As far as I can see, the Occupy movement is just ordinary people reclaiming rights which should always have been theirs. I can't think of any reason why as a population we should be expected to stand by and see a gross reduction in the living standards of ourselves and our kids, possibly for generations, when the people who have got us into this have been rewarded for it; they've certainly not been punished in any way because they're too big to fail. I think that the Occupy movement is, in one sense, the public saying that they should be the ones to decide who's too big to fail. It's a completely justified howl of moral outrage and it seems to be handled in a very intelligent, non-violent way.
What do you think needs to change in our political system?
Everything. I believe that what's needed is a radical solution, by which I mean from the roots upwards. Our entire political thinking seems to me to be based upon medieval precepts. These things, they didn't work particularly well five or six hundred years ago. Their slightly modified forms are not adequate at all for the rapidly changing territory of the 21st Century.
We need to overhaul the way that we think about money, we need to overhaul the way that we think about who's running the show. As an anarchist, I believe that power should be given to the people, to the people whose lives this is actually affecting. It's no longer good enough to have a group of people who are controlling our destinies. The only reason they have the power is because they control the currency. They have no moral authority and, indeed, they show the opposite of moral authority.
I remember doing an article and I was trying to think of possible ways in which our society might be altered for the better. I'm not saying that any of these ways would necessarily be practical but it's important that we try to think these things through. It's probably more important now than it ever has been. There is a sense that we don't have an infinite amount of time to get these things right.
With politics at the moment seemingly determined to keep ploughing on their same destructive course because they can't think of anything other to do, when we're facing the possibility of an economic apocalypse, of potentially an environmental apocalypse, we don't necessarily have an infinite amount of time. I think that since our leaders are not going to address any of these problems then we really have no choice than to attempt to wrest the steering wheel from them. If they're aiming at the precipice with the accelerator pedal flat to the floor, then we don't have any other choices left. Do it now, in this generation, because we don't how many more there's going to be. - Alan Moore, author
Entirely predictably, the Occupy Movement is now classed as a terrorist threat along with Al-Qaeda.
Greenpeace is frequently on the terrorist list too.
Quote:Occupy London's anger over police 'terrorism' document
A notice sent out to businesses in the City of London has listed the protest movement among groups such as al-Qaida and Farc
Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 December 2011 16.01 GMT
Police have angered Occupy London activists after listing the movement among terrorist groups in an advisory notice sent to the business community in the City.
The document issued by City of London police, headed "Terrorism/extremism update for the City of London business community", included a detailed account of recent and upcoming Occupy London activities and was sent to "trusted partners" in the area.
The single-sided A4 document, dated 2 December, which was passed on to Occupy London's Finsbury square encampment over the weekend by a local business owner, gave an update on foreign terrorist activities including that of Farc in Columbia, al-Qaida in Pakistan and the outcome of a trial into the Minsk bombing in Belarus.
Below that, a section headed "Domestic" was dedicated wholly to the activities of the Occupy encampments and singled out anti-capitalists as a cause for concern.
"As the worldwide Occupy movement shows no sign of abating, it is likely that activists aspire to identify other locations to occupy, especially those they identify with capitalism."
The document stated that police had "received a number of hostile reconnaissance reports concerning individuals who would fit the anti-capitalist profile", and asked businesses to be vigilant for further sign of occupation activity.
It also said that the number of protesters present at the camp remained "fairly consistent" but that demonstrations originating from the camp had "decreased and lacked the support and momentum of earlier actions".
The City of London police have as yet been unwilling to reveal how many businesses were included on the mailing but their list is thought to include large multinationals and banks.
A City of London police source admitted that the "title of the document was not helpful" and denied that it labelled or intended to label the Occupy movement as equivalent to al-Qaida.
An activist from the camp called the document "vulgar" and said Occupy London had met Church of England representatives many times in the past and were meeting the Financial Services Authority, which regulates banking activity in the UK, on Monday.
A statement from the Occupy London camp said: "The reference to 'suspected activists' seems to demonstrate a disturbing loss of perspective.
"Activism is not a crime and the desire to participate in democratic decision-making should not be a cause for concern for the police in any free society.
"An institution that confuses active citizens with criminals and equates al-Qaida with efforts to re-imagine the City is an institution in grave danger of losing its way."
Asked about the document, the City of London police said their community policing methods had been praised.
A spokesman added: "City of London police works with the community to deter and detect terrorist activity and crime in the City in a way that has been identified nationally as good practice.
"We've seen crime linked to protests in recent weeks, notably around groups entering office buildings, and with that in mind we continue to brief key trusted partners on activity linked to protests."
Worse than al-Qaida and Farc, because they are a native reactions to TPTB and not TPTB paid for/set-up stooge provocateur groups. It was inevitable. I know it is so already secretly with DHS, but in the USA they've not said so publicly.....YET. With that designation and the new laws in the USA, any Occupy person could be detained indefinitely by the military without charges, access to legal council, even tortured and kept indefinitely - even being 'terminated' is not impossible. Its going to be a lovely War for our respective countries. Both of them should now refer to themselves as 'former democracies'.
The Tent Monsters Video made my day! Thanks! Brilliant!
National Day of Action to Occupy Our Homes
December 4th, 2011 · Ella · Announcements 9 comments - Tags: actions, foreclosures, mass action, occupy movement, occupy our homes, occupy wall st
Banks took such high risks that they placed our entire economy in serious jeopardy. In return, they received trillions of dollars from the Fed and billions of dollars from hard working tax payers to get back on their feet. Homeowners take risks when buying homes; however, when they lose their jobs or are unable to afford their medical attention they don't get bailouts, they lose everything.
With our current environment of corporate irresponsibility and greed, political impotence and corruption, all it takes is for you to lose your job or get dropped from your health insurance to lose it all. Just because it hasn't happened to you, your loved ones or your neighbors yet, doesn't mean the threat isn't real.
This Tuesday, thousands will be standing up for their neighbors in a struggle against a system that places financial gain above the human need of shelter. Banks would rather let houses deteriorate than renegotiate loans with those who make them homes and build our communities.
Occupy Minnesota had taken this issue head-on shortly after their formation when a fellow Occupier called out for help in keeping her home.
This Tuesday, Occupy Minnesota will organize in neighborhoods to defend families facing foreclosures in the communities most affected by the financial crisis. They'll expand their occupation to a second foreclosed home in South Minneapolis.
NATIONAL HAPPENINGS
Occupy Our Homes is launching off with the National Day of Action to Occupy Our Homes
Occupy Wall St. will join in solidarity with a Brooklyn community to liberate a foreclosed home.
Occupy Minnesota
Minnesota Occupy Homes National Day of Action Occupiers will band together to prevent the loss of their neighbor's home. Bobby Hull is a Vietnam veteran and plaster worker of 38 years.
Occupy A Foreclosed Home II Occupy Minneapolis will expand their occupation to a second foreclosed home in South Minneapolis. Location to be announced.
Occupy Our Homes St. Louis banks further destabilize our cities and economy as they foreclose on our neighbors. Occupy St. Louis will stand with their neighbor, Annie Quain in her struggle to keep her home.
Occupy Oakland and Causa Justa :: Just Cause are working together to demand that the banks give their neighbors' homes back! In Oakland more than 50% of the people who are facing foreclosure are long term residents. Demonstrators will meet at the West Oakland BART station for a Stop Foreclosures! Occupy Our Homes! rally and march to take back homes!
Occupy Erie will march to stand in solidarity with OWS and the rest of the United States against foreclosures on homes in their National Day of Action; Occupy Our Foreclosed Homes.
Occupy Milwaukee will host a Fraudclosure: Teach-In for the National Day of Action to Stop Foreclosures on the Foreclosure Crisis and it's local impact on the people of Milwaukee.
Occupy Los Angeles will stand up with their neighbors Aturo, veteran and long-time aerospace worker with a family of four children, and Ana, a court interpreter and disability advocate with cerebral palsy, in an Anti-Foreclosure Direct Action.
Occupy Atlanta is rallying against the foreclosure auctions taking place in front of the Gwinnett and Fulton County courthouses through their Stop the Foreclosure Auction actions.
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Lauren:
I love it!.........Thanks
This one is not quite as funny,but still
got a chuckle.
:wavey:
Jan Klimkowski Wrote:Entirely predictably, the Occupy Movement is now classed as a terrorist threat along with Al-Qaeda.
Greenpeace is frequently on the terrorist list too.
Quote:Occupy London's anger over police 'terrorism' document
A notice sent out to businesses in the City of London has listed the protest movement among groups such as al-Qaida and Farc
Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 December 2011 16.01 GMT
Police have angered Occupy London activists after listing the movement among terrorist groups in an advisory notice sent to the business community in the City.
The document issued by City of London police, headed "Terrorism/extremism update for the City of London business community", included a detailed account of recent and upcoming Occupy London activities and was sent to "trusted partners" in the area.
The single-sided A4 document, dated 2 December, which was passed on to Occupy London's Finsbury square encampment over the weekend by a local business owner, gave an update on foreign terrorist activities including that of Farc in Columbia, al-Qaida in Pakistan and the outcome of a trial into the Minsk bombing in Belarus.
Below that, a section headed "Domestic" was dedicated wholly to the activities of the Occupy encampments and singled out anti-capitalists as a cause for concern.
"As the worldwide Occupy movement shows no sign of abating, it is likely that activists aspire to identify other locations to occupy, especially those they identify with capitalism."
The document stated that police had "received a number of hostile reconnaissance reports concerning individuals who would fit the anti-capitalist profile", and asked businesses to be vigilant for further sign of occupation activity.
It also said that the number of protesters present at the camp remained "fairly consistent" but that demonstrations originating from the camp had "decreased and lacked the support and momentum of earlier actions".
The City of London police have as yet been unwilling to reveal how many businesses were included on the mailing but their list is thought to include large multinationals and banks.
A City of London police source admitted that the "title of the document was not helpful" and denied that it labelled or intended to label the Occupy movement as equivalent to al-Qaida.
An activist from the camp called the document "vulgar" and said Occupy London had met Church of England representatives many times in the past and were meeting the Financial Services Authority, which regulates banking activity in the UK, on Monday.
A statement from the Occupy London camp said: "The reference to 'suspected activists' seems to demonstrate a disturbing loss of perspective.
"Activism is not a crime and the desire to participate in democratic decision-making should not be a cause for concern for the police in any free society.
"An institution that confuses active citizens with criminals and equates al-Qaida with efforts to re-imagine the City is an institution in grave danger of losing its way."
Asked about the document, the City of London police said their community policing methods had been praised.
A spokesman added: "City of London police works with the community to deter and detect terrorist activity and crime in the City in a way that has been identified nationally as good practice.
"We've seen crime linked to protests in recent weeks, notably around groups entering office buildings, and with that in mind we continue to brief key trusted partners on activity linked to protests."
Only to add the Police letter and orginal url [as there will soon be lots of follow up!]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/05...m-document
Since the US admits Al Qaeda is mostly wiped-out what enemy threat were they overturning the Constitution for with this recent domestic security act?
Someone should demand president Obama explain how this constitutes the "Change" he promised which got him elected?
Since this new law appears to be based solely on a need to overcome constitutional restrictions it should be rejected and punished. Really, the 93 representatives who voted for it should be jailed. The new law is clearly intended to protect the previous violations of the government from democratic control. There was clearly an illegal lack of any questions whatsoever over whether this was necessary at all or if there was even a threat that justified it. There was no review over how this illegal militarization of America affected our democracy. This is a military coup by incremental bureacratic process. It needs a clear and immediate response.
Income Inequality Rising In Most Wealthy Countries,
OECD Finds Income Inequality
The Huffington Post Alexander Eichler First Posted: 12/ 5/11 12:27 PM ET Updated: 12/ 5/11 12:27 PM ET
Scales continue to tip in the rich's favor the world around.
Income inequality -- the gap between a society's richest members and its poorest -- is rising not only in the United States but in most of the world's major economies, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Since 1985, income inequality has grown more pronounced in 17 of the 22 countries for which the OECD has long-term data, including Mexico, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The OECD's report suggests an explanation for why the Occupy Wall Street movement has grown from a single protest site in New York's Zuccotti Park to a global phenomenon with hundreds of chapters in dozens of countries. Among other things, protesters in the Occupy movement say they oppose the concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people.
In the United States, the incomes of the very highest earners have grown by leaps and bounds over the last quarter century, while remaining more or less flat for the vast majority of the population.
Comparable growth in the wealth gap has taken place in Germany, Finland, Israel, Sweden, Luxembourg and New Zealand, according to the OECD. Only five countries -- Greece, Turkey, France, Belgium and Hungary -- saw their levels of income inequality decline or remain constant.
Income inequality has been linked to a number of troubling economic trends, and some analysts believe the wealth gap is contributing to the slow rate of recovery for the global economy.
Earlier this year, a study in the newsletter of the International Monetary Fund suggested that a country is more likely to enjoy a sustained period of growth if it has a relatively equitable distribution of income -- meaning that for the wealthy, high-inequality nations named in the OECD report, bouncing back from the worldwide recession may be taking longer than it needs to.
Income inequality has also been cited as a catalyzing factor for a number of protest movements around the globe, including the riots in England this summer and the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East on which the Occupy Wall Street movement has been patterned.
An OECD press release notes that income inequality, besides affecting the wealthy member-nations of the organization, is also a major concern in many of the developing countries outside of it. The correlation between a nation's wealth gap and its poverty and social and political instability was suggested earlier this year, when The Atlantic published a world map color-coded by inequality. China, Brazil, Rwanda, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire and Serbia all had high levels of income inequality -- as did the United States.