Occupy Colleges Takes the Next Step

On March 1, thousands of students are expected to occupy their colleges to voice concerns over rising tuition costs and the diminishing quality of education. For so long students have found themselves helpless in the face of inaction by politicians and a culture which has chosen to ignore America’s education crisis. But re-energized by the birth of a new season and the Occupy movement, students will demand real change in America’s failing higher education system.

While grievances vary by campuses, they all include demands for a stay in tuition increases and transparency in accounting. Fifty-nine colleges and universities have registered for actions as of today. All registered institutions have at least 100 participants pledged to attend this call to action. Among the registered schools are Temple University with 700 participants, California State University, Long Beach with 500 participants, Ohio State University with 400, University of Massachusetts, Amherst with 200 and the notable participation of Occupy Colleges’ first international solidarity group at EWHA Womans University of Seoul, South Korea, with 500 pledged participants. Other participating schools include American University, Columbia University, George Washington University, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, North Carolina State University and University of Las Vegas.

http://tinyurl.com/87xow8j

‘The Occupiers’: John Forrester’s film documents Occupy Boston rise and fall

From the first tent that went up in Dewey Square in late September to the last one dismantled by Boston police several months later, John Forrester captured the Occupy Boston movement on film.

On March 1, Forrester will debut “The Occupiers,” a documentary tracing the emergence of the group through the perspective of the occupation’s activists.

“There hasn’t been a lot of activism in our generation. We are known as this apathetic generation,” said Forrester. “We thought it was interesting that people were stepping up to do something in a major kind of way.”

http://tinyurl.com/7bs4pk3

Massachusetts activists push to end corporate political spending

A coalition of lawmakers, advocates and activists rallied at the Massachusetts Statehouse on Tuesday to support a resolution that calls on Congress to overturn the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

The People’s Rights Resolution was introduced to the Massachusetts legislature by state Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D) and state Rep. Cory Atkins (D). The resolution calls upon the U.S. Congress to “pass and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to restore the First Amendment and fair elections to the people.”

http://tinyurl.com/6me2l9o

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/29/12” »

Suppression of Occupy: Call for Mass Action

(video)

http://tinyurl.com/6mlo3qs

Phoenix writer argues with rightwing media figure about Occupy on radio show

Faraone gave Brietbart a taste of his own medicine: when the Big Government publisher once again attempted to paint Occupy protesters as thugs for protesting outside CPAC, Faraone mocked him by asking, “What are you willing to do [for your beliefs], walk around with a couple of bodyguards?” He also called Breitbart out for having grossly misrepresented an article by Phoenix staffer Liz Pelly — her piece looked at Occupy’s attempts to create safer spaces for women; last week one of Breitbart’s stooges tried to twist it into his ongoing narrative of Occupy as a hive of rampant crime.

http://tinyurl.com/7h67mng

Occupy the Food Supply Day of Action: Occupy Gardens plans network of community gardens to feed Toronto’s hungry

(radio)

Listen to an interview with Jacob Kearey-Moreland, an organizer with Occupy Gardens Toronto that held a Seed Exchange outside the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday.

A growing collective of gardeners plotting to plant & tend food gardens all over the city, and share the produce with all who are hungry.

Inspired by the Occupy Movement, Occupy Gardens Toronto represents the next step in our (vegetable) stand against inequality, corporate corruption and greed, growing hunger and the destruction of life itself.

The FOOD tent at Occupy Toronto was one of our greatest success stories, serving hundreds of people free meals every day. Now it’s time we start think about and plotting out the future, imagine the possibilities if we all grew together.

http://tinyurl.com/8xx43f4

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/28/12” »

Occupy The Bourgeoisie: ‘First they came for the factory worker, and I said nothing. . .’

I think that even the most Occupy-sympathetic will acknowledge the “threat of being reduced to proletarians” motivates many protestors, whether they’d term it thus or not. After all, the fundamental orientation of American capitalism – deindustrialization, the supremacy of finance, the extreme concentration of wealth among the tippy-top, the increasing indebtedness of everyone else – has been much the same for most of the past 30 years. For those of the 99% who could also be described as of the 5-10%, this wasn’t much of an issue. It’s understandable, if not exactly inspiring; first they came for the factory worker, and I said nothing. . .

http://tinyurl.com/6vzr3b2

Professor: ‘We are Closer to the Homeless on the Street’

Professor Edward Gomez came to Redlands’ Ed Hales Park on Saturday to speak about the rich, the poor, their history and the world they all inhabit.

It was an address that stopped many in their tracks, especially when he attacked the notion of the “middle class.” The term, he told a crowd of some 60 people, implies most possess at least half the wealth of some billionaires.

“Someone pulled the skin over my eyes and wants you and me to believe we are at least halfway to the billionaire’s world,” Gomez said with intense passion in his voice. “We are nowhere near them. And if you don’t understand this 99 percent — and I’m sure you do because I’m preaching to the choir — I know that … somebody in our level is nowhere near them. We are (financially) closer to the homeless on the street.”

http://tinyurl.com/7paf7x2

The robosigning deal is a useless embarrassment

Politically, the settlement reveals the corrupting influence of bank bailouts. Government is supposed to enforce laws equally and fairly. Instead, it is protecting its investments in rogue banks. They are committed to their original error and are loath to admit it. This is the reason that after a surgical accident, a new surgeon does the repair. He is objective and has nothing to hide. Conflicted governments, though, are focused on their reputation and reelection.

The robosigning agreement will serve as an exemplar to future generations of what not to do when confronted with failing banks.

http://tinyurl.com/7gkg2bq

On the graduate with no future

The political implication of [the] shift in subjectivity is that the field of higher education becomes characterised by isolated, competitive, self-interested individuals who think of themselves as mini-entrepreneurs competing in a marketplace. Whereas the public university was funded on the grounds that it was a collective investment that would benefit society as a whole, the neoliberal university attracts funds on an individual basis from students who want to invest in themselves and their own market potential.

One of the flaws in creating an education system that encourages students to think like mini-capitalists is that capital requires a profitable return on its investment or else people will lose confidence in the system and it will go into crisis. This is exactly what is happening in the current environment of recession and austerity, as a whole generation of young people who personally invested in their education on the assumption that they would be rewarded with added earning power are graduating only to be greeted with indifference from potential employers.

http://tinyurl.com/7korhrz

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/27/12” »

Extreme poverty in US has more than doubled since 1996 – 4 million Americans live on less than $2 a day

A policy brief recently issued by the National Poverty Center (NPC) reveals that the number of households in the US living on less than $2 a day per person has increased by 130 percent since 1996, from 636,000 to some 1.46 million today.

This means that some 4 million people in “the richest country on earth” are surviving on less than $60 a month each, i.e., essentially on no income whatsoever.

http://tinyurl.com/82t6wyk

Payroll tax cut undermines Social Security’s security

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) put it well when he excoriated President Obama and his fellow congressional Democrats for approving a measure that places Social Security’s financial stability on the table. “I never thought I would live to see the day when a Democratic president … would agree to put Social Security in this kind of jeopardy,” he said. “Never did I ever imagine a Democratic president beginning the unraveling of Social Security.”

Even conservatives who aren’t fans of the program’s current structure acknowledge how hard it will be at any point in the foreseeable future to restore the old rate.

http://tinyurl.com/749j5uz

European Central Bank President Declares War on Europe’s Social Safety Nets

[ECB President] Draghi’s drunk-on-austerity-Kool-Aid message was a perfect fit for the Wall Street Journal. While he wasn’t as colorful as Andrew Mellon’s famous “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate,” Draghi is still a true heir in believing that his prescription, per Melllon, will result in “High costs of living and high living will come down.” The “high living” that Draghi is particularly opposed to is Europe’s social safety nets.

The bizarre part about that is it is those very programs that kept Europe from being in even worse shape than it is now. I recall in early 2009 that American economic officials were hectoring Europeans, particularly Germans, for not doing enough in the way of economic stimulus. European readers argued that that reflected abject ignorance. Germany provides generous support to idled workers, and that spending was automatic. Germany performed far better than its US critics anticipated.

Not surprisingly, the Journal did not question the notion that democratic governments should take orders from an unelected finance official. But Draghi tried to make his views sound a tad more legitimate by blaming the planned ritual sacrifice as a demand of the market gods.

http://tinyurl.com/85mg6gp

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/26/12” »

Occupy the Food System: Construction or Protest?

Historically, successful movements for social change walk on two legs: construction and protest. The former builds the alternative world. The latter tries to make room for it by pulling down the old structures holding the new world back. Most movements start (and many finish) hopping on one leg. Finding the other leg — and then getting both to walk together — requires a sustained and concerted effort. However, as evidenced by the Civil Rights, Anti-apartheid and Indian Independence movements, there is no other way to travel the road of transformation.

The steady rise of food activism over the last 20 years (organic farming, community and urban gardens, Community Supported Agriculture, Farm to School, Food Policy Councils, Slow Food, etc.) and the more recent explosion of Occupy movements across the U.S. are textbook examples of construction and protest. While both are expressions of profound dissatisfaction with the ravages of unbridled monopoly capitalism — specifically regarding the food and financial systems — from the perspective of transformation they are in many ways, separately “hopping on one leg.”

http://tinyurl.com/6r2oygm

Occupy Cape Cod Targets Foreclosure Auction

Vacation destination Cape Cod may seem like a bizarre place for an Occupy protest, but that didn’t stop demonstrators from rallying in the area known for beaches and lobster.

A group of protesters gathered outside a foreclosed home that was being auctioned off earlier this week to demonstrate against foreclosures that they argue were the result of the 2008 financial crisis, according to the Cape Cod Times. But despite the protest, the auctioneers still found a buyer; a bank bought the house for slightly more than $200,000.

http://tinyurl.com/7sjgncp

Infiltration to Disrupt, Divide and Misdirect Is Widespread in Occupy

These scattered reports seem to be the tip of the iceberg. As a result of experiencing extreme divisive tactics and character assassination on Freedom Plaza, we began to hear from Occupiers across the country about similar incidents in their encampments. We decided to survey people about infiltration.

Recently we toured occupations on the West Coast, where we spoke to many participants and have attended General Assemblies at Occupy Wall Street and Philadelphia. We heard stories in Arizona of someone with website administrative privileges deleting the live stream archive that included video that was to be used in defense of some who were arrested. In Lancaster, Pa., someone took control of the email list, making it an announce-only list, and when the police threatened to close the camp, that person put out a statement that the Lancaster Occupiers had decided to go without any conflict. In fact, no such decision had been made and 30 Occupiers had planned to risk arrest when the police tried to remove them. The false email resulted in no resistance.

http://tinyurl.com/78akdtb

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/25/12” »