Saturday, September 29, 2012

Photography


#S25: Rodea el Congreso

Some remarkable photographs coming in, as Occupy Wall Street reports "Surround the Congress" demonstrations spreading from Spain and Greece to Lisbon, Rome, and "beyond."  (Above photo credit/Courtesy of Occupy Wall Street/same link.)

Here, too, is a 15 photo stream from Business Insider.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Poetry

Alice Walker reads and discusses her new poem, Democratic Womanismon Democracy Now!  

 

American Spring

Rebel Diaz in American Spring;  official video directed by Mateo Zapata.


Pershing Square

The Occupy one year anniversary celebrations are still going on.  Occupy Los Angeles is holding big marches and events this Saturday, September 29th, showcasing the video below.  More here from Neon Tommy.

 

NDAA

Back in May, a federal judge in New York blocked indefinitely detaining Americans as unconstitutional, and after a group of activists sued the Obama administration over the NDAA

Well, the government appealed and 3 justices are reviewing Judge Katherine Forrester's decision today.  Chris Hedges, one of the activists involved in filing the original suit discusses the case:



 

Settlement

RT reports that a 1 million dollar settlement has been reached in the case of the UC Davis students who were pepper sprayed, which is 30,000 dollars per plaintiff.

 

The Nolo County D.A.'s office recently let the pepper spraying cop walk, finding no criminal conduct, and by reasoning that seemed to shockingly imply that police may spray non-violent protesters at point blank range in the face if their arms are linked, rather than not linked.

Linking arms is, of course, customary at non-violent protests and demonstrations, with a proud history and tradition in the U.S.A.


Courtesy of the Washington Post 
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other famous civil rights leaders link arms in active resistance  - not passive resistance - in this famous civil rights march photograph taken in Memphis, Tenn., March 28, 1968


My country 'tis of thee. 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Unconstitutional

Chicago Tribune reports that a Cook County judge, Thomas Donnelly, has ruled that the Occupy Chicago Grant Park evictions in October 2011 were unconstitutional.  In a 37 page ruling issued today, the judge threw out 92 Occupy arrests for violating a park curfew.

Thomas Durkin, an attorney who represents 12 University of Chicago students among the 92 arrests stated, “We're incredibly pleased by Judge Donnelly's ruling. This is a significant First Amendment ruling for the Occupy protesters, and all Chicagoans."
[...] Associate Judge Thomas Donnelly ruled the October 2011 arrests were unconstitutional because the city routinely chooses not to enforce the curfew for events the city supports, such as the 2008 Election Night rally for President Barack Obama. The judge noted that no arrests were made at that event, even though it went well past curfew.
Here Chicagoans are at the 2008 Election Night rally in Grant Park (though I don't know if this clip is before or after .. the witching hour .. the speeches are over):

 

Enemy of the State

 Courtesy of the Herald Sun
Photographer:  Nathan Mawby
Julian Assange supporters protesting 
in Melbourne, Dec. 2010

Commentary coming in on Julian Assange's address yesterday to the U.N. Assembly;  the full transcript at Common Dreams with reference to the Sydney Morning Herald;  from Truthdig, with reference to Glenn Greenwald at the UK Guardian:
Recently declassified Air Force records detail the investigation of an analyst who expressed support for WikiLeaks and its founder Assange. The inquiry was closed when it found no evidence that the analyst had leaked classified material, but the documents reveal that Assange may have been designated an enemy of the United States—the same status as the Taliban and al-Qaida—as the analyst was under investigation for the crime of “Communicating With the Enemy.”
That crime carries a potential death penalty, and its inclusion in an investigation into contact with WikiLeaks suggests that the government now views anyone who publishes classified material that could be seen by anyone considered an enemy as an enemy themselves. The list of candidates for enemy status extends far beyond Assange. Any media outlet, including The New York Times, which has published far more sensitive secrets than WikiLeaks, would become a potential enemy of the state.
Discussion with Michael Ratner, a legal advisor to Mr. Assange, concerning the terminology.  Ecuador is seeking safe passage for Mr. Assange through the U.K. from its London Embassy, and since the asylum issue is resolved in their favor

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Poetry

Woody Harrelson's Thoughts From Within.

Song For Bradley Manning

David Rovic's official video version of his Song For Bradley ManningUploaded by pisquethethird August, 2011.


U.N. Webcast

Julian Assange is scheduled to address the U.N. Assembly via video broadcast from Ecuador's Embassy in London.  Here is the U.N. live webcast.



UPDATE:

RT video of Julian Assange addressing the U.N. Assembly earlier.   

Smart Phone

Weaving Spider reports a new U.S. patent by Apple Inc. that allows identification of protesters having Smart Phones on and allows authorities to put phones to sleep if they don't want people to take pictures or communicate with each other.  The patent, Apparatus and Methods For Enforcement Of Policies On A Wireless Device, is dated August 28, 2012.  More on the video below; "Smart Phone" is starting to remind me of the "Help America Vote" Act. 

 

Gates of Government

As protesters converge in Greece, thousands of people in Madrid, Spain "Occupy Congress," confronting elected officials Tuesday, and at the gates of parliament-- over austerity, rising poverty, and unemployment.  Protesters speak to Democracy Now! on a video that includes clips of police/demonstrator confrontations and, in the next segment, an interview with independent journalist Maria Carrion.




More here on the police crackdown and intimidation of protesters headed towards and within Madrid-- as people accuse the right-wing government of theft of public wealth and driving the country into poverty:

 

In Greece, as thousands similarly protested austerity, in Athens, on a second day of protests, The New York Times reports
Anna Afanti, 50, a secondary school teacher, removed a surgical mask she had been wearing to ward off the tear gas to lambast Greece’s foreign creditors. “They just want to impoverish us, to bring our salaries down to the level in India and swoop in and buy everything on the cheap,” she said, referring to planned privatization.
Ms. Afanti, who traveled about 40 miles from the town of Halkida to Athens with several colleagues to attend Wednesday’s protest, said her salary had been cut by a third since the crisis hit, making it harder to care for her three children, one of whom is disabled. “I should have left this country a long time ago,” said Ms. Afanti, who teaches English and Italian literature. “Now I’m stuck here."
Courtesy of the New York Times/photographer: Angelos Tzortzinis

Operations Manual

1168Via Nathaniel Mahlberg's site with Fellowship Of Reconciliation, the download for the newly released Debt Resister's Operation Manual, a 132 page book from Strike Debt/Occupy Wall Street.  He attended the launch of the book with his church, Judson Memorial, the

"culmination of a day of public education, discussion, and tabling in Washington Square Park, this event unveiled an emerging focus for Occupy’s economic justice efforts: debt.  Debt is a way to connect the struggles of many different types of people, from homeowners and renters, to students, to people without adequate health insurance, to farmers, small business owners, and municipalities. “The Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual” is a collaborative effort to share research on the diverse types of debt, their interconnections, and the ways people can work together to come out from under the veil of shame and resist the debt system."  

As a night-shift jail support chaplain, he provides a personal account of the S17 arrests and imprisonment of religious and spiritual leadership, veterans working in the peace movement, and transforming Madison Square Park into Free University with free classes and workshops (you can see photos of activites at the linked website). He also writes:

A debt resistance movement calling for widespread debt forgiveness should prove to be a powerful development for Occupy and its relationship with other economic justice efforts. For Judeo-Christian communities, such a call echoes the wisdom of the old biblical demand for a time of jubilee, which erases the exploitation of inequality through debt, indenture, and enslavement.  I am particularly excited for multiplying energy in this direction because of my work nonviolently supporting and defending homeowners suffering foreclosure (with last year’s FOR Communications Intern, Matthew Arlyck).  This housing rights movement is calling for a moratorium on foreclosures and mortgage debt forgiveness.  As the chant goes, “Banks got bailed out. We got sold out.”

Below is an older video from Free University in association with the prior NYC May Day activities, and a video prominently figuring the emerging debt resistance movement.   

Happy Reading and Distributing!


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Surveillance State

 
Photographer:  Jonathan Massey
N.Y.P.D. protect the Wall Street Bull

More on the 60 hours of leaked police surveillance tape from Anonymous.  Kevin Gosztola at The Dissenter discusses implications, including widespread press silence.  Media sources covering the story include Salon, DNAInfo.comthe Gothamist, Politicker, Common Dreams.

Sp(A)rk.aRevolution has uploaded some of the tapes from the 60 hour download to a youtube playlist.  Here you are, folks, on surveillance tapes made by the police.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Announcement

An announcement by Anonymous at the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, and leaking 60 hours of N.Y.P.D. video of the raid and destruction of the Liberty Square encampment.  A transcript of the announcement posted below the video:



Hello Citizens of the Free world.
On November 15, 2011, the NYPD surrounded the Zuccotti Park and poceeded to forcefully dismantle the Occupy Wall Street encampment. As part of this effort, the authorities made all media leave the scene and the only images of what happened came from one live streamer who stayed in the center of the park until his arrest, and one other citizen journalist who kept filming on his camera and managed to somehow smuggle the footage out of the arrest zone. Today We release a trove of video shot by NYPD itself - from 14 different angles including survellience cameras.
While it is clear that a lot of this police footage is incomplete and has been edited , some may say even tampered with, to remove the most damning incidents (sometimes in very obvious edits) there is still enough material to paint the picture of what really happened in Zuccotti park once the media cameras had left.
We the Anonymous Police are placing this information in the public domain for the people to use it to identify offending officers and explore the inconsistencies between the official narrative and reality.
Also, YaBasta500 has posted a short compilation (shown below) from the 60 hours, with links as follows:

Anonymous Leak Info:
http://pastebin.com/ycpyBL20

TORRENT [11GBs, 60hrs, 14-cameras]:
http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7667268/OWSN15____LIBERTY_LOCKDOWN____THE_DEST...

NYPD Taru Zuccotti Raid Footage
http://youtu.be/-t1bG9UGgj0


 


From the Paste Bin link: 

  1. "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."
  2. Thomas Jefferson
  3. Citizens of The internet.
  4. Have you ever been filmed by the police and wondered what their footage looked like?
  5. Well you're in luck!
  6. Because today we release to you a cache of hours Zuccotti park raid footage. Brought to you by the N.Y.P.D. TARU!
  7. As many of you know, the N.Y.P.D denied freedom of press the night of the Zuccotti raid by kicking out the media and keeping them two blocks away.
  8. They also detained and arressted several journalists.
  9. Much of the video being released is edited by the NYPD, and at times the edits are quite blatant, probably trying to cover up their brutality.
  10. Actually, no probably about it, they are covering up their attrocities committed November 15th in Zuccotti park.
  11. As it is clear the film is edited in a byast prospective.
  12. Citizens of the internet, we ask you to download and share this mini-archive.
  13. Bearing in mind that the police now use video surveillance all over the country at peacefull protests, and whereever else they want because they are not being held accountable.
  14.  The totality of this mini-archive brings home the reality of the amount of surveillance US citizens are subjected to as they exercise their political rights, and this isnt even close to the amount of footage they have taken.
  15. But surveillance cuts both ways...  It can also be used to make the authoroties accountable for their actions.
  16. As you watch the videos in this archive...
  17. We Ask you to take down the badge numbers of those that committed crimes against the peacefull occupation protest.
  18. If the badge is unclear, that nifty number on their storm trooper helmets is the badge number.
  19. Report and makes complaints how you see fit.
  20. We ask you to keep an eye out for glitches in tape, timestamp changes, or other things that just are not quite right with the film.
  21. Make Note Of Them
  22. We ask you seek the truth.
  23. We Ask that you demand for the unedited versions of the tapes.
  24. We ask fellow netzens, that you seek the evidence that proves OWS was in violation of the The Handschu agreement,
  25. Which was won in a class action lawsuit against the NYPD as a result of their inability to uphold constitutional rights.
  26. We ask you to demand they prove that they had lawful use to use the TARU.
  27. Share these clips with the world. Let them see how the United States "Respects" it's citizens First Admendment Right to Peaceful Assembly.
  28. Most people don't relize, most of the "laws" and "rules" that the OWS Encampment "broke", were designed specifically to be against the movement, after the movement began.
  29. This is something that is happening coast to coast, sea to sea.
  30. Dictators in other countries have been known to drive street sweepers up and down roads, often for days at a time when they knew a protest
  31. is supposed to be taking place there.
  32. Sound familiar?
  33. The tactics are the same, the methods are the same, the power, is the same.
  34. We ask the people to stand in solidarity with your brothers and sisters around the world.
  35. For our struggle is the same.
  36. The struggle for equality, justice, peace and freedom.
  37. Your secrets keep me peaceful.
  38. Your lies keep me safe.
  39. You are satisfied with my ignorance, and you are in control.
  40. But we are aware.
  41. We are Anonymous
  42. We do not forgive And we do not...Forget.
  43.     Youtube-
  44.     http://youtu.be/-t1bG9UGgj0
  45.     Temporary torrent file located at:
  46.     https://filetea.me/t1s59815
  47.     TORRENT MAGNET
  48.     magnet:?xt=urn:btih:D99F46FC1216F1C3A5255B9244A18350C6D3C61A&dn=OWSN15&tr=udp%3a//tracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80
  49.     VIDEO STILLS:
  50.     http://imgur.com/Hmb34
  51.     http://imgur.com/0b9vN
  52.     http://imgur.com/jtseX
  53.     http://imgur.com/hEipf
  54.     http://imgur.com/wFG5z

Poetry

Pete Mason reads his poem, America the Beautiful, on the East Lawn of the U.S. Capital Building, at the January 17, 2012 Occupy Congress demonstration.

 

Occupy Song

Singer and songwriter Joe Nolan heads off the January 17, 2012 Occupy Congress March with his Occupy Song on the East Lawn of the U.S. Capitol BuildingVideo from Paul Moon, "the film takes a vérité style U-turn as it follows the march down Pennsylvania Avenue, ending at the White House."

Empty Chairs


Poughkeepsie Journal reports a bunch of empty chairs in the Capitol Building as the "most partisan, least productive Congress in memory" skips town to "make their case for voters to re-elect them."  

Danny K. Davis (D-Illinois) discusses unfinished business, and shortly before 112 goes down in history as possibly the worst.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

First Day

Jérémie Bédard-Wien, co-spokesperson for Quebec student union CLASSE, discusses the students' victory rolling back the tuition hikes.  In an impressive first day in parliament, newly elected leadership from Parti Quebecois canceled the hike, repealed the widely denounced and repressive "Loi 78," closed a nuclear power plant leaking radiation into the surrounding community for years, and announced reimbursement of a residential health tax.  The tuition hike cancellation will be prudently financed through higher taxes on the wealthy.  Mr. Bédard-Wien looks at developments ahead for the students, including collaboration with the U.S. Occupy Movement.  He attributes success to the students who got out there in the streets for weeks and weeks on end, banging on pots and pans.


 

Look what government can do when they're not working for the privileged few. Our standards have sunk so low in the U.S. Congress only gets this productive when they're passing military budgets in an hour or two.  Or giving tax breaks to the 1%.

Census figures don't bother 'em neither.

That first day is what it's supposed to look like all the time, folks.  "When government is working."

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Victory


 http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/5/24/1337868599901/Student-protest-in-Montre-008.jpg


Quebec students win!   

Common Dreams reports the new Premier Pauline Marois announcing that the tuition hikes will be rolled back.  Canadian writer and activist Naomi Klein tweets:  "This is why radical movements are mercilessly mocked.  They can win."

RT reports several hundred taking to the streets to demonstrate for free education through the university level.

A spokesperson for Pauline Marois also recently announced that Gentilly-2 nuclear power plant would be closed.  Subject of a new documentary, the decision has been hailed by numerous scientific and environmental groups.  Activists have been working to close the plant for decades, and since radiation poisoning to families in the surrounding community was discovered.

Quebec seems to be entering a very exciting period of progress bound to inspire further.

Once again, history is on the side of the People.


Active Resistance

SF Gate reports that the Yolo County District Attorney's office has not found criminal conduct by the police officers who pepper sprayed non-violent UC Davis students, and at point blank range, in November, 2011 demonstrations over tuition increases and staggering student debt.

Here, again, is a video taken of the shocking incident on UC Davis campus that day, and which garnered international condemnation:

 

At issue in the report's conclusive reasoning appears to be what the D.A.'s office describes as "active" vs "passive" resistance, and based on the fact that students were "linking arms." 
In the videos, Lt. John Pike of the campus police is seen slowly and deliberately spraying the students, pausing to shake the can before continuing. At least one other officer, Alexander Lee, is also seen spraying.
By linking arms, the seated protesters engaged in "active" rather than "passive" resistance, according to the district attorney's report, which relied not only on the officers' accounts but on University of California-commissioned studies of the incident, on experts in the use of force, and on UC policy.
Officers may use pepper spray when they encounter active resistance, the report says.\
 The Sacramento Bee reports that officials stated, "[...] there is insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force involved in the November 18, 2011, pepper spraying was unlawful and therefore warrants the filing of criminal charges [...]." 

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/09/yolo-da-finds-no-criminal-conduct-by-uc-davis-pepper-spray-officers.html#storylink=cpy

Pike was later relieved of duty; his police chief, Annette Spicuzza, resigned under fire; and withering reports from a specially-convened task force led by former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso and independent consultant, Kroll, detailed a dysfunctional police department and "systematic and repeated failures" by university leaders.

Alexis Briggs, an attorney for the Davis Dozen (a.k.a. Banker's Dozen) a group facing charges for February and March bank demonstrations, and which includes students who were pepper sprayed in November, expressed disappointment:
"I guess the Reynoso report, the Kroll report and video is sufficient in some cases but not in others. I'm sorry to hear that," Briggs said. "There seems to be a willingness to rely on video evidence in some cases but not others. My thoughts go back to the day itself," she said, adding the events "cast doubt that Lt. Pike and others were acting lawfully."
 

The California Agee reported in April that the "11 students and one professor [in the Davis Dozen] face up to 11 years in prison on the charges of the obstruction of movement in a public place and conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor by Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig."

Racism

NAACP President Ben Jealous discusses racism in America, including the Troy Davis case, Trayon Martin, mass prison incarcerations, and voter ID.


 

Occupy Faith

Police arrest Christian religious and spiritual leaders at S17.  Participants speak out against poverty, state what they believe Jesus would do, and invite community members to be arrested with them.   Some activists on video, and blogged earlier, singing here in their jail cell;  also, an S16 Occupy Rosh Hashanah service at Liberty Square, and coordination with Occupy Judaism.

 

Friday, September 21, 2012

History Lessons

From the Roots, an important history lesson.  Here's a new verse for everyone to add:  "Ain't gonna let that Wall Street turn me 'round, turn me 'round, turn me 'round. Ain't gonna let that Wall Street turn 'round.  Gonna keep on walking, keep on talking, marching on to freedom land." And also in honor of Troy Davis, who kept on, in spite of the seemingly hopeless machinations of injustice, that capital punishment might be abolished in the United States of America.

 

Capital Punishment

Democracy Now! has this segment remembering Troy Davis, whose widely denounced and unjust execution coincided with the beginning of Occupy Wall Street.  Californians will be voting on whether or not to abolish capital punishment.

 

Rikers Island


The Daily Caller reports Occupy organizer Aaron Minter sentenced to 10 days in the notorious Rikers Island prison for posting (what must be) the above irony-laden protest stickers - "Priority Seating for the 1%" - on NYC subway car seats.  Below is a photo of Aaron Minter during a demonstration outside the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.  Photo credit:  Josh Peterson, The Daily Caller.

<strong>Aaron Minter, aka ‘Aaron Black’</strong>: Occupy Wall Street organizer Aaron Minter, aka ‘Aaron Black’, talking to press during an Occupy demonstration outside of the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. (Photo Credit: Josh Peterson / The Daily Caller) 



Oct 13 2012

Occupy Wall Street announces Saturday, October 13, 2012 as the next global day of action with mass cacerolazas (basically, marching while banging on pots and pans, as the students have done in Quebec).  Dubbed "Global Noise Day," the "hope is that local Occupations and Collectives will take up the call to march, using the method of a casserole march to highlight whatever issues are the most important to their community."

Courtesy of La Voz Politica
Example of a cacerolaza protest, and in Cordoba.
 
 Also, from Huffpost, 16 Occupy Wall Street parodies over the past year, with links to view many of the videos.
 
 


 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Evidence

Abby Martin discusses the rising importance of livestream and citizen journalism during Occupy Wall Street.  She also reports new developments in the Julian Assange case-- a Swedish forensic team has discovered that a torn condom used in the case against him in Sweden does not have any of his DNA.  Apparently, no one ever checked, to this point.

 

Happy Birthday

RT overviews S17 demonstrations in N.Y.C.

 

From the New York Daily News: 

 

  
ABC has a glimpse of Occupy events in Washington D.C. and Boston, as well as N.Y.C.,


 


and comments by President Obama,


 
Watch More News Videos at ABC | 2012 Presidential Election | Entertainment & Celebrity News



Livewire overviews the musicians at Foley Square:

  


From gvloanguy, Occupier mic check speeches at Liberty Square and the Stock Exchange, including Green Party Vice Presidential and Presidential candidates Cheri Honkola and Jill Stein: 



In this livestream recording from gvloanguy, as events unfold, Occupiers decide to march on Goldman Sachs, proceeding down to 200 West Street to confront the banking industry. N.Y.P.D. rapidly lines up in front of the building, and protesters then stage a nonviolent sit-in in front of the police line on the sidewalk. Police make arrests, with Occupiers chanting, "Arrest the bankers! Arrest the bankers!" 




S17 Occupiers take West Side Highway:



Real News overviews of S17; includes a segment speaking with NY City Council Member Jumaane Williams, apparently earlier in the day, prior to N.Y.P.D. shoving and batoning him.
 
 

C.P.R.

S17 protesters chant, demanding, "Courtesy! Professionalism! Respect!" -- the N.Y.P.D. motto, and after N.Y.P.D. officers repeatedly shove and then baton N.Y.C. Council Member Jumaane Williams.

 

Footage of some S17 arrests for no apparent reason: 






Below, artist and occupier Mollie Crabapple talks about her own bewildering and rough arrest for no apparent reason on S17-- also reflecting upon Occupy at its one year anniversary.


Occupy Jail Cells

City Room reports 185 arrests at S17 demonstrations down at the stock exchange.  Colin Moynihan on the scene here on video.

Inside the jail cell, Father Paul Mayer, age 81, leads arrested Occupiers in Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round which he learned in Selma protesting with Dr. King.

On Personal Responsibility

Mother Jones has released a secret video of Mitt Romney speaking to wealthy donors at the Boca Raton home of controversial private equity mogul Mark Leder.   The Republican nominee told attendees of a $50,000. per plate dinner that 47 percent of Americans voting for President Obama "no matter what," are people “dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.”  He states that those persons pay no income taxes, so their message of lower taxes "doesn't connect," and, “My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.

He also tells donors that neither a Middle East peace nor a Palestinian state is possible, and that Palestinians have "no interest whatsoever in establishing peace and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish."  (So let's not take responsibility for that either.)

More here from the Caucus.

Now viral, the full nine yards:



Knock Knock

Chanting, "Banks got bailed out!  We got sold out!" Occupy Wall Street marches through N.Y.C.'s wealthiest neighborhoods, visiting the homes of specific billionaires. 


 

Monday, September 17, 2012

Fight Back

Tom Morello (the Nightwatchman) and the Freedom Fighter Orchestra open their performance at Foley Square with a new song written for S17.  "Don't let 'em shut the door on a future that's yours - fight back!"  It's followed by The Road I Must Travel and a clip from Sleep Now In The Fire.  More here from OccupyForLove


 

Rosh Hashanah

 
Courtesy of Occupy Judaism
"Occupy Rosh Hashanah," 
September 16, 2012, in or near Liberty Square


S17 coincides with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which is the second most important day on the Jewish calendar (the first is Yom Kippur, falling on Wednesday, next week).
  
Daily Kos reports thousands at Liberty Square the evening of S16, with Daniel Sieradski giving a Rosh Hashanah sermon followed by a non-denominational pot luck dinner.  Occupy Judaism carries the full text here, also writing, 
Remember Yom Kippur last year? Remember the power of 1,000 voices crying out in unison for social and economic justice in the language of the Hebrew prophets, from the midst of Wall Street? That definitive moment in progressive Jewish action was an expression of desire for a just world that continues to call out from within our hearts and souls. Let’s show the world that, with or without a park to occupy, we have not given up the struggle, and that we will not give up, until we have achieved the redemption of the world.
Since a shofar is played on Rosh Hashanah, in honor of the Jewish New Year, here is an excerpt from Alvin Curran's composition and world premiere of Shofar III at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - and composed for shofar, keyboard, electronics, bullroarer, corrugated tube, and percussion.  It is performed by Curran and William Winan.

 


L’shanah tovah u’metukah!  "Wishing you a sweet and happy New Year!"  "May you be inscribed in the Book of Life!"

Update:

From gvloanguy, video coverage of Rosh Hashanah celebrations at Liberty Square.

 

S17

An S17 debt resistance discussion.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Livestream

Independent journalist Tim Pool's livestream from the Occupy Wall Street one year anniversary demonstrations.  At the time of this posting, Tim Pool is positioned at the performance stage and Tom Morello is appearing. 


 
Live stream videos at Ustream

Debt Resistance


Occupy Wall Street demonstration on September 15 down Broadway to Zuccotti Park, New York City.
Courtesy of Truthout/photographer: PaulSteinJC/S15 Occupy Wall Street demonstration down Broadway to Liberty Square. 

Truthout reports debt resistance opening demonstrations as a central issue for Occupy Wall Street at the S15, S17 one year anniversary marches.

More blogging on that here.




In a related article, Truthout reports homelessness and hunger a growing phenomenon among American college students, with UCLA even creating an economic crisis response team.  Stories abound from various campuses with students taking out greater and greater loans to keep up with rising tuition, housing, food, essentials, utilities, medical bills, transportation, and as social services are cut, jobs are scarce, or as students, in economic desperation, drop out, already deeply in debt-- although now they don't even have the degree as the projected debt for completing the program-- growing and growing as the students proceed through the program-- becomes so frightening.  As just one story, among so many:

Last year, Washington Post reporter Petula Dvorak chronicled the story of two homeless D.C.-area students, Ronnell Wilson and Miracle Lewis.
Lewis--in her late twenties--had worked as a flight attendant for United Airlines, but decided to go back to school after mass layoffs in 2008. She got a scholarship to study business and took temp jobs to make ends meet. But when temp work "dried up," she found herself living in the Calvary Women's Shelter in Northwest Washington, D.C.


Courtesy of Waging Nonviolence and Yates McGhee  
"With September 17 anniversary on the horizon, debt emerges as connective thread for OWS"

No Wall Street No Cry

Marchers are gearing up in N.Y.C. prior to S17, the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street.   Twitter reporting a march proceeding down 14th 3 hours ago, Liberty Square barricaded by the police;  a concert in Foley Square begins - No Wall No Cry (I look forward to hearing that one on youtube).  UPDATE:  Here is the performance.

"S15" videos starting to upload, with organizers urging protester/police cohabitation, along with recorded police misconduct, arrests, and First Amendment confrontations.

From OccupyTVNY:


 From WeAreChange:




From NativeInterface:

 

Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Tie That Binds


A strike debt movement is (in more ways than one) catching fire.  In the video below, activists speak about the burdens of crippling debt and burn their billing statements.

 

When I visited the referenced website this morning, they were still moving material over from another website. I see, however, this Occupy Wall Street link for a July event in Washington Square Park.  I also see a Facebook page here (I don't know if it's the same group from the video).

Find them on twitter at #strikedebt.  (See photo below - looks like something is planned for S17 in N.Y.C.)  Some are adopting the characteristic red felt born of the student strikes in Quebec (posted below on this American blog) -- and whether you're speaking specifically about student debt -- as there are presently many types of debt in our society.

From The Nation:
“Debt is the tie that binds the 99 percent,” Occupy organizer Yates McKee has written: from the underwater and foreclosed-upon homeowners who were first pummeled by the economic crisis, to the millions of debt-strapped students who are in default or on the brink, to all those driven into bankruptcy by medical bills, to workers everywhere who have been forced to compensate for more than thirty years of stagnating wages with credit card debt, to the firefighters and teachers who have had to accept pay cuts because their cities are broke, to the citizens of countries where schools and hospitals are being closed to pay back foreign bondholders. Given the way debt operates at the municipal and national levels, the issue affects us all—even those who are fortunate enough to be debt-free, as well as those so poor they don’t have access to credit. Debt is one of the ways we all feel Wall Street’s influence most intimately, whether it’s because of a ballooning mortgage payment or a subway fare hike or a shuttered clinic.

The protesters state that they are not talking about a debtors' movement, but a debt resistance movement including all of these described sectors of our debt burdened society.  Nation writer Astra Taylor observes that, since Occupy Wall Street's inception, debt has been "a kind of subterranean theme of the movement," and --
What’s surprising, then, is that debt hasn’t been made more of a central issue of Occupy organizing until now. Though the Occupy Student Debt Campaign has done some important work (particularly around what it called 1T Day, when student loan debt hit 
$1 trillion), the issue took center stage only after a series of small Occupy Theory assemblies that were held once a week beginning in May in Washington Square Park, attended by some of the same people who were at the Tompkins Square Park gatherings that planned the initial occupation. A few weeks in, the group found its focus; on June 10, during the inaugural NYC Debtors’ Assembly, there was a palpable spark. People testified through a cardboard “debtors’ mic” for more than two hours, many noting that they had never spoken publicly about their burden before. A deeply personal issue—one that is often a source of private shame—was being politicized before everyone’s eyes. The epiphany that suddenly connects the individual to the collective speaks to one of Strike Debt’s best slogans: “You are not a loan."


I've never "officially recommended" reading an article before, on this blog, but I highly recommend reading that one, along with readers' comments applauding debt resistance activists for, what one poster aptly calls, "finally hitting the nail on the head" after watching organizers go down one "dead end" path after another.  Yep, right on the money honey, this time. 

Friday, September 14, 2012

Because The Night

Zen Master (literally speaking) Patty Smith in Roger's Arena, Vancouver, April 2012.

 

Poetry

Revisiting the Occupy Wall Street Library prior to its destruction by the City.  Listen to the lively throngs of peaceful people in the background -- and while the guide discusses the Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology -- all there to engage with literature and poetry readings.  No wonder Bloomberg sent in the cops to seize and bury books in landfill.  

 

Equipment

Luke Rudowski and Tim Pool discuss "the new Cerevo Live Shell, that allows camcorders to broadcast live video. The two independent journalists give their take on the Live Shell's strengths and weaknesses in covering protests and other events." 

 

Bookmark

Occupy Wall Street prepares for demonstrations marking the one year anniversary of the movement, and the right to peaceably assemble.  The following youtube was posted at the Occupy Wall Street website, and includes a few of the more tense stand-offs between demonstrators and police, including police violence, and over the First Amendment.




This blog started a year ago with the release of new Census Bureau information on soaring American poverty, and about one week before the Occupy Movement made its debut in Manhattan.  Little did the diarist know, at that time, we were about be chronicling, for better or worse, a major American uprising.   

Events also coincided with the execution of Troy Davis, another story the blogger happened to be following, and seemingly not "just coincidentally" connected to events unfolding on Wall Street-- with "justice" failing at all levels of the system-- its economic and social savagery revealed in a full panorama -- and public outcry spreading from New York and Georgia, to the midwest, the west coast, and over 1200 cities globally (and still spreading) by early October 2011.



What now?  Some feel that the uprising has been rapidly quashed, others, that it lives, or others, that it has been absorbed into various activist movements ranging from housing to food to student debt to electoral politics to the peace movement.  That, to me, sounding similar to thoughts on where activities during the sixties went.

Myself, I can't wax profound on the subject;  I think Occupy has taught us that we have more power than we think, that we are stronger together than separately, and that we have more common grievances than we are otherwise aware of-- or that the mainstream media would like us to know about, and, that we have so many brilliant people in our ordinary midst, like lights to lead us out of darkness-- we must believe in ourselves and each other.
  
If Occupy Wall Street taught us how quickly things can happen "overnight," how quickly a mass movement can "spread," how many incredible people are "out there" standing up for change and resistance -- can we  not see how quickly things could, indeed, similarly change in terms of ending homelessness, hunger, war, poverty, unemployment, and crippling debt?

As an imagination artist, I believe this is possible.  And I know we have many imagination artists on this tiny, tiny planet spinning in vast spaces of a universe that dwarfs even the great star we call our sun.  With so many of us imagining a better today, can we make it happen?

Like I said, I never started out intending to write a blog about the Occupation.  You can see for yourself that this blog started about one week earlier.  I simply felt a responsibility, when I saw what was happening, and what the mainstream media was doing, to keep chronicling this uprising as it took place, and with respect to the contributions of citizen journalists, alternative media, and those I can only describe as true patriots.   Those who wanted to tell the story, not suppress it and thereby stop change from happening.  Those who were there "on the street."



For the record, I would say that the diary is conscientiously continued through the National Gathering in Philadelphia.  I don't know how long the chronicle will continue from this point onward.  

This entry marks my (more or less) personal statement on the subject of the Occupation and the blog itself.  A one year bookmark, so to speak.  

Power to the People.  Peace.  



Photographer:  Brenna
Children Occupy protesters carrying signs reading, 
"Invest In Me" and "People (and Pandas) Before Profits."