Courtesy of Politicususa:
We are just three years after the greatest banking crisis since the 1930s. I think it was brought on by excesses on the part of the financial industry and the financial industry was bailed out at the public’s expense and risk and yet we’re still in an economic crisis. And somehow the discussion of who are these guys, why are we supporting them, why haven’t they paid more for this, what are the reforms that’s going to stop this from happening again, all that disappeared from the debate.
We have been arguing about who’s going to cut Social Security and what about that budget deficit? And we lost the whole thread of the core issue in our society right now. And these protesters, who are a mix of all sorts of people, suddenly brought that back into the center of our national debate. And that’s an enormously positive contribution.
This is also why OWS is NOT the same as the Teabaggers, who seemed filled with anger, but it was an unfocused anger that seemed to be directed at the President even though what they attributed their anger to had little to do with him and his policies.
Well at least it did at first, until they were co-opted by the Koch brothers and Republican party and re-educated to be angry at "Obamacare" and the Obama stimulus bill.
I think OWS is here to stay and that is scares the hell out of the conservatives, as evidence by Andrew Breitbart's craven attempts to damage their brand
Agree it's not going away; it's just going to get bigger. Everyone should check out this video by Anonymous...it will literally give you chills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxBLfAC0sME
ReplyDeleteKrugman has a quirky personality which is offsetting to some but his economic analysis has been spot on. If one wishes to follow only one writer on our current economic and social dilemma he is difficult to beat.
ReplyDeleteHow do you turn this occupation into action? You have got to vote, vote locally, vote statewide, vote on the federal level. It all matters. The republicans are very good at changing the message to their advantage and staying on message so that you forget the rest. Meanwhile the greed keeps growing and the rest of us keep muttering. If you listen the republican message, less business taxes, less environmental, workers safety regulation, bust up the unions and what model do we look like - China, where most corporations moved their businesses anyways.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the ows movement was truly peaceful, grassroots and purposely ambiguous in it's early stages. I agree with Krugman's assessment. We've allowed this parity gap to go unpunished and actually rewarded Wall Street for their greed after paying back the no interest bail outs. And as long as they fuel their greed on the backs of the working class, this economic stagnation will continue.
ReplyDeleteThe hate fueled ramblings of a right wing extremeist nutjob like Andrew aren't going to change anything for the better- and neither will any apathy from disenfranchized democrats in the voting booth.
My son is voting for the first time this election, they see the tea party for what it truly represents, and the ows movement is inspiring his generation to make their voices heard, and my hope is that we can put our differences aside and unite behind our President.
Gryphen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your coverage of OWS and your excellent post on the recent violence in the Italian protests.
I recall a protestor was killed by Italian police in the G8 protests in Italy when violence erupted at the hands of alleged anarchists. The conclusion by eye-witnesses, and other credible sources, was that Italian police posing as black- masked anarchists had fomented the violence.
In fact, anarchists are overwhelmingly against violence and oppose the militarization of police and wars promoted by the ruling class for their profit. I suugest the Italian police may be using an old play-and certainly one that's been done in the US. I saw it happen myself: agent provocateurs and police brutality used against non-violent, peaceful anti-war protestors in Washington, DC during the Viet Nam era.
Training in non-violent protest and civil disobedience is widely avaible and utilized by many protest groups. Non-violent protest and civil disobedience were major factors in the success of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and '60s. Truth is, most protest groups in US history have been peaceful and it is the rulers and their paid enforcers who have used violence and terror-- including murder-- on unarmed, peaceful protestors from union strikers, to marchers, to sit-in participants.
The ruling class simply doesn't know how to handle peace and good-will. ;)
From the Black Bloc website:
Wasn't the black bloc at the 2001 G8 protests in Genoa, Italy, organized by the police?
Anarchists from around the world organized and participated in black blocs at the 2001 G8 protests in Genoa, Italy. However, the Italian police also organized a fake black bloc using undercover police officers and neo-fascists from around Europe. These fake black blocs attacked other protestors, set cars on fire, and vandalized small businesses. It is suspected that the police organized these fake blocs to drive a wedge between moderate and militant protesters. Another goal may have been to demonize anarchists as "terrorists" in the eyes of the general public.
And it appears that the GOP does what it does best... break the law.
ReplyDeletehttp://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/meet-breitbart-stooge-who-hacked-ows-
I'm sure when the authorities investigate stooge 1 and stooge2, it would come to light that the stooges really didn't hack into anything as the braggarts claim, but chummed it up with some OWS under false pretenses to gain some materials. But in the meantime, until the authorities get their arses in gear to investigate, let's just Breibart the stooges and their crime.
I say Fuck the teabaggers and their racist underpinnings made viral through Koch Bros' money. OWS is big! Even in my family that is comprised of some pretty successful mainstream businessmen there is some serious anger toward Wall Street (and the way the perps walked free and essentially said fuck you to the rest of us hardworking taxpaying Joes). We were together last week and my brother who was sporting his Brooks Bros get-up said he was looking to join a local demonstration that afternoon. We are angry and the way the Wall Street bailout went down makes all of us see red. That the Wall Streeters are marginalizing this uprising bodes poorly for them. It is just another sign they are way out of touch.
ReplyDeleteCorporate Elites Should Be Petrified of Occupy Wall Street
ReplyDeletehttp://frank-schaeffer.blogspot.com/2011/10/corporate-elites-should-be-petrified-of.html
Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and senior fellow at the Nation Institute, interviews Ketchup, an OWS participant who's been there since September 17.
Working groups blossomed in the following days. The media working group was joined by a welcome working group for new arrivals, a sanitation working group (some members of which go around the park on skateboards as they carry brooms), a legal working group with lawyers, an events working group, an education working group, medics, a facilitation working group (which trains new facilitators for the general assembly meetings), a public relations working group, and an outreach working group for like-minded communities as well as the general public. There is an Internet working group and an open source technology working group. The nearby McDonald’s is the principal bathroom for the park after Burger King banned protesters from its facilities.
...
The heart of the protest is the two daily meetings, held in the morning and the evening. The assemblies, which usually last about two hours, start with a review of process, which is open to change and improvement, so people are clear about how the assembly works. Those who would like to speak raise their hand and get on “stack.”
“There’s a stack keeper,” Ketchup said. “The stack keeper writes down your name or some signifier for you. A lot of white men are the people raising their hands. So, anyone who is not apparently a white man gets to jump stack. The stack keeper will make note of the fact that the person who put their hand up was not a white man and will arrange the list so that it’s not dominated by white men. People don’t get called up in the same order as they raise their hand.”
While someone is speaking, their words amplified by the people’s mic, the crowd responds through hand signals.
“Putting your fingers up like this,” she said, holding her hands up and wiggling her fingers, “means you like what you’re hearing, or you’re in agreement. Like this,” she said, holding her hands level and wiggling her fingers, “means you don’t like it so much. Fingers down, you don’t like it at all; you’re not in agreement. Then there’s this triangle you make with your hand that says ‘point of process.’ So, if you think that something is not being respected within the process that we’ve agreed to follow then you can bring that up.”
There's much more. Go check it out!
Gryphen, I'm sorry your under attack by people that are supposed to be on your side. This is how truth movements get broken up. The OWS movement is coming under attack by many of the same people that support Sarah (Breibart,Beck,Limbaugh), the right-wing conspiracy crowd (Alex Jones, Ron Paul supporters), and many MSM outlets. The Democratic party is trying to co-opt it without much success. Some of the early Tea Party people (before it was co-opted), are standing up in support of OWS. Karl Denninger is one, he is a financial blogger @ market-ticker.org, and though he is financial conservative,he is a social libertarian. He went to a OWS gathering and came away with a positive attitude. No one can explain the financial melt-down better than Karl, and he holds both parties responsible. He is totally ripping into his followers today, because god forbid, they might have to agree with liberals or homosexuals or something. He is totally taking heat from both the left and the right, but he and Matt Taibbi are speaking the truth. I think he has some issue with Krugman, but I can't remember what they were fighting about. Anyway, I don't agree with him on everything, but go to his forum and read his market tickers about OWS, he is tearing into conservatives for not supporting the movement. And stay positive, our ruling elite do not like truth-seekers. The ruling elite don't care what your political party is, they buy any of them, all of them. Even Sarah, who can't be bought, HA HA, cause no body wanted to buy her.
ReplyDeleteOne huge difference in the Tee Peeers and the OWS, and it is huge if you think about it, is that the Tee Peers parrot Republican/Fox talking points, and have from the beginning. They don't really have their own message, they have the ones Republicans give them.
ReplyDeleteOWS has its own talking points. They definitely aren't the Democrat's talking points,and they certainly aren't the Republican's, or Rush's or Billo's.
That is why the politicos and talking heads don't get it. They literally no longer speak the language of the public, and they expect the public to talk and think in talking points invented by them, the politicos.
That does cause the problem that the people in power need their position papers, headings and bullet points.
They don't get that American's lives have been deconstructed on virtually ever level so our discourse will be multidimensional in ways that they may never "get."