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'Indignant' Activists Launch Worldwide Protests
Activists scuffled with police in London and decried the wealthy in Hong Kong on Saturday as an unprecedented outcry against corporate greed and government cutbacks spread worldwide.
Protesters of the 'Indignant' group demonstrate against banking and finance in Rome October 15, 2011. Protesters worldwide geared up for a cry of rage on Saturday against bankers, financiers and politicians they accuse of ruining global economies and condemning millions to poverty and hardship through greed. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) Inspired by America's "Occupy Wall Street" and Spain's "Indignants", people took to the streets in a rolling action targeting 951 cities in 82 countries from Asia to Europe, Africa and the Americas.
It was the biggest show of power yet by a movement born on May 15 when a rally in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square sparked a protest that spread internationally.
Anger over unemployment and opposition to the financial elite hung over the protests, which coincided with a Paris meeting of G20 financial powers pre-occupied by the eurozone debt crisis.
But the demands and the sense of urgency among the activists varied depending on the city.
Scuffles broke out in London where about 300 people rallied in the financial district by Saint Paul's Cathedral, raising banners saying: "Strike back!"; "No cuts!" and "Goldman Sachs is the work of the devil!"
Three lines of police, and one line at the rear on horseback, blocked them from heading to the London Stock Exchange and pushed back against lead marchers, some wearing masks.
"I am here today mainly as a sense of solidarity with the movememts that are going on around the world," said Ben Walker, a 33-year-old teacher from the eastern English city of Norwich.
"We're hoping for a kind of justice in the global financial system," the teacher said. He carried a sleeping bag and said he would spend the next night or two in the area.
In Madrid, 100 people in one of a series of five marches set off for an evening rally in the emblematic Cibeles square from where they will proceed to Puerta del Sol for all-night rallies.
"The fight goes on!" they chanted at the start of a six-hour march from the southern suburb of Leganes to the centre of Madrid.
Thousands more marched in Rome where 1,500 police patrolled, famous monuments including the Colosseum and the Roman Forum were closed down and four metro stations were shut.
"Today is only the beginning. We hope to move forward with a global movement," said one protester, Andrea Muraro, a 24-year-old engineering student from northern Padua.
A small group of about 50 protesters gathered outside of Africa's biggest bourse, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, to voice concern over the country's widening gap between rich and poor.
"We need to stop the greedy wealthy elite from stealing from the poor working class," said "Occupy South Africa" organiser Marius Bosch.
As the day began, around 500 people gathered in the heart of Hong Kong's financial district to vent their anger at the inequities and excesses of free-market capitalism, while 100 demonstrators in Tokyo also voiced fury at the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Around 600 demonstrators in Sydney set up camp outside Australia's central bank, where the plight of refugees and Aboriginal Australians was added to the financial concerns.
Organisers of the worldwide protest, relying heavily on Facebook and Twitter, say demonstrations will be held in 951 cities across 82 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa.
The "indignant" protests first took hold in Spain, which has a jobless rate of 20.89 percent rising to 46.1 percent for 16- to 24-year-olds, where for a month activists lived in a ramshackle camp in Puerta del Sol.
They then spread elsewhere in Europe, finding strong backing in crisis-hit countries like Greece, and then worldwide -- last month reaching the centre of global capitalism in Wall Street.
In New York, where since September 17 several hundred people have occupied a small park in the financial district, organisers have called a rally in Times Square for 5:00 pm (2100 GMT).
The protesters declared victory Friday morning when New York authorities at the last minute postponed the evacuation of their camp.
But an impromptu celebration march to nearby Wall Street ended in scuffles and 14 arrests when protesters ignored police instructions to remain on the sidewalks so as not to impede traffic.
US police arrested about three dozen other protesters in Denver, Seattle and San Diego.
Over 100 authors, including Salman Rushdie and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Cunningham, have signed an online petition declaring their support for the protests.
- Posted in
57 Comments so far
Show AllThe numbers are disappointing. It seems to me the country will continue to drift, drift into oblivion.
For every demonstrator, there are many more who agree, but haven't yet turned out. As it intensifies, they will eventually appear in person. OWS already dwarfs the Tea Party.
And there are folks like me. I'll go to nearby OWS protests, and have, but I won't journey all they way in to San Francisco today to boost the crowd in there. That'll happen in a real crunch, but not today.
Also keep in mind that international turnout has been much larger for demonstrations with immediate local issues. At the moment, Wall Street is not a local issue to many of them (even though it's behind their local issues). That linkup will build ...
Sorry, accidental re-post
Sorry again, another accidental re-post. My computer sure seems to hang on a lot of page transitions and drop servers lately. My email addies have become glacial and droppy. Must be Casper the ghost.
This is true. Whenever we get threatened with eviction from the park we have plenty of fired up and loud protest support from folks who don't stay in the encampment but support us in the community. I've seen one recent Fox News poll that asked "Does the Occupy Wall Street protests reflect your views about the nation's economic problems?"
70% said yes. 26.61% said no. That was out roughly 212,877 total respondents with 2.57% saying "maybe."
[Source: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/10/07/do-occupy-wall-street-protests-represent-your-views-economy/]
To really transform this country these Occupy movements have to do recruitment and reach out on a much bigger thinking scale, and then we have to start communicating better across all the encampments about national political strategy.
We need to circumvent the Republicrat lock on ballot access at the State level with americanselect.org (where any individual can register as delegate and nominate whomever they want to run for office and they can get on the ballot in all 50 States because americanselect.org is not a Third Party but an independent nominating process), and then together push to lower the signature petition hurdles and develop our own media (internet and low-tech, like LPFM) to get people to sign those petitions.
Then we can develop our own candidates with specific policy goals both states-wide and nationally and have our own media forums to discuss issues, ideas, do interviews & air candidate debates that the corporatist, militarist media will not air.
Networking between all the American Occupy groups is still in its infancy, but the interest in it is rapidly building. Now is the time to come out and show your support in numbers in the park encampments and in the streets in terms of boosting our protest events and doing at least some work to help the local encampment nearest you to help us survive the coming crack-downs long enough to start seriously developing regional and national strategies. You will meet some wonderful people and the spirit of this movement is FANTASTIC.
My perspective on all this is we want to go around the corporate media as much as possible with our own forms of mass media to build membership numbers and support in all forms; we want to go around the Republicrat lock on presidential debates, state ballot access and out-grow whatever signature petition hurdles we encounter.
Americanselect.org -very interesting.
I signed up as a delegate.
I mean, why not? Most useful thing I'll do on the Net today. ;)
FOXNews poll- very, very interesting!
That nearly exactly confirms the similar questions/results in the TIME poll, but with 100 times the respondents and FOXNews(!!!) as the filter.
The Occupy Movement is a POPULAR MOVEMENT now, folks!
At least in supporters, if not yet in participants.
good post pedal to the metal
I just came back from oakland cali occupation- Danny Glover spoke beautifully and powerfully, lots of people of color on board and older folks seemed to predominate the crowd. the tents with the big city hall in the background was a sight to behold
I agree that we need to just show up even if only for an hour, we are being born
Thanks for that update on OO. I'm one of the few geezers in my local movement here but the kids can tell I love the movement and their energy and I've been treated very well by them. This current younger generation is split right on the dividing line between the tail end of one of the most sheltered generations ever (by materially glutted Boomers and older Gen-Xer parents) and rapid post-Bush II decline of almost every system around them with many of them sliding deeper into poverty along with their parents ever since.
We need everyone to do what they can to help those kids because they are the most challenged generation of young people in human history and we who grew up as reckless consumers helped put them there.
where's your local movement pray tell?
many in our generation of boomers never fell for the materialism that was foisted upon us by the 'consumer culture'. I know many of them who have stayed active and tried to do the right thing. Chosen professions that were not part of the problem, some even making work to counter the problem of greed, warmaking and materialism. For us it was simply a generational responsibility.
'All is vanity'
ITS REALLY MUCH SIMPLER
Create a PLATFORM, vote the PLATFORM, they fill the positions with people who back the PLATFORM.
Money and lobbyists become a moot point.
Contrary to what some troll posters want you yo believe, IT WILL NOT TAKE GENERATIONS.
It can be done for the 2012 election cycle,and done within the existing political system. NO VIOLENCE, on our part.
Find references to "CITIZEN CENTRAL" details of how it works, this applies to every country.
Now that our eyes are opened, its time for "Citizen Central".
Many more of us cannot be there, but have sent funds in support and do whatever we can to keep the movement growing.
When it reaches the stage of actions such as General Strikes and boycotts, we will be able to participate locally and regionally.
It's disappointing now, but one has to start somewhere.
There's nothing disappointing now. This is a wonderful start.
Consider that ,prior to this movement, demonstrations were being reported as Tea Party gatherings only. While there is a legitimate reason to fear a gradual decline rather than a rising in the number of protestors and the so far spreading nature of this movement, I think your post is far to pessimistic and, frankly, not at all helpful.
If you, yourself , are so dispirited then why come here at all?
Are the economic elites thinking about how to make necessary changes or are they thinking of how to defend themselves militarily? The window of change is open. We need to see some concrete results now.
Obama thinks he can DIVIDE people on the jobs bill by pitting the needs of our Seniors against the needs of working people. It's time to expose Obama for the lier that he is. OCW cannot be divided.
Defend themselves against what? Is anyone going after them? Like where they live? Not really. Besides, they have the police and military if it ever comes to that.
But as every major domestic and foreign policy worsens and more and more people around the country hit the economic fan, they have less and less strong support for their effed up, lobbyist lubricated, failed ideas.
Past a certain point it becomes a matter of how much of the military would want to keep episodically turning on their fellow Americans when their own families and friends are suffering from the screwed up economy or ICE deportations in larger and larger numbers. The number of returned unemployed military veterans who both dominant Parties are ignoring along with record military suicide rates are also rising.
It's the defeatists and Machine tools who are clinging to the failed corporatist, militarist system.
When Americans/U.S. citizens decide to “Walk Like an Egyptian,” it’s time to blanket the media outlets with paid-off hacks/actors like Erin Burnett (“Seriously”: CNN/Fox = same) and Rep. Peter King (“Do Not Allow Any Legitimacy For Wall Street Protests, Or It Will Be Like 1960s Again”). . . .
Solidarity: #Occupy Wall Street – Everywhere
http://seaclearly.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/solidarity-occupy-wall-street-%e2%80%93-everywhere/
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Speaking of LACK of local and national progressive news solidarity for this movement in the American Deep South:
I'm coming to you from the media committee of an Occupy movement in a Deep South city of 6 million where we still have zero coverage of our movement by commondreams.org, counterpunch.org, democracynow.org, truthdig, free speech radio news, firedoglake, or any other nationally syndicated progressive news outfits and infinitesimally little coverage in any corporate national press. We're getting some good syndicated black radio press, but even our local progressive LPFM station has yet to do an hour or two hour in-studio group interview with us a week after our launch.
So far as I can tell NONE of the Occupy movements in the Deep South are getting any national coverage and not a hell of a lot of regional coverage within their own states. We are being deliberately excluded from the nation's awareness of this movement where it exists in the Deep South.
The progressive national news orgs are stabbing us in the back by deliberate omission. This is national prog media ELITISM like I've never seen it and I'm mad as hell about it. They are ignoring an entire huge region of the country.
We on the media committee have had plenty of incoming local corporate media, and they've gradually calmed down some about our very presence. But we are being threatened with police eviction again Monday. The irony is that our mayor was a student activist in his college days and participated in civilly disobedient school building occupations.
Our demands committee is fired up and eager to agitate on a daily basis. We have a very racially diverse movement for a Deep South city. Every day I talk to students from Turkey, Germany, the Caribbean, Asia, Columbia, you name it. The debates in there are incandescent and those kids are ENGAGED. All you with teenagers and twenty-somethings who are couch potatoes should see them. We have a very proud cohort of young lesbian experienced activists who are resplendent in their divergence. Some of them were arrested for protesting the execution of Troy Davis. Our demands committee people love to put pressure on corporate and political entities in the city who engage in harmful or indifferent (to suffering they could easily end) policies, behaviors, etc.
As we continue to build, we will have a growing need for local and national independent and progressive news coverage that we are not now getting. I need any of you who care about the Occupy movements in the Deep South to contact those national progressive news entities I mentioned above, and any others you know about, and ask them to please cover these movements in our part of the country. We urgently need to build more regional awareness of them.
They've ordered us, before the Monday 11 PM deadline, to vacate the park "temporarily" so they can clean it. Something tried by the powers that be in NYC as well. We're going George Costanza in response.
If we can hold the park over the next eight days, we have planned a major two day hip-hop event in the park (for which we will store all the tents elsewhere until it is over) that features a very famous artist with a huge following in our city. I'm working on a special project that, if I can walk the negotiations tightrope, will directly help tens of thousands of people all around the city suffering from unemployment and especially long-term unemployment.
We are trying to figure out what we can do to actually make the lives of people who are struggling under the present over-concentration of wealth, political power and corporate mass media actually better in both a concrete and powerfully symbolic way.
Today we marched 200 strong against the move by greedy developers and their political cronies to foreclose on one of the largest homeless shelters in the city. This hit on both the issue of crooked foreclosures and rising homelessness.
We've organized a rally tomorrow at the State capitol where people who have come to us talking about how unemployment has ravaged their lives since the 2008 Housing Bubble implosion are going to line up to tell us and the local media their stories.
We are starting a video interview collage on our web site and a pod-cast of extended live interviews from the occupation park alternating with audio from some of our many other events and movement music. We had a film maker from a local university come in tonight to tell us he wants to do a documentary on this local movement. He may ultimately be the best historical source about it's inner workings, at least from after the first week onward. I am trying to recruit artists to devise some visually compelling and highly imaginative and colorful posters to put up around all the colleges and universities in town to try to fire the imagination of the students and draw them into the movement.
When young folks come into the park to camp and check out the scene I try to give them a task to own to actively join the community. I got a chi-gung class going that way.
I'm working with two other committees to set up a hard copy system in the park to access weekly committee summaries and general assembly highlight summaries every one to two days.
One thing I've noticed when I have time to go to the park to listen to the general assembly is the high level of hunger affecting a lot of the people in amongst the movement. We have good number of poor Boomers who come in at night to get a decent hot meal. Many of them are working-poor people and the very underemployed. We have a lot of mighty thin homeless men who come to eat with us.
We need more people, especially folks with creative energy and ideas, to come join us but it's hard to get the word out in the region with overwhelmingly local corporate media press.
The American deep South must be somewhere in Latin America and with a 6 million populatin maybe it's Rio.
I knew the South would rise again even before Fidel Castro said it.
Tin soldiers and Bush'Bama's come and we're finally on our own.
I've seen coverage of Occupy Atlanta on one of the independent TV stations in the Bay Area ...
Could you PLEASE let me know which one it was if you can remember or track it down?
I need to get in contact with them. Thanks!
Hope this helps:
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-occupies-steps-1201395.html
I have a suggestion that might help small/ignored Occupations such as yours (really all of them outside NYC):
A National General Assembly.
-Every Occupation could scrape together the busfare (or whatever) to send a delegation (likely to NYC).
-No minimum delegate numbers -this will mean that even the smallest group would get recognition.
-A delegate number maximum -high enough to ensure a strong turnout, but low enough to keep NYC and the large cities from (unintentional) domination of the Assembly.
-Strong Net basis/simultaneous Local General Assemblies -Whatever the delegation numbers, the delegates would stay in instant contact with their home Occupations utilizing the Net the way the Movement already is doing so well. LiveStreams from the National General Assembly and all the Local ones will provide interaction space in online fora for those that could not attend, but wish to participate. The combination of large virtual turnout and large in-person delegate turnout is the goal here.
-Hold the National General Assembly in the (fast approaching) winter -one way or another, the physical Occupations are going to face problems staying going over the winter months. A National General Assembly (held in an appropriate indoor setting) would allow a retreat from the parks to have a positive focus = "You'll see us again at the National General Assembly" would address both Corporatist Media attacks of "abandonment" AND the impossibility of a winter camp-out in most places.
-Ensure the National General Assembly is a real General Assembly -the idea is to facilitate co-operation, advance the debate, and provide a focused forum for Occupiers and media coverage, not to institute any centralization or hierarchy formation.
-Begin organization of a Global General Assembly- this is what we really should shoot for, a way for Humanity to come together as a whole. But the logistical requirements are difficult and intimidating. Occupations already exist all over the USA, and travel is relatively cheap. A National General Assembly (if held) would prove to the Occupiers, the 1%, and the rest of the 99%, that this Movement can organize at a serious level. This would be the launching pad to a truly Global (in all senses) Movement.
Anyways.
Hope this is a useful contribution. :)
Thanks, Matti. Nice. This is similar to what we did in the antiwar movement in the 60's...........you outlined it coherently and well.
Totally rippin' y'all off actually. ;)
The inspiration for this idea was research into the Students for a Democratic Society and the Port Huron Convention.
-Except the "dealing with winter" part, obviously.
Some good ideas here I'll have to mull over a bit. Thanks for your input. This is basically a form of computerized direct democracy that many, even Ralph Nader have discussed in one form or another for a while now--only emanating from parallel working-class assemblies sprawled across the country cybernetting directly back and forth to, and politically reinforcing the national assembly you suggest.
I don't get to spend too much time in the demands or process committees, but they brainstorm a lot of political & assembly process ideas and may be ripe to hear about something like this pretty soon.
It's way too soon for global scale, and probably too soon right now for national scale. But sometime in the next month...hmm...
I'd love to hear what democratic socialists in the northern EU social democracies would say about the international level assembly idea. Please email the Occupy
General Assemblies (if any) in Sweden, Norway and Denmark and get back to me ;-)
The process model in the General Assemblies (GAs) is mainly consensus driven and minority blocked. They seek unanimous agreement. But a national GA I think should be both internet direct but with incremental voting choices like yes, no, maybe, none of the above, other possible vote categories, etc.
This would gradually help to form a multi-party, more distributed-ly (yes, I know it's not a word) representative parliamentary-style national assembly system. Hard & fast direct democracy using up or down unanimous consensus vs. minority block would decay into hard core majoritarianism. Either far too little would get done because so much would get blocked or minorities would be brow beaten inside and outside the GA into silence or conformity.
Your media framing of this idea is GOOD. Those corporate media you-know-what's need something to chew on or they'll try to chew us up over the winter. It's cold enough down here, I can't imagine what spending the winter in a tent in NYC,
Chicago or Portland would be like.
I will comment that I think the economy is hitting a lot more people harder re: ability to travel like they used to than you think. The richest 5% takes up fully 40% of consumer demand right now--most of it in higher end to luxury goods. Madison Avenue is marketing out loud to the "new hourglass economy."
When I get a chance I'm going to cogitate your ideas and try to incorporate a less potentially majoritarian, less unanimous up, any blocks down, more incrementally stepped voting system into the basic premise. Any of the CD folks more expert on such stepped voting please comment on this thread with your links and info. The consensus model may be good for speed at the local level, but I don't think it will work for much more complex and nuanced national level issues that would affect many more people with far more regional diversity.
When I get something worked up, I'll come back to this linked page and add it to this thread. Then pending constructive comments and any last rewrites, I'll forward it to OT, who is not on top of national communications & national strategy issues yet because so many of the occupations are still struggling not to be displaced & wiped out by the cops, but I'm working a nationally networked committee communications idea already.
What I want to see as soon as possible is something like an Occupy Together Committee in each occupation that has grown big and resilient enough (with enough time to do it) to start thinking about national political, media and policy strategies useful for all the occupations.
The media & demands committees especially should have strong representatives on these OTC committees. They could be the local communications/strategy nodes communicating back and forth via their input into the local G-As from the local G-As to any national (and later, international) assembly.
To make such a system work we've got to think like more like a neural network linked to a parliamentary brain than the existing failed State/Federal corporatist duopoly legislatures/Congressional system.
I want you to do your part, matti: Become a node or a branch in the neural network. If you can't find a job, find an Occupation.
Heh heh, I have a "job" -freelance thinker. Hired myself years ago. ;)
I totally agree that the pure consensus model would need to be dropped for any National Assembly. Actually, I'm a bit relieved you think so. I had been thinking that would be a tough sell for Occupiers. IMHO the consensus model based on seeking "unanimity" is B.S., while the consensus model based on ensuring "liberties" is worthwhile. That's why the latter worked well for generations for NE tribes pre-Europeans, and the other has worked poorly for a couple decades for lefty college seminars and political echo chamber clubs. ;)
Keep in mind though that the social aspect of a National Assembly would be almost more important than the committee meetings and discussion groups, and votes, and debates, etc.
Again IMHO, one of the greatest strengths of the Occupations is that one-two punch of a) attracting the most politically involved, and thus activated, and b) the "camp-out" atmosphere that forces a level of social interaction that enables the Occupiers to see that they are not alone in their views, to have a real discussion of political substance with a stranger for perhaps the first time.
This is all by way of saying that I think the event itself may be more important than any "substantive" events that occur during it.
Anyways again, hope this is contributing.
Good Luck and Have Fun.
research "Citizen Central" it has been waiting for us.
Now that our eyes are opened, we can understand what it means.
It is a physical structure that gives a collective concrete existence to our emerging
consciousness. It is the NEXT STEP!
Google and Wiki search turns up nada.
Link?
Since you said you would be reposting on this thread, I thought I might rough out some "travel numbers" real quick.
The following numbers are all for a hypothetical delegation from Occupy Seattle (nearest me and nearly furthest, AK and HI are gonna have to be "special cases") to somewhere in NYC area:
-The bus fare is indeed way more than I thought = $250.00 for a round trip per person!
-Because of that, I didn't bother with plane or train. But all three may be more useful for closer groups (and of course AK and HI would need to use planes).
-So what about carshare, road trip style?
From Seattle to NYC is about 2900 miles sticking just to 1-90 (a little less other ways). For a vehicle that can seat -say- 6 delegates, we might imagine an average of 20 MPG. So that's about 145 gallons each way or 290 gallons round trip. At a current average of about $3.50 per gallon in the routed States, that brings us to $507.50 each way or $1015.00 round trip per vehicle or $84.58 / $169.16 per person (again assuming 6 people per vehicle).
Assuming free "Solidarity Stays" -with large, late dinner meals- for the two transit nights and at the Assembly in NYC, and cheap-to-free breakfasts and lunches (either leftovers from dinner, a free Solidarity Breakfast and to-go tofu sandwiches, or just cheapo stuff made back before leaving or found on the way), we are talking only about $1200.00 per vehicle or $200.00 per delegate travel cost.
And this is from the likely furthest road-trippable Occupation. Many will be much cheaper, and more organizational efforts (coincidental carshares, larger vehicles,etc.) could make them cheaper yet or spread the cost out nationally so the small kids can still get it done.
If we imagine that the current Occupations total of about 100 remains steady, and that each sends a minimum 6 delegates (because that's the math I already did, no other reason), and finally that the Seattle group's cost would be about twice the average cost (reasonable IMHO) then we are looking at a total delegate transit budget guesstimate of $60,000 for 600 delegates ($100.00 per, natch.)
To put those numbers into perspective, that is just $0.48 per current "Like" for Occupy Together on Facebook for the whole shebang, or -for example, and assuming only 6 delegates- $0.14 per current "Like" for your Occupy Atlanta for that one delegation.
Even imagining the in-NYC-at-the-Assembly costs drive the total cost for the event up 10 times, we are still only talking $4.80 per Together "Like" or $1.40 per-delegate per Atlanta "like". To be generated over the course of a couple months of weather-forced minimizing of on-street action.
Of course the "Like" numbers may not reflect donation potential very well, but really, if a Net-enabled organization that has already had a Global impact cannot come up with $1000 per delegate for a National Assembly in 2-3 months...well its just vaporware, isn't it?
And that is sort of the point of the idea -to prove beyond doubt that this Occupation Movement is becoming a real organization, a real Movement. To prove it to you and the other active participants as much as to the "viewers at home".
BTW - I agree with the notion of Occupy Together Committees -or something like your sketched outline under a different name. They would be massively useful in and of themselves (i.e. local Occupation contribution) and could become critical catalysts and organizing elements for co-ordinated and national (and international) Occupation (or really, whatever-the-next-stage-is) actions.
Good Luck again and I hope these numbers assist any discussion on this. :)
One last thing:
The various Occupation General Assemblies could agree by consensus to the formal procedure (i.e. agreed upon more rigid structure) that would be followed at a National General Assembly. ;)
Wish John Lennon was here to see this. Remember this anthem he recorded?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvy0bj1OpVA&feature=related
I wish he was here to see this thing happening globally, too. Boy, he could really set it off and drive young people to it in major numbers everywhere. His music helped culturally lead to the fall of the Soviet Union.
We're trying to energize youth on a local scale with a major hip-hop artist event coming up if we can hold the park. We're trying to reach out to local black youth to explain that we want them to come work with us to give us specific ideas on what problems in the city need to be solved and who the malefactors are that we need to take our pressure to.
But some of us are starting to think more and more seriously about regional and national strategies as well.
Oops, accidental re-post. Boy, since I joined this movement in media comte my computer sure has been behaving strangely. I wonder why... Could it be...
GREMLINS!?
Also - Rolling Stones, at the height of the 60's Counter-culture Revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3rnxQBizoU
To Hero-4-PEACE
Creative post .
Yes indeed we had & still have JOHN LENNON, Dylan, Baez & the others the QUESTION, that was, THAN!
Where are TODAY'S artists & creators, engaged singers, performers, progressive visionaries, IF YOU'RE THERE PLEASE RAISE YOUR HANDS YOU'RE NEEDED NOW.
Also we need all the doctors, architects, engineers, teachers, law makers, students, independent media creators, social workers & all other area, disciplines, fields, professions & OCCUPATION to tell us publicly & openly us the people THEIR EXPERIENCE, THEIR PROBLEMS due to THE FAILURE OF A SYSTEM but also their PROPOSALS for solutions & alternatives.
The old ways of corruption, force, ignorance, arrogance, fear & beating people in the streets are over. The more they persist the more we KNOW it's OVER.
In the absence of PR & audio facilities (which is nothing short of SUPPRESSION), groups of fifty could form a circle, hear the stories of three TEACHERS and educators problems, solution VISION & POSSIBLE FUTURES clearly beyond PRIVATISATION. & go from there.
Similarly MEDIA, FICTITIOUS WARS, CORRUPTION, THE BIG ONE """POLITICAL DONATIONS""", EMPLOYMENT, WORK & WORKING CONDITIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS ENVIRONMENT, "PRIVATISATION" HEALTH & THE THOUSAND OTHER ISSUES ALL CONNECTED OF COURSE nothing is separate.
By the time these circles grow world wide
THE GREY MATTER WILL GROW EXPONENTIALLY.
The will of the people, diversity of cultures, experiences, languages, the letting go of the conventional obstacles generally created by government, corporations, conservatism, orthodoxy, greed & ignorance, arrogance, ARE DROPPED & STOPPED from interFEARing.
Naturally this will EVOLVE without bureaucracy & corruption equally important it will transcend borders like it is already HAPPENING.
With the current state of technology will be AMPLIFIED with or without mics or sound system. As PEOPLE have already found way around it.
clearly not in the interests of most CORPORATIONS governments are making it extremely difficult for people to meet TO CONNECT, which is an EXTRAORDINARY irony, if anything that is one of the prime FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENTS. Perhaps that's one of the areas where we need to start.
Connecting is key to our evolution as humans.
Bar in MIND it is CORPORATIONS WE ARE LOOKING AT BEHIND THE FIREWALL that governments REPRESENT.
No terror no torture just truth.
It didn't all start with the Spanish indignados. Many of their first placards clearly expressed their inspiration from the months earlier mobilizations in Tunisia and Egypt. But the M15 Indignados were the key in uniting the Arab movements with those building up in Europe and North America.
It's all one indignant world now.
At least 70 individuals have been injured in clashes between protesters and riot police in the Italian capital of Rome, with three reported in serious condition.
[presstv]
It must be disturbing for the corporate fawning mass media and stern right-wing posters to not have protesters with a single voice and leader.
Were it otherwise, the voice and leader would then represent a hard target that could be encapsulated and controlled.
As it is, the target is amorphous, leaderless and the voices many -but with one overriding common theme -that the 1% are rolling in it as the 99% suffer and the 1% control the 99% -which isn't democracy.
Now it is in reality a little more nuanced than the 1% but I will let the lawyers handle the fine print after corporate money and political bedfellows separate.
Occupy Canada:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/index.html
"Marking an unusually high turnout for a downtown Calgary protest, about 500 people drummed, chanted and protested issues ranging from income disparity, capitalism and corporate politics to homelessness and fiat currency Saturday. Following similar protests in cities across Canada, the Occupy Wall Street movement is drawing thousands of people across the world similar to a left-wing Tea Party movement. It began in New York in September; when protesters began a sit-in at Zuccotti Park to object to Wall Street’s role in precipitating the 2008 financial collapse"
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1070622--occupy-toronto-protesters-settle-in-at-st-james-park
http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Protesters+ready+pitch+tents+Occupy+Vancouver/5555433/story.html
Comments anyone?
Comment 1: The "left-wing Tea Party" framing is B.S. but becoming typical. Not good.
Comment 2: The drumming is not helping to widen the appeal. It is a calling cards of the left and of professional protesters. One event without drumming maybe? ;)
Comment 3: Most importantly ...good turnout Calgary!
I've got a slightly different take on the Tea Party comparison from Canadian media. In the very first CBC report I heard after the network sent somebody to NYC for OWS (not merely picking up a local stateside feed), the correspondent made that same correlation to the Tea Party.
However, the overall reportage in that case did not have an Assimilated Press propaganda feel. Listening to it, I sensed the correspondent honestly thought the Tea Party was a grass-roots movement (I'm hoping the network has since done its due diligence on the matter).
Now, the Herald, on the other hand, I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw its press. Tacking on the assertion that protesters "object to Wall Street's role in precipitating the 2008 financial collapse" is straight out of Herr Rove's talking-point mill.
"Object to" indeed.
I thought the 'Left-Wing Tea Party' statement would provoke some comment and I hear you on the Calgary Herald. The Sun chain across Canada are right-wing gutter rags, occasionally neutral but with sensationalism at the fore and zero continuity on anything. The Herald is worse from what little I have seen of it with horribly slanted right-wing editorials that verge on the scary at times. There is only the Star in Toronto with a slight left lean, the Globe & Mail has veered right with a very pro-Israel bias and was fully supportive of Right-WIng Harper, his contempt for parliament and the Canadian people and his Religious Right Old Testament evangelical ideology. The Globe occasionaly throws in a 'socialist' columnist but quickly bury it deeply in the on-line web page whereas the right-wing columnists like the odious Ibbitson, Taber and the loathsome Blatchford are front and centre.
Canada could use a neutral paper with factual and investigative analysis and reporting with perhaps left and right counter-balanced opinion pieces so people could form their own opinions. The left articles would have so much more factual evidence that they'd drown out the right-wing inflammatory emptiness, so that would probably no longer work.
The outrage of people worldwide expressed in the occupations is a fitting response to th greedy speculators who have brought us this depession. A rose by any other name is but a rose. DEPRESSION is the right word.
I like what is happening across the country and around the world, because it is slowly, surely, raising consciousness about what the real obstacle to freedom is--globalization and corporatism. I hope this can carry through the winter months, with a shift in focus to the southern hemisphere, and swell in numbers in the spring and summer of 2012. It takes a major disruption of the world's routine to force the powers that be to pay attention.
The universal mind leads
Direct democracy
The broader predicament in which we all share is that - today - we appear to be living in critical times. On the one hand it seems an act of hubris to think that the future depended exclusively on our actions. However, there is a complementary way to view our dilemma. In "The Synthesis of Nations," Donald Keys framed our situation this way:
"At each level of organization [we see that]… particles… cells, or… organs become a community, with community relations, functions, and responsibilities. Now we are coming to the end of a long road. The world will organize, as a community, or human life will largely, if not entirely, perish.
If it does not entirely perish, the entire drama of evolution of human communities will have to begin again, to reach the same point we are at now, at some distant time in the future...after a gap of ten thousand or a million years."