Slog Comments
Occupy Wall Street Started One Year Ago Today
1
I said it then and I'll say it now: the most effective thing they could do are candlelight vigils.
2
Occupy fascinates and bothers me.
It bothers me because its methods are so thoroughly retrograde. "Occupying" as in seizing physical space when the power brokers have long since literally (and here the use of "literally" is justified) "left the building". Meaning, as Al Qaeda found out when it, too, tried to bring down the World of Finance, it no longer exists on Wall Street, or even in cities, but in computer rooms on the outskirts of Lincoln, Nebraska.
3
Correction:
Many thanks to the cops who used humane crowd control measures to assure customers could get to surrounding businesses, to stop violence, rapes, and killings within Occupy and all the while doing their civic duty while being viciously taunted and spit in the face.
Many thanks to the cops who used humane crowd control measures to assure customers could get to surrounding businesses, to stop violence, rapes, and killings within Occupy and all the while doing their civic duty while being viciously taunted and spit in the face.
6
@3, That's some good trolling there. You've been hard at work trying to convince us that you're not working on behalf of Romney here. Your efforts have been noticed.
Re: this post... OWS deserves all the credit for allowing the politicians and pundits to speak about the wealth gap in this country. The right had been very successful at quashing that from the conversation for decades (with an assist from the spineless media and Dems). It's hard to imagine the Romney campaign's floundering without that shift.
Re: this post... OWS deserves all the credit for allowing the politicians and pundits to speak about the wealth gap in this country. The right had been very successful at quashing that from the conversation for decades (with an assist from the spineless media and Dems). It's hard to imagine the Romney campaign's floundering without that shift.
7
"But, man, I don't think you can look at some of the megalomaniacal dipshits who, mistakenly, thought it was supposed to be about fighting with cops without seeing that they also drove those protests—and a lot of long-term public support with them—right into the ground."
Yup. But an inevitable result of the leaderless and structureless design of the movement which privileges the loudest and most assholish type of person. OWS is a perfect example of why anarchy is at its core, an incredibly stupid idea and a really dumb way to try and run a movement.
It is a damn shame.
Yup. But an inevitable result of the leaderless and structureless design of the movement which privileges the loudest and most assholish type of person. OWS is a perfect example of why anarchy is at its core, an incredibly stupid idea and a really dumb way to try and run a movement.
It is a damn shame.
8
Hey Dominic it's a revolution! Remember? You told us!
Btw did you ever find Jennifer Fox's missing fetus or are you pretending you weren't its biggest booster?
Btw did you ever find Jennifer Fox's missing fetus or are you pretending you weren't its biggest booster?
10
@3: Would you mind showing us the evidence that there were rapes and killings being planned by the Occupy protestors, and how exactly mass pepper sprayings averted these planned crimes?
Because if you can not, I guess you are just making shit up. I would be shocked if you were just fabricating things to make a political point.
Because if you can not, I guess you are just making shit up. I would be shocked if you were just fabricating things to make a political point.
11
the most important thing they could do is expose the sweetheart deals corrupt Big Business depends on for their zero tax rate lifestyle.
12
@10: There were rapes and at least one murder in the Occupy camps. But you're right, I shouldn't have made it sound like they were planned or a result of mob action.
13
Note to activists: In the future leave the setting up of refugee camps to well-funded, professional NGOs.
14
Occupy absolutely redefined our awareness of wealth, power, government and social control, and awakened countless people to the power that we can wield when we come together.
I think of the movement as a "revolution of consciousness". Occupy is a tremendous force and its effects are just beginning to be felt.
Paul Jay of The Real News recently spoke with Dennis Trainor, who created the Occupy documentary American Autumn: an Occudoc (full streaming movie):
More...
I think of the movement as a "revolution of consciousness". Occupy is a tremendous force and its effects are just beginning to be felt.
Paul Jay of The Real News recently spoke with Dennis Trainor, who created the Occupy documentary American Autumn: an Occudoc (full streaming movie):
[Trainor's narration from the film:]
Occupy is less of an organization and more of an organism, a living, breathing, multi-tentacled force that refuses to find a niche or be pushed into a corner. This organism is still a baby, and the narrative it will be telling in the years to come is yours to write.
TRAINOR: [snip] greed is a homicidal force in our culture and that we need a cultural shift. And some day, if we can shift the culture, then perhaps we can shift the body of government that governs for, of, and by that culture.
Right now, to say that we have a government of, for, and by the people is a cruel joke. You know, Citizens United may have been the last nail in the coffin, but the giveaway and the corporate takeover of our government's been a process that's been going on for a long time.
JAY: And what about some of the alternative parties that espouse many of the ideas that you see in the Occupy movement, whether it's the Rocky Anderson candidacy with the Justice Party or Jill Stein with the Green Party? What's your attitude towards that?
TRAINOR: I think that the Green Party has been working towards a lot of the things that most people within the Occupy movement who are very young and newly awakened to the movement—the Green parties were working towards those for decades unsuccessfully. Part of that could be some organizational problems within the Green Party, but a bigger part of it, as Ralph Nader has pointed out on Real News over and time and time again, is the exclusion from—any other candidates from the conversation.
So I think that, you know, for people who live in states that Obama's going to carry, if you're really worried about that, if you can't find it within you to vote your conscience and find a candidate that you are attracted to, then you can vote tactically and give your vote to Jill Stein. Now, maybe the Green Party and Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala can get a little bit more of a slice of the conversation if they get 2 or 3 or 4 percent. This is a tactical vote. And for me, that's how I approach the election. But I don't think people should take electoral advice from me. I've never voted for a winner.
15
Democracy Now's coverage includes an interview with Tom Morello:
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/17/oc…
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/17/oc…
16
@ 14, LOL. Good one. That will only be the third or fourth "revolution of consciousness" since I've been alive.
OWS brought about a much needed change to the dialogue when they represented the 99%. As soon as they became the other 1% (of people in America who are left-wing extremists), they lost all relevance. I can only thank the gods that it took a while for those bozos to take over, or else we wouldn't have gotten that shift.
OWS brought about a much needed change to the dialogue when they represented the 99%. As soon as they became the other 1% (of people in America who are left-wing extremists), they lost all relevance. I can only thank the gods that it took a while for those bozos to take over, or else we wouldn't have gotten that shift.
18
@17
Y'know, I think the politicians and pundits may have a better shot at improving things than the window-smashers and bridge-bombers.
But let's not muddy the waters, right? Down with The System!
Y'know, I think the politicians and pundits may have a better shot at improving things than the window-smashers and bridge-bombers.
But let's not muddy the waters, right? Down with The System!
19
@14, why haven't we seen you on Slog before? Or are you just here from OWS to try to make your failed organization legit?
BTW, only the GOP mentioned you during the conventions, the Dems ignored you. So let's be real...you failed at changing the conversation and you went away as soon as the weather turned cold.
BTW, only the GOP mentioned you during the conventions, the Dems ignored you. So let's be real...you failed at changing the conversation and you went away as soon as the weather turned cold.
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