Occupy Broadwayworld — Page 6

I took the quote from the article, Namo. The quote was plenty relevant, YWIW.

Morning all.

Maybe it was posted as sarcasm/satire, intended to elicit a response? If that was the point, then it worked, well done.

And, interesting piece in Mother Jones on middle class protesters:

"As he talks, his voice often wavers with emotion, and his eyes go glassy. At home he often feels alone; here people constantly embrace him. "I've run into socialists, communists, liberals, gutter punks, rastas, thugs, and believe it or not, everybody is getting along," he says. "We have the same common enemy. None of us is scared of terrorists. We are scared of living alone on the streets for the rest of our lives."

"Smith, 36, works as a production machine operator for a New York publisher—a blue-collar job in one of New York's most struggling industries. About a year ago, his employer cut his hours in half, and he hasn't been able to find anything else to fill the gap. He knows that many others are also suffering from the downturn, but none of them are rich. "They say that everything has gotta be spread across the board, but the poor and middle class are bearing everything," he says. "The rich have got to be taxed."



Meet 4 Middle-Class Americans Who've Been Politicized by #OccupyWallStreet

Updated On: 10/11/11 at 09:46 AM

Why the Elites Are in Trouble
Monday 10 October 2011
by: Chris Hedges, Truthdig | Op-Ed

http://www.truth-out.org/why-elites-are-trouble/1318252392

Excerpt:

The occupation of Wall Street has formed an alternative community that defies the profit-driven hierarchical structures of corporate capitalism. If the police shut down the encampment in New York tonight, the power elite will still lose, for this vision and structure have been imprinted into the thousands of people who have passed through park, renamed Liberty Plaza by the protesters. The greatest gift the occupation has given us is a blueprint for how to fight back. And this blueprint is being transferred to cities and parks across the country.

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Oooh, it's like End Times!

I tried to send a donation to my local Occupiers via their web site, but it wouldn't take it. I'll try again tomorrow.

Saturday at 5PM they're gonna Occupy Times Square.

http://www.theoccupationparty.com/

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The Occupy Wall Street and associated Occupy groups around the country have been trying to make it clear that there is no "Occupy Party" associated with their actions. The flier about Occupying Times Square refers to them. They have a website, they claim to be a political party, and everybody should cast a wary eye in their direction.

Oh god, I just looked at the flyer again, and it credits The Occupation Party. So there's two groups making things a little murkier. I'm reminded of the New Alliance Party in the '80s.

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Updated On: 10/13/11 at 11:54 AM

That was super murky.

From the Occupy Wall Street website:

This Site Has Nothing To Do With Us
Posted Oct. 6, 2011, 11:48 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

occupyparty.org

We are not a political institution.

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Updated On: 10/13/11 at 12:42 PM

DEFEND OCCUPY WALL STREET

At 7 a.m. tomorrow Mayor Bloomberg will effectively evict the Occupy Wall Street protesters from their home in Zuccotti Park.

We have less than 24 hours to stop it.


We need a national groundswell immediately in defense of the protesters, so we can deliver a massive petition to City Hall and Zuccotti Park tonight.

Sign the petition in defense of the protesters and their First Amendment rights and then spread the word to everyone you know.

A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

http://www.civic.moveon.org/defend_ows/

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Updated On: 10/13/11 at 03:55 PM

Namo, I've been afraid I may not get downtown to where our Occupiers are (I don't have a car and I'm currently living in a place that's NOT convenient to catch the limited public transport St Louis has), so that's why I'm gonna just make a donation instead of visiting.

I'm sure everything helps, Phyl.

And YWIW, that's something the hippies in the 60s never did: clean up after themselves! I read they plan to link arms while holding brooms when the powers that be show up to clear the park on Friday.

I saw a great picture from Occupy Chicago of three white haired senior citizen ladies carrying signs. Because, you know, this whole thing is just middle class white kids with iPhones who have no idea why they are there.

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Bill Clinton had this to say on Letterman, and I tend to agree:

"I think that, on balance, this can be a positive thing, but they're going to have to kind of transfer their energies at some point to making some specific suggestions or bringing in people who know more to try to put the country back to work. Because I don't think that many Americans resent the success of people who make a lot of money fairly earned. I think what bothers people is the country has gotten so much more unequal under the last, over the last 30 years, and now that we're in this fix, an enormous number of people have been out of work for more than six months, some of whom can't get interviews because they've been out of work for more than six months, who always worked hard, always paid their taxes, did everything they were supposed to do, and made no contributions to the financial meltdown that caused their current distress. I think that is the heart of what they're saying on Wall Street."

While I appreciate the foundational concept of no central point of power, I do think the message needs to be coalesced - specifically to point to concrete changes that could be made.

Updated On: 10/13/11 at 05:14 PM

I have to say I was creeped out by Clinton on Letterman, for the way he sounded (I know, he was sick or whatever, but it was like listening to Alice Ripley on an off night), the half-dead way he looked (I think he might need to supplement his new vegan diet), and the mainstream DNC politico response buried in his discussion of Occupy.

Right now, Occupy Wall Street is less than one month old! And look at the complex discussions it has engendered. Complexity was what was missing in Clinton's response last night. I kept thinking, oh, now we're going to get a lecture on structure and working within the mainstream by the guy who sold NAFTA to the country? How funny it should look so much like a typical lobbyist hierarchy!

Messages of real grassroots movements evolve over time. Right now, Occupy is saying it doesn't need "a leader" because it is a movement of leaders. This is incomprehensible to somebody as invested in the status quo as Clinton is.

On Letterman, we got Clinton 101. First he assured EVERYBODY he felt their pain. Then he fretted that the messages that are being sent aren't messages at all and in fact the message SHOULD be what he says it should be. He also said don't raise taxes on anybody until the economy is better. When he said the part about "Americans not resenting people who make a lot of money fairly earned..." I just wondered how the hell he missed that the entire point of Occupy is to protest the highjacking and gaming of the system by power players enriching themselves while everybody else struggles? Oh, yeah, I know why, because he's a typical "Well, what can you do?" shrugger.

I did however agree with him when he said Lady Gaga is an incredible artist.

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Ugh, there ARE mental health minimums a person has to meet to be in the military. I seriously thought at the height of Choi Megalomania, "You weren't really thrown out for being gay, were you Dan?"

I keep thinking about this straw man so many people throw out about demands and solutions and how they want simple answers to complex situations and that evolving discussions with huge groups of people don't in some way "count" as working toward that if there isn't a soundbyte and three bullet points to boil it all down.

That's why I think going and being around your local Occupy is such a valuable thing, if you can do it. You get a sense of momentum being there.

Also, this ^^^^

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Updated On: 10/13/11 at 06:17 PM