How 'Occupy Wall Street'
has seized the moment
3:34 PM on 10/05/2011
Nevermind that the Tea Party has held the media and by extension the public, and finally, its policymakers over a barrel for the past two years with a "movement" that began as wide and wildly as Occupy Wall Street. That the ragtag bunch who came together to demand economic justice at the symbolic site of the crime is pitch perfect.
For too long it seemed the Tea Party and rabidly reactionary conservatives were successful in convincing their fellow Americans it was the barely middle class overspenders who couldn't afford their McMansions that brought this country's economy to its knees. Obama's financial reform TAARP rescued banks with billions of taxpayers dollars but about only 30 million homeowners managed to get their mortgages reduced in its Foreclosure Prevention Program. The four biggest banks, deemed too big to fail, were barely slapped on the wrist for their deceptive and discriminatory practices.
WATCH OCCUPY WALL STREET PARTICIPANTS DISCUSS THE MOVEMENT HERE:
VIDEO shot by Chika Oduah
VIDEO edited & produced by Todd Johnson
Instead of functioning as public utilities given their tax breaks and recent bailout by taxpayers, they nickel and dime their customers "because of recent regulation" as if last year's financial reform, which largely called for transparency, went far enough. That the banks' top executives and trading houses who'd treated taxpayers pensions and mortgages like Vegas chips, received the same multi-million dollar bonuses they would've had they not gone to Congress with their hats in their hands, seemed too much for the American people to bear. But silently bear it, we seemed to. Until Occupy Wall Street took over the square, the millions of victims of some of the biggest corporate crimes committed in this country seemed invisible.
The demand within and outside the Occupy Wall Street movement that they come up with a clear set of actionable demands seems both reasonable and beside the point. (And the declaration they drafted and released did little to make clear any demands). Protest as public spectacle, even as performative, is part and parcel of any effective movement.
The regular protests in the 80s and 90s under the expansive pink triangle, the Women's Movement of the 70s and yes, the Civil Rights protests, all included diverse and conflicting protesters with varying sets of interests and palettes for reform or revolution. Some of the protesters who joined those successful movements were activists and organizers, but many more were moved to make visible, with their very bodies, their opposition to injustice.
That the Occupy Wall Street protesters have only clearly declared they demand economic justice makes this movement both amorphous and diffusive enough to include the many millions across the globe who were affected by America's cowboy bankers. Tomorrow, teacher's unions are set to join the Occupy Wall Street protests reminding us there has been no bailout of public education. The teachers' presence also is a reminder labor unions have exhausted much of their ability to collectively bargain and negotiate even with their elected officials, as tied as those officials are to corporate America.
Last week, in Athens, the European ground zero for months long anti-corporate protests, the trend in the streets pointed to the unification of the far right and the political left. Despite the reported presence of some Tea Party types at Occupy Wall Street, that doesn't look as likely in America. In fact, only a few days ago, the evangelical Apostolic Reformation movement, who received a bit of media attention when they lead a prayer rally attended by Texas Governor and flailing Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, began a theocratic takeover of D.C. They plan to occupy the nation's capital for 40 days, demanding much of the nation be ridded of demons.
I truly hope the majority of Black people in this country don't, even secretly, identify with those loons more than they do the "fringe movement" that's taken center stage in downtown Manhattan. We have more to lose than most, and whether we believe in taking our grievances to the streets anymore, we've certainly received little result in lobbying the administration we put in office for some attention. Take off your bedroom slippers indeed.
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“Grandma’s going,
so I am going too”
Short video piece on Jelani Gibson, a 16-year-old protester who traveled with his grandmother from Pontiac, Michigan to New York to join the protests Wall Street. He also has a 4.0 GPA. He had never slept on the street before. Tell that to US media.
>via: http://africasacountry.com/2011/10/06/grandmas-going-so-i-am-going-too/
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Occupy Wall St. group
speaks up for America
by Rev. Jesse Jackson
People are turning. The misery is too widespread. The privileged are too brazen. The injustice too apparent.
On Wall Street, young students have created a free democratic space in a place they call Liberty Square. They protest that Wall Street has been rescued, but there is no help for most Americans. In a moving statement, they presented their view:
“We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we are working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.”
Their demonstrators were scorned in the beginning. They had no clear demands. They were organized with no formal structure. They were squatting out in the rain, not allowed tents or bedding.
But they understood the value of nonviolence. In the face of pepper spray and police provocation, they stayed disciplined. As they were being dragged away to be arrested, they said to the police, “We are the 99 percent. We are fighting for your pensions. You should stand with us.”
They made no demands but their analysis was dead on. The wealthiest few are capturing all the rewards of growth in this society, while the large majority falls behind. Wall Street got bailed out, rescued without being reorganized, while homeowners were left to fend for themselves.
Inequality has reached levels not seen since before the Great Depression. With this kind of inequality — with the top 1 percent having as much income as the bottom 60 percent the economy doesn’t work well. The rich turn to speculation. The middle class sinks. And the country suffers.
Now conservatives are talking about sending the bill for Wall Street’s excesses to the most vulnerable — cutting Medicare and Social Security, slashing spending on public education.
Many of the kids in Occupy Wall Street are graduating from college with thousands in college debt and no jobs are to be found. They are the 99 percent.
The discipline of their demonstrations, the clarity of their moral voice, has touched a chord. Now groups are organizing to occupy financial districts in some 57 cities. Demonstrators have been arrested in Boston and San Francisco. The New Bottom Line is leading sit-ins at big banks in cities across the country. And this Wednesday, labor unions and civil rights and community action groups will join in New York in a march to support Occupy Wall Street.
A movement for change is building across the country. In July and August, without much press attention, citizens flooded congressional town hall meetings to demand jobs. Congressional caucuses created jobs tours. And they made a difference. The president chose to put out the American Jobs Act and demand that Congress act. People are turning.
Occupy Wall Street is in that tradition of nonviolence with a moral voice organizing to challenge entrenched power and privilege, a movement that stands with the majority against a powerful elite. To date, this has been a remarkable commitment to nonviolent protest, with creative and new techniques.
It was reported that the Wall Street traders drank champagne in their offices as they looked down on the drenched and straggly demonstrators in Liberty Square. They should hold their scorn. This is how change takes place. The courageous stand up — and more and more people come to their side. The movement for jobs and justice has started up again.
>via: http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/8010360-452/occupy-wall-st-group-speaks-...
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Is black America sitting out
'Occupy Wall Street'?
|
11:45 AM on 10/06/2011 |
Chika Oduah/TheGrio.com)
In an appearance on MSNBC recently, media and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons suggested he could help bring hundreds of thousands of people to the protests.
"I think we need some adjustments and I think the protesters represent a growing number of Americans who feel that there is a class warfare and the rich are waging a great war on the middle class and working class," he told MSNBC's Martin Bashir.
TheGrio: 700 arrested after protest on NY's Brooklyn Bridge
Some participants said Simmons' presence, along with other high-profile African-Americans, such as Cornel West, will help show black America that Occupy Wall Street has as much to do with them as anyone else.
The protests have spread all over the U.S. - from Los Angeles to Chicago to Connecticut - with no signs of slowing down. The protests, which originated in lower Manhattan, saw a spike in black and Latino participation around the time of the Troy Davis debate and execution but then tapered off.
"I think the [African-American] presence is definitely missed," said Anne Baxter, 60 and a registered nurse. "There are individuals here, like myself, but not to the extent where you can say 'African-Americans are here and are taking on the struggle.'"
A Facebook page, 'Occupy The Hood,' has attracted one thousand 'members' and has a specific focus on getting more African-American voices heard throughout the protests. The group has a Twitter account as well.
But social media may not be enough.
"Black people are tired," said Cassandra Freeman, an actress and drama instructor. "They've been feeling what a lot of these protesters have been feeling for years, so they support the movement even though they are not physically here."
Freeman, 32, says those who have jobs are lucky and need to hold on to them. She says that may be a reason why African-American women especially have not been a strong presence at the protests.
"They want to be a part of this, but you can be a part of it and not physically be here."
Tillery, whose research specializes in social movements, said the question of black involvement in the occupy protests is a serious one - and one that deserves more critical coverage.
"What we know from social science research is that people need resources that increase their sense of efficacy and facilitates their ability to break out of such hardship conditions and participate in protest actions," Tillery adds. "I am not ready to say that African-Americans are underrepresented in the movement because their participation may not yet be fully visible."
NBC News associate Chika Oduah contributed to this report.
>via: http://www.thegrio.com/politics/occupy-wall-street-leaves-black-america-behin...