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China is ripe for its own Occupy protests
Occupy Wall Street protests have not spread to China, but Beijing's crackdown on media coverage and Internet activity related to OWS isn't surprising. What's less predictable are ways that Occupy protests could shake up China’s internal politics, especially among neo-Maoists. By Daniel K. Gardner / November 8, 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests have not spread to the People’s Republic of China. But word of the protests has, and the Chinese authorities are trying to figure out how to respond. Their reactions have run the gamut: from gloating denunciations of American capitalism, to a crackdown on all media coverage of Occupy Wall Street (OWS). Of course, there is no real surprise in this sequence of responses. More interesting, and less predictable, are the ways in which the Occupy Wall Street protests could substantively shape China’s internal politics. In the early days of the OWS movement, when protests were confined to US cities, a China Daily OpEd (Sept. 30) harshly attacked the American media for journalistic hypocrisy, for not giving coverage to protests in their own country even as they had relished covering protests in the Arab world just a few months earlier. A couple weeks later, state-run Xinhua News was harsher still, arguing that the protests in New York's Zuccotti Park “laid bare malpractices of the US government and ailments of its political and economic systems.” But as the Occupy movement spread globally, the Chinese response shifted. Assault on the silence of the American press gave way to anxiety about the possible effects Chinese media coverage might have on their Chinese audience. On Oct. 17, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, after remarking that the issues raised by OWS may be “worth pondering,” cautioned the Chinese media, saying that their “reflections should be conducive to maintaining the sound and steady development of the world economy.” On the same day, editors of the Chinese Communist Party-run Global Times called for people to “calmly observe the protest movement and the global situation, and not be confused by extreme points of view.” A few days later, on Oct. 19 and 20, Beijing authorities – setting aside any ambivalence they might have had about the Occupy movement – issued an order to the Chinese media to cease all reporting and commenting on the OWS movement. What happened? Perhaps Beijing had examined the numbers in the intervening three days, and been reminded that as high as the income gap in the United States is, China’s income and wealth inequality is right up there as well, even higher according to some estimates. Or perhaps recognition had set in that China’s elite 1 percent just might – like America’s 1 percent elite – be open to charges of greed and corruption. Given, too, that 36 percent of the Chinese people (that’s 481 million people) live on $2 a day or less, the Beijing leadership might have become worried that the Chinese would not remain as “calm” in the face of news about the US protests as the Global Times might wish. Cyberspace censorship quickly followed after the media gag order. Searches for “Occupy Wall Street” and, more pointedly, for “Occupy Beijing,” “Occupy Shanghai,” “Occupy Guangzhou,” “Occupy Zhongnanhai,” and “Occupy Lhasa,” among a growing list of banned terms, now yield blank screens on microblogging sites like Sina Weibo (China’s version of Twitter). Such a crackdown was predictable. Since the Arab Spring uprisings, the Chinese leadership, vigilant about any signs of civil unrest at home, has been aggressive in promoting the “harmonious society” that is the Community Party’s mantra. But tensions in the ruling Chinese Communist Party have surfaced in recent years. New Leftists, sometime called New Maoists, have become more voluble about the widening gulf between rich and poor; corporate and official collusion; the state’s inattentiveness to the needs of the elderly, the infirm, and the impoverished; and the rise in “mass incidents” of protest against official corruption. It is time, the New Leftists suggest, to put the brakes on the liberal reform experiment launched in the post-Mao era by Deng Xiaoping. It is time to resurrect the revolutionary, egalitarian spirit of Chairman Mao. Will the message or spirit of the Occupy Wall Street protests resonate with China’s 99-percenters and give momentum to China’s New Maoist agenda? OWS has already produced small demonstrations in nearby Hong Kong and Taiwan. If OWS endures and expands its reach to mainland China, savvy politician Bo Xilai, party chief of Chongqing municipality in China’s southwest, would likely have much to gain. The leading figure and public face of the New Maoists, Bo is angling – some would say campaigning – to win a position on the all-powerful nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo in 2012. Described as “handsome,” “outgoing,” and “Kennedy-esque,” Mr. Bo has made a name for himself as an activist party chief – even as he has ruffled feathers along the way. He launched a popular campaign targeting organized crime and official corruption in 2009. He also sponsored low-income housing projects and welfare programs for the working class and the poor in Chongqing. This summer, he inaugurated the Red Culture Movement, calling for a renaissance of the revolutionary spirit embodied by Chairman Mao. Residents of Chongqing are encouraged to come together in parks and stadiums to sing “red songs” – songs extolling the achievements of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party – and to watch the revolutionary dramas that have replaced the soap operas on Chongqing TV. With such efforts, charismatic Bo has struck a strong populist chord in Chongqing and beyond. But winning acclaim from the people and winning a place on the Standing Committee of the Politburo are two different matters. Bo’s flamboyant style is at odds with the staid style of present members of the Standing Committee (which in a process lacking any transparency will select the replacements for those retiring from the Standing Committee next year). His support for a more tightly state-controlled economy is at odds with the more liberal state capitalism now in vogue. And his Maoist rhetoric is at odds with the liberal reform rhetoric embraced by the Chinese leadership for the past decade, and especially by current Premier Wen Jiabao. Bo’s words and actions have conjured up, at least for some, the specter of a return to Cultural Revolution days. Still, in the words of the press, Bo is a “political rock star.” Excluding him from the Standing Committee may be difficult. But should China’s 99-percenters awaken to the call of Occupy Wall Street and coalesce around the movement, excluding Bo from the Standing Committee mix would be more than difficult – it would simply be too risky, even for China’s authoritarian ruling party. |
White House Says Each City Should Determine How To Handle Occupy Protests
By Mary Bruce Nov 16, 2011 1:01am Following the police raid on Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York, the White House said it’s up to each city to determine how to handle the demonstrations. “The President’s position is that obviously every municipality has to make its own decisions about how to handle these issues,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One. Carney said the President was “aware” from reports that protesters had been evicted early Tuesday morning from Zuccotti Park, where they had camped out for weeks. “We would hope and want, as these decisions are made, that it balances between a long tradition of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in this country, and obviously of demonstrating and protesting, and also the very important need to maintain law and order and health and safety standards, which was obviously a concern in this case,” Carney said srsly? that's the entire article. talk about understatement. complete and utter bullshit. not to mention it was written more than ten days ago. |
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Mark 10:25I think that just about covers it. And it makes it pretty clear what St. Peter's job is as well. |
Court order allows Occupy Wall St. protesters back
By COLLEEN LONG and VERENA DOBNIK - Associated Press Tue, Nov 15, 2011 NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality. Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters. At a morning news conference at City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city knew about the court order but had not seen it and would go to court to fight it. He said the city wants to protect people's rights, but if a choice must be made, it will protect public safety. About 70 people were arrested overnight, including some who chained themselves together, while officers cleared the park so that sanitation crews could clean it. By 9 a.m., the park was power-washed clean. Police in riot gear still ringed the public space, waiting for orders to reopen it. The city told protesters at the two-month-old encampment they could come back after the cleaning, but under new tougher rules, including no tents, sleeping bags or tarps, which would effectively put an end to the encampment if enforced. Bloomberg said the evacuation was conducted in the middle of the night "to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood." "The law that created Zuccotti Park required that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours a day," Bloomberg said. "Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protesters, making it unavailable to anyone else." Concerns about health and safety issues at Occupy Wall Street camps around the country have intensified, and protesters have been ordered to take down their shelters, adhere to curfews and relocate so that parks can be cleaned. Hundreds of former Zuccotti Park residents and their supporters marched along Lower Manhattan before dawn Tuesday. Some paused and locked arms outside the City Hall gates but left peacefully when police in riot gear appeared on the scene. About 300 to 400 kept moving along the sidewalks, taking care not to block them. Some were chanting, "This is what democracy looks like." Others chanted: "Hey, hey, ho, ho, our billionaire mayor has got to go." At about 1 a.m. Tuesday, New York City police handed out notices from Brookfield Office Properties, owner of Zuccotti Park, and the city saying that the park had to be cleared because it had become unsanitary and hazardous. Paul Browne, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, said the park had been cleared by 4:30 a.m. and that about 70 people who'd been inside it had been arrested, including a group who chained themselves together. One person was taken to a hospital for evaluation because of breathing problems. Police in riot gear filled the streets, car lights flashing and sirens blaring. Protesters, some of whom shouted angrily at police, began marching to two locations in Lower Manhattan where they planned to hold rallies. Some protesters refused to leave the park, but many left peacefully. Ben Hamilton, 29, said he was arrested "and I was just trying to get away" from the fray. Rabbi Chaim Gruber, an Occupy Wall Street member, said police officers were clearing the streets near Zuccotti Park. "The police are forming a human shield, and are pushing everyone away," he said. Hundreds of police officers surrounded the park in riot gear with plastic shields across their faces, holding plastic shields and batons which were used on some cases on protesters. Police also came armed with klieg lights, which they used to flood the park, and bull horns to announce that everyone had to clear out. Jake Rozak, another protester, said police "had their pepper spray out and were ready to use it." Notices given to the protesters said the park "poses an increasing health and fire safety hazard to those camped in the park, the city's first responders and the surrounding community." It said that tents, sleeping bags and other items had to be removed because "the storage of these materials at this location is not allowed." Anything left behind would be taken away, the notices said, giving an address at a sanitation department building where items could be picked up. Alex Hall, 21, of Brooklyn, said police walked into the park "stepping on tents and ripping them out." Occupy encampments have come under fire around the country as local officials and residents have complained about possible health hazards and ongoing inhabitation of parks and other public spaces. Anti-Wall Street activists intend to converge at the University of California, Berkeley on Tuesday for a day of protests and another attempt to set up an Occupy Cal camp, less than a week after police arrested dozens of protesters who tried to pitch tents on campus. The Berkeley protesters will be joined by Occupy Oakland activists who said they would march to the UC campus in the afternoon. Police cleared the tent city in front of Oakland City Hall before dawn Monday and arrested more than 50people amid complaints about safety, sanitation and drug use. another old yet new to me story |
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The Congress Insider Trading Scandal Is Outrageous
By Henry Blodget Daily Ticker – Tue, Nov 15, 2011 7:23 AM EST ..You cannot read the description of the personal stock trading allegedly conducted by Rep. Spencer Bachus and other members of Congress during the financial crisis and conclude anything other than the following: Our government is completely corrupt. Yes, this behavior may be technically legal, because of an absurd loophole that makes insider-trading rules not apply to Congress. Yes, this behavior may be widespread on Capitol Hill. But there is no universe in which a reasonable person would consider this behavior ethical or okay. And for the 300+ million Americans who aren't members of Congress, it would be just plain illegal Many members of Congress seem guilty here, including John Kerry, Dick Durbin, and Jim Moran. But Spencer Bachus takes the cake. According to a new book called Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer, as relayed by Dave Weigel at Slate, Rep. Bachus made more than 40 trades in his personal account in the summer and fall of 2008, in the early months of the financial crisis. The fact that Bachus personally traded on private information he received as a result of his job is bad enough. The fact that he was the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee at the time is simply outrageous. In one case, the day after getting a private briefing on the collapsing economy and financial system from Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, Rep. Bachus effectively shorted the market (by buying options that would rise if the market tanked.) A few days later, after the market tanked, Bachus sold his position and nearly doubled his money. If a corporate executive or Wall Street trader did this--cashed in personally after getting private, non-public information from his work--Rep. Bachus and every other member of Congress would be screaming from the rooftops about how the financial system is deeply corrupt and how the executive should be charged with insider trading. And they would be right. Rep. Bachus should return whatever money he made by betting on the direction of the markets (or anything else) in the fall of 2008. He should apologize for his behavior and jaw-dropping lack of judgement. He should urge his fellow members of Congress to immediately enact legislation that defends the fairness of the markets by holding Congress to the same insider trading laws as everyone else. He should then resign in disgrace. Here's the passage from Throw Them All Out, as relayed by Slate's Dave Weigel. According to Weigel, it is only one of many examples of Bachus's insider trading: On the evening of September 18, at 7 p.m., Bachus received [a] private briefing for congressional leaders by Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke about the current state of the economy. They sat around a long table in the office of Nancy Pelosi, then the Speaker of the House. These briefings were secretive. Often, cell phones and Blackberrys had to be surrendered outside the room to avoid leaks. What Bachus and his colleagues heard behind closed doors was stunning. As Paulson recounts, "Ben [Bernanke] emphasized how the financial crisis could spill into the real economy. As stocks dropped perhaps a further 20 percent, General Motors would go bankrupt, and unemployment would rise . . . if we did nothing." The members of Congress around the table were, in Paulson's words, "ashen-faced." Bernanke continued, "It is a matter of days before there is a meltdown in the global financial system." Bachus was among those who spoke. According to Paulson, he suggested recapitalizing the banks by buying shares. The meeting broke up. The next day, September 19, Congressman Bachus bought contract options on Proshares Ultra-Short QQQ, an index fund that seeks results that are 200% of the inverse of the Nasdaq 100 index. In other words, he was shorting the market. It was an inexpensive way to bet that the market would fall. He bought options for $7,846 on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 8,604. A few days later, on September 23, after the market had indeed fallen, he sold the options for over $13,000 and nearly doubled his money. old again but i can't stop reading about it. |
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I am sorry I don't live in Mass. to vote for her. I always find her inspiring and genuine, and now that she's in Karl Rove's crosshairs, I find her even more so and more essential than ever.
https://secure.actblue.com/entity/fu...tblue_homepage |
The case for a green economy
Has anyone read this yet, and if so, what did you think?
"Friedman delivers the bad news in lively style, filled with anecdote. In the last 50 years the world's population has almost tripled. By 2054 it will be 9.2 billion. The drive to establish a middle class in India, China, Brazil and Russia to consume and produce goods is inevitable. But the previous way of exploiting resources is not replicable. In the book Carl Pope said it best: "Every previous economic spirit and takeoff in history by one country or a region was nurtured by an unexploited biological commons." Today there are no new virgin commons." http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eIzSn91JTR...nd_crowded.jpg |
The Average Bush Tax Cut For The 1 Percent This Year Will Be Greater Than The Average Income Of The Other 99 Percent
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OWS and African Americans- food for thought
http://blogs.the-american-interest.c...acks-shun-ows/
Occupy The Plantation? Blacks Shun OWS http://hotair.com/headlines/archives...y-wall-street/ Why blacks aren’t embracing Occupy Wall Street |
Yolo Akili- Interviews of African Americans On Occupy Wall Street
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Occupy the Courts - January 20, 2012
http://movetoamend.org/OccupyTheCourts
January 20, 2012 – Move to Amend Occupies the Courts! Jan 20, 2012: Occupy the Courts!Call to Action Inspired by our friends at Occupy Wall Street, and Dr. Cornel West, Move To Amend is planning bold action to mark the second anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision! http://courts.lohudblogs.com/files/2011/11/otc-ad.png Occupy the Courts will be a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday January 20, 2012. Move to Amend volunteers across the USA will lead the charge on the judiciary which created — and continues to expand — corporate personhood rights. Americans across the country are on the march, and they are marching OUR way. They carry signs that say, “Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT Speech!” And they are chanting those truths at the top of their lungs! The time has come to make these truths evident to the courts. ➤➤ Join us Friday, January 20, 2012 at a Federal Court building near you! Click here to sign up. Sites (so far) Buffalo, NY Cedar Rapids, IA Cleveland, OH Columbus, OH Des Moines, IA Denver, CO Dover, DE East St. Louis, MO Eureka, CA Golfport, MS Houston, TX Kansas City, MO Madison, WI Milwaukee, WI Minneapolis, MN Nashville, TN New York, NY Oklahoma City, OK Peoria, IL Portland, OR Rochester, NY San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Savannah, GA Seattle, WA Springfield, MO St Louis, MO Tampa, FL Tacoma, WA Washington, D.C. (US Supreme Court) Wilmington, DE Wilmington, NC Organizing Resources Locations List of Federal District Courts US Court of Appeals US Supreme Court Obtaining a Permit To obtain a permit for your action, contact the Court you will be targeting and submit this application (pdf) to the GSA Facilities Manager. Find out how they want you to submit the permit application, often times it can be done by fax. Outreach This folder contains handbills and posters to promote your event. Black & white or color options in each download folder. Click the links to begin downloads. Poster with text box (with text box to add your local event info) (download zip folder) Poster (download zip folder) Handbills have a letter to Occupy events from MTA on the back - if that isn't useful for your outreach just print side one. Handbills with text box (with text box to add your local event info) (download zip folder) Handbills (download zip folder) Action Materials Instructions to Make a Corporate Personhood Costume (pdf) Corporate Personhood Skit: Video, Script & Sound Effects Adapt one of our 4th of July ideas for Occupy the Courts “Interview with a Corporate Person” Skit (pdf) Corporate Personhood Song "As the Country Turns" Skit for a short drama Build a freeway banner Informational Resources Outreach Materials (Petitions, Signs/Posters, Stickers, Brochures) Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule What Could Change if Corporate Personhood Were Abolished? Why Abolish All Corporate Constitutional Rights Spread the Word Corporate Personhood Talking Points Tips for Using Social Media (pdf) Tips for Writing Letters to the Editor How to Hold a News Conference Additional Resources Recording of November 2011 Webinar on Occupy the Courts with Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap (MTA Field Director) and Steve Justino (MTA Occupy the Courts Coordinator) (skip to 20:00 mark to avoid pre-meeting logistics) Move to Amend Local Action Toolkit ➤➤ Join us Friday, January 20, 2012 at a Federal Court building near you! Click here to sign up. If you have additional questions or ideas contact us: OccupyTheCourts@MoveToAmend.org. |
Passing stuff on...
No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the U.S. Military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 50% of their pay. While Politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive full pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense.
Monday we learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans. This will get national attention if news networks will broadcast it. When you add this to the below, just where will all of it stop? This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on. This is an idea that we should address. For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed while citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform... in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop. If each person that receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.. This is one proposal that really should be passed around. Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ." You (all) are one of my 20+ |
Secret Fed Loans Helped Banks Net $13 Billion
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The rest of the article
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I keep thinking that the only way this movement will advance real change for the 98/99% will be through eventual constitutional amendment. BUT, that is a huge task and with the current division of the US population politically would be one hell of a feat. But I see where the left and right could join in the middle to stop all of the true "waste" of elected officials. I admit, I have a problem even with politicians I align with getting these perks and the fact is that once in office, these folks become millionaires if they didn't start as such. |
Scott Olsen interviewed yesterday
His asking everyone to stay non-violent is impressive. So glad he is getting his speech back and re-joining with Occupy Oakland! |
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