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UK Social Struggles Newswire Archive

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Anarchist reportback and critique from Occupy Portland

09-10-2011 10:43

We just got back from the opening march for Occupy Portland, and were even more disappointed by how liberal, reformist, and nonthreatening it was than we had expected. The website for Occupy Portland had promised that "proper actions" would be taken against "instigators" of any "illegal activity (property destruction etc.)," which we can only interpret as a threat to snitch to the cops, so we went with low expectations, but this was by all means a massive disappointment even taking into account our pessimism from the get-go.

We attended the opening march for Occupy Portland because we are some angry-ass proles who really hate capitalism. Although Occupy Wall Street (and the various off-shoot occupations) have few official defined goals or positions, there is a general opposition to "corporate greed" and "corrupt politics". As anarchists, we seek to expose and destroy the roots of these problems - as long as capitalism and the state exist, there will be greedy corporations and corrupt politicians. Capitalism and the state cannot be reformed into something kinder, gentler, or more humane, it is exploitative by nature. We wished to push the discourse at Occupy Portland in a more radical, explicitly anti-capitalist and anti-state direction. So we attended the Occupy Portland opening march in full team colors with a big banner that read "NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP (A) NEVER GONNA LET YOU DOWN." Hey, we do have a sense of humor.

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Beyond ninety-nine-percentism: Not being frightened of ‘revolution’

09-10-2011 08:18

from http://bit.ly/pU5T8Y

One notable feature of Occupy Wall Street is its participants’ lack of hesitation in using the term ‘revolution’. Here comes the revolution! This is the first step of the revolution! Get up, get down, the revolution is in this town! You won’t stop our revolution! etcetera, etcetera. Distinguishing from these assertions of a revolution that has arrived, what does it really mean to envisage a revolution? And why should revolutionaries fear to act as well as talk, camp, and march?

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Dear Occupiers: A Letter from Anarchists

09-10-2011 07:58

Starting with the occupation of a park next to Wall Street on September 17, a new movement is spreading across the country in which people gather in public spaces in protest against social inequalities. We’ll present a full analysis of this phenomenon here shortly; in the meantime, here’s an open letter to the occupation movement, engaging with some of the issues that have arisen thus far. Please forward this widely and print out versions to distribute at the “Occupy” events!

Dear Occupiers [online viewing version]

Dear Occupiers [print version]: A two-sided flier intended to be folded down the middle, longways.

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Occupy LA: One Week Old and Going Strong

08-10-2011 16:55

OccupyLA Day Seven. The encampment at City Hall continues to grow. The camp now numbers close to 100 tents with at least two occupants per tent. Rain on Wednesday failed to discourage the occupiers, and the encampment is now larger and more organized than ever. Tomorrow the camp will have completed its first full week. It has been an action packed week and has drawn much media attention even competing with the Jackson murder trial just down the street.

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#occupyLSX assembly at Block The Bridge

08-10-2011 14:54

Assembly Flyer
With the #WallStreetOccupation into its third week, plans are afoot in London for an occupation of the London Stock Exchange to be one the many occupations that are planned to begin globally on October 15th. Today people have been working on banners, and tomorrow those interested in joining the London occupation are invited to join a general assembly which has been called to take place at tomorrow's 'Block the Bridge' on Waterloo Bridge.

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Prominent Kurdish Activist Assassinated in Syria

08-10-2011 13:27

Kurdish Activist Assassinated in Syria
Syrian Kurdish activist and opposition leader Mishaal Tamo was gunned down in the largely Kurdish city of Qamishli on Friday.

 http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/4040.html

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TUC March for the Alternative Manchester Oct 2011

08-10-2011 03:26

Salford against the cuts Banner
They may have come in their thousands to tell the coalition government "cuts are not the cure".
Unfortunately they were met by Dr TUC’s quack medicine wagon and patented Labour party elixir

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Policing public order - the manual

07-10-2011 16:14

I've been told the attached is the handbook for policing public order (i.e. the manual for riot cops). I can't guarantee it's genuine, but seems realistic enough.

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Dale Farm: Get Ready To Resist: skills and mischief at Camp Constant this weekend

07-10-2011 10:54

Latest court date for a decision on whether or not a judicial review will be held is set for Wednesday. The result could go either way and the threat of eviction is still very real. This weekend at Dale Farm we are holding two days of workshops and activities. This is a great time to come to Dale Farm and get a feeling for the current situation here and at the high court, share skills and learn some new ones and prepare us all better for possible eviction.

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Voices from #OccupyWallStreet

07-10-2011 07:54

Julian

While the slant of corporate media coverage of the Wall Street Occupation has focused on the general motivations behind the movement, often missed are the variety of personal perspectives, backgrounds and desires that brought this protest-city together. Here are some of the many voices that have combined their efforts to bring New York City the Wall Street live-in protest.

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Local police forces are now little armies. Why?

07-10-2011 07:31

Manning Protest at Quantico PHOTO: Ellen Davidson
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?

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Occupy Britain - Join the 99% for positive change

06-10-2011 18:33

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.

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Occupy the London Stock Exchange

06-10-2011 12:41

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

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SQUASH: This is where it starts getting lively

06-10-2011 12:38

In light of Crisis’ new research[1] into squatting and homelessness the government’s proposals for the criminalisation of squatting seems increasingly misguided and wrong. Yet the ‘consultation’ process has magnificently failed to acknowledge the vast majority of groups who will be affected by the proposed legislation. Instead the consultation has been directed and addressed only to those who already consider squatting to be a problem. This demonstrates the government’s shocking lack of understanding in regard to the very issue it is proposing to legislate against, and equally -if not more – disturbingly, a straight-up lack of concern for for those who would be adversely affected by the legislation.

[1]  http://www.crisis.org.uk/news.php/302/true-plight-of-squatters-exposed-by-research

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Police clamp down on young Cambridge arsonists

06-10-2011 12:32

An outbreak of wheelie bin fires in Cambridge has led to young arsonists facing action from police.

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Take action against companies profiting from workfare!

06-10-2011 10:12

1pm, Wed 19th October 2011 outside the annual Welfare to Work Conference at the Business Design Centre, Upper Street, Islington, N1 0HQ

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The 99 Percent Occupy Wall Street

06-10-2011 08:01

(Photo courtesy of Flickr.com/AdrianKinloch)

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.

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Occupy Wall Street: A Reply to Skeptics

05-10-2011 16:12

Is the message clear enough?

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.

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'Occupy' Movement Scares US Ruling Class

05-10-2011 15:02

Marchers reach Brooklyn Bridge last weekend, before the mass arrest
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.

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When the Euro suit does not fit (article about the Greek crisis)

05-10-2011 07:51

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.