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Occupy Wall Street

ymu said:
This seems to be gathering momentum. Fingers crossed for a good action. :)

wallst-250.jpg
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Cool picture, reminds me of the Minoans, they got wiped out by enormous forces beyond their control as well.
 
Had a little look at what the FT has to say. Fun.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/996099ee-eea7-11e0-959a-00144feab49a.html#axzz1ZqqbojmI

She says she is not typical of the growing ranks of Occupy Wall Street protesters – because there is no typical protester.
“We have a spectrum socially, ethnically and ideologically,” she says. “It’s very spread out.”
Some observers, including Van Jones, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, have called the Occupy Wall Street protests the start of a “progressive” version of the Tea Party movement.
“You are going to see an American fall, an American autumn, just like we saw the Arab spring,” Mr Jones said on MSNBC.
As the protests have extended into a third week in New York and sparked similar demonstrations in Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago, even Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was asked about the growing movement during an appearance before Congress.
“Like everyone else, I’m dissatisfied with what the economy’s doing right now,” Mr Bernanke said, adding that protesters had cause to be unhappy over the economy and political issues.
The New York City protesters have been boosted this week by support from the Transport Workers Union. But a judge on Tuesday rejected a union request to bar the police and the city’s transit authority from requiring drivers to transport arrested protesters.
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I can already tell that I'm going to enjoy this. Lets have a bit of Ann Coulter to compliment the Romney quote.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ann-coul...s-look-like-the-beginning-of-totalitarianism/

To Coulter, the protests on Wall Street were far too familiar: “all of those quotes,” she told Bolling, referring to comments by protesters that had played before her, “could have been said in 1789 France before the Revolution… this is always the beginning of totalitarianism.” These revolts, she continued, were favorable to Democrats– “the Democratic Party love mob uprisings, it’s their rise to power.”
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http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2011/10/case-for-using-predator-drone-attacks.html

The Case for Using Predator Drone Strikes Against Wall Street Executives:
From a secret Justice Department memorandum obtained by the Rude Pundit:

Mr. President,

Since it is now the policy of our administration to target American citizens for killing by missiles delivered by Predator drone aircraft, I am proposing an expansion of the program to include targets beyond our ongoing conflict with al-Qaeda and its affiliates. I propose that we now target executives and others in the finance industry who so far have not been prosecuted for potential crimes that forced the economy of the United States into a long-term decline.
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Actually this blog seems fairly sane, see the previous article for example:

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-protesters-earn.html

A taster:

The Occupy Wall Street Protesters Earn Their Merit Badges:
Genuine political and social movements fuck things up. The civil rights movement? The anti-Vietnam War movement? The labor movement of the early 20th-century? None of them would have progressed if they had only existed under the sanction of local, state, and federal governments, if they had only acted or marched with permission, if they had done nothing to disrupt the daily routines of everyday people, if they hadn't gotten in the faces of the powerful. If your protest is approved by city hall, then you are participating in civil obedience.

It's why the Tea Party was never anything other than a costume fad. And like any fad, it had its most devout adherents, but, truly, it was the Beanie Babies of political movements. The Tea Party gave comfort to the wealthy and played by the rules. It's why it was a movement of old people and families: there was no threat that anyone was going to spill any of their diabetic fucking blood on any goddamn mythical tree of liberty. And just like all those people who bought Beanie Babies thought they'd get rich by selling 'em on eBay, only to end up with basements full of dead-eyed, worthless bears and frogs, the Tea Party will soon be bagged up and brought to the thrift store of history.
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Remember, this is still the very, very beginning. Maybe, just maybe, as more actions happen, as unions get involved, as more arrests happen, as the tipping point of inevitable violence by authorities occurs, maybe we on the left can stop being such little bitches about the protests and unify behind them.

Later this week: Um, so what the fuck are we unifying behind?
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Big demo today isn't it?

Seeing as this is showing signs of snowballing I wouldn't be at all surpised if the cops go all aggro - as the man will deifintiely want to nip this in the bud.

Cos for all the fluffy, liberal flavour of the protests - their seemingly mild demands for 'reform' of capilitalsim actually pose a fundemental challenge to the power structure. The '1%' are not going to be gently persuaded and they will use the state and the support of the wealthisest 20% to try and crush this.

But all revoutions start with mild demands for reform that the ruling class cannot respond to - thereby triggering a crises that radicalises the reformers to the point where they end up in open revolt.
 
Good report , and discussion, of the Occupy Wall Street Movement currently running on the Al Jazeera Website (I'm always gobsmacked by what a brilliant website and TV Channel Al Jazeera is - why on earth do the Qatari Royal Family fund it ??? The three part "Meltdown" documentary on the crisis and its consequences which ended on Al Jazeera last night was simply BRILLIANT !)

It's certainly quite surprising , given the effort being put in by protestors, and the growing aggro they are getting from the police, how vague and wooly, and apparently modest , their "demands are - but as Kaka Tim rightly says, even these limited demands are a real ideological threat to the ruling class.

Hopefully something similar will happen in the UK. "Occupy Canary Warf" ? Maybe starting with low level, "wooly", demands is the way to draw lots of people in, just at the gut level of "We're really pissed off with the bankers, something's gotta be done" .
 
A lot of the other groups are starting tomoro... as it goes got a message from a friend enroute to washington to legal ob and he is talking about a million??? One of the larger TV stations will be broadcasting live too which is a good sign...

Seattle looks like it might kick off soon.. Police have told protesters to remove tents etc by 1pm (their time) or face arrests....
 
even the Muppet show will be highlighting the depth of poverty in the states! Hungry Muppet to appear on "Sesame Street"

A new poverty-stricken Muppet will highlight the issue of hunger struggles on an episode of "Sesame Street", the show said in a statement on Tuesday.
Pink-faced Muppet Lily, whose family deals with food insecurity, will join Big Bird, Elmo and other favorites on a one-hour prime-time special featuring country star Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams Paisley called "Growing Hope Against Hunger," to air Oct 9.
The new Muppet will bring awareness to the ongoing hunger struggles that families face in the United States, the show said.
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They are distancing themselves from the scary "anti-capitalism" word, which is a shame, but I suppose understandable. They are also starting to get support from various Democrats in office.

It gives them mainstream legitimacy, but will the cause suffer in the long term for it?
 
audiotech said:
Congressman, Dennis Kucinich (D), gives his support.
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I've got a soft spot for him on account of this bit of his history:

Kucinich was elected Mayor of Cleveland in 1977 and served in that position until 1979.[16] At thirty-one years of age, he was the youngest mayor of a major city in the United States,[5] earning him the nickname "the boy mayor of Cleveland".[17] Kucinich's tenure as mayor is often regarded as one of the most tumultuous in Cleveland's history.[17][18] After Kucinich refused to sell Muni Light, Cleveland's publicly owned electric utility, the Cleveland mafia put out a hit on Kucinich. A hit man from Maryland planned to shoot him in the head during the Columbus Day Parade, but the plot fell apart when Kucinich was hospitalized and missed the event. When the city fell into default shortly thereafter, the mafia leaders called off the contract killer.[19]
Specifically, it was the Cleveland Trust Company that suddenly required all of the city's debts be paid in full, which forced the city into default, after news of Kucinich's refusal to sell the city utility. For years, these debts were routinely rolled over, pending future payment, until Kucinich's announcement was made public. In 1998 the council honored him for having the "courage and foresight" to stand up to the banks and saving the city an estimated $195 million between 1985 and 1995.[20]
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Above is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Kucinich

Radical bank/currency changes such as the ones he mentions in the video are always interesting. Im often quite negative about people promoting such issues because many of them are right wingers, gold lovers etc with their own already-amassed personal wealth at the heart of their interest in reform, or they are stuck in the past. But this has left me somewhat unprepared for how to deal with very similar issues when raised by the left. It could be done as part of an even broader revolution. But the international aspects make it all rather tricky I suspect, existing debts and imbalances in trade could make such a change rather dangerous unless most key nations were also onboard.
 
DotCommunist said:
yes. They would do well to distance from democrat support. The democrats are opportunist centrists.
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Although that doesn't apply very much to characters like Kucinich though. But yeah, if the mainstream Democrats try to claim this stuff as their own then its going to go pear shaped. Mind you it will still be somewhat interesting as it will reveal whether the democrats have any urge for a more radical response to the economic woe, there is a risky opportunity that could in theory be seized here, though Im certainly not holding my breath.
 
DotCommunist said:
yes. They would do well to distance from democrat support. The democrats are opportunist centrists.
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the word Im hearing from the various 'general assembly' meetings is that they are very aware of this and will not allow them selves to be used as a political football (or soccer ball as they say there :p) for any political opportunists....
 
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