMANN: Conveniently, the president can't be asked that question, because he was en route to Australia. On the plane -- Air Force One -- the Associated Press quoted the press secretary. And this is their story -- they don't have direct quotes from the press secretary -- but he said, in essence, 'The president hopes the right balance can be reached between protecting freedom of assembly and speech,' -- Okay -- 'with the need to uphold order and safeguard public health and safety.'

Because, obviously, the bubonic plague in all the Occupy protests was beginning to get to be a problem when we lost the entire state of Minnesota, or whatever he thinks happened. And, they added this in the story, 'The administration's position is that each municipality has to make its own decisions about how to handle the issues.' So, Mr. Obama is basically saying -- what? -- through his press secretary here? 'You are on your own?'

MOORE: Yes. But he is also saying -- he wants it both ways.

OLBERMANN: Uh-huh.

MOORE: You know, his administration is obviously helping them to stymie this movement, because -- look, no politician, regardless of what party they are in, wants the people to suddenly be in charge.

OLBERMANN: Yeah.

MOORE: For the power to shift from those who are the elected officials to the people who elected them -- which is actually the way it's supposed to be -- that's a frightening thought.

OLBERMANN: Very much so.

MOORE: So, I can understand why they are inclined to do that. They are no different than any other politician, but because of all of, you know, my support of President Obama -- I expect more of him. And I don't expect his Justice Department and his Homeland Security Department to be helping to coordinate the destruction of this movement, because -- first of all, you can't destroy it. So stop, because the majority of Americans want taxes raised on the rich. The majority of Americans don't believe you didn't go far enough on health care. You know, you go down the whole list and the majority is very much behind the principles of the Occupy movement.

OLBERMANN: And the practicalities of it. There is a poll this afternoon -- New York State Public Opinion Poll -- 58 percent of New York State residents -- that's from Albany to Zuccotti Park, A to Z -- say that, no matter how they feel about what's being protested, the protesters have the right to continue to protest and they have the right to stay overnight in public parks. So, not just the, 'Well, they're against Wall Street,' or 'They are communists,' but just the idea they have the right to be there is overwhelmingly supported in the state in which this is now most recently happened.

MOORE: That is correct. And I believe that you would find that in most states across the country.

OLBERMANN: I think you are right.

MOORE: Because -- because people are just happy that somebody has started this. Somebody has gotten up and, again -- thank God that it's been young people that have said, 'You have stolen our future and we want it back and we are not going to settle for anything less.'

OLBERMANN: Just before the raid, the editors of Adbusters -- which is the magazine that basically was behind the organization of the Occupy movement -- suggested it might be time for the protesters to 'declare victory and scale back before winter sets in.' A) Is that a victory, therefore? And B) Did they just -- did the actions last night just revitalize a movement that was maybe thinking of hibernation for a little while?

MOORE: I think it has completely revitalized it. And I think you're gonna see more of this in the coming weeks. It's odd -- this magazine that you refer to is in Canada -- it's odd for Canadians to be worrying about the winter. I don't know quite know where they're coming from.

OLBERMANN: They are worried us about us worrying about the winter.

MOORE: Oh, I see. See, that's very Canadian.

OLBERMANN: Isn't it?

MOORE: They're worried. They're very kind.

OLBERMANN: 'They're not used to it down there.'

MOORE: Well, they don't need to worry. I -- I think that you're going to see actions throughout the winter. I think you are going to see various kinds of actions. This is going to take many forms, in part, because there is no, quote 'organization' or leader of this. That means anybody watching this at home tonight, anybody here who is in their living room. You are sitting in Dubuque, you know, you can start this movement. You can have -- you can start Occupy Dubuque. You have our permission.

OLBERMANN: No copyright.

MOORE: There's no permission to get. And that may mean something different in Dubuque than what it means in Des Moines. So, there you go.

OLBERMANN: Michael Moore. The book is titled 'Here Comes Trouble,' which is a prophetic title right now on another subject. Thanks for coming in. Safe travels.

MOORE: Thank you. Thank you so much, Keith