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Massive participation is expected in northern California today for the one-day general strike called for by Occupy Oakland and supported by labor unions. Occupy Oakland protestors have asked area residents to stay home from work and school and join in planned demonstrations. However, three rallies are planned for the day, at 9am, noon, and 5pm, because organizers say they understand many people may only be able to participate for short periods. The 5pm rally will be followed by a march to the Port of Oakland. The general strike is in reaction to a violent police crackdown on Occupy Oakland protestors a week ago that left many injured, and former Marine Scott Olsen in the hospital with a fractured skull after he was hit in the dead with a tear gas canister. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan yesterday issued a statement saying she supports the cause and that, “the pro-99-percent activists… will have the freedom to get their message across without the conflict that marred last week’s events.”

Meanwhile nationwide support for the Occupy Wall Street movement remains high according to various polls, one of the most recent a New York Times/CBS poll finding 43% of Americans agree with the protestors. This popularity has Glenn Greenwald asking, “Why now?” Greenwald, a former constitutional and civil rights litigator, thinks the source of populist ire is not simply inequality, but a total breakdown of neutrality within the American justice system. In a recent article Greenwald observes, “[w]hile the [Founding Fathers] accepted outcome inequality they emphasized – over and over – that its legitimacy hinged on subjecting everyone to the law’s mandates on an equal basis.” The 2008 economic crash decimated the American dream for its poster children – middle class workers who invested in homes, college educations, and saved their retirement eggs in 401ks, all for little return. By Greenwald’s rationale, even this massive loss of wealth and social standing didn’t provoke ordinary Americans to join or support Occupy Wall Street. Wall Street is occupied because, Greenwald writes, the people largely responsible for the current economic crisis have been immune from prosecution for their crimes, an inequality Americans will not tolerate. Glenn Greenwald is currently on tour for his new book, “With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful.”

GUEST: Glenn Greenwald, a former constitutional and civil rights litigator, and a current contributing writer at Salon.com. He is the author of two best selling books on the Bush administration and of the newly released book, “With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful.”

LA Book Tour Stops

Wednesday November 2nd at UCLA at 10 am for a book event co-sponsored by the Law School and the Center for Near Eastern Studies held at the UCLA Faculty Library. Seating is very limited.

Friday November 4th at Claremont McKenna College at 12:00pm at the Marion Minor Cook Athenaeum, 385 East 8th Street, Claremont, CA 91711.