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Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 26-12-2011
It is hard to shed a tear for those bastards who have destroyed the Planet and all living things that inhabit it.
....again, can't post the video [BBC doesn't allow], but interesting short interview with Cornel West [who tells it like it is!] on the Occupy Movement and the fact that half of US population is now considered poor or very low income [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16210940"]HERE.
I'd love to see a one hour debate between Cornel West and one of the cry-baby billionaires, mentioned two posts above.
[/URL]
HOME DEPOT CO-FOUNDER BERNIE MARCUS: "Who gives a crap about some imbecile? Are you kidding me?"
HOME DEPOT CO-FOUNDER KEN LANGONE: "I am a fat cat, I'm not ashamed…If you mean by fat cat that I've succeeded, yeah, then I'm a fat cat. I stand guilty of being a fat cat."
FORMER BB&T BANK CEO JOHN ALLISON: "Instead of an attack on the 1 percent, let's call it an attack on the very productive. This attack is destructive."
PAYCHECX INC. FOUNDER TOM GOLISANO: "If I hear a politician use the term paying your fair share' one more time, I'm going to vomit."
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16210940"]HOME DEPOT CO-FOUNDER KEN LANGONE: "I am a fat cat, I'm not ashamed…If you mean by fat cat that I've succeeded, yeah, then I'm a fat cat. I stand guilty of being a fat cat."
FORMER BB&T BANK CEO JOHN ALLISON: "Instead of an attack on the 1 percent, let's call it an attack on the very productive. This attack is destructive."
PAYCHECX INC. FOUNDER TOM GOLISANO: "If I hear a politician use the term paying your fair share' one more time, I'm going to vomit."
Nearly 1 in 2 Americans are living either below the poverty level or within a stone's throw of it, according to a new Census metric designed to give a more complete view of poverty. According to the latest data, 49.1 million Americans are below the poverty line, and another 97.3 million are considered low-income, which is usually defined as having income between 100% and 199%* of the poverty level. The new system is designed to account for living expenses like medical costs and commuting costs, and those factors drove the total higher than the 1 in 3 that was reported in September. But even by traditional tallies, the share of working families who are low income has risen for three straight years, to 31.2%. *Trust me, even at 200% of the poverty level set by the USG, a single person can't get by, and it gets even more difficult the larger the family. Try to live, as a single person, in the USA on 22,000$US/year -try it! Or as a couple on 30,000 - or with one child on 34,000 etc.
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Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 26-12-2011
We are the 146% - Russians Refuse to be Rooked as 120,000 March in Moscow
Posted 1 day ago on Dec. 24, 2011, 12:20 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt[TABLE="align: left"]
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![[Image: hQMTh.jpg%22]](http://i.imgur.com/hQMTh.jpg%22)
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[TD="align: center"]© Ðнтон Тушин/Ridus.ru[/TD]
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Earlier this month, tens of thousands of Russians marched in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and several other cities decrying the recent parliamentary election results. In the largest series of protests since the fall of the Soviet Union 20 years ago people have united across political affiliations shouting, "We exist! We exist!"
The protests began December 4th - shortly after election results were released showing in some instances returns that totaled as high as 146% of the popular vote. Russians took to the streets, chanting, "Putin is a thief" and "Russia without Putin." By the following Saturday, people turned out en masse (estimates range from 25,000-100,000) for a protest in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square. It was accompanied by dozens of smaller rallies across Russia's nine time zones.
During the election, ballot boxes were stuffed; monitors shooed away; voter registrations bought, sold, and forged; and teams of United Russia activists bussed from precinct to precinct to vote early and often, in a process called "The Carousel."
The elections were not a surprise. Last September the current President Dmitry Medvedev announced Vladimir Putin would run again for the presidency, a post that he held from 2000 to 2008 and an impossibility until a recent amendment to the Russian Constitution.
This revealed a level of cronyism, long suspected - Medvedev has been cast as "Robin to Putin's Batman". Some Russians now snidely refer to this political maneuvering as "rokirovka" - the Russian word for castling in chess, the move in which a rook and the king are moved at the same time, to shelter the king. This "castling move" will allow Mr. Medvedev to assume Mr. Putin's job as prime minister after the elections March 4th - an agreement according to Putin that was reached "a long time ago, several years back."
This announcement was understandably met with public outrage and frustration. Putin's approval ratings went down. Vladimir Aristarkhov, a local publishing house employee, explained, "Our local version of Dr. Evil and his Mini-Me will stay in power as long as they can." At the time there were a few small protests but nothing compared with the magnitude of crowds post-election, inspired by people-powered movements across the globe.
Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 26-12-2011
Democracy or Plutocracy? A Chart
![[Image: picture-12912.jpg]](http://www.ourfuture.org/files/images/user_pictures/picture-12912.jpg)
By Dave Johnson
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[TD]DEMOCRACY[/TD]
[TD]PLUTOCRACY[/TD]
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[TD]We, the People[/TD]
[TD]Wealthy Few[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]One Person One Vote[/TD]
[TD]One Dollar One Vote[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]Government[/TD]
[TD]Limited Government[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]Majority[/TD]
[TD]Supermajority[/TD]
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[TD]Information[/TD]
[TD]Propaganda[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]Taxes on the Wealthy[/TD]
[TD]Tax Cuts for the Wealthy[/TD]
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[TD]Budgets[/TD]
[TD]Budget Cuts[/TD]
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[TD]Jobs programs[/TD]
[TD]Bank Bailouts[/TD]
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[TD]Welfare[/TD]
[TD]Warfare[/TD]
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[TD]Express Lanes for 2 or More People[/TD]
[TD]Express Lanes for 2 or More Dollars[/TD]
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[TD]Security Lines at Airports[/TD]
[TD]Special First-Class Security Lanes at Airports[/TD]
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[TD]Public Schools[/TD]
[TD]Private Schools[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]Public Investment[/TD]
[TD]Private Investment[/TD]
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Updates:
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[TD]Public Transportation[/TD]
[TD]Private Jets[/TD]
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[TD]Accountability[/TD]
[TD]Impunity[/TD]
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[TD]Rule Of Law[/TD]
[TD]Above The Law[/TD]
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[TD]Transparency[/TD]
[TD]Secrecy[/TD]
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[TD]Sustainable growth[/TD]
[TD]Polluter Growth[/TD]
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[TD]Medicare-For-All[/TD]
[TD]Healthcare For Profit[/TD]
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[TD]Clean Elections[/TD]
[TD]Rigged Elections[/TD]
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[TD]Savings Accounts[/TD]
[TD]Offshore Accounts[/TD]
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[TD]Credit Card Debt[/TD]
[TD]Credit Default Swaps[/TD]
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[TD]Union members[/TD]
[TD]Serfs[/TD]
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[TD]Layoffs[/TD]
[TD]Payoffs[/TD]
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[TD]Homies[/TD]
[TD]Cronies[/TD]
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[TD]Grassroots[/TD]
[TD]Astroturf[/TD]
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[TD]Pensions[/TD]
[TD]401Ks[/TD]
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[TD]Honest Brokers[/TD]
[TD]Self-Interest[/TD]
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[TD]Free Will[/TD]
[TD]At Will[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]Citizen[/TD]
[TD]Consumer[/TD]
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[TD]Citizen[/TD]
[TD]Employee[/TD]
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[TD] Participant [/TD]
[TD]Observer[/TD]
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[TD]Actor[/TD]
[TD]Acted On[/TD]
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[TD]Doer[/TD]
[TD]Done To[/TD]
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[TD]Majorities[/TD]
[TD]Markets[/TD]
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[TD]Healthy Communities[/TD]
[TD]Gated Communities[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]Bedford Falls[/TD]
[TD]Pottersville[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]George Baily[/TD]
[TD]Henry F. Potter[/TD]
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[TD]Savings[/TD]
[TD]Debt[/TD]
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[TD]America the Beautiful[/TD]
[TD]America the Profitable[/TD]
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[TD]Justice[/TD]
[TD]Just Us[/TD]
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[TD]Education[/TD]
[TD]Training[/TD]
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[TD]Studying the arts, literature, history, philosophy, etc.[/TD]
[TD]Mocking people for studying the arts, literature, history, philosophy, etc.[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]The Many[/TD]
[TD]The Rich[/TD]
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[TD]People[/TD]
[TD]Cogs[/TD]
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[TD]Humanity[/TD]
[TD]Efficiency[/TD]
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Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 26-12-2011
Optimism is a political act. In fact, these days, cynicism is obedience. - Alex Steffen
The world is long overdue for a completely new system of governance. The need for political representation or a paternalistic and opaque authority has been removed by technology. Governance by nation states is now as arbitrary and illogical as city states were earlier found to be. Corporations have the freedom to live in a world without borders or social responsibility, to own property no individual can claim and to control a one world government and legal system, with insupportable consequences for the world's resources and individual rights. To effect the change we require in 2012, to give individuals control and responsibility, to bring regional systems under regional governance and protect the heritage of future generations, we need a new political model.
Individual Rights
In any system where groups have power, individual rights are always at risk. Both pure democracy and communism have brought human rights horrors every bit as reprehensible as fascist states; in order to guard against genocide, torture, and other persecution of individuals in the name of the greater good, a system must safeguard individual rights above all other authority.
Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifies that individual rights are to be applied equally without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. With the addition of age, this would prevent discrimination against any group. Groups are not individuals and no group is entitled to special and further rights or protections under individual rights.
A recognition of individual rights will include life, liberty, security of person, access to the basic essentials of life including knowledge, privacy and personal autonomy in matters not affecting the rest of society, free development of personality and potential, and a fair legal system which does not promote wishes of the group over rights of the individual.
Autonomous peer to peer user groups for systems
Governments up till now have been run by hierarchical groups, which act as the final authority on all topics for an entire region for an arbitrarily specified length of time or until they are overthrown by another group. What these authorities govern is a series of systems, controlled by the state or corporations, and run as dictatorships where workers' individual rights are exchanged for the basic necessities of life. These systems have profit for the top of the hierarchy as their objective; they are not set up to provide an efficient or superior service or product to the users.
If these systems were organized as autonomous, transparent, porous, peer to peer user groups, they would be far better governed by themselves. The current political structure does not recognize that every system is not of concern or interest to everyone in the region, or that some users have far greater knowledge and expertise in specific areas than others. We need a system where responsibility and control rests with the entire user group and expertise is acknowledged and put to best use.
Autonomous: each user group should consist of all people affected by the system and no people not affected by the system.
Transparent: all information related to the system must be fully transparent in order for users to participate in tasks or auditing.
Porous: contribution at all levels of each user group must be open to all users with acceptance by peer review.
Peer to peer: each user group should consist of users: audit and provide feedback, contributors: interested users who periodically present work for acceptance by the members, members: have acquired expertise and been accepted as full contributing members by the user group, and a core group: recognized by the group as having the necessary level of expertise to provide direction for the system.
Meritocracy: A side effect of these user groups is that they provide workers with the three motivators which provide the greatest job satisfaction, autonomy, mastery and purpose. People can work on anything they like, they are not required to submit resumes, acquire accreditation, seniority, or approval from an individual authority. If their work is good enough it will be accepted by the user group. Everyone can work on the system that interests them, doing the jobs at the level they are capable of, with as much or as little involvement as they choose.
Systems should be organized by user groups, not by nations or treaties. International systems would include things such as the internet, telecommunications and knowledge, local systems would include things such as transit, food production and social services, and in any situation where only one family or an individual is affected, the responsibility would rely with only them. Each local user group or individual would have access to outside user groups for trade, shared knowledge, disaster relief, etc., autonomous but networked.
Global commons
Anything which is not only of global interest but also does not belong to any one generation cannot be destroyed and cannot be claimed as the property of any individual, group, corporation or government. Global commons would include space, the atmosphere and electromagnetic field, deep sea ocean, land and water masses of sufficient size to have global impact, areas of the biosphere which are rare or important enough to be of global concern, and knowledge. Knowledge includes discoveries, history and creative works, and excludes personal information regarding individuals. There should be no restriction on the use of ideas, although creativity needs to be compensated and credited.
Anything belonging to the global commons must be held under stewardship of a porous and transparent peer to peer organization set up for the purpose, and the mandate for all global commons must include the protection and preservation of the commons. All systems which affect the commons must work with the commons in their design and implementation.
2010 we woke up. 2011 we stood up. 2012 we take over.
Resources:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights https://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
Needed now: A News Commons http://wlcentral.org/node/2330
Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation - TED Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh4fi5oJlnM
Bettermeans: How does an open enterprise work? http://bettermeans.com/front/how.html
P2P Foundation http://p2pfoundation.net/The_Foundation_for_P2P_Alternatives
Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 26-12-2011
"No government can exist for a single moment without the cooperation of the people, willing or forced, and if people withdraw their cooperation in every detail, the government will come to a standstill."
Gandhi
The Occupy movement is now a genie that cannot be put back in its bottle.
And while it has certainly gone through growing pains, and will continue to do so, the adversity faced has only forced the movement to adapt and refocus.
After their first eviction, Occupy San Francisco decided to occupy sidewalks around the downtown financial district (the original strategy for Occupy Wall Street before 17 September, I should add.) Can't have an encampment? Adapt and take public sidewalks. There is now a nationwide movement to also throw the gauntlet at major banks like Bank of America, and re-occupy foreclosed homes for families thrown out by the financial criminal class. The move has even prompted Bank of America to fire out an email to its employees. And yes, the email's existence has indeed been confirmed by a Bank of America representative.
The financial elite are not the only ones concerned about this nonviolent peoples' movement, of course. Incredibly, Mayor Jean Quan stated in a recent interview that mayors from at least 18 cities have been holding conference calls with each other to discuss how to deal with the Occupy movement. There are legitimate questions as to whether federal agencies like the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are playing some kind of advisory role or even assisting in coordinating crackdowns on occupations too. Indeed, it would be surprising if the federal government were not, given the history of programs like COINTELPRO. It is well known, however, that DHS operates what are known as fusion centers, which serve as "focal points within the state and local environment for the receipt, analysis, gathering, and sharing of threat-related information between the federal government and state, local, tribal, territorial (SLTT) and private sector partners." Investigative journalists such as Jason Leopold are continuing to search for more answers about what role, if any, the federal government is playing in these crackdowns.
What is no mystery, however, is the contempt and cruelty often displayed by police towards this movement. Here's what Patrick Meghan, a writer for the sitcom "Family Guy" experienced at the hands of the LAPD:
"I was arrested at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning with 291 other people at Occupy LA. I was sitting in City Hall Park with a pillow, a blanket, and a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh's "Being Peace" when 1,400 heavily-armed LAPD officers in paramilitary SWAT gear streamed in. I was in a group of about 50 peaceful protestors who sat Indian-style, arms interlocked, around a tent (the symbolic image of the Occupy movement). The LAPD officers encircled us, weapons drawn, while we chanted We Are Peaceful' and We Are Nonviolent' and Join Us.'"
It gets worse.
"When the LAPD finally began arresting those of us interlocked around the symbolic tent, we were all ordered by the LAPD to unlink from each other (in order to facilitate the arrests). Each seated, nonviolent protester beside me who refused to cooperate by unlinking his arms had the following done to him: an LAPD officer would forcibly extend the protestor's legs, grab his left foot, twist it all the way around and then stomp his boot on the insole, pinning the protestor's left foot to the pavement, twisted backwards. Then the LAPD officer would grab the protestor's right foot and twist it all the way the other direction until the non-violent protestor, in incredible agony, would shriek in pain and unlink from his neighbor. It was horrible to watch, and apparently designed to terrorize the rest of us."
The police state will continue to use terror to coerce this movement into backing down. It will not work, however. As Andrew Kolin states in his book State Power and Democracy: Before and During The Presidency of George W. Bush: "Keep in mind that police states are by their inherent nature dysfunctional," Kolin said. "The Occupy movement is hope of a return to mass democracy as a countervailing force to the police state and to it's possible breakdown." In an excellent interview with Jason Leopold at Truthout, Kolin says that "in all police states, and Germany in the [1930s] is the classic example, they develop by crushing democracy.'"
Philadelphia police on a SEPTA bus arrive in riot gear to evict Occupy Philadelphia. Photo by Dustin Slaughter
Myself and over 50 others were arrested in the early-morning hours after Occupy Philadelphia's evictionfor marching. My resolve, as well as those who were arrested or were outraged at the way the police handled the eviction, has only strengthened. This movement must use love and persistence to fight back. There is no other way. The state knows only violence and fear, and this can only continue for so long in the face of what the Occupy movement offers as an alternative. This movement must continue to struggle for what dissident playwright and later president of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel calls "defending the everyday aims of life."
As Mark Kurlansky writes of Havel in Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea:
"Organizations were formed to support the families of those persecuted by the government; alternative universities' taught the things excluded from official education; environmental groups were formed and cultural activities established…Increasingly citizens could live life apart from the one established by the regime. Though the actions were small, the goals were large."
Kurlansky goes on to write of Havel's strategy:
"…if people lived their lives parallel to the state system and not as a part of itwhich he [Havel] termed "living within a lie"there would always be a tension between these two realities and they would not be able to permanently coexist."
The Occupy movement has for months now been engaged in creating the very same "counter-society" Havel and the Solidarity movement created to eventually bring the Soviet empire to its knees. Occupations across the country have been stepping up to offer free food, shelter and healthcare to the homeless because the state has failed to do so, a state that in turn uses its own failure as an excuse to evict peaceful protesters. The "occupation" has plans to offer free college education in Philadelphia, with local college professors volunteering their time, as I'm sure there are similar initiatives to do so in other parts of the country. And the movement is now standingphysicallywith American families from across the country who are trampled on by banks who knowingly committed fraud and tossed people out of their homes.
Despite the winter, Occupy 2.0 is just getting warmed up. What are YOU going to do now?
Dustin M. Slaughter is the Founder of The David and Goliath Project.
Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 26-12-2011
We're Still Here
This is what a holiday looks like at Occupy Washington D.C.,
By Crystal Zevon
While many occupations - from New York and Boston to Oakland and Los Angeles - have been shut down, the two Washington D.C. occupations seem to just keep going. We've been occupying Freedom Plaza for 78 days now. In one sense, we've relaxed. We no longer have our bags packed with the expectation that we're going to be evicted any minute (even though we could be). I wish I could say that what appears to be acceptance of Washington D.C. occupations by the powers that be makes life in a tent community easy, but occupying is hard work. As one sign outside a tent on Freedom Plaza reads, "I had a job. Now I have an occupation."
I've been an activist all my life, and occupying is definitely harder than any job I've ever had, in the movement or otherwise. Just the housekeeping part of keeping a community together is a fulltime job; forget about keeping up with the minute-by-minute changes that take place in the D.C. political scene every day. Whether it's the National Defense Authorization Act, Bradley Manning's hearing, housing foreclosures or Canter's fund raising dinner, there is always something going on that requires us to be focused on organizing actions and developing strategies, going to yet another meeting, finding a place with WiFi to do research for a mic check… the list goes on.
We're tired, and we get wet and cold. Sharing portapotties, walking 13 blocks to the showers the CWA lets us use and brushing our teeth and spitting into a soggy paper coffee cup takes its toll. Even though we've been told by visiting occupiers from all over the country that we have the model occupy kitchen, we still have to stand in line for dinner and then eat outside (although we just put up two gigantic army tents and will soon be able to eat inside). We gripe and disagree, and sometimes it's hard to show up for G.A. especially if you know there's a major issue in camp… say… we're drinking more coffee than we can afford and someone's going to propose limiting the hours coffee is available… OMG… that's gonna take at least 45 minutes to reach consensus on. But, we show up and listen to everyone who has an opinion or proposal and, eventually, we do reach consensus. Most often, whatever gets decided turns out to be the right thing.
So, between mic checking Carl Levin and John McCain for the hideous provisions they wrote into the NDAA, doing the camp dishes, joining our neighbors at Occupy D.C. for an action at the White House and mopping up the river running through your tent from the rain storm the night before, who has time for a Teach-In or a reading group? I am heartened to say, it seems like a lot of us do. Not all, to be sure. There are those who are here for a party, or a free meal, but we deal with that, too.
Yesterday afternoon, a group of young Palestinian students attending schools and universities in the U.S. (funded by Project Hope) held a Teach-In on Freedom Plaza. The level of knowledge and understanding among the occupiers ranged from none to vast. While one young woman described her dismay at how many Americans don't seem to even know of the existence of Palestine, in fact, often mistake it for Pakistan, these remarkable young people were not there to criticize the overall lack of knowledge by Americans; they were there to educate and enlighten by sharing their personal stories. Some of the occupiers questions were based on years of study, while others betrayed total ignorance. They responded to them all with equal respect and attention, welcoming the fact that we were there to learn.
Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 26-12-2011
Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 26-12-2011
A VERY POWERFUL NEW ADDITION TO OWS - A NEW WAR AGAINST POVERTY!!!
IN MEMORY OF AND IN SPIRIT WITH DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING'S DREAM
Yesterday, something wonderful happened in America.
Michael Carmichael
Yesterday was the day the American Civil Rights Movement merged their hopes and dreams with Occupy Wall Street.
Led by Dr. Ben Chavis, civil rights leaders announced the formation of Occupy the Dream, an organization to mobilize Americans around the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who sought to wage war on poverty, unemployment and economic injustice. Dr. Chavis announced that the first major march of Occupy the Dream will take place on Martin Luther King Day, January 16, 2012 in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Jamal Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore with 10,000 members, joined Dr. Chavis at the National Press Club where they rallied their followers together with leading advocates of Occupy Wall Street.
Launching their movement, Dr. Bryant explained the crisis now facing many Americans in stark but eloquent terms:
Ladies and Gentlemen, in just a few days, about 200,000 of our sons and daughters will be returning back to the United States in a large way indicating the end of the war in the Middle East. Regrettably they are going to be coming to another war. It's not going to be a War on Terror as indicated by then-President Bush. It's not even going to be a War on Drugs implemented by Nancy Reagan or a War on Obesity by Michelle Obama - but they're going to be coming into a war on poverty - a war on poverty, unemployment and economic inequality and greed has in fact ravaged our nation down to its core.
Defining the merger of the movements explicitly, Dr. Chavis announced the historic coalition:
When Dr. King articulated the dream, it was inclusive. It is in our interests to build coalitions beyond ourselves. In fact, that is what the beauty of today represents. We are not trying to achieve economic equality and leave others in economic inequality. If you want justice, you've got to have justice for everybody. If you are for economic equality, you've got to have economic equality for everybody.
Kevin Zeese of Occupy Wall Street/Washington DC affirmed his enthusiasm for the expansion of the OWS movement:
"I think this is a very important step toward the American Spring. . . . This American Spring is going to be a historic, transformative movement. It's going to be a moment in history that's going to change things in ways that they can't imagine. It's going to be a moment in history that dominates the year more than the presidential campaign does."
Although he was not present at the National Press Club, Russell Simmons has been instrumental in promoting the expansion of the Occupy Wall Street movement. From his offices in New York, Simmons issued the following statement:
It was Dr. King's dream that the civil rights community would come together with the unions and cultural icons, and they would produce a revolution that would promote economic equality in this country. I have been there to witness the energy and the courage and have been inspired by these young creative people who have a high aspiration for our country, who are politically astute and who are themselves inspired to make this country greater.
Dr. Benjamin Chavis is a veteran civil rights icon who served as an aide and acolyte to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While working with the Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ, Dr. Chavis came into direct conflict with highly organized racists who opposed the desegregation of public schools in Wilmington, North Carolina. The clash resulted in the Wilmington Ten trial and imprisonment of ten civil rights workers who served substantial time in prison before they were exonerated in federal court.
Rising through the ranks of the civil rights movement to become Vice President of the National Council of Churches, Dr. Chavis went on to serve as Executive Director of the NAACP. In 1995, Dr. Chavis was appointed to the post of Executive Director of the Million Man March.
In recent years, Dr. Chavis has worked with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons to energize and activate the music industry and its huge audience around the cause of civil rights and economic justice.
An important episode in Dr. Chavis' life as a civil rights leader was novelized by the acclaimed author, Timothy Tyson, in his bestselling book, Blood Done Sign My Name. The movie starred Nate Parker in the role of the young Benjamin Chavis. Dr. Chavis has appeared in the film Belly, and in Spike Lee's, Get on the Bus, a fictional but compelling account of the Million Man March.
At the press conference, David Degraw of OWS, said, "Dr. Chavis, of course, his entire life has been a battle. He's led the way. . . . Are you ready to go another couple of rounds?"
To that question, Dr. Chavis responded, "Absolutely."
Somehow, very tangibly, Occupy the Dream seems like a gigantic and brilliantly wrapped Christmas present to the 99%.
Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 27-12-2011
Massachusetts Senate race tests feelings about Wall Street
By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times
December 26, 2011
Reporting from Easton, Mass. The race is for a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, but it's really a referendum on Wall Street.
On one side is Democrat Elizabeth Warren, the architect of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and an inspiration for the Occupy Wall Street movement.
On the other: incumbent Republican Scott Brown, one of the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from the financial industry.
Brown is campaigning on traditional Republican themes of smaller government and lower taxes. But Warren is taking a more unusual tack aligning herself squarely with the Occupy protesters.
Wall Street and its money-driven culture may seem like an easy target, but Warren's strategy is not without risk.
Just 24% of voters nationwide said they supported the Occupy Wall Street movement in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll this month, down from 29% a month earlier.
"The more it turns into a movement that disrupts people's lives or looks like people who are just out to foment trouble or be a demonstration of anger, the more there might be a backlash," said Norman Ornstein, a political scholar at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.
Even as Warren gains traction in the polls, most Democrats have been hesitant to embrace the Occupy protests. But her message could appeal to Senate candidates in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Rhode Island, states in which the Occupy message carries greater appeal, said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
"Every candidate's watching her because she's something of a phenomenon," Duffy said. "They're not so ready to embrace the protests, but they're certainly ready to embrace the idea of the 99% the middle class being left behind, specifically at the hands of Republicans."
Warren's campaign rhetoric wasn't dreamed up by a political consultant.
The Harvard University law professor has spent years researching the financial struggles of average Americans and said she's been "protesting Wall Street for a very long time."
She roiled the race this fall with her strong support for the Occupy movement, declaring, "I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do."
Such comments sparked attacks from Republicans and drew the ire of some protesters, who bristled at her seeming to take credit for the encampments that sprung up from Boston to Los Angeles. Warren has since emphasized that there's plenty of credit to go around.
"I think after three years with no accountability, people across this country are madder than ever," Warren said after a Democratic debate at Stonehill College on Dec. 6.
"They've watched the people who brought us the financial crisis walk away, and walk away with their pockets stuffed with money. They know that's not right," she said. "I think it's a key part of the protests."
Warren became a national figure in the wake of the financial crisis, grilling executives as head of the watchdog panel overseeing the $700-billion bailout fund and then aggressively battling Republicans to create the consumer bureau, an agency she proposed in 2007.
Her sharp criticism of big banks has helped make her a hero to liberals looking for someone to voice the frustrations that have fueled the protests.
"Not only does she have brains and intellect, but she's got concerns for our issues," said Rita Sebastian, 58, of Falmouth, Mass. The Occupy Boston protester plans to vote for Warren.
Many politicians actively court Wall Street contributors, but Warren so far has eschewed the big wallets of financial executives.
Occupy Everywhere - Sept 17th - Day of Rage Against Wall Street and what it stands for! - Peter Lemkin - 27-12-2011