Global Occupy Movement #32 Flood WallStr. & Occupy Hong Kong.

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China’s Hong Kong Mistake

In the summer of 1996, the Chinese Communist Party erected a giant digital clock, fifty feet tall and thirty feet long, beside Tiananmen Square, which counted down the seconds until, as it said in large characters across the top, “The Chinese Government Regains Sovereignty Over Hong Kong.” After a century and a half under British colonial rule, Hong Kong’s restoration, in 1997, was a hugely symbolic moment for China’s national identity, an end to a history of invasion in which, as the Chinese put it, their land was “cut up like a melon” by foreign powers.

Under a deal brokered with the British, China agreed not to alter Hong Kong’s internationalized way of life—including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and other political rights not permitted on the mainland—for half a century. The theory was that, as mainland China continued to climb out of the poverty and political instability of the past, its leaders would gradually allow more political openness on the mainland. After a half century, or so the thinking went, the gap between the mainland and its reunited territory would have narrowed so much that they could mesh without much difficulty.

But, after nearly two decades, things are turning out differently. On Sunday, the Beijing government rejected demands for free, open elections for Hong Kong’s next chief executive, in 2017, enraging protesters who had called for broad rights to nominate candidates. China’s National People’s Congress announced a plan by which nominees must be vetted and approved by more than fifty per cent of a committee that is likely to be stacked with those who heed Beijing’s wishes. If that plan comes to pass, opposition figures who favor more democracy have little chance of making it onto the ballot. (As Boss Tweed liked to say, “I don’t care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating.”)

The crisis, which will likely grow, is proving to be a test not only of Hong Kong’s political culture but also of which political ethic will prevail across China in the years ahead: globalism or nationalism, two fundamentally different conceptions of how China will relate to the rest of the world. Hong Kong takes pride in its role as Asia’s original global city, a cultural and political mashup with a raucous, multilingual press corps and hot and noisy local politics—a largely borderless world of money, people, and ideas. Its courts rely on English common law, which is, in theory, free from political influence.

But, on the mainland, even as China’s economy has continued to grow and its population has become more integrated with the world, leaders have set new limits on political liberalization. They have concluded that greater democracy would threaten political stability and sovereignty, and they believe that China must instead adhere to its own centralized, one-party model. Last summer, as the scholar Sebastian Veg described, the Party circulated an internal directive to members that singled out seven “do not mention” topics: “democracy, universal values, civil society, market liberalism, media independence, criticizing errors in the history of the Party (‘historical nihilism’), and questioning the policy of opening up and reforms and the socialist nature of the regime.”

Hong Kong’s growing activist network, known as Occupy Central (named after the city’s downtown) has increasingly alarmed leaders in Beijing, and they now describe the activism as a brush fire that could sweep over the mainland. In a piece published on Saturday, the People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, hinted about foreign agitators “attempting to turn Hong Kong into a bridgehead for subverting and infiltrating the Chinese mainland. This can absolutely not be permitted.”

In theory, China’s President, Xi Jinping, could have sought a middle road that would have opened up the nominating process enough to produce a competitive election. But, when the protests began earlier this year, Beijing worried that backing down would embolden further acts of resistance, not only in Hong Kong but also on the mainland. “If we yield because some people threaten to commence radical, illegal activities, it would only result in more, bigger illegal activities,” Li Fei, a mainland official, told Hong Kong lawmakers.

That is a strategy that points toward confrontation. Beijing chose the safer, short-term solution, but it left in place the ingredients for growing tension. Benny Tai, a law professor and opposition leader, said that the announcement opened a new “era of resistance.” “Today is not only the darkest day in the history of Hong Kong’s democratic development,” he told reporters. “Today is also the darkest day of one country, two systems,” a reference to the relationship between Hong Kong and the government in Beijing.

The most important questions are now up to the opposition: How far will pro-democracy activists go? Historically, Hong Kong’s political culture is loud and demonstrative, but not violent. The protesters have vowed to block Hong Kong’s financial district, in order to bring it to a standstill. But will it be a symbolic effort or a functional attempt to force a confrontation?

In turn, how will the Beijing-backed local government respond? Not long ago, it would have been unthinkable to imagine People’s Liberation Army vehicles on the streets of Hong Kong, but in the past quarter century the Party has shown that it is prepared to take whatever steps it deems necessary to tamp down public protests. On Sunday, hundreds of local police, and dozens of their vehicles, were arrayed around Hong Kong’s government headquarters. Last week, at least four P.L.A. armored personnel carriers were spotted in the streets.

Most important, if the confrontation becomes more acute, how will Hong Kong’s largely moderate middle class respond? So far, it has provided ambivalent support for the Occupy Central movement, fearing that unrest, even for popular ideas, could undermine the city’s business climate or invite harsher measures from Beijing. But how many of Hong Kong’s citizens will see a show of force as a reason to back down, and how many will see it as a reason to join the more radical pro-democracy camp?

The struggle over political values at the center of this crisis runs much deeper than the technical debate over Hong Kong’s elections. It is likely to get worse before it gets better. In a statement on Sunday, the Occupy Central activists described a sense of desperation, a belief that “all chances of dialogue have been exhausted and the occupation of Central will definitely happen.” It did not say when that occupation will begin.

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Hong Kong clashes kick-start plans by pro-democracy activists to blockade city

Tens of thousands join mass civil disobedience over voting rights following violent clashes between police and students

Hong Kong activists have kicked off a mass civil disobedience campaign over voting rights early, after tens of thousands of students and sympathisers pre-empted them with protests at government buildings on Saturday.

Clashes with police and the arrest of several student leaders had brought supporters onto the streets after around 150 demonstrators broke through police lines and stormed the city headquarters late on Friday night, prompting 74 arrests. Three well-known activists were still being held on Sunday morning.

Police used pepper spray as they struggled to clear demonstrators from the scene overnight. But late on Saturday, large crowds gathered around the complex to support the student protesters, who had been boycotting classes all week.

“Occupy Central starts now,” the movement’s leader Benny Tai announced in the early hours of Sunday morning – not long after saying there would be no change in plans for the non-violent protest movement.

“Actually we are being encouraged by the students to join. We are touched by the works of students. I will even admit that we are late [in announcing]; we should be ashamed of ourselves,” he added.

The former British colony is run separately from the mainland under the “one country, two systems” framework. Beijing promised universal suffrage for the election of its chief executive from 2017.

But reformers are angered by the restrictions imposed on the process, which would see tight control of candidates by a nomination committee stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists. It would effectively rule out the prospect of any democrat standing.

They had hoped that the threat of action might persuade Beijing to compromise.

Instead, the details of the decision from the standing committee of the National People’s Congress – China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament – underlined their fears that Hong Kong’s identity and autonomy is being gradually eroded.

Occupy Central With Peace and Love had originally planned to take over the financial district from Wednesday, a national holiday.

In a statement, Occupy Central said: “The two nights of occupation of Civic Square in Admiralty [next to Central] have completely embodied the awakening of Hong Kong people’s desire to decide their own lives. The courage of the students and members of the public in their spontaneous decision stay has touched many Hong Kong people. Yet, the government has remained unmoved … We have decided to arise and act.

“We reiterate we will stand firm in our belief in peace and non-violence. We urge Hong Kong people to respond to the call of history, to stand up and have the courage to be a real Hong Kong citizen.”

Its demands are to withdraw Beijing’s decision on the framework for Hong Kong’s political reform, and a resumption of political reform consultations.

Media outlets have reported that many of those outside the government headquarters left the scene after Occupy Central’s statement, although more than 1,000 remained there overnight as hundreds of police officers watched.

They rearranged crowd-control barriers brought by police to defend their position, and slept swathed in plastic wrap and cheap raincoats, wearing goggles and masks, to protect against pepper spray.

“A lot of students left as soon as Occupy made the announcement they were starting their occupation,” Vito Leung, a recent graduate, said.

“I think they were really forcing it. This was always a separate student movement with similar goals but different directions. I don’t think it should be brought together like this,” added Leung, vowing to stay until police released Joshua Wong, the prominent 17-year-old leader of the activist group Scholarism.

He was among the first to be arrested as protestors charged the government complex on Friday night, and was still being detained early on Sunday, along with fellow student leaders Alex Chow and Lester Shum. His parents said in a statement that his detention was an act of “political persecution”.

Civic party leader Alan Leong told the South China Morning Post that 18 pan-democrat lawmakers, including himself, would take part in the sit-in. He added: “[Some protesters] may not want to support Occupy and have left, but all Hong Kongers who want their attitude known to the Communist party [should come] because this is a defining moment of Hong Kong.”

Publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai, an outspoken critic of Beijing and backer of democracy activists, said: “Whoever loves Hong Kong should come and join us. This is for Hong Kong’s future.”

Police have urged the protesters to leave peacefully and avoid obstructing officers, saying otherwise they would “soon take actions to restore public order”.

At least 34 people have been injured since the protest began, including four police officers and 11 government staff and guards, authorities said. One officer suffered a gash after being poked by an umbrella used to deflect pepper spray.

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Leider Hong Kong belooft te praten over hervorming kiesstelsel

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De leider van Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying, heeft vandaag aangekondigd dat de regering een nieuwe ronde van overleg zal voeren over de hervorming van het kiesstelsel. De aankondiging volgt na een weekend van gewelddadige gevechten tussen de politie en studenten die pleiten voor meer vrijheden en democratie.

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Leung heeft mensen opgeroepen om niet deel te nemen aan de 'illegale protesten' en het gebied rondom het regeringsgebouw zo snel mogelijk te verlaten.

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Zwitserse bank: rijken boeren goed bij crisis

Terwijl de economie doorkwakkelt en experts waarschuwen voor een nieuwe recessie, bereikte de wereldwijde rijkdom in 2014 recordhoogtes - ook in Europa. Dat meldt de Zwitserse bank Credit Suisse in haar 'Global Wealth Report', dat dit jaar extra aandacht besteed aan economische ongelijkheid.

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Aan de toegenomen vermogens ligt een spectaculaire groei van de aandelenmarkt ten grondslag: in Europa groeide de totale beurswaarde van aandelen met 30 procent, in Noord-Amerika met 22,6 procent. Dit verklaart ook waarom de vermogensgroei in de rijke landen zo uit de pas loopt met hun economische prestaties: het geld dat door verschillende stimuleringsmaatregelen in de kapitaalmarkten is gepompt, heeft zijn weg nauwelijks naar de rest van de economie gevonden.

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In deze situatie lijkt ook de wereldwijde vermogensongelijkheid toe te nemen. Met een verwijzing naar de Franse econoom Thomas Piketty, die het onderwerp op de kaart zette, nam Credit Suisse hierover een speciaal hoofdstuk op in het rapport. Het blijkt dat, terwijl de gemiddelde rijkdom sinds het begin van de crisis in 2008 is toegenomen, het mediaan vermogen - het vermogen van 's werelds 'Jan Modaal' - juist is gedaald. Dit is een teken van toenemende ongelijkheid.

Credit Suisse constateert dat de vermogensongelijkheid - die wereldwijd veel groter is dan de inkomensongelijkheid - juist in de rijkere delen van de wereld flink is toegenomen. Opmerkelijk is dat China, ondanks de groeiende hoeveelheid miljonairs in het land, voor westerse begrippen geen hoge vermogensongelijkheid kent.

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Tens of thousands take to UK streets in pay protest

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Tens of thousands of union members are marching through central London to highlight their calls for pay rises.

Members of Unite, Unison, the National Union of Teachers, Communication Workers Union, the Royal College of Nurses and Equity took to the streets in the capital on Saturday, while other protests were held in Glasgow and Belfast. Pensioners and anti-nuclear activists also took part.

The TUC, which organised the Britain Needs a Pay Rise demonstration to mark the end of industrial action by public sector workers, including nurses, midwives and civil servants, said up to 90,000 people were on the march.

Midwives went on strike for the first time this month to protest against the government’s decision not to pay a recommended 1% increase to all NHS staff. Hospital radiographers and prison officers are due to take action next week.

The TUC said workers were facing a significant squeeze on incomes, with average wages down by £50 a week in real terms since 2007 and 5 million people earning less than the minimum wage.

The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said the high turnout sent a strong message to the government that wages needed to rise.

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OccupyLondon twitterde op zaterdag 18-10-2014 om 22:54:26 Cops just left parliament square. Occupation going. Square open. Come and join us #olsx #occupydemocracy reageer retweet

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Breaking: London police attempting to violently and illegally evict peaceful #OccupyDemocracy protestors from Parliament Square

As the #OccupyDemocracy protest in London heads towards the end of its second day, police are attempting to violently close down the peaceful occupation of Parliament Square. [1]

The violent turn of events follows thousands of people marching in London as part of the TUC march against austerity and for a living wage. With around 100 protestors currently kettled and at least 150 around the square, police have tried a number of tactics throughout the protest to remove the protestors, progressively becoming more violent and oppressive in their actions. A number of protestors have already been assaulted and police have confiscated banners and personal items.

Currently the protestors remain determined and resolved, and demand that their right to protest and democratic assembly is facilitated – the very purpose of Parliament Square.

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Occupy Democracy protesters occupy Parliament Square, London - Day 2

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Protesters from "Occupy Democracy" managed to occupy Parliament Square today, during day 2 of their proposed 9 day occupancy. A police presence overlook proceedings which appears peaceful.

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Update: London police torment #OccupyDemocracy protestors on Parliament Square

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Overnight in Parliament Square, #OccupyDemocracy protestors aiming to draw attention to the growing democratic deficit in the UK, have been enduring systematic torment from the Metropolitan Police and Heritage Wardens, who have been zealously enforcing new restrictions on the right to protest and assembly in the Square (Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011).

The reaction of the Police and the State to the #OccupyDemocracy protest is in complete juxtaposition to David Cameron’s recent comments regarding the Occupy Central pro-democracy demonstrations in Kong Kong, when he said that “rights and freedoms, including those of person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of travel, of movement, and, indeed, of strike … These are important freedoms … which, most of all, we should stand up for.” [1]

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The protest, organised by #OccupyDemocracy – a group that grew out of Occupy London – is demanding reforms to our democratic process so that it serves the public interest, rather than the interests of corporations, banks and a tiny wealthy elite.

Alison Playford from #OccupyDemocracy said: “The way the State has responded to our protest with this political policing just shows how frightened the elite are of a new movement pushing for radical democratic reform.”

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Hong Kong leader extends olive branch to pro-democracy protesters

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In an interview on Tuesday, Leung said that while Beijing would not back down on vetting his successor, the committee tasked with selecting those candidates could become more democratic.

“There is room for discussion there; there’s room to make the nominating committee more democratic and this is one of the things we’d very much like to talk to not just the students but the community at large about,” he said.

The offer is still a long way from meeting the core demands of protesters who say anything other than public nomination of candidates is unacceptable.

But Leung’s comments are the first indication of a potential negotiating point as talks began between senior government officials and student leaders at a nearby medical college.

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Occupy protesters forced to hand over pizza boxes and tarpaulin

Occupy Democracy protest in Parliament Square clashes with police over bylaw which bans sleeping equipment

When is a pizza box a pillow? Or an umbrella a ‘structure’? In Parliament Square Occupy Democracy protesters have spent their seventh night sleeping on the ground on top of piles of newspapers. According to the 2011 Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, the local authority for the City of Westminster has the power to confiscate items that count as sleeping equipment or a structure, so mattresses and tents are forbidden.

But protesters say the police are getting creative with their interpretation of the bylaw, confiscating backpacks and pizza boxes, claiming that they count as sleeping equipment. Umbrellas have similarly been confiscated because they count as a structure. Some have been told that sleeping bags are allowed to keep them warm while they’re awake, but not when they’re asleep.

Occupy Democracy protesters have been camping out in Parliament Square since 17 October and they plan to leave on Sunday. Organisers say they are campaigning for a more representative democracy. “Parliament is supposed to represent the interests of the people, but it appears to us that they do not represent us. Rather, they represent the interests of big business and the wealthy,” says John Sinha, one of the organisers.

Last Sunday evening a group of protesters were forcibly removed from a sheet of tarpaulin laid out on the square, which was deemed by the police to count as sleeping equipment. The removals were live streamed on Bambuser and #tarpaulinrevolution began trending on Twitter. Matilda Wnek, who was there that night, says that police outnumbered protesters three to one and were accompanied by ten police vans. Her and other protesters accuse police of using unnecessarily violent tactics on a peaceful protest.

On Tuesday around 30 people were arrested for breaking the 2011 zct, including the Green Party’s Jenny Jones, who was later de-arrested. That afternoon the Greater London Authority erected fencing around the square with the stated purpose of doing maintenance work. The GLA’s heritage wardens, who are employed by private security company AOS to guard the square, told protesters that the space needs to be kept clear for the grass to grow back.

“They’ve basically privatised the space,” says Wnek. “They keep saying the grass needs to regrow as if it trumps our right to protest.” Wnek stresses that Parliament Square has historically been maintained as a space for the public to protest on.

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http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/groenlinks-wil-hyperrijken-meer-belasten~a3780796/

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GroenLinks wil de allerrijksten meer gaan belasten. 'Het is tijd voor een nieuwe nivelleringspolitiek', stelt Tweede Kamerlid Jesse Klaver in een vandaag gepresenteerd pamflet.

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De alwetende God van de economische markt bestaat niet

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De spraakmakende Tsjechische econoom Tomas Sedlacek hield gisteren de 32ste Van der Leeuwlezing. Hier de ingekorte versie van zijn lezing.

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Uiteraard heeft elk ideologisch systeem zijn eigen ethiek. Ik gebruik het woord 'ethiek' hier als aanduiding van een verzameling algemeen aanvaarde regels volgens welke degenen die onder invloed van een specifieke ideologie staan, in de praktijk abstracte waarden beschermen die van groot belang worden geacht voor een bepaalde ideologie. Je had dus nazi-ethiek en racistische ethiek om de hogere belangen van die ideologie (een beter ras) te beschermen, net zoals je een communistische ethiek had. Het feit dat een systeem een bepaalde ethiek heeft, betekent niet dat die ethiek, beoordeeld vanuit een kader buiten die ideologie, moreel of te rechtvaardigen is.

Het is dus niet zo dat we waarden moeten toevoegen aan de economie. 'Economische ethiek' bestaat al, is zeer sterk en bij sommige implicaties ervan voelen we ons niet prettig. Mijn doel is het deconstrueren van economische beeldvorming, van overtuigingen, verhalen en mythes die we gebruiken om het hele veld in zijn huidige vorm mogelijk te maken. Een tweede doelstelling is dat ik me wil richten op hoe het heeft kunnen gebeuren dat de economie stilletjes is veranderd in een bron van ethiek, hoe de discipline tot een soort religieus en ethisch baken is geworden. Economie staat immers niet los van ethiek, los van vraagstukken van goed en kwaad, al wordt die indruk dikwijls gewekt. Integendeel, economie schept ethiek - een heel eigen ethiek.

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Sjoemelende bankiers worden niet oneerlijk geboren

Sjoemelende bankiers worden niet oneerlijk geboren, maar mogelijk oneerlijk gemaakt door de bankcultuur. Dat is de strekking van een Zwitserse studie naar 'De bedrijfscultuur en eerlijkheid in het bankwezen' die vandaag in Nature wordt gepubliceerd.

De uitkomst suggereert dat werken in het bankwezen eerlijk gedrag ondermijnt. Dat de bankcultuur de oorzaak is van alle ellende, is nooit wetenschappelijk aangetoond. In dat gat sprongen drie Zwitserse economen.

Ze lieten 128 zeer ervaren bankemployees van een internationale bank achter de computer een kop-of-munt-spelletje doen, waarbij ze 200 dollar konden winnen. De ene helft van de groep werd aangesproken als privépersoon, de andere helft werd juist voortdurend herinnerd aan hun beroep van bankmedewerker.

Oneerlijker bij bewustzijn van professie

Ze werden niet individueel geobserveerd en konden dus sjoemelen. De eerste groep deed dat niet of nauwelijks. De tweede groep wel: een kwart overdreef de prestaties. Conclusie: bankpersoneel is wel eerlijk, maar dat stopt zodra ze zich bewust worden van hun professie. Het onderzoek werd herhaald met werknemers uit de telecom- en ict-sector, maar daar werden proefpersonen niet oneerlijker.

De Leidse hoogleraar psychologie, Eric van Dijk, is nog niet overtuigd door de studie. 'Het gevonden effect is interessant, maar zwak en wellicht toeval.' Van Dijk vindt het juist opvallend dat degenen die aangesproken werden als privépersoon niet of nauwelijks knoeiden met de prestaties. 'Dat lijkt in strijd met wat je meestal in dit soort onderzoek ziet. Normaal gesproken gaat een belangrijk deel van mensen (een beetje) smokkelen. Verregaande conclusies over een perverse bankcultuur zijn voorbarig.'

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Protesters using tech to run rings around cops

Tech-savvy anarchists ran rings around the NYPD during last week’s Ferguson-related protests — and cops are now on edge over what the renegades may be able to pull off after a ruling in the Eric Garner case.

The NYPD is “very concerned, more because of recent events,” a law enforcement source said.

Last week, activists armed with untraceable “burner phones” used social media and online bulletin boards to stay one step ahead of city cops and create mayhem after a grand jury cleared Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The anarchists clearly won the game of “Whac-A-Mole’’ — shutting down major roads including the FDR Drive, Lincoln Tunnel and West Side Highway and frustrating the NYPD, sources said.

“They wore me out,” said one counterterror expert who monitored the protests. “Their ability to strategize on the fly is something we haven’t dealt with before to this degree.”

While the NYPD actively monitors Twitter, Facebook and other social media for intelligence, sources said the official chain of command keeps squadrons of cops from moving around as quickly as protesters.

A “technology gap” also favors the activists, many of whom have the newest electronic gear, sources said.

“A lot of these anarchists are from the Occupy Wall Street group. They are little rich kids, little techie brats,’’ a source said.

“They get their money from Mommy and Daddy. And they travel from the West Coast to the East Coast and everywhere in between to disrupt events that involve corporate America, world summits, civil rights and especially those that involve law enforcement.”

“They have their little MacBook Air computers, their Wi-Fi, their smartphones, and they’re off to the races. We’re reacting to these situations, which means we are not fully in control of them,” the source said.

Authorities suspect “a few hundred” of the estimated 4,000 protesters who took to New York City’s streets after the Ferguson decision used their knack for mobile technology to send out real-time advisories on where cops were located and where they were headed.

“They were giving instantaneous commands to their followers, and this enabled them to stay one step ahead of us,” a source noted.

As a result, cops were left to race around the city to try to stem the disruptions.

The developments now have cops “very worried” about the upcoming ruling by a grand jury investigating Garner’s death, sources said.

The Staten Island dad died in August after being put in a police chokehold while being busted for allegedly peddling loose cigarettes.

NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo — who was recorded putting Garner into the chokehold — testified before the panel Nov. 21, and a ruling on whether to indict him could be announced as soon as Monday.

“We’re expecting strong reaction and demonstrations when the decision comes down,” one source said.

Another source said: “The cops on standby will be in riot gear. That means helmets and sticks.”

Since the success of Twitter and Facebook in fueling the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled regimes in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, US activists have increasingly used the Web to organize and mobilize protests.

Last week, hundreds of tweets directed protesters to Union Square to await the Ferguson ruling.

After the verdict, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton was splattered with fake blood, allegedly by “professional agitator’’ Diego Ibañez, 26.

Plans to disrupt the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade included the Twitter hashtag #StopTheParade.

And activist Ben Norton — busted in July during a protest in DC with the CODEPINK anti-war group — tweeted out a parade map.

“This is the route,” he wrote. “Be the change you want to see in the world. Make history. #IndictTheSystem.”

#STOPTHEPARADE This is the route. Be the change you want to see in the world. Make history. #IndictTheSystem pic.twitter.com/x8xziyC0Wq

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Revealed: how the wealth gap holds back economic growth

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The west’s leading economic thinktank on Tuesday dismissed the concept of trickle-down economics as it found that the UK economy would have been more than 20% bigger had the gap between rich and poor not widened since the 1980s.

Publishing its first clear evidence of the strong link between inequality and growth, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development proposed higher taxes on the rich and policies aimed at improving the lot of the bottom 40% of the population, identified by Ed Miliband as the “squeezed middle”.

Trickle-down economics was a central policy for Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, with the Conservatives in the UK and the Republicans in the US confident that all groups would benefit from policies designed to weaken trade unions and encourage wealth creation.

The OECD said that the richest 10% of the population now earned 9.5 times the income of the poorest 10%, up from seven times in the 1980s. However, the result had been slower, not faster, growth.

It concluded that “income inequality has a sizeable and statistically negative impact on growth, and that redistributive policies achieving greater equality in disposable income has no adverse growth consequences.

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The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden 'black site'

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o Exclusive: Secret interrogation facility reveals aspects of war on terror in US
o ‘They disappeared us’: protester details 17-hour shackling without basic rights
o Accounts describe police brutality, missing 15-year-old and one man’s death
o Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
o Beating by police, resulting in head wounds.
o Shackling for prolonged periods.
o Denying attorneys access to the “secure” facility.
o Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15.

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Much remains hidden about Homan Square. The Chicago police department has not responded to any of the Guardian’s recent questions – neither about any aspect of operations at Homan Square, nor about the Guardian’s investigation of Richard Zuley, the retired Chicago detective turned Guantánamo Bay torturer. (On Monday evening, it instead provided a statement to MSNBC regarding the Guardian’s Zuley investigation: “The vast majority of our officers serve the public with honor and integrity,” said the statement, adding that the department “has zero tolerance for misconduct, and has instituted a series of internal initiatives and reforms, to ensure past incidents of police misconduct are not repeated”. Without providing any specifics, it claimed “the allegations in this instance are not supported by the facts.”)

When a Guardian reporter arrived at the warehouse on Friday, a man at the gatehouse outside refused any entrance and would not answer questions. “This is a secure facility. You’re not even supposed to be standing here,” said the man, who refused to give his name.

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#Gitmo2Chicago: protests target police 'black site'

Homan Square abuse allegations encircle mayor Rahm Emanuel as Anonymous, Occupy and Black Lives Matter take to social media and streets beyond Chicago

The Chicago police facility Homan Square was becoming the focus of an organized protest movement this weekend, as the hacktivist collective Anonymous and organizers associated with the Black Lives Matter movement seized on allegations of unconstitutional abuse at the secretive warehouse.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former top adviser to Barack Obama suddenly facing a runoff for re-election, remained at the political fulcrum of a mounting campaign both on social media and the streets of Chicago, where demonstrations were planned for Saturday outside what coordinated campaigners described as mirroring a CIA “black site”.

Organizer Travis McDermott said Saturday’s “Shut Down Homan Square” protest was one of several being planned as far away as Los Angeles.

“Hopefully with the presence we expect to have, that will put a little bit of pressure to say, ‘Hey, look – this isn’t going to go away,’” he said.

On Friday night, campaigners associated with the Occupy and Anonymous collectives took to Twitter, Instagram and other social-media platforms with the hashtag #Gitmo2Chicago to decry allegations of what users alternatively labeled as a “secret prison” and “torture soon coming to a city near you”.

Six people and multiple Chicago attorneys came forward to the Guardian this week with detailed accounts of police holding suspects and witnesses for sustained periods of detention inside Homan Square, without public records, access to attorneys or being read their most basic rights – involving what they said included shackling, physical abuse and being “disappeared” from legal counsel and family. The Guardian’s recent investigation into Chicago police brutality began the week before, with a two-part account of the tactics of Detective Richard Zuley, who went from Chicago homicide investigator to Guantánamo Bay torturer.

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Nuit debout protesters occupy French cities in revolutionary call for change | World news | The Guardian


For more than a week, vast nocturnal gatherings have spread across France in a citizen-led movement that has rattled the government

As night fell over Paris, thousands of people sat cross-legged in the vast square at Place de la République, taking turns to pass round a microphone and denounce everything from the dominance of Google to tax evasion or inequality on housing estates.

The debating continued into the early hours of the morning, with soup and sandwiches on hand in the canteen tent and a protest choir singing revolutionary songs. A handful of protesters in tents then bedded down to “occupy” the square for the night before being asked to move on by police just before dawn. But the next morning they returned to set up their protest camp again.

For more than a week, these vast nocturnal protest gatherings – from parents with babies to students, workers, artists and pensioners – have spread across France, rising in number, and are beginning to panic the government.

Called Nuit debout, which loosely means “rise up at night”, the protest movement is increasingly being likened to the Occupy initiative that mobilised hundreds of thousands of people in 2011 or Spain’s Indignados.

Despite France’s long history of youth protest movements – from May 1968 to vast rallies against pension changes – Nuit debout, which has spread to cities such as Toulouse, Lyon and Nantes and even over the border to Brussels, is seen as a new phenomenon.

It began on 31 March with a night-time sit-in in Paris after the latest street demonstrations by students and unions critical of President François Hollande’s proposed changes to labour laws. But the movement and its radical nocturnal action had been dreamed up months earlier at a Paris meeting of leftwing activists.

“There were about 300 or 400 of us at a public meeting in February and we were wondering how can we really scare the government?. We had an idea: at the next big street protest, we simply wouldn’t go home,” said Michel, 60, a former delivery driver.

“On 31 March, at the time of the labour law protests, that’s what happened. There was torrential rain, but still everyone came back here to the square. Then at 9pm, the rain stopped and we stayed. We came back the next day and as we keep coming back every night, it has scared the government because it’s impossible to define.

“There’s something here that I’ve never seen before in France – all these people converge here each night of their own accord to talk and debate ideas – from housing to the universal wages, refugees, any topic they like. No one has told them to, no unions are pushing them on – they’re coming of their own accord.”

The idea emerged among activists linked to a leftwing revue and the team behind the hit documentary film Merci Patron!, which depicts a couple taking on France’s richest man, billionaire Bernard Arnault. But the movement gained its own momentum – not just because of the labour protests or in solidarity with the French Goodyear tyre plant workers who kidnapped their bosses in 2014. It has expanded to address a host of different grievances, including the state of emergency and security crackdown in response to last year’s terrorist attacks.

“The labour law was the final straw,” said Matthiew, 35, who was retraining to be a teacher after 10 years in the private sector, and had set up an impromptu revolutionary singing group at the square. “But it’s much bigger than that. This government, which is supposed to be socialist, has come up with a raft of things I don’t agree with, while failing to deal with the real problems like unemployment, climate change and a society heading for disaster.”

Many in the crowd said that after four years of Hollande’s Socialist party in power, they left felt betrayed and their anger was beginning to bubble over.

Jocelyn, 26, a former medical student acting as a press spokesman for the movement, said: “There are parallels with Occupy and Indignados. The idea is to let everyone speak out. People are really sick and tired and that feeling has been building for years. Everything Hollande once promised for the left but gave up on really gets me down. Personally, it’s the state of emergency, the new surveillance laws, the changes to the justice system and the security crackdown.”

The government and the Paris authorities are being cautious about the policing of the movement. An investigation is under way into the alleged assault by a police officer accused of hitting a student at a Paris high school last month during a demonstration against the labour overhaul.

The government is preparing possible concessions to students and youths to calm those expected to attend another such rally on Saturday.

Each night at Paris’s Place de la République, the “general assembly” begins at 6pm and the crowd discuss ideas. Hundreds of demonstrators communicate using coded hand gestures: wiggling their fingers above their heads to express agreement or crossing their wrists to disagree.

Various committees have sprung up to debate a new constitution, society, work, and how to occupy the square with more permanent wooden structures on a nightly basis. Whiteboards list the evening’s discussions and activities – from debates on economics to media training for the demonstrators. “No hatred, no arms, no violence,” was the credo described by the “action committee”.

“This must be a perfect mini-society,” a member of the gardening committee told the crowd. A poetry committee has been set up to document and create the movement’s slogans. “Every movement needs its artistic and literary element,” said the poet who proposed it.

Demonstrators regularly help other protest movements, such as a bank picket over revelations in the Panama Papers or a demonstration against migrant evictions in the north of Paris.

“Generation revolution”, was scrawled on the pavement. The concept behind the movement is a “convergence of struggles” with no one leader. There are no union banners or flags of specific groups decorating the protest in the square – a rarity in France.

Cécile, 22, a Paris law student at Thursday night’s general assembly, said: “I don’t agree with the state society is in today. To me, politics feels broken. This movement appeals in terms of citizen action. I come here after class and I intend to keep coming back. I hope it lasts.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com

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Op zaterdag 9 april 2016 17:12 schreef Dance99Vv het volgende:

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Is dit oud nieuws of tot op de dag van vandaag gaande?
Heb wel iets meegekregen van het studenten protest maar niet veel.