Movement for Justice in El Barrio
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 24, 2011, 12:34 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Unanimously endorsed by the General Assembly of Occupy Wall St., The People Of Color Caucus (POCCUPY), Women Occupying Wall St., Queering OWS, Immigrant/Workers Working Group, Outreach Working Group, Spanish Working Group (OWS en Español), The Anti-Racism Allies Group, Arts & Culture Working Group, & Empowerment And Community Working Group.
Movement for Justice in El Barrio
Liberty is like the morning. There are those who sleep and wait for it to arrive, and those that stay awake and walk through the night to reach it.” - Words of the Zapatistas
An Invitation from Movement for Justice in El Barrio:
To members and families of organizations, community members, and people of good heart, who are resisting in their communities,
To Occupy Wall Street and their supporters,
To those who fight for humanity,
NYC Encuentro for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism
An Encuentro is a space for people to come together; it is a gathering. An Encuentro is not a meeting, a panel or a conference, it is a way of sharing developed by the Zapatistas as another form of doing politics: from below and to the left. It is a place where we can all speak, we will all listen, and we can all learn. It is a place where we can share the many different struggles that make us one.
El Barrio, NYC
Sunday, December 4th, 3:00 p.m.
We are here. We are a community in resistance. Here in the streets of East Harlem we have fought multinational corporations who try to take away our homes and destroy our community. We have fought the politicians who try to buy our dignity and sell our community. We have fought by exercising our autonomy and building a democratic space without hierarchy where we make decisions through community-wide consultation and direct democratic participation. We continue to fight.
We fight against the capitalist system and all politicians, both Democrat and Republican, that tend and maintain the system in order to reap its benefits for themselves. We refuse to be bound and gagged by politicians who betray us and we will build something outside of the boxes they build to contain us.
In our first three Encuentros, we connected our stories and our resistance with other rumblings of resistance from across the city and across the world. We have joined our voices with our other compañer@s who have been ignored, forgotten and marginalized by the neoliberal capitalist system throughout history and into the present. We have stood together as people of color, as women, as transgender people, gays and lesbians, as youth, as the elderly, as workers, as immigrants. We have made each others struggles our own.
We have stood together with communities who reject the assistance of those from above, from those that speak of democracy with their lips and try to crush and silence us with their hands.
We are a river, boiling underground, making our path and growing everyday, connecting with others. Those from above seek to ignore our rumblings, seek to ignore our voices, seek to ignore our existence. But we have found ways to make our voices heard and let our voices echo with the voices of other marginalized people resisting across the world.
Now, we hear new rumblings, new shouts and new dreams. A new moment has arrived. The capitalist system is being revealed to more eyes as the destruction that it is. The tide is rising rapidly and more people are drowning or struggling to stay afloat. More are looking with clear eyes on a system that has been dismantling communities, crushing spirits and destroying lives for years. The mask is being lifted slowly but surely.
Here we stand in resistance in our corner of the world and we welcome the rest of the 99%.
Together we will build a world where many worlds fit.
Un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos.
So once again we invite to our corner of the world those who are struggling for housing, for education, for health, for freedom, for justice, for love, for a voice, for a space to exist, for peace, for respect, for themselves, for their community, for dignity…for humanity.
We invite those who will build something new and beautiful out of the rubble of a failed neoliberal capitalist system.
Groups fighting for humanity across New York will share our struggles and use this gathering to find ways to mutually support each other. We will share whatever form of expression we choose, whether it be verbally, through song, poetry or rhyme, through a video, through artwork or however people can best express their struggle.
PLEASE RSVP BY Monday, November 28th
P.S. Children are especially invited to come break open the “Neoliberal” Piñata!
We will provide dinner, childcare and Spanish/English translation.
Please RSVP by Monday, November 28th with the number of adults and children that will be attending, their names and an address at which you would like to receive your tickets.
Once you have RSVP’d you will receive your tickets and more details on the Encuentro.
For more info or to RSVP please contact us at +1 (212) 561-0555 or movementforjusticeinelbarrio@gmail.com
Who We Are
Movement for Justice in El Barrio is an immigrant- and people of color- led, grassroots community organization that fights for dignity and against neoliberal displacement from East Harlem to Chiapas and beyond. For seven years, Movement has built a 700-member-strong, local movement for dignity that has taken on and defeated multi-national corporations and corrupt politicians. Committed to the principles of autonomy and self-determination, Movement practices participatory democracy and horizontal decision-making on a community-wide scale. Movement is part of the Zapatista-initiated The Other Campaign and fights for the liberation of women, people of color, transgender people, lesbians and gays, immigrants and poor people.
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I am afraid of my government creating terrorist threats, be it intentional or inevitable. Once we declared war in Iraq, the people of the U.S. became potential enemies of the state, those who would not abide by the corruption and the lies. This is fascism. On a lighter note... What a great thing that the defense budget is cut when our national debt is 15 trillion and counting. What is egregious is how Congress does not want to cut defense spending on the military contractors who have become wealthy in the past decade or so, they want to cut spending on the poor people who need it the most, the people who went to war to serve their country, the soldiers. The Colbert Report, in one of this past weeks' episodes, offered the actual letter which described soldiers as the people best suited to be deprived of these vital needs, like healthcare. Never does Congress ask those who have plenty to give up to do so and this myth that the rich create jobs is not a myth. IT IS A LIE. We are in the throes of the New Gilded Age and it will not end until We the People stop tolerating this gross disparity. How do we redefine wealth...and if the super wealthy are so committed to hoarding their cash, why not create a system where their money is not worth anything to U.S....they can take their military with them.
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Thank you for your service and for your patriotism. I am indebted to you. While you have displayed valor and patriotism, our elite (1%) have turned their back on our solders. Their patriotic duty is to hire the vets that protected their wealth. But greed has become a core value in this country. Dollars are valued over patriotism, wholeness and life of a solder. The question it raises is why should anyone serve a nation that has lost it's soul? We are the greediest nation on earth. The motto of our country is, 'as long as I get mine, screw everyone else.' Furthermore, the attitude of many in this country is 'I am worthy, and they obviously are not.' Call me cynical, but I feel that this describes the country that we currently live in.
when we drive on the streets notice" I drive a BMW super triple turbo 6000 and 1 and this gives me the right to: pass you and get in front of you, cause this car gives me the right " i live in the suburbs and yea its ok, but get around the SMU area and the little s.o.bs are a good example of Im" going to get mine now, screw everybody else" but these poor souls, ah its not their fault, They are just trained that way, from the point of admissions, to their daily readings at the NEW George W. bush library and i do laugh. Does anyone remember the board game called: Lie, Cheat, Steal? ah how i was even taught!
Thank you for your service. Soldiers deserve the highest respect.
A future society must be based on a non-hierachical egalitarian democracy build from the bottom up
For this to become a reality we must fight the current system which is not just unsustainable (cf increased concentration of wealth, destruction of the environment, exploitation) it is also highly undemocratic We have a democratic deficit We can do much better than that : http://struggleforfreedom.blogg.no/1317735903_chomsky_explains_libe.html
Anothernumber506, thank you so much for sharing your story, it's very important that we all learn more about what soldiers like you saw, think and believe. I can't honestly "thank you for your service", because I know what that service was. However, I do thank you for believing so badly in the ideology of the American dream that you actually signed up to fight for it--that takes guts, thank you! I am sorry you were deceived, but as you notice now, most of this country was deceived and they continue to be deceived. The propaganda machine (aka corporate media) has been on overdrive for quite some time now, and it's now gone on steroid because of the threat they see with the OWS movement.
I am very sorry for all the pain you've endured and you will continue to endure because of this horrific deception. Please use your new awareness to help us with the battle of our lifetime--hopefully, we won't need the weapons you were trained to use, but we will need your intellect, your experience and you view point! Here, now, you may peacefully 'fight' for the ideology of the American dream--that is what we are all doing here now! Welcome home and Happy Thanksgiving!
I was glad to hear yesterday Obama proposing legislature (or maybe it was signing it into law) that provides major incentives to employ Veterans over non-vets. Hang in there - some of us do appreciate the sacrifice you made, and that you put your life on the line for us. You deserve preferential treatment - you earned it, unlike some of these entitlement brats who expect everything to be handed to them.
Jimmy44, as far as I can see, the only "entitlement brats" out there at the top 1% and the Corporations!
Other than that little point, nice comment!
Thanks. I think. ;-)
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Actually businesses should not have to be given incentives to employ vets over others - they should do it automatically, so it's somewhat shameful they have to be offered an incentive for it, but whatever it takes.. like I said, you earned it.
say no to giving incentives for employment of vets. it will encourage people to keep joining the military. fuck joining the military and fuck celebrating and congratulating military service. Happy Draft Dodgers day celebrate real resistance.
Dann congrats you get the moronic post of the day award.
I respect your opinion. Just realize my belief at 18 years old was for god and country. However, I am the generation who saw the towers fall while in service. I was in before the towers fell. I was stop lossed and went to war. I know some remember troops having this happen to them. Not all of us asked to fight in Iraq. I love your fighting spirit tho. Happy Thanksgiving!
they almost got me too. recruiters talk to teens who don't know better. but even soldiers can be defiant and go against their commanders. more disobedience.
If you signed up, what did you expect to happen if war was declared? Not meaning to disrespect your service at all, but seriously?
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Entilement brats like you? No college education but you deserve a job? And you didn't even go to war for Your's.
My friends say the Occupy movement represents a moment of truth for humanity- a great awaking. But what does that truth really look like? I got a glimpse of it and I’m not sure I like it.
Decide for yourself. Read “Awakening to the Nightmare” at www.josephcouture.com
Oh you were replying to me. WOW did you ever make a lot of wrong assumptions, and now I'm going to show you up for the idiot you are: I do have a college education - I had to go to community college first because I couldn't afford anything else. I worked my butt off and got a straight 4.0 GPA and from there got a full academic scholarship into a university. I still had to pay some so worked my way through and have now paid off all my student loans too. There was no entitlement there - I earned it all. To your other 'point' - I'm not a vet, I've never been in the military, but I think vets deserve to have some recognition for putting their lives on the line for the US - whether they agree with the war or not. This is an 'entitlement' I feel they have earned, unlike snot-nosed little nobodies you who don't do a damn thing but expect everyone should pay for them. When I say 'entitlement brats' that is to whom I am referring.
this guy sure does use "whine" and "brat" alot...have you seen how mant post this guy has???can you imagine how this guy was as a kid?.. LOLOLOL...WOW
Yes I agree, socialmedic must have been a handful.
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You left for war under the economic ambitions of the right wing. You returned to no job because the right wing outsource most of the jobs and obliterated the rest through de-regulation of the banking industry and outsourcing to slave labor in the third world. Have you really the gall to blame liberals for sending you there and ruining the country while you were gone?
The right wing outsourced the jobs? Really? So ALL corporations and businesses that outsourced are right wingers are they? You're an idiot. Outsourcing is due to greed, and no political party or affiliation has a monopoly on greed. You are so far gone in your socialist agenda you don't know fact from fiction, and your words only highlight this fact.
A friend was complaining bitterly to me about the distorted mainstream media coverage of the Occupy movement. He said it was grossly unfair and inaccurate- deceitful even. But that is exactly what they are supposed to do.
Read the insights of one disillusioned journalist as he explains “The Truth About the Lies We Are Told” at www.josephcouture.com
I noticed you have been pimping your website a lot here. Interesting how one's words and one's actions can be so diametrically opposed.
People from Occupy.
Good morning.
I strongly suggest to remain fitted to the original premise. That it inequality and Greed. I think, it is important to be focused.
I think, it is neccesary to take the movement to an important stage.
It is neccesary to occupy, for example, Fox News. Massively.
So they can take you seriously.
It is important to remain framed into the original principles.
In Norway, Denmark, Finland, and other countries the people is aware of your struggle.
Bests. S. R.
I agree. I feel that it is especially important to focus on very specific issues rather than broad terms used to describe systems. Take "capitalism" for example, whatever it means, it is the term people use to associate with their current way of life. It is a mixture of good and bad.
Your opponents will say you are against the good, you will say you are against the bad. There is no way to win, it is merely a name-calling match.
Please stick to very unambiguous problems and remedies, or forums to provide remedies to specific problems.
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Solidarity!!!
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I do. And, I should add, do not allow "identity politics" to triumph this time. Real liberation, not just for a select few who have been chosen to neutralize an even greater threat.
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OK, though I am happy to share my clarification because it is important to keep in mind. It is easy for the elite to pay off a smaller group that does not necessarily threaten the status quo, let them in, and neutralize any real threats to the actual system. Solidarity, yes. Identity politics -- no!!! They could potentially destroy us just as they have in the past.
Why do you call it neoliberalism? It is neofascism. Financial fascism. These people do not want to liberate anyone but enslave everybody. They want freedom only for themselves and not for the rest. I would not call that a liberal of any kind, new or old.
Amen! Love to you all! Amour!
This is absolutely beautiful. No soy latino, or de NYC, pero te entiendo. Thank you for your love, your energy and positive spirit. This is so powerful, so human, so authentic. Thank you. Keep up the wonderful work hermanos y hermanas.
Is white a color too?
You are all idiots! Take a bath and go home, what your doing is a folly and hopeless, we are Capitalists and we are a Republic, not your little communist party or whatever your entitlement thinking is! GO HOME! Your worse than children!
What a Wonderful Movement you all have created and if I was in NYC I would be honored to attend your Encuentro! In Solidarity from Texas :) Blessings & Peace
Let me be serious:
I think the phrase, "Love Thy Neighbor" is lost to many Americans, it being a religious phrase, but we can put it in a new light.
The meaning has nothing to due wth the "hugging" of your neighbor, but one of mutual respect and reciprocal altruism. This I think people can understand: they can understand the "concept" of loving thy neighbor.
If you saw your neighbor struggling to get a couch up his stairs, you would offer to assist, just as he would offer to assist you. We see examples of this everyday: a stalled car in the road gets helped off the road; someone drops money and someone else returns it to him; someone falls down and we ask, "Are you all right?" These little acts of "love" happen all the time.
If one goes to, or reads first hand accounts of, Occupy Camps, you will see for yourself these concepts in action: "If you are hungry, we will feed you. If you are cold, we will give you a jacket. If you are tired, we will offer you space."
Barring the obvious case of hygiene when you are camping out with no running water...
It is a vicious lie from Right-wing pundits that Occupiers are "dirty, hippie, druggies" that want a free ride.
Most Occupiers are saints. Law-abiding, inclusive, kind. And most are intellectuals.
That there has been some cases "broken toilets" in small businesses by some Occupiers -- mostly due to over-use, not vandalism -- that is hardly a reason to condemn them all.
That there has been some cases of graffiti, broken windows and thrown bottles -- mostly by the "Black Bloc" -- that is hardly a reason to condemn them all.
Shall we equate all Christians with Westboro Baptists? Of course not.
It is a vicious lie from Right-wing pundits that the Occupy Movement is one of violence.
The police have been the most violent perpetrators of all as anyone can see in Youtube videos.
There is one other thing you will hear from an Occupy Camp: "If you want your voice heard, we will let you speak."
It is the latter action that is most important to the Occupy Movement; and at the same time the least understood by its naysayers.
The OWS haters here (forgive me my trespasses, but picking verbal fights with trolls can be fun), do not understand the concept of "Love Thy Neighbor" and only repeat lies from the Right-wing.
For more information go to:
http://www.occupyboston.org/
http://www.occupyoakland.org/
http://occupylosangeles.org/
"The capitalist system is being revealed to more eyes as the destruction that it is."
It is not the capitalist system that is the cause of destruction. You can look at any other system and find just as much corruption and destruction. It is human beings when unregulated and ungoverned that cause destruction. These times in this Great Recession are no different. The unregulated, ungoverned few at the top gambled recklessly to make their fortunes and then socialized their losses to all of us.
--Knave Dave http://TheGreatRecession.info/blog
Hi im darren check out my blog http://youngphilosopher89.wordpress.com its left wing reflecting my anarcho-syndicalist views
Not to split hairs, but isn't the existence of a People Of Color Caucus racist by definition? Are people who are not "people of color" invited or excluded? I've always found associations and organizations based wholly on race unappealing because of the small box definitions they force people into.
The banking dynasties have to go. The non governmental organizations have to be brought to heal. Too many people are in controlling positions that are not elected!
I really like OWS, although I'm concerned the movement would get co-opted and also not develop a clear set of goals. I hope those things don't happen.
The banking elite like the Rockefeller dynasty has got to be dismantled. Too many plans are made secretly by people that are not elected. This is the basic truth that needs to be changed. Good luck all.
Thanks giving humor about the Rockefeller dynasty: You are correct. I wrote a satirical piece about Thanksgiving at the Rockefellers' estate
http://newworldordersatire.com/
Democratic Reform Demanded as a result of Government Corruption and Neo-fascism
1.Members of the elected officials AND spouse shall liquidate all investments including real-estate.
2.All members AND spouse shall notify public of all holding companies.
3.All members shall relinquish every and all bank accounts with all assets frozen for the term that are in office.
4.Any unreported investments as defined in above and * shall be removed from office and punished by incarceration.
5.The practice of campaign contributions is illegal and all parties involved shall be punished by severe incarceration with no exception including the office of the presidency.
6.The practice of lobbying is illegal and all parties involved shall be punished by severe incarceration for undermining democracy.
7.All members of government shall eat and live at special government facilities that will provide cafeteria style food and simple Spartan shelter.
8.All members are not allowed carrying cash, debit cards, checks or any form of currency or methods of payment.
9.Travel when and only when it is absolutely necessary shall be provided by modest low cost, low fuel consumption vehicles provided by the government, they shall have GPS and be monitored for frequent use.
10.Every war shall be voted on by the people.
11.All military around the world shall return to the homeland.
12.Military expenditure shall cease for 10 years and/or until further notice and/or a vote and/or democratic consensus is taken from the 99.
13.All banks will repay all government loans and grants whether they are called TARP or NonTARP
14.All banking personal shall pay back all bonuses and incentives and shall be clawed back if need be through extra taxation.
15.Any and all TARP or Non-Tarp payments are not the responsibility of the Taxpayer.
16.All corporate welfare is banned.
17.Due to conspiring forces of attempted creation of a New World Order causing the undermining of the 99’s jobs by Government and lack of protection for which it was the responsibility and failed, and by allowing corporations to export all our jobs to low income countries the following steps will be taken:
a.All tech support, sales and administration on products bought in this country must be done in this country. No outsourcing of phone help is allowed and is illegal punishable by incarceration.
b.Regarding imports: The wage gap will be determined of said export country and will be excised accordingly: example if the minimum wage is $1/hr and the local minimum wage is $10, an excise tax of 90%(10-1) shall be placed on these products.
I am a 61 yr. old entitlement brat and I want my entitlements. Actually, if a person can't expect medical care as a right of a citizen, I don't understand the countries priorities. Doesn't Congress make sure it has great health insurance. Do they have large deductibles and co pays? I think not. And if I get the excuse that we can't afford it, once again I say we need to get our priorities straight. And some economists that devise a plan for it. No one should die because they did not have insurance or because they need the money to put food on the table. And nobody should mess with my social security, I earned it. I don't think ever in my life have I realized just how selfish and self serving Congress and the big Corporations are. Just by listening to the last Rep. debate I realized not how forward thinking these people are but how backward they are. They are already mentioning war with Iran if after doing all else ( a joke) they do not comply to our wishes. This is same old, same old. We should send Congress to the front lines for a few months. They have time, they're not doing anything in Washington except cow towing to corps and worrying about elections. And they can legally do insider trading, so they all come out rich. (60 Minutes story) Except for the very, very, few they represent no one in the 99% How many useless wars are we going to fight and send our young men too?
From Good Will Hunting - By Ben Affleck and Matt Damon:
"Why shouldn't I work for the NSA? That's a tough one, but I'll give it a shot. Say I'm working at NSA. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. So I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself because I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and 1,500 people I never had a problem with get killed. Now the politicians are saying, 'Send in the marines to secure the area' because they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, getting shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number was called because they were pulling a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some guy from Southie taking shrapnel in the ass. And he comes home to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, because he'll work for 15 cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile my buddy from Southie realizes the only reason he was over there was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish to scare up oil prices so they could turn a quick buck. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain't helping my buddy at 250 a gallon. And naturally they're taking their sweet time bringing the oil back and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long until he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the job interviews, which sucks because the shrapnel in his ass is giving him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starving because every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they're serving is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what do I think? I'm holding out for something better. Why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president."
I'm having a movement in my 'El Bowel'.
I wish I could be there! I am sending love and best wishes to East Harlem and the Movement for Justice in El Barrio from little Belfast, Maine
we are all PEOPLE not..'hispanics',"immigrants" lesbians, etc. stop separaing from the "collective". your "needs" are no greater than anyone elses. you live in america..learn and USE english. my mother was an "immigrant" in 1917..her "nationality" BUILT this country..literally. she never whined about injustices, she followed the rules, got her CITIZENSHIP, worked hard and died a happy american.
nice
FUCK THE ZAPATISTAS! I'll gun down anyone who fly's under the Zapatista flag! Fuck Emiliano Zapata and his modern day followers!
todos somos MARCOS..todos somos ZAPATISTAS!!!!
si quiero hacerlo introducir tu mi cuete cabrone Quieres mi balas chavalito
soy verdad matador de zapatistas!
tu todo mierda cabrone
VIVA LA HUELGA!!! pinche marrano
Soy Cristero! Viva Cristro Rey!
Mata la huelga y zapatistas tambien! Kill that huelga bird and the zapatistas too! Fuck the zapatistas
how come your mom likes the ZAPATISTAS then?? jajaja...the HUELGA will never die stupid fuck..LA HUELGA VIVE!!!
We'll see eachother on the street, I hope you can take me out at 200 yrds, cause I'll knock your ears off and shove a bullet in your neck
ill be flyin the HUELGA flag bitch...come get you some..wont even need a cuete for your punk ass
I'll take that flag out of your hand and beat the shit out of you with it, then shove it in your throat. As far as not needing a cuete for me, you better learn some brazilian jiu jitsu up to the brown belt real quick, have more than 13 years of wrestling, and know all possible combos in boxing : ), because I'll rip you limbs off and slap you with your own hand chavala
wow another internet tough guy...dime a dozen. HUELGA!!.....*hey..that rip your arms off shit was funny tho lolol..bitch please!
Hmmm... Would the conquistadors have been 'oppressed people of color'? No? But their descendants, yes? Cognitive. Dissonance anyone?
Liberal racism is so silly...
It's sad that some people have given up on the political system altogether, but perhaps understandable in minority neighborhoods where elected officials disproportionately commit corruption.
Statue of Liberty after Obama's CHANGE!
http://oi40.tinypic.com/34pm0dy.jpg
My fellow 99%ers:
I’ve had a sort of revelation about our adversaries that we collectively call the 1%. And the revelation consists of one question.
Do they act the way they do for no reason?
They want us to be denied things like Medicare and Social Security and other safety webs that keep us from harm. They fight tooth and claw to make sure that we don’t get anything whatsoever-and then desire the tax savings from denying it to us.
Why do they do that? Let me give a possible reason:
David Sarnoff. The great pioneer of radio, television and telecommunications. Without question, one of the great businessmen of the 20th century. Although he didn’t invent radio or television and probably had only basic knowledge of how either worked, he marketed it in a way that we could not imagine not having at least one TV in the average household.
And, without question, he was one of the most ruthless and evil individuals in the annals of modern capitalism.
Why was he like that?
He was born in Russia and immigrated to the US at the turn of the last century. To say that he was poor is the grossest of understatements. He sold newspapers on the street corners of New York, along with his family.
There were so many times, I’m sure, that he was desperate to be helped. When he was cold. When he was hungry. The numerous times his Yiddish newspapers were grabbed and thrown out all over so he would have to pick them up. The times he was called names and abused in numerous ways for being Jewish.
Every time something like that happened, did his hatred for his fellow human being grow so that, when his moment of truth came (manning the Marconi wireless system during the sinking of the Titanic) and, within a very short period of time, became the richest person in the world in charge of the most powerful corporation in the world (RCA), he would go out of his way to be as cruel and as inhuman as he came to be?
In other words, did cruelty done to him turn him into a cruel person?
I don’t know if I have a point to this story. Maybe the closest I can come to it is that many rich people that feel like they owe nothing to anyone don’t feel that way for no reason.
I don’t think this post will make me many friends. Either those that say I have sympathy for the devil or those that resent me psychoanalyzing them. But, I think some understanding on all sides will make the conflict that we’re in a little less bloody.
It has nothing to do with people or their personalities good or bad. The economic system we live in only works by making profits and reinvesting them for greater profits so it must destroy everything that gets in the way of profit making-- any participant that fails in this gets wiped out and replaced by a competitor (Pan AM, Eastern Airlines, etc)-- people getting entitlements are getting tax money and corporations don't want to pay tax money-- they want to reinvest it-- they have to pay for the police and military to protect them but they don't want to pay for keeping poor people alive-- there is no profit in that. Capitalism is not a humane system-- if you care about humanity qua humanity it will have to be abolished-- the question is "How do you do that?"
I agree with you, albeit tough for some to see it that way. I believe you are 100% correct in having compassion and understanding for all.
Sarnoff's inhumanity really isn't surprising at all. He was clearly just another front man for Rockefeller. He wouldn't have been chosen to be a front man if there wasn't something wrong with him already... Or it could be just that he was given credit for so many of his bosses acts of inhumanity.
Rockefeller's gotta be in the top 10 of greatest examples of the people who corrupt gov for personal gain. If anyone, these are the people who should be occupied!!
(...IMHO)
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I think you make a good point. There's little doubt, cruelty begets cruelty. But if life experience has driven an individual to the point of antisocial personality disorder,( which includes sociopathy and psychopathy) rendering that person incapable of empathy, and since it can rarely be treated successfully, how does one approach this?
This is certainly the sort of analysis you could apply to Ayn Rand, as well.
Bill Moyers talks about the process and thinking behind the concerted attack on social programs over the past 30-40 years:
'A Time for Truth argued that “funds generated by business” must “rush by multimillions” into conservative causes to uproot the institutions and “the heretical strategy” [his term] of the New Deal. He called on “men of action in the capitalist world” to mount “a veritable crusade” against progressive America. Business Week magazine somberly explained that “…it will be a bitter pill for many Americans to swallow the idea of doing with less so that big business can have more.” '
http://www.truth-out.org/how-did-happen/1320278111
Even more broadly, it is neoliberalism. Free market fundamentalism. It's an ideological purity, in opposition to anything "statist" like welfare. It doesn't seem cruel to most of them, just rational.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AjgWyxJAGQ
From moveon.org MYTH #2: Nobody knows what Occupy Wall Street is about.
REALITY: Occupy Wall Street may not have a formal list of demands, but anyone who’s been paying attention understands the core problems that occupiers are protesting–that corporations have far too much power in our political system, that Wall Street banks crashed our economy but were never held accountable, and that the richest 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans–156 million people–combined.4
Baware, MoveOn has been trying really really hard to take ownership and credit for OWS--they are not part of OWS! They are an organization that began well, advocating for social justice--but then they were swallowed up by the Dem. party, and have been constant apologists for the current administration. There is not place in this movement for these political parties or their affiliates--these corporate political parties are what helped created this mess we are in.
Good to hear you point out the problem with Move On :-) cool
I try to always name my sources in case of sneaky stuff like that. Nice myth busting though. I'm sure OWS is keeping an eye out for co-opters. I like the quote because so many trolls here keep asking why/whats the point like annoying five year olds (really annoying because they're at least three times that old). Cheers from NZ
Wow OWS is giving me faith in humanity! We should not criticize those who "Think outside the box" Can our current economic system truly be "The end of development and history?" To say so would be naive considering the history of human development. Do you think human society has been developing throughout time to lead up to the current Capitalist system that we have, full of haves and have-nots? No. Humanity still has a long way to go, and OWS represents the people finally waking up.
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I humbly suggest that given the conditions of East Harlem, the local inhabitants may not be the best people to ask about local leadership and governance. Look, if the 1%ers want to buy a $600k one bedroom condo across from a methadone clinic, I say, let them. The joke's on them. Better they buy there then tearing up another piece of prisitine mountainside because of the pretty view.
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It's sad to see so many losers looking for free handouts
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the reason for mass unemployment is AUTOMATION. the reason for homelessness is the fascist elite STOLE THE LAND so their property rights are fraudulent. so understand we must seize the MEANS OF AUTOMATED PRODUCTION and reclaim the common ownership of land. talk of jobs and affordable homes is BS a false hope to waste our energies persuing. when the earthquakes come DO NOT VOLUNTEER to rescue them that's the time for asserting our democratic 99% majority and establishing OUR COMMUNITY IN POWER!!!!! what a day of rejoicing that will be!
I am sorry ... WHAT century are you living in? The reason for mass unemployment is slave labor. That is the point of OUTSOURCING. Why spend billions on robots when you can easily employ billions of starving people in your service???? The FASCIST ELITE as you call them have leveraged the slave wage in the third world against the living wage. For the last three decades automation is so dead it is irrelevant. So long as poverty replicates itself in the billions they are willing slaves at a cheap price.
your both right. The hand that deals despair does so by all means available globally.
it's time to BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS US BS!! it is psychopathic to have no concern for others. this society is psychopathic. the police are psychopaths!! time to laugh at them. JUST GRINNING IN THEIR FACES!! watch them explode and all their fascist stooge supporters (trolling on here!!)
Correct. This society is psychopathological because corporations are psychopathological and corporations are running the country, the world. That's is why the protest was originally a protest on WALL STREET, not on Washington. Somebody got it right, finally. The brainwashed and very likely PAID political dolts deliberately come on here to try to detract attention from Wall Street back on to Washington because by doing this they have successfully gotten the masses to vote for their anti-government agents to disrupt the government by the people for the people in the favor of the pyschopathlogocial corporate "person," whom through anti-taxation and de-regulation has literally robbed America blind.
Excellent! the queen is the head of corporate america. she is the whore of babylon riding on the back of the great beast! see the roman eagle, the german eagke, the american eagle fascist symbol of their tyranny. the queen is head of the christian church and a german fascist. the pope is head of the church of rome and a german fascist. here we have the DHS police and the FEMA prisons. worldREVOLUTION means the overthrow of these fascists!
I do not agree that royalty and fascist heads of state are one and the same thing. Some royals have sided with fascist industrialists, some have sided with communists. But royalty itself is a different phenomena than either of these competing interests. And siding with the fascists in the past has caused some royals a bit of embarrassment which they have not gotten over. One of the leftward leaning aristocrats was one of the greatest Italian film makers and is revered for his portrayal of the working classes. Outside of that, the idea of working for a living is not exactly what royalty is known for. I know of no evidence to prove that the English queen is behind corporate America. Prince Charles most certainly not. The newlyweds could be suspect .... too early to tell yet.
you have been deceived!
No I am mature enough to recognize that not all people born to privilege are the same. Not all particularly like their circumstances and would probably do more to change things if they felt they had some support from the people below. Class racism works both ways, after all. if I were you I would start making a list of names who are directly responsible for not taxing the rich, deregulating the economy, especially the banking industry and derivatives, which ones are financing Tea Party candidates and Republicans and find out which corporate CEOs have gotten bonuses since 2008. Who is hiring slaves in the third world, who owns American sweat shops. THESE are the guilty ones. Like Nazi Germany, if nobody calls these people on their corruption, the rest has to follow. Is the Queen of England on the board at Goldman Sachs? Lehman Brothers? Is she Alan Greenspan? Is she Larry Summers? Does Prince Charles run around the world promoting organic food because he is in bed with Monsanto? Think about it. Royalty is a very old institution, unlike communism or fascism. Some different arrangements have been made where Royalty is involved in government or not at all. When they are it is called a constitutional monarchy. Have a look at the movie, The Leopard, some time, a story about one royal family's struggle to define its relevance in the contemporary world between the communists and the fascists.
Ras Tafari is the True Returned Christ fulfilling revelations 5v5 when rome attacked Ethiopia the usa/uk refused to support His Imperial Majesty. Edward VIII was forced to abdicate because he refused to support the attack. then george VI came to the throne then elizabeth II. the rsv bible was produced for her accession! she is the Whore of Babylon: the fascist tyrant over corporate usa/uk and OUR ENEMY.
wake up and look around at the AUTOMATION around you! they have taken the jobs of the poor. they have destroyed the local economy. now the poor must disrupt the economy of the rich. FLASH MOB THE MALL!
How old are you?
viva la HUELGA!!!!
soy verdad matador cabrone
Mata la huelga y zapatistas tambien! Kill that huelga bird and the zapatistas too! Fuck the zapatistas
This is hilarious. All those different factions at the start of the post.. I can see exactly where this is heading. OWS are their own worst enemy. Be careful OWS, lest you become that which you despise.
WTF?
You know nothing about OWS, If..... hold on, I gotta take a crap...
clomp clomp clomp clomp.... Boooorft Barrft Oh Booorft Ah
thump thump thump thump...
Where were we? Oh yeah. Thanks for that meaningless diatribe.
Oh Yeah:
"As a collective, Occupy Los Angeles would like to express their rejection of the City of Los Angeles’ alleged proposal that we leave City Hall by November 28th, 2011, in exchange for an apparently now rescinded offer of a 10,000 square foot building, farmland and 100 SRO beds for the homeless. "
Of course they wouldn't accept.
WTF?
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