Red Ink

Slavoj Žižek spoke at Wall Street today.  Occupy Wall Street carries a video and full transcript here.  In this excerpt, the crowd repeats his lines like poetry back to the speaker and out to other listeners:

They tell you we are dreamers

The true dreamers are those who think

Things can go on indefinitely the way that they are

We are not dreamers

We are awakening

From a dream that is turning into a nightmare

We are not destroying anything

We are only witnessing how the system in destroying itself

We all know the classic scenes from cartoons

The cart reaches a precipice

But it goes on walking

Ignoring the fact that there is nothing beneath

Only when it looks down and notices it

It falls down

This is what we are doing here

We are telling the guys on wall street

“hey! Look down!”

(Cheers, hollers of enthusiasm)

In april 2011

The Chinese government prohibited

On t.v., on films, and in novels

All stories that contained alternate reality or time travel

This is a good sign for China!

It means that people still dream about alternatives!

So you have to prohibit these dreams

Here we don’t think about prohibition

Because the ruling system has even repressed our capacity to dream!

Look at the movies that we see all the time

It’s easy to imagine the end of the world

An asteroid destroying all life as we know

But you cannot imagine the end of capitalism

So what are we doing here?

Let me tell you a wonderful old joke from communist times

A guy was sent from east Germany to work in Siberia

He knew his mail would be read by censors

So he told his friends

Let’s establish a code

If a letter you get from me is written in blue ink, it is true

If it is written in red ink, it is false

After a month, his friends get a letter

Everything is in blue

Everything is wonderful here

Stores are full of good food

Movie theaters show good films from the west

Apartments are large and luxurious

The only thing you cannot buy

Is red ink!

(laughter)

This is how

We have all the freedoms we want

But what we are missing is red ink!

The language to articulate our non-freedom

The way we are taught to talk about freedom

War and terror and so one

Falsifies freedom

And that is what you are doing here

You are giving us all red ink!

(cheers)

There is a danger

Don’t fall in love with yourselves

We have a nice time here

But remember

Carnivals come cheap

What matters is the day after

When we will have to return to normal life

Will there be any changes then?

I don’t want you to remember these days

You know like oh we were young it was beautiful

Remember that our basic message is

We are allowed to think about alternatives!

The taboo is broken!

We do not live in the best possible world!

Courtesy of The New York Observer

Slavoj Žižek speaks to Occupy Wall Street

You can hear this same speaker - audience response calming the crowd at the web viral police brutality incident  recently updated with extended video coverage at commondreams.  In the extended minutes,  while the policeman is beating people, and the crowd screams and reacts, someone proclaims, "We are a peaceful demonstration!"  Suddenly, it seems, everyone stops and starts reciting his lines back (i.e. "We are a peaceful demonstration!") - and any sense of impending violence immediately de-escalates at that point (thanks to the protesters).  The police themselves are filmed simply standing on the outside of the group, enclosing them, while this horrific incident takes place.

There's a wonderful photograph of an enormous peaceful crowd overflowing at Foley Square at that same link.

Courtesy of Common Dreams

William Rivers Pitt at truthout adds another line to Mahatma Gandhi's famous quote.

A transcript of Naomi Klein on Wall Street Friday October 7th.

Saturday In Seattle

"Am 'I' A Good Investment?"

A family friendly crowd of 1,000  at Westlake in Seattle reported here by the Seattle Times with slideshow (two shown here) of protesters' tweets and tweeted photos.  Both newspaper and twitterers report that huge numbers chanted:  "We are the 99%!  We are the 99%!"

"First they ignore you.

Then they laugh at you.

Then they fight you.

Then you win.

- Ghandi"

Occupy Seattle is seeking donations of socks, gloves, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, blankets, and pillows.

Hammer

Peter, Paul, and Mary show how to do the old-fashioned hammer.

Tent

A New York City civil rights attorney talks about why the Occupy Wall Street tents are legal.



This has been an issue recently in Seattle where the Parks Department delivered the disband and disperse message.

Whose Tent?

Courtesy of the Seattle Times

Photographer:  Greg Gilbert

Followed by a contingent from the Seattle Police Department.

Veterans evicted by a crowd of Seattle police officers

Courtesy of the Seattle Times

Photographer:  Greg Gilbert

Wednesday tent arrests at Westlake

Courtesy of the Seattle Times

Photographer:  Alan Berner

Labor leaders have joined occupation efforts in Seattle still gaining steam where demonstrations continue today and tommorow.

25 people were arrested Wednesday for refusing to remove tents.

New York demonstrators are presently sleeping without tents, in the open, and in large groups. 

Eggplant Panini

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Eggplant Panini – A Fast Food Recipe

Appliances 

One George Foreman Grill

Microwave

(both available through community freecycles)

Ingredients

A ¼ inch slice of eggplant cut into 2 semi-circles
½ slice provolone
2 slices of bread (preferably higher fiber whole grain)
Condiments of choice (e.g. mayonnaise, olive oil, butter, mustard, etc.)
Salt, pepper, herbs of choice

 

Optional:

Fried garlic

Additional vegetables (e.g. fried zucchini slices, spinach leaves, tomatoe slices, chopped peppers, basil leaves, etc.)

Procedure

Put your eggplant slice on a microwave safe plate in the microwave for about 5 minutes on one side, and 2 minutes on another.  Add condiments of choice to bread slices.  Prepare any additional vegetables, if desired.  Place microwaved eggplant slice on bread.  Add salt, pepper, additional herbs of choice, provolone slice, close sandwich, and grill for about 1 minute in your George Foreman.

Et voilà!  A delicious high protein, nutritious panini that beats the McD burger in price, quality, nutrition, and taste.

Consider how many burgers one eggplant can make. 

- o.s.r.

Debt

Courtesy of Occupy Wall Street

Information about yesterday's Wall Street demonstration is still trickling in.  Commondreams reports numbers at 20,000 and children's music performances by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary.

At the time of this posting, davidscameracraft has not yet published photographic updates.

Occupy Wall Street has video here showing Foley Square flowing over capacity.

Demonstration arrests across the country are reported in a number of papers.

Naomi Klein is scheduled to speak today on Wall Street.

Greed

Courtesy of Los Angeles Times

Photographer:  Carolyn Cole

Labor unions and students joined Occupy Wallstreet today in a powerful display of unity and strength estimated at 10,000.  Los Angeles Times reported a day marked by focus on corporate greed and including teachers, nurses, veterans, and seniors.

Occupy Wall Street has been spreading to other locations across the country.  Occupy Together provides locations here.

Reports of police brutality have surfaced since nightfall, with increasing youtube documentation, including this video of an officer in a red windbreaker shoving a non-resisting protester to the ground and allegedly giving him a concussion.  After they pick him up from the ground, you can see his head swaying around in circles. 

The officer in the red windbreaker has been photographed before arresting a woman filming in a manner that concerned viewers.  He also surfaces here in this youtube supervising police officers who throw a young man over a fence.  The crowd chants:  "The whole world is watching!  The whole world is watching!"