Demonstraties VS #3: Wanneer valt 'the wall'?

quote:

Op woensdag 26 oktober 2011 16:17 schreef Bananenman het volgende:

[..]

Wat zijn precies de drogredenen volgens jou en wat heeft dit met democratie te maken?

quote:

Op woensdag 26 oktober 2011 16:20 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

In een democratisch land mag je demonstreren. In een ondemocratisch land gebruikt met Thugs of leugens als alibi om de veiligheidsdiensten de demo's op te laten breken.

quote:

Op woensdag 26 oktober 2011 16:21 schreef Bananenman het volgende:

[..]

Volgens mij ken jij het verschil tussen democratie en rechtsstaat niet zo goed.

quote:

Op woensdag 26 oktober 2011 16:21 schreef Bananenman het volgende:

[..]

Volgens mij ken jij het verschil tussen democratie en rechtsstaat niet zo goed.

quote:

Op woensdag 26 oktober 2011 16:24 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Wat is precies het verschil volgens jou en wat heeft dit met het opbreken van demonstraties te maken?

quote:

Op woensdag 26 oktober 2011 16:36 schreef popolon het volgende:

[..]

Je hebt duidelijk die beelden van de achtergelaten troep en de ondergescheten openbare parken niet gezien.

Ik kan me best vinden in wat ze proberen te doen, echter sommigen overdrijven het en gaan veel te ver: Einde oefening dan.

quote:

BREAKING PHOTOS: Images CONTRADICT Oakland PD Press Release on Rubber Bullets

A press release said that the Oakland Police Department DID NOT use rubber bullets. They said the "bangs" heard at the protesters were M80s thrown at police officers by the protesters.

Unfortunately for the OPD, it the press release seems to be wrong. I'll let the images speak for themselves:

Here's an empty shell and the cap of a fin stabilized rubber slug from a 12 gauge shotgun:

Oakland Policeman Throws Flash Grenade Into Crowd Trying To Help Injured Protester

quote:

Op woensdag 26 oktober 2011 16:41 schreef Perrin het volgende:
Een beetje troep op straat maken of een enorme troep van de economie maken.. het is maar wat je erger vindt.

quote:

The film shows, for example, that Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia were flown out to luxury resorts at the expense of the Federalist Society in order to hobnob with the people attending the infamous political strategy conferences hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers, whose partisan goals are no secret (and whose companies are frequently in federal court). Thomas went in 2008 and Scalia in 2007. David Koch himself explains these meetings are for "combating the multitude of public policies that threaten to destroy America as we know it." One may reasonably ask which public policies Scalia and Thomas were there to combat in these closed-door Koch conclaves.

quote:

Op dinsdag 25 oktober 2011 17:49 schreef Resonancer het volgende:

[..]



Ik vrees met grote vreze dat dit uiteindelijk heel bloedig gaat worden.
Gelukkig hebben de Amerikanen hun wapens nog.

quote:

Last night, a group of 1,000 protesters in Oakland, CA were gassed and shot at by the local police after they allegedly "started throwing bottles, paints, beer, eggs" at officers. Late into the night, officials deployed tear gas on the crowd and began arresting people for disrupting the peace. But things took a turn for the worst when the police started using either rubber bullets or bean bag rounds to bring the chaos to order. (The police are saying one thing, the protesters another.)
Unfortunately, things ended badly for one young man who was actually shot in the face during the mayhem. Video capturing the gruesome scene has gone viral, but it isn't for the faint of heart. The video contains NSFW language and disturbing images of the man being carried by his comrades in the streets searching for help, blood pouring from his face that was wounded.

twitter:

wiljago twitterde op donderdag 27-10-2011 om 06:12:14 National Guard is here at #occupyoakland getting ready. #StandwithOakland if you can tonight. #occupy reageer retweet

quote:

Latest round of Occupy Oakland protests to be closely watched

Until this week, the movement had been disciplined -- then the Oakland police eliminated the encampment outside City Hall, Heaney said.

"People are going to respond to that in a not-peaceful way," Heaney said. "Either they (law enforcement officials) expected that this would be the response or they were incompetent not to expect this response.

"When you engage in (more than) 100 unjustifiable arrests, basically what you do is give credibility to the people you're trying to stop," Heaney said. "The smarter strategy on the part of police is to ignore them and it would eventually burn out and people would go home."

quote:

NY Times: Crony Capitalism Comes Home

Whenever I write about Occupy Wall Street, some readers ask me if the protesters really are half-naked Communists aiming to bring down the American economic system when they’re not doing drugs or having sex in public.

The answer is no. That alarmist view of the movement is a credit to the (prurient) imagination of its critics, and voyeurs of Occupy Wall Street will be disappointed. More important, while alarmists seem to think that the movement is a “mob” trying to overthrow capitalism, one can make a case that, on the contrary, it highlights the need to restore basic capitalist principles like accountability.

To put it another way, this is a chance to save capitalism from crony capitalists.

quote:

Occupy first. Demands come later

What to do after the occupations of Wall Street and beyond – the protests that started far away, reached the centre and are now, reinforced, rolling back around the world? One of the great dangers the protesters face is that they will fall in love with themselves. In a San Francisco echo of the Wall Street occupation this week, a man addressed the crowd with an invitation to participate as if it was a happening in the hippy style of the 60s: "They are asking us what is our programme. We have no programme. We are here to have a good time."

Carnivals come cheap – the true test of their worth is what remains the day after, how our normal daily life will be changed. The protesters should fall in love with hard and patient work – they are the beginning, not the end. Their basic message is: the taboo is broken; we do not live in the best possible world; we are allowed, obliged even, to think about alternatives.

quote:

Washington Post Under Fire For Occupy Wall Street Coverage

While the police crackdown of Occupy Oakland has made international news, the Washington Post is coming under criticism for how it covered the story. On Wednesday, it ran a story titled, "Protesters wearing out their welcome nationwide." Above the photo was a photo of a police officer petting a cat. The caption read: “A police officer in Oakland, Calif., pets a cat that was left behind by Wall Street protesters who were evicted from the grounds of City Hall.”

quote:

http://videocafe.crooksan(...)ext-straw-attack-ows

OLBERMANN: First, the protesters were drugged up hippies. Then, they were anti-Semitic. Then, yesterday they were part of the Muslim Brotherhood. In our number one story now, the right wing has grasped at its next straw; the Occupy movement is actually being organized by the most vile of community organizations... ACORN.

twitter:

Leemtee twitterde op donderdag 27-10-2011 om 17:49:31 RT “@iRevolt: Egyptians plan to march from Tahrir Square to the US Embassy in Cairo tomorrow in solidarity with @OccupyOakland #OWS” reageer retweet

quote:

Immunity and impunity in elite America

The top one per cent of US society is enjoying a two-tiered system of justice and politics.

As intense protests spawned by Occupy Wall Street continue to grow, it is worth asking: Why now? The answer is not obvious. After all, severe income and wealth inequality have long plagued the United States. In fact, it could reasonably be claimed that this form of inequality is part of the design of the American foundation - indeed, an integral part of it.

Income inequality has worsened over the past several years and is at its highest level since the Great Depression. This is not, however, a new trend. Income inequality has been growing at rapid rates for three decades. As journalist Tim Noah described the process: "During the late 1980s and the late 1990s, the United States experienced two unprecedentedly long periods of sustained economic growth - the ‘seven fat years’ and the ‘long boom’. Yet from 1980 to 2005, more than 80 per cent of total increase in Americans' income went to the top one per cent. Economic growth was more sluggish in the aughts [the first decade of the new century], but the decade saw productivity increase by about 20 per cent. Yet virtually none of the increase translated into wage growth at middle and lower incomes, an outcome that left many economists scratching their heads."

The 2008 financial crisis exacerbated the trend, but not radically: the top one per cent of earners in the US have been feeding ever more greedily at the trough for decades.

quote:

Marine, Navy, Army and Airforce Vets and Police Vow to Protect Innocent Protesters

In response to the police brutality against peaceful American protesters – here, here, here, here, here and here – military and police groups are forming to protect American citizens.

In fact, many in the military support the protests (and see this).

As of today, OccupyMarines, Occupy Police, Occupy Navy, Occupy Airforce, and Occupy Army have formed to protect the people against police brutality.

After Veterans for Peace member Scott Olsen – a Marine Corps veteran twice deployed to Iraq – was critically wounded in the Occupy Oakland protest, Occupy Marines tweeted:

WHEN YOU SHOOT ONE MARINE, YOU SHOOT AT ALL OF US. OORAH. Do It Peacefully Occupy We Stand In Solidarity

quote:

Fraude van 1 miljard dollar bij spoor VS

Amerikaanse aanklagers in New York meldden vandaag een fraude van 1 miljard dollar (700 miljoen euro) te hebben ontdekt. Honderden spoorwegmedewerkers blijken onterecht een uitkering voor arbeidsongeschiktheid te krijgen.

De medewerkers hadden drie artsen omgekocht voor valse verklaringen. De 'arbeidsongeschikte' medewerkers bleken ondertussen vrolijk te tennissen of te golfen, aldus de aanklacht. Door arbeidsongeschikt te worden vlak voor hun pensioen, kregen ze een hoger pensioen van een bedrijfsfonds.

quote:

NYPD sergeants threaten to sue Wall Street protesters

"Deeply concerned" police sergeants are coming out swinging today against obnoxious Wall Street protesters, saying they plan to "pursue legal action" against demonstrators who injure any of its members.

Ed Mullins, president of the NYPD's Sergeant’s Benevolent Association, said his group plans to pursue legal claims against Occupy Wall Street protesters should they cause injury to any of its 5,000 members.

“In light of the growing violence attendant to the 'Occupy' movements across the country, particularly as evidenced by the recent events in Oakland, I am compelled to place these so-called 'occupiers' on notice that physical assaults on police officers will not be tolerated," he said.


Mullins added that any "assault on a police officer is not only punishable as a felony in the State of New York, but will also be met with swift and certain legal action by the SBA, which will seek monetary damages against any individual who causes injury to a New York City Sergeant.”

He said over 20 cops have been injured in Occupy Wall Street-related incidents.

"I am deeply concerned that protesters will be emboldened by the recent rash of violent acts against police officers in other cities. New York’s police officers are working around the clock as the already overburdened economy in New York is being drained by 'occupiers' who intentionally and maliciously instigate needless and violent confrontations with the police," said Mullins.

"In response, I have instructed the SBA’s attorneys to pursue the harshest possible civil sanctions -- including monetary damages -- against any individual protester who causes injury to my members. Protesters are not immunized from civil liability merely because their victims are wearing the uniform of the New York City Police Department."

This comes as the charges against hundreds of protesters who were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge or Union Square over the past six weeks could be dropped if the protesters accept a deal from the Manhattan DA's office.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/n(...)bSQeMI#ixzz1c0xY1Tt4

quote:

Op donderdag 27 oktober 2011 20:26 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

Bill Maher Defends Occupy Wall Street

quote:

Sgt. Shamar Thomas Is Back And He Brought The Marines With Him To #OWS

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators marched in a show of solidarity with Occupy Oakland Wednesday night. Leading the march front and center was none other than Marine Sergeant Shamar Thomas sporting his uniform proudly.

We Got Him

twitter:

Op_ESR twitterde op vrijdag 28-10-2011 om 18:36:59 #SFSD ESU Officer #Bergstresser = Officer Who Injured #ScottOlson ~ #OpESR #A99 #AntiSec #ProSec #InfoSec #OWS reageer retweet

quote:

Doctors: Scott Olsen suffered brain damage and is unable to speak

The Iraq veteran seriously wounded Tuesday night at “Occupy Oakland” sustained minor brain damage and has been rendered unable to speak, doctors said Friday, adding that he will likely be able to make a full recovery in time.

Scott Olsen, 24, was said to be otherwise lucid and able to communicate with his family by writing notes, but his ability to spell is also damaged, according to sources who spoke with The Guardian. He is, however, able to understand what’s being communicated to him.

Keith Shannon, Olsen’s roommate who served with him in Iraq, explained that “He cannot talk right now, and that is because the fracture is right on the speech center of his brain,” the paper added. “However, they are expecting he will get that back.”

quote:

bron

Uit een deze week verschenen opiniepeiling van de New York Times en CBS News, blijkt dat inmiddels 43 procent van de Amerikanen de ideeën van Occupy Wall Street steunt.

De cijfers wijzen op een snelgroeiende steun onder het volk voor Occupy Wall Street vergeleken met twee weken geleden, het moment waarop de grote media verslag begonnen te doen van de protesten. In een opiniepeiling die half oktober werd gehouden door onderzoeksbureau Gallup, bleek dat slechts 22 procent van de bevolking de doelen van de demonstranten "goedkeurde." Vijftien procent keurde die af en 63 procent zei er te weinig vanaf te weten om een mening te hebben.

"In slechts een maand tijd hebben de demonstranten het nationale debat weten om te buigen van een focus op het begrotingstekort naar de onderwerpen waar mensen werkelijk mee te maken hebben: gebrek aan fatsoenlijk werk, groeiende ongelijkheid, schulden en de verderfelijke invloed van geld in de politiek die ons tot die punt gebracht heeft", schreef Joshua Holland, redacteur van de progressieve website Alternet, in een reactie op de uitslag van de opiniepeilingen.

Van de ondervraagden gaf twee derde aan dat de welvaart in het land eerlijker verdeeld moet worden. Zesentwintig procent had geen problemen met de huidige verdeling.

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 oktober 2011 00:04 schreef deelnemer het volgende:

[..]

A message from Anonymous to the 99% WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!

quote:

Blockade Port of Oakland During Nov 2 General Strike
resolution passed unanimously by the Occupy Oakland strike assembly on Friday October 29

On Wednesday, November 2nd as part of the Oakland General Strike, we will march on the Port of Oakland and shut it down. We will converge at 5pm at 14th and Broadway and march to the port to shut it down before the 7pm night shift.

We are doing this in order to blockade the flow of capital on the day of the General Strike, as well as to show our commitment to solidarity with Longshore workers in their struggle against EGT in Longview, Washington. EGT is an international grain exporter which is attempting to rupture longshore jurisdiction. The driving force behind EGT is Bunge LTD, a leading agribusiness and food company which reported 2.4 billion dollars in profit in 2010; this company has strong ties to Wall Street. This is but one example of Wall Street’s corporate attack on workers.

The Oakland General Strike will demonstrate the wide reaching implications of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The entire world is fed up with the huge disparity of wealth caused by the present system. Now is the time that the people are doing something about it.The Oakland General Strike is a warning shot to the 1% – their wealth only exists because the 99% creates it for them.

quote:

Marine Says Oakland Used Crowd Control Methods That Are Prohibited In War Zones

Read more: http://www.businessinside(...)011-10#ixzz1cADhsPIs

As the events that led to Oakland protester Scott Olsen's head injury continue to unfold and investigations begin, we thought it important to offer some perspective.

This comment is from a former Marine with special operations in crowd control.

He points out that shooting canisters such as those that likely hit Scott Olsen is prohibited under rules of engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Regardless of any political position on the Occupy protests, these are some Interesting insights:

Read more: http://www.businessinside(...)011-10#ixzz1cADepAl2

quote:

Occupy Oakland: mayor sorry for clashes that injured Scott Olsen

Jean Quan says she is deeply saddened by violence between police and demonstrators in which former marine was badly hurt

The mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, has apologised for the clashes between police and demonstrators that left Scott Olsen badly injured.

Quan, who has drawn withering criticism for her handling of the Occupy protests against economic inequality, said she had met Scott Olsen and his parents and was concerned about his recovery.

Olsen, a 24-year-old ex-marine who served in Iraq, was struck in the head during Occupy Oakland protests on Tuesday night and his plight has galvanised the worldwide Occupy movement.

A spokesman for Oakland's Highland General hospital said Olsen remained in "fair" condition on Friday, upgraded from "critical" one day earlier, and had been visited by his parents.

"I am deeply saddened about the outcome on Tuesday," Quan said in a video statement posted online in which the shouts of protesters rallying outside City Hall could be heard in the background.

"It was not what anyone hoped for. Ultimately, it was my responsibility, and I apologise for what happened," she said. "We can change America, but we must unite and not divide our city. I hope we can work together."

Oakland has become one of the focal points of the Occupy movement, which began in Wall Street last month to protest against economic disparities, high unemployment and government bailouts of major banks.

Makeshift camps sprouting up in cities across the country have forced local officials to balance the facilitation of peaceful assembly while addressing concerns about trespassing, noise, sanitation and safety.

On Thursday, Quan attended a rally and speakers' forum organised by protesters at Frank Ogawa Plaza, a public square near the mayor's office that has been the fulcrum of demonstrations. She was greeted with a hail of angry boos and catcalls and hastily retreated with her staff back to City Hall, followed by protesters shouting, "Get out, go home!" and "Resign!"

In Friday's statement Quan pledged to work with the Occupy Oakland activists and asked for "direct communications" between city staff and Occupy representatives.

Quan asked protesters to refrain from sleeping overnight in the makeshift plaza campsite, which was forcibly dismantled by police on Tuesday. Protesters were marching to retake it when Olsen was critically injured in the confrontation with police.

Protest organisers said the ex-Marine was struck in the head with a teargas canister fired by police. City and police officials have not said how they believe Olsen was hurt but police have opened an investigation.

Protesters reclaimed the plaza on Wednesday night when police kept their distance.

On Friday, hundreds of protesters returned to the square for a rally attended by filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore, who was loudly cheered as he addressed the crowd.

"We've seen the militarisation of our local police departments because Congress has spent billions to buy them armaments … even spying systems to prepare them for what they believe is the inevitable," Moore said. "Sooner or later the people aren't going to take it anymore."

Organisers have called for a general strike in Oakland one day next week over what they called the "brutal and vicious" treatment of protesters.

quote:

Op vrijdag 28 oktober 2011 21:55 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

Meet the 0.01 Percent: War Profiteers

quote:

Officers Jeer at Arraignment of 16 Colleagues in Ticket-Fixing Investigation

A three-year investigation into the police’s habit of fixing traffic and parking tickets in the Bronx ended in the unsealing of indictments on Friday and a stunning display of vitriol by hundreds of off-duty officers, who converged on the courthouse to applaud their accused colleagues and denounce their prosecution.

As 16 police officers were arraigned at State Supreme Court in the Bronx, incensed colleagues organized by their union cursed and taunted prosecutors and investigators, chanting “Down with the D.A.” and “Ray Kelly, hypocrite.”

As the defendants emerged from their morning court appearance, a swarm of officers formed a cordon in the hallway and clapped as they picked their way to the elevators. Members of the news media were prevented by court officers from walking down the hallway where more than 100 off-duty police officers had gathered outside the courtroom.

The assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues, in one instance grabbing lenses and shoving television camera operators backward.

The unsealed indictments contained more than 1,600 criminal counts, the bulk of them misdemeanors having to do with making tickets disappear as favors for friends, relatives and others with clout. But they also outlined more serious crimes, related both to ticket-fixing and drugs, grand larceny and unrelated corruption. Four of the officers were charged with helping a man get away with assault.

Jose R. Ramos, an officer in the 40th Precinct whose suspicious behavior spawned the protracted investigation, was accused of two dozen crimes, including attempted robbery, attempted grand larceny, transporting what he thought was heroin for drug dealers and revealing the identity of a confidential informant.

The case, troubling to many New Yorkers because of its implication that the police officers believed they deserved special treatment, is expected to have long tentacles. Scores of other officers accused of fixing tickets could face departmental charges. Some officers have already retired. Moreover, the indictments may jeopardize thousands of cases in which implicated officers are important witnesses and may be seen as untrustworthy by Bronx juries.

The contentious scene in the Bronx concluded a week of deep embarrassment for the New York Police Department and Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, who at a news conference acknowledged the difficulty of having “to announce for the second time this week that police officers have been arrested for misconduct.”

Federal agents earlier in the week arrested eight current and former officers on accusations that they had brought illegal firearms, slot machines and black-market cigarettes into New York City. Recently, other officers have been charged in federal court with making false arrests, and there was testimony in a trial in Brooklyn that narcotics detectives planted drugs on innocent civilians.

quote:

The outpouring of angry officers at the courthouse had faint echoes of a 1992 march by off-duty officers on City Hall to protest Mayor David N. Dinkins’s call for more independent review of the police. And it raises unsettling questions about the current mind-set of the police force.

“It is hard to see an upside in the way the anger was expressed, especially in Bronx County, where you already have a hard row to hoe in terms of building rapport with the community,” said Eugene J. O’Donnell, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “The Police Department is a very angry work force, and that is something that should concern people, because it translates into hostile interactions with people.”

quote:

On Friday morning, on the street outside the courthouse, some 350 officers massed behind barricades and brandished signs expressing sentiments like “It’s a Courtesy Not a Crime.”

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 oktober 2011 12:22 schreef Resonancer het volgende:

[..]

Mijn onderschrift is meteen mijn reactie. 50jr geleden werd hier al voor gewaarschuwd.

quote:

Op donderdag 27 oktober 2011 20:26 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

Bill Maher Defends Occupy Wall Street

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 oktober 2011 13:03 schreef Weltschmerz het volgende:

[..]

Ik krijg er ook een "Told you so"-gevoel bij, net als bij die hele occupy-agenda. Alsof het allemaal recentelijk ontdekt is.

Het was oorlogsheld en republikein Eisenhower die waarschuwde voor de macht van het militair-industrieel complex.

quote:

It is now two years since this latest European war began. From that day in September, 1939, until the present moment, there has been an over-increasing effort to force the United States into the conflict.

That effort has been carried on by foreign interests, and by a small minority of our own people; but it has been so successful that, today, our country stands on the verge of war.

knip

Do you find these crusaders for foreign freedom of speech, or the removal of censorship here in our own country?

knip
The three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration.
Behind these groups, but of lesser importance, are a number of capitalists, Anglophiles, and intellectuals who believe that the future of mankind depends upon the domination of the British empire.
knip.

Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.

Charles Lindbergh's - September 11, 1941 Des Moines Speech

twitter:

CabinCr3w twitterde op zaterdag 29-10-2011 om 01:25:34 Ohai Officer ESU Aparicio, why did you teargas innocent people? http://t.co/IdI4RdtE #CabinCr3w #Anonymous reageer retweet

quote:

How Occupy Wall Street cost me my job.

I was standing beneath a news ticker near West 43rd Street and Broadway, and people began cheering as a headline about the movement scrolled across the ticker. I looked up, and at that moment a photographer took a photo of me holding the sign, and posted it to Twitter shortly thereafter.

The next day, Boing Boing co-editor Xeni Jardin posted the photo as the site's Occupy Wall Street sign of the day, the post circulated around Tumblr, Friedersdorf himself saw it and wrote about it, as did Felix Salmon at Reuters, who called me "one of those protestors that photographers dream of" and the sign "true, and accurate, and touching, and grammatical, and far too long to be a slogan, and gloriously bereft of punctuation, and ending even more gloriously in a mildly archaic preposition."

Beyond that, Salmon noted, the sign's internet notoriety showed that there was something about it that resonated with people. Which was really the whole point of why we made the sign, and of Friedersdorf's piece.

I thought all of this could be fodder for an interesting segment on The Takeaway—a morning news program co-produced by WNYC Radio and Public Radio International—for which I had been working as a freelance web producer roughly 20 hours per week for the past seven months. I pitched the idea to producers on the show, in an e-mail.

The next day, The Takeaway's director fired me over the phone, effective immediately. He was inconsolably angry, and said that I had violated every ethic of journalism, and that this should be a "teaching moment" for me in my career as a journalist. The segment I had pitched, of course, would not happen. Ironically, the following day Marketplace did pretty much the exact segment I thought would have been great on The Takeaway, with Kai Ryssdal discussing the sign and the Goldman Sachs deal it alluded to in terms that were far from neutral.

quote:

Meet the anthropologist, activist, and anarchist who helped transform a hapless rally into a global protest movement

quote:

When Graeber and his friends showed up on Aug. 2, however, they found out that the event wasnt, in fact, a general assembly, but a traditional rally, to be followed by a short meeting and a march to Wall Street to deliver a set of predetermined demands (A massive public-private jobs program was one, An end to oppression and war! was another). In anarchist argot, the event was being run by verticalstop-down organizationsrather than horizontals such as Graeber and his friends. Sagri and Graeber felt theyd been had, and they were angry.

What happened next sounds like an anarchist parable. Along with Kohso, the two recruited several other people disgruntled with the proceedings, then walked to the south end of the park and began to hold their own GA, getting down to the business of planning the Sept. 17 occupation. The original dozen or so people gradually swelled, despite the efforts of the events planners to bring them back to the rally. The tug of war lasted until late in the evening, but eventually all of the 50 or so people remaining at Bowling Green had joined the insurgent general assembly.

The groups that were organizing the rally, they also came along, recalls Kohso. Then everyone stayed very, very late to organize what committees we needed.

While there were weeks of planning yet to go, the important battle had been won. The show would be run by horizontals, and the choices that would followthe decision not to have leaders or even designated police liaisons, the daily GAs and myriad working-group meetings that still form the heart of the protests in Zuccotti Parkall flowed from that.

quote:

Graebers problem with debt is not just that having too much of it is bad. More fundamental, he writes in his book, is debts perversion of the natural instinct for humans to help each other. Economics textbooks tell a story in which money and markets arise out of the human tendency to truck and barter, as Adam Smith put it. Before there was money, Smith argued, people would trade seven chickens for a goat, or a bag of grain for a pair of sandals. Then some enterprising merchant realized it would be easier to just price all of them in a common medium of exchange, like silver or wampum. The problem with this story, anthropologists have been arguing for decades, is that it doesnt seem ever to have happened. No example of a barter economy, pure and simple, has ever been described, let alone the emergence from it of money, writes anthropologist Caroline Humphrey, in a passage Graeber quotes.

People in societies without money dont barter, not unless theyre dealing with a total stranger or an enemy. Instead they give things to each other, sometimes as a form of tribute, sometimes to get something later in return, and sometimes as an outright gift. Money, therefore, wasnt created by traders trying to make it easier to barter, it was created by states like ancient Egypt or massive temple bureaucracies in Sumer so that people had a more efficient way of paying taxes, or simply to measure property holdings. In the process, they introduced the concept of price and of an impersonal market, and that ate away at all those organic webs of mutual support that had existed before.

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 oktober 2011 21:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

CCP Finally Stumbles Over Occupy Wall Street

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 oktober 2011 14:42 schreef Resonancer het volgende:

[..]

Zekers, er was er nog eentje die het WEL durfde te zeggen op de historische symbolische datum 11 sept 1941.:

[..]

Tja, hij kreeg het verwijt anti semitisch te zijn, maar oh..oh. wat heeft hij volgens mij gelijk.

quote:

Oakland mayor under siege from all sides

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has experienced poverty, racism and gender discrimination. As a student she went on strike at UC Berkeley in support of ethnic studies and boycotted grapes to support farmworkers. She fought to prevent the eviction of poor Asian seniors from the International Hotel in San Francisco, and she considers Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr., her heroes.

But after Tuesday's predawn raid on the Occupy Oakland camp at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, followed that night with police in riot gear shooting tear gas, bean bags and rubber bullets into large crowds of protesters, Quan finds herself in an unusual position. After less than year in office she is being criticized and booed by the working class, underemployed and unemployed -- the so-called 99 percent she has supported, fought for and defended her entire life.

"I'm pretty sad, and obviously it's very painful," she said Friday. Somebody in the national media "said I should have resigned. But I don't have time to think about politics. I have to keep people safe.

"I've been able to organize the communities and balance the budget. It's painful to have all your work defined by one thing. The city probably did make some mistakes. That's why I apologized to the family of Scott Olsen."

twitter:

LOrion twitterde op maandag 31-10-2011 om 00:02:56 WTF? RT @Smiling_Gem: In response to the police brutality against #occupyWallStreet protesters,tunisian facebookers are invading Obama's FB reageer retweet

quote:

But while officers may be in a no-win situation, at the mercy of orders carried on shifting political winds and locked into conflict with a so-far almost entirely non-violent protest movement eager to frame the force as a symbol of the oppressive system they’re fighting, the NYPD seems to have crossed a line in recent days, as the park has taken on a darker tone with unsteady and unstable types suddenly seeming to emerge from the woodwork. Two different drunks I spoke with last week told me they’d been encouraged to “take it to Zuccotti” by officers who’d found them drinking in other parks, and members of the community affairs working group related several similar stories they’d heard while talking with intoxicated or aggressive new arrivals.

quote:

FT: Why America is embracing protest

These are fluid times. Leaders do not so much lead as dance to the unexpected tunes of others. Record numbers of Americans are pessimistic about their economic future and say their political system is broken. They seem to have developed an accordingly higher tolerance than normal for the politics of street protest.

That also adds to the volatility. A few months ago it looked like the 2012 debate would pivot around which candidate could show the least unpalatable path to fiscal discipline. That dimension remains. But others are being added. Take Mitt Romney, a trusty barometer of public opinion, and the least unlikely Republican nominee. Mr Romney initially dismissed the Wall Street protesters as “dangerous”. Then he changed his emphasis: “I worry about the 99 per cent,” he said. “I understand how those people feel.”

The protesters have already rebalanced the national conversation. Brace for a grand debate in 2012 in which both the Tea Partiers and the Occupy crowd are likely to be setting the pace.

quote:

ANALYSIS: Legal confusion at heart of Wall Street protests

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Early Friday morning, under a looming forecast of unseasonable cold and snow, a cadre of firefighters and police officers swept through the Occupy Wall Street camp at Zuccotti Park, confiscating generators and gasoline cans that the city considered a safety hazard.

While the operation was notable for its lack of confrontation, it highlighted once again the uneven application of rules at the park, where its status as a privately owned public plaza has left the protesters' legal advisors scouring the law for potential arguments to combat any eviction efforts.

"There are a number of contingencies," said Samuel Cohen of the Law Offices of Wylie M. Stecklow, a member of the protest's working legal group. "There are literally dozens of excellent attorneys to try to figure out legally what the status of the space is, what the parameters are that the protesters can work within, and how best to sustain this unprecedented act of First Amendment expression. We've got a lot in our holster right now."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg acknowledged that no one knows how the occupation of the park -- now entering its seventh week -- will end, though he said the status quo would continue "at the moment" as long as protesters did not break the law.

"What will happen down the road?" he said during his weekly radio show, without offering any predictions.

The answer to that question could very well lie inside a Manhattan courtroom, with a confusing backdrop of zoning regulations, First Amendment law and rules governing privately controlled public spaces.

'LOOKS LIKE THE CITY HAS BACKED OFF'

Unlike city parks, which have curfews, Zuccotti Park is open 24 hours a day. That condition was imposed in a deal with the city that allowed the developers to exceed certain zoning restrictions on a nearby office building.

Bloomberg and the city have taken the position that the park property's owner, Brookfield Office Properties, would have to make a complaint before police could consider evicting the protesters. Since Brookfield abandoned plans to clean the park and force protesters to leave two weeks ago, the company has remained silent.

"When it comes to the rules of conduct in the park, the city is taking the position that it's Brookfield's call," said Christopher Dunn, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has urged city officials to respect Occupy's right to demonstrate. "It looks like the city has backed off and Brookfield has backed off."

Brookfield instituted new rules regarding the park's use soon after the protests began, including a ban on tents. But those regulations have not been enforced, with demonstrators erecting tents as the weather worsens, and Brookfield appears reluctant to ask the city to step in.

A Brookfield spokeswoman did not return a call for comment Friday.

Cohen, meanwhile, said he does not believe the new rules are legitimate, both because of their intent and because they have not been properly promulgated.

If the park's rules were governed by the city's planning department as a public space, there would be notice requirements and public hearings, he said. If Brookfield has the unilateral authority to impose new restrictions, on the other hand, Occupy could argue that the rules are intended as an attack on free speech.

NO PRIOR RESTRICTION ON PUBLIC ACTIVITY

Michael Dorf, a constitutional law professor at Cornell University, said he believes that park rules against tents and other measures might withstand a First Amendment challenge.

"Occupy Wall Street can make a plausible argument that because these rules were just made up now, they aren't content-neutral," he said. "But most observers probably would say the owners are not actively hostile to the message -- they just don't want people to camp in their park. And if that's what they're objecting to, they're allowed to object to that."

Dunn, however, said the plaza's history as a public space with few regulations would strengthen the argument that the protesters should be allowed to stay.

"There's never been any restriction on public activity there," he said. "I don't even know if they have what you could describe as rules."

The city itself could also petition to have the zoning rules changed for all parks similar to Zuccotti -- that is, privately owned public spaces -- to include a curfew, just as city-owned parks have. That process would be governed by the city's uniform land-use review process and would require public hearings and reviews by the planning commission and possibly the City Council over a period of weeks, if not months.

In recent days, some cities have grown more aggressive in their efforts to prevent long-term encampments. In Oakland on Tuesday, police used tear gas and stun grenades in a violent skirmish with demonstrators who refused to leave a city plaza. Atlanta evicted dozens of protesters from a downtown park on Wednesday, while Baltimore and Providence demonstrators also face possible eviction.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; additional reporting by Erin Geiger Smith and Joan Gralla)

quote:

1994, Smoking-Gun Document Ties Policy To Housing Crisis Under Clinton Regime

news.investors.com — Under President Clinton's direction, 10 federal financial regulatory agencies in 1994 demanded that lenders ease credit for low-income minorities. That spurred banks to lower underwriting standards and triggered the subprime mortgage boom, culminating in the housing and credit crisis in 2008. 9 hr 28 min ago

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 oktober 2011 22:33 schreef Scribent het volgende:

[..]

Dat is wel een ongelukkig voorbeeld... Het is gewoon de gebruikelijke nazi-propaganda ('joodse kapitalisten storten de wereld in een oorlog'). En los van de gebruikelijke clichés over joods Wallstreet etc: natuurlijk wilden de Britten en joden destijds dat de VS aan de oorlog mee gingen doen, maar wel om een fundamenteel andere reden dan die achter de huidige oorlogen-zonder-einde (waaronder die tegen drugs) schuilgaat.

En natuurlijk was er ook toen al een machtig militair-industrieel complex in de VS dat graag een oorlog wilde, maar daarvoor hoef je Lindbergh niet aan te halen. Ben verder niet zo bekend met hem, maar ik vraag me bv af of hij dit soort speeches ook hield als het ging om oorlogen tegen communisten (Korea, Vietnam).

Het anti-communisme van lieden als Lindbergh was nu juist de reden dat de VS na WWII feitelijk niet ontwapende, maar de boel met het oog op de nieuwe vijand lekker liet zoals die was en waar nodig intensiveerde. Exit de socialistische tegenkrachten die er in de eerste helft van de 20e eeuw in de VS nog waren.

quote:

"This Act establishes the most gigantic trust on Earth. When the President signs this bill, the invisible government by the Monetary Power will be legalized, the people may not know it immediately but the day of reckoning is only a few years removed.... The worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking bill."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_August_Lindbergh

quote:

Op woensdag 2 november 2011 02:10 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

quote:

Lenders must continue to ensure that there lending practices are consistent with safe and sound operating policies.

quote:

Noam Chomsky Speaks to Occupy

Noam Chomsky Speaks to Occupy: If We Want a Chance at a Decent Future, the Movement Here and Around the World Must Grow

In a speech to Occupy Boston, the linguist and icon hailed the "unprecedented" first weeks of OWS. He cautioned protesters to build and educate first, strike later.

quote:

Arrestaties na bezetting haven Oakland


Betogers en politie zijn vannacht slaags geraakt in de stad Oakland in de Amerikaanse staat Californië. De politie hield tussen de 30 en 40 mensen aan. Een betoger raakte gewond.


Dat heeft de krant Oakland Tribune vandaag gemeld op gezag van de autoriteiten. Circa 5000 betogers van de Occupy-beweging bezetten woensdagavond (lokale tijd) de haven van Oakland, een van de drukste containerhavens van de Verenigde Staten. De activiteiten in de haven kwamen stil te liggen.

Diverse wegen van en naar het havengebied werden geblokkeerd. De actie begon vreedzaam maar liep uit op een confrontatie tussen gemaskerde actievoerders en de politie. Ordetroepen gebruikten traangas tegen de betogers.

Oakland was woensdag ook al de hele dag het toneel geweest van protesten tegen uitwassen van het kapitalisme.

quote:

In front of the stock exchange several mounted police blocked the route. We heard one of the policeman say: "why are they (the vets) allowed to protest down here and no one else is?"

quote:

people-v-goldman-sachs trial and march

On November 3rd, the People, the 99 percent, will hold A People’s Hearing of Goldman Sachs in Liberty Square Park and march on Goldman Sachs! The people will bring to justice perhaps the single most egregious perpetrator of economic fraud and corruption in the United States. The Hearing will include testimonials from individuals directly affected by Goldman’s fraudulent manipulation of financial markets, including victims of housing foreclosures, pension losses, public lay-offs and untenable student debt.

quote:

Protesters arrested outside Goldman Sacks

Over a dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested today outside Goldman Sachs, where they had marched with 300 others after holding a mock trial of CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

Earlier, in Zuccotti Park, "prosecutors" conducting the mock trial demanded "the return of billions of taxpayer dollars to the 99 percent and criminal sentences for those Goldman Sachs executives who carried out the fraud." They then marched en masse to the firm's headquarters, led by four drummers and chanting "Goldman Sucks!", to deliver the verdict and demand Blankfein's imprisonment. On the way, they chanted Goldman Sucks. The Daily News reports that some construction workers sitting along Church Street gave them the thumbs up , while a businessman muttered, What a bunch of idiots."

quote:

More americans supporting occupy wall street.

The survey, taken Oct. 28-31, shows more adult Americans saying they have heard of Occupy Wall Street than when the question was asked in early October. Sixty-four percent of respondents now say they've heard of the movement, compared to only 51% in the earlier poll.

The new poll also shows more Americans supporting the movement. Thirty-six percent say they agree with the overall positions of Occupy Wall Street, while 19% say they disagree.

quote:

The Wisconsin News Photographers Association issued a statement defending Wentz-Graff, stating the association "finds today's arrest of Kristyna Wentz-Graff entirely unacceptable. This is the second time this year that Milwaukee Police officers have arrested a photographer legally going about their job. It is time for the Milwaukee Police to recognize that photography is not a crime. Journalists provide a public service, but in Milwaukee they are being treated like a public threat."

quote:

On Sunday, October 23, a meeting was held at 60 Wall Street. Six leaders discussed what to do with the half-million dollars that had been donated to their organization, since, in their estimation, the organization was incapable of making sound financial decisions. The proposed solution was not to spend the money educating their co-workers or stimulating more active participation by improving the organization’s structures and tactics. Instead, those present discussed how they could commandeer the $500,000 for their new, more exclusive organization. No, this was not the meeting of any traditional influence on Wall Street. These were six of the leaders of Occupy Wall Street (OWS).

quote:

Rupert Murdoch's tabloid runs three covers in a row attacking the movement

quote:

Occupy Mumbai

Mumbai joined the worldwide 'Occupy' movement where thousands are protesting in streets against greed in financial services that ruined many economies. But the protests in Dalal Street ended rather quickly with the police bundling out protesters including Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Tushar Gandhi.

Although India did not suffer as much as the West due to the 2008 credit crisis, there is lobbying to ease many controls which, if done, could lead to a similar situation. The RBI resists mindless speculation in financial instruments.

The AIBEA had called for the movement, alleging, "The government's economic policies are for the super- rich corporates and against the interest of aam aadmi. We call upon the bank employees and the masses to join in the big movement of fighting the policies of the government and RBI by coming together through the Occupy Dalal Street movement."

'Occupy Wall Street' has gripped the imagination in 82 countries and 1,500 cities worldwide as the excesses by the financial services industry had left millions jobless as economies come to grips with trillions of dollars in losses. The industry is resisting new laws that would make them behave and prevent future privatising of profits and socialisation of losses.

quote:

Occupy Rio

Zo’n tweehonderd jongeren protesteren permanent op het Cinelândiaplein, een van de belangrijkste pleinen van Rio de Janeiro, tegen consumentisme, sociale ongelijkheid en het financiële systeem. Ze hebben 125 tenten opgezet tussen het gemeentehuis, het theater en de nationale bibliotheek.

De beweging, geïnspireerd op Occupy Wall Street, heeft sinds 22 oktober ook voet aan de grond gekregen in Brazilië. Net als in de andere steden is ook in Rio de groep activisten uiterst divers. Zonder hiërarchie proberen ze overeenstemming te bereiken over allerlei politieke, culturele en economische thema’s.

quote:

Protesters disrupt Chicago speech by Gov. Scott Walker

Sixty protesters crashed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers speech at the Union League Club Thursday to offer an alternate picture of how well his controversial budget cuts and union restrictions are working in the Dairy State.

Nearly every week Ive got a new opening up in Kenosha County, in Pleasant Prairie Industrial Park and places like that, Walker told the business owners and civic leaders. Any of you looking to grow and expand your business and get to a safer state, come on up.

But while Walker said his strict tonic of cuts has helped catapult Wisconsin from No. 41 to No. 24 on national rankings of business-friendly states, the Stand Up, Chicago! protesters said Walkers policies are harming Wisconsin residents.

Walker has wreaked havoc on the lives of working families, the protesters shouted in unison about five minutes into Walkers speech. Its ironic that we give Gov. Walker free rein to say what he wants while the mayor has ordered the arrest of over 300 people in Occupy Chicago, who have simply tried to express the rights of freedom and assembly.

The protesters took up about six tables and shouted loud, in unison, frustrating efforts of moderator Chris Robling to quiet them, though he did get attendees to applaud loud enough to drown them out for a minute.

They finally filed out chanting, Union busting its disgusting and We are the 99 percent.

Robling said, Ladies and gentlemen, this is what free expression is all about and sometimes its pretty messy. Fanning through questions submitted by members of the audience, Robling quipped, Alright, Im going to take out a few of the questions from those tables.

The protesters had to pay $20 for each of their reservations, so the club made $1,200 off them.

The remaining guests gave Walker a standing ovation and he resumed his speech.

When union members from around the Midwest descended on Madison to protest Walkers crackdown on unions, Walker called them out-of-towners.

If I needed to make the case earlier this year that a lot of the people in the state capital were not really from Wisconsin point made, Walker said to applause. Walker said he would welcome some of the protesters back to Wisconsin as tourists as they join their union brethren in the recall effort to try to oust Walker from office a fight he thinks hell win.

During the expected recall effort, Walker said he would contrast with what he called Wisconsins strong economy as a result of cutting spending with Illinois cash-strapped economy where tax hikes dwarfed spending cuts.

With all due respect to people of Illinois, Im going to use Illinois as a good example [of bad economics], Walker said.

I found it amusing to be referenced in the same vein as Rahm Emanuel, the mayor, but, really, some of the reforms hes trying to do here echo the things we try to do in the state of Wisconsin and I give him credit for that despite the fact Im a Republican and hes a Democrat, Walker said. He understands you cant look this in the face and not make major changes.

quote:

Occupy Oakland: second Iraq war veteran injured after police clashes

Kayvan Sabehgi in intensive care with a lacerated spleen after protests in Oakland, a week after Scott Olsen was hurt. He says police beat him with batons

A second Iraq war veteran has suffered serious injuries after clashes between police and Occupy movement protesters in Oakland.

Kayvan Sabehgi, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is in intensive care with a lacerated spleen. He says he was beaten by police close to the Occupy Oakland camp, but despite suffering agonising pain, did not reach hospital until 18 hours later.

Sabehgi, 32, is the second Iraq war veteran to be hospitalised following involvement in Oakland protests. Another protester, Scott Olsen, suffered a fractured skull on 25 October.

On Wednesday night, police used teargas and non-lethal projectiles to drive back protesters following an attempt by the Occupy supporters to shut down the city of Oakland.

Sabehgi told the Guardian from hospital he was walking alone along 14th Street in central Oakland – away from the main area of clashes – when he was injured.

"There was a group of police in front of me," he told the Guardian from his hospital bed. "They told me to move, but I was like: 'Move to where?' There was nowhere to move.

"Then they lined up in front of me. I was talking to one of them, saying 'Why are you doing this?' when one moved forward and hit me in my arm and legs and back with his baton. Then three or four cops tackled me and arrested me."

Sabeghi, who left the army in 2007 and now part-owns a small bar-restaurant in El Cerrito, about 10 miles north of Oakland, said he was handcuffed and placed in a police van for three hours before being taken to jail. By the time he got there he was in "unbelievable pain".

He said: "My stomach was really hurting, and it got worse to the point where I couldn't stand up.

"I was on my hands and knees and crawled over the cell door to call for help."

A nurse was called and recommended Sabehgi take a suppository, but he said he "didn't want to take it".

He was allowed to "crawl" to another cell to use the toilet, but said it was clogged.

"I was vomiting and had diarrhoea," Sabehgi said. "I just lay there in pain for hours."

Sabehgi's bail was posted in the mid-afternoon, but he said he was unable to leave his cell because of the pain. The cell door was closed, and he remained on the floor until 6pm, when an ambulance was called.

He was taken to Highland hospital – the same hospital where Olsen was originally taken after being hit in the head by a projectile apparently fired by police.

Sabehgi was due to undergo surgery on Friday afternoon to repair his spleen, which would involve using a clot or patch to prevent internal bleeding.

Thousands of protesters had attended the action in Oakland on Wednesday, taking over the downtown area of the city and blockading Oakland's port.

As demonstrations continued near the camp base at Frank H Ogawa plaza during the evening, a group of protesters occupied a disused building on 16th Street at around 10.30pm, with some climbing up onto the roof.

There had been little police presence during the day, but more than 200 officers arrived after 11pm. Some protesters had set fire to a hastily assembled barrier at the corner of 16th Street and Telegraph, in a bid to prevent access to the occupied building, but police drove demonstrators away from 16th Street using tear gas, flashbang grenades, and non-lethal rounds.

Sabehgi said he had not been in the occupied building, and was walking away from the main area of trouble when he was injured.

He said he had his arms folded and was "totally peaceful" before being arrested.

A spokeswoman for Highland hospital confirmed Sabehgi had been admitted. Oakland police were not immediately available for comment.

quote:

Move Your Money

In a national effort to make the so-called one per cent listen, hundreds of thousands of people have withdrawn money from leading banks in the United States. National Bank Transfer Day may be a grassroots movement but its definitely making a move.

The idea behind the movement is simple: close accounts with the big guns and move your money to smaller players like credit unions. And its catching on as statistics show that since September 2011, over 650,000 people have made the swap, tired of hidden charges, poor customer service and overall corporate greed. Many say that despite the large number of people switching to credit unions, the impact of Move Your Money will not be felt by giants such as Chase, which holds nearly 30 million accounts nationwide.