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

twitter:

AnonOpsUS twitterde op donderdag 17-11-2011 om 19:57:11 BREAKING LIVE: #NYPD are now entering #Zuccotti Park en masse. Large Police vehicles arriving with sirens.. http://t.co/jP9Uma9E #OWS #N17 reageer retweet

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Bankers Evicted From Nation’s Economy

STATEMENT FROM THE MAYOR

At 1 o’clock this morning, on my orders, the New York City Police Department and Department of Sanitation removed the bankers from the U.S. economy.

The Constitution that created the economy requires that it be open to the public for the pursuit of their livelihood 24 hours a day. Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the economy has been taken over by bankers, making it unavailable to anyone else.

Inaction was not an option. The bankers had occupied the economy for well over a decade. It had become covered in collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, derivatives of derivatives, and other cumbersome financial instruments, making it next to impossible to navigate for the public–and for the regulators who are responsible for guaranteeing the public’s safety. The dangers posed were evident in an incident in 2008 in which bankers crashed the economy, doubled unemployment, reduced household wealth by trillions of dollars, threw millions of Americans out of their homes, widened the gap between rich and poor, and triggered the worst global downturn since the Great Depression. While this may have been an isolated incident, I became increasingly concerned that the occupation might come to pose a hazard. Make no mistake—the decision to act was mine.

No right is absolute and with every right comes responsibilities. The Constitution gives every American the right to pursue wealth, but it does not give anyone the right to take over the economy to the exclusion of others—nor does it permit anyone in our society to live outside the law.

During the operation this morning, the bankers were told that they could return to the economy after it had been thoroughly cleaned, which it has not been since the 1930s. They were informed, however, that they could not bring their exotic financial instruments with them. As for instruments removed today by the Sanitation Department, these are being held at the Manhattan District 7 Garage on West 56th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues and may be recovered on presentation of proof of ownership and a valid bank debit card.

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Op donderdag 17 november 2011 20:06 schreef Perrin het volgende:

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Op vrijdag 18 november 2011 00:01 schreef J0kkebr0k het volgende:
In New York is nu echt een redelijk grote manifestatie aan de gang. Zo'n 15 tot 20 duizend man die richting de Brooklyn Bridge trekken. Volgens mij willen ze de brug bezetten.

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6.36pm: Marchers have started to throng onto the pedestrian walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge now. Unlike in September, when some spilled over into the roadway, they are keeping to the pedestrian section. But the general chaos in the area means that no traffic is able to get onto the Brooklyn-bound section anyway, so it's going to be a long commute home for many people. The scenes are dramatic: many protesters are carrying candles (possibly battery-operated). It should be quite a picture.

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Op vrijdag 18 november 2011 01:51 schreef Eyjafjallajoekull het volgende:
http://www.volkskrant.nl/(...)ing-Californie.dhtml

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De man werd neergeschoten in de Haas School of Business, een kilometer van de plaats van de betoging op Sproul Plaza.

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Op vrijdag 18 november 2011 01:55 schreef Nemephis het volgende:

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dat heeft dus geen zak met Occupy te maken.. raar dat het wel zo gebracht wordt.

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http://www.guardiannews.c(...)t-day-of-action-live

7.06pm: Ryan Devereaux writes: A massive projection is being displayed on the Verizon building south of the Brooklyn Bridge. In a series of shots it reads, "We are the 99%, Look around, you are a part of a global uprising...We are unstoppable, another world is possible...We are a cry from the heart of the world...It is the beginning of the beginning." The projection then goes on to display the names of occupations around the country in rapid-fire succession with the final name reading, "Occupy Earth." With a chorus of honking cars in the background, the crowd erupts in cheers and reads the display in unison as they pass.

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Op vrijdag 18 november 2011 02:36 schreef Nemephis het volgende:
De livestreams doen het niet meer. Men vraagt zich af of signalen geblokkeerd worden.

twitter:

OperationLeakS twitterde op vrijdag 18-11-2011 om 02:53:47 It's been Confirmed that Phone service is indeed out at Liberty Plaza. There's no Live Feed at the moment. #N17 #OWS #PoliceState reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 18 november 2011 09:56 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Pardon?

Hevige rellen bij Occupy-protest Wall Street

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Op woensdag 19 oktober 2011 21:35 schreef arucard het volgende:
Ik bedoel, het is toch logisch dat er arrestaties plaatsvinden, als je duizenden mensen op een kluitje hebt voor 3 weken. De politie moet ze maar babysitten, ook voor de veiligheid van de andere demonstranten, maar o wee als ze eens een keer ingrijpen.

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Op vrijdag 18 november 2011 09:56 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Pardon?

Hevige rellen bij Occupy-protest Wall Street

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Op vrijdag 18 november 2011 11:21 schreef RetepV het volgende:
Anyway, de rijke bovenlaag in de VS is niet helemaal goed wijs, wat dat betreft. Die willen nog steeds rijker worden. Maar des te rijker die worden, des te armer de normale mens daar wordt. Ook in deze crisis heeft de gewone man daar weer het meeste te leiden en worden de rijken nog steeds rijker.

De VS produceert vrijwel niks op dit moment. Het enige dat wij op dit moment aan de VS hebben is eigenlijk dat het een afzetmarkt is voor ons. Een hele grote afzetmarkt. Maar als de 'gewone man' daar geen geld heeft, valt er voor ons niks te verkopen in Amerika. Die paar rijke mensen daar zijn niet genoeg om voor ons een interessante afzetmarkt te vormen. Dus gaan wij op een gegeven moment stoppen met het maken van goederen voor de Amerikaanse markt. De transportsector zal het zwaar krijgen, en het zal gewoon niet meer lonend zijn om met Amerika te handelen.

Dus des te kleiner en rijker de bovenlaag daar wordt, des te armer het land eigenlijk wordt, zelfs als de hoeveelheid geld gelijk blijft. De VS is zichzelf op dit moment geen dienst aan het bewijzen. Des te meer controle de rijke bovenlaag naar zich toetrekt, des te minder interessant het land wordt voor Europa, Japan en China.

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Bloomberg’s office admits to arresting journalists for covering OWS

Arrests in the Occupy movement nationally have surpassed 1,000, with 177 being charged by the NYPD this Thursday in only the first few hours.

Now New York is admitting that journalists that they credentialed are among those that were cuffed by cops. In a statement to the press released from Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office on Thursday, November 17, spokesperson Stu Loeser addressed the media about reports relating to the growing number of journalists who have been arrested by the NYPD during Occupy Wall Street protests, a now-international movement which began in Lower Manhattan two months to the day of Loeser’s memo.

“Like all of you, I’ve heard and read many reports of reporters who supposedly were wearing valid NYPD press credentials, yet allegedly encountered problems on the streets of New York,” writes the spokesman. Loeser goes on to direct recipients of the memo to a roster of reporters published by independent outlet The Awl that has chronicled the names and affiliations of journalists that have been arrested across the country so far, which as of this writing totals 26.

“Not being familiar with many of the media outlets for which The Awl says these reporters work, I had the list of ‘26 arrested reporters’ checked against the roster of reporters who hold valid NYPD press passes,” Loser adds. “You can imagine my surprise when we found that only five of the 26 arrested reporters actually have valid NYPD-issued press credentials.”

With that sentence alone, Loeser manages to shoot himself in the foot. Twice.

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(And for those wondering how a reporter can obtain an official NYPD pass, The Observer notes that the qualifying factors require a journalist to prove that they covered six or more events in the city on separate days in the 24 months before asking for a pass implying that in order to be valid in the eyes of the law, one must break it first.)

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Justice Dept: Homeland Security Advised Raids On Occupy Wall Street Camps

President Obama's "position" regarding the NYPD's raid of Zuccotti Park, is that "every municipality has to make its own decision about how to handle" the issues of free speech and the concerns of the community. But according to Rick Ellis at the Examiner, a Justice Department official says that the recent evictions of Occupy movement across the country including Salt Lake City, Denver, Portland, Oakland, and New York City were "coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies."

Ellis reports that his source says though the decision to evict protesters ultimately rested with each individual jurisdiction, the local police departments "had received tactical and planning advice from national agencies" from the feds.

Oakland's mayor Jean Quan told the BBC yesterday that she had participated in a conference call with the leaders of 18 other cities to discuss their shared "situation where what had started as a political movement and a political encampment ended up being an encampment no longer in control by the people who started them."

Mother Jones reports that the US Conferences of Mayors has stated that two conference calls, one on October 13, the morning before the aborted raid on Zuccotti Park, and the second on November 10, were held with "mayors and police top brass." They discussed "issues of concern" and how to "maintain public health and safety" during the occupations. The USCM official "denied that there was any coordination or planning between mayors and police officials about breaking up Occupy protests or tearing down encampments." Mayor Bloomberg denies participating in these conference calls.

The AP reports that another set of conference calls on October 11 and November 14 were organized by the Police Executive Research Forum and included representatives from 40 different cities. A spokesman for the group said that the timing of the calls were "completely spontaneous" and had nothing to do with the recent raids. "This was an attempt to get insight on what other departments were doing." Including the maxim: "Don't set a midnight deadline to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters, it will only give a crowd of demonstrators time to form."

In our recent interview with Glenn Greenwald, a former civil rights attorney and current Salon columnist, we asked him a question regarding the expanding powers of the federal government.

Typically, new powers are often applied in ways that people will feel comfortable with. So if the government wants to restrict speech they will pick the most hated person in the society and restrict their speech and nobody will care...The problem is that these things proliferate far beyond their original applications, in every instance that's true. Historically, that's how power functions.

According to a Presidential directive issued by George W. Bush in 2003, the DHS's responsibility is to "develop all-hazards plans and capabilities, including those of greatest importance to the security of the United States homeland, such as the prevention of terrorist attacks and preparedness for the potential use of weapons of mass destruction, and ensure that state, local, and federal plans are compatible." Is assisting to coordinate the eviction of mostly-peaceful protests what the DHS was designed to do?

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Occupy Oakland: Iraq war veteran Kayvan Sabehgi beaten by police - video

Protester and three-tour American veteran Kayvan Sabehgi was beaten by Oakland police during the Occupy protest's general strike on 2 November. Sabehgi, who was 'completely peaceful', according to witnesses, was left with a lacerated spleen

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Occupy Wall Street: 250 arrestaties, 7 agenten gewond

De politie heeft donderdag in New York in totaal 250 personen opgepakt bij manifestaties van de protestbeweging 'Occupy Wall Street', die nu twee maanden bestaat. Zeven agenten raakten gewond, aldus een nieuwe balans van de politie.

In de loop van de avond werden nog 64 personen opgepakt bij een manifestatie met duizenden deelnemers die eindigde op Brooklyn Bridge.

Volgens organisatoren hebben 30.000 manifestanten (studenten en vakbondsmensen) deelgenomen aan de manifestaties. De politie onthoudt zich van elke raming.

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Lobbying firm made plan to deal with OWS

A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up Chris Hayes.”

The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association.

CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead.

Het plan

Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis

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Video: agent spuit studenten plat bij opruimen Occupy in Californië

Een protest van de Occupy-beweging bij de Universiteit van Californië in Davis zijn meerdere studenten gearresteerd. In een video zijn zittende studenten te zien die platgepeppersprayed worden.

Te zien is hoe een groep studenten op een rij zit als vreedzaam protest. Een agent loopt op z’n gemak op de studenten af, richt z’n bus pepperspray en spuit. De studenten worden vervolgens weggesleurd. De meesten werden gearresteerd.

Over de video is ophef ontstaan, vanwege de kalmte van de agent die z’n pepperspray spuit alsof hij zich wil ontdoen van wat lastige insecten. De video is, zelfs na enkele uren al, hard op weg een soort emblematische video te worden voor de manier waarop de Amerikaanse politie omgaat met de Occupybeweging. Eerder dook er al een foto op van een bejaarde vrouw die pepperspray in haar gezicht kreeg:

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Confirmed: Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) coordinating Occupy raids

Many of us have been wondering why the raids on Occupy camps across the country have had such a coordinated feel. If only the official response to real social ills could have been as timely and widespread as the crackdown on peaceful demonstrators expressing their freedom of speech, assembly, and the press covering their protest. An article at Examiner.com was understandably derided as being under-sourced for a charge as serious as a national DHS crackdown on non-violent protests. However, we have now received confirmation via Amy Goodman's interview on the 11/17 episode of Democracy Now! with PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler that this private NGO coordinated high-level conference calls amongst 40 police chiefs, distinct from the mayoral "therapy session" referred to by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, in order to broadcast advice and documentation about cracking down on the Occupy social movement.

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Op zaterdag 19 november 2011 19:05 schreef Ketchupcurry het volgende:

Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis

http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/(...)ccupy-in-californie/

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twitter:

Anon_Central twitterde op zaterdag 19-11-2011 om 21:39:54 Salary Details of John A. PikePOLICE LIEUTENANT - MSPUC Davis http://t.co/Vmxa5oUf reageer retweet

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California Penal Code Section 12403.7 (a) (8)
(g) Any person who uses tear gas or tear gas weapons except in self-defense is guilty of a public offense and is punishable byimprisonment in a state prison for 16 months, or two or three years or in a county jail not to exceed one year or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment, except that, if the use is against a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, engaged in the performance of his or her official duties and the person committing the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim is a peace officer, the offense is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for 16 months or two or three years or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.

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Occupy HOPE

This image represents my support for the Occupy movement, a grassroots movement spawned to stand up against corruption, imbalance of power, and failure of our democracy to represent and help average Americans. On the other hand, as flawed as the system is, I see Obama as a potential ally of the Occupy movement if the energy of the movement is perceived as constructive, not destructive. I still see Obama as the closest thing to “a man on the inside” that we have presently. Obviously, just voting is not enough. We need to use all of our tools to help us achieve our goals and ideals. However, I think idealism and realism need to exist hand in hand. Change is not about one election, one rally, one leader, it is about a constant dedication to progress and a constant push in the right direction. Let’s be the people doing the right thing as outsiders and simultaneously push the insiders to do the right thing for the people. I’m still trying to work out copyright issues I may face with this image, but feel free to share it and stay tuned…
-Shepard Fairey

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey

Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary graphic designer, and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding[1] scene. He first became known for his "André the Giant Has a Posse" (…OBEY…) sticker campaign, in which he appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News. His work became more widely known in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, specifically his Barack Obama "Hope" poster.

twitter:

londonmoan twitterde op zaterdag 19-11-2011 om 23:07:25 It just goes to show its not about changing the leader you need to change the system. #Egypt #Tahrir reageer retweet

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https://bicyclebarricade.(...)or-linda-p-b-katehi/

18 November 2011

Open Letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi

Linda P.B. Katehi,

I am a junior faculty member at UC Davis. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, and I teach in the Program in Critical Theory and in Science & Technology Studies. I have a strong record of research, teaching, and service. I am currently a Board Member of the Davis Faculty Association. I have also taken an active role in supporting the student movement to defend public education on our campus and throughout the UC system. In a word: I am the sort of young faculty member, like many of my colleagues, this campus needs. I am an asset to the University of California at Davis.

You are not.

I write to you and to my colleagues for three reasons:

1) to express my outrage at the police brutality which occurred against students engaged in peaceful protest on the UC Davis campus today

2) to hold you accountable for this police brutality

3) to demand your immediate resignation

Today you ordered police onto our campus to clear student protesters from the quad. These were protesters who participated in a rally speaking out against tuition increases and police brutality on UC campuses on Tuesday—a rally that I organized, and which was endorsed by the Davis Faculty Association. These students attended that rally in response to a call for solidarity from students and faculty who were bludgeoned with batons, hospitalized, and arrested at UC Berkeley last week. In the highest tradition of non-violent civil disobedience, those protesters had linked arms and held their ground in defense of tents they set up beside Sproul Hall. In a gesture of solidarity with those students and faculty, and in solidarity with the national Occupy movement, students at UC Davis set up tents on the main quad. When you ordered police outfitted with riot helmets, brandishing batons and teargas guns to remove their tents today, those students sat down on the ground in a circle and linked arms to protect them.

What happened next?

Without any provocation whatsoever, other than the bodies of these students sitting where they were on the ground, with their arms linked, police pepper-sprayed students. Students remained on the ground, now writhing in pain, with their arms linked.

What happened next?

Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-sprayed directly in the face, holding these students as they did so. When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood.

This is what happened. You are responsible for it.

You are responsible for it because this is what happens when UC Chancellors order police onto our campuses to disperse peaceful protesters through the use of force: students get hurt. Faculty get hurt. One of the most inspiring things (inspiring for those of us who care about students who assert their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly) about the demonstration in Berkeley on November 9 is that UC Berkeley faculty stood together with students, their arms linked together. Associate Professor of English Celeste Langan was grabbed by her hair, thrown on the ground, and arrested. Associate Professor Geoffrey O’Brien was injured by baton blows. Professor Robert Hass, former Poet Laureate of the United States, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, was also struck with a baton. These faculty stood together with students in solidarity, and they too were beaten and arrested by the police. In writing this letter, I stand together with those faculty and with the students they supported.

One week after this happened at UC Berkeley, you ordered police to clear tents from the quad at UC Davis. When students responded in the same way—linking arms and holding their ground—police also responded in the same way: with violent force. The fact is: the administration of UC campuses systematically uses police brutality to terrorize students and faculty, to crush political dissent on our campuses, and to suppress free speech and peaceful assembly. Many people know this. Many more people are learning it very quickly.

You are responsible for the police violence directed against students on the UC Davis quad on November 18, 2011. As I said, I am writing to hold you responsible and to demand your immediate resignation on these grounds.

On Wednesday November 16, you issued a letter by email to the campus community. In this letter, you discussed a hate crime which occurred at UC Davis on Sunday November 13. In this letter, you express concern about the safety of our students. You write, “it is particularly disturbing that such an act of intolerance should occur at a time when the campus community is working to create a safe and inviting space for all our students.” You write, “while these are turbulent economic times, as a campus community, we must all be committed to a safe, welcoming environment that advances our efforts to diversity and excellence at UC Davis.”

I will leave it to my colleagues and every reader of this letter to decide what poses a greater threat to “a safe and inviting space for all our students” or “a safe, welcoming environment” at UC Davis: 1) Setting up tents on the quad in solidarity with faculty and students brutalized by police at UC Berkeley? or 2) Sending in riot police to disperse students with batons, pepper-spray, and tear-gas guns, while those students sit peacefully on the ground with their arms linked? Is this what you have in mind when you refer to creating “a safe and inviting space?” Is this what you have in mind when you express commitment to “a safe, welcoming environment?”

I am writing to tell you in no uncertain terms that there must be space for protest on our campus. There must be space for political dissent on our campus. There must be space for civil disobedience on our campus. There must be space for students to assert their right to decide on the form of their protest, their dissent, and their civil disobedience—including the simple act of setting up tents in solidarity with other students who have done so. There must be space for protest and dissent, especially, when the object of protest and dissent is police brutality itself. You may not order police to forcefully disperse student protesters peacefully protesting police brutality. You may not do so. It is not an option available to you as the Chancellor of a UC campus. That is why I am calling for your immediate resignation.

Your words express concern for the safety of our students. Your actions express no concern whatsoever for the safety of our students. I deduce from this discrepancy that you are not, in fact, concerned about the safety of our students. Your actions directly threaten the safety of our students. And I want you to know that this is clear. It is clear to anyone who reads your campus emails concerning our “Principles of Community” and who also takes the time to inform themselves about your actions. You should bear in mind that when you send emails to the UC Davis community, you address a body of faculty and students who are well trained to see through rhetoric that evinces care for students while implicitly threatening them. I see through your rhetoric very clearly. You also write to a campus community that knows how to speak truth to power. That is what I am doing.

I call for your resignation because you are unfit to do your job. You are unfit to ensure the safety of students at UC Davis. In fact: you are the primary threat to the safety of students at UC Davis. As such, I call upon you to resign immediately.

Sincerely,

Nathan Brown
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Program in Critical Theory
University of California at Davis

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Anger at Walmart heiress's $1.4bn gallery as art market becomes focus for protests

Crystal Bridges Museum for American Art is built at vast expense in rural Bentonville as supermarket giant cuts benefits for workforce

When Alice Walton, heiress to the Walmart supermarket fortune and the the 10th richest woman in the United States, opened a spectacular fine art museum in her home town, she might have expected plaudits and gratitude. It hasn't quite worked out that way.

The long-awaited opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum for American Art in Walton's home town of Bentonville, Arkansas, has provoked mixed reactions. Some have celebrated the unveiling of a significant new private art institution, but many have criticised the decision to spend $1.4bn of company and family foundation money as the retail colossus cuts back its workers' benefits.

Protesters at the museum have informally joined forces with the Occupy Wall Street camps across the US and point to growing ties between the Occupy movement and established trade unions.

The museum, which opened last weekend and features a survey of American art from Benjamin West to Georgia O'Keefe, from Norman Rockwell to Andy Warhol, and from Joan Mitchell to Walton Ford, has also come under criticism from within the art establishment for both inflating values and buying masterpieces from impoverished art institutions without giving local institutions a chance to match Walton's offer.

While historians point out that this is little different from 19th-century robber barons such as Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie amassing vast collections of European art and bringing it to America, the prospect of hundreds of masterpieces in rural Bentonville, two hours' drive from Tulsa, is still controversial.

Walton, at 62 the youngest of Walmart founder Sam Walton's four children, started buying specifically for the project in 2005. The Moshe Safdie-designed institution, which sits in 120 acres of dogwood trees and trails minutes from downtown Bentonville, already has 440 works on display and 800 in storage.

"We set market records for very few pieces that we purchased," says curator, David Houston. "But there is latent criticism from an east coast elite that bringing a famous painting like Thomas Eakins's [$68m] Gross Clinic to Arkansas is itself an act of cultural vandalism. We're bringing art to the public, but it's a different kind of public, and there are social and political connotations to that."

In the week since Crystal Bridges opened, it has already seen 5,000 registered visitors. "Sheer curiosity and hunger for an institution like this bears out Alice Walton's vision," Houston says.

Ben Waxman, spokesman for the union-affiliated Making Change@Walmart, said: "Opening a huge, opulent museum in the middle of nowhere while the company is cutting health insurance for its employees is troubling. It sends the message Wal-Mart doesn't care about them."

The issues of wealth distribution that have brought art into conflict with the labour movement at Crystal Bridges have also been on display at Sotheby's during the billion-dollar modern, impressionist and contemporary sales earlier this month in New York.

Since August, when Sotheby's dismissed 43 unionised art handlers, its salesrooms have been besieged by Teamsters union members, bearing an inflatable rat and a fat cat banker with a cigar in one hand and throttled worker in the other. "The company is having its most profitable year in 267 years and they locked us out in the middle of our contract," said Teamsters member Phil Cortero. "Sotheby's represents the richest people in the world. When you lose your shirt down on Wall Street you come and hock your stuff here."

Increasingly, the Teamsters are joined by Occupy Museum activists, chanting "We are the 99%!" They protest that the multimillion dollar art handled by auction houses is used to maintain and transfer the wealth of the 1%.

Outside Christie's, which is not involved in the dispute, Los Angeles property developer Eli Broad, one of America's wealthiest men, confirmed as much to the New York Times. "People would rather have art than gold or paper," he said.

OWS Labor Outreach member Mike Friedman said that Occupy had no problem with the art itself. "But at a time when we're seeing cutbacks in health and education spending, we're seeing the transfer of wealth by way of tax cuts and subsidies to an elite who use excesses of that transfer to buy these magnificent works of art."

With the end of the Zuccotti Park sit-in, Occupy says it plans to initiate focused protests against cultural institutions associated with big Wall Street donors. It has singled out Lincoln Center, home to the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and New York fashion week, which is financially supported by Tea Party funder David Koch.

Back at Crystal Bridges, Houston argues that it will take years to see the full effect of how the Walton family has used its wealth. The family foundation is active in a whole variety of charitable activities, many of them educational, he says. "Their intent is not to create a shrine to an individual or even a family. Their goal is to create a tremendous cultural resource in this part of the world."

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Op zondag 20 november 2011 10:37 schreef PalmRoyale het volgende:
Het is nu toch wel erg duidelijk dat de gevestigde orde de beweging wel degelijk als een grote bedreiging ziet, waarom zouden ze anders steeds weer geweld gebruiken tegen mensen die hun grondwettelijke recht uitoefenen. Amerika roept altijd dat ze voor vrijheid en democratie zijn maar als je iets doet dat het systeem bedreigd krijg je een wapenstok in je nek.

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Op zondag 20 november 2011 11:03 schreef Weltschmerz het volgende:

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Ik wil het onderwerp niet groter en zwaarder maken dan het is, maar kijkend naar de daadwerkelijke betekenis van begrippen en de verhoudingen waar het op slaat, begin ik me af te vragen wat hier niet fascistisch aan is.

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Op zondag 20 november 2011 11:13 schreef PalmRoyale het volgende:
Het heeft idd fascistische trekken. Als de politie zo doorgaat dan kunnen ze als een binnenlandse agressor gezien worden en dan hebben de betogers het grondwettelijke recht om wapens tegen hen op te nemen.

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Rep. Deutch Introduces OCCUPIED Constitutional Amendment To Ban Corporate Money In Politics

In one of the greatest signs yet that the 99 Percenters are having an impact, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, today introduced an amendment that would ban corporate money in politics and end corporate personhood once and for all.
Deutch’s amendment, called the Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED) Amendment, would overturn the Citizens United decision, re-establishing the right of Congress and the states to regulate campaign finance laws, and to effectively outlaw the ability of for-profit corporations to contribute to campaign spending.
“No matter how long protesters camp out across America, big banks will continue to pour money into shadow groups promoting candidates more likely to slash Medicaid for poor children than help families facing foreclosure,” said Deutch in a statement provided to ThinkProgress. “No matter how strongly Ohio families fight for basic fairness for workers, the Koch Brothers will continue to pour millions into campaigns aimed at protecting the wealthiest 1%. No matter how fed up seniors in South Florida are with an agenda that puts oil subsidies ahead of Social Security and Medicare, corporations will continue to fund massive publicity campaigns and malicious attack ads against the public interest. Americans of all stripes agree that for far too long, corporations have occupied Washington and drowned out the voices of the people. I introduced the OCCUPIED Amendment because the days of corporate control of our democracy. It is time to return the nation’s capital and our democracy to the people.”