Forum Post: What is Occupy's foreign policy?
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 31, 2011, 1:50 a.m. EST by genanmer
(822)
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The occupy movement is going to need creative methods of handling situations. If the occupy movement truly has international support it is to everyone's advantage to coordinate events internationally.
Wall street's influence extends far beyond our borders after all and I'm sure we have more than a little corruption influencing our own policies from foreign nations.
So I hope many are aware that weeding out corruption will have international repercussions and use this to our advantage.
Imagine having just a miniscule fraction of the world's 6 billion people in one location.
Of course this begs the question, what is Occupy's stance globally?
The war in Iraq should not have happened; I think we can all agree on that. The war in Afghanistan, however, is quite another matter altogether. Declaring war on a nation is a legitimate response when operatives of that nation engage in an attack of that scale on American soil. The problem is that Bush's focus on Iraq meant that Afghanistan was let go until it was untenable, leaving us 0 for 2 instead of 1 for 1 like we could have been. Our job in Afghanistan should have been to go after and nab bin Laden, and then use our forces and our money to bootstrap Afghanistan the way we did Europe in the 1950s.
As far as questions on other wars we've engaged in, let me say this: America is not perfect. Quite frankly, we've been blithering idiots at some times and rather dangerous neighbors at others. We belonged on the side of the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War; what we were looking at there was a people's revolution that chose to borrow the banner of communism because it was convenient. Had we gone the other way we could have turned Vietnam into a Little Tiger thirty years ago. Our policies in Latin America have often been designed to protect the same multinationals that OWS is protesting (to the point of propping up despots in Latin American countries) and we owe Latin America a public apology for that. As far as Libya, Uganda, etc. there needs to be some sort of agreed-upon procedure for enforcing ICC warrants that would allow UN member nations to send in small groups of people as arrest and retrieval officers to pick up international criminals without starting wars.
Wars for oil/energy/resources/etc. are both bad ethics and bad policy; if we don't like our dependence on foreign oil then that's what renewable energy is for and that's why we should focus on renewables like solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal and alternative vehicles like the electric car. I have no more patience for a semipriviatized military and a bloated, unworkable defense industry than you do; I want to see firms like Halliburton and Wackenhut dissolved. I also want to see a return to R&D (including basic scientific research), prototyping, and supply handled through government labs once more, and I'd like to see DoD labs investing in things like space travel that can benefit all of humanity the way they did during the Space Race. Essentially, I want to see the military-industrial complex dismantled and retooled to serve America alongside the rest of the world rather than at its expense.
As far as the prospect of a future with China at the helm, absolutely not. If you'd said the EU, then I could understand where you're coming from; they seem to have a far better regulatory track record than we do, tend to be far less willing to go to war, and overall have built a more planet-friendly and sustainable continent than we have. China, on the other hand, I don't want within a million miles of the helm of the world as they are right now. Given how things are over there right now, China either is poised to do or is already doing pretty much everything you complain about the US and American multinationals doing, and they're going about it a lot more roughly than we do.
world population will hit 7 billion people today
You're funning me with the question, right? Hell if the dumbocrats and the rethuglicans can't develop a coherent foreign policy how in the hell do you expect a bunch of citizens without a CIA, NSA, DIA, DHS, DOD and State Department to do it?
Maybe that is part of the problem. Relying on the opinions of military industrial departments rather than holding conversations directly and openly with foreign people on matters that pose a threat to our nations.
When money is involved, the game of telephone is easily distorted.
We need to play nice with the great global leaders like Hugo Chavez. If we ever want to get along we need to play nice.
Mr Chavez is already helping the poor in the US.
That's true, he gave me some sugary gum-pops when I went tricker treating earlier.
And his buddy Castro is lauding the wonders of our imperial leader's health care lifeblood he has breathed into our tired economy.
No, he donates oil to the poor you clown.
And he was on "The Katie Brown Workshop" last Monday showing how to make a centerpiece out of the skull of a dissident.
You obviously have a problem with reality.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1157172,00.html
Hugo Chavez is a syphilitic tyrant who has done more to harm the venezuelan people than any of their leaders throughout their violent and piratical history. He gives away gas to fool the asses into thinking he's a great guy.
Thats why god gave him painful and slowly deadly stomach cancers.
the answer is to occupy the world. when the people in america take control of the government back from the banks and corporations,. many of the problems created around the world by wall st. can be addressed. much of the poverty and unrest is a direct result of corporate/bankers control,. the movement is open source so the same methods can be employed everywhere,. and we can help instead of stealing and oppressing the people in other places to get at their resources, and slave labor pools.
in my opinion: stop giving foreign aid to countries that are fighting each other. cut the military budget and make it work efficiently.
Foreign policy of OWS is that the human is a social being therefore the people of the world shall live together.
If the occupy movement is to succeed we must become a global organisation.
While one child lives in poverty we all live in poverty.
I believe OWS should be thinking about giving support to the UN an the international criminal court.
The only way to control corporate greed is by global action.
We should be giving everyone on the planet a voice.
The is no democracy until democracy includes everbody.
I agree with you.
Although I wonder, with all the rampant corruption in our own government, how much must exist within the UN.
Corruption will always be a problem. That is why we must make sure we have a strong international criminal court.
Multinationals are getting away with murder because of poor international laws.
Strong international laws and regulations are the only way to control these global organisations. It is also the only way to make them pay tax.
Corruption will always be a problem. That is why we must make sure we have a strong international criminal court.
Multinationals are getting away with murder because of poor international laws.
Strong international laws and regulations are the only way to control these global organisations. It is also the only way to make them pay tax.
You ask a tough question.
Poor people in America are in the 1% of the world's better off people.
When compared to the rest of the world and taken in it's totality, everyone in America is part of the global 1%.
That's an even stronger reason for holding more international conversations.
Especially if this movement is against inequality.
How so?
Poor people in America, for the most part, live like Kings compared to the really poor people of most of this world.
Every single protester in this movement has it far, far better than 99% of the world's population.
On a global scale, every protester in this movement is the 1%.
Poor people here won't believe it unless they are talking directly to those people from other countries.
Few understand how dependent our country is on others and how economic changes affect lives internationally.
It doesn't matter what poor people in this country believe. Poor people in this country only gauge their lives against other people in this country.
In this country poor people have roofs over their heads, food, color TV, phones, and some even have cars and air conditioning.
Compared to the entire global population, that puts them in the global 1%.
People on welfare in America are in the global 1% when compared to the conditions of all people on this planet.
correct i cannot agree more
Actually poor people in America are still the 99% of the world, lrn2statistics.
This thread is an embarrassment. Occupy's foreign policy is to end wars, end imperialism, end international drug wars, end military base occupation of every country on the planet, and to permanently slash military spending by 9/10ths and spend it all on energy infrastructure to keep us safe from having to send our men and women off to die in deserts to keep the Arabs in line.
Our foreign policy is to leave the world alone unless their people want us involved, and the American people want to be involved.
Vote Ron Paul in March, to tell the sociopathic politicians that liberty and non-interventionism sells at the polls.
True the energy monopolies are a big reason so many lives are lost.
However, how is holding more international conversations a bad thing?
If the main stream media has distorted the truth about what this movement stands for, wouldn't the same hold true for other nations and their people?
"True, the energy monopolies are bad. But all those wars, imperialism, drug wars, military bases everywhere, 1.5T USD/annually militarism budget, and assassination, extradition, and internment camps are all no problem at all. It's all the plutarchs, the government is not complicit or evil at all!"
You like to put words in other people's mouths don't you?
Holding international conversations does not = ignoring all the b.s.
I'm calling you out on what you choose to say is bad and what you selectively ignore.
fair enough
Occupy policy is no outsourcing, go local industries and local employment full.
The problem with these kind of 'fixes' is that we depend on other countries for many imports. Electronics from Japan, manufactured goods from China, oil from the middle east, agricultural products from many nations, etc.
By isolating our commerce away from other countries we no longer remain the global leader. By this I mean our dollar will no longer be the primary reserve currency of the world. This in effect will significantly raise the cost of all imported goods.
And losing the world's reserve currency status would also reduce our military strength. This is because other countries would no longer accept American currency. Many of our international military bases would be forced to close unless they received greater support directly from within the states. The closure of military bases in turn would have it's own consequences.
International conversations are necessary to understand how our economic changes locally will affect things globally.
I believe that if we go local production and distribution based on consumption not profit on essential goods and services which are fundamental and crucial for the community's sustainability and survival and local full employment thru cooperatively run local medium scale industries and key industries under local government supervision, we would solve our economic crisis quick and non essential goods and services can go ahead in small scale private enterprise- no one will be harmed , no one will protest, and there is where foreign goods on non essentials can be allowed in the local market.
Yes I agree local self management would alleviate many problems because the local community would be much more conscious of whether their activities are sustainable or not. e.g. They wouldn't pollute their own water supply
However the economic crises is much bigger. Our economy is based on debt, and speculation has multiplied it by several magnitudes. We won't be able to simply work our way through all the fraudulent debt that has accumulated. (at least $700 trillion in derivatives alone) The only way to fix the fraudulent debt problem is to have debt forgiveness, not just for our country, but for foreign nations as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOzR3UAyXao
Honestly from there I would prefer a resource based economy over an international currency which would likely be proposed to 'bail out' the nations and simplify trade. But such a currency would also bring a powerful central bank with it, unless many people internationally understand the alternatives.
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