Community Stands With OWS To Condemn NYPD Violence

Yesterday, members of the New York City Council decried the NYPD’s behavior during the March 17th re-eviction of Liberty Square. Today, Occupy Wall Street protesters joined with members of other American communities routinely targeted by police, and called for the resignation of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly for authorizing brutality and extreme abuse of police power.

“Hardly a day goes by without another story of NYPD abuse hitting the news and undermining the ability of the community to trust the police department,” said New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman, in a statement on Monday. “We know the NYPD is watching us, but who is watching the NYPD? New York City is in desperate need of an Inspector General to bring strong, meaningful NYPD oversight, as well as a strong ban on religious and racial profiling. It’s time for the City Council to quickly act and pass these important reforms.”

http://tinyurl.com/7jtx9es

Calling for Police Commissioner’s Resignation, Occupy Wall Street Teams Up With Victims of NYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk

Occupy Wall Street protesters have issued a joint call with members of New York City’s black, Latino and Muslim communities for New York City’s police commissioner to resign.

http://tinyurl.com/7r45wdz

99% v 1%: the data behind the Occupy movement

(video)

http://tinyurl.com/73uoqgx

The JOBS Act is so Criminogenic that it Guarantees Full-Time Jobs for Criminologists

The “Jumpstart Our Business Startups” Act, the comically forced effort to create a catchy acronym, is the most cynical bill to emerge from a cynical Congress and Administration.  It is an exemplar of why Congressional approval ratings are well below those of used car dealers.  The JOBS Act is something only a financial scavenger could love.  It will create a fraud-friendly and fraud-enhancing environment. It will add to the unprecedented level of financial fraud by our most elite CEOS that has devastated the U.S. and European economies and cost over 20 million people their jobs.

Financial fraud is a prime jobs killer.

http://tinyurl.com/7lvqnhd

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/21/12” »

Small Meetings of Occupy, Germinating the Seeds of Democracy

There is a side of the Occupy movement that does not consist of street marches and confrontations with police. It doesn’t involve the occupation of parks or shipyards. It is a side that receives little to no press, but in the end may be one of the most important aspects of the movement: The community meeting. There are scheduled meetings listed practically every night of the week on the Occupy Portland Calendar. Some are planning meetings, some are lecture meetings, some are for team-building. There are also community cell meetings that do not make it to the calendar-small groups, quietly working behind the scene to network, organize and create change.

http://tinyurl.com/8yx96z8

Occupy Northampton parlays with Northampton officials

The protesters said they wanted city money spent on items such as food for the hungry and orchards, and spoke out against tax breaks for corporations like Coca-Cola and Kollmorgen. They also said the city does not need the $20 million police facility currently being built.

Council President William H. Dwight proposed a meeting to discuss these issues and Monday night came to fruition. Lisa DePiano, an organizer with the group, started the evening by outlining the topics and going ove the hand signal the group uses to express approval, disapproval and the wish that someone would stop talking.

Those in attendance then separated into five groups to address economic development, civil iberties, public space, civic engagement and corporate accountability. Names were exchanged, hand signals reviewed and the talking was on.

http://tinyurl.com/7drkvqm

Occupy University of Rhode Island, with singing help from Rrraging Grrranies, protests rising tuition

Political theater came to the regular meeting of the Board of Governors for Higher Education Monday as Occupy URI and the Rrraging Grrrannies of Greater Westerly drove home the point that high tuition is sinking college students.

The group, including a half-dozen women wearing oversize hats, sang “Bail Out the Students,” their original lyrics set to the tune of “Beer Barrel Polka.”

http://tinyurl.com/893eutl

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/20/12” »

The Smedley D. Butler Brigade of the Veterans for Peace hosted and organized the Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade in Boston this year.  When its request to march with the Allied War Veterans in the ‘traditional’ St. Patrick’s Day Parade was denied, as it has been in previous years, the organizers pulled a permit, and reached out to other groups!  The William Ladd Chapter of Veterans for Peace came from Maine, New Hampshire’s Chapter, and the Colonel Jeffrey M. Luce Cape Cod Chapter of Veterans for peace marched to the music of the Leftist Marching Band, with some family members carrying enlarged photos of their loved ones who had been lost to war, to honor their memories.  The Military Survivors Family organization marched as well.

St. Patrick was a man of peace, and would probably not smile at the tanks bristling with guns marching in his name; but I hope the joy and life and music of the St. Patrick’s Day Peace Parade would make him smile!  In fact, a stand in for St. Patrick marched, chasing the “snakes” of racism, sexism, and greed away!

Occupy Boston, Occupy Holyoke, Occupy Quincy, and Occupy Everywhere answered the call as well.  Colorful banners, Occupy drummers, and giant puppets marched in the bright sun.

The LGBT community marched, the group that most closely rivaled the Veterans for Peace in size.  Their joy at being in the parade, together, and marching was a joy to behold.  JoinTheImpactMA had a wonderful banner and decorated trolley.

Several churches marched in the Peace Parade as well.  Among them were the Wellesley Friends Meeting Quakers, The Peace Abbey, and Theodore Parker Church of Roxbury.

The only political party to join in the march was the Green Rainbow Party.

Richard Smith and his wife Ann drove at the head of the parade in an open convertible, with a joyous and very senior member of the Veterans for Peace, Severyn Bruyn, leading the way!

More than a thousand revelers marched through the streets of Boston to joyful drumming and the playing of a brass band, with most bystanders making the peace sign and applauding.

Article by Deborah Sirotkin Butler

St. Patrick’s Day Peace Parade bigger this year with addition of Occupy, other groups

The alternative parade was larger this year, with the addition of supporters of the Occupy movement, a faith group, and a labor group, said Cole Harrison, 58, a spokesman for Massachusetts Peace Action.

Steve Demetriou, 56, a member of Occupy Maine, came to the Peace Parade from Portland.

“[The Parade] is great,” said Demetriou. “A lot of solidarity and a lot of common issues is here. The establishment doesn’t want the boat rocked, and that’s what we’re here to do.”

ttp://tinyurl.com/73gbbld

Southie’s Green Day

Meanwhile, Occupy Boston occupied South Boston, marching in the alternative St. Patrick’s Day Peace Parade for the first time. A Veterans for Peace organizer said a judge has ordered that the Peace Parade must keep a mile between it and Boston’s “traditional” St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

http://tinyurl.com/7kblth9

Occupy Arlington kicks off with great weather, a good crowd, and many concerns for which to advocate

No tents. No rain and cold. But a lot of community enthusiasm, as 45 people stood in a circle in front of the Jefferson Cutter House on a gorgeous Sunday, March 18, and took turns at the mic to tell why they were part of Occupy Arlington.

The group, which marched from Town Hall to Arlington Center, was organized by Lynnette Culverhouse, a town resident who teaches math in Cambridge.

“I want have people talk to each other,” she said. “I would like to see people have a voice.”

http://tinyurl.com/6s46l98

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/19/12” »

OWS Is Not Over, Expect The American Spring

Occupy has been gathering steam for the American Spring. Just like our counterparts in other countries, we will continue to fight for our rights. We are not afraid to stand up to the corporate bullies and the politicians they’ve purchased. We will continue to demonstrate the power of non-violence in the face of unchecked violence; we will continue to work for healthy, self-sufficient communities; we will take a stand against injustice, inequality, and the oppressive forces that have slowly taken away our rights and stolen our government.

http://tinyurl.com/7tujp9r

Foreclosing on the commons

Call it feudalism, corporatism or the American way: the rich elite in the US have turned economic exploitation into something of an art. The top one per cent in the United States now control a quarter of the nation’s wealth, double the unhealthy share they held 25 years ago. But while their ability to control legislatures and presidents is impressive, the propertied elite may have let greed get the best of them. In their quest to redistribute wealth from the labouring classes to the idle ones, they have been a bit too successful: the exploited are waking up.

All it took for this stirring from slumber was the criminal collapse of the global economy and, for many in the US, the loss of the very roof over their heads – and the knowledge things weren’t going to be tangibly better anytime soon. Indeed, the foreclosure crisis is still sweeping the United States, with millions of people being thrown out of their homes every year. And yet, presented with a seemingly popular platform to political power – houses for working families, not bailed-out banks – the political class sides with its financiers, to the point that the fraud of electoral politics is now about as obvious as the fraud being perpetrated by the financial industry.

http://tinyurl.com/72h2gbr

Occupying Democracy: A Moral Revolution for Social Justice

The moral principle of revolutions is to instruct, not to destroy. -Thomas Paine, “First Principles of Government,” 1795.

Thomas Paine’s words, written 217 years ago, capture the core purpose of the Occupy movement.

The movement, at its heart, instructs us to honor one another and to ensure that government policy and our justice system reflect that ethic. It asks us to return to our founding principles.

http://tinyurl.com/72gktua

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/18/12” »