Is America Ripe for a Tahrir Moment?
Hey you rebels, radicals and utopian dreamers out there,
Our call to #OCCUPYWALLSTREET on September 17 shook up a tsunami of spontaneous enthusiasm. Jammers from all over the nation (and a few Canadians!) have sent word that they will be there. Meanwhile various activist organizers have realized the potential of this event, rolled up their sleeves and gotten to work. While some techies have teamed up to build an indie open source website for organizing carpools to the event (occupywallst.org), others are thinking through the logistics of feeding everyone and defending the first days of the occupation. Through it all, a deluge of solidarity messages have been pouring in from Spain, Egypt and elsewhere.
Will you be there?
Imagine … the dawn of the 13th day of the occupation … you're tired, not sleeping or eating too great … you've been harassed, maybe tear gassed and beaten. Bloomberg is threatening to call in the National Guard, Obama is hemming and hawing, but you are sitting tight because much of the nation is cheering you on. Al Jazeera and the BBC are beaming your struggle to a captivated world and the tension is building for Obama to break his silence. It feels much like it did in Tahrir Square moments before Mubarak caved. You've never felt so alive!
What had the power to inspire all this?
It was our one simple demand that Barack Obama must ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence that corporate money has over our representatives in Washington. Our one simple demand is: STOP THE MONIED CORRUPTION AT THE HEART OF OUR DEMOCRACY!
Achieving this Presidential Reform Commission will be the crucial first step towards opening a political space for a flurry of further people's demands like, total transparency in all government affairs, a Tobin Tax on financial transactions, a grand strategy for reducing America's carbon footprint …
September 17 could be the beginning of an American Spring … the moment we the people turn the tables on our would-be corporate masters and start acting like free empowered citizens once again.
Are you with us? Bring a tent.
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
Get Involved:
Call to Artists:
We call on Helmut Smits, Darius and Downey, Mark Jenkins, JR, Bansky and cultural creatives everywhere to create pieces that embolden the September 17th revolt. Send to [email protected]
Call to International Jammers:
We call on jammers across the world to occupy financial districts on September 17:
#OCCUPYBAYSTREET in Toronto, Canada
#OCCUPYCANARYWHARF in London, UK
#OCCUPYMARTINPLACE in Sydney, Australia
#OCCUPYMARUNOUCHI in Tokyo, Japan
#OCCUPYBANKENVIERTEL in Frankfurt, Germany
… and elsewhere!
98 comments on the article “Is America Ripe for a Tahrir Moment?”
Displaying 61 - 70 of 98
Page 7 of 10
comradearcadie
occupywestcoast is underway, let's do it!
http://occupywallstwestcoast.wordpress.com/
comradearcadie
occupywestcoast is underway, let's do it!
http://occupywallstwestcoast.wordpress.com/
Anonymous
Good luck everybody!
Anonymous
Good luck everybody!
Anonymous
The Ten Core Demands of Americans:
1. No more tax money to privatize our public schools, our armed forces or use of our public lands or resources, esp. water.
2. Raise tariffs so that it is more expensive to manufacture outside our country than in our country; this is necessary to provide a meaningful opportunity for work for our people and protect more vulnerable populations from exploitation by our multi-national corporations.
4. Raise tax rates on the top 10% of earners and corporations to 60%.
3. Amend the Constitution to address Citizens United; corporations are not people and have no right to speech and there can be no anonymous funding of democratic functioning.
4. Publicly fund elections.
5. Reduce all international military bases by 50% and withdraw all troops. Then utilize the military to nationalize fossil fuel production and have a change over to solar and wind within 5 years. Fund it with taxes formerly given to fossil fuel corpororations, and when profitable provide profit to American people as dividends.
6. Abolish the Federal Reserve and reinstate Glass-Seigelman (sp?).
7. Establish true Universal health care.
8. Moretorium on all immigration for 10 years in order to allow labor enough leverage to organize and another generation of professionals to complete their educations and enter the workplace, esp. in such fields as science, engineering,medical and business. Immediate nationalization of any business found to be employing/exploiting non-citizen workers.
9. 10 year moretorium on IRS investigation of individuals within the bottom 75% income levels and utilize those resources instead to investigate off-shore accounts and 'black money'schemes by corporations and individuals in the top 25%.
10. Nationalize corporate farms and transition to sustainable farming, use tax money to accomplish and when profitable, pay profits to Americans in dividends.
A Mother
Anonymous
The Ten Core Demands of Americans:
1. No more tax money to privatize our public schools, our armed forces or use of our public lands or resources, esp. water.
2. Raise tariffs so that it is more expensive to manufacture outside our country than in our country; this is necessary to provide a meaningful opportunity for work for our people and protect more vulnerable populations from exploitation by our multi-national corporations.
4. Raise tax rates on the top 10% of earners and corporations to 60%.
3. Amend the Constitution to address Citizens United; corporations are not people and have no right to speech and there can be no anonymous funding of democratic functioning.
4. Publicly fund elections.
5. Reduce all international military bases by 50% and withdraw all troops. Then utilize the military to nationalize fossil fuel production and have a change over to solar and wind within 5 years. Fund it with taxes formerly given to fossil fuel corpororations, and when profitable provide profit to American people as dividends.
6. Abolish the Federal Reserve and reinstate Glass-Seigelman (sp?).
7. Establish true Universal health care.
8. Moretorium on all immigration for 10 years in order to allow labor enough leverage to organize and another generation of professionals to complete their educations and enter the workplace, esp. in such fields as science, engineering,medical and business. Immediate nationalization of any business found to be employing/exploiting non-citizen workers.
9. 10 year moretorium on IRS investigation of individuals within the bottom 75% income levels and utilize those resources instead to investigate off-shore accounts and 'black money'schemes by corporations and individuals in the top 25%.
10. Nationalize corporate farms and transition to sustainable farming, use tax money to accomplish and when profitable, pay profits to Americans in dividends.
A Mother
Nick Yaya
Sp? re: Glass-Seigelman (close) but: Glass-Steigell. And you nailed it on almost every point for me. You see it as it is. We can change it by only voting for those who use public money to run. No more corporate control of America! In addition, hand over international control of bases to NATO or the UN, like you said. We cannot afford to finance that sort of thing anymore. Besides, the world has changed a lot since the marshall plan was enacted.
Nick Yaya
Sp? re: Glass-Seigelman (close) but: Glass-Steigell. And you nailed it on almost every point for me. You see it as it is. We can change it by only voting for those who use public money to run. No more corporate control of America! In addition, hand over international control of bases to NATO or the UN, like you said. We cannot afford to finance that sort of thing anymore. Besides, the world has changed a lot since the marshall plan was enacted.
Nick Yaya
And, I almost forgot, let's not pay Halliburton the rest of what we owe them (to help balance our budget)until we get to the bottom of their influence in declaring war on Iraq, and Dick Cheney's involvement. Something was/is fishy and I say "no pay until, they say" what went on.
Nick Yaya
And, I almost forgot, let's not pay Halliburton the rest of what we owe them (to help balance our budget)until we get to the bottom of their influence in declaring war on Iraq, and Dick Cheney's involvement. Something was/is fishy and I say "no pay until, they say" what went on.
Pages
Add a new comment