The Occupation Enters The Mainstream And A Nerve Has Been Hit
The Occupation Enters The Mainstream and a nerve has been hit; the evidence: attempts to down play, demonize, conspiracy talk, Un-American, unpatriotic, anti-capitalist, commie, socialist, leaderless, unorganized, unimportant, hi-jacked..You name it the entire manure pile of the right wing is being hurled! A Covert Steering Committee Behind the Scenes?And Occupy Wall Street moves uptown CNN Al Sharpton added their celebrity to the Occupy Wall Street cause. Their visits came as the burgeoning movement continued to echo from coast to coast, voicing impassioned sentiments on a range of topics while railing against what protesters describe as ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street: 100 arrests at Boston protest BBC News Occupy Boston is protesting in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement, now in its fourth week. More than 100 solidarity events have sprung up in other towns and cities across the US, with activists rallying against what they see as injustices ... See all stories on this topic »-BBC News Kanye West blesses Occupy Wall Street protests Entertainment Weekly by Aly Semigran Depending on which side of the political spectrum you fall on, Occupy Wall Streetis either a futile attempt for progress made by smelly hippies or a much-needed democracy-in-action movement that speaks to the struggling working class. ... See all stories on this topic » David Plouffe Talks Occupy Wall Street, GOP New Hampshire Debate, Obama 2012 ... Huffington Post Senior White House adviser David Plouffe spoke with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday and said that President Barack Obama's shared concern with some members of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement is one of the things ... See all stories on this topic » Tea Party Patriots: Stop comparing us to the Occupy Wall Street protesters in ... New York Daily News BY Aliyah Shahid The nation's largest Tea Party group blasted comparisons on Tuesday between their movement and the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Tea Partiers are steamed. They don't like being compared to the Occupy Wall Streetprotesters one bit ... See all stories on this topic »-New York Daily News Occupy Wall Street sees John Carlos, 1968 Olympic medalist famous for 'Black ... New York Daily News But Carlos, the bronze medal winner in the 200-meter dash that year, told Occupy Wall Street protesters at Zuccotti Park on Monday night that he has no regrets - and that he is proud to give them his support. "I am here for you," Carlos said. "Why? ... See all stories on this topic »-New York Daily News Will Occupy Wall Street's spark reshape our politics? Washington Post By Katrina vanden Heuvel, When the organizers of Occupy Wall Street first gathered to discuss their plan of action, the strategy that resonated most came from those who had occupied squares in Madrid and Athens, Tunis and Cairo. ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street's 1%: You Are Not Forgotten TheStreet.com Occupy Wall Street, which initially appeared to be just a few college students, has somehow got the attention of President Obama and various members of Congress. Or--maybe you one percenters are feeling great right now. ... See all stories on this topic » Ohio Occupy Wall Street protesters fined again Dayton Daily News The remaining protesters, who are part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, say they've been fined for refusing to leave the city park. (AP Photo/Al Behrman) Jay Taylor posts online from his laptop for a group of protesters camping out in Cincinnati's ... See all stories on this topic » Wall Street Protesters Plan 'Millionaires March' Fox News AP October 10: Protesters affiliated with the "Occupy Wall Street" protests march through the Financial District in New York. NEW YORK – Protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement plan to leave their downtown Manhattan headquarters Tuesday and ... See all stories on this topic »-Fox News Is Occupy Wall Street Anti-Semitic? Tablet Magazine By Marc Tracy|October 11, 2011 12:05 PM|0Leave a comment I know it's getting overkill-y, and I'll try to make this the last Occupy Wall Street post for at least 24 hours. But David Brooks, in his Times column this morning, introduces this little nugget... See all stories on this topic »-Tablet Magazine Occupy Wall Street's Fiscal Agent Lost $100K And Blamed It On A Big Bank, Only... Business Insider The rapidly growing Occupy Wall Street movement taking place in Manhattan's Financial District and spreading with satellite versions popping up in cities nationwide recently lost a whopping $100000, The New Haven Independent reported. ... See all stories on this topic »-Business Insider Wall Street Is the Target, But Others Profit More CNBC.com The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, entering their 25th day Tuesday, are drawing attention, in part, to profits in the financial sector and whether or not they are excessive. In fact, financial companies are not at the top of the list in either ... See all stories on this topic » Immortal Technique speaks at Occupy Wall Street RT Although the Occupy Wall Street movement might be picking up steam over the last several weeks, hip-hop artist Immortal Technique told RT that protesters need to come up with a decisive plan to help further advance their demonstrations. ... See all stories on this topic » Spooked By Occupy Wall Street, WSJ's Peggy Noonan Rewrites Tea Party Past Media Matters for America (blog) As the Occupy Wall Street protests continue to multiply and spread nationwide, conservative commentators are doing their best (worst?) to undercut, and even demonize, the grassroots movement. How? One way is by comparing Occupy Wall Street unfavorably ... See all stories on this topic » Condom Store's Latest Product Is 'Occupy Wall Street'-Themed Gawker Given that Occupy Wall Street's HQ has turned into a revolutionary sex-fest that would make Caligula blush (h/t Smiths), you might be worried that protesters will reproduce awful things like sexually transmitted diseases and tiny socialist babies. ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street Protests May Face Futuristic, 'Less-Than-Lethal' Weaponry International Business Times By Eleazar David Meléndez Among the many factors that have helped turn the “Occupy Wall Street” protests in downtown Manhattan into a seemingly unstoppable nationwide force of civic willpower has been a stealth element of surprise. ... See all stories on this topic » 'Occupy Wall Street' the Left's Tea Party? Maybe, but... Christian Science Monitor If Occupy Wall Street coalesces into something like a real movement, the Democratic Party may have more difficulty digesting it than the GOP has had with the Tea Party. By Robert Reich, Guest blogger / October 11, 2011 Police officers defuse a ... See all stories on this topic »-Christian Science Monitor Occupy Wall Street and housing advocates Boston Globe (blog) For those of you who missed it, here are the links: The rhetoric coming out of the Occupy Wall Street protests (and their offshoots in cities throughout the country) is turning toward issues of housing. Although the message of the protests remains ... See all stories on this topic » Eric Cantor tempers criticism of Occupy Wall Street protests Los Angeles Times By Kathleen Hennessey House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is trying to walk back his criticism of the Occupy Wall Street protesters just days after the Virginia Republican characterized them as "mobs." At a press conference with reporters on Tuesday, ... See all stories on this topic »-Los Angeles Times Occupy Wall Street, The Golden Calf and the New Idolatry Huffington Post He was inspired by the actions of Occupy Wall Street and wanted to lend spiritual and biblical support. "Faith and Public Life" rented the van and brought it into town. We put it on our altar, and then carried it down to Wall Street on Sunday to ... See all stories on this topic » Wall Street action part of global "Arab Spring"? Reuters By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - After the "Arab Spring" and unrest in Europe, New York's "Occupy Wall Street" movement may be the latest sign of a global, popular backlash against elites with increasingly shared rhetoric ... See all stories on this topic »-Reuters Occupy Wall St. Thoughts, Day Two -- Preying On The Stupid And What This Is ... Huffington Post (blog) Yesterday's post where I finally answer several hundred peoples' request to share what I think about the Occupy Wall St. movement garnered quite a lot of feedback on Facebook, Twitter and Huffington Post. While most people support the movement and thus ... Occupy Wall Street protests: One hundred people arrested at Boston site Telegraph.co.uk [they] made no distinction between protesters, medics or legal observers." The protesters object to what they see as an unacceptable income gap between rich and poor. They also have complained about the Wall Street bailout in 2008, which they say aided ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street Bar and Grill? CNBC.com Opening soon: The Occupy Wall Street Bar and Grill? You know the cultural zeitgeist is getting thrown in a blender when stock traders in midtown call me up and say, "Hey Bob, I'm coming downtown tonight...wanna grab a beer and hang out with the ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street Demonstration at Hart Building Ends in Arrests National Journal By Dan Friedman The Occupy Wall Street movement hit Congress on Tuesday, with six arrested after dozens of demonstrators staged a short protest in the Hart Senate Office building. The now-national effort mostly targets financial institutions but has ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street Condoms Are 99% Effective The Inquisitr Rise up, stand tall, and strap on an Occupy Wall Street condom. Apparently theOccupy Wall Street movement has grown big enough to warrant its own novelty condom. Condomania has just released a new condom in honor of the Wall Street Protesters. ... See all stories on this topic »-The Inquisitr Occupy Wall Street Desperately Seeking A Commercial Kitchen Gothamist Because protesters cannot live on Ben & Jerry's alone, the Occupy Wall Street food committee is on the hunt for a commercial kitchen space. A proposal at last night's General Assembly meeting laid it out: "Winter is coming. We need hot food 2 sustain... See all stories on this topic »-Gothamist Occupy Wall Street shifts focus from banks to Netflix Washington Times NEW YORK, October 11, 2011—Occupy Wall Street - the leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions - is having trouble deciding which videos to watch. Insiders say this is causing rifts within the group ... See all stories on this topic »-Washington Times Open Story: Occupy Wall Street protests CNN Editor's Note: This story is a collaborative effort of CNN and iReport contributors who are documenting the Occupy Wall Street protests across the United States. Explore the submissions below, add a comment, or click 'add now' to add your own angle to ... See all stories on this topic » 'Occupy Wall Street' Backer Huffington Decamps to Paris, Announces Le ... NewsBusters (blog) By Ken Shepherd | October 11, 2011 | 13:10 While "Occupy Wall Street" is spreading to "more than a thousand countries," a key liberal financier of the movement has been enjoying the past few days in the birthplace of the radical French Revolution, ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street to come to Fayetteville on Thursday Fayetteville Observer (blog) The Occupy Wall Street movement will spread to Fayetteville on Thursday, Oct. 13, with a protest scheduled from 4 to 7 pm at the Market House downtown. Al Peuster of MoveOn.org organized the event. He invites people to, “come and Stand Up for the Poor ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street: Are the super-rich worried? The Week Magazine In fact, he says Wall Street, the GOP, and other "economic royalists" are "hysterical" over the protests The booming Occupy Wall Street movement is making the rich nervous, says Paul Krugman in The New York Times, but plenty of skeptics say big banks ... See all stories on this topic » Rockford to host Occupy Wall Street protest WREX-TV By Michael Peppers After protests all over the country, demonstrators with the Occupy Wall Streetmovement will gather at Beattie Park Tuesday at noon. Among the protestors will be attorney Kim MacCloskey. While he isn't an official spokesperson for ... See all stories on this topic » Occupy Wall Street, don't attack the police. Examiner.com So, to the people who whine and complain that the “Occupy Wall Street” folk are peaceful, and that the police shouldn't have bothered gassing the charging crowd, keep in mind one very simple thing: the police can't read minds. ... See all stories on this topic » Wall Street protests grow after unions' endorsement - CNN Wall Street protests swelled Wednesday to their largest numbers yet, after local ... along a dozen city blocks, chanting "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street." ... articles.cnn.com/.../politics_occupy-wall-street_1_protests-in-o... William Rivers Pitt | A Delicate Moment for the Occupy Wall Street Movement William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "Anyone who still thinks the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests are some kind of fluke, an exercise in ego inflation by spoiled college kids and aging hippies, needs to go back to bed. This thing is very much for real, is very large, and is growing exponentially. Similar protests have sprung up in dozens of cities all across the country, and with an 'Occupy the London Stock Exchange' action set to take place on Saturday, the movement is poised to become an international affair." Read the Article A Delicate Moment for the Occupy Wall Street Movement Tuesday 11 October 2011 by: William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed A group of children from Central Park East One and Two schools join demonstrators at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park, New York, October 10, 2011. (Photo: Michael Appleton / The New York Times) Anyone who still thinks the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests are some kind of fluke, an exercise in ego inflation by spoiled college kids and aging hippies, needs to go back to bed. This thing is very much for real, is very large, and is growing exponentially. Similar protests have sprung up in dozens of cities all across the country, and with an 'Occupy the London Stock Exchange' action set to take place on Saturday, the movement is poised to become an international affair. The New York police have already laid into the Wall Street protesters with unnecessary violence on more than one occasion, and the Boston police have likewise gotten into the action: In one of the largest mass arrests in recent Boston history, the Boston Police Department cleared a park of activists with the 99 Percent Movement in the early hours of Tuesday morning, dismantling and destroying tents that had been set up on Monday. Startling footage shot by an onlooker shows members of Veterans for Peace, an organization of U.S. military veterans who oppose war, being arrested by members of the Boston Police Department, their flags - including the American flag - being thrown to the ground. Before the arrests and clearing of the park, the police surrounded it, lining up over a dozen paddy wagons along one side. They told members of the media to leave and not to film proceedings. After a five-minute warning to disperse, police moved in, first arresting the peacefully protesting veterans - who included a female veteran of the Iraq War, according to the Boston Phoenix - and then other Occupy Boston activists. According to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, about 100 arrests were made. The police then tore down the protesters' encampment. Live feeds from onlookers showed Boston Police dumping dismantled tents, signs, and chairs into waiting garbage trucks, destroying the protesters' property. Frontal assaults have not been the only tactic deployed by those who would like to see the OWS movement dry up and blow away. Patrick Howley, an assistant editor for the right-bent publication The American Spectator, bragged on the Spectator's website about deliberately disrupting a peaceful protest at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, for no other reason than to give the protesters a bad name. James O'Keefe, the wannabe gotcha-journalist famous for his manipulative hit pieces on ACORN and NPR, has been spotted skulking around Wall Street...which sets up an amusing potential endgame for him, as he is on probation in New Jersey and requires a judge's permission to leave the state. As best as anyone can determine, that permission was never obtained. Hopefully Mr. O'Keefe can find refuge in an OWS protester's tent to avoid the judge's wrath. So the cops are getting heavier, the agent provocateurs are out in force, and the protests continue to grow. Now is a most delicate time for the movement. If the protesters react with violence to police, the "mainstream" media will have the opportunity they've been waiting for to disparage and discredit the entire thing. If the fakers and disruptors in the crowd are not exposed immediately, as was the care with Howley and O'Keefe, they will paint a fraudulent picture of the movement that will likewise allow the "mainstream" news to create an inaccurate and unflattering picture. So far so good on these scores, but the protesters absolutely must continue to do what they have been so excellently doing, no matter what provocations they are presented with. The whole world is indeed watching. Another delicate moment looms for the movement, one you can file under "With Friends Like These..." Yes, everyone can relax, because the Democratic Party is coming to the hoedown. The very politicians whose inactivity and collusion regarding Wall Street excesses made this movement necessary in the first place have licked their finger, put it to the wind, and decided it is safe to come out and play: Prominent House Democrats are embracing the Occupy Wall Street protests as demonstrations are spreading across the country and gaining support from traditional progressive institutions. Democratic leaders in Congress say that there's a lot to like about movement's central message that corporate greed is fueling a growing income gap. And the enthusiasm from Democrats in Washington suggests that they think this sentiment will resonant across the country. Other progressive Democrats are even more enthusiastic. "I'm so proud to see the Occupy Wall Street movement standing up to this rampant corporate greed and peacefully participating in our democracy," said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY). The co-chairs of the Progressive Caucus, Reps. Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva, issued a joint statement to express "solidarity" with the movement, describing themselves as inspired by the mass movement. "We join the calls for corporate accountability and expanded middle-class opportunity," they wrote. "The silent masses aren't so silent anymore. They are fighting to give voice to the struggles that everyday Americans are going through," added Rep. John Larson in his own statement supporting Occupy Wall Street. Even Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, agreed that there were similarities between the protesters' message and Democratic priorities. "Certainly, there is an overlap in terms of jobs and economic opportunity, which they want and we want," Hoyer told me. Though he didn't go so far as his Democratic colleagues in embracing the movement wholeheartedly, he said that one "positive aspect" of the protests is that they're "raising issues and raising concerns and asking policymakers to focus on it." Howls of outrage and disgust from OWS activists and supporters could be heard all up and down the Eastern seaboard when word reached them of their new prospective allies. No, no, and hell no, went the refrain. These are the same politicians who line the pockets of the very people being protested, and now all of a sudden they want to join the struggle? The OWS movement is protesting the Democrats as much as it protesting against the rest of the crooked institutional theft machine that shattered the economy in the first place. There is a decision to be made here. Does the OWS movement issue a "Thanks But No Thanks" response to the Democrats' sudden interest, or do they open their arms and welcome the Party to the party under the auspices of "The More The Merrier"? Personally, I incline to the latter choice, distasteful as it may be. Including the Democratic Party will raise the profile of the movement, and make it more difficult for it to be undermined. Time will tell if they are too undermined by their own participation in the economic collapse to be of any assistance, and it is certain that their inclusion will leave a bad taste in many mouths. It is yet another delicate question at a very delicate moment, but if it were up to me, I would say "Better late than never," open up the tent, and let them see for themselves what it looks like when history is being made.  |
No comments:
Post a Comment