Occupy Protests Go Global
- Thread starter InvisibleJim
- Start date
People have a tendency to disagree with government, powers, principalities, and the likes. They have stood up for what they believe in far longer than I can look back. Protesting is a far cry from implementing positive change. Disrupting things is a far cry from implementing positive change. Spraying a protestor with pepper is a far cry from keeping the peace when not in danger.
The super committee formed to cut 1.2 trillion dollars from our deficit is a far cry from trying to actually do something about our problems. Look at who they chose: the same bunch that would do nothing but argue party politics. Spending more billions to keep the crowd from disrupting the economy even further is not a good way, either. Show me someone implementing positive change nationally or even internationally and I may like it. Don't like the way things are? Make them better. Save the sermon.
No, this is not meant for anyone in particular.
The super committee formed to cut 1.2 trillion dollars from our deficit is a far cry from trying to actually do something about our problems. Look at who they chose: the same bunch that would do nothing but argue party politics. Spending more billions to keep the crowd from disrupting the economy even further is not a good way, either. Show me someone implementing positive change nationally or even internationally and I may like it. Don't like the way things are? Make them better. Save the sermon.
No, this is not meant for anyone in particular.
I don't think people have a tendency to disagree with power. I think most people acquiesce with power daily.
I think people have limits to what they will tolerate though. When they are having 'austerity' measures shoved down their throats they then start looking for answers as to why this is happening.
The answer many people have found is that global bankers have usurped our governments and are dictating policy. They have found that these bankers are becoming incredibly wealthy whilst they are getting governments to impose 'austerity' measures on the people
Any group chosen to a position of power, by the 1%, will be chosen to protect the interests of the 1%
We are seeing a tug of war between the 1% and the 99%. The police are used as an instrument of control by the 1% and that is why we are seeing police brutality against people
There are many people who want to see 'positive change' but to do so would require wrestling power off the 1% and that is what people are attempting to do right now.
I think there are many ways in which you can try to 'make things better'. For example voting with your feet, or rather with your money is probably more effective than walking down the street with a banner.
Moving your money out of the mainstream banks into a credit union is a good place to start. The removal of the Glass-Steagall Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Steagall_Act) allowed investment banks to merge with commercial (depository) banks which enabled wall street bankers to start speculating with your money.
I don't want to criticise walking down the street with a banner however as i believe that has a number of uses. What the various protest movements around the world have helped to do is bring many of these issues into sharper focus for people. People are now discussing the economy, politics and even systems of governance and ways to order society so what the protests have done is RAISE AWARENESS
Other functions of the protest include: acting as a rallying point for people who are dissatisfied, being a factory for ideas, galvanising people to the cause and cranking up pressure on the 1% who currently lack the political will to change the system.
The way the system currently works is that if the 99% want something they have to campaign for it. If the 1% feel threatened by the size and effectiveness of the campaign then they will concede to the demands of the 99%
The protest movements are saying to the 1% that they do not have the permission of the 99% in their actions and that if they don't change their actions then the 99% may implement change themselves.
There are radical shifts occuring right now in how the worlds economy is functioning. The protestors are trying to ensure that whatever change occurs it is not one that leaves them totally destitute.
They are appealing / demanding for change to the 1% who now possess most of the the wealth and who are hiding behind the state apparatus of control such as the police and law courts.
@muir exactly. Wrestling power out of the hands of the 1% has been tried and done in the past but the fallout that the person who did that had to face, ruined his political career for nearly 20 years. Yep, it took almost 20 years worth of hindsight for people to look and say "Holy s***, he was right!". I don't know what this says about the complacency of the 99% though.
You can read about it here
It's another example of the moral bankruptcy in Corporate America and it happened over 30 years ago.
You can read about it here
It's another example of the moral bankruptcy in Corporate America and it happened over 30 years ago.
If what you coined as the 99% were to act like a group of 99%, the 1% might listen. However, I look at the protests in foreign countries and their outcomes with one common denominator: many want change but few, if any, know how to implement it. Making some of the populace "aware" of something is a far cry from implementing positive change without disrupting daily life.
Watch the stock markets around the globe when our own government says they cannot find a way to cut trillions from our spending, for example. It merely plays into the hands of those wealthy enough to buy/sell stocks(etc) while knowing what is going to happen. Your purported 1% only gets richer and more powerful, but the undermining of world governments is actually blowback of all this. Lots of folk want to blame Bin Laden for our economic woes, but the money-mongerers are causing more harm than even he did. What is at risk?
Without our military and police systems of the world? Chaos. Looting. That would merely be the start of the nightmares. There are so many other things we take for granted, yet do not have viable solutions or replacements for even in our own minds. Reminds me of "Get Smart" years ago: Control against Chaos. My best advice is if you are going to start something, you had best have a workable plan and follow through with it. If no plan is in mind, the rest just sounds like "bitching". It all may be in good intentions, but people should see enough down the road to know they had best know what they are doing.
Small example: Social Security. Most people only bitch about where it is heading, but who has offered how to fix it? If everyone working would stop allowing monies to be taken from their paychecks to pay for those currently on SS, what would happen. They could place the monies in a fund for themselves to use as a form of social security. Why? Why let a government take funds from those below a specific age when they are being told they will never receive any benefits from it? They are only paying for those on it right now and up to the age of 55 or so, as I am told. Those below that age? That is fraud. Stop letting them take it, placing it somewhere legally acceptable where one could benefit from it like they are supposed to. Those in power would then be faced with a "situation". Only reason the funds are there to age 55 is because of the funds they are taking interim. They would have to fix it then. Why? How would those drawing SS survive? Many of those in government and power, having taken the funds for something else, would realize they have stolen something that does not belong to them. "Where will the funds come from for MY checks?" Fix something is all I am saying.
As per my earlier statement:Ephesians 6:12
King James Version (KJV)
[SUP]12[/SUP]For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
I said "powers".
Watch the stock markets around the globe when our own government says they cannot find a way to cut trillions from our spending, for example. It merely plays into the hands of those wealthy enough to buy/sell stocks(etc) while knowing what is going to happen. Your purported 1% only gets richer and more powerful, but the undermining of world governments is actually blowback of all this. Lots of folk want to blame Bin Laden for our economic woes, but the money-mongerers are causing more harm than even he did. What is at risk?
Without our military and police systems of the world? Chaos. Looting. That would merely be the start of the nightmares. There are so many other things we take for granted, yet do not have viable solutions or replacements for even in our own minds. Reminds me of "Get Smart" years ago: Control against Chaos. My best advice is if you are going to start something, you had best have a workable plan and follow through with it. If no plan is in mind, the rest just sounds like "bitching". It all may be in good intentions, but people should see enough down the road to know they had best know what they are doing.
Small example: Social Security. Most people only bitch about where it is heading, but who has offered how to fix it? If everyone working would stop allowing monies to be taken from their paychecks to pay for those currently on SS, what would happen. They could place the monies in a fund for themselves to use as a form of social security. Why? Why let a government take funds from those below a specific age when they are being told they will never receive any benefits from it? They are only paying for those on it right now and up to the age of 55 or so, as I am told. Those below that age? That is fraud. Stop letting them take it, placing it somewhere legally acceptable where one could benefit from it like they are supposed to. Those in power would then be faced with a "situation". Only reason the funds are there to age 55 is because of the funds they are taking interim. They would have to fix it then. Why? How would those drawing SS survive? Many of those in government and power, having taken the funds for something else, would realize they have stolen something that does not belong to them. "Where will the funds come from for MY checks?" Fix something is all I am saying.
As per my earlier statement:Ephesians 6:12
King James Version (KJV)
[SUP]12[/SUP]For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
I said "powers".
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Got the sermon anyway. That's alright. Interim,op2:
Lol...you went fishing for it and you got it...what's the issue?
Its quite funny though you saying that because i thought the end of your post below sounded quite like a 'sermon' ha ha!
I think that we are only seeing the beginning of this thing. The protestors are just the first wave storming the palace gates!
As the economic realities begin to come home to people many more people will become radicalised and will look to protest in some fashion. They may take their money out of banks, boycott corporations, march in the streets or join union activity.
In a nutshell there seems to be two major problems. One is how money is able to dominate our political systems. Our politicians are basically up for sale to the highest bidder and one of the demands of the protestors is reform in that area.
Another major issue is that of DEBT. Everyone is in debt, both the banks and the public, but the government bailed out the banks not the public and in the process showed to the world where their loyalties really lie
They have bailed out the banks and are now squeezing us to pay for the loss.
But we (the public) are the REAL economy of production and consumption. The bankers don't produce anything. They simply extract interest off the real economy like a parasite sucking the life blood out of its host. They have sucked so much money out of the economy that it is shrinking/receding (recession)
An anthropologist from the US, David Graeber, has written a book you might find interesting called 'Debt: the first 5,000 years' which looks at how throughout history whenever too much debt is passed onto the people there is revolt.
He said the occupy movement is: "the opening salvo in a wave of negotiations over the dissolution of the American Empire."
Its time to wake up and smell the coffee. Its not time to bicker over party politics. Its time for all working and unemployed people to recognise that the capacity exists within our countries and within the world to provide for all of us and that the major barrier to this is the system which has been moulded by a relative few to enable them to hoard all the wealth.
Its time for a change and this thing is only getting started. As life gets tougher more and more people will become politically active and the real hardship hasn't even begun yet!!!!!!
At least Kucinich is still breathing, it cost this guy his life: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long
Yeh...well...the 99% are full of those who still cannot see past their own party politics. Case in point I sent an email around (from moveon.org) to many people on my list telling them about a petition they could actually sign to complain about our congress having the best medical insurance when they're about to cut medicare which provides medical coverage for seniors.
This is what my borotherinlaw wrote back to me:
This is the same guy (along with others) who send these bullshit emails around espousing all kinds of changes that need to be done in congress WITHOUT any means or information in order to do so!!!!!! :crazy: They'll circulate the same stupid emails again and again with no information on how to make a change or complain or anything.
They also have been yelling at me about these awful demands by those at OWS and other demonstration sites. As far as I know there have been NO single demand agreed upon at all. But some big media must be putting it out there...lying...
I keep telling them it's all about Solidarity. It doesn't matter that many groups have come together with wildly varying ideals.
Yet the conservatives still freak out. [shaking head no] :frusty:
These people fear change and fear our country will fall apart because of the Occupy demonstrators. What they don't realize - is because they refuse to support demonstrations and sign petitions now - the country WILL fall apart and it's going to be bad. Then guess what? The occupy movement will be blamed for it.
Thanks for letting me rant. :rant:
Yes, I went fishing. Had to. heh
Destroying a government or governments is a dangerous thing without a plan in place to replace it with. Chaos. Death. Destruction.
Poverty. The list is somewhat endless; the outcome, a nightmare for all.
It takes far more than an angry mob to make things right. The song or poem, "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" comes to mind. Need I quote the words?
Destroying a government or governments is a dangerous thing without a plan in place to replace it with. Chaos. Death. Destruction.
Poverty. The list is somewhat endless; the outcome, a nightmare for all.
It takes far more than an angry mob to make things right. The song or poem, "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" comes to mind. Need I quote the words?
I think you are really over reacting. Destroy the government? How about form a new party to compete with the dominant two party system? These protests only seem to get violent when those already in power dictate the police use violence. There's a lot more to this than your paranoia if you care to pay attention.
Yeah in a sense they are scary times. Events are moving at an astonishing pace
The eurozone is breaking up and some of the antagonisms between european countries that gave rise to the world wars are surfacing again. Basically it looks like germany is going to come out of this smelling of roses and some countries might feel a little betrayed.
The US is building its missile defence system and there are rumours in the media that it has just used HAARP to disable a Russian satellite. The Russians are responding by moving missiles closer to Europe and it seems we are moving closer to another cuban missile crisis style stand off between those two countries.
The US is also pulling troops out of Iraq whilst threatening neighbouring Iran; the freed up troops could obviously be redeployed against Iran. The US is continuing its military encirclement of China as well having just stationed troops in Australia.
So there is threatening behaviour going on everywhere.
On the microcosmic level we are seeing authorities using the economic crisis to justify cutting back workers rights for example in the UK the tory government is trying to change legislation that would enable employers to sack people without any come back from the worker. Lets say you had a clash of personalities with your boss, or they made a pass at you but you didn't reciprocate....it would be goodbye and there would be nothing you could do about it.
So yeah things are looking pretty scary.
But it isn't the protests that are causing all these scary things it is the actions of the 1%. The protestors are protesting against all these scary things, the people who cause them and the system that enables these people to do these things.
The right kind of change is the only thing that can peel back all these scary events......if you oppose the protestors then you are helping to enable the process which is generating all these scary events.
There is no point arguing that we shouldn't attempt to reform government or legislation because 'better the devil you know' because if we don't effect reform then this process isn't going to stop. The actions of the 1% are going to lead us all to disaster. That is why people must demand change now before things get any worse; sadly things will probably need to get worse before some people are convinced of the need for change/action.
KGal said it well:
These people fear change and fear our country will fall apart because of the Occupy demonstrators. What they don't realize - is because they refuse to support demonstrations and sign petitions now - the country WILL fall apart and it's going to be bad. Then guess what? The occupy movement will be blamed for it.
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"The US is also pulling troops out of Iraq whilst threatening neighbouring Iran; the freed up troops could obviously be redeployed against Iran." We have been fighting Iran in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and many other places around the globe on different levels by their own choices.
"The right kind of change is the only thing that can peel back all these scary events......if you oppose the protestors then you are helping to enable the process which is generating all these scary events." wrong
These are far from scary times to me.
when the trash starts piling up in the streets and the street lights stop working with nobody to even control traffic...
when murderers are not stopped from murdering...
when gas stations cannot pump gas for your vehicles...
when the banks refuse to open...
when you have to arm yourself to sleep in peace...
when there is no electricity to run the local grocery stores...
when there is no news and communication towers stop working...no cell phones, no computers...no TV...
when there is nothing but martial law and curfews...
when military and police get tired of controlling their neighbors and friends...
These are not scary times. Not to me.
I wonder which two countries you speak of?? Russia is stepping in to safeguard their allies(people they sell military hardware and software to). They are sitting off the coast of Syria with electronic equipment to jam missile defense systems. Iran has long been one of their investments, but nuclear-armed Iran is not on NATO's agenda. Muscle-flexing in the Middle East and elsewhere does not scare me: makes the world ripe for more arms sales. Isn't that what a lot of this is actually about? Pawns moved about to sell more arms and accessories? It must be working.
America has enough oil reserves to rival even that of Saudi Arabia. Energy may well be a vital viable goal, but the money is where it is critical to many. You can own the world, but must have the money it takes to run it. Russia worries about others leaving them out of the loop for no reason. They will spend more of their GDP in the coming decade than they used to on military expenditures because they think that is the only way they can be a part of the scheme of things. They, too, are so confused and blinded by what is happening. China wants Taiwan.................and no outside force influencing their region. What are they worried about? Why do they worry? So Russia and China will not support sanctions against Iran. They need Iran. The world does not need them to be armed with strong nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Almost makes one wonder who is behind Iran's ambitious stance: most people blame Iran but are they really the ones? Why are Russia and China so bent on fighting the sanctions against Iran> Why is France tippy-toeing around sanctions? What is happening to the protestors in Syria? Why does Russia want to protect what Assad is doing to his people? They want control of the region and can better control it with a nuclear-armed Iran. That, in my opinion, will come back to bite them in the butt if it indeed happens.
There is a hair from one of my dogs where I type. Why does that bother me? Is it supposed to be there? I have dogs, but the hairs should not get in my way? Maybe I have grown accustomed to them.
If I oppose the protestors it is my own business. I have my reasons. Look at Egypt right now. Their protesting has caused an awful lot of strife in a stricken area vital to the rest of the world. An entire Third Army of Egypt could have been destroyed, but peace was chosen to save them. They were surrounded and it was over for them. Now that peace has been threatened by people in the streets with no leader and no new government in sight. They have nothing but military rule and a world leaning on that military to help them when the military sees nobody to help.
If I want a free bowl of soup in a soupline, I do not cause problems and rant and rave: I wait my turn for my soup. I am thankful for it when I get it. Why not just blow up the entire program and let everyone starve?
Organizing a protest is nothing; a government, a handful that takes a team with resolve and patience...
and leadership with enough brains to know what it takes, and it takes an awful lot more than a protest and bitching. I highly disagree with your 1/99 mentality also.
Learned many years ago how easy it is to buy something and how difficult it can be to sell it. These times are not much different than two thousand years ago.
"The right kind of change is the only thing that can peel back all these scary events......if you oppose the protestors then you are helping to enable the process which is generating all these scary events." wrong
These are far from scary times to me.
when the trash starts piling up in the streets and the street lights stop working with nobody to even control traffic...
when murderers are not stopped from murdering...
when gas stations cannot pump gas for your vehicles...
when the banks refuse to open...
when you have to arm yourself to sleep in peace...
when there is no electricity to run the local grocery stores...
when there is no news and communication towers stop working...no cell phones, no computers...no TV...
when there is nothing but martial law and curfews...
when military and police get tired of controlling their neighbors and friends...
These are not scary times. Not to me.
I wonder which two countries you speak of?? Russia is stepping in to safeguard their allies(people they sell military hardware and software to). They are sitting off the coast of Syria with electronic equipment to jam missile defense systems. Iran has long been one of their investments, but nuclear-armed Iran is not on NATO's agenda. Muscle-flexing in the Middle East and elsewhere does not scare me: makes the world ripe for more arms sales. Isn't that what a lot of this is actually about? Pawns moved about to sell more arms and accessories? It must be working.
America has enough oil reserves to rival even that of Saudi Arabia. Energy may well be a vital viable goal, but the money is where it is critical to many. You can own the world, but must have the money it takes to run it. Russia worries about others leaving them out of the loop for no reason. They will spend more of their GDP in the coming decade than they used to on military expenditures because they think that is the only way they can be a part of the scheme of things. They, too, are so confused and blinded by what is happening. China wants Taiwan.................and no outside force influencing their region. What are they worried about? Why do they worry? So Russia and China will not support sanctions against Iran. They need Iran. The world does not need them to be armed with strong nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Almost makes one wonder who is behind Iran's ambitious stance: most people blame Iran but are they really the ones? Why are Russia and China so bent on fighting the sanctions against Iran> Why is France tippy-toeing around sanctions? What is happening to the protestors in Syria? Why does Russia want to protect what Assad is doing to his people? They want control of the region and can better control it with a nuclear-armed Iran. That, in my opinion, will come back to bite them in the butt if it indeed happens.
There is a hair from one of my dogs where I type. Why does that bother me? Is it supposed to be there? I have dogs, but the hairs should not get in my way? Maybe I have grown accustomed to them.
If I oppose the protestors it is my own business. I have my reasons. Look at Egypt right now. Their protesting has caused an awful lot of strife in a stricken area vital to the rest of the world. An entire Third Army of Egypt could have been destroyed, but peace was chosen to save them. They were surrounded and it was over for them. Now that peace has been threatened by people in the streets with no leader and no new government in sight. They have nothing but military rule and a world leaning on that military to help them when the military sees nobody to help.
If I want a free bowl of soup in a soupline, I do not cause problems and rant and rave: I wait my turn for my soup. I am thankful for it when I get it. Why not just blow up the entire program and let everyone starve?
Organizing a protest is nothing; a government, a handful that takes a team with resolve and patience...
and leadership with enough brains to know what it takes, and it takes an awful lot more than a protest and bitching. I highly disagree with your 1/99 mentality also.
Learned many years ago how easy it is to buy something and how difficult it can be to sell it. These times are not much different than two thousand years ago.
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Message from Avaaz
Dear amazing Avaazers,
The "occupy" movement is catching fire across the world and has achieved a radical shift in the way we think about our politics. Now, the world is asking, how can the movement win?
From New York to London, politicians and the police have been bought off to protect corporate interests. They are forcibly evicting the peaceful protesters from public spaces and discrediting the movement in the media as "dirty hippies" and "violent criminals" with no clear agenda. It's not hard to see why they're nervous: the occupiers have sparked a vital battle of ideas, and the corrupt, elite 1% stand to lose everything.
Now, it's make or break time! Let's help the movement win by funding a major global opinion poll in dozens of countries that clearly shows this is not a fringe movement that can be crushed, but a political project with massive public support.
The poll will supercharge the movement and offer both a united vision and the mass-based public legitimacy it needs to take on and take down the system that feeds the 1%. The need is urgent -- if 10,000 of us donate a small amount now, we'll have enough to run this poll by next week and take this battle to the next level:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/fund_the_99_poll/?vl
It's been three years since the financial crash exposed the greed and recklessness that drives our financial system and destroys our economies. We are losing jobs, homes, and benefits, yet politicians continue to throw public money to keep big banks afloat to speculate and hand out fat bonuses. The 1% get their way every day, through massive spending on lobbyists, revolving door networks with current and former politicians and using the media to spread threats and fear.
Enough is enough! We know ordinary people working together can shake even the most entrenched powers -- we've seen it over and over this year. In the last two months the occupiers' message has resonated in homes, bars, and workplaces everywhere -- people are beginning to speak out against the rotten financial and political systems that wreck our democracies. And, forced to cover the protests in real time, our media can't help but examine the abuses of power that many thought would remain invisible and unshakable.
Change is in the air. It's 1968 all over again. From Madrid, to Rio, to New York, Avaazers have joined the movement, signed a 750,000-strong pledge of solidarity, called politicians to stop the evictions, and donated critical gear and supplies. But now, to win, we must show that this movement is truly global and represents millions speaking with one clear and powerful voice. If just 10,000 of us donate today we can roll out this poll fast and plaster the media with our united message for change. Click here to chip in for the poll:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/fund_the_99_poll/?vl
When police come the occupiers chant -- "You cannot evict an idea whose time has come." And you can't silence the billions of us across the whole world that make up the 99%. Let's do what we can now -- contribute to power up the movement and embolden and intensify its muscle to win.
With hope and determination,
Alex, Maria Paz, Emma, Ricken, Alice, Carol, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team
SOURCES
After NYC ouster, "Occupy" seeks new direction (CBS News)
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57325777/after-nyc-ouster-occupy-seeks-new-direction/
DC lobbyists' plan to undermine the OWS movement:
http://brown.3cdn.net/161818e784505272ab_eem6b9o7o.pdf
OWS Camp crackdown coordinated by US city mayors (RT)
http://rt.com/usa/news/occupy-crackdown-oakland-mayor-419/
A lot of media belongs to 1% that OWS rally against (RT)
http://rt.com/news/occupy-protests-mainstream-media-719/
Recognise Occupy as a Global Movement (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/b-dolan/occupy-london-stock-exchange_b_1032333.html
Occupy movement now a global phenomenon (SGV Tribune)
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_19372828
Dear amazing Avaazers,
  |
From New York to London, politicians and the police have been bought off to protect corporate interests. They are forcibly evicting the peaceful protesters from public spaces and discrediting the movement in the media as "dirty hippies" and "violent criminals" with no clear agenda. It's not hard to see why they're nervous: the occupiers have sparked a vital battle of ideas, and the corrupt, elite 1% stand to lose everything.
Now, it's make or break time! Let's help the movement win by funding a major global opinion poll in dozens of countries that clearly shows this is not a fringe movement that can be crushed, but a political project with massive public support.
The poll will supercharge the movement and offer both a united vision and the mass-based public legitimacy it needs to take on and take down the system that feeds the 1%. The need is urgent -- if 10,000 of us donate a small amount now, we'll have enough to run this poll by next week and take this battle to the next level:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/fund_the_99_poll/?vl
It's been three years since the financial crash exposed the greed and recklessness that drives our financial system and destroys our economies. We are losing jobs, homes, and benefits, yet politicians continue to throw public money to keep big banks afloat to speculate and hand out fat bonuses. The 1% get their way every day, through massive spending on lobbyists, revolving door networks with current and former politicians and using the media to spread threats and fear.
Enough is enough! We know ordinary people working together can shake even the most entrenched powers -- we've seen it over and over this year. In the last two months the occupiers' message has resonated in homes, bars, and workplaces everywhere -- people are beginning to speak out against the rotten financial and political systems that wreck our democracies. And, forced to cover the protests in real time, our media can't help but examine the abuses of power that many thought would remain invisible and unshakable.
Change is in the air. It's 1968 all over again. From Madrid, to Rio, to New York, Avaazers have joined the movement, signed a 750,000-strong pledge of solidarity, called politicians to stop the evictions, and donated critical gear and supplies. But now, to win, we must show that this movement is truly global and represents millions speaking with one clear and powerful voice. If just 10,000 of us donate today we can roll out this poll fast and plaster the media with our united message for change. Click here to chip in for the poll:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/fund_the_99_poll/?vl
When police come the occupiers chant -- "You cannot evict an idea whose time has come." And you can't silence the billions of us across the whole world that make up the 99%. Let's do what we can now -- contribute to power up the movement and embolden and intensify its muscle to win.
With hope and determination,
Alex, Maria Paz, Emma, Ricken, Alice, Carol, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team
SOURCES
After NYC ouster, "Occupy" seeks new direction (CBS News)
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57325777/after-nyc-ouster-occupy-seeks-new-direction/
DC lobbyists' plan to undermine the OWS movement:
http://brown.3cdn.net/161818e784505272ab_eem6b9o7o.pdf
OWS Camp crackdown coordinated by US city mayors (RT)
http://rt.com/usa/news/occupy-crackdown-oakland-mayor-419/
A lot of media belongs to 1% that OWS rally against (RT)
http://rt.com/news/occupy-protests-mainstream-media-719/
Recognise Occupy as a Global Movement (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/b-dolan/occupy-london-stock-exchange_b_1032333.html
Occupy movement now a global phenomenon (SGV Tribune)
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_19372828
I picked up an issue of the New Statesman (7th November 2011) in the library today...i don't usually read it but there was a good article on the occupy movement in it.
It said the following:
'The compact on which a fair society is predicated- proportional reward for proportional contribution has broken down. Even as profits have fallen and shares have plunged, FTSE-100 directors have been rewarded with a mean pay increase of 49% in the past year, compared to a 2.3% increase in average earnings across the economy.'
However inflation is running at 5.2% so average earnings have gone down.
The article also made the point that the protests have moved the subject of inequality away from the political left and into the MAINSTREAM. This is true; unlike the 'Hard Hat Riots' of the 1970's where union workers beat up long haired anti-vietnam war protesters (mostly college kids facing the draft) the occupy movement has the support of the unions.
In the UK the unions are having a massive strike on the 30th of this month, the students have been striking in their tens of thousands and people are grumbling in pubs, work places and homes across the land about the effects of austerity, rising costs and bankers bonuses. Unlike with the anti-thatcher strikes in the 1980's many people are now questioning whether the current form of capitalism is working for most people.
One person who wrote into the letters page recited what the occupy london protesters had said to him when he asked them what their demands were. They said to him the following:
'We want a more ethical and socially responsible financial system and a representative democracy that looks after the needs of their citizens and does not give priority to wealthy bankers'
The writer goes on to say that 'their quarrel is not with capitalism per se but with the extraordinary excesses of the free-market model'
Another demand of the protestors is to 'democratise the secretive and unaccountable City of London Corporation' which a past Prime Minister Clement Atlee described, decades ago, as 'convenient shorthand for a collection of financial interests.....able to assert itself against the government of the country'
The current labour leader Ed Miliband has said that businesses can be divided into 'predators and producers'
The article then goes on to discuss possible solutions to this problem of predatory, influential and unaccountable financial interests. It suggests the problem is how to 'redistribute wealth when capital is so mobile and the rich are so adept at avoiding taxation'
It suggests: 'One possible solution is to ship the burden of taxation from earned to unearned income, from taxes on income and consumption to those on assets: inheritance, property, land and so on as such taxes would be harder to avoid (mansions cannot flee to Geneva!). This would reduce the distorting affect that property speculation has on the economy.
Another possible solution that has been suggested has been a 'Robin Hood tax' or the 'Tobin tax' on financial transactions. This would of course hit the financial sector hardest. In the UK we gutted our manufacturing in the 70's and 80's (a similar process occured in the states especially around chicago/detroit) and helped the financial sector to a 30% share of our economy!
Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket! The politicians told the public that by them supporting the banks there would be a 'trickle down' effect with the wealth so that the bankers would spend and the money would seep into the economy and benefit all of us.....metaphors about a rising tide lifting all ships etc
The reality is that 'trickle down' is a myth! What we have actually seen is trickle up, with the 1% gaining a greater proportion of the wealth and holding onto it and the wealth gap between the 1% and the 99% opening up drastically.
Inequailty has escalated to such levels that people are taking to the streets to protest the increasing hardship, loss of public services and increasing lack of job opportunites etc
The behaviour of the 1% has created this wealth disparity and because they have bought the politicians there has been no one to stop them doing it.....even when their actions are illegal!
The politicians deregulated the markets which has given the bankers virtual carte blanche to do what they want. It is clear that we need reform to the system.
If there is not reform then conditions are going to get harder for people and yes there will be break downs in law and order. The protests are not driving that process, the 1% are. The protests are protesting the process and warning people that the way things are going is not a good direction, so we had all better get together and put enough pressure on the 1% that they develop the political will required to reform the system and relieve the pressure on everyday people
Because the financial sector has so much power in the UK (it is the biggest financial funder of the Conservative Party, which is the major part of our current coalition government: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/30/city-conservatives-donations) they are lobbying the politicians to prevent them from accepting a Robin Hood tax! So the UK is fighting this idea in the EU at the moment to protect the bankers!
Here's an article in the guardian newspaper about falling wages: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/23/uk-household-earnings-fall
Here's an article in the same paper with some suggestions of how to fix the economy (its all food for thought): http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...conomy-broken-how-fix-it?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Bailout of single bank Northern Rock has cost the public
It said the following:
'The compact on which a fair society is predicated- proportional reward for proportional contribution has broken down. Even as profits have fallen and shares have plunged, FTSE-100 directors have been rewarded with a mean pay increase of 49% in the past year, compared to a 2.3% increase in average earnings across the economy.'
However inflation is running at 5.2% so average earnings have gone down.
The article also made the point that the protests have moved the subject of inequality away from the political left and into the MAINSTREAM. This is true; unlike the 'Hard Hat Riots' of the 1970's where union workers beat up long haired anti-vietnam war protesters (mostly college kids facing the draft) the occupy movement has the support of the unions.
In the UK the unions are having a massive strike on the 30th of this month, the students have been striking in their tens of thousands and people are grumbling in pubs, work places and homes across the land about the effects of austerity, rising costs and bankers bonuses. Unlike with the anti-thatcher strikes in the 1980's many people are now questioning whether the current form of capitalism is working for most people.
One person who wrote into the letters page recited what the occupy london protesters had said to him when he asked them what their demands were. They said to him the following:
'We want a more ethical and socially responsible financial system and a representative democracy that looks after the needs of their citizens and does not give priority to wealthy bankers'
The writer goes on to say that 'their quarrel is not with capitalism per se but with the extraordinary excesses of the free-market model'
Another demand of the protestors is to 'democratise the secretive and unaccountable City of London Corporation' which a past Prime Minister Clement Atlee described, decades ago, as 'convenient shorthand for a collection of financial interests.....able to assert itself against the government of the country'
The current labour leader Ed Miliband has said that businesses can be divided into 'predators and producers'
The article then goes on to discuss possible solutions to this problem of predatory, influential and unaccountable financial interests. It suggests the problem is how to 'redistribute wealth when capital is so mobile and the rich are so adept at avoiding taxation'
It suggests: 'One possible solution is to ship the burden of taxation from earned to unearned income, from taxes on income and consumption to those on assets: inheritance, property, land and so on as such taxes would be harder to avoid (mansions cannot flee to Geneva!). This would reduce the distorting affect that property speculation has on the economy.
Another possible solution that has been suggested has been a 'Robin Hood tax' or the 'Tobin tax' on financial transactions. This would of course hit the financial sector hardest. In the UK we gutted our manufacturing in the 70's and 80's (a similar process occured in the states especially around chicago/detroit) and helped the financial sector to a 30% share of our economy!
Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket! The politicians told the public that by them supporting the banks there would be a 'trickle down' effect with the wealth so that the bankers would spend and the money would seep into the economy and benefit all of us.....metaphors about a rising tide lifting all ships etc
The reality is that 'trickle down' is a myth! What we have actually seen is trickle up, with the 1% gaining a greater proportion of the wealth and holding onto it and the wealth gap between the 1% and the 99% opening up drastically.
Inequailty has escalated to such levels that people are taking to the streets to protest the increasing hardship, loss of public services and increasing lack of job opportunites etc
The behaviour of the 1% has created this wealth disparity and because they have bought the politicians there has been no one to stop them doing it.....even when their actions are illegal!
The politicians deregulated the markets which has given the bankers virtual carte blanche to do what they want. It is clear that we need reform to the system.
If there is not reform then conditions are going to get harder for people and yes there will be break downs in law and order. The protests are not driving that process, the 1% are. The protests are protesting the process and warning people that the way things are going is not a good direction, so we had all better get together and put enough pressure on the 1% that they develop the political will required to reform the system and relieve the pressure on everyday people
Because the financial sector has so much power in the UK (it is the biggest financial funder of the Conservative Party, which is the major part of our current coalition government: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/30/city-conservatives-donations) they are lobbying the politicians to prevent them from accepting a Robin Hood tax! So the UK is fighting this idea in the EU at the moment to protect the bankers!
Here's an article in the guardian newspaper about falling wages: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/23/uk-household-earnings-fall
Here's an article in the same paper with some suggestions of how to fix the economy (its all food for thought): http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...conomy-broken-how-fix-it?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Bailout of single bank Northern Rock has cost the public
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The global economy is broken
I'm just gonna post the guardian article for the link i posted above:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...conomy-broken-how-fix-it?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
[h=1]The global economy is broken. Here's how to fix it[/h]The Occupy London and Wall Street protests reflect deep anger that no one has been called to account for the financial crisis
Protesters occupy the London Stock Exchange at an anti-banking demonstration this weekend. Photograph: Ray Tang/Rex Features
The only surprise about Saturday's occupation of the London Stock Exchange is that it took so long to happen. No doubt the government and banking lobby was hoping that the final report of the Vickers commission last month would draw a line under so-called banker bashing in the UK. As Basil Fawlty might have put it: "I crashed the global economy once, but I think I got away with it."
So why won't popular protests go away? Here's why: there has been no public inquiry into the causes of the crash. No calling to account of those who drove the ship on to the rocks. No assertion of the public interest over financial markets. No subordination of banks to the needs of the real economy. No politician who dares face down global finance. No challenging of the defunct dogmas of neoliberal economics. No attempt to reverse the breathtaking wealth grab by the 1% at the expense of the rest.
Why should we be surprised that these protests are springing up, and why should we expect them to dissipate until these failures are addressed?
The global protest movement that started on Wall Street chose its nexus well. The current crisis of public and private debt, of unimaginable wealth for the few in the midst of falling incomes and economic insecurity for the many, springs directly from the 2008 financial crisis and the decades of deregulation and neoliberal orthodoxy that led us here.
Massive injections of public money three years ago saved the system without fixing it. A financial crisis was transformed, through bailouts, into a crisis of sovereign debt. That sovereign debt crisis is now leaking back into the financial system. Financial collapse threatens further bailouts. Public and private debt crises are intertwined.
Austerity measures are unable to break the deadlock, and in fact can only accelerate a downward economic spiral. New ways of thinking about the economy are urgently needed, that challenge the primacy of financial markets and debt-fuelled growth.
The system is broken, here's how we fix it. Don't tinker with ringfencing banks. Break them up as the first step to creating an effective local lending infrastructure. This is not pie in the sky. This is what the German banking system looks like. Its local public savings banks have supported small businesses and ordinary people throughout the recession, where big banks run away at the first sign of trouble. No annual pantomime of Project Merlin is required for our industrial competitors.
Don't create new money just to feather-bed bankers and enrich the wealthy. Create new money to create new jobs and new wealth. Use quantitative easing directly to fund the renewal of our infrastructure, to build the new green economy, eradicate fuel poverty, reskill the unemployed and tackle the climate crisis at the same time.
Don't let people become the slaves of distant creditors. It's time to talk of a massive relief of debt. The UK's problem is not really the public deficit that so obsesses the chancellor, but private household debt and the daunting treadmill that awaits a generation of young people burdened by student fees, relentless rents and a housing market that is still in the realms of fantasy.
Don't wait for money to trickle down. Experience shows that, left to its own devices, it will flood upwards. We can start by setting up local barter currencies in every city that help new enterprises use wasted land, buildings, resources and people. Ultimately we need more dispersed ownership and control of the nation's natural, human and financial capital. We need to restore large sections of the financial industry to the mutual ownership that served this nation so well until the scandalous smash-and-grab raids of demutualisation in the 1990s.
In short, we need to reassert the public interest. It turns out that, as a governing principle for the financial system, greed is not good. Financial plutocracy must give way to financial democracy
I'm just gonna post the guardian article for the link i posted above:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...conomy-broken-how-fix-it?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
[h=1]The global economy is broken. Here's how to fix it[/h]The Occupy London and Wall Street protests reflect deep anger that no one has been called to account for the financial crisis
Protesters occupy the London Stock Exchange at an anti-banking demonstration this weekend. Photograph: Ray Tang/Rex Features
The only surprise about Saturday's occupation of the London Stock Exchange is that it took so long to happen. No doubt the government and banking lobby was hoping that the final report of the Vickers commission last month would draw a line under so-called banker bashing in the UK. As Basil Fawlty might have put it: "I crashed the global economy once, but I think I got away with it."
So why won't popular protests go away? Here's why: there has been no public inquiry into the causes of the crash. No calling to account of those who drove the ship on to the rocks. No assertion of the public interest over financial markets. No subordination of banks to the needs of the real economy. No politician who dares face down global finance. No challenging of the defunct dogmas of neoliberal economics. No attempt to reverse the breathtaking wealth grab by the 1% at the expense of the rest.
Why should we be surprised that these protests are springing up, and why should we expect them to dissipate until these failures are addressed?
The global protest movement that started on Wall Street chose its nexus well. The current crisis of public and private debt, of unimaginable wealth for the few in the midst of falling incomes and economic insecurity for the many, springs directly from the 2008 financial crisis and the decades of deregulation and neoliberal orthodoxy that led us here.
Massive injections of public money three years ago saved the system without fixing it. A financial crisis was transformed, through bailouts, into a crisis of sovereign debt. That sovereign debt crisis is now leaking back into the financial system. Financial collapse threatens further bailouts. Public and private debt crises are intertwined.
Austerity measures are unable to break the deadlock, and in fact can only accelerate a downward economic spiral. New ways of thinking about the economy are urgently needed, that challenge the primacy of financial markets and debt-fuelled growth.
The system is broken, here's how we fix it. Don't tinker with ringfencing banks. Break them up as the first step to creating an effective local lending infrastructure. This is not pie in the sky. This is what the German banking system looks like. Its local public savings banks have supported small businesses and ordinary people throughout the recession, where big banks run away at the first sign of trouble. No annual pantomime of Project Merlin is required for our industrial competitors.
Don't create new money just to feather-bed bankers and enrich the wealthy. Create new money to create new jobs and new wealth. Use quantitative easing directly to fund the renewal of our infrastructure, to build the new green economy, eradicate fuel poverty, reskill the unemployed and tackle the climate crisis at the same time.
Don't let people become the slaves of distant creditors. It's time to talk of a massive relief of debt. The UK's problem is not really the public deficit that so obsesses the chancellor, but private household debt and the daunting treadmill that awaits a generation of young people burdened by student fees, relentless rents and a housing market that is still in the realms of fantasy.
Don't wait for money to trickle down. Experience shows that, left to its own devices, it will flood upwards. We can start by setting up local barter currencies in every city that help new enterprises use wasted land, buildings, resources and people. Ultimately we need more dispersed ownership and control of the nation's natural, human and financial capital. We need to restore large sections of the financial industry to the mutual ownership that served this nation so well until the scandalous smash-and-grab raids of demutualisation in the 1990s.
In short, we need to reassert the public interest. It turns out that, as a governing principle for the financial system, greed is not good. Financial plutocracy must give way to financial democracy