A Movement is Born
Jammers, dreamers, rabble-rousers, revolutionaries,
#OCCUPYWALLSTREET is thundering across America, threatening to morph into a full fledged national movement. Channeling the nonviolence of the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprising and the bottom-up collective decision making of the Spanish acampadas, we vow to end the monied corruption of our democracy.
This Saturday #OCCUPYWALLSTREET enters its third week … be there at Noon and stay for the weekend … or be at one of the 50+ fledgling occupations now being organized across the land.
Our people's democracy movement is about to get three mighty boosts:
- On October 6, a few thousand of us will swarm the capital and #OCCUPYDC. Find out the plan at october2011.org
- On October 15th, the movement goes global … check it out at 15october.net
- Then, on November 3 and 4, we have something special in mind for when the G20 leaders meet in France.
Time to live!
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
occupywallstreet.org / occupywallst.org / occupytogether.org
PS.
Our movement needs more edgy theatrics … maybe we should tar and feather the Charging Bull … or burn an effigy of Lloyd Blankfein? Send your wild ideas to [email protected].
To get a sense of the visceral mood at #OCCUPYWALLSTREET, check out the daily dispatches from OccupyTVNY along with the mini-documentaries "We Are The 99%" and "Nobody Can Predict The Moment Of Revolution." Also, David Graeber's op-ed in the Guardian and Nathan Schneider's article in the Nation are worth reading.
608 comments on the article “A Movement is Born”
Displaying 101 - 110 of 608
Page 11 of 61
Anonymous
>The ONLY problem, is simply Political Corruption.
Yes, essentially, and the root of that PC is the role of money in electing candidates to office.
The recent SC decision giving corporate cash the same constitutionally protected status as a human citizen's speech is an act treasonous to the Constitution of the United States.
Occupying Wall Street is a side-show, and almost certainly a waste of time, energy, and commitment.
Until money is substantially removed from the electoral equation,we have no democracy.
Until every ballot offers "None of the Above", we have no democracy.
111 - one person, one vote, one dollar, if we don't have this, we have no democracy.
This "movement", if it is to achieve anything, must very quickly coalesce around a single, simply stated, non-negotiable goal - and then apply geometrically increasing pressure directly to the US Congress until that goal is realized in legislation, constitutional amendment, or resignation of the SC (whatever would be most appropriate for the chosen goal).
Anything else will amount to nothing.
BTW, Interfering with the comings and goings of ordinary citizens is just about the stupidest, losing-est strategy conceivable.
Anonymous
>The ONLY problem, is simply Political Corruption.
Yes, essentially, and the root of that PC is the role of money in electing candidates to office.
The recent SC decision giving corporate cash the same constitutionally protected status as a human citizen's speech is an act treasonous to the Constitution of the United States.
Occupying Wall Street is a side-show, and almost certainly a waste of time, energy, and commitment.
Until money is substantially removed from the electoral equation,we have no democracy.
Until every ballot offers "None of the Above", we have no democracy.
111 - one person, one vote, one dollar, if we don't have this, we have no democracy.
This "movement", if it is to achieve anything, must very quickly coalesce around a single, simply stated, non-negotiable goal - and then apply geometrically increasing pressure directly to the US Congress until that goal is realized in legislation, constitutional amendment, or resignation of the SC (whatever would be most appropriate for the chosen goal).
Anything else will amount to nothing.
BTW, Interfering with the comings and goings of ordinary citizens is just about the stupidest, losing-est strategy conceivable.
Anonymous
People the time is now, get on your feet do something to change your country. No president is going to do that, this is our country we the people are the only ones that cant make a change. THE TIME IS NOW WAKE UP AMERICA!!!! # occupy miami
Anonymous
People the time is now, get on your feet do something to change your country. No president is going to do that, this is our country we the people are the only ones that cant make a change. THE TIME IS NOW WAKE UP AMERICA!!!! # occupy miami
Anonymous
Greetings from Spain. I want to add my support to that expressed by my Spanish countrypeople above - we are all with you and hope for the best. Do not let cops, bankers and politicians control your present and your future, and that of your children. It is time for the people to take their own affairs in their own hands and to make the most of democracy.
Anonymous
Greetings from Spain. I want to add my support to that expressed by my Spanish countrypeople above - we are all with you and hope for the best. Do not let cops, bankers and politicians control your present and your future, and that of your children. It is time for the people to take their own affairs in their own hands and to make the most of democracy.
storch156b
Thank god!! Its about time the majority of us have begun to stand up and protest the greed and corruption of corporate America and the political influence it can buy. For the first time in over a decade I am PROUD to be an American.
Tom S.
storch156b
Thank god!! Its about time the majority of us have begun to stand up and protest the greed and corruption of corporate America and the political influence it can buy. For the first time in over a decade I am PROUD to be an American.
Tom S.
Anonymous
I just wanted to send greetings from Norway! I have been following the protests, media here won't pick up much, because they get their US news from CNN/MSNBC/FOX etc. and as long as they don't air, we don't air :-(
I study Law at the University of Oslo, and one thing Norway and USA has in common, is that we have the oldest functioning constitutions in the world. Ours is from 1814, but other nations like France and England have written new constitutions - except from Norway and the USA. The country belongs to the people, use the spirit and meaning of the constitution to change the system and deprive the financial market from political power! This was [b]not[/b] how it was meant to be!!
There is an ongoing case in Norway, about a man named Roeggen who bought a "savings package" from the largest bank in Norway, DnBNOR bank:
The "savings package" was that he would take up a large loan from the bank, and give the money back to the bank so that they could invest it. They promised him a sure win. But then he lost all the money in stead. So, he sued the bank. Turned out, with the lending fees and the interest rates on the loan, that was to be invested - was so high that there was a small chance that he'd ever earn anything. The bank would win in the end. Just like a casino.
He won the first round in court, lost the second and he is awaiting his final round at the Supreme Court - probably sometime next year. I think he will win. So does at least one professor at the University that i have heard. If so, banks will be forced to [b]pay back peoples losses[/b] - and there are thousands of costumers who have frozen assets in the banks, awaiting the Supreme Court trial and verdict!
U see, the man is a consumer, not a businessman. So the main legal arguments is that he could not understand the model he was presented, and the bank has to carry that type of risk when dealing with regular consumers.
The government recently imposed new lending rules on banks, not letting them lend out house mortgages to people who do not all ready have a certain amount of savings. The model that Mr. Roeggen was tricked into buying, has been abolished from all banks all in Norway today. A bank that acts irresponsibly - meaning lending money to people who obviously cannot carry the loans, will be punished for it.But any financial institution will ALWAYS "balance on the edge of law", to make money. Always!
As long as we keep the banks on a tight leach, and - most importantly - [b] uphold strict corruption legislature towards politicians[/b] we will avoid protests like this, and maybe even make it through the recession in Europe and the USA. [b]Any type of value transfer, being it real estate, cash or bonds[/b] between a party with interest and a member of parliament or government is [b]always corruption!![/b] Family ties and other close connections is never acceptable, for it is [b]always conflict of interest[/b] that can not be allowed.
Kick the bankers out of parliament and government. Impose [b]strict[/b] corruption laws.
At least that's how i look at it :-) Good luck, wish i was there to see it all. I have traveled across the US and seen many states and met a lot of great Americans from the East to the West coast. But Europe is in a great deal of trouble too, and if it turns out that we also will have to go to the streets and stop the thieves and the corruption, maybe the spark of inspiration will come from the USA - this time as well, like last time. I think the Roeggen case will say a lot about the peoples reaction if, or when, Norway faces a recession.
Page one in my Norwegian law book of almost 4000 pages, begins with 1814 and the Constitution. 37 years earlier, in 1787 a similar document was made in the USA, inspiring a spark that came to Europe. Maybe sparks will fly again, across the sea - 200 years after.
Anonymous
I just wanted to send greetings from Norway! I have been following the protests, media here won't pick up much, because they get their US news from CNN/MSNBC/FOX etc. and as long as they don't air, we don't air :-(
I study Law at the University of Oslo, and one thing Norway and USA has in common, is that we have the oldest functioning constitutions in the world. Ours is from 1814, but other nations like France and England have written new constitutions - except from Norway and the USA. The country belongs to the people, use the spirit and meaning of the constitution to change the system and deprive the financial market from political power! This was [b]not[/b] how it was meant to be!!
There is an ongoing case in Norway, about a man named Roeggen who bought a "savings package" from the largest bank in Norway, DnBNOR bank:
The "savings package" was that he would take up a large loan from the bank, and give the money back to the bank so that they could invest it. They promised him a sure win. But then he lost all the money in stead. So, he sued the bank. Turned out, with the lending fees and the interest rates on the loan, that was to be invested - was so high that there was a small chance that he'd ever earn anything. The bank would win in the end. Just like a casino.
He won the first round in court, lost the second and he is awaiting his final round at the Supreme Court - probably sometime next year. I think he will win. So does at least one professor at the University that i have heard. If so, banks will be forced to [b]pay back peoples losses[/b] - and there are thousands of costumers who have frozen assets in the banks, awaiting the Supreme Court trial and verdict!
U see, the man is a consumer, not a businessman. So the main legal arguments is that he could not understand the model he was presented, and the bank has to carry that type of risk when dealing with regular consumers.
The government recently imposed new lending rules on banks, not letting them lend out house mortgages to people who do not all ready have a certain amount of savings. The model that Mr. Roeggen was tricked into buying, has been abolished from all banks all in Norway today. A bank that acts irresponsibly - meaning lending money to people who obviously cannot carry the loans, will be punished for it.But any financial institution will ALWAYS "balance on the edge of law", to make money. Always!
As long as we keep the banks on a tight leach, and - most importantly - [b] uphold strict corruption legislature towards politicians[/b] we will avoid protests like this, and maybe even make it through the recession in Europe and the USA. [b]Any type of value transfer, being it real estate, cash or bonds[/b] between a party with interest and a member of parliament or government is [b]always corruption!![/b] Family ties and other close connections is never acceptable, for it is [b]always conflict of interest[/b] that can not be allowed.
Kick the bankers out of parliament and government. Impose [b]strict[/b] corruption laws.
At least that's how i look at it :-) Good luck, wish i was there to see it all. I have traveled across the US and seen many states and met a lot of great Americans from the East to the West coast. But Europe is in a great deal of trouble too, and if it turns out that we also will have to go to the streets and stop the thieves and the corruption, maybe the spark of inspiration will come from the USA - this time as well, like last time. I think the Roeggen case will say a lot about the peoples reaction if, or when, Norway faces a recession.
Page one in my Norwegian law book of almost 4000 pages, begins with 1814 and the Constitution. 37 years earlier, in 1787 a similar document was made in the USA, inspiring a spark that came to Europe. Maybe sparks will fly again, across the sea - 200 years after.
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