The Occupation continues into the new year.

We can begin 2012 by looking at some of the battles the 99% have won. Don’t forget the smaller cities. Even serious movement watchers and participants sometimes make the mistake of overlooking Occupy groups in smaller cities, even as their wins stack up. Check out McAllen, Texas, a little (but fast-growing) town on the southern most tip of Texas just across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico.

We can look way back, as Michael Moore tells us the story of The First Occupy.

We can embrace the new year by looking to the future. Noam Chomsky says it’s time to advance to the next stage. While we’re at it, we could start speculating about the proposed May 1 celebration/demonstration/occupation.

We could look outward, to the Arab world, where the Occupiers Of Tahir Square say they support the American Occupy movement. Democracy Now has a special episode looking at the year of global uprisings. Did you know there was an Occupy Tokyo?

We can look in the mirror, at the best Occupy photos of 2011.

Or we can stay in the moment:

January 17 is the next big occupied date on the calendar. Organizers hope Occupy Congress will be the biggest gathering yet. The date is the day Congress returns for the new session.

Why Congress? From the Occupy Your Congress organizing site:

“All branches of the federal government are in need of radical reform, but Congress is especially broken. According to RealClearPolitics, a whopping 82.5% of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing. Maybe our legislators are not bad people. Maybe they’re just stuck in a system that is no longer capable of working for the people. Let’s give them a chance to prove they have the courage to change that system. We need to get money out of politics, right now, and completely.”

Is there a media blackout on Occupy? Consider the January 17 event. I linked to the organizer’s Facebook page and an organizing site because there are practically no news stories about the event, despite the face it’s been organized in open view for weeks and there’s a very real possibility it could draw hundreds of thousands on the very day Congress reconvenes. Likewise, today, Occupy groups have called for a Day Of Action Against The NDAA. As this column went to press, I couldn’t find a significant news story about it, despite the intense controversy Obama’s signing of National Defense Authorization Act has created. The President’s signing has been a major news event because progressive Democrats have spoken out against the president. It doesn’t appear Occupy actions in protest will get any press unless today’s demonstrations are heavily attended or end up in violence and arrests. Street battles appear to be the only thing the news media wants to cover when it comes to Occupy.

Case in point: On New Year’s Eve, Occupiers in New York City retook Zuccotti. Anyone with their ear to the ground knew the re-occupation of Zuccotti was coming, but they didn’t get that from CNN. It got plenty of press after the fact because there were arrests and violence. Once again, the New York police showed how special they are.

Actress Ellen Barkin was swept up in the madness. She wasn’t there as a protestor, although she is a supporter of the Occupy movement. Police manhandled her as she tried to help another bystander who was trying to walk home. Barkin is hoppin’ mad.

The news may be of the opinion nothing of importance is happening. We know otherwise. Even during the holidays, there is plenty to report on.

The New Year’s Day Rose Parade: Occupied.

I love the Occupy Octopus, a 70-foot monster made out of recycled bags. It’s a witty and appropriate symbol for the movement. And speaking of media blackouts, what’s going on when a 70-foot Octopus and 5000 protestors crash the nation’s biggest parade and TV cameras manage to avoid them?

Occupiers from all over the country are flocking to Iowa for the first caucuses of the 2012 presidential campaign. In fact, they were there early. They’re everywhere. This will make the news.

Josh Stearns of the Free Press has been tracking journalist arrests at Occupy events. Storify, a a site that uses posts to social media to build stories, voted his the story of the year.

The expert who developed weapons-grade pepper-spray tells Democracy Now he was horrified to see police use the weapon on non-violent Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Occupiers are “building a Facebook for the 99%.”

The city didn’t want the campers, but Los Angeles does want the mural the campers created.

Finally, since we’re all walking around with video cameras and Americans are finally claiming their right to disruptive peaceful protest, I have a dream: A cable news spin-off channel that covers nothing but direct citizen actions.

When it happens, I could watch this spectacular act of civil disobedience at a foreclosure auction over and over.