World Social Struggles Newswire Archive

More and more, in dealing with nonviolent political protesters police across America show up in battlefield dress with intimidating military gear supplied by the Pentagon and Homeland Security. Writer John Hanrahan says reporters, instead of ignoring this ominous development, should ask local, regional and national leaders: Do we need this crap?

For anyone who is not familiar with this movement or the events taking place all over the world, we would like to try and provide an introduction….

Here are a number of reasons why one might feel compelled to get involved in the Occupy Britain movement.

In 2008 the global recession was felt worldwide, and although the media reported ‘recovery’ there has not actually been one, in fact, what has held off the, what appears to be an inevitable global financial collapse thus far, is a process called ‘quantitive easing’ and the selling off of national institutions, such as the NHS, with job losses, redundancies, cuts to vital services, school closures, unreasonable welfare reforms, increase in the cost of living, banking institutions requiring bail outs, and the tax payer footing the bill and paying for the mistakes of others.

People are now recognising that there is a split in fairness and equality, we see bankers bonuses increasing, media tycoons controlling and withholding information that they should be reporting, in the public interest, systemic corruption of our police force, politicians and quite possibly our prime ministers, the introduction of, an ever increasing amount of legislation and statutes to further restrict our ability to speak out against them.

Occupy the London Stock Exchange - World Revolution Day 15th October

The entrapment and arrest of 700 peaceful Occupy Wall Street (OWS) activists on the Brooklyn Bridge has created a huge wave of support for their movement. The number of daytime occupants in Liberty Plaza doubled or tripled from 100 the week prior to 200-300 this past Monday and Tuesday. These people are the core who maintain the occupation of the plaza, making it possible for several hundreds and sometimes thousands to hold rallies in the late afternoon and participate in the open mic speakouts and General Assembly meetings in the evening.

On September 27th Lauren Ellis published an essay in Mother Jones Magazine entitled “Is #OccupyWallStreet Working?”

The essay argues that Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is not working because the movement has no clear message and is not demographically representative of those who are affected most by the current economic problems. While Ellis does raise important points about movement-messaging and political representation, she in no way tries to understand the internal logic and outward expression of OWS.

Ellis’ conclusions center around four main points: that OWS’s “kitchen sink approach” is a form of ineffective messaging; that the media’s focus on the police brutality distracts from OWS’s main message (or lack thereof); that the hacktavist collective Anonymous inhibits the OWS movement; and that the OWS participants are the “usual suspects” of “dreamers.” In what follows, I provide counter-arguments to each of Ellis’ points as an attempt to flesh-out some of the philosophies, practices, and communicative strategies of Occupy Wall Street. I want to note that I am not seeking to attack Lauren Ellis in any way. Instead, I am trying to demonstrate why her arguments—representative of many like-minded skeptics—are insufficiently substantiated.

As grassroots anger grows against the feeble facade that is democracy in the US, the 'Occupy' movement is gaining in popularity, and its massive online presence is being translated into boots - and tents - on the ground. After getting their start on Wall Street - the belly of the imperialist beast - the occupations have spread across the country.

Greece is sinking deeper into the financial crisis. Reporter for Swedish Newspaper Dagens Nyheter Kajsa Ekis Ekman visited this misunderstood country with a broken social contract, where... everyone agrees with each other.

It began as a call in July 2011 by the magazine Adbusters to hold powerful business interests on Wall Street to account, and drawing on inspiration from the famed 2011 grassroots protests across the Middle East. But the mantle has been taken up by grassroots activists in New York City to forge an ongoing occupation outside of Wall Street and throughout New York City. The effort in its first two weeks has spurred a national movement with sibling efforts in at least 130 other cities, including Chicago.

Occupy Chicago, merely a week old, has already drawn hundreds of grassroots protesters, who "march…each day…After an hour long general assembly meeting, demonstrators headed through the financial district, Millennium Park, the Magnificent Mile and back to base camp to once more spread messages of solidarity, positivity and persistence in the face of a political system that’s left 99% of Americans without a real voice in governance…While it may be young and still trying to get organized, the movement to Occupy America is growing and cohering. And though many went home after Saturday’s march, more than a hundred stayed to continue organizing and evangelizing, with no plans to leave until they feel their job is done."

UPDATE: Occupy Chicago threatened by Chicago police to stop.

Additional Coverage: Lessons Learned from Occupy Wall Street | Five Things that Occupy Wall Street Did Right | Occupy Chicago Entering Day 6 | Protestors Occupy Chicago in Solidarity with Occupy Wall St NY | An American Spring is Possible | Open Letter to Occupy Chicago.

Outside Resources: Think Progress; NY Times' Andrew Ross Sorking Sneers at Occupy Wall Street | Protests Work Better with Specific Demands | Occupy Wall Street Makes Its Own Media.

Social Media Resources: Tumblr | Twitter | Live Video Stream

The "Occupy Wall Street" protests in the financial district took a dramatic turn on Saturday when protesters tried to march across the Brooklyn Bridge. When police arrested 700 of the demonstrators, the event quickly turned into one of the largest arrests of non-violent protesters in recent history. Some protesters claim police lured them onto oncoming traffic on the bridge’s roadway; others said they did not hear instructions from police telling them to use the pedestrian walkway. Meanwhile, similar "Occupation" protests have spread to other cities, including Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles, where hundreds of protesters are now camped out in front of City Hall. We host a roundtable discussion with Marisa Holmes, an organizer with the main organizing group of Occupy Wall Street, called the General Assembly, Marina Sitrin, an attorney who is part of Occupy Wall Street’s legal working group, and Laurie Penny, a writer and journalist who reported on protests in London earlier this summer

Vassilis Stergiou is revengefully persecuted by the Greek state for showing his solidarity with the student movement and for his long time participation in social struggles. He was arrested on 8th March 2007, following a massive demonstration against a university reformation law. He was imprisoned without a trial for 6 months.

An Open Letter from William Nicholas Gomes to the President of the United States of America

The banksters want the shirt of our backs. Let's give it to them on Big Rip Off Day!

As part of the next National Day of Action Against disability deniers Atos, being held on Friday 30th September, join in the online protest to inform people doing business with Atos exactly where the money’s coming from.

The rebellious anarchist magazine is back with another 92 pages of resistance and revolution to keep you ticking. D.I.Y and not for profit, this magazine aims to be a voice from the uncontrollables.

As we watched your officers kettle innocent women, we observed you barberically pepper spray wildly into the group of kettled women. We were shocked and disgusted by your behavior. You know who the innocent women were, now they will have the chance to know who you are. Before you commit atrocities against innocent people, think twice. WE ARE WATCHING!!! Expect Us!

Anonymous

Cities around the UK are mobilising for the next National Day of Action Against Poverty Pimps Atos taking place on Friday 30th September.

I want to remind you as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Kuwait is bound by article 19(2) of that covenant, which states: “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.” Article 36 of Kuwait’s constitution protects freedom of speech and opinion, stating that: “Every person has the right to express and propagate his opinion verbally, in writing, or otherwise, in accordance with the conditions and procedures specified by law.”

Dateline: Clapham Common, London, UK, 20:00-23:30, Sat 24 Sep 11 – Land & Freedom Campers (  http://landandfreedom.squat.net ) and intrigued local folk get to share an al fresco cinema experience centred around the 1975 biopic of the great English revolutionary pamphleteer and Digger Gerrard Winstanley (  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrard_Winstanley ). Under the spreading London planetrees, we enjoyed reclaiming our C17 radical history, the better to empower ourselves for ensuring C21 continues to be a century of radical history in the making.

On the 24 September at 15:00 o'clock, the international participants of the Reclaim the Fields camp, together with the local association Alburnus Maior, from Rosia Montana, Romania, held a lively street demonstration in the village's Old Square. Local and international people are opposing plans to open Europe's largest open cast gold mine and a proposed new law on expropriation currently being discussed in the Romanian parliament. The law would enable private mining companies, instead of the Romanian state and judicial system, to carry out forced expropriation of residents, in a clear violation of human rights.

Since Saturday, activists in the United States have camped out on Wall Street to speak out against the richest 1% of the country looting from the poor. Sending a message to those who profit from insatiable corporate greed, people are maintaining a presence on Wall Street sending a loud message.