Occupy Thread

  On 1/29/2012 at 3:37 AM, kaen said:

eh, didnt this shit blow over a few weeks ago?

 

heard fuckall about it since crimbo hit.

 

at this moment in time it looks like they have achieved fuck all.

unfortunately you have to really give a shit to not hold this point of view. remember that chart of how many news outlets are owned by the same 6 companies? it's not really a conspiracy theory to think they're not interested in covering Occupy. Occupy NYC is composed of hundreds of part & full-time people in different groups. There are probably 50 meetings a week. They have a donated office on Broadway and are responsible for maybe 10 demonstrations a week, not to mention feeding & housing the full-timers, etc. Some were arrested yesterday for drumming.

I love what Occupy is doing and am trying to participate in it by raising awareness. I don't want to directly be a part of it because I am pro-hierarchy and not into direct democracy. But I can see that they have already changed the language of politics in this country - for example, Sen. Bernie Sanders' push for a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United (the Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to fund political races). In general I think they are waking people up to the fact that they have to reclaim their voice in politics. Slowly but surely. Godspeed.

(ps if anyone is interested in sticker/button templates lmk)

[youtubehd]ssYBZmK9hmA&[/youtubehd]

thoughts?

  On 1/30/2012 at 2:07 AM, A/D said:

it's not really a conspiracy theory to think they're not interested in covering Occupy.

they're not interested because it's not interesting.

when you'll get a couple of hundred thousand people marching in new york you can be sure they'll cover it.

it's america ffs, make it a show !

  On 1/30/2012 at 9:54 PM, Awepittance said:

oh yeah ? how about i double facepalm that stupid post of yours, here you go:

:facepalm:

  On 1/30/2012 at 8:57 PM, Kcinsu said:

[youtubehd]ssYBZmK9hmA&[/youtubehd]

 

thoughts?

GRAHHH yeah definitely on a great critique there.

Gandhi himself was aware of the problems if the non-violent movement was successful. Gandhi himself said he only embraced non-resistance because there was literally no other way to combat the behemoth that was the British colonial empire.

  On 1/30/2012 at 9:58 PM, eugene said:

  On 1/30/2012 at 9:54 PM, Awepittance said:

oh yeah ? how about i double facepalm that stupid post of yours, here you go:

:facepalm:

you're just so drastically out of touch, it's hard not to cringe through your posts

ok lets be serious for a while, do you believe that the SOLE reason the news outlets are not covering those events (what events ?) is that because they are controlled by corporations that are potentially threatened by those protests ?

one of the most essential things i've learned in my studies that there is never one variable.

could you at least take it into that there are rating interests ? the fact that the people are not interested in seeing hippies with iphones in tents moaning about stuff ?

when i said that it has to be a massive thing to be taken seriosuly i was talking from experience, it has to be an event that's unignorable. and most importantly, the less people like you and troons and ETs of the world are participating in it the better the chances of the movement to do something signifficant.

  On 1/31/2012 at 12:04 AM, eugene said:

ok lets be serious for a while, do you believe that the SOLE reason the news outlets are not covering those events (what events ?) is that because they are controlled by corporations that are potentially threatened by those protests ?

one of the most essential things i've learned in my studies that there is never one variable.

could you at least take it into that there are rating interests ? the fact that the people are not interested in seeing hippies with iphones in tents moaning about stuff ?

when i said that it has to be a massive thing to be taken seriosuly i was talking from experience, it has to be an event that's unignorable. and most importantly, the less people like you and troons and ETs of the world are participating in it the better the chances of the movement to do something signifficant.

let your freak flag fly, eugene

  On 1/30/2012 at 8:57 PM, Kcinsu said:

[youtubehd]ssYBZmK9hmA&[/youtubehd]

 

thoughts?

been saying the same thing the whole time

this movement is total weaksauce

ill keep saying it:

they need to take lessons from the Black Panthers/Malcolm X.

I have a friend who is involved in the Occupy up near Philly, and while I admire him for this, his "anarchy is the only way....just think about it...its deep" really fucking pisses me off. I don't remember this guy being an incredibly condescending newage idiot, but someone is telling him the wrong viewpoints on anarchical response.

  On 1/31/2012 at 12:49 AM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 12:04 AM, eugene said:

ok lets be serious for a while, do you believe that the SOLE reason the news outlets are not covering those events (what events ?) is that because they are controlled by corporations that are potentially threatened by those protests ?

one of the most essential things i've learned in my studies that there is never one variable.

could you at least take it into that there are rating interests ? the fact that the people are not interested in seeing hippies with iphones in tents moaning about stuff ?

when i said that it has to be a massive thing to be taken seriosuly i was talking from experience, it has to be an event that's unignorable. and most importantly, the less people like you and troons and ETs of the world are participating in it the better the chances of the movement to do something signifficant.

 

let your freak flag fly, eugene

well you know i had to plug it, but still, it doesn't kill the argument. i was very happy for similar protests in israel in the summer and it's a good thing for u.s. too obviosly. but seriously you people need to get real.

what?

sorry man i had trouble reading your post. too much smoke in this room.

in case anyone's interested, there is a day of action scheduled for tomorrow:

http://s17nyc.org/

interesting. i heard a long roundtable discussion on the occupy movement where the people dropped out of the movement due to disagreements on a number of levels, each side had really good points (even though i tend to support the more anarchical bent), even the more centrist protestors wanted at a base level an effective means to push legislation and even an eventual constitutional amendment.

lets keep in mind some of the most revolutionary amendments in American history had decades and even centuries of protests and short lived pushes. The ERA is still being fought over, Slavery amendments took almost a century AND a civil war. Prohibition took almost 50 years to get ratified, and another decade or two to be repealed.

I've been hanging around Occupy stuff for the last couple of days and I feel like tomorrow is going to be great. The movement has matured a lot in a year. Their ideals of direct democracy have been practicalized in a really impressive way. They are probably going to actually shut down lower Manhattan for at least a few hours if not the whole day. People are here from all over the country & beyond.

I've been witness to the best planning for a peaceful protest I can imagine - legal & medical aid evenly dispersed, routes & access points discussed, plans B & C, nonviolence training, legal training, etc. An enormous amount of work has gone into this to make it work as best it can. Of course it will still be chaos tomorrow morning, but I'm impressed & hopeful. I'll be covering it as part of a film crew. As a sound guy my job is normally to be silent but the best part is tomorrow it actually helps if I add my voice to the chants. So, this is me, signing off to prep my gear & rest up.

Peace out WATMM, & Occupy, bitches!

Word!

  On 9/17/2012 at 3:53 AM, A/D said:

I've been hanging around Occupy stuff for the last couple of days and I feel like tomorrow is going to be great. The movement has matured a lot in a year. Their ideals of direct democracy have been practicalized in a really impressive way. They are probably going to actually shut down lower Manhattan for at least a few hours if not the whole day. People are here from all over the country & beyond.

 

I've been witness to the best planning for a peaceful protest I can imagine - legal & medical aid evenly dispersed, routes & access points discussed, plans B & C, nonviolence training, legal training, etc. An enormous amount of work has gone into this to make it work as best it can. Of course it will still be chaos tomorrow morning, but I'm impressed & hopeful. I'll be covering it as part of a film crew. As a sound guy my job is normally to be silent but the best part is tomorrow it actually helps if I add my voice to the chants. So, this is me, signing off to prep my gear & rest up.

 

Peace out WATMM, & Occupy, bitches!

Well done, and good luck!

Word A/D!

*raises fist*

You got this A/D! Represent the Dreamers of Dreams YO!

OK, so I thought the protests today went really well on the protest side. Lots of funny/well-done stuff. There was a sweet 12 foot tall Bane Capital puppet. Singing, drumming, chanting, fun stuff. Lots of people out, at least 1-2000, considering almost 200 were arrested.

It's hard not to distrust the state a little more when you see violence against nonviolence firsthand. The arrests I saw were violent & unwarranted, mostly for walking in the street (sidewalks only, protestors!). Some protestors who demonstrated in public spaces were charged with serious crimes, though they committed none. Seeing warm-hearted people hurt for no reason is a real bummer. It's even worse knowing that the people who were seriously hurt were the ones who demonstrated against, say, Chase Bank, which NYU professor Andrew Ross is still in custody over. So, it looks to me like someone doesn't mind that a bunch of sadists are in charge of discouraging people from having public opinions about corporations. Not a pretty sight.

  On 9/17/2012 at 11:10 AM, usagi said:

  On 1/30/2012 at 2:07 AM, A/D said:

I don't want to directly be a part of [Occupy] because I am pro-hierarchy and not into direct democracy.

 

could you expand on this a little, A/D? not baiting, genuinely curious.

Absolutely. I still hold on to the ideal of a representative democracy, where there are enough rules in place/people care enough that good people can be in power. I want to pay taxes so that my local officials can fix potholes. I'm not into making every decision that goes into a nation of this size. (Though I do wish for a compromise; I don't think this country would have voted to invade Iraq.) I think anyone who's into direct democracy can't be taking that literally.

I'd also just come off of seeing an early General Assembly by OWS when I said that. I saw a bunch of people in the cold giving everyone a platform to speak, and at least half were timewasters with no clear agenda. That's why I think hierarchy is good. And I saw a lot more hierarchy in the planning of S17 today - amazingly in the form of good facilitation. There were a few people in every group who had learned how to frame choices in a helpful way and quickly get the group's opinion on them. More than a few of these people were quick tactical thinkers who could make choices during the protest and make it obvious to the group what their advice was without sounding like they were in control. To me, that's hierarchy, and I support it. They were there for a reason.

So, I lost some gear, but that happens in any crazy situation. My heart is with the people who are still in custody. May they be treated fairly and released soon. Happy birthday, OWS. Many happy returns.