| resources | contact | about | volunteer | tv news | video | radio | questions |
| |||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||
      regionstopic pagesgenresactionsall action pages >> resourcesglobal imc
|
newswire archive
With over 50,000 people protesting in the street in three major protests through the course of the day, massive labor participation, and a shut down of the Port of Oakland, there is no question that the general strike was a success. Yet the corporate media is now blowing up the importance of a few acts of vandalism by protesters and agent provocateurs. This is a blatant attempt divert attention from a successful working class action.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand." - Frederick Douglass
In a movement based on general anger about inequality and the domination of big banks, it becomes difficult to focus the rage into something concrete. For many Occupiers, being concrete is a mere distraction, meant to shift the movement into something 'less radical," since their targets big banks and inequality are at the root of the problem. Why mess with the tree when you could go for the roots? But, as any tree-removal worker will tell you, the tree comes first, then the roots. The roots cannot be the immediate goal of the Occupy movement because pulling them out would require tens of millions of hands, and the vast majority of working people are not yet directly involved in the movement, though many of them are giving approving nods from a distance. Bringing these more distant people into the movement requires they be given a good reason to join. And although a general anti-1% sentiment sounds appealing to the 99%, a struggle to win worker-friendly demands can help pull these people into the streets.
"We aren't making economic progress," says Stewart Alexander, Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party USA, "we are simply going through a long term process of replacing poorly paying jobs with even worse jobs while corporate profits soar. The only 'change' Obama has given us jingles in our pockets."
It seems as though the student wing of Occupy has been lagging behind the normally more conservative union movement. But signs are emerging that students are realizing this is their fight too.
Kayvan Sabehgi, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is in intensive care with a lacerated spleen. He says he was beaten by police close to the Occupy Oakland camp, but despite suffering agonizing pain, did not reach hospital until 18 hours later.
For all too long, the American people have been raped (metaphorically, as in taken against their will) and robbed (literally) by the bailed out banks. Today is the day to take their power away. Close your accounts. Take your money elsewhere.
"Kayvan Sabehgi in intensive care with a lacerated spleen after protests in Oakland, a week after Scott Olsen was hurt. He says police beat him with batons."
Police raided Occupy Oakland in the wee hours of Oct 25, setting off the Nov 2nd General Strike in which some 40,000 persons took part.
Occupy Starbucks (the song)
Since the Supreme Court handed down its infamous "Citizens United v. FEC"
decision on January 21, 2010, Americans everywhere are waking up to what we at Move to Amend have been saying all along: large multi-national corporations, with their insatiable thirst for profits, dominate every aspect of our political and social life. They have crashed our economy, raped our environment, and taken ownership of our ballot boxes in an attempt to turn our democracy into a corporatocracy.
A splinter group takes possession of the Hawthorne Bridge, crossing over to Southeast Portland, taking Grand Avenue on their way to Occupy the Burnside Bridge before circling back to the park.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZNbBwyQ8o0
Stewart Alexander, Socialist Party USA nominee for President, says the Occupy movement is to the left of the Democratic Party. More so, Alexander claims that Barack Obama represents the 1%, not the 99%.
Bill to protect seniors a whitewash
movetoamend.org Sign the petition to amend the Constitution by revoking corporate personhood.
In the financial district, they proclaim: "Buy shares, not populations." "Tax the Rich" could be read on many signs. Bus drivers, teachers and nurses declared: "We have the same goals as the occupiers." At the same time solidarity actions are taking place at 147 other places in the US from the high North down to Florida. More than 30 new places are added overnight.
I am not for "communism." The present economic disaster has come about because everybody ignored the obvious fact that a nation that allows 1% to own almost everything, while 99% own almost nothing, cannot be free. The 1% exists because they have have accumulated so much power that they do not get taxed at all. Meanwhile, people with normal jobs, even minimum wage jobs (few are informed of this) are required to give up at least 25% of their income to taxes!
We are back in the Gilded Age of 1931; the 1% rich own it all; the 99% non-rich own virtually nothing. But there is a difference now. All of our productional industry has been sent off-shore, and our workers are without skills and sound education. Beware! "George Washington famously said, 'Government is Force.'" Well he was as slave owner, wasn't he? But there is more to it than that. Force is not government. Owning slaves is real force! Property implies force, in fact. Too much property implies too much force! What right do the super-rich have to use GOVERNMENT FORCE to "protect" their extravagant wealth? Wealth is force without democracy. Money + information (about other people) = power.
"The SEIU 1021 Executive Board calls on all members of SEIU 1021 to join a day-long "Peaceful Day of Action" in support of Occupy Oakland and against the banking industry and last week's police brutality against the Occupy Oakland encampment." SEIU 1021 Official Statement & Call to Action Call to Action
1 November 2011 - Oakland, Ca.
We represent the 645 police officers who work hard every day to protect the citizens of Oakland. We, too, are the 99% fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families. We are severely understaffed with many City beats remaining unprotected by police during the day and evening hours.
Recently by the S&L scandal, but this has been going on for centuries ...
Mega-bank Goldman Sachs (assets $933bn), has declared war on one of the smallest banks in New York (assets $30m), the customer-owned community bank that happens to also be the banker for Friends of Liberty Plaza, Inc, also known as Occupy Wall Street. And you thought Goldman didn't care.
We got no more money, honey. Go to the fucking church. Say all their fucking prayers. Shake their soft privileged hands. Get their lousy "sandwich" with one slice of cheap cheese.
Live 12 more hours.
The Wall Street elite should be taking these protests as a signal that they need to get their house in order. The status quo just is not going to cut it. But instead of taking leadership and calling for significant change, many among the elite are openly mocking the protesters. The incredible arrogance displayed by so many on Wall Street and by so many in Washington D.C. is absolutely appalling. The following are 10 examples of how the elite are openly mocking the poor in America today
If he could cut us a check for supplies / food / medicine, this could greatly help the occupation.
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both."
- Frederick Douglass
SUMMARY
............................................................................................ Since September 17th Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has grown and inspired occupations around the globe. The General Assembly (GA) is at the heart of this movement. It provides a forum for political discussion and a plurality of ideas. It is, however, struggling to meet the day--]to--]day operational needs of the Working Groups and Caucuses.
If elected president in 2012, Alexander says his administration will support the provisions of a livable guaranteed annual income. A Guaranteed Livable Income would be an unconditional and universal income administered by the federal government and granted to individuals to ensure that no person's income falls below what is necessary for health, life and dignity.
Tuesday's near-fatal attack by Oakland, California police on a young veteran during an anti-Wall Street protest is part of a wave of repression that has provoked nationwide anger over the growing assault on democratic rights.
The next step: A new-old idea -- there is no point in re-inventing the wheel. Find a model that worked in the past and use that. Find a mentor or mentors who have already succeeded in a peaceful revolution, even if you need to bring them from overseas.
Different statements have been released by the more than 1,500 solidarity groups and occupations throughout the world..... the Move Your Money Project and Bank Transfer Day, both in solidarity with the Occupy movement, have called for people to remove their money from large corporate banks by Nov. 5, moving their money to local banks and credit unions. Excerpts from two occupations' statements of grievances and demands follow.
Lately every group with SET GOALS AND EFFECTIVE WAYS TO GET THERE gets attacked directly with every c0int3lpro dirty trick available to the US Government.
I'm sure your group wishes to be that exception but I'm afraid if Uncle Sam knows you exist then you're already being watched, infiltrated and harmed by dirty-tricks every day.
This is an article from the consumer stream media. Forgive the repost, I am inspired by the possibility. General Strike... anyone free to visit Oakland on Wednesday, or do we need to have a solidarity gathering right here in Portland. Just asking.
....we are unlikely to see major policy or infrastructure changes until our new movement hits the 1% where it really hurts -- in their pocketbook..... This is where #OccupyWallStreet differs significantly from the major uprisings in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, where mass demonstrations were accompanied by general strikes that shut down economic activity. In Egypt, it was the unions' threat to shut down the Suez Canal that ultimately forced Mubarak to step down.
This level of community angst (there were a lot of people marching and a lot of occupied cities) is not so much about capitalism as a form of economic viability as it is about how criminality infiltrates capitalistic tendencies. There is probably "no" country more corrupt that our current empire here in the United States. That is the main issue. Not just corporate greed but its caustic effects in bribing Congress, the news media, the Executive branch of government, and the alienation of the majority of other countries against our lies, deceit, our government corrupting other peoples, the wars, and the torture, etc.
... happening
"...a process through which anyone who suspects an informer (or other form of covert intervention) can express his or her fears without scaring others."
Time for another look at disruption tactics being waged on "protest" groups such as Occupy Wall Street. I've witnessed a great deal of this during my visits to GAs and Working Group meetings in Providence, RI this past week. Providence locals tell me it's been shaping up to be a regular occurrence there.
Yesterday police raided the Occupy Oakland encampment. One protester, an Iraq War veteran was hit in the face with a tear gas canister. Legal observers and media were kept away from the raid.
Occupy Oakland Media Team responds to brutal early morning police raid involving armored vehicles, tear gas, and bean bag bullets.
Citizens of the Bay Area will be meeting this afternoon in response to the paramilitary-style attack on Occupy Oakland early this morning. The police raid resulted in the arrests of over 75 non-violent protesters, organizing to fight issues such as wealth disparity, corporate and government corruption, and the destruction of vital benefits and social services. Issues of violence, sanitation, and fire hazards were used as a pretext to evict Occupy Oakland from the camp. On Monday, the protesters invited City of Oakland officials to voice their concerns at the General Assembly. Instead, the city spent hundreds of thousands--if not millions--of taxpayer dollars to evict peaceful protesters. Over a dozen local police departments participated in this egregious show of force. Armored vehicles, riot gear, tear gas, and bean bag bullets were deployed against unarmed U.S. citizens.
My definition of Reality is that whatever appears on TV is Real. I have concluded that America will no longer be able to pay the electric bill so the TV Reality will cease to function. This means that mind numbed Zombies who had been doped into a stupor watching CNN-NBC-BBC-CBS, which are all propaganda outlets for the criminal enterprise known as the CIA-MOSSAD-MI6, will be cruelly thrust into the land of the living.
in the early morning of Oct 25, the Occupy Oakland camp in Frank Ogawa Plaza (renamed Oscar Grant plaza) is being dispersed by police. They got their start a few days after Portland's, and grew to a couple hundred tents, with a similarly styled general assembly.
At least 40 were arrested so far, but there wasn't much battery involved (going by early reports). The city has stopped the transit stops near downtown. It's a developing situation.
New York cops defy order to arrest hundreds of 'Occupy Albany' protesters
I love this idea. Educate Americans using fiat currency as a medium ...
Thousands march in second weekend mass mobilization for Occupy Chicago
The occupation movement's greatest challenge will be overcoming the deep distrust of white liberals by the poor and the working class, especially people of color. Marginalized people of color have been organizing, protesting and suffering for years with little help or even acknowledgment from the white liberal class. With some justification, those who live in these marginalized communities often view this movement as one dominated by white sons and daughters of the middle class who began to decry police abuse and the lack of economic opportunities only after they and their families were affected. This distrust is not the fault of the movement, which has instituted measures within its decision-making process to make sure marginalized voices are heard before white males. It is the fault of a bankrupt liberal class that for decades has abandoned the core issue of economic justice for the poor and the working class and busied itself with the vain and self-referential pursuits of multiculturalism and identity politics.
I always take note when I hear three MENA-related stories in a row on the radio
Should Occupiers be concerned that the Nazi Party has given official "support" to the Occupy Movement? Or be worried that other far-right groups including sections of the Tea Party are "pro occupy?" Absolutely. These groups have no place in an anti-corporate, pro-worker movement. The Occupy Movement's greatest strength its broad appeal can quickly become an exploitable weakness, and the far right smells blood.
Luckily, expelling the right wing isn't so difficult once you understand their motives and strategy. Right-wing populism's greatest strength is also the vague nature of their demands, which intend to connect with broad sections of the population. However, their demands are vague not because they are a fledgling movement like Occupy but because they strategically try to conceal their radically right-wing goals.
More than one-third of the U.S. supports the Wall Street protests, and even more 58 percent say they are furious about America's politics.
United States Marine Corps. Sergeant Shamar Thomas in a spectacular moment defended the protesters of Occupy Wall Street while staring into the faces of thirty NYPD officers, and now countless other Marines have organized in an amazing show of solidarity.
Sgt. Thomas' gallant actions in standing up for American citizens being brutalized by the police were shown in a video which has gone viral with almost 2 million views. Marines have joined forces with #OccupyMarines in solidarity with the movement not just in New York, but nationwide.
To clearly define the needs of working people and to establish a new social and economic order, Stewart Alexander says he would commission an Occupy Wall Street Council. The OWS Council would be comprised of thousands of working people from local communities, states and throughout the nation. Alexander emphasized his choice to head this national council would be peace activist Cindy Sheehan. Alexander says, "It is my hope that the Occupy Wall Street movement and the OWS Council will help establish true democracy in America."
Here are some details regarding the funding operations of "Occupy Wall Street," and the "General Assembly."
Written for you, all of you, from some friends in Portland, Oregon.
Sheriff gives order to gun down 48 loose wild animals in rural OH after the lunatic who held them captive on his private game reserves released them, shortly before committing suicide (reasons not yet reported). Welcome to Red-State Heaven!
Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) reports on the October2011 organizing effort. Calls for dialogue in the face of abuses.
I believe that the 99% protests are great, and can be worthwhile. At the moment, presumably most of the protesters are associated in various degrees with an organization that instantly sprung up, calling itself the "General Assembly." It has dapper "organizers" who go about dispensing money (from where?). It doesn't have to be that way. Other protesters should form their own affinity groups of five to ten individuals and show up. (Large groups get infiltrated fast.) Each group can make its own demands.
One lone Irag Vet speaks truth to power - shames and keeps 30 NYPD officers from harming civilians
As the Occupy Movement gains strength nationally and internationally, questions of "what next" are popping up. Although there are no easy answers or ready-to-order recipes for moving forward, there are general ideas that can help unite the Occupy Movements with the broader community of the 99% which is the most urgent need at the moment. Why the urgency? Writer Chris Hedges explains:
"The state and corporate forces are determined to crush this . . . They are terrified this will spread. They have their long phalanxes of police on motorcycles, their rows of white paddy wagons, their foot soldiers hunting for you on the streets with pepper spray and orange plastic nets . . ."
OWS Must Engage In Non-violent Civil Disobedient Traffic Blocking Now!
http://occupywallst.org/forum/ows-must-engage-non-violent-civil-disobedient-traf/
Republicans are winning the semantics war.
pages: 367, 366, 365, 364, 363, 362, 361, 360, 359, 358, 357, 356, 355, 354, 353, 352, 351, 350, 349, 348, 347, 346, 345, 344, 343, 342, 341, 340, 339, 338, 337, 336, 335, 334, 333, 332, 331, 330, 329, 328, 327, 326, 325, 324, 323, 322, 321, 320, 319, 318, 317, 316, 315, 314, 313, 312, 311, 310, 309, 308, 307, 306, 305, 304, 303, 302, 301, 300, 299, 298, 297, 296, 295, 294, 293, 292, 291, 290, 289, 288, 287, 286, 285, 284, 283, 282, 281, 280, 279, 278, 277, 276, 275, 274, 273, 272, 271, 270, 269, 268, 267, 266, 265, 264, 263, 262, 261, 260, 259, 258, 257, 256, 255, 254, 253, 252, 251, 250, 249, 248, 247, 246, 245, 244, 243, 242, 241, 240, 239, 238, 237, 236, 235, 234, 233, 232, 231, 230, 229, 228, 227, 226, 225, 224, 223, 222, 221, 220, 219, 218, 217, 216, 215, 214, 213, 212, 211, 210, 209, 208, 207, 206, 205, 204, 203, 202, 201, 200, 199, 198, 197, 196, 195, 194, 193, 192, 191, 190, 189, 188, 187, 186, 185, 184, 183, 182, 181, 180, 179, 178, 177, 176, 175, 174, 173, 172, 171, 170, 169, 168, 167, 166, 165, 164, 163, 162, 161, 160, 159, 158, 157, 156, 155, 154, 153, 152, 151, 150, 149, 148, 147, 146, 145, 144, 143, 142, 141, 140, 139, 138, 137, 136, 135, 134, 133, 132, 131, 130, 129, 128, 127, 126, 125, 124, 123, 122, 121, 120, 119, 118, 117, 116, 115, 114, 113, 112, 111, 110, 109, 108, 107, 106, 105, 104, 103, 102, 101, 100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86, 85, 84, 83, 82, 81, 80, 79, 78, 77, 76, 75, 74, 73, 72, 71, 70, 69, 68, 67, 66, 65, 64, 63, 62, 61, 60, 59, 58, 57, 56, 55, 54, 53, 52, 51, 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 |
