Posts tagged ‘Occupy Wall Street’

“Make A Ruckus”: Robert Reich Hails Occupy For Exposing Concentration of Wealth and Power

by , posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 at 3:34 pm

from Democracy Now!

In his new book, Beyond Outrage, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich opens with a dedication to the Occupy Wall Street movement. He writes: “To the Occupiers, and all others committed to taking back our economy and our democracy.” We speak to Reich about the success of Occupy in reshaping the national dialogue on the economy and why strong grassroots movements are needed to push elected leaders in Washington to enact a progressive agenda. Reich also discusses why austerity is not the answer to the economic crisis at home, or in Europe.

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David Harvey on Urban Uprisings From Occupy Wall Street to Paris Commune

by , posted on Monday, April 30th, 2012 at 10:19 am

from Democracy Now!

On Tuesday, May 1st, known as May Day or International Workers Day, Occupy Wall Street protesters hope to mobilize tens of thousands of people across the country under the slogan, “General Strike. No Work. No Shopping. Occupy Everywhere.” Events are planned in 125 cities. We speak with leading social theorist David Harvey, distinguished professor of anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, about how Occupy Wall Street compares to other large-scale grassroots movements throughout modern history. His most recent book is “Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution.”

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SDS Founder, Tom Hayden on Participatory Democracy From Port Huron to Occupy Wall Street

by , posted on Friday, April 13th, 2012 at 9:59 am

from Democracy Now!

DemocracyNow.org – We speak with Tom Hayden, principal author of the Port Huron statement 50 years ago, the founding document of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The statement advocated for participatory democracy and helped launch the student movement of the 1960s. Tens of thousands of copies of the 25,000-word document were printed in booklet form. The youth-led movement changed the very language of politics and its impact is still being felt today. Hayden is a longtime activist and former California state senator.

See also: “Participatory Democracy: From the Port Huron Statement to Occupy Wall Street,” by Tom Hayden, The Nation, April 16, 2012

and: Found Objects for a Friday Afternoon: The Port Huron Statement

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Temperatures Dropping, Occupiers Still Occupying

by , posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 at 3:50 pm

The last time we got hit with 8″ of snow was Jan 21, 2012 and we had our biggest turnout for Occupy Aurora yet.

The VOICE Newspaper (available hardcopy only) covered the story and the Beacon News covered the story here.

Illinois Media Progressives covered the story on YouTube .  Please send this video on to your friends and let them know why we are doing this!

With a snow storm predicted for the Fox Valley this weekend, I thought I would let people know that for Saturday, Feb 25th, occupiers will be gathering in at least three Fox Valley locations and there is interest in an “Occupy Kendall” initiative.

Occupy Elgin
When: Saturday @ 1:00 p.m. with a GA to follow in the lobby of Hemmings Auditorium
Where: The corner of Kimball St. and Grove Ave. in Elgin, IL (Parking is available and convenient)

Occupy Aurora
When: Saturday @ 10 a.m. with GA to follow at Arby’s
Where: Bank of America at the corner of Indian Trail and Orchard Rd. in Aurora

Occupy Naperville
When: 10 a.m. in front of the Bank of America, located at the corner of Van Buren & Washington in Naperville. 
At 11:00 AM, Occupy Napervill will march to the First Congregational United Church of Christ, located at 25 E. Benton Ave and conduct an indoor General Assembly until 1:00 PM.

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Occupy Aurora action, January 21, 2012

by , posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 12:23 pm

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Has the Economic Crisis and Broken Political System Created Room for Justice?

by , posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 at 3:53 pm

As corporate ideologues continue to dominate Republican Party primaries and Democrats continue to ignore or brow-beat their base while pushing policies that benefit the wealthy and powerful, many activists and voters are wondering how to restore democracy for the 99%.

Some favor street activism like the Occupy Movement, while others turn to on-line activism like petition signing and blogging.  These efforts are worthwhile and represent the birth pains of democracy, but elections matter.  Until politicians fear losing their seats, or lose their seats, the 1% will continue to write the laws that the majority of us will dutifully obey those laws.  Politically, I have always tried to use my time to work within the Democratic Party to get “better Democrats,” but, as clearly illustrated by the 2010 shellacking, many working people rewarded mediocrity with apathy; choosing not to vote for the lesser of two evils.  How would these people respond to something new?

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Witness This

by , posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 12:31 am

This isn’t a particularly original post. In fact, I first saw this video in this diary on DKos about ten minutes ago. But I think there is cause enough within this video itself for just about every blogger out there to take a moment and post it, hell, for every citizen out there to take a moment and email a link to their acquaintance, to post it to their facebook, to tweet it, to spread it around.

We are all citizen journalists now, each in our own way now; it’s incumbent on us to spread the truth, for I doubt very much that corporate media will.

UPDATE: just saw that according to this AP story this is just a little “nudging” with batons…so no cause for concern about the police delivering unprovoked beatings to young women to see here folks. Who are you going to believe, the Associated Press or your lying eyes?? Share the truth: because corporate media will not.

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Durbin Meets Occupy Rockford

by , posted on Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 at 1:01 pm

Senator Richard Durbin speaks with members of Occupy Rockford at the dedication of the new Federal Court House.

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Police brutality against peaceful protesters.

by , posted on Saturday, November 5th, 2011 at 11:01 pm

Here’s a scene of Oakland police using stun grenades on peaceful protesters who were trying to help a War Veteran from the Iraq War who was shot in the face by a non-lethal round by Oakland police [he was seriously hurt].

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Occupy the Globe

by , posted on Friday, October 7th, 2011 at 12:02 pm

The Occupy Wall Street movement is spreading beyond U.S. borders. I saw a few references to Canadian occupy events earlier this week, but this morning I saw this story on CNN.

It includes references to Occupy events – some of them long-term occupations, some planned as solidarity marches on October 15 – in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth in Australia, London, Hong Kong, Beunos Aires, Madrid, Dublin, unspecified city/cities in Italy. And that’s just in this story.

I can’t find a reference to global events specifically on the Occupy Together website, but could be I’m just missing it. They do say on their website today that there are now Occupy meetups in 890 cities.

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