Inspiring Words from Redditor Aniadrift
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 17, 2011, 4:29 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Sorry for gushing, but I feel the need to right now. When the mass evictions started happening, I was filled with a sense of despair. Now that I see this, that despair has been replaced with inspiration. My heart bursts with it. I want you people to know, all of you who have been in the streets fighting, that you have given me hope for the country that I never thought I would have before. That before this movement started, I was one of the apathetic, ready to give up on the system and just try to leave the country as soon as possible. That because of your movement, I am now alive again, ready to fight for my country, ready to change this corrupt system. That because you have done this for me, I know you have done this for millions of others as well. People will tell you that you fight in vain, that you are accomplishing nothing, that you have no direction, that your actions are pointless. But your actions are far from this. You have destroyed the greatest enemy to freedom, and the greatest ally of the ruling class: Apathy.
I see these people out in the streets and I know now that this movement cannot be stopped. That this is the climax of a decades-long battle for the soul of humanity itself. Cynics will laugh at me for saying this, and the loyalists will call me a dirty hippie and a criminal and all the other things they have grown fond of calling us. But these people do not matter. To history, they will be irrelevant. To history, there is only you. Ignore the loyalists, ignore the cynics, keep fighting. Shut them down. Shut the entire god damn system down. No one can stop this. I love you all.
I thought I'd die an old man and never seen the end to the slavery - the slavery of apathy, of consumerism. I am alive again. Keep going. I'll be there soon to join you!!
i am an old man and i know the feeling
like he said
I think I'll go block your front door for the next week so you can't go to work, because MY opinion is FAR more important than your insignificant little life, so you should make that sacrifice for MY demands. Sound fair? No? Then stay the FUCK off the subways you assholes! New York is for New Yorkers, not a bunch of socialist entitlement losers.
would you have said that if Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement was marching past your front door? which side of history do you want to be on...
I'm glad you're pissed. You should have been pissed off twenty years ago you dick head. You might as well get used to being pissed off because the occupy movement is only going to grow and it will stay until things finally change. and what's your pathetic little life compared to the millions of Americans around you who are suffering and have been suffering. YOU are a selfish little child. grow up.
Just beautiful. Thank you for this post.
Big ups to the 99 percent!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TViEzHJrMcM
Better than just combating apathy...the Occupy movement has countered an even LARGER enemy: hopelessness.
The monster's name is TINA, "There Is No Alternative" which claims that Consumerist Corporate Capitalism, Militarism, Prisons, Wars, Profits, etc, while maximiging Consumption of the Planet's resources, and less and less time with family or any value other than money, is the "only way"
The false belief in TINA created hopelessness by those who want another way...
As they used to say:
"We want structures serving people, not people serving structures" -1968 Paris Commune graffiti (which added "The future will only contain what we put into it now" )
Build the New System one step at a time, like one starts a journey of 1000 miles...build EconomicDemocracy, from the grassroots, including workplaces, local and regional financial institutions, housing cooperative arrangements, everything needed for basic survival (and then some things beyond that)
If we have the basics for survival, they don't have us by the GONADS any more, we won't need to BEG to PLEASE be their wage slaves, which is our sad current imperative for survival, for most of us most of our lives..
We need to keep our eyes on the goal of changing this central fundamental reality...as we do that, we will be able to withdraw our support (in the form of labor and money) that is the lifeline of the Corporate Feudalist regime that rules over most of the planet at this time...unplugging the machine and from the machine while not only surviving, but beginning to thrive again..
Quote:
"Y'all heard of this group..out of San Francisco called Food Not Bombs? I've got some tapes, where I did some interviews with 'em, man. This is a group of white dudes, you know, liberal types, they go out and do shit like give away food. And the police be kickin' their ass, man, don't they? They do, they be lockin' them up, they come out and they beat them -- "No giving away food!"
"This is why you are afraid to deal with human rights. 'Cause if they get on you for givin' away food... You know why they against givin' away food, don't you? -- Somebody might not bow down at work -- because they got a plate comin' anyway, right? So you bow down at work because without that, you can't feed yourself, see? And they know that, see?" -Mbanna Kantako, Human Rights Radio, Springfield Illinois (Quoted in Unwelcome Guests, Show #28, "Free Radio", hour 1)
'EconomicDemocracy' has been invented already. It's called capitalism. Those who wish for it not to exist have sought to destroy it the only way they knew how: by never allowing anyone to know what the word means. I'm going to quote from the introduction to Ayn Rand's book "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" Sorry in advance for what will very likely be a wall of text.
"This book is not a treatise on economics. It is a collection of essays on the moral aspects of capitalism. Our approach can best be summarized by my statement in the first issue of The Objectivist Newsletter (January 1962): ' Objectivism is a philosophical movement; since politics is a branch of philosophy, Objectivism advocates certain political principles--specifically, those of laissez-faire capitalism--as the consequence and the ultimate practical application of its fundamental philosophical principles. It does not regard politics as a separate or primary goal, that is: as a goal that can be achieved without a wider ideological context. 'Politics is based on three other philosophical disciplines: metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics--on a theory of man's nature and of man's relationship to existence. It is only on such a base that one can formulate a consistent political theory and achieve it in practice... Objectivists are not 'conservatives'. We are radicals for capitalism [radicals, here meaning fundamentalists. Look up fundamentalist in a dictionary please, before you attack the word]; we are fighting for that philosophical base which capitalism did not have and without which it was doomed to perish.' I want to stress that our primary interest is not politics or economics as such, but "man's nature and man's relationship to existence"--and that we advocate capitalism because it is the only system geared to the life of a rational being. In this respect, there is a fundamental difference between our approach and that of capitalism's classical defenders and modern apologists. With very few exceptions, they are responsible--by default--for capitalism's destruction. The default consisted of their inability or unwillingness to fight the battle where it had to be fought: on moral-philosophical grounds. No politico-economic system in history has ever proved its value so eloquently or has benefited mankind so greatly as capitalism--and none has ever been attacked so savagely, viciously, and blindly. The flood of misinformation, misrepresentation, distortion, and outright falsehood about capitalism is such that the young people of today have no idea (and virtually no way of discovering any idea) of its actual nature. While archeologists are rummaging through the ruins of millennia for scraps of pottery and bits of bones, from which to reconstruct some information about prehistorical existence--the events of less than a century ago are hidden under a mound more impenetrable than the geological debris of winds, floods, and earthquakes: a mound of silence. To obliterate the truth on such a large scale, to hide an open secret from the world, to hide--without any power of censorship, yet without any significant sound of protest--the fact that an ideal social system had once been almost within men's reach, cannot be done by any conspiracy of evildoers; it cannot be done except with the tacit compliance of those who know better. By their silence--by their evasion of the clash between capitalism and altruism [the moral principle of sacrifice or self-denial]--it is capitalism's alleged champions who are responsible for the fact that capitalism is being destroyed without a hearing, without a trial, without any public knowledge of its principles, its nature, its history, or its moral meaning. It is being destroyed in the manner of a nightmare lynching--as if a blind, despair-crazed mob were burning a straw man, not knowing that the grotesquely deformed bundle of straw is hiding the living body of the ideal. The method of capitalism's destruction rests on never letting the world discover what it is that is being destroyed--on never allowing it to be identified within the hearing of the young. The purpose of this book is to identify it."
Square brackets mine.
The introduction goes on for another several paragraphs but The above is what I wanted to share.
There is fundamentalist capitalism and fundamentalist socialist: both have high ideals and FAIL because they don't address the mutually exclusive desires for the individual and the group. Inevitably, no "benevolent dictator" arises and the ideal goes awry. It is under this assumption that greed arose in the first place: i.e., if there's no way to avoid conflict, THEN GET AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.
But, one should not give up on a solution -- not because the continued exploitation of the masses depends on your naivite -- but because we have a new tool never available before that can interconnect us all, and provide a feedback loop that prevents the excesses on either the two axis: the Internet. In absence of a Messiah, an enlightened, open-source solution could emerge.
But let it be known, without knowing your past you are repeating it: the 1960's. They had all the love and intent for change that could be mustered but it failed, why? --Without the story that will hold it together, the best intent in the world can't maintain cohesion. The story I'd suggest to consider is the one involving the Tree of Knowledge and the completion thereof. Consider it.
What you fail to realize is that there is no conflict of interests between men who understand that they do not have a right to each other's products; that they must trade in order to receive the benefits the other has worked to create and that the result of the trade must be beneficial to both of them. Lacking either element of the above situation they are not obligated to trade with each other, except in a situation where there is government intervention.
What you (and many socialists [not suggesting that you are a socialist]) also fail to realize is that a group is a collection of individuals. They can either associate with each other willingly (Capitalism) or be forced to deal with each other (Interventionism [which is the basis of socialism]).
Are you suggesting that you should run all the assets in a family (a "collection of individuals" as you say") under capitalist ideals?
If you study "gift" cultures (a perhaps less-loaded term for communism), you see that there are certain rules, that one can't simply take whatever one wants. It is expected that if you receive something, you will also do so IN KIND. These kind of cultures work, they just have very different structures and ends -- none LESS then capitalist arenas.
In an (American) family, you typically have parents and children; two 'classes' of individuals. Given the metaphysical fact that children are dependent on the rational faculties of their parents (until they develop their own), it makes sense that the parents are the only ones who actually own the assets 'of the family'. I'm assuming that the idea that those who earn the assets (the parents) should decide what to do with them is the 'capitalist idea' you are referring to. If that is what you meant, then yes. Absolutely. The other option is to let the children decide how the assets earned by the parents are used.
The receipt of something for the giving of something else is the trade principle of capitalism. Capitalism merely requires that when people trade, they do so with the knowledge that what they receive in exchange for what they give is of equal or greater value to them, and that no trade takes place where this is not the case.
I think you missed the point. Do you require receipt of something from your kids for dinner? I mean you wouldn't want them to become communists.
If the only reason you take care of your kids is a sense of 'duty', then you shouldn't have had kids and you should find someone else to take care of them who will love them. Most parents love their children. They provide for them and in return get to experience the lives of those they value (their children). Parents who love their children value the relationship they have with them. It is this value that is 'received' in return for the dinners, the education--all of the effort required to successfully raise children.
If your idea of "democracy" is "one dollar equals one vote", then your ideal are as (un)appealing as the soviet union, which like today's corporate capitalist elites tried to scam people into going along with slogans.
Soviets and Corporate Capitalists agree: "people should serve the economy"
We say: "no, the economy should sever the people.
Soviets and Corporate Capitalists agree: the 1% should run the economy (while slogans of ideals that try to hide the 1%'s control)
We say: an economy democratically in the hands of the public.
Soviets and Corporate Capitalists agree: "the average person is too stupid for democracy or economic democracy"
We say: that's what they said about political democracy, or even the right to vote on anything
(Also both of these systems, 'opposite' but very similar in many ways, both of these undemocratic systems believe in exponential growth forever and ever on a finite planet. Anyone who points out this is impossible is told they just are too dumb to understand the brilliant genuis ability of "the market" or "the vanguard party" or other nonsense that is to distract us from the physical impossibility of never ending exponential growth on a finite planet)
Not going to feed this troll any more just will say: meanwhile many of us slowly are building a set of democratic economic institutions.
What I was suggesting is not that a dollar represents a vote for a political representative, but that it represents and economic 'vote'. A Capitalist does not believe that 'people should serve the economy'. That is the view of our government and those controlling it. Those who you refer to as 'Corporate Capitalists' do not know the meaning of the word 'Capitalism'. They rely, not on the virtue of the product or service they provide, but on government handouts and intervention in the economy.
Only a fool (or someone dishonest pretending to be naive about it) would believe that you can have a society in which one person has the same number of "economic votes" as 100,000 or more others, but not have that translate into also political 'capital' and a political reality too, thus subverting, corroding, and ultimately "buying" the democracy so it's no longer a democracy.
Collectivism in the worst form are things like corporations - which the right wing supports
Collective action and coordination (which is voluntary and organic and grassroots and anything but "forced) that collective actions and coordination, in the best sense, in the democratic sense - the right wing is against that (and only that) type of "collectivism"
We don't believe in dictatorship in the political sphere. We should be in favor of democracy in the economic sphere too. Including the workplace. At one point society said, no more one person buying another person, no matter how "voluntary" that may be claimed to be. We need to say, no more one person (or corporation) 'temporarily owning' or 'renting' another human being 9-5pm.
http://economicdemocracy.org/analy.shtml
http://economicdemocracy.org/alternatives-to-wallst.html
What I am saying is that you can have such a society, but only if the economic policy is that of laissez-faire capitalism, which is a system in which government and economy are separate. We do not have that thanks, in large part, to the commerce clause, which gives congress absolute control over commerce (the economy). It is the commerce clause (which is a policy of economic interventionism, not capitalism) which provides the incentive for corporate control of the government and facilitates the equation of economic power to political power, or a translation of an economic 'vote' to a political one.
What you refer to as 'ownership' of an employee is an anti-concept. An employee of a business is not 'owned' by that business. He trades his own effort for whatever it is the business offers in return, just as the products the business sells to consumers are traded for whatever the market will bear (when there is no government coercion involved). To suggest that an employee offering his services to a particular business in exchange for compensation is an example of a business owning that employee is to suggest that a business offering a product to a consumer in exchange for compensation is an example of the consumer owning the business. The business (owner) owns the business and chooses whether or not to offer it's products and/or services and at what price. The employee owns the employee (himself) and chooses whether or not to offer his products and/or services and at what price.
If you counter that with "but the business sets the wage which it offers to the employee", that is true. However, if that business offers less than another business which requires the same effort on behalf of the employee, the second business will prosper and the first will not.
Do you support our world leaders' goal of culling the earth?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us8Yv4YLz9k&feature=related
Thanks for all the thumbs up! Interested in building new institutions for economic democracy from the ground up? See our web page
http://economicdemocracy.org/alternatives-to-wallst.html
This!
Not this! You FUCK!
www.theindignados.org
Are you one of us ?
theindignados.org is a new website that allows anyone to show they're indignation, lets show the world how many indignados/occupiers are we !
Thank you for spreading your message to Union Square! I work at one of the restaurants on 16th street and was able to participate for a few glorious minutes. Many of the cooks and servers gathered outside in their whites and received so much love from the crowd, members shouting "we love chefs" and "keep making yummy food!" Thank you.
Keep making yummie food is what they always tell me too before they de-part. It is so lovely.
You said it all - and beautifully. I am with you. Back in. Not moving.
OCCUPY. Reclaim OUR democracy.
Thank you.
Well said Aniadrift! Well said “...the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do!”
KEEP UP THE PRESSURE!! The only way you, OWS, all will make a difference is if you affect the day to day operation or flow of life, commerce, and or government. As i once witnessed in France, their government wanted to raise fines, tolls, taxes, etc. on all commercial truck drivers and trucking companies. What happened next was amazing. All French trucking companies and drivers criss crossed their trucks across all major highways in their country, completely blocking and disabling the transportation of all goods throughout the country. This lasted for about a week or less, until the government backed down and reversed its decision. It worked because it takes a protest of this scale to affect change. Occupying a park, although symbolic, will never ever ever do anything to change how disgustingly our government and the rich control all our lives, and continue to make the rich richer. You need to regroup, and i mean regroup all OWS protesters from across the country to a few very large simultaneous protests because small groups here and there won't really make a statement and can be easily intimidated and disbanded by authorities. You need a board of smart leaders that can effectively communicate a set of real smart ideas and demands and better organize the movement. You need to continue to use social media as a way to communicate as they did in the middle east to oust their dictators. But most of all you need to make one massive statement by protesting and affecting the day to day operation or flow of life, commerce, and or government. It will be the only way that you will get the govt and the rich to stop.......turn around......and stare in awe at the EPIC scale of the movement before them, and realize that the time has come, and that We The People have officially drawn the line in the sand, and are no longer willing to play their game any longer. IT IS THE ONLY WAY. Thank you.
this is an amazing post! I agree....it must be epic...spontaneous...magical!
I hope i get to see that country that we all dream about, the one where everyone has a chance at a successful future
THANK YOU! I may not be able to be there to march with you, but I fully support what you are doing. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
I read someone's thread the other day about how the police can take away our tents, but not our ideas. I couldn't help thinking of the movie Braveheart and the speech that William Wallace gave to the oppressed Scots going into battle. I know that this movement is non-violent, but I found this speech most inspiring, may it inspire you as well. "I am William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men. And free man you are! What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?” „Two thousand against ten?” – the veteran shouted. „No! We will run – and live!” „Yes!” Wallace shouted back. „Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one cahnce, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!”
I was thinking of this part of the quote yesterday:
"And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one cahnce, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!”
I think that's a good point to make in asking people to come to the protests. Right now people are protesting all over the world. I can't think of another time this happened except for 1968. This is our chance to fight for the freedom that none of us in the 99% really have. I don't want to live in the world the way it is now, and it wouldn't make so much difference if the police arrested me or beat me or killed me. The videos of police brutality make me cry and the lies in the mainstream media depress me but the courage of the occupy protesters gives me hope.
That quote really jumped out at me when I was reading someone's else's post and I knew I had to share it with others to encourage them. This was on the day of the raid and I thought everyone might be quite down with what happened. I posted it again here to further encourage the protestors.
Yes, it is very sad what is going on in this world and I deeply respect those who stand up for what is right. Another quote comes to my mind: "All that is required for evil to prevail, is for a good man to do nothing." Nobody should be turning a blind eye to what is going on in our Government, on Wall Street (and elsewhere), and how people are suffering because of the greed and corruption of those in power. WE need to stand up for what is right and not back down no matter what. I am glad that you are inspired. It's time to take our country back. Fight the good fight till the very end. Peace.
Banning physical force from social relationships is good because it underscores, upholds and promotes the very nature of an individual (of any individual, of all individuals). By the nature of being human, a person has to choose to think and act in order to live regardless of whether he's alone or living in a group. Unlike the nature of animals, a person's basic means of survival is reason. His nature offers him the choice to live rationally or die a suicidal animal. That which is proper to the life of a rational being is the good and that which opposes reason is evil. The nature of a person requires him to think and produce. The standard by which a person decides what is good or evil—is his own life- that which is required of him to survive and prosper as a rational being. By our nature, thinking is man’s only basic virtue.
To think is an act of choice. Reason does not work automatically. Thinking is not a mechanical process. Knowledge is not gained by instinct. The functions of a person's kidneys, lungs and heart are automatic. The function of his mind is not. For a human being, the question “to be or not to be” is the question “to think or not to think.”
All evil, therefore, stems from a person refusing to accept his basic nature and by acting counter to it by not learning how to think and not practicing it, consistently. Evil is an absence and a negation and as such is impotent. It has no power but that which an individual allows into the vacuum he creates by not discovering and upholding his nature as a rational being.
There is one act of evil no person may commit against others and no person may sanction or forgive. No person may start or initiate physical force against others. To place the threat of physical destruction between a person and his perception of reality is to negate and paralyze his nature- his very means of survival. For whatever goal and to whatever extent, the person who initiates the use of force destroys another person's capacity to live.
If the morality dictated by our very nature is to be upheld in a social context, then physical force must be barred from our relationships. A person needs an institution chartered by him with the role of protecting his rights under an objective code of rules. The fundamental right is the person's right to his life and that manifests in his right to his property. A proper government has one fundamental responsibility to a person and that is to defend his life and property. This is the task of a government, of a proper government and its only moral justification; it's the reason why a person needs a government.
But when some turn morality on its head by subverting the nature of man, they create hell on earth. When some force a person to drop his own mind and accept their will as a substitute, they defy the reality of man. Man's nature demands him to act for his own rational interest and threatens him with death if he does not.
In the history of choices men have made on how to behave, no choice is more evil then the morality of altruism. The fundamental idea of altruism is that no person has the right to exist for his own sake. Instead, service to others is the only justification of his existence. Self-sacrifice is his highest moral duty, his strength and his purpose for living. Altruism says that the standard by which to judge is that the self is evil and the selfless is good. Alruism says it is immoral to live by your own effort, but moral to live by the effort of others. It is immoral to consume your own product, but moral to consume the products of others—it is immoral to earn, but moral to freeload.
The irony is that many who value political freedom uphold the morality of altruism in some form or another. To those freedom fighters who believe that any action taken for the benefit of others is good and any action taken for one’s own benefit is evil, you have tossed the coin of altruism into the air. When it lands heads, your political opponents win and when it lands tails, they win too. Either way, by upholding any variant of altruism, you lose. The nature of man and altruism are incompatible because reason and self-sacrifice are incompatible.
Challenge the altruist's dogma. Why must a person live for the sake of others? Why must he sacrifice his interests to the interests of others? Why is that the good? There is no earthly reason for it. Since nature does not provide a person with an automatic form of survival, since he has to support his life by his own effort, the doctrine that says concern for one’s own interests is evil means that the person's desire to live is evil. To restore political freedom, first honestly discover and restore how to think and act as an individual- for your own sake.
Well said! Thank you OWS!, You are our heroes and we are indeed watching! -Member of Occupy Dayton, OH
The whole world is watching.
The whole world is participating
Your inspiration is contagious, know that and believe it. Thank you.
Bellingham, Washington stands with their Brothers and Sisters! Be the Change, Believe the Change.
Hear hear! It will no doubt be an ongoing struggle, but it's truly a necessary struggle.
We are not alone!
Occupy Portland: N17 protesters move into downtown
Police evict protesters at University of California, Berkeley
Greece anti-austerity protesters join annual rallyGreece anti-austerity protesters join annual rally
Students and riot police clash in Milan protest
There is no stopping this movement.
Good post. NY Episcopalian bishop writes a letter of support and states the truth about the immorality of capitalism: http://stanneswashingtonville.dioceseny.org/2011/11/bishop-mark-sisk-writes-in-response-to-the-occupy-wall-street-protests/
March on...99%, stay Peaceful, all support is with you and us!
right on!
The corporate state that has been bought and paid for since WWI controls the media, the university system, the arts, the military, and just about every aspect of our lives. The constant message of consummerism and war has left the American public devoid of their true humanity. I hope we all have the chance to regain the control of our political and economic systems. Best wishes to all that struggle and thank you.
There is an a group whose names appear in all those areas, who share common aspirations, who collaborate to become willfully enemies of fairness and justice.
They need to be clearly identified for who they are and what they are doing. Shame is not within their compass as they despise us.
How we deal with them has yet to be seen but unless they are controlled by regulation or force of numbers then they will continue to subjugate and steal from the common folk.
To change from what we have been hoisted with we will have to clarify and change many of the values fed to us daily. Apple pie is off the menu.
Don't be sorry for gushing...........:)
The truth is, the opposite of love isn't hate, it's apathy.
I love my country too.
amen brother! i feel the same as just a few months ago i was wondering if anyone cared enough or possibly if everyone was just asleep. it is good to see that there are many that are not asleep but are awakening to the horror that has been going on in this country for far too long now. the time is now to send the message out that the people would like their country back. there is strength in numbers, there is even greater strength in knowing the father. there is no real power in a movement without a strong foundation in god. thank you for your post. warms my heart.
They can steal our drums, but they can't steal our voices. They can impound our books, but they can't impound our words. They can arrest us, but they can't arrest our ideas!!!
Stop the Freddie and Fannie Mae bonuses being paid to these executives who are still in debt to the American taxpayers. Sign the petition and your automated letter will also be sent to Congress opposing these pay-outs.
http://dickmorris.rallycongress.com/5485/fight-fannie-mae-bonuses/
I totally agree with you. But I have the strangest feeling that Congress has so ignored The American people,that they don't even "Look" at petitons We The People sign and send to them.
A prime example was the Sept 2008 Bail out whereas Congress gave away taxpayer money to the wallstreet banks. Can you just picture the letters,emails,petitions and phone calls that were sent to the house.the senate and the whitehouse ! I know I called and emailed my representitive atleast three times. Got one "automactic email " responce.
We have to make a Physical Presence on the steps of the house and the senate. They have forgotten who put them in office...We The People!!
Why don't you send them to P Obama. He is in charge of these bonsus and could stop the entire show with the stroke of a pen.
Congress, well?????????????????
Amen brother, Amen.
Your words are inspiring and I feel the same 100% I love occupy and I will continue to donate what little I can since I am very lucky enough to have a job. Thank you Occupy!!!!!
I read someone's thread the other day about how the police can take away our tents, but not our ideas. I couldn't help thinking of the movie Braveheart and the speech that William Wallace gave to the oppressed Scots going into battle. I know that this movement is non-violent, but I found this speech most inspiring, may it inspire you as well.
"I am William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men. And free man you are! What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?” „Two thousand against ten?” – the veteran shouted. „No! We will run – and live!” „Yes!” Wallace shouted back. „Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one cahnce, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!”*
Its already been said but, in the streets is where this belongs. Having a base camp at the park was nice but ultimately this fight must be taken to the streets. Crowds are harder to control when they are on the move and unpredictable. Your voices are heard by more people, raising awareness and adding to the numbers. Getting out of Zuccotti will be the best thing for this movement!!
I think blocking roads, freeways, subway routes is a tactic that should be used more. In France it's part of the culture that farmers block the roads with their tractors if the government doesn't protect their interests. It should be like that in America anytime the government screws us over. It's a tactic that truly shows the power of our numbers no matter how much we lack money or "influence"
Yes! I agree. You can't get the movement going staying in one place. A march to the Capitol steps is the destination that #ows and all the other occupiers need to be!
“Two dozen wealthy members of the group Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength are targeting members of the deficit "supercommittee" to increase their taxes.” Higher Taxes By SUSANNA KIM | ABC News – Wed, Nov 16 Good Job Guys , yet the GOP/tea, indep . are so greedy they won’t even listen!!!! Congress is the look of America if we vote GOP/tea, indep. FACT!
My thoughts exactly.
Hey Rooster8, these lines about "you can't help the poor by destroying the right" is what the 1% (more like 0.001%) cry every time someone suggests not to "destory" these Elites but just when we ask them to stop their war on us, the 99%+
How about instead:
You cannot help the country by destroying the middle class
You cannot help the country by destroying the working class and poor
You cannot strengthen the country by weakening education and health care
You cannot bring prosperity by preaching Austerity (for the 99%)
You cannot list the country up by pulling wages and benefits DOWN
You cannot further brotherhood and sisterhood with the right-wing class hatred of "you're just lazy! get a job you bum! suck it up!"
You cannot improve a country by asking us to "Suck up" the domination of Congress and all government, by Corporate Lobbyists
You cannot claim to need to help already-profitable (fossil fuels industry) by doing for them (subsidies) what they could and should do for themselves! Thus taking away the "initiative and independence" of the corporate hogs feeding at the trough
Those are my word..and those of millions of others.
As for what Lincoln actually said, here's what he said:
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
Econ, We are 15 trillion dollars in debt!! We are printing money like mad and spending more. It's all because of too much social spending, too much defense spending (Homeland Security included), and too much borrowing. The world economy will soon collapse, as well as ours. Don't you think our world leaders know this. I say they know this and they want this. They have a plan that started back in 1994 and all the pieces are in line. The plan is called UN Agenda 21. It is the massive depopulation (not all) of the earth to save earth from Man's consumerism. Neo- conservatives and Fabian socialists are both neo-aristocrats - Skull & Bones and other elite societies to do things behind the public's eye. President Kennedy warned us, weeks before his assassination:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKVt9EvqOpg&feature=related
Agenda 21 :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLqs_ph_8wA
What do you think the government's going to do, when our economy collapses? When your rights are suspended indefinately under Marshall Law and the full force of FEMA, Homeland Security, and the UN joint troops (likely Russian or Chiness) will help. Homeland Security is not to secure us from foreign attacks, it's to imprison us. Wake up!!!!!
"Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful,” Henry Kissinger purportedly said in an address to the Bilderbergers at Evian, France, on May 21, 1991.
The welfare spending is insignificant and does not restore the balance.
Welfare before war, before bailouts, befroe banks!
John, Our global leaders will eat us up, but they need chaos and violence from the people. If you care about the people's welfare, then make sure our government is spending it wisely, before we are all poor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLqs_ph_8wA
We are not only poor but massively in debt to the bankers. The debt is a part of the money system design. The debt is unsustainable and money is no longer working for society. As long as we have a Federal Reserve fiat money and factional reserve system it will always be a debt situation where bankers rule.
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/prophets-doom-12-shocking-quotes-insiders-about-horrific-economic-crisis-almost-here
A better system is long overdue.
We may have left it much too late.
http://www.alternet.org/story/153092/game_over_for_planet_earth%3A_the_month%E2%80%99s_biggest_story_you_never_read?akid=7869.35971.CqwrZf&rd=1&t=5
This group of greed crazed sociopaths gain strength from each others support but feed on anything they can exploit regardless of laws, damage to the environment or future of humans and other living creatures.
Massive consequences for mankind lie imminent.
John, I agree that the collapse is imminent, but the problem, as I see it, is that many of "greed crazed sociopaths" (as you put it) are not by themselves guilty, Washington allowed this and I think it is a global conspiracy that will result in the destruction of our Constitution, our freedom.
Our national debt was a little less than a trillion dollars in 1990, then with Clinton and Bush (mostly W Bush) it was 9 trillion in 2008, now we are at 15 trillion in debt. Shit. Now when our economy collapses and if we cause chaos, then the rest of the people will ask our government (I will not, I will protect myself if need be) to go after them - you radicals (but first need radicals, in come Saul Alinsky into the picture). This is a fatal mistake - Marshall will be declared,the Constitution will be suspended, people will be disarmed (remember FEMA and Katrina?) and the population will be put into "stack'em-and-pack'em" living facilities. FEMA calls it "mass migration". You think I'm Kidding: Here's FEMA OWN WEB SITE FOR THE FUTURE AFTER A DISASTER!!!!! http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1541
These uber rich corrupt corporations will get the protection from the new government, since they were friends and planned this together. Do you see the banks spending money on PR or damage control right now? NO they are not. And once the new government take a hold, then the revolutionists will be dealt with. This is the endgame. This has been done before, but this time it will done on a global scale. The constitution will die, along with our rights. Global leaders look at the masses as parasites to earth and need to controlled, and many cleansed. That's what Agenda 21 is all about - started with daddy Bush (former directer of CIA - America's KGB, Clinton was in on it, by allowing our soldiers to wear UN insignias on their uniforms and take orders from foreign leaders - unconstitutional. Bush Jr. play his part by driving up the dept with war spending and building the Homeland Security Dept. - the largest department - not secure us, but imprison us. Now, President Obama is doing his part - collapse the system - Saul Alinky - style. Obama's favorite radical.
"A Marxist begins with his prime truth that all evils are caused by the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists. From this he logically proceeds to the revolution to end capitalism, then into the third stage of reorganization into a new social order of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and finally the last stage -- the political paradise of communism." Saul Alinsky, "Rules for Radicals"
President Kennedy warned us of NWO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fOkx-k8a5c
Depopulation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gWmVtn5JsA
When the time comes, peace will be the only way to prevent this. But when then the price of bread hits $100 bucks, then I'm afraid that'll unleash a beast - NWO, population control.
Nicely summarized. Many aspects highly likely as cohesion within OWS is not a factor.
As action escalates in protest then a point will come where the internet may well be closed off for large areas. Apart from discontent, the web is the lifeblood of OWS.
Contingency for this can be planned using Ham radio, cell networks and commercial communications but all can be restricted. There is nothing to replace the immediacy and global sharing of the net.
A strategy where slow breakdown of the existing infrastructure by aiming at one critical demand at a time is unlikely to succeed as the problems are intertwined and systemic.
The overall system is fragile and time is running out in many areas. It will get more fragile. Massive casualties probably cannot be avoided.
Population decrease is going to happen and the OWS may become a part of the process that speed this up or reshape it.
I do not think radical action is a term that can be applied to a phenomena that is unavoidable. Reference to Communism is quaint but refers to a different era and situation. Political thinking is more diverse and lessons have been learned. There are many countries today with democracies that work far better than in the USA.
If you have followed the appraisal of our western exploitation of the biosphere and resultant over shoot of growth over the last two hundred years or so, then a crash is self explanatory as well as being is one way of temporarily correcting the trend.
The 1972 LTG Report still stands as a fairly accurate analysis of the situation in spite of the many reviews since.
Mankind has a cooperative nature as a social survival trait but also a much more narrowly focussed trait that is very destructive, competition.
When sociopathic personalities or cultures within subgroups becomes embedding then widespread destruction results unless this latter trait is corrected or contained. Sociopaths generally have poor response to group identity, also little empathy for others outside their immediate "tribe" and their own drive to dominate. Of course lying and fostered delusion is endemic.
Today's political situation is dire. There is possibly no path that will avoid breakdown.
To circumvent aspects of the inevitable changes that will take place, intelligent and cooperative planning is the beginning of the operative. Chances of that are very slim with sociopaths ruling. They will try to survive in a stable state as they know it and sacrifice all else as necessary.
Mitigation of that dilemma by acquiescing to their organized resources as you have mentioned, can only postpone the inevitable.
The planet itself cannot provide business as usual . The game is all but over for the US and others will follow.
A few years either way will affect the resources left and so tend to control the longer term surviving human numbers.
The malcreants. have over played their hand and accelerated breakdown of an all embracing support web. Their stripping and aggregation of wealth is but a symptom of the malaise.
Over population, unsustainable and one off stripping of resources as well as disregard for human welfare in a broader sense cannot be escaped, with a variety of possible consequences leading to a reduction of the human regime.
USA has been insulated from this for a long time and this has built up a mentality that appears to be leading to self destruction. The poor are powerless to stop that happening.
The ruling oligarchy have given undeserved punishment to others around the globe and this is an ongoing, accelerating trend.
The option of carrying on the way things are is also not viable as things will and are getting worse.
Hope for mankind will not be appeased by bankers so it is left to the rest.
Presently 1 ton of grain takes 4 ton of oil to produce and supply as food.
Meat is much more wasteful.
Figure!
Man natively needs about 2300 Calories a day - about 2.5 KWh of food energy.
May something will come out of this that is lasting and in human form with love, family and respect of others and the supporting biosphere, our mother. intact.
PS - come back down to where I am. Within the last two weeks, the number of solicitations from Bank of America has doubled with all kinds of offers. And you can say that they are not doing damage control - get real.
SIGNED - Just a view from below the intellectuals.
John, good morning. I can only assume that the word"insignificant" in your first sentence applies to MONEY.
What you might be overlooking is how significant it is to the people caught up in it, born in it to die in it.
Thanks ronjj Any money or part of the Govt budget spent on welfare is very meaningful to the country and those who receive it. The money is not enough and no amount would ever be enough unless all people can have a stake in being a part of the fabric of society with effective input and decision making.
The welfare budget is a misnomer. Redistribution to correct imbalance according to need would be a better way of regarding it. The unemployment is created by outmoded models of managing work forces and wealth distribution which use exclusion of people from taking part.
Simple balancing of sharing hours worked and sharing fair reward is blocked by a monsters.
"If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is." — Charles Bukowski (Factotum)
What the protesters should do is teach the World,and the State of New York a lesson that will never be forgotten. I think if the 99% can shut down the Macy's Thanks Giving Day Parade it would show the rest of the World how strong you really are. Trust me everybody will really start believing,and taking things seriously Bring Snoopy down.
Beautifully said. A year ago I was beginning to plan an exit strategy for leaving the USA. Today, I am filled with hope and determination to help this movement. Thank you to all who are putting themselves on the line. At Liberty Square and around NYC yesterday, I saw strength and determination on display. Keep it up! Much love!
"The walls of Jericho are still standing, but the trumpet is ready and a Voice has been born." -- Valentin Moroz, Ukrainian writer
(tear in eye) Thank you Reidditor Aniadrift. I shared your pessimism but something in me Wednesday night inspired me and my partner to step out of our "busy" overworked life and take a stand. I wasn't sure what I was going to encounter but once I arrived. I realized, AMERICA IS SLOWLY waking from their complacent lives. I believe this is only the beginning. To all the naysayers, REVOLUVTION IS NEVER CONVENIENT, REVOLUTION IS NEVER PRETTY! STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE AND HELP US SAVE OUR FUTURE!!!!
¡¡¡¡¡¡VIVA LA REVOLUCION!!!!
I love this post! I understand the sentiment you noted in the first few sentences. Leaving this country seemed like the ONLY solution - that it is a lost cause. But seeing that a sprit of change is still alive give me so much hope!
And what's wrong with being a hippie anyway? :) Why is it frowned upon to want to see the world through eyes of love and understanding instead of greed and corruption! I'm a California girl (born in Oakland, CA) and California girls are proud to be hippies by our bith right! Keep fighting!
Hear Hear! Solidarity! I am in tears as I watch from my desk, unable to march at this time. You all have swelled my heart with pride for a race of people in which I too had lost faith. I am the 99% and we WILL win our country back! Huzzah!!
3 cheers from New Orleans!
I'm writing from London, Canada where our occupy people where evicted over a week ago. At five o'clock tonight one man was standing by the Occupy London sign. About 15 people met for a meditation circle. The movement limps on but it will not go away. Thank you to all of the occupy movement people. The world is sick and most of the middle class in Canada are too comfortable to do anything about it. Climate change, poverty, corruption in government and corporate greed, etc. are so systemic that it will take a lot of work and maybe time to make significant change but here it is. Occupy your street! Occupy your neighbourhood! Stop supporting the mainstream banks. Get your money out and get it into credit unions. Stop buying cheap junk. Stop throwing away stuff that breaks. Fix it. Turn off the mainstream media and start listening and reading. Believe.
What the protesters should do is teach the World,and the State of New York a lesson that will never be forgotten. I think if the 99% can shut down the Macy's Thanks Giving Day Parade it would show the rest of the World how strong you really are. Trust me everybody will really start believing,and taking things seriously
Do you really think making all the average joes your enemy is the way to go? Most people just sort of view OWS as a kind of harmless joke - kids blowing off steam and being part of the cool crowd. Making them hate you won't help the 'cause'.
Well, we'll see how much of a "harmless joke" it turns out to be in the end. It took 20 years to change civil rights and these people aren't about to give up. It's not a joke, which, perhaps, is the mental adjustment problem that the "ruling" class have...putting it down violently ONLY. SHOWS. THAT. THE. WORLWIDE (get that? World. Wide.) OCCUPY MOVEMENT IS RIGHT.
You are wrong. The demographics is strong and widespread! There are not just college students and young people,but baby boomers and generation Xer's that make up #ows.
We the middle/working-class have grown very tired of the banks,coporations and the elected officials who are in cohoots with each other to maintain their lifestyles on our backs. We will not be their SERFS! Again I say..We Will No Longer be Serfs!!!
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Started by Anger, Fuelled by Hate
All movements need energy. A kick start. The Occupy Movement shot around the world spurred on by two key factors. The original factor was anger. The anger of intelligent people had smoldered for years. These exceptional people had long ago recognized an alliance between politicians and the rich had created an uneven playing field for all. Finally, one man in New York exploded and Occupy Wall Street began. Luckily, this historic moment was caught on tape:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dib2-HBsF08
The answer to how this movement would sustain itself for the long haul came in a serendipitous manner. Newspapers, TV stations, anonymous people on the internet began to criticize and fling insults at the Occupy members and especially at the poor and addicted. Hate. Occupy members realized immediately that here was their answer. Hate. Did I mention they were smart? Hateful organizations and people would publicize the movement for them. Occupy would not respond to the hate but use it. They set up tents, food kitchens, toilets. This drove their antagonists crazy. The media and anonymous trolls doubled their insults.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the puppets of the rich and powerful did what puppets usually do. They were manipulated by their masters and the tents, kitchens, etc., were shut down. The Occupy members smiled and nodded at each other. Phase One was a complete success. The whole world knew of the Movement.
Phase 2 starts now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibmcsEGLKo&feature=related
"To history, there is only you"
This is pure poetry, and maybe poetic justice--if luck prevails.
Yes! Hope is an inestimable power!
I speak as someone who was once ashamed to identify herself as American on the internet. I speak as someone who seriously researched what it would take to move to New Zealand and tried to figure out how to get the funds to do so.
Now I feel like the American Dream doesn't have to mean move up following steps XYZ. It can mean dreaming that we can have a great and worthwhile nation again.
I am with the Cedar Valley Occupation and we just held a "Rally for Action" in commemoration of the two month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. While we broke camp tonight (after over a month of occupation) we stand in solidarity with New York. Our physical occupation was only our start and our voices will continue to be heard. As a smaller town it was taking more energy than we could sustain, especially with an Iowa winter coming up, but our demonstrations and our activism from teach in’s to canvassing for the movement will only increase exponentially. We have possible plans to re-establish an occupation in the spring after we regroup, so we ALL as campers and supporters of our occupation (of which there were many) look to New York with admiration and respect. We hold all of you that have faced beatings, arrests, slander, and harassment in our hearts and in our minds. We will march with you any day at any time. We will rally for and with you any day at any time. Some of us have plans to come join you. We are with you. Never back down. We are the 99%.
"Democracy passes into despotism." Plato
America is NOT a democracy . It was never intended to be, we are a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC or better yet, a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC. Many of these protesters are supporting democracy, but I’m afraid that many do not understand the false securities of democracy, that democracy can lead them back on the path of dictatorship or authoritative rule. Over two hundred years ago, a Scottish professor, Alexander Tyler, put it well, “democracy will continue to exist up into the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public’s treasury.” This has been true for countless democracies. However, millions of us know we have endangered ourselves, by not understanding the dangers of democracy.
Alexander Tyler's (Scottish Historian) “Cycle of Democracy”:
“From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again into bondage."
"Apathy to dependence" - destroy the protection of private wealth and give it the the government to dispense - that's dependency.
The protesters are all actively practicing democracy in their camps. It's called General Assembly. And it's constantly evolving as they discover the short-comings it has and they come up with solutions to the problems they encounter. Hence the rhetoric, "This is what Democracy looks like." Practicing what you preach.
Sly- I believe people have a right to peaceably assemble to protest our government, but I don't think the same protection should be given to any group or mob to protest any private corporations or individuals. This type of action hurts private wealth (private property rights and rights of the business) and should have the protection of the law and have due process Some want to use the protection of the Constitution to destroy it.
PS, like your name. Have you heard a song called "Sly" from Cat Empire. Cool tune.IMO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtFxo4mpiKg
Thank you.
I love this! Thank you for your words of support! :)
things must change. capitalism can deal with false scarcity, just spin more money around and people can weather temporary scarcity. however, the world faces scarcity growing exponentially but like sheep we plod contentedly in the same pasture, nearing the same cliff, ignoring our problems. whether b/c of corporate greed or some nefarious plan for the rich to survive the catastrophes that are unfolding such as dying rainforests, deep water drilling threatening all life and so on...or just b/c of human nature and its tendency to not change easily, the problems that face our time are not being addressed. In the same breathe that someone asks what occupy is about, he says, “they're niave if they think the government can fix things.” or will. exactly. it's important though to remember that the movement transcends race and politics...all should be welcome. go occupiers! wake the world.
UN Agenda 21 is the answer, Save the environment. Our global elites agree with you Fayray. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us8Yv4YLz9k&feature=related
@ Dirty Hippie comment. Why is Hippie such a dirty word anyway? Why are people who like peace, love, freedom, artistic creativity, the environment, and a real sense of community so badly demonized in America?
Are those not the values we are supposed to be striving for as a species?
I know how badly the establishment got frightened in the 1960s by the psychedelic revolution... I've read the media propaganda from the era; but come on, why is this stereotype still persisting 50 years later?
Linguistically speaking, "dirty" as an insult tends to arise in class-ist societies. Something to chew on.
An article this week in the Sacramento Bee was talking about Occupy Oakland's "filth" and how the people cleaning the site collected so many tons of "trash" (i.e. the protesters' BELONGINGS). I was so pissed off to read that. It reminded me of how in Ethnic Studies we learned how colonized peoples were usually derided as "dirty" among other things.
Let me break it down for you...
Hippie mantra : "Turn on, tune in, drop out..." Means : Get stoned and abandon all constructive activity
Turn on tune in drop out means find an interest that improves the world though it may have nothing to do with the games that murdering politicians and big business want you to play to their advantage, tune in to other groups leaving the old stupid ways behind, and leave the social construct of mainstream consciousness in order to develop those interests before returning to the fold with an actual agenda. Go f(*& youself you ignorant piece of fecal matter. The time for niceties are over.
My friends get stoned and make art, sew clothing, head out dancing, go for nature walks... that's all pretty constructive if you ask me.
Is there a particular problem with "dropping out" of conventional society? Is it a problem if someone would rather sew their own cloths, or get a friend to sew their cloths, rather than buy from Chinese children? Is it a problem that someone enjoys living a lifestyle not centered on consumerism?
If I get your meaning, it seems to be that the problem is that either Hippies use drugs (or rather less harmful drugs than alcohol); or that, people are uncomfortable with the idea that you can actually live a much happier life if you basically ignore everything the establishment tells you is so important.
Probably, it has more to do with the fact that over 3 years some 4 Million people tried LSD, work up and realized that you are more than the sum of what you consume, that peace was better than war; and started to get more organized, and become a very serious threat to the established powers.
"In response, I am sharing a poem I wrote late last night. Thank you for this post. It shares much of what I feel. Thank you all. I feel alive again."
http://www.globatron.org/choken-word/white-as-snow
White as Snow
Tear it all down. It will come back again. Punch me in the face. I will double my pace. Momentum quickens with oppression. Protests multiply through opposition. The voice of democracy wins by who shouts loudest. There are thousands gathering to sleep in tents through the Winter with no solace.
And it all goes by so fast. From the day they are born. To the day they leave. We are all in a state of leaving.
I think of tomorrow. And all the moments I will miss Watching them grow As I sit behind a desk.
There is a revolution brewing in 1000 cities. People willing to put their bodies on the line. Get broken by storm troopers while peacefully assembling. Faces bleeding. I write these words torn. My heart reeling.
Torn between my obligation to provide and hide. Torn by my fear that it’s too late to act. Feeling this train going off the tracks. That no matter the size of my carbon footprint My neighbors feet are much larger.
I want the best for my children. They are so absolutely perfect. So young and naive. They have been born into a tragic sea Of humanity fighting for the powers that be. One big game of football it seems to me. Pick your team hesitantly.
All the while Europe is tearing apart. The gamble of economists losing as protesters continue to fight for their rights. People are saving food and water. Buying ammunition. Thinking of Armageddon. As I sit behind my desk and make design decisions. Should it be moved up or down? A smaller font or maybe make it round?
My children are sleeping in the next room. My youngest says she’s an angel without wings. I truly believe her. My oldest is learning to run fast. She is learning to play Mary had a Little Lamb. Where did Mary’s lamb go? It was white as snow.
Wise, wonderful words from a wise, wonderful man.
Here is a site put out by some friends of mine giving a current update on what is happenning with the "Occupy Movement" around the country and around the world. This is their first attempt at this, so it will get better, but what they are doing is very note worthy. I don't know of anyone else doing this. Please take a look and see if this is something that can be and should be distributed to "Occupiers" everywhere so that we all can see just how widespread the movement is becoming. Here's the site: http://www.twitvid.com/XSQX3
Better yet, get the cynics and loyalists on your side. Catch flies with honey...
Yes i know my enemy.
FELICITACIONES POR VER LA LUZ...EL CRECIMIENTO ECONÓMICO, COMERCIAL, RECAUDADOR NO SIGNIFICA PROGRESO NI NINGÚN DESARROLLO SALUDABLE, el crecimiento económico es el resultado de el crecimiento descontrolado, del avance caótico, contaminante, de un pueblo, http://comunidad-modelo-sostenible.blogspot.com
Soy un activista Indignado español, tus palabras describen la mismos sentimientos de los primeros meses de actividad.
Luego descubrimos que la gran parte de la ciudadanía estaban de acuerdo con la mayoría de las reivindicaciones, aunque no pensaban unirse a nosotros, estaban con nosotros igual que estas con un deportista cuando lo observas en el campo de juego.
Muchos de nosotros desde un principio entendemos que es posible llegar a una meta, pues se percibe cambio global, solo aplicando el sentido común y sostenibilidad real podremos seguir avanzando como humanidad.
Pero primero debemos barrer en casa.
Todos somos una red y vuestro nodo es muy importante.
Fuerza,
In the movie the Trotsky a young revolutionary is presented with a problem when trying to unionize his high school: he is unsure if his uninspired peers are afflicted with boredom or apathy. The answer to this question was boredom, and the boredom has melted away. Apathy is not a condition: it is a symptom of boredom. Inspiration is the cure, and we, together, have inspired a generation.
I don't think it's just boredom. Without a movement like Occupy you have the police and other institutions brutalizing and abusing the people left and right, acting illegally, and they go without punishment because most people in those kinds of institutions have no integrity and only care about money, or they sacrifice their integrity perhaps intending to become a good person again when they attain a position of power and who knows if the ends will ever justify the means with those people. But what I'm saying is that people get brutalized into having no hope that the system can ever be changed and decide to just try to play by the system's rules. With Occupy you can wake these people up by standing up to the same kind of oppression that has worn them down.
Absolutely true. However, at the same time, since Sept 17, I'm sure the ratings on prime time distractors have gone down and people spend much less time thinking about American Idle. I don't think anyone is truly apathetic, they've just been conditioned to seem so because they haven't been exposed to the truth.
i feel exactly the same way...i've gone from hopeless to hopeful! thanks for sharing your story...we are not alone!
Aniadrift, truly heartfelt. OWS you bring tears to my eyes with your glorious opposition to the numbing of the human soul and spirit. This is what we have been waiting for. We are who we are waiting for. In all our diverse, glorious, angry, chaotic energy. Be angry, be strong, anger against injustice is democratic, human and inspirational. But action against injustice brings us closer to the god of the cosmos. Never forgot your are made of star stuff, the energy of cosmos races through your veins. The users and abusers of the 99 can't turn back the clock. We will prevail and I love you all.
What kind of anti-intellectual nonsense is this? How is apathy, in and of itself, the enemy of anything? Arbitrary coercion is enemy of freedom - in fact, it is its antithesis... And who is the "ruling class"? Are we not all subject to the rule of law? Is this something to which we should at least aspire?
What is the "soul of humanity"? What does it mean to speak of humanities "soul"? When we speak of a soul, aren't we speaking generally of the spiritual and moral aspects of individual human beings? Are we talking about a decades-long battle for the souls of individual human beings? Is this a religious debate? A debate over morals and how individuals should act towards one another?
"Shut them down" Who? The loyalists? The cynics? Who are they? Isn't the OWS movement an expression of cynicism with regard to the liberal legal and economics institutions upon which the prosperity of this country is based? How do you "shut the entire god damn" system down unless you infringe on the rights of others? Does OWS believe in private property, individual liberty, and the rule of law? Should people not be free to engage in the voluntary exchange of goods and services if we disagree with them?
What you wrote I have been feeling all along. Just last year and up until early September I was considering a move overseas.But then #ows came along. Im like"this is what Ive been waitng for since 1985. I felt a total renewness about my country when I first heard then saw the #ows pprotest. DEMOCRACY is still Alive. I had to go experience it for the first time in my life.Ive been on earth in this country for 50 yrs. I became a part of occupydc.
But what we have to do now is UNITE! We The People must take our quest,our revolution to the steps of the Capitol. They DO NOT HEAR US! They are going along like "business as usual".Still making decisions and not hearing our voices. March on the Capitol. March on Congress. Occupy Congress!
It is going to take time dear MiMi.This is a real revolution,and we are going to win this fight peacfuly.Millions of people are going to join us and we will march on Washington togather.We The People.
Hello.. you people have your work cut out for you. keep it up.
I just wanted to post this video of peter diamandis.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KxckI8Ttpw
of interest, he 'points out' that there is now sufficient capital concentrated in few enough hands, that significant investments can now be made in strategic directions. he also predicts that the first trillionaires will be made in space. I urge you all to watch the video, it is trully inspirational..
not quite sure what to think about it, in the context of these protests. interesting...
-mike
You have overstated the significance of OWS in its current state. When police are being slashed with knives you no longer represent the 99%, you only represent the 0.001% that have made this no longer a peaceful movement. You have no correlation to the civil rights movement. Perhaps equating to French movements is much better as in their revolution they beheaded anybody deemed a threat to their efforts. It was hardly an example to follow. What should happen is that people are being educated on the purpose of the movement. What should happen is that you distance the movement from the 'entitlement claims' and focus on reducing the influence of money vs ideas on the political process. Cries for canceling all student debt or give us free college only make the movement to be a bunch of spoiled brats wanting a free ride. Not much sympathy from those in the 99% who paid their debts and worked their way through college. It is time for the movement to regroup and get the focus on the real issues.
I agree, but the brutality must end, and if it has to end with a million people overrunning the police and storming into Bloomberg's office I wouldn't shed many tears though I admit that is the wrong tactic...
Thank you for saying exactly what I feel.
What the protesters should do is teach the World,and the State of New York a lesson that will never be forgotten. I think if the 99% can shut down the Macy's Thanks Giving Day Parade it would show the rest of the World how strong you really are. Trust me everybody will really start believing,and taking things seriously BRING SNOOPY DOWN.
We don't have to protest/boycott everything. Many kids look forward to going to the Thanksgiving DAy parade. I think it would make OWS look like the Grinch who stole Christmas in their eyes.
Let's protest wisely.
I agree. A better tactic for Occupy movements would be to provide free meals for the hungry, to call on the 99% to donate food for this.
This would be fantastic. Great idea.
IS this what you want???? Is this the goal?? "A Marxist begins with his prime truth that all evils are caused by the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists. From this he logically proceeds to the revolution to end capitalism, then into the third stage of reorganization into a new social order of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and finally the last stage -- the political paradise of communism." Saul Alinsky, "Rules for Radicals" President Obama recommends Sal Alinsky's book "Rules For Radicals" for all colleges and high schools, and Hillary Clinton did her thesis on this book. Great Read. I'm sure many organizers here know it well. The Bushes, the Clintons, and Obama are all neo-artistocrats. who have America's future all planned out. The end game is not communism, it's UN Agenda 21. But first they need chaos so that the Constitution is suspended, so that Marshal Law is implemented.
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We should occupy Hollywood. People hate gays and are on NBC. They get paid to black out. Her wedding could have paid for a kid's college tuition 2,000 something times. People aren't even 18 and are worth millions. He's judgmental and people still hire him. Although the 99% have a reason to judge, the 1% worked for it. They went through school, and they got a successful job. We should really think before we go trashing on people who earned it. I know that there's a minimum wage, but what's the maximum wage? Exactly. I understand both sides, but lots of people are saying that the 99% don't even know what they want. Do you guys want money? Equality with money? Because if you do, that would cause a lot of problems.
You are protesting the WRONG people! Protest WASHINGTON!!!!!!!!
there is more to the battle. watch the move to control the internet grow stronger as the establishment grow more desperate. there is a real battle going on underground. a battle of hackers and online security forces. it's awesome watching it from where i'm sitting. this is social evolution happening as i write.
The New York Times refused to publish so many of my comments posting links and information that they left out and I found through the independent media. Now if I read them it's just to see how far the mainstream media will go to censor a movement they're scared of.
Thanks so much! Keep up the good fight. I'm unable to be there but you have my best hopes and wishes and support. This is awesome, don't give up!
Thank you all for restoring my faith in the American people and their vibrant spirit. The sacrifice you have made has given me hope that when I leave this earth, my son and my grandchildren can have hope in a future. This country was built on spirit and courage and the people who marched in the cities across America today have exemplified that. God bless you all and God bless America, "the land of the free and the home of the brave."
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Impeach Obama Movement! Join Now ! http://themicrofinance.blogspot.com/2011/11/impeach-obama.html
"People will tell you that you fight in vain, that you are accomplishing nothing, that you have no direction, that your actions are pointless."
Please provide source that you have accomplished anything... I mean, really. What can you point to that says that you've actually done anything to change "the system" except cause anarchy?
I have been searching and I can't find any viable OWS demands OR solutions. Other than that.... its pointless and a waste of time.
"Shut the entire god damn system down."" try to leave the country as soon as possible"
Seriously, post your email and I will pay for you to leave as long as you promise never to return. I'm waiting...
Should change your username to SlowBrain.
The point this person is making is that by just affecting this one individual, that is proof of an accomplishment - and you know damn well they don't stand alone. This testament is representative of a large group of people that have begun to stand up and actually fight for what they believe in. If you think nothing has changed, you must be blind as well as dumb. Bloomberg himself has made public announcements about the change that is happening.
Why must you resort to name calling? It demeans you and your cause.
Waaaah waaahh. If he wants to cry about it let him, you're not his daddy. Some people will lie down on the train tracks to protest. Some people will buy guns.
It takes all kinds. Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn't have gotten anywhere without Malcolm X.
You can't play nice forever.
Well, I think that is true - up to a point. When police brutality and cruelty that people safe behind their little doggy desks support whole "heartedly" becomes out of hand I should think a little steam is natural to let off. But you see IT'S WHAT THEY WANT! they KNOW they would lose a battle of wits in court so instead they try to keep up the pressure until someone breaks and becomes violent so they can label the whole movement violent through spin in the press that Bloomberg owns. GO. FOOL. SOMEBODY. ELSE.
OWS Good Job! The GOP/tea is doing worst now with blocking what would help the US and all for greed, retaining power and a vote, WHILE WE SUFFER. Which is not an opinion but fact!! Look at the CURRENT CONGRESS!!! PROUD Conservative, no, none, non affiliated with the Republican GOP/tea, ashamed. We recruit societies low percentage who talk about minorities ( Asians, Blacks, Gays, Latinos-Italian, Hispanics, Mexicans, Muslims, Jews, Indians), then elect a new congress that block all with no benefit too this great nation and these people blame him? Honestly, blaming the current Chief, really. You people put the current new congress in and what have they done? Not one thought on you, when will you learn. The current president has done more in 3 years than the last president has done in 8. First thing when in with new Congress attack Social Security (that was funny) the majority of the tea are Seniors, the GOP doesn’t care, fact. Stifling progress with blocking every bill that could benefit the U.S. because it affects the taxing (by a small margin with little affect, to the 1% salaries-what minus a servant! ). But, most importantly to gain control anyway possible with stifling, lying, misleading all for a vote! Just in case the 1% are very small yet those who receive 3 cents on a dollar support them settle, like cattle! You have got to be uneducated if you stand behind the GOP/tea, indep (who support limited or no government). No progress party but a step back to the United States of America! OWS tactics are good and just. I believe in them, good job-standing up for America!! OWS Keep up your message, the world hears you.
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The 99 percent is not a club of brotherly love where we take care of our own. We fight and kill each other to further our own interests just like the 1 percent labeled as the sole enemy. We have to understand and deal with our own selfish nature if we ever hope to improve things.
Read about the civil war amongst the 99 percent themselves here:
www.josephcouture.com “It’s About Me, Stupid”
Someone finally expresses the sentiments I feel. That the so called ninety nine percent is just a mirror image of the one percent. I am not feeling either side, but joseph couture transcends the dichotomoy. thank you. wish to hear more from you.
"A Marxist begins with his prime truth that all evils are caused by the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists. From this he logically proceeds to the revolution to end capitalism, then into the third stage of reorganization into a new social order of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and finally the last stage -- the political paradise of communism." Saul Alinsky, "Rules for Radicals"
President Obama recommends Sal Alinsky's book "Rules For Radicals" for all colleges and high schools, and Hillary Clinton did her thesis on this book. Great Read. I'm sure many organizers here know it well. The Bushes, the Clintons, and Obama are all neo-artistocrats. who have America's future all planned out. The end game is not communism, it's UN Agenda 21. But first they need chaos so that the Constitution is suspended, so that Marshal Law is implemented.
anyone here know if there is a right way to care for a clown loach ? i only ask because i just got back to my apartment from camping at ows the last month or so and he seems a little dead
You should be at the White House protesting the GOVERMENT.
GOVERMENT issued bailouts... they also told the banks they had to accept them
The 5 largest banks have paid back the bailout money...
You mean the Bush/Cheney white house. That administration should be bought up for treason! Treason against the American People!
The largest banks have paid back the money.... don't act like its just the last administration. OPEN your EYES at the current one also! There is a serious problem in Washington, Democrats and Republicans, and we need to let them know the bureaucracy is not ok. Don't hate on the people that have worked hard to slave over money their entire lives.
Stop it already with this partisan bullsh*&^ - it is BOTH of their faults and Wall Street is where to strike - GET. INFORMED. STOP. LISTENING. TO. POLITICAL. PARTIES.
WASHINGTON Is where to strike, class warfare is a sure way to bring America down.
Agreed with Madprofit
Waaah waaah waaah. You sound like a little girl. A STUPID little girl. You dopey bastards haven't a clue. Go home to your mommy and get a job, you jerk. We've had it with you filthy, dirty whining morons.
sniff, sniff
do you define OWS, or yourself?
what part of grade school/name calling did you graduate from?
Finally figured out what 99% means. 99% is probably the highest IQ you can have to be a member of OWS. If you have a 3 digit IQ if you cannot be a 99%er. Looks like everyone is complying so far.
your argument isn't constructive at all. calling someone a "stupid little girl" is pretty childish in itself.
I like you....Good to know that reasonable "citizens" are still out there.
CARRY ON!!!
That's okay - we've had it with your stupid comments too - as you write from your mommie's basement sucking the teat of political campaigners and buisness interests. Your goading remarks are now useless. We will not attempt to reason with you anymore, only those who speak maturely.
The animals are out of the cages...About time for some real Police Force...You people make me sick
The way you and all of these others refer to people is nothing short of the way the Nazis had begun referring to their opposition during the 1930s in Germany. You feel the need to call your opponents animals, to demean them, to dehumanize them simply because you disagree with them. You cannot have an intellectually honest or reasonable conversation. I realize the example of Nazi Germany is perhaps overused, but that is because it is the best example of the dangers of such thinking processes. It is these thinking process, this dehumanization of everyone who disagrees with you, that allowed the Nazis to commit the atrocities they did. The way you view your fellow human beings is repulsive, it is dangerous, and it is a testament to the character of everyone who shares your viewpoint. Until you reevaluate yourself, you have no right to criticize these protesters.
Nazis - National Socialist Party THEY WERE NATIONALISTS AND SOCIALISTs wrapped in social justice - they targeted at the Jews and the Jewish wealth (banks). But this time it is directed towards the banks and capitalists. Hitler was brought in on the coattails of the unions. But once Hitler was in office, all the unions were combined into one so that workers were controlled by the State, essentially no one could strike.
In Italy at the time: "The Doctrine of Fascism", Mussolini wrote "If classical liberalism spells individualism, Fascism spells government." By 1938 dictator Benito Mussolini brought his vision of fascism to fruition in Italy, he dissolved the Parliament and replaced it with "Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni" or "the Chamber of Fascist Corporations".
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
agreeed! People need to realize what they are creating. Having Class warfare is required when creating socialism.
What is repulsive is the way you all act..Talk about dehumanize mankind...Protest is one thing but no...Instead you all act like a bunch of fucking idiots with no thought as to what others that just might want to go to work think. You are not even worthy opponent so don't try to give yourselves that credit.
What is repulsive is that you are a dog begging their master for scraps of their wealth through working for them as if your job means crap. What's repulsive is that you can't even think in terms outside of "opponent" because you're obviously too afraid to even consider the possiblilty that we're all on the same side. YOU are repulsive with nothing better to do than work and die, standing up for bull$hit values that will use you up and do you no good as you rot in the grave.
Work untill I die? LMAO Sorry bud...I retired at 51..And guess what..I have plunty of money to pass on to my grandchildren...Want to know how I did it....I fucken worked for it...Something that you know nothing about.
Ha! I have a perfeclty good job and could retire right now you assuming piece of "plunty". And learn to read people's posts before you comment on them inaccurately. None of these kids want to not work and get money for free you ignorant f&^% - too stupid to do the tiniest bit of research on what's really going on...something you know nothing about...
Your name matches you...Just WTF are you trying to say?
No YOU make me sick because you can't leave well enough alone - why don't YOU get out there and fight these "dirty hippies" you useless sack of crap! I hope pepper spray gets shoved up your a$$...
Being retired...I have the time to fight the "dirty hippies" ...And I do..I have been to their nasty ass camp in Houston...For all the good that did. I also went to city hall public forum to try to rid our city of these parasites..What have you done?
I would like to know the reason that some one had to put their cigarette out on my BMW this morning. I am 24 years old and started a company while I was still in high school. I choose to live on Wall and am constantly harassed by you guys. I am not a banker but an entrepreneur. I am not a follower and thats why I am successful. You guys need to be more constructive with your time... I had to change gears because of the economy and you must too it is an embarrassment what you are doing.
Golly gee whiz - the government counts collateral damage in terms of people - perhaps you should be glad this is all that happened - you are in the middle of a WAR and it is up to you whether it remains peaceful to the end or not. Get your head out of the sand.
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These days a BMW on Wall Street is like a leopard coat at a PETA rally - and I think that's an accomplishment. Embrace the change, photograph your ride's new tag and frame it.
It's sad when people lose the home they couldn't afford but tried to anyway . . .
What's even more sad is when people say the bank "stole" their home. Nope. You signed a mortgage you can't afford. The mortgage means the bank owns the house and you are buying it off them with interest. The bank cannot steal from you that which you do not own.
A lending establishment has the legal responsibility to offer loans only to people who qualify. To do otherwise is predatory lending. That is fraud. To then take these mortgages and sell them to Goldman Sachs and other corporations who do not produce anything and whose only purpose is to gamble other people's money as bets - who then bets that they will turn out to be crap because you KNOW they will because you made it happen that way - is ALSO fraud. To then accept a bailout from the government, needed because of the resulting foreclosure crisis, which is supposed to go back into the economy and is instead given as non-taxable bonuses to CEOs who sit on their money instead of hiring which exacerbates a recession and unemployment situation - is ALSO fraud. Everything affects everything else - if you can make a fortune in a vaccuum then go for it, but the moment you start affecting ME - GO. F$%^ YOURSELF. THAT's sad...
You are right in a sence. It is a lease. What a shame that many homebuyers were misled by the settlement contracts written by banking and mortgage lenders informing them that "Congradulations you are a HOMEOWNER" What a lie these institutions told the American homepurchaser!
Right On Jane!
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Who in the hell is Redditor Aniadrift???? If you think that stopping transportation and burdening a city is hope then you are out of your mind. It is a shame that mindless people actually read these words and think you are talking like a great leader. You are a rabblerouser who should do exactly what you stated in paragraph one line 5 and 6, "give up and leave the country." Instead of writing non-sense and stirring up the emotions of young impressionable, lazy, unwilling to work, and homeless minds you should either leave the country and squat elsewhere or get a job, education and save your money so you ALL can live the American Dream.
While these protests may be burdensome to a city, they get the message across that they want something done about the inequity in this country. The civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's was burdensome for towns and cities, but it got people to wake up and face the issues that our nation sorely needed to address. These protesters aren't homeless, jobless, and certainly aren't lazy. They provide a voice to those who have felt injustice in their lives, and help to bring it to our attention