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Tens of Thousands in Streets of Times Square, NY
Tens of Thousands Flood the Streets of Global Financial Centers, Capitol Cities and Small Towns to "Occupy Together" Against Wall Street Mid-Town Manhattan Jammed as Marches Converge in Times Square
New York, NY -- After triumphing in a standoff with the city over the continued protest of Wall Street at Liberty Square in Manhattan's financial district, the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread world wide today with demonstrations in over 1,500 cities globally and over 100 US cities from coast to coast. In New York, thousands marched in various protests by trade unions, students, environmentalists, and community groups. As occupiers flocked to Washington Square Park, two dozen participants were arrested at a nearby Citibank while attempting to withdraw their accounts from the global banking giant.
"I am occupying Wall Street because it is my future, my generations' future, that is at stake," said Linnea Palmer Paton, 23, a student at New York University. "Inspired by the peaceful occupation of Tahrir Square in Cairo, tonight we are are coming together in Times Square to show the world that the power of the people is an unstoppable force of global change. Today, we are fighting back against the dictators of our country - the Wall Street banks - and we are winning." Read more...
My October 15th Remarks at Occupy Sacramento by Cindy Sheeham 15 Oct 2011
Hello, it’s great to finally be able to be here with you today—I have been out of the state, but I have been watching you on the local news and you have been doing a great job!
The other day, on my Facebook wall, one of my “friends” asked me when I was going to, “Join the 99%.”
“Join the 99%?” I didn’t know that was an option! I “joined” the 99% 54 years ago when I was born down in L.A. I am just excited the other 99.9999% is beginning to wake up to the fact the plutocracy here in the U.S,. and globally, declared class war against us generations ago and WE are starting to fight back—finally!
This movement should not allow itself to be co-opted by partisan political hackery. If Obama or Democrats were the answer, then, guess what? We wouldn’t be here today. The wars would be over; the 99% would have single-payer health care, housing, education, a sustainable energy policy, and meaningful jobs with a livable wage as RIGHTS not PRIVILEGES for the 1%. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Republicans in power either—I want US in power. Just like we are today, but I want we the people calling the shots in a meaningful way that changes corrupt and harmful policies, and that will take not only going out of the parks and into the streets like we are today, but staying there and taking breaks to strategize about the society we want to build: One where the resources of our country are used to guarantee basic human rights to EVERYONE, not just the one-percenters.
Speaking of the wars, the Obama (president to the one-percent) regime has continued the Bush crime cabals' wars and has added at least five more military miss-excursions on top of those: in Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and now Uganda—make no mistake about it, the US is waging World War Three in its global war OF terror around the world and the economic and social justice we seek cannot be achieved without complete and unconditional peace. Read more...
Occupy4Life: #revolution in the name of all species by Mickey Z 15 Oct 2011
If you really wanna get technical, the land was “occupied” by plants and animals first…
Of course, the above statement relies on how one interprets the word “occupied,” but…
What’s not open to interpretation is that 80% of the world’s forests have been cut down and raising taxes on the rich won’t bring back a single tree.
What’s not open to interpretation is that 90% of the large fish in the ocean are already gone and re-vamping the Federal Reserve Bank won’t re-vitalize the oceans.
What’s not open to interpretation is that 9 billion animals are killed each year for food (sic) while 51% of human-created greenhouse gases are produced by the global animal food industry. Instituting campaign finance reform or term limits will not slow this lethal damage.
“We all, out of necessity, focus on the issues that are most dear to us,” says Will Potter. “We have limited time, limited money, limited resources. But listen: there are times for carving out our niches, and times for doing the hard work, the messy and uncomfortable and frustrating work, of trying to connect all of the pieces.”
Maybe one of the pieces you’re talking about is rain forests being destroyed at the rate of 1 1/2 acres per second to make room for the grazing of doomed livestock.
Perhaps the topic is animal and plant species going extinct at the never-before-seen rate of roughly 150 species every 24 hours.
What about the morally indefensible and scientifically specious institution of animal experimentation and how it’s used to introduce evermore dangerous chemicals to our landbase?
Let’s say a conversation is happening around the meatpacking industry—with its low wages, long hours, and high rate of undocumented workers—having the highest job-related injury rate and by far the highest rate of serious injury.
The connection to all these crucial issues is Occupy4Life. Read more...
OccupyLSX, St Paul’s Cathedral London
Photo courtesy Neil Jackson
The most dramatic eruptions of social protests emerged in 2010, beginning in the Arab world, moving into Spain, taking hold in the US Occupy Wall Street Movement in September 2011, and have spread to hundreds of US cities and 1500 cities worldwide. Never before has there been such an opportunity to escape the dungeons of history, to catch the wave of global resistance, to do the education and outreach work on an unimaginable and unprecedented scale, to add much-needed diversity to our white and middle/upper class populations, and to form alliances with other social movements without which vegan and animal activist communities will never take one major step toward achieving our goals to any significant degree.
It is not surprising that vegans and animal activists overwhelmingly have ignored the events of the century, have watched from the sidelines, or have not deigned to even consider joining the burgeoning resistance movements because “those people are speciesists and not vegans.” History is knocking at their doors, and lifestyle vegan purists can only say “Go away, you’re from the unholy mob!” And even on October 15, World Occupation Day, most vegans and animal activists were entombed in domestic prisons, baking cakes and cookies or chatting up a storm on Facebook about profound global issues such as which sugars are vegan and what recipes to use for birthday cakes. Of the many online discussions we perused yesterday — an illuminating sample of the global vegan community — there was not a single mention of what was happening in the world, in history at that moment, throughout the day, outside their kitchen windows, and beyond their computer screens. Read more...
Corporate Media Stumped On How To Cover The Occupy Movement by Russ Baker 10 Nov 2011
In this column, he says the media is having difficulty figuring out how to cover Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots.
What are the themes? How should The New York Times cover this movement that resembles no other in memory?
Certainly, media organizations are intrinsically better able to cover snapshot moments like official actions and pronouncements than movements or complex and subtly if rapidly evolving situations—like climate change, or Occupy.
In any case, for answers, the Public Editor turns to colleagues outside The Times, and solicits their wisdom:
Stephen Buckley, dean of faculty, The Poynter Institute; former managing editor, St. Petersburg Times
To my mind, the compelling question driving the Occupy Wall Street story is: How come these people are so angry? And maybe more compellingly: Why did it take them so long to get angry? (We’ve been feeling the effects of a recession for more than four years….)
[Snip]
First of all, “we” (being Mr. Buckley) presumably are not feeling the effects of the recession in quite the same way as those who lost their homes and jobs. Second of all, this is not a protest over the recession. It is the result of a few brave souls who finally had had enough of a lousy system and took to the streets, inspiring others to (gradually) follow. Read more...
By lancebaxter
Actor, voice over talent and non-political figure D.C. Douglas chimes in with his take on OWS - Occupy Wall Street.
Thanks for the amazing support my video has received! Special thanks to John Cusack, Roseanne Barr, Karoli, OneVoice2, MoveOn.org, Charles Gaba & Daily Kos and Lawrence O'Donnell (for airing a portion on The Last Word 10/11/11)!
CrossTalk: Revolt Dot Com
Would there have been an Arab Spring without social media? How much do Egyptians owe to Facebook and Twitter? Have we seen a Twitter revolution or a people's revolution? And is calling it a Facebook revolution a good way to discredit people's ability to mobilize and push for reforms? CT-ing with Danny Schechter, John Perry Barlow and Laurie Penny on Oct. 24.
My Eleven Days at St Paul’s Occupation Protest – November 1st to 11th by James 13 Nov 2011
When I had first heard of the London Stock Exchange Occupation protest in London I was sceptical that the protest would last more then a day. I had arrived at Paternoster Square around 10 am in the morning and saw many police and press hanging around. At around noon I could see the crowd of people getting bigger outside St Paul’s and decided to go check it out. Within half hour the crowd numbered in the thousands filling every part of St Paul’s. The police presence also grew and after an attempt by the protestors to enter Paternoster Square the police started to form lines first blocking off the road while encouraging the protestors to move into the road. One group of protestors attempted to leave the area but were prevented from doing so by the police who claimed that there was an “absolute cordon” in place.
This really had no effect since the protestors had already decided to occupy the area and was happy to stay. Police TSG (Territorial Support Group) pushed their way through the thousands of protestors pushing many down the steps of St Paul’s and forming a police line at the top of St Paul’s steps. Many people were hurt including one independent journalist who was pushed down the steps and came close to receiving a kick in the head. The TSG officer had missed and instead kicked a fellow officer who had also fallen beside the journalist. Later a TSG officer had collapsed and had a seizure and I suspected this was the officer who had been kicked by his colleague. I found myself spending a night on Day One (October 15th) of the Occupation and from there on went to video the protest day to day going back home during the night and uploading the footage onto YouTube.
On the 28th this all changed as my family moved up north and I no longer had a home in London. From then on I spent every night at St Paul’s taking video and getting involved anyway I could which involved helping out at Supplies tent. I came across an article in the Daily Mail (October 29, 2011 – Page 32-33) which was written by one of their reporters Tom Rawstorne. Mr Rawstorne had gone undercover for a total of 48 hours at the London Occupation protest at St Paul’s and described the majority of protestors as “pot-smoking, part time protestors who put partying before politics”. This didn’t appear to support what I had seen myself whilst videoing the protest. Tom Rawstorne claimed “a key activity is sitting around smoking joints and knocking back lager” yet I found it hard to imagine that the Police would sanction such drug and drink use at a holy site. Police are constantly patrolling around the tents looking for any excuse to remove the protest so it was unlikely that Mr Rawstorne was correct in what he was saying. Mr Rawstorne also repeated a ridiculous claim in his article that “on Tuesday, this newspaper revealed that only one in ten of the 200-odd tents are occupied over night. Evidence of this came from a thermal imaging camera deployed from a police helicopter”. Mr Rawstorne claims to have spent 48 hours at the occupation yet failed to visit the Supplies tent (now located by the Tea tent) once. If he did he may have understood why the thermal imaging camera’s had problems detecting body heat. It’s called “Thermal Bag” by a company called Karrimor, which appears to be a popular donation to the Supplies tent.
Another protestor who also wishes to remain anonymous and recently quite from a bank told me “when I first heard about the occupation at St Paul’s I believed the majority of protestors were out there to get something for nothing. That was the common view amongst my colleagues and for a while I was content to believe this was the case. Whilst on a lunch break I decided to go down to the protest and speak with the people myself. Admittedly I wanted to confirm what I thought was true but was shocked to discover that many of the protestors were hard working people who had been forced into taking action. The protestors were aware of what my job was but I found that these people were treating me with respect. Respect that I realised me and my colleagues had not given these protestors. I then visited the occupation after work and got speaking with many people regarding their reasons for being out there. I felt ashamed that people would give up the warmth of a home and a soft bed for such a cause and so after many days of thought quite my job.” Read more...
Ellen Brown Occupy LA Teach In
http://webofdebt.wordpress.com
Acres USA, April, 2010:
Ellen Hodgson Brown may have done the impossible. She wrote a book about the most stupefying subject in the world - money, where it comes from and how it is manipulated - and made it readable, compelling, even suspenseful. Web of Debt is a page-turner that explains the origin of the Federal Reserve, the functioning of our money supply, currency speculation, capital flows, and the rest. As you read, interest grows like a Wall Street bonus package. . . . The only downside - pardon the finance jargon - is a loss of innocence. Once the destructive reality of the contemporary monetary system sinks in, there is no longer any excuse for apathy.
Should the Occupy movement make more demands? by Michael Albert 15 Nov 2011
At the moment we are reaching out for more members and developing consciousness, but we have to think big
Elites do not like demands that would diminish their power and wealth, and will not implement such demands without being forced. Winning such demands therefore depends on raising the social cost to elites so high that giving in becomes their least bad option.
In other words, elites confront a movement that, if they do not give in to it, will become dramatically stronger and demand even more, threatening the very system elites seek to defend. At that point, elites give in. And if the movements operate optimally, after the elites give in, rather than going home, the movements get stronger anyway, and seek more.
So, should the Occupy movements in London and around the world make demands?
In my view, yes, when they are ready and able to do so successfully – which means when they can do so in a way that leads them forward.
But what does making demands in a way that can lead forward mean?
It means (a) that movements have sufficient strength to be in position to win – where such strength is largely a function of the numbers of people they galvanise and their levels of commitment. And (b) that movements can win in a manner that further increases their membership and the commitment of their members.
Demands therefore need to appeal to a very wide constituency. They need to be put forward not by a small group, but by a large and growing movement in touch with the needs of a still larger constituency. And the demands need to be ones that one can fight for in ways that open doors to new demands and to new audiences, rather than leading back into compliance with a moribund and immoral system. Read more...
Some Questions For Occupy London Stock Exchange by Mike Raddie 23 Nov 2011
We’ve been hearing rumours which if true, have some of us here at BSN quite worried. Hopefully somebody from the London Occupy camps can shed some light on the queries below and put our minds at rest.
1) Is it true that Reuters are acting for the camp as a conduit to the media? Do people think this is a good idea? Why use the mainstream media in this way (especially Reuters with their terrible track record of lies by omission and their obvious interest in maintaining the current financial system) when there is a functioning media team / working group who are more than capable of communicating directly with the outside world?
2) Is it true that the same small group of people are the only ones present at every process meeting? If true and assuming this meeting does indeed set the agenda for the General Assembly (GA) meeting, can anyone see a potential problem with this? If a proposal is made which no-one in the process group agrees with, will it be given the same consideration and equal time at the GA as other proposals?
3) Do people consider the Guardian 'Occupy CiF' section a positive addition in terms of raising awareness?
From Media Lens: "This is exactly how the Guardian and other liberal media responded to the explosion of environmental concern in the 1980s. That was a huge, determined surge of public outrage. The Guardian did its best to co opt it, embracing many Green spokespeople and even creating a supplement, Environment Guardian. That, like much media coverage, defanged and kettled the arguments with nonsense about 'green capitalism' and 'sustainable consumerism'. 'Moderate' Green spokespeople were given lucrative media careers, became household names (they often went on to work directly with other corporations). The big emphasis was on not alienating the media, deemed crucial allies - the Guardian was a kind of heroic force for Greens. Less 'moderate' Greens were completely ignored or reviled by the media without resistance from 'moderate' Greens keen to remain 'part of the conversation'. That gave the media huge control over the debate.
What happened? The movement became shallower, trivialised, and lost momentum. The media gave the impression that the environment was under new, caring management. And now? The Green movement has been almost erased from the mainstream and media like the Guardian are all about promoting endless economic growth, high status mass consumption, conformity, passivity etc - even though the environment (notably the climate) is in a far worse state."
Hundreds of police officers approached Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday morning. Did this photgrapher just happen to be in the right place at the right time or did the police alert the friendly media of their plans ahead of the early morning raid on Occupy Wall Street?
Occupy Planet Earth: Resisting the Militarisation of State Power by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmad 2 Dec 2011
Viva L’Occupation
The Occupy Movement is currently the most vocal manifestation of public resistance and civil disobedience to his the west since the 60s. In turn, it has elicited a concerted and in some ways unprecedented militarisation of state violence. In the US, the deployment of tear gas, pepper-spray and rubber bullets has deliberately brutalised peaceful, civilian protestors - purely in the name of restoring ‘civil order’. More than ever, the insistence by people on reclaiming public spaces in the name of opposing the injustice and inequality meted out by the proverbial “1 percent” is unpeeling the mask of the democratic state, to reveal the unrestrained monopoly of wealth and weapons on which its power is premised.
Unlike previous twentieth century protests, the Occupy Movement is distinguished by its genuine spontaneity, its leaderless dynamic, and its organic global proliferation through the streets of major industrial cities in the North. The driving force of Occupy , however, is not just the escalating global economic recession, although the latter’s role in galvanising grievances shouldn’t be underestimated. Rather, the determination of citizens to occupy strategic public spaces is inspired by a convergence of public perceptions. Read more...