Occupy Global
January 20, 2012 - 3:54pm
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Syndicate
Project for a walk to Jerusalem for peace
Faced with the inability of the powers that be to enforce the rights to self determination of Palestinians, other than their persistent focus on profit that results in their continued permanent oppression, a group of people are marching from Nice to Athens together with people from all over the world present at the Rome Agora, are calling for a to walk to Jerusalem for peace.
A broad platform will be created to enable a participatory process for the creation of this project, which will be submitted to the Agora of Athens upon the arrival of the marchers.
http://takethesquare.net/2012/01/20/project-for-a-walk-to-jerusalem-for-...
Situation of the movement in Barcelona after nine months of Indignation
After we decentralized the movement and took the concept of assemblies back to our neighborhoods, and the main camp was evicted by the police, the General Assembly of Barcelona lost its direct authority and became a vehicle for information instead which take place every month in Plaza Catalunya.
All decisions are now taken in the 23 neighborhoods during their weekly assembly, coordinated by the ‘inter-barrios’ group. They also have ‘inter-pueblos’ assemblies to coordinate the villages around the city, a 15M Catalan meeting, and have had two face-to-face national meetings alongside the regular virtual assemblies conducted on the open-source ‘Mumble’ platform.
The movement is open both to neighborhoods who reject the centralized nature of ‘the square’ and consider the General Assembly of Barcelona illegitimate, and those who value it as a central point of co-ordination.....
http://takethesquare.net/2012/01/20/situation-of-the-movement-in-barcelo...
Landless Peasants with 80 Families Occupy and Take Over Farm in Northern Uruguay
The landless peasants’ movement has reached Uruguay: the self called “shaggy” ones, with eighty families, have taken over a 400 hectares farm in the extreme north of the country Artigas, and have been occupying the land since.
Source: MercoPress
“We have been through seven years of Broad Front government and very few peasants or paid farm hands have had access to a plot of land”, said Jorge Rodas president of the Union of Sugar Workers from Artigas, (UTAA).
The union was originally founded in the sixties by the Uruguayan urban guerrilla leader Raul Sendic and whose organization now as a political party belongs to the ruling catch-all Broad Front coalition which extends from the conservative Christian Democrats to Communists, Socialists, anarchists, Trotskyites and obviously the former guerrilla, whose current leader was elected in 2009 president of the country, Jose Mujica.
The idea of the ‘shaggies”, very similar to the MST, landless movement in Brazil and who have introduced the 80 families, is to remain for some time to send “a strong message to the government and the people of Uruguay”....
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3412-landless-peasants-with-80-families-occupy-and-take-over-farm-in-northern-uruguay
Chile rising
Fault Lines follows Chile's student protest movement and examines the underlying issues driving the anger. video:
Chilean students have taken over schools and city streets in the largest protests the country has seen in decades.
The students are demanding free education, and an end to the privatisation of their schools and universities. The free-market based approach to education was implemented by the military dictator Augusto Pinochet in his last days in power.
The protests are causing a political crisis for Sebastian Pinera, the country's president. But what are the underlying issues driving the anger?
As the demonstrations in Chile coincide with protests erupting globally, Fault Lines follows the Chilean student movement during their fight in a country plagued by economic inequality.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2011/11/20111111039132571...
Occupy Wall Street At the Crossroads - by Ismael Hossein Zadeh
http://counterpunch.org/2012/01/20/occupy-wall-street-at-the-crossroads/
"...Why aren't more of the 99% joining the movement? And why has support for protest actions of the Occupiers declined?"
Cultural Outcomes of the Occupy Movement
quote:
The single most important thing to understand about the Occupy movement[deleted plural ending] is that it is primarily a movement about cultural change, not institutional and policy change. Cultural change means changing the nature of political discourse and the various spheres in which it is carried on, especially mass media. Changing what is salient on the public agenda can open discursive opportunities for various groups seeking specific institutional and policy changes.
The cultural mission of the Occupy movement is to raise consciousness about the corporate domination of American political, social, and economic institutions – and to the enormous inequalities in income and wealth produced by this domination. At the same time, it attempts to build a collective identity within its constituency by making personal suffering a shared experience. While I have no systematic data to prove it has done so, I am quite confident that, when such data is available, it will show that in various forums there has been a sharp increase since September, 2011 in references to corporate power and actual or potential abuse of corporate power and to statistics showing the dramatic increases in wealth and income controlled by the richest one percent or fewer families....
http://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/cultural-outcomes-of-the...
Occupy San Francisco gets down to business
SAN FRANCISCO–Act II of the Occupy Wall Street movement, San Francisco version, kicked off on a rainy, blustery Friday in the heart of the city’s financial district. Targeting specific corporations like Wells Fargo and Bank of America and emphasizing real, tangible issues like home foreclosures, affordable health care and education as well as broader ones like the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, several hundred protesters – the exact number was impossible to estimate – fanned out across the city, snarling traffic, getting arrested, holding sidewalk teach-ins, and generally serving notice that after its brief winter hibernation, the Occupy movement was back and kicking.....
http://politics.salon.com/2012/01/21/occupy_san_francisco_gets_down_to_b...
................................................
Heroic Occupiers Close BoA, Hold Off Police for 10 Hours.Yesterday, in San Francisco, Occupiers did just that.
The entire financial district (and beyond) became the stage for OccupyWallStWest, as multiple bank shutdowns and other protests took place over the course of the day.
quote:
The Bank of America branch on Montgomery St. between California and Pine stayed eyes-wide shut from 8:00 AM until the Occupiers declared victory at 6:00 PM. Not a single customer made it into that bank; the only two people I ever saw inside it were a lone security guard and a bank official....
Occupy Post Offices
The destruction of the Post Office has moved into a higher gear. Last year 3600 communities were put on notice that they will likely lose their local post office. “We will start to see post offices closing at the rate of a hundred a week,” predicts Steve Hutkins whose Save the Post Office is by far the single best source of information on all things post office. “They've been closing at a rate of one hundred a year for the past 40 years.”
The Postmaster General promises to close half the country's 32,000 post offices over the next four years. He will be closing more than half the nation’s 487 mail processing centers even more rapidly.
quote:
A nationwide grassroots resistance is emerging that cuts across party lines, uniting rich and poor, rural and urban, black, white and Hispanic. Rallies protesting closures have occurred in half a dozen states. They are fighting to save a government institution that fundamentally contributes to their sense of community, of social cohesion, of well-being. “The postal service tries to say there is no historical significance to (our) post office”, writes William Duncan, a resident of Grapevine, Arkansas. “We beg to differ. 131 years in a community is historical no matter where you are located. It is the only office remaining in our community, due to school consolidations. But, without the post office, Grapevine no longer exists. It becomes a place, not a community....
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/24
European day of action against capitalism on March 31
quote:
It‘s the system!
Over the past decades, capitalist globalisation has intensified competition between private corporations and national economies alike. All leading industrial nations have thoroughly deregulated their markets, and have imposed that model on others. They have cut benefits, privatised public goods, cut labour rights, and increased social control – all in the interest of unimpeded capitalist growth. In Europe, supposedly on the sunny side of world capitalism, our lives are becoming ever more precarious, and social divisions increase. The so called “emerging markets” find themselves in a state of constant social crisis, with rigid expropriation and ruthless exploitation, backed by governments in the interest of a national growth that only serves the privileged few. In an obsessive hunt for competitive advantages, neoliberal policies have brought financial markets to a boiling point. Be it the dotcom boom, the bonanza of real-estate-funds and derivatives – those bubbles have burst one after the other. This is not the result of individual “greed” or the “corruption” of a tiny elite, as many claim, but of the trivial systemic imperatives of capitalism as a social order. That’s why the system needs to be changed....
http://takethesquare.net/2012/01/25/european-day-of-action-against-capit...
Occupy London publicly repossesses empty nine-storey building in the Barbican in the City of London
The Occupy London campaigners – part of the global movement for social and economic justice and real democracy – stated that they intend to occupy the building – their fifth occupation – until such time as the City of London Corporation publishes full details of its City Cash Accounts. This is a request that Occupy London has consistently asked of the Corporation, so that it can become financially transparent – just like every other public body in the country...
*** For update on Roman House occupation and further information about the the Teach out focusing on the City’s secret finances & lobbying activities see http://occupylsx.org/?p=3281 ***
Making Worlds: An OWS Forum on the Commons
February 16-18, 2012
An Invitation
The Occupy movement is entering a new phase, one in which many of us feel the need of combining a renewed engagement with direct actions and mobilizations with a deep reflection on the strategic objectives of our movement. In order to fulfill this need, the organizing committee of Making Worlds* is inviting all the Occupy supporters and sympathizers as well as other organizations to participate in this Forum on the politics of the commons. In particular, we are interested in understanding how groups and communities working on housing, health care, education, food, water, energy, information, communication and knowledge resources can develop a vision of these resources as commons, that is, as an alternative form of social organization to the state and corporate capitalism. Making Worlds has the ambitious goal of articulating a strategic vision from and for the movement as well as specific political initiatives aiming at its realization.....
http://makingworlds.wikispaces.com/
Adbusters Issues New Call to Action: Occupy Chicago for G8/NATO Summit
Now, Adbusters has issued a Call to Action to Occupy Chicago for the G8/NATO summit this coming May:
Hey you redeemers, rebels and radicals out there,
Against the backdrop of a global uprising that is simmering in dozens of countries and thousands of cities and towns, the G8 and NATO will hold a rare simultaneous summit in Chicago this May. The world’s military and political elites, heads of state, 7,500 officials from 80 nations, and more than 2,500 journalists will be there.
And so will we.
On May 1, 50,000 people from all over the world will flock to Chicago, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month. With a bit of luck, we’ll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen.....
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/26
Longshore Union, Occupy Poised to Greet Grain Ship
Waiting somewhere in the Columbia River is a freighter. The transnational grain exporter EGT wants to use scab labor to load it at the small Washington state port of Longview and send it to Asia.
It won’t be easy. Hundreds of Occupiers and Longshore union (ILWU) members in the Northwest have vowed to protest when the freighter attempts to dock and load. ILWU members have stood together in Longview since June, halting trains, dumping the grain they carry, and invading the port terminal to stop scab work.
Their campaign of nonviolent resistance has been met with escalating police action and 130 arrests, some so aggressive they have sent ILWU allies to the hospital.
The stakes are higher this time. A Coast Guard escort will join the grain ship as it attempts to dock. Dan Coffman, president of ILWU Local 21 in Longview, expects vessels with mounted .50 caliber machine guns, armed Coast Guardsmen on the grain ship, and a big law enforcement presence bristling with weaponry.....
http://labornotes.org/2012/01/longshore-union-occupy-poised-greet-grain-...
A New Chile is Possible
Soon after, victims of the 2010 earthquake began to demonstrate. Most of them were still homeless, spending their second winter in highly precarious conditions. As they pointed out, highways used to transport goods had been repaired, but not the homes of the poor and working class.
At the end of April, students began to mobilize. On June 30, 200,000 marched along the Alameda, Santiago's most important thoroughfare. From then on, there were dozens of marches. "Young people were moved by a festive spirit," according to historian Mario Garcés. There were no political party banners or uniform signs. Above all, there were no marches to familiar state symbols-Congress and the President's Office, the usual destinations for unions and political parties.
In the following weeks, students, especially high school students, occupied the television network Chilevision to protest coverage of the mobilizations. They also occupied political party headquarters, both the ultra-rightist UDI and the opposition Socialist Party.
Occupy and superimpose freedom and life over the existing ruins of society..everywhere. Appeal to none of it because it is dead to us, but only refuses burial. Zombie institutions populated by the dead from the neck up.
Anonymous hacks another private intelligence company, reveals spying on Occupy Austin and Deep Green Resistance
Computer hackers known as Anonymous leaked information obtained by hacking into private intelligence firm Stratfor’s computer network. The documents—what Anonymous is calling a teaser—suggest that from at least October to November 2011 Stratfor worked with Texas law enforcement to infiltrate the Occupy movement and spy on the Deep Green Resistance (DGR) movement. The document contains emails in which Stratfor employees discuss Occupy Austin and DGR. Stratfor “Watch Officer” Marc Lanthemann writes about receiving information on Occupy Austin and DGR from a “Texas DPS agent.” The Texas Department of Public Safety is a statewide law enforcement agency that includes an Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division....
https://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/anonymous-hacks-another-private-intelligence-company-reveals-spying-on-occupy-austin-and-deep-green-resistance/
Flash-grenades & tear-gas: 300 arrested at Occupy Oakland (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Police in Oakland, California, have used tear-gas and flash-grenades as a 2,000-strong Occupy Oakland march turned violent, with some protesters claiming that rubber bullets were also fired into the crowd. At least 300 people were arrested.....
http://rt.com/news/occupy-oakland-police-gas-971/
Longshore Union Settles Grain Dispute as Confrontation Loomed
quote:Head for Longview
Talk had swirled from the Bay Area to Seattle about the need for ILWU supporters to mass in Longview to prevent a waiting ship from docking at EGT’s terminal—though the logistics of such an action were unclear. The ship would have been loaded by IUOE members with grain bound for Asia.
Occupy groups on the West Coast had lined up hundreds of volunteers, and ILWU President Bob McEllrath had called on members to be ready to come to Longview on short notice—while making sure that enough members remained at home to work the ports in their home cities.
ILWU officials feared more fines if they were seen to violate the Taft-Hartley Act’s prohibition on sympathy strikes. In September as many as 800 ILWU members from Seattle, Longview, Tacoma, and Portland descended on Longview to invade EGT’s terminal, block railroad tracks, and dump grain on the tracks. As a result, port work was shut down in Tacoma and Seattle for the day.
Michael Eisenscher has been active in the Occupy Oakland Labor Solidarity Committee, where plans for supporters to head for Longview were being made. “The ILWU has a strong culture of solidarity,” he said. “And it’s a history of recent practices, not a distant memory.” ILWU Local 10 in the Bay Area had authorized $10,000 for its members’ transportation.
Longtime labor activists speculated that Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, who brokered Monday’s agreement, feared ILWU members would shut the ports again in her state, despite McEllrath’s plea.
When West Coast ports were closed in a contract dispute in 2002, employers that depend on imports, such as Walmart, pushed President George W. Bush to intervene.
No Tugboats, Just the Coast GuardThose organizing the protests were aided by the solidarity of tugboat operators in the area—ILWU members—who refused to escort the grain ship. The ship was forced to wait as EGT contracted a non-union operator from Panama, which would have taken days to arrive....
http://labornotes.org/2012/01/longshore-union-settles-grain-dispute-conf...
Oakland police could face federal takeover
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mayor Jean Quan vowed Wednesday to quickly reform the scandal-plagued Oakland Police Department after a frustrated judge threatened a federal takeover if it fails to quickly make good on changes agreed to nine years ago.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said he "remains in disbelief" that the department has failed to adopt the reforms.
Henderson's frustration with the pace of improvements was evident throughout a scathing five-page ruling issued Tuesday.
"This department finds itself woefully behind its peers around the state and nation," he wrote.
In his ruling, Henderson increased the oversight authority of a court-appointed monitor. Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan must now consult with the monitor before making important department decisions such as promoting and disciplining officers and changing policing policy and tactics....
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwU-2jAsrYECdrZLEleedL...
Eventually when all of the trappings of faux democracy are finally thrown off, when popular dissent is finally crushed as a result of having become criminalized and associated with terrorism, and the project of reducing workers and the working poor, who dare not grumble anymore in public, to the status of low paid serfs in the employ of conglomerations and their political wings in government comes to fruition, the total implementation of which not being too far off at all; it will be the turn of the unionized cop who assisted in all of that to be replaced by lower paid security personnel, who might only need to come by their qualifications through an online course or something. And when even those become too expensive, they'll just import security guards at a fraction. And so the cop swinging his baton and spraying his pepper spray at the faces of today's activists, ultimately fights for the right of corporations to eventually replace this ‘service' on their behalf with indentured servitude from elsewhere. Profit's destination is to drain from everywhere until there is nothing left.
and it seems to be working like a hot knife through butter - especially here in Canada...
DC Metro Labor Council Backs Occupy Against Eviction
In their daily publication, Union City, the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO, issued a strong statement to their 20,000+ readership in support of Occupy DC, calling on the rank and file to join the protesters in fighting for the rights of the 99%. The statement reads as follows:
Occupy DC to Resist Eviction at Twin Noontime Actions Today: Occupy DC protesters are urging area supporters to join them at noon today as they resist eviction threats by the National Park Service (NPS). “Occupy DC has been on the frontlines for working people,” said Metro Council President Jos Williams. “They’ve been fearless in standing up and marching in the streets for the 99%, now it’s our turn to stand with them.”.....
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2012/01/30/dc-metro-labor-council-backs-occupy-against-eviction/
After Journalist Arrests, U.S. Plummets in Global Press Freedom RankingsAnd these Occupy arrests are not isolated incidents. According to organizations like the Society for Professional Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association and the Committee to Protect Journalists, the arrests at Occupy events are part of a growing trend in the U.S. and worldwide.
President Obama has often made media reform and press freedom part of his platform. As a candidate he called for Internet freedom, greater media diversity and limits on media consolidation. “The arc of human progress has been shaped by individuals with the freedom to assemble,” Obama said in a speech at the United Nations in 2009, “and by organizations outside of government that insisted upon democratic change and by free media that held the powerful accountable.”
Maybe they can swap stories with economic migrant detainees held in those barbed wire encampments they've arranged, courtesy of Homeland Security.
Stun Guns Vs Occupy DC (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/occupy-police-taser-protestor-033/
"Cops tase protester in pyjamas"
Moscow and New York fighting together. Show them your support!
Moscow and New York General Assemblies are preparing a joint statement in favor of nuclear disarmament. A symbol of a new era in history, in which people can find each other to build a better world beyond borders, beyond the fear established by governments, beyond who taught them to be be enemies.
This is the provisional statement:
http://www.nycga.net/groups/antiwar/docs/draft-joint-declaration-of-occupy-moscow-and-ows-approved-by-antiwar-working-group
The process is not finished yet and some may show reluctance on the road, so we want to tell them they are not alone, that the whole world looks with pride what they are doing and support them to move forward. To do this, we ask that you write an email to: antiwarmoscowny@gmail.com showing your support and the support of your assembly in case you are part of any.
Together we can go further. Together we can achieve anything. Thank you!
Occupy London Tours … Showing you another side of London
Bored with Big Ben? Tired of the Tower of London? Let us show you another side of the capital with our informative and entertaining tours. ‘Enlightening’ – the IndependentAfter the success of our first tours, we are holding additional tours on the dates listed below.
MayfairThe most expensive place on the Monopoly board, and the no.1 destination for hedge funds in Europe. Among the luxury hotels, boutique shops and exclusive clubs, we’ll take you to some of the secretive institutions that operate in the shadows of the world economy. Take a walk with Occupy London as we delve into the murkiest corners of ‘hedge fund alley’…
Meet outside Green Park tube (Piccadilly north exit). Look out for the tour guide with the umbrella! The tour takes around two hours.
Saturday 4th February, 2pm
Canary WharfSaturday 11th February, 2pm
London’s brash new financial district, home to some of the giants of the investment banking world. From the big banks to the ratings agencies, from the auditors to the regulators, we’ll tell the story of the financial crisis in one of the places where it all happened… Those of a nervous disposition should be warned to expect tax dodging, financial chicanery, and bonus bonananzas.
Meet outside Canary Wharf tube. Look out for the tour guide with the umbrella! The tour takes around one hour.
Thursday 2nd February, 6pm
Thursday 9th February, 7pm (later time)
And look out for upcoming tours of the City, to be announced soon!
http://occupylsx.org/?p=3399
Yo no pago! Report from Barcelona by Mikifus
quote: - This is the situation:
In Spain, public transport is being affected by the austerity and the companies decided to lower the salaries, fire the employees and increase the price of the service. There was no needing of anything of this, they’re just taking profit.
Also, the public transport increases every year the price, it’s normal because salaries also increase.
This year the salaries are freezed because of the crisis (only some governors increased theirs…), so the price of the transport shouldn’t increase.
Well, they did it, 12% of increasing. So fucking nice, privatization of healthcare, families on the streets, closing of public schools… Everybody is having fun.
- This is the reaction:
Most of people does nothing, you know.
Well, public transport it’s not a basic need, so it’s nothing to care so much, there are worse things out there. But the ideas on how to solve it are really interesting: an increase of price has become an opportunity to use the services for free!
Based on the greek movement, we are starting one with the same name: “I don’t pay”, in spanish: “Yo no pago”. Of course Occupy/15m gives support and the movement medias are being used to collaborate.
This movement started with a massive jumping inside the metro (underground,subway I never know how to call it in english), it was a success and yesterday the did it again.
Yesterday in Madrid the metro station was sorrounded by a lot of police and 5 persons were arrested, the protesters made also an improvised demonstration.
In Barcelona was so nice, nobody did nothing to stop it, the doors were open and blocked for hours and workers or police didn’t care. Everybody could enter for free and some random people also joined the demonstration inside the midtown big station.
You’ll find photos and videos here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/yonopago
These ones are great: http://yfrog.com/h65vvbrj
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PltYATuelmg
And today I was surprised when reading about a new parallel movement: “Yo no paro”, in english: “I don’t stop”, literal translation makes it not understandable, I would call it “I won’t stop them”. This is a calling made by the public transport workers from Madrid, they said that they’re not going to ask the people for the tickets nor stop them when jumping the doors in solidarity with the “yo no pago
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/02/yo-no-pago-report-from-barcelona-by-mikifus/
Post-education: empowering the children of the revolution
quote:
Children of the Revolution
Of course the present is never as easy to navigate through as the past or the idealized future. It is in the present that our flaws and internal contradictions are brought into play, and become impossible to run away from. The past always seems more polished, and it is easier to keep on building the present as a perfected replica of the past — or as an eternal anticipation of the future. It is easier to simply insert ourselves into pre-tested roles, “for” something and “against” something, anything that can give us some sense of back-and-forth continuity, clear old paradigms to break and clear new paradigms to adopt, all external to ourselves and to our individual needs. It is easier to just pick a side.
For us young people of a generation that seems to be essentially post-everything, however, it becomes impossible to pick a side without attributing to it elements of theatrics and self-mockery, as it implies giving up being your true, wildly confused self to indulge in a plastically manufactured identity that no one could possibly take seriously. And yet, the other option isn’t much better. To come to terms with our state of drifting in a rapidly changing world suddenly puts us in a position we have not at all been prepared for — we are suddenly the Children of the Revolution, a revolution that hasn’t happened yet, but that manifests itself in the ongoing deterioration of all symbols and institutions of the past. And yet without any alternatives being presented, we are left not with a bright new world, but with a disconcerting void to be filled....
http://roarmag.org/2012/02/post-education-talita-soares-children-revolut...
European Forum in Rome: Minimum Income, Common Goods and Democracy
quote: Throughout Europe, we are witnessing massive transfers of resources from the public to the private sphere. The political responses to the crises are defined by austerity measures and by cuts to social spending, driving Europe further into recession.From Greece to Spain, from London to Rome, European people are increasingly aware of the need for a different model of globalisation. From those resisting the privatisation of resources (for example in Italy with the water referendum, and currently in Romania) to the recent occupations of public spaces against neoliberalism (for example in the UK and Spain), this is the moment to construct and alternative Europe which is not a product of neoliberal politics, but the political expression of European citizens.
Within this context, over forty organisations, networks and social movements from eight European countries will meet in the 600-seat Valle Theatre in Rome to organise a common front to construct an alternative European model. This three-day forum will focus on the construction of common transnational campaigns on the thematics of the commons and guaranteed minimum income as well as the battle against precarity, also utilising the new method provided with the European citizens’ initiative. The event will be a true opportunity to build European networks and campaigns that will take concrete forms in follow-up meetings in Spain, the UK, Romania, Bulgaria and France in the following months to continue the work begun in Rome. The emphasis on concrete campaigns will be the starting point to engage in a reflection on the revision of the EU Treaties, to propose an alternative vision of Europe.....
http://www.euroalter.com/2012/european-forum-in-rome-minimum-income-common-goods-and-democracy/
Things in Greece are moving now in a different way – Report from Athens by MK
quote:
The range and variety of these new projects and activities is enormous. Some are totally practical like helping the homeless or cooking for families others even consider constitutional reforms……
As for the occupations, there are artistic occupations and the project collective kitchen ELCHEF which goes well and is already known. There are also work collectivas operating. These are businesses that close down and the ex employees took over. There is also a major crisis in the mainstream media and the tv channel ALTER (employees unpaid fro months) now is broadcasting strike news. The big Eleytherotypia, a newspaper with a long history, is rumored to be taken over by the employees, at least to produce some strike issues…
Although things are pretty overwhelming several groups try to participate also in the European demonstration agenda, for example there are announced demonstrations in Salonica and Athens for the 11 February worldwide Anti-ACTA day.
The big masses stand frightened and chilled. but even this stasis is quite unstable.They are afraid that what might come up next might be even worse. Let us not forget that Greece has a long traumatic history of foreign forces interfering in its affairs
It is my belief that when the tormented society will be at the breach of exploding, at that exact time, the political elite will decide to go to elections in order to gain time by adding some “democratic” cold water to the boiling society. It will be nothing more that a magician’s trick that will only postpone that which now seems inevitable. A solution of some kind to the Greek tragedy. And there is no tragedy without solution.
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/04/things-in-greece-are-moving-now-in-a...
Greek hospital now under workers' control
Health workers in Kilkis, Greece, have occupied their local hospital and have issued a statement saying it is now fully under workers control.
The general hospital of Kilkis in Greece is now under workers control. The workers at the hospital have declared that the long-lasting problems of the National Health System (ESY) cannot be resolved.
The workers have responded to the regime’s acceleration of fascism by occupying the hospital and outing it under direct and complete control by the workers. All decisions will be made by a ‘workers general assembly’.
The hospital has stated that. “The government is not acquitted of its financial responsibilities, and if their demands are not met, they will turn to the local and wider community for support in every possible way to save the hospital defend free public healthcare, to overthrow the government and every neo-liberal policy.”....
http://libcom.org/blog/greek-hospital-now-under-workers-control-05022012
Wall Street's Secret Spy Center, Run For the 1% By NYPD - by Pam Martens
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/06/wall-streets-secret-spy-center-ru...
"...the center is jointly shared and operated by the NYPD along with the largest Wall Street firms. The Wall Street firms that were bailed out by the 99%, are now policing the 99%..."
'US Brutality Against OWS Overwhelming' (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/225297.html
"Occupy Wall Street movement (OWS) emerged when a group of demonstrators gathered in New York's financial district on September 17, 2011 to protest against social and economic inequality, high unemployment as well as corruption and the influence of corporations on government.
Interview with Oscar Leon, Latin American broadcaster who talks about the domino effects of the Occupy movement from the US to Latin American countries and a new anti-imperialist force..."
The Heroes of Super Bowl Sunday - by Dave Zirin
http://www.thenation.com/blog/166097/heroes-super-bowl-sunday
"...My new heroes are the people in the Occupy and Labor movements who gathered to protest on Super Bowl Sunday. All of these proud trade unionists and Occupy activists showed up even though the AFL-CIO explicitly instructed people not to protest on the day of the big game.
That's why it's so important that the people were a presence at this Woodstock for the 1 percent, leaving energized and excited about further forging connections between the Occupy and the Labor movements. After all, we don't have $3 Million for a 30 second ad. We just have the ability to gather and be heard..."
The Story Behind "The Battle Of Oakland": Perspectives From Move-In Day (Video)
"On January 28th, 2012, Occupy Oakland moved to take a vacant building to use as a social center and a new place to continue organizing. This is the story of what happened that day as told by those who were a part of it. Features rare footage and interviews with Boots Riley, David Graeber, Maria Lewis, and several other witnesses to key events."
Horizontalism and Territory
Horizontal social relationships and the creation of new territory, through the use of geographic space, are the most generalized and innovative of the experiences of the Occupy movement. What we have been witnessing across the United States since September 17th is new in a myriad of ways, yet also, as everything, has local and global antecedents. In this essay I will describe these two innovations, and ground them in the more recent past, specifically in the global south in Argentina. I do this so as to examine commonalities and differences, but also to remind us that these ways of organizing have multiple and diverse precedents, and ones from which we can hopefully learn....
http://www.possible-futures.org/2012/01/09/horizontalism-and-territory/
eta: Horizontalidad is a social relationship that implies, as its name suggests, a flat plane upon which to communicate. Horizontalidad necessarily implies the use of direct democracy and the striving for consensus, processes in which attempts are made so that everyone is heard and new relationships are created. Horizontalidad is a new way of relating, based in affective politics and against all the implications of “isms.”1 It is a dynamic social relationship. It is not an ideology or political program that must be met so as to create a new society or new idea. It is a break with these sorts of vertical ways of organizing and relating, and a break that is an opening.
quote:
One of the most significant things about the social movements that emerged in Argentina after the 19th and 20th of December is how generalized the experience of horizontalidad was and is: from the middle class organized into neighborhood assemblies to the unemployed in neighborhoods, and with workers taking back their work places. Horizontalidad, and a rejection of hierarchy and political parties was the norm for thousands of assemblies, taking place on street corners, in workplaces and throughout the unemployed neighborhoods. And now, ten years later, as people come together to organize, the assumption is that it will be horizontal, from the hundreds of assemblies currently occurring up and down the Andes fighting against international mining companies, to the thousands of Bachilleratos, alternative high school diploma programs organized by former assembly participants and housed in recuperated workplaces.....
Income, Commons, Democracy From European campaigns to the construction of an alternative Europe
10-12 February
Teatro Valle Occupato, Rome
Throughout Europe, we are witnessing massive transfers of resources from the public to the private sphere. The political responses to the crises are defined by austerity measures and by cuts to social spending, driving Europe further into recession.
From Greece to Spain, from London to Rome, European people are increasingly aware of the need for a different model of globalisation. From those resisting the privatisation of resources and services (for example in Italy with the water referendum, and currently in Romania) to the recent occupations of public spaces against neoliberalism (for example in the UK and Spain), this is the moment to construct and alternative Europe, one which is not a product of neoliberal politics, but the political expression of European citizens.
Within this context, over forty organisations, networks and social movements from eight European countries will meet in the 600-seat Valle Theatre in Rome to organise a common front to construct an alternative European model. This three-day forum will focus on the construction of common transnational campaigns on the thematics of the commons and guaranteed minimum income, also utilising the new method provided by the European citizens’ initiative. The event will be a true opportunity to build European networks and campaigns that will take concrete forms in follow-up meetings in Spain, the UK, Romania, Bulgaria and France in the following months to continue the work begun in Rome. The emphasis on concrete campaigns will be the starting point to engage in a reflection on the revision of the EU Treaties, to propose an alternative vision of Europe....
http://www.iuctorino.it/content/income-commons-democracy-european-campaigns-construction-alternative-europe
Essay of the Day: Commons: A framework and kaleidoscope of social practices for another possible world
This article was produced as part of the Rio+20 preparation meeting of the World Social Forum, from the ‘Thematic Group on the Commons’. More information: dialogos2012.org/grupos-tematicos/benscomuns/?lang=en
quote:
Resistance and construction: commons, commoning
The processes of enclosure face resistance. And most of them can be analysed from a commons perspective. On each continent, organized communities are confronted with these challenges. In Bolivia, for example, there is the emblematic case of TIPNIS, the indigenous territory and national park threatened by the construction of a highway that would split in half a pristine park. Indigenous organizations marched more than 600km during two months in defence of this park and long-standing ways of life based on the communion with nature and on self-government, receiving extraordinary support and urban solidarity. As in this local struggle, the resistance is global. Attacks on water as a commons are encountering organized community resistance in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Seven million signatures were collected in a referendum on “water as a commons” in Italy in 2011.
On each continent movements like Occupy, the Indignados and others are arising that do not simply resist, but actively search for alternatives. All over the world people are cooperating via the Internet to create shared works and tools –Wikipedia and free software are the most visible examples– and new forms of social mobilization. Each can be thought of and connected to each other by a larger vision of the commons.
The resistance is also propelled by proposals for alternatives that emanate from the social practices of the commons. These practices form an alternative framework for the transformation of daily life as well as for the design of new public norms and policies that recognize self-management as the central element for a necessary social transformation.....
SouthEastern Regional Convergence of Occupations
Occupy Gainesville invites you to the first SouthEastern Regional Convergence of Occupations (affectionately dubbed SERCO).
This event was approved via consensus by the statewide Florida General Assembly on December 11, 2011.
SERCO will take place from March 23-25, 2012, in the lush cypress groves of North Florida.
Occupy Gainesville commits to providing a safe campsite to host three days of workshops, skill-shares, and assemblies. But rather than setting the agenda ourselves, we invite all participants to help shape this event. We will help coordinate the planning, but you will decide the program itself, so that SERCO reflects the interests and concerns of all attendees....
http://interoccupy.org/southeastern-regional-convergence-of-occupations/
quote:
Through this, we can build and strengthen a network of activists and occupations from the Caribbean to the Southeastern U.S.; achieve a model for more effective global coordination in the spring, summer, and the coming years; celebrate the great diversity of our cultures; and find new cohesiveness in our common aims of creating a more just, free, and sustainable world.
Paris Indignadxs’ Call to Launch a Constituent Assembly
After Metz, Quimper, Nantes and Lyon, the Paris General Assembly has decided on Sunday 22 January 2012 to join the process for a referendum to hold a Constituent Assembly, in response to the frequent question “What do you want?”, which we still answer by saying “Real Democracy Now!”
What we want is for the people themselves to finally make the decisions.
Those who hold power should not be allowed to write the rules that govern power.
Because “Our dreams won’t fit in their ballot boxes,” we call on you, in every city and town, to take part in the referendum for a Constituent Assembly....
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/14/paris-indignadxs-call-to-launch-a-co...
The Occupy Wall Street Journal: A New Declaration - by Derrick Jensen
http://www.countercurrents.org/jensen120212.htm
"We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That the real, physical world is the source of our lives and the lives of others...
Once we've recognized the destructiveness of capitalism and industrial civilization - both of which are based on systematically converting a living planet into dead commodities - we've no choice, unless we wish to sign our own and our children's death warrants, but to fight for all we're worth and in every way we can to overturn it..."
Occupy Piccolo! Chicago Communities Occupy School In Protest of Privatization
The Brian Piccolo Specialty School in Humboldt Park, Chicago is currently Occupied by parents and students. Occupy Chicago and other allies are outside the building in solidarity and have set up an encampment. Around one hundred people are present and are taking shifts to ensure the safety of the occupation. The Chicago Teachers Union has expressed support for the action. Piccolo, an elementary school with a student body that is almost entirely from low income communities of color, is one of 16 Chicago public schools slated to be closed by Mayor Rahm's service cuts to the poor.
As of 3:30AM Central Time, it is believed that Chicago Police have decided to leave and protesters have declared victory for Day 1 of Occupied Piccolo! If you are in Chicago, please come to 1040 North Keeler Avenue to show your support, and bring a tent! Follow #takebackourschools, #piccolo, @OccupyChicago and @TBOurSchoolsChi on Twitter.
Update: As of 10AM Central Time on 2/18, the police are still not attempting to remove protesters inside. However, they will not allow anyone else inside, and will not allow occupiers to leave and return. Parents and occupiers inside are being denied food and medicine.
Via Occupy Chicago Press:
Declaration #1 from Piccolo Occupation
11:49pm - February 17th, 2012
Piccolo has failed because CPS has refused to invest in public education. The school has struggled for years butWe, the Piccolo Occupation, are putting our childrens' education first....
"... are being denied food and medicine"
Starving them out ... how original. Anybody still think the 'state' represents the best interests of 'the people'?
Corporate 'person' rule is blind to humanity and sees only $$$$.
Chicago Parents, Students Occupy Piccolo Elementary, School Targeted For 'Turnaround' (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/18/chicago-parents-students-_n_128...
Occupy Brief: Common Sense Resources to End 1%'s War Crimes
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/02/occupy-brief-common-sense-resourc...
"This brief explains, documents, and proves objective and independently verifiable facts of the 1%'s crimes that kill millions, harm billions, and cost trillions...Please Report and Share
Occupy Piccolo! Chicago Communities Occupy School In Protest of Privatization
4:00PM: Occupiers have emerged from the school to thunderous applause and declared victory! The demands have been met, proving that direct action and community power can be leveraged for real change! Parents will be given the opportunity to meet with the Board of Directors to submit a counter-proposal for local education. This is what real community control looks like.
Thanks to Occupy, Senate Looks at Inequality by Sarah Anderson I had the opportunity to testify on inequality before the Senate Budget Committee last week. No one seems to recall the last time the committee devoted a whole hearing to this issue. So you can add this to the signs of the Occupy movement's impact on our political discourse. ... The Committee's Ranking Member, Senator Jeff Sessions, and Republican witnesses tried to raise doubts about the inequality data, questioning whether things were really as bad as they look. I didn't envy them the task of being an inequality denier in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Awesome work by Occupy bringing attention to inequality, and now it's paying off!
The School of Ideas open to the public for the free sharing of ideas and solutions
The School of Ideas is situated on corner of Bunhill Road and Featherstone Street, Islington EC1Y 8RX in an abandoned school building. It is a space complete with 10 class rooms. We’re open to visitors and guests from 12 noon to 9 pm from Tuesday to Friday and from 10 am to 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
It has been opened to the public for the free sharing of ideas and solutions, to help solve the pressing economic, social and environmental challenges globally and locally.
There is also room for community groups and other public services that have lost their space due to Government spending cuts to come and use a space for free.
Artists, performers and creatives are welcome to come entertain and to help transform the space. We also encourage games, workshops and skillshares.
Sharing in ideas or skills for free, no one should need to pay to take part in the School’s activities.
Everyone should feel safe and welcome in the School. Our Safer Spaces Policy asks people to be mindful and respectful of how their ideas or actions might effect others, and there is a No Smoking, No Alcohol Policy.
As this is a community space we ask everyone to respect the people and the building.
We are a community coming together to find positive solutions to our current crises. We ask all people who come into the space to come in with respect.
Everyone is warmly welcome and encouraged to be part of creating the School of Ideas. Email us with your ideas, suggestions and requests at schoolofideaslondon@gmail.com.
Thank you very much for reading!
http://schoolofideas.org.uk/2012/02/09/welcome/
How r’evolution carries itself forward by the Working Groups of Occupy
R’evolution is shorthand for the jump time of evolution, when social relations that have been frozen for a long time start thawing and the obsolescence of the dominant social order becomes obvious to the multitudes. It’s a time of unfreeze, a fascinating moment, when what the future can become is up to us, to our collective consciousness and connective intelligence.
Collective consciousness is the intimate knowing of our collective self, who we are as a movement, as a social force capable to change the future. Connective intelligence is much more than a wordplay on collective intelligence. It is the act of connection that gives rise to new life forms, thought forms, and forms of organizing.
Differentiation
Working Groups are organs of the awakening social body of the 99%. Currently, they carry out functions essential to the well-being of the Occupations. I see them also as seeds for the new institutions that we’ll need for stewarding the well-being of the emerging, post-capitalist society.
They can be roughly broken into three categories: operational, sectorial, and strategy-focused. The first deals with everything needed to assure the viability of a given Occupation, including its finances, outreach, press relations, process, etc. The work of WGs in the second category is focused on such sectors of social life as education, health, economics, etc. In the strategy-focused WGs, members address issues of the emerging Occupy vision, strategic planning and navigation, and how the 99% can win.
eta:
But what is it that we, as a movement, are learning from the experience of WGs? While Occupy is re-inventing itself for Phase 2, something is also happening to the longer and bigger learning journey, the evolution of human society and consciousness. What is that? Let’s observe the answer to both questions through the lens of some evolutionary drivers that are at play, namely, the one that affects emergence at all scales: the triad of “differentiation-integration-transformation”.
Integration
Life is carrying itself forward through the workings of the “d-i-t” triad. Permanent differentiation without integration is decay, which in the social domain means a loss of cohesion and capacity to evolve into higher-order social forms. This is also known as balkanization. When a social movement balkanizes, its potential for bringing more justice, dignity and joy into the life of people is lost.
That fragmentation is not to be confounded with the initial conditions of a multi-centric mass movement, such as Occupy, where the globalized existence of capital evokes similar phenomena of resistance in various part of the world. While balkanization is a post-unity state of affairs, the unnecessary duplication of effort in Occupy is a pre-unity symptom. How can we address that? Here is an example:
We need the work of the various Economics/Corporations/Economy WGs around the world to evolve to the point where they can see and become attracted to the benefits of organizing themselves into a rich ecosystem of people, joint research and prototyping projects, and the shared knowledge resources, of an “economy commons”. Only then will they have the chance to tackle the complexity of the planetary economic and environmental crises created by capitalist globalization, and only then can we work out the fine points of issues like how to assure a basic income for everyone....
F28: Stand with Occupy! Don’t Suppress The Occupy Movement! Tuesday February 28 Mass nonviolent actions to Stop the Suppression of Occupy
…if this illegitimate wave of repression is allowed to stand… if the powers-that-be succeed in suppressing or marginalizing this new movement… if people are once again “penned in”—both literally and symbolically—things will be much worse. THIS SUPPRESSION MUST BE MASSIVELY OPPOSED, AND DEFEATED.*** From “A Call for Mass Action Against the Suppression of the Occupy Movement <http://dontsuppressows.org/>”
NYC, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Minneapolis/St. Paul No Rubber Bullets, No Beatings, No Tear Gas, No Mass Arrests. Drop all charges against the Occupiers.dontsuppressows.org
dontsuppressows@yahoo.com
#F28 #dontsuppressows
Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/events/215553165207312/>
99% For Stopping The Next War Before It Starts (and vid)
http://warisacrime.org/content/99-stopping-next-war-it-starts
Why We Must Occupy Our Food Supply - by Anna Lappe
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/441-occupy/10133-focus-why-we-mu...
"The call to Occupy Our Food Supply, facilitated by Rainforest Action Network, is being echoed by prominent thought leaders, authors, farmers and activists including the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, Food Inc's Robert Kenner and authors Michael Pollan, Raj Patel, Gary Paul Nabhan, and Marion Nestle, among others. If you eat food, grow food, love food, join us to
Occupy Our Food Supply."
Chicago Workers Stop Layoffs After Occupying Their Factory
Workers facing layoffs at a Chicago window factory have declared victory after occupying their plant for 11 hours. Through direct community action, including the support of Occupy Chicago, the workers and their union prevented the California-based Serious Energy company from closing the plant for another 90 days. The workers hope this will give them time to keep the plant open, possibly by purchasing it themselves and creating a worker-owned co-op. “We can run this company,” Juan Cortez, who has worked more than 23 years in the factory, told the media. “We got smart people to manage the money. We can find customers. We know how to run the company.” Members of Occupy Chicago showed up in solidarity and brought supplies. In 2008, workers at the same factory occupied their plant for six days during a labor dispute with its previous owners, Republic Windows and Doors. That occupation forced Bank of America into a $1.75 million settlement with the workers....
Shut Down The Corporations the 29 of February – Leap Into Action! Reclaim Our Future!
Below you can find the national call to action made by the Portland GA. If your city or organization is participating please let us know by filling out this form! Already 70+ cities are planning actions.
You can also find a variety of resources for planning direct actions. This includes ideas on different tactics, direct action planning, preparation, facilitation, affinity groups, etc. There is also information about the different areas ALEC effects and information aboutwhich corporations to target
We would also encourage you to check out our section on affinity groups and spokes councils. This is one important and effective way to organize these types of actions. It also does so in a way that is consistent with our movement’s value to direct democracy, participatory decision making, and non-hierarchical structures. Of course there are many ways to do this, but we have had enormous success with this model in Portland. The direct action spokes council, the Portland Action Lab, which is organizing Portland’s action used this combination on N17 to shut down most of the major corporate banks in downtown Portland!
If you city or organization is participating please let us know by filling out this form! We can post contact information for your action so that people in your area can get involved!...
http://www.shutdownthecorporations.org/?page_id=21
OCCUPY CARAVAN The Occupy Caravan’s week long, celebratory journey promoting economic justice begins in Los Angeles April 2, then makes it’s way city to city, gathering more vehicles and supporters until it reaches New York City’s Wall Street, before heading to our final stop Washington DC April 9th. This historic and FUN civil rights road trip brings the people’s voice from the nation’s heartland, to the seats of power! Families, friends, veterans, seniors, students and occupy supporters of all kinds make this a very special and all inclusive trip! Join this important action today! Join the website membership and Join the working group!
http://www.occupycaravan.com/
The itinerant US left has found its home in the Occupy movement
Far from alienating middle America, the progressive movement has captured the public and political imagination
quote:
The radical Brazilian educator Paulo Freire once asked, "What can we do today so that tomorrow we can do what we are unable to do today?" The occupations have been central to creating new possibilities.
Organising for Occupation (O4O), which executed the protest in Queens, was working on issues of housing justice months before OWS emerged. "The campaigns are separate but there is some crossover," explains Karen Gargamelli of O4O. All those I spoke to in Queens had been involved in OWS in some fashion.
In Nashville, Occupy Our Homes, which came directly out of the Occupy Nashville movement, forced JP Morgan to back off the foreclosure on Helen Bailey, a 78-year-old veteran civil rights activist. Roughly half those involved in the campaign were housing activists before, explains one activist, the others came to it through the occupation.
In Portland, Oregon, WeAreOregon has been working against foreclosures for some time, and is now concentrating on persuading people to stay in their homes and not be intimidated by the banks. It has been joined by Unsettle Portland, which came out of the occupation. Earlier this month they packed an auction and helped delay the eviction of a single mother while she challenges the banks.
Polls have shown almost twice as many Americans agreed with OWS than disagreed with it. Far from alienating middle America, the movement has captured the public and political imagination. It has shifted the national debate from debt to inequality and the focus of the problem from victims of the crisis (the poor) to its perpetrators (the financial institutions). A Pew poll released in December revealed 77% of Americans believe there is too much power in the hands of a few rich people and corporations, while those who believed "most people who want to get ahead can make it if they are willing to work hard" was at its lowest point since the question was first put in 1994.
It also has the Republicans rattled. In his address to the Republican Governors Association in December, rightwing pollster Frank Luntz said: "The public … still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we're seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we've got a problem."...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/26/us-left-home-occupy-...
Max Keiser On The Edge: Genesis Of 99% Movement (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/Program/228515.html
"David Degraw from AmpedStatus.com talks about the genesis of the 99 percent movement and how it led to Occupy Wall Street.."
..great project!
OccuprintOccuprint is a volunteer-run collaborative project that curates, collects, prints and distributes posters and graphics produced by and for the global Occupy movement. In the Fall, Occuprint launched with an all-poster newspaper, published in collaboration with the Occupied Wall Street Journal. Since then, we’ve been sending the paper across the globe as a freely distributed tool to keep the #occupy movement as visible as possible, as beautiful as possible, and in as many places as possible.
The response has been overwhelming. Since the newspaper was released, we’ve received hundreds of poster submissions from all over the world—many of which we’ve archived on our website:
www.occuprint.org.
'Americans Live Under Fascist Rule' (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/229283.html
"The Occupy movement has decided to protest against the big corporations using the American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC] to buy off legislators to craft laws securing their interests. Press TV interviewed Linh Dinh, writer and political analyst from Philadelphia and others to further discuss this issue.."
TheGlobalSquare BERLIN
Concept
What we need, at this point, is a platform that allows us to radically democratize our global organizational efforts. In addition to the local squares, we now need a global square where people of all nations can come together as equals to participate in the coordination of collective actions and the formulation of common goals and aspirations.
The ideal would be both to foster individual participation and to structure collective action. The Global Square is any public or virtual space where different groups can come together to organise their local assemblies — and where different assemblies can join hands to coordinate their collective projects. In a way, The Global Square is a groundbreaking experiment in building a global participatory decision-making system from the grassroots up.
Come and join us!
Our aim is to create an ever changing kaleidoscope of ideas where the public is drawn into interaction with the global protest cloud. To create a truly free, creative and genuine social environment which transforms the passive visitor into an active acting being. In this metamorphosis process, art and protest share a common goal – moving people! TheGlobalSquare @Berlin will be held from April 29 until July 1 in the space of Berlin Biennale, come and join us!
Racism, Resistance, and Workplace Organizing: Workers of Color and OWS
Date/Time
Date(s) – 07/03/2012
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Location
CWA Local 1180
Following up from the December Racial Justice Workshop, organizers from the People of Color Caucus have joined with the Rank and File Committee (of the Labor Outreach Committee) for an exciting event on how racism has been essential to Wall Street’s historic roles in the US economy, and how workers of color have fought back throughout. Ai-jen Poo (Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance) will lead us through this history, highlighting the key roles that workers of color have played in the US Labor Movement, even when they had to fight racism within the movement.
The second half will be a panel discussion with rank and file leaders from New York’s labor struggles and how Occupy Wall Street can help them win against the corporations that profit off of their labor: Sotheby’s Workers (Teamsters, Local 814), Domestic Workers United and others!
How can OWS support those on the front-lines of the fight-back against the corporate attack? Join us to help OWS and the Labor Movement build together!
http://occupythebronx.org/events/racism-resistance-and-workplace-organiz...
video
The last two months the struggle of cleaners has been in the centrepiece of social movements in the Netherlands. The cleaners are among the first who are affected by the economic crisis in the Netherlands. After transportation workers, post workers and employees in subsidised jobs, the cleaners are facing wage cuts. The budget cuts in the cleaning expenses by companies such as Philips and organizations such as the ministries and the universities directly affect the working conditions of the employees in the cleaning sector. The cleaning companies, in order to maintain their profits in the same level as before, they increased the workload and worsened the working conditions. Although most employees in the Netherlands are entitled to a paid sick-leave, the companies deny this right for the cleaners. To make things worse, the companies had eliminated the pay rises and their contribution to social security for temporary workers. As everybody else the employees in the cleaning sector demand a decent life and proper working conditions. As everybody else they have the right to fight for their demands. Therefore hundreds of them are on strike for 40 days now. After 4 months of discussions, 7 rounds of negotiations, hundreds of small actions, 9 big demonstrations in several Dutch cities, they decided to go one step further. On Monday, 27th February, more than 2.000 cleaners, together with hundreds of students who support their struggle, occupied Utrecht University. Today they do the same in the VU University of Amsterdam and they have our absolute support. We call all the working people, youth and unemployed persons to show their solidarity and support the occupation of the cleaners in order to gain their demands. They fight for respect in the context of a systemic global crisis that deteriorates the lives of millions of people. They fight for better working conditions and for a better life. They fight also for us! We should fight with them! Solidarity to the cleaners. They will win!http://www.reinform.nl/cleaners-strike-and-occupy/
Cleaners in the netherland went on strike and occupied
After a few weeks of protests and negotiations, cleaners in The Netherland went on strike on the 27th of February.
Yesterday, they occupied the VU University of Amsterdam with the help of dozens of activists with the intention of doing an ongoing sit-in.
The contractors of the cleaning companies such as Philips, the ministries and the universities proceed to gradually cut back on cleaning expenses. The cleaning companies accommodate these cuts by increasing the workload extremely and worsening the working conditions.
The cleaners do not ask for much, just for respect and the appreciation of their job, for paid sick leave and a normal workload.
Yesterday, nice events were organized, people talked to the students. The union of university employees supported the strike and they tried to link the struggle of the cleaners with the problems of the university personnel. At the end of the day, after meeting some of the demands (6 fired workers were given another 6-month contract and the university will send a letter to the cleaning companies saying that they support the demands of the cleaners), the union of the cleaners decided to end the sit in.
Given the willingness of people for action and given the way that the cleaners themselves presented their struggle (with demands that included solidarity with the personel of the university), for many of the participants and supporters of the strike this was a rather shocking experience. Actually, there was no real democratic procedure followed for the end of the action: the decision was taken in 2 seconds and then the cleaners left the area within 20 min.
Today there will be a meeting with some people from the Uni to see how to go on.
You can find more information in English in:
reinform.nl/cleaners-strike-and-occupy
...
PAN invite: Inter-Assembly List and Global Newswire
This is an invitation to join our Inter-Assembly Newswire project. It’s being run by team members from Occupy/15M/PAN in the USA, Spain and London. Please read the following information, and ask your Assembly’s external and international communications workgroups (or equivalent) to subscribe and participate.
There are two aspects to this project:
(1) the global email list and
(2) the decentralised blog-link, or global newswire.
We are excited about the newswire which allows you to ‘news tag’ your local blog posts for people to follow and receive your news at the global level. Both platforms are designed to maintain local assembly autonomy while also establishing clean lines of inter-assembly communication, and are open-source so can be utilised on other sites....
http://interoccupy.org/pan-invite-inter-assembly-list-and-global-newswir...
6 Ways to Get Ready for the May 1st GENERAL STRIKE
Yesterday, 60,000 marched on Madison to mark the one-year anniversary of the passage of Governor Scott Walker's drastic dismantling of collective bargaining rights for public employees. Last year, Walker's attacks on labor rights sparked massive protests that saw hundreds of thousands occupy the Wisconsin capital building. Their actions prefigured Occupy Wall Street and inspired countless others to take a stand against economic inequality, political injustice, and the tyranny of the 1% enforced through politicians and banksters alike.
This is just one example that people across the globe are actively resisting attacks on the 99%. This year has already seen the largest-ever strike on record in India, hundreds of thousands marching for democracy in Bahrain, general strikes in Montreal and Spain where students once again occupied public space in protest of the austerity measures and spending cuts being enforced by the European banking elite, massive uprisings in the streets of Moscow, and more. Even in the United States, the movement grows. The corporate media claims that Occupy's strength is waning, but they are merely in denial. During the coldest months of this year, the United States has already seen more revolutionary momentum than it has in decades...
..this is hilarious. clap! clap! clap! clap!
Bank of America Stole Our Homes - So Occupiers Moved Into Bank of America
video:
Bank of America has stolen millions of homes. It's time to turn the tables! Watch a crew of Occupiers set up their new living room in a New York City branch of Bank of America, which is being rented by the taxpayers at a cost of $230 billion in bailouts from the U.S. government:
..more on the cleaners strike from # 63-64.
Struggles intersect at uni occupation in AmsterdamThe occupation we witnessed at the Vrije Universiteit (VU University) in Amsterdam this past week was no ordinary university occupation. But that’s what you get when you combine the energy behind the longest-running sector-wide strike in Dutch history since 1933 with the channeled frustration of employees and students about the destructive neoliberal reforms underway at their university. The result is a new breed of radical action that works.
Over a period of two days, the central hall of the university’s main building was taken over by a few thousand striking cleaners and their fellow occupiers. Upon arrival, the main lecture hall was stormed and held, while striking cleaners and co-occupiers — like my university colleagues and I — visited students in their classrooms, explaining the purpose and goals of the occupation. The central reclaimed spaces would soon become both the base for the cleaners’ collective decision-making assembly, as well as the location of a slew of speeches and activities in solidarity with the cleaners’ struggle....
http://roarmag.org/2012/03/occupy-university-amsterdam-workers-cleaners-...
10 "Occupy" Candidates Running for Congress
Prospects: Excellent. He's one of only three candidates whom the DCCC has named "Majority Makers," meaning that their races are top priorities.
Prospects: Excellent. She is the likely Democratic nominee to replace the retiring Sen. Herb Kohl.
Reclaiming the Commons: Human Lessons in the Era of Corporatism and Perpetual War - by Phil Rockstroh
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30811.htm
"...unless we start to see the world and our role in it with new eyes, we will be unable to alter the structure of the present system Withal, it is imperative to be in full possession of one's humanity when facing the desperate, dehumanizing forces of an order that has grown ever more brutal in direct proportion to its rapidly declining purpose and legitimacy.."
OCCUPY: Infiltration of Political Movements is the Norm, Not the Exception in the United States. Part II
On March 6 members of an off-shoot of Anonymous, Lulzsec, were arrested as a result of an FBI informant, Sabu, whom the media describes as a Lulzsec leader. The six arrests were for people allegedly involved with Lulzsec which became known for targeting Sony, the CIA, the U.S. Senate, and FBI, as well as Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal.
Exactly one year ago to the day of the arrests, The Guardian published an article headlined, “One in four US hackers 'is an FBI informer.'” The article described how the FBI had used the threat of long sentences to turn some members of Anonymous and similar groups into informants. It also described how the group was open to infiltration. On Democracy Now, Gabriella Coleman, a professor at McGill University who is an expert on digital media, hackers and the law, said: “There had been rumors of infiltration or informants. At some level, Anonymous is quite easy to infiltrate, because anyone can sort of join and participate. And so, there had been rumors of this sort of activity happening for quite a long time.”
In Part I of this series, Infiltration to Disrupt, Divide and Mis-direct are Widespread in Occupy, we described reports of widespread infiltration of the Occupy. In this article we will describe the history of infiltration of political movements in the United States and the goals of infiltration. Part III of this series will describe behavior of infiltrators, how other movements have countered infiltrators and what Occupy can do to minimize the damage from infiltrators....
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29750
..see post #66 for more details.
Weekly Marches on Wall Street Start Today! 2PM LIBERTY SQUARE Start training for May Day and join the spring resistance! Weekly marches every Friday; meet at 2 PM in Liberty Square
Start training for May Day and join the spring resistance! Weekly marches every Friday; meet at 2 PM in Liberty Squareedit due to a temporary glich in my brain. what could i have been thinking?
How the #OccupyWallStreet Movement Has Shifted the Economic Paradigm
quote
Zizek’s ideas are echoed by – Canadian activist, author and publicist, Naomi Klein in an interview in Solutions an online Journal for a Sustainable and Desirable Future. Klein states that the Occupy Movement has been a game changer, that it has opened up space to put more radical solutions on the table and she says that the experience of seeing these groups of young people putting their radical ideas on the table, and the country getting excited by it, has been a wake up call for a lot of people.. She concludes that it has challenged the sense of what is possible. [5]
University of Amherst Professor Emeritus Richard Wolff, one of many Profs who have spoken out in favour of the Occupy Movement, in the US stated: As the Occupy movement keeps developing, it seeks solutions for the economic and political dysfunctions it exposes and opposes. For many, the capitalist economic system itself is the basic problem.
He also noted that the students who were occupying Harvard and hundreds of other colleges and universities around the country were exploring two basic issues: i) how to restore the idea of the university and ii) how to imagine and create appropriate substitutes for capitalism. Both are key issues within the larger, national and international, Occupy movement....
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/how-the-occupywallstreet-movement-has-shif...
The luxury Madrid prostitutes on strike sex with bankers until the credit flowing again to the real economy
The largest trade association of luxury escorts Madrid announced yesterday the beginning of a total strike and indefinite sexual services to employees of banks until they return to provide credit to households, SMEs and Spanish companies.
The idea of this strike arose from the experience of CP Lucia one of the association's members, who for the wheel of the press sa recounted how excited one of his regular customers told him that, for many months, his only activity was to borrow hundreds of millions of euros of liquidity window of 1% of the ECB, and immediately invest that money in European debt and highly specialized products such as CDS and commodity hedge funds, with returns of between 3 and 7%, pocketing the difference. "-One day I got fed up and said: Enough is enough no? Go forgetting my pussy until you fulfill your responsibility to society. My client at first grumbled and threatened to get on the maintenance fees and transfers, but eventually backed off and three days later returned with a notarized certificate of having granted a line of credit to SMEs and a loan to buy a Citroen van a self-contained. This is how I realized that we could help the credit flowing again "...
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Felblogdelomalaqueeres.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F03%2F19%2Flas-prostitutas-de-lujo-de-madrid-se-declaran-en-huelga-de-sexo-con-los-banqueros-hasta-que-vuelva-a-fluir-el-credito-hacia-la-economia-real%2F
Awesome. :D
Police State Blues - by Phil Rockstroh
http://consortiumnews.com/2012/03/19/police-state-blues/
"At mid-evening, on Saturday March 17, upon the six-month anniversary of the occupation of Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, the NYPD initiated another brutal operation to expel OWS activists from the premises, and to discourage, in general, those who might venture attempts to exercise their right to free assembly and free expression across the whole of the city of New York, as winter proceeds into Spring.
In a police state, unjust actions by authoritarian bullies, operating at the behest of privileged bullies in power, act by caprice and will escalate their level of brutality by the degrees that the public at large reacts with support and indifference to the state's assaults on civil liberties and common decency.."
April 23 – 25: Occupy The Surface Warfare Summit – Norfolk, Virginia alongside Occupy Norfolk
Spread the Word!!
April 23 – 25: Occupy The Surface Warfare Summit – Norfolk, Virginia
alongside Occupy Norfolk. Flier is below.
Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/405392556141702/?ref=ts
Occupy Davis's Bank Boycott Victory
For the last two months, Occupy UC Davis has been blockading a campus branch of U.S. Bank. Now, in a victory for Occupy that potentially gives birth to a new movement tactic, U.S. Bank has capitulated and permanently closed the branch.
U.S. Bank has been a visible symbol on campus of the corporatization and monied corruption of education in part because, as The Aggie campus newspaper explains, “in 2010, all students were required to get new ID cards with the U.S. Bank logo on the back.”...
http://www.theaggie.org/2012/03/19/u-s-bank-announces-closure-of-on-camp...
#Occupied Reports from the Front Lines No. 4
YOUR WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF OCCUPY MOVEMENT NEWS# This week in Occupy, we turned six months old - and law enforcement noticed, Occupy Seattle's Chase 5 was found not guilty, spring training for the nation's May 1 actions commenced, SXSW was #occupied and we couldn't stop watching this.
# The six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street on March 17 was marked by reconnection and celebration, which clearly angered law enforcement: 73 people were arrested in and around the movement's Liberty Square birthplace and five were arrested at Occupy L.A. on felony charges. The March 17 raid was followed up by a candlelight vigil in Union Square the next evening....
...and to go to CHICAGO in May,2011 STOP NATO / G8
http://cang8.wordpress.com/
US tightens up on protesting
video
In 2011, Time Magazine called The Protester the person of the year. But a new law that was recently signed by President Obama very well might mean that won't happen again. Since the start of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, over 6,700 Americans have been arrested for taking part in demonstrations and this new law could raise those numbers significantly. Marina Portnaya gives us the latest on H.R. 347, the Trespass Bill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn7xELvMQMo&feature=share
The Occupation
..a well done video
http://vimeo.com/38966886
Occupy Climate Change
The Occupy movement is about reclaiming a future for people who have had their life chances rubbished by three decades of global neoliberalism and austerity. But it’s not just about paycheck economics; the destruction of the climate and environment is an integral part of the neoliberal world order. The same corporations, banks and financial institutions that destroyed the economy are destroying the global environment. The struggle to preserve the earth and its atmosphere is, by necessity, a struggle against those forces....
The climate crisis is a global crisis, which will require global cooperation to solve. Without international agreement, if one country restricts corporate carbon pollution, global corporations will seek to move their production elsewhere. In a global economy, countries are likely to seek economic advantage by allowing higher levels of pollution. Fortunately, both Occupy and the climate protection movement are highly hooked up globally—the protests that linked Occupy and other economic justice movements on October 15 reached an estimated 1,500 cities worldwide, and 350.org has initiated globally coordinated demonstrations in every country except North Korea.
An economy driven to enrich the 1 percent cannot meet the needs of the 99 percent for a secure, sustainable future. We need a strategy to counter the threats to economic security and climate security by putting people to work to create a low-pollution, climate-friendly, sustainable global economy—what is sometimes described as a Global Green New Deal. It will require democratizing our economy so that we can direct our labor and our investment to sustainably meeting the needs of all people. It will require not just different policies, or even different structures, but a global society mobilized for change. A Global Green New Deal will ensure jobs and livelihoods for all, because it will take all the work—and all the creativity—we can muster.
Occupy San Francisco Creates Social Center in Vacant Church Building
In another sign of the Occupy movement's diversifying tactics and growing spring momentum, yesterday Occupy San Francisco liberated a vacant building owned by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and announced plans to establish a permanent occupation -- including a social center, shelter, and food bank -- on the site. The April 1st action began with a lively march from Union Square before arriving at the building just before 6pm. When they arrived, Occupiers who had already secured the building greeted the marchers with open doors.
The two-story building, located at 888 Turk St., soon filled with hundreds of exuberant Occupiers. Preliminary reports indicate that the Archdiocese has asked police not to take any action until the morning. However, the Occupiers are requesting help and numbers in case of any eviction attempt. If you are in the Bay Area and are able, please get down to the San Francisco Commune as soon as possible! Most recently (as of 1am Pacific time), police had surrounded the building with barricades to prevent supplies from getting inside. Occupiers have announced they will serve breakfast at 9am and are inviting everyone to join them!...
We Are All Luddites - by David Rosen
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/30/we-are-all-luddites/
"This year 2012, marks the 200th anniversary of the Luddite uprising, when English textile workers smashed looms with hammers. Few words in the English language invoke such perjorative connotations as Luddite. It signifies the machine breakers, someone who opposed progress - and, thus, the capitalist project.
Today, two centuries later, the popular struggle against capitalism - a system involving not only commodification and the maximization of profits, but also imperialism, patriarchy, racism, hierarchy and sexual repression - draws inspiration from the Luddites.."
Selma James at Occupy Philadelphia. (Photo by Jenna Spitz)
Are You With Me?
(Louis Reyes Rivera 1945-2012)
by Iva Rad and Martyna Starosta
This is a 10-minute film dedicated to freedom fighter Louis Reyes Rivera. Rivera was a member of the 1969 occupation of City College, which was led by students of color and won open admissions. He spoke to Students United for a Free CUNY at the AME Church in Harlem on October 27, 2011 before his death on March 3, 2012. We had the honor to film what was to become one of his last public speeches.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/rs030412.html
an occupy autonomy initiative (draft)
The Occupy Eugene House-Free Commons Project
Habitat for a New Society through the Wisdom of the Houseless
While not a 'homeless' program, this project does especially address the long term needs of house-free young adults occupying the urban Eugene environment. The young adult is a fast growing sector of the houseless population. Within this houseless sector there is a growing subgroup which might be called the 'house-free' group. While claiming the need and the right to assemble and associate, they disavow needing to be housed at all. They are not unhoused, they are house-free. Their grievance is the criminalization of their urban outdoor way of life. To reverse that plaint, this project recognizes them as 'cultural creatives' whose ongoing desire for a house-free experience has become an important harbinger to our urban society in middle-class descent. In light of the economic transition that's now begun we see the house-free young adult, having shed the conventional fantasy of the over-housed, as a valuable, even a crucial, asset to our civil society going forward.
This project also addresses a much greater challenge, that of our city's economy being over monetized and consumerist. In this regard this project proposes to begin stewarding and maturing the young and houseless experience into an educational commons devoted to the rapid infusion of restorative economies into our local communities, thereby meeting the greater need of having living, working examples of locally rooted economies available nationally. In this vision Eugene is underway to becoming a renowned eco-society, a hotbed for the social innovations that a deepening green future requires. The house-free are well positioned to pioneer this emerging commons-based economy and its way of life.
This project, being highly integrative and forward looking, offers an expenditure benign, culturally poised and politically unique direction to the homeless reintegration challenge here in our particular city. It is decidedly not about building a 'homeless' camp, it is about reclaiming and re-animating the commons and establishing a house-free transitional community upon it as a necessary first use of that commons. So, first things first: The OE Commons Project calls upon the City of Eugene to allow for the prompt recognition and steady establishment of a network of eight OE living demonstration campus sites throughout the city. Wherein each and every city ward will carefully select a permanent campus site through the agency of resident OE actionists within their own ward. These eight campus sites taken together are to be the (Occupy) Eugene Commons. The need to begin is appearing urgent....
http://members.efn.org/~finnpo/oe/oe-commons.html
Anti-capitalist action in over 30 cities – and we’re here to stay!
In less than three months, the M31 initiative was joined by leftist groups and libertarian grassroots unions in 15 European countries. On March 31st, thousands took to the streets all over Europe against capitalism and neoliberal crisis regulation. There were M31 demonstrations and rallies in Porto, Lisbon, Madrid, Toledo, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Murcia, Badajoz, Aranjuez, Castro Uridales, Besancon, Bayonne, Utrecht, Frankfurt/Main, Vienna, Modena, Kiev, Ufa, Ljubljana and other Slovenian cities, Zagreb, Athens and Thessaloniki. Simultaneously, syndicalist comrades in the UK, Poland and Italy staged anti-capitalist demonstrations and direct actions. All this came just days after successful general strikes in Portugal and Spain....
http://march31.net/2012/asides/anti-capitalist-action-in-over-30-cities-...
Fight the Cuts! Occupy for Public Transit TODAY
Occupy Wall Street and the Amalgamated Transit Union have declared today, April 4, a National Day of Action for Mass Transit. Demonstrations are taking place in over 20 cities including New York, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, and Portland.
Today is also the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who called public transit a civil right. With today´s coordinated actions, first proposed by Occupy Boston and endorsed by dozens of other community, labor, and Occupy groups, we are standing with transit workers and all of our supporters to continue the fight to make this dream a reality. According to the ATF, Chicago has lost 14 percent of its transit services in just the past two years, while Pittsburgh has lost over half. Even in New York City, which has historically prided itself on its subway system, the transit system has suffered severe cuts. Instead of more service cuts or fare increases that working people cannot afford, we are calling for investment in resources that benefit our communities, especially low-income communities and communities of color who were hit hardest by the Wall Street-manufactured economic crisis.
While governments have been slashing away spending on projects that benefit the 99%, the 1% on Wall Street has been reaping the rewards. Banks and elite financial institutions have been reaping huge profits as the rest of us suffer from lack of services. With each cut in public funding, Wall Street investors step in with pricey loans that cost taxpayers and transit riders even more. It´s time to say no more! Their greed got us into this mess; now is the time the 99% take control of our public resources and fix it....
Occupy Atlanta occupies south DeKalb home
For 62-year-old Christine Frazer, 18 years of homeownership has come down to a pending eviction.
But members of the Occupy Atlanta activist group are camping out at the south DeKalb home Frazer shares with her mother, 85; daughter, 25; and grandson, 3.
“The plan is to have a non-violent sit-in,” said Cai Otee, with Occupy Atlanta, which has been at Frazer’s home since March 4. “We’re going to try to delay it as much as we can.”
“We’re pretty much waiting for the marshals to show,” said Leila Abadir, with Occupy Atlanta. “We’re going to defend this home.
“Hopefully, if we get enough people here, [the marshals] will be intimidated and push back their schedule,” Abadir said. “The goal is to save the home.”
Abadir said that a writ of possession notice was signed on March 7 giving marshals the authority to remove the occupants from the home....
http://www.championnewspaper.com/news/articles/1564occupy-atlanta-occupi...
M31: Prelude to Joint and Europe-Wide Anti-Capitalist Protests
Within a joint day of action against capitalism on March 31, there have been rallies and demonstrations in more than 40 European cities. These actions are the beginning of an international networking by the anti-authoritarian movement against the European Union’s ruling crisis policy. The common goal is a free society in which everybody can participate. The foundation for that can only be an economy in which everybody is provided with a good life instead of wealth for a small number of people and poverty, existential fear and work baiting for many. On March 31, tens of thousands of people in more than 40 European cities, set in motion for that.
In Frankfurt/Main alone, around 6000 people participated in a demonstration themed “Capitalism is the Crisis”. Speeches at the the demonstration’s beginning stressed the fact that crisis and capitalism are inseparable. “It is a global and systemic crisis”, said Thorsten Bewernitz (FAU). He also said that a connection between industrial actions, struggles on the streets and in front of administrative offices will be crucial in the upcoming time....
http://march31.net/2012/news/m31-prelude-to-joint-and-europe-wide-anti-c...
THIS IS HOW WE DO IT Cooper Union
New York City, NY
Friday April 20 - Sunday April 22
A FESTIVAL OF DIALOGUES
ABOUT ANOTHER WORLD ///
/// UNDER CONSTRUCTION
There are communities around the world that have stopped waiting for the systems around them to change. They are engaged in alternative practices right now -- in economics, safety, media and communications, politics and more. With This Is How We Do It, Foundry Dialogues is bringing together many of the foremost innovators from around the globe -- people who are redefining nothing less than how the world works. We invite you to join the conversation on the poetic and practical experiences of remaking the diverse places in which we live (a kind of 'there-are-other-ways-to-do-things' show & tell) -- from the inside out. Below is schedule of the weekend's events.....
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/e/230479
#BARCELONA #15M Newsletter n.8
3. SECOND ENCOUNTER BETWEEN PEOPLE AND NATURE DURING RURALES ENREDADXS MEETING IN HUESCA
Rurales enREDadxs (Rurals Networked) is a collective of people, cooperatives and associations that promote projects of a social, eco sustanible and alternative way of life. Their aim is to connect and coordinate rural enviroment and cities, in order to integrate everyone in a human village through information, training, education and conciousness-raising.
In Capdesaso (http://g.co/maps/s5kwj) during all week long – from the 30th of March to the 8th of April -hundreds of people from Rurales enREDadxs met for the 2nd time to exchange ideas, to train, to know each other and overall to start the project of a steady settlement, to live togheter and produce concerning about the natural enviroment. They will also restore some contructions and they will build a few cabins. People who settled there have 8 hectares of ground to use. It is now preparing the ground for the summer kitchen garden. It is possible to follow the work in progress from outside Capdesaso, connecting with them by Mumble every Monday and Thursday from 8pm.
Server: mumble.tomalaplaza.net
Tutorial: How to use mumble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmQw8MWFvAY
During the week various workshops and talks took place: “free software”, “how to use mumble”, “how to stop smoking”, “forgiveness meditation”, “Unity and Equality”, “Chi Kung”, “Alternatives in Education”, “A different way to Travel”, “Personal Revolution”, “Environamental Education”, “Human body as tool”, “how to grow the spirulina”. “Toma la tierra” (take the earth/ground) presented his project of a coordination, projects and struggle state network.
4. HOW TO END EVIL… FIVE DAYS OF CREATIVE ACTIVISM
Description of the 5 days workshop
It was a great sucess! over 200 people from different areas of the world attended the workshop at the Antic Theater. It was really full every day and there was great interest in exchanging experiences and methodologies about how to use art and frivolity tactics in political activism.
During 3 days there were different presentations of well know art-activism all over the world such as A.F.R.I.K.A. colective from Germany , who shared their experience with ”guerrilla communication” metodologies. Or John Jordan´s work that merges the imagination of art and the social engagement of politics. He has been deeply involved in Reclaim Streets actions in London and is one of the creators of Rebel Clown Army.
On Friday and Saturday the workshop swifted places to Sala Adriantic, where over 100 activists were collaborating on different working groups and thematics of how to use creativiy and art to engage in social change. There where 5 stable working groups created that will be developing the ideas that came up during the workshop, in order to use and experiment them on #12M15M. One of the greatest successes where the Inflatables, a creation of play-joy tools with a great potential against repression in demonstrations, you can read more at http://www.eclectic-electric-collective.blogspot.com.es/
http://takethesquare.net/2012/04/10/barcelona-15m-newsletter-n-8/
Occupy Papua New Guinea Takes On Government, Wins
Over 10,000 gather at Sir John Guise Stadium in Papua New Guinea
In another example of the power of popular resistance, Papua New Guineans this week appear to have successfully stopped the government from delaying elections and implementing a controversial Judicial Conduct Law that would allow the legislature to remove judges. In front of a massive crowd organized by labor unions, churches, social media groups, and civil society organizations, PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill promised to hold elections on time.
The protests were organized in part by student activists and bloggers affiliated with Occupy Waigani, a group that formed last month to occupy Parliament in protest of the Judicial Conduct Law. Among other efforts, Occupiers in PNG are also working to address the exploitation of local resources by corporate interests and unequal development in the country. #OccupyWallStreet stands in solidarity with Occupiers and dissidents everywhere. (See below for a timeline of events in PNG!).....
Students gather at a popular assembly at the University of PNG
Occupy Petrograd - circa 1917
BREAKING NEWS: Woodlawn Mental Health Clinic Occupied by Patients & Advocates! 6337 S. Woodlawn Ave.
Mental Health Movement barricaded inside Woodlawn Clinic until Rahm Emanuel backs off clinic closuresDozens of people who use Chicago's mental health clinics along with other advocates have barricaded themselves into the Woodlawn Clinic at 6337 S. Woodlawn, one of 6 clinics facing closure. They intend to remain there until Mayor Emanuel agrees to keep all of Chicago's public clinics open, fully funded and fully staffed.
Two of the clinics slated for closure - the Northwest Clinic in Logan Square and the Northtown Clinic in Rogers Park - shut their doors last Friday. Four others (Woodlawn, Auburn/Gresham, Back of the Yards and Beverly/Morgan Park) are scheduled to close April 30th. The Mental Health Movement, which put out a report and a video undermining the Chicago Department of Public Health's claim that all patients will continue to receive care, has been calling for hearings on the clinic closures since October. Despite repeated promises and a resolution calling for hearings, the Emanuel Administration has prevented any hearings from taking place in order to avoid public scrutiny of the plan, which has come under fire even from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
"We have tried everything we could to be heard. We visited Mayor Emanuel when he was a candidate. We delivered him over 4,000 letters. We have talked to almost all 50 Alderman. We have held press conferences, rallies and even sat-in for 10 hours on the 5th floor of City Hall. We are the ones who know the disaster these clinic closures will mean for our communities and our city but Mayor Emanuel been unwilling to listen to us, so we are taking drastic measures to avoid a tragedy and defend our human rights," says N'Dana Carter, who goes to one of the city clinics and is a spokesperson for the Mental Health Movement.
The people barricaded in the clinic have enough food and supplies to stay for months and are threatening to do so unless Mayor Emanuel meets the following five demands:
* Keep all 12 city mental health clinics public, open, fully funded and fully staffed
* Stop plans to privatize Chicago's 7 neighborhood health centers
* Hire more doctors, therapists, nurses, social workers and other clinic staff
* Reinstate the drug assistance program
* Expand the public mental health safety net to cover unmet community needs
http://occupychi.org/2012/04/12/breaking-news-woodlawn-mental-health-cli...
..to here
http://rabble.ca/babble/activism/occupy-global-2