OCCUPY WALL STREET

[SoNotHer]

"Instead of a singular Dylan for the movement, there are poets cropping up everywhere and providing the soundtrack of this era in real time. Indeed, this is as it should be: everyone’s a bard, and all the world’s a stage. The curtain is finally closing on the old order, and a new paradigm of peace is being hewn from the colossus."

Wow. Beautiful. Just beautiful.
________________

QUOTE=Miss Tick;462796]Pax Occupata
by Randall Amster

Decades ago, on the eve of a period of widespread societal upheaval, Bob Dylan famously intoned that “the order is rapidly fading.” For a time, this appeared to be so: around the world people were in the streets, revolution was in the air, and structures of oppression were being openly contested. The headiness of those days brought many advances and opened up significant space for later movements to operate, yet in the final analysis somehow it all delivered us into even higher degrees of wealth stratification and greater consolidation of power. The order had flickered, but not quite faded, and in the end reasserted itself stronger than before.

Today we stand poised at a not-dissimilar crossroads. While perhaps no one has yet penned a Dylan-esque anthem of the movement -- although stalwarts such as David Rovics and Emma’s Revolution have dropped some poignant opening stanzas -- a mass chorus of voices is drawing lines in the sand literally everywhere: public spaces, workplaces, shipping ports, shopping malls, community centers, corporate banks, schoolrooms, boardrooms, and more. The Occupy Movement has transcended the narrow confines of Zuccotti Park, and in doing so has seemingly asserted itself wherever the forces of elitism and subjugation rear their heads. As Frederick Douglass said, “power concedes nothing without demand,” and whatever else transpires in the days ahead it can at least be said that the movement has reminded us all of this basic tenet.

Still, critics continue to ask, “where is your list of demands?” as if such can be reduced to movement letterhead in bullet-point fashion. To be sure, some concrete demands have been advanced, largely in the economic and political spheres and triggered by the exigencies of the Great Recession. But on some level, most everyone understands that this bill of particulars is just the surface of the movement, and that its essence really draws down to the core workings of the system itself. Adjusting debit card rates or mollifying student loan debts may bring some minor relief, but it has the feel of rearranging a couple of deck chairs, whereas many Occupiers are more urgently clamoring en masse for the dismantling of the Titanic itself.

At root, multitudes are demanding no less than a re-visioning of our political and economic relationships, and likewise of our collective human relationship with the larger environment. The time for single-issue tinkering is winding down, as the ecological and social fabric of our lives similarly degrades. After generations of living mainly as cogs in a mechanistic Moloch -- at times being reasonably well-compensated for the sacrifice of our mere freedoms and human dignity -- many people are experiencing new bonds of exchange, camaraderie, and community. There is a growing sense of engaged optimism in this moment of healthy rebellion.

And it is healthy, in contrast with the dead-end dispiritedness of corporate capitalism, in which everything and everyone are little more than raw materials for the robber barons’ assembly lines. This archaic and apocalyptic system of production and reproduction is sick at its very core, revealing a form of mass insanity masking as progress, and leaving illness and misery in its wake just beneath the shiny veneer of development. At the height of colonialism, blankets with smallpox were presented as “gifts” to unwitting natives, and in many ways this has become the central operating premise of the entire enterprise, a living metaphor for environmental despoliation and the ensuing political economy of toxification.

No more. The pox must be cast out, by necessity, if any part of the organism is to survive at this point. What began as a movement to occupy a symbolic place -- the plexus of financial machinations -- quickly became a call to occupy everything, and has further expanded to include the earth itself as a living participant in the calculus. Now, as the teeth of abject repression are bared in Oakland and elsewhere, a critical juncture is being reached in which the politics of practicality are slowly being supplanted by the poetics of possibility. People who have tasted freedom can no longer be kept conveniently in prisons, even if their cages are designed to appear like comfortable condominiums.

The technicians of empire thus stand stripped of their authoritarian mystique, increasingly so as they resort to heavy-handed tactics against peaceful people, including even those who have served in their infantries. A crisis of legitimacy is in the offing, as counter-institutions steadily replace those that run counter to even the pretense of democracy and equity. Hegemony yields to autonomy, corporatism to communitarianism, and warfare to welfare. There will be no placating the people by piecemeal legislation or token redistribution at this juncture; it is the reins of power themselves that are being demanded, and not merely the spoils.

But are the power elite quaking in their jack-boots? Are the walls of Babylon actually crumbling? This time, is the order really fading? Others have tried mightily before and come up short of changing the underlying paradigm, but there is a qualitative difference in evidence today: horizontal integration. Vertical structures, such as capitalism’s pervasive pyramid schemes, are inherently vulnerable to vicissitudes in the base -- whereas horizontal systems, such as those being forged in occupations everywhere, are inherently unbreakable since there is no a prior of power apart from every single piece of the whole. This is, in fact, how healthy organisms function, and further reflects how nature itself is organized at both the microscopic and macroscopic levels.

To a system of death and destruction, we interpose one of life and liberation. Consumption is remediated by creation; plutocracy by democracy; exploitation by participation. This is not merely a movement, but is in practice more akin to a global health care plan -- and this time, we will get universal (or at least earthly) coverage, with the only mandate being the basic imperative that is embedded in the undeniable interconnectedness of our existence. No legislation is needed, only the laws of nature; no medication, just dedication; no co-payments, merely co-creators. We are going to get well, all of us together and the habitat itself, and in the process we will work to wipe aside the sickly stain of the colonizer’s history.

Power may not abdicate, but it does change its garb at times. The Empire’s cloak of imperial majesty is threadbare, and a new wind is chilling its inner workings to the marrow. We neocolonial beneficiaries have infected others, and ourselves as well, with everything from acne and austerity to zoster and zero-sum thinking, and now it has come to pass that the global organism itself is essentially on life support. This is the reality that must eventually be confronted, both in terms of ecology and political economy: the externalities of disease and despair cannot be indefinitely outsourced. The only genuine form of wellbeing is one that injects itself everywhere, coursing through the veins of society at all levels and in every locale within the system.

Pax Romana, Pax Britannica, Pax Americana -- all made claims to establishing a “relative peace” within their ambit. But these forms of peace were imposed at the point of a bayonet or the nosecone of a warhead. They were all poisonous peaces, ultimately self-defeating enterprises of subjugation in which the masters could not escape their own systems of enslavement. Today, we are aiming for something more like Pax Populi, a form of peace made by and for people, not nations or corporations. In order to accomplish this, the ailing empire du jour must be supplanted by a constellation of healthy communities, interlinked by virtue of desire rather than dictate. This is the ambitious horizon of the burgeoning movement in all of its manifestations: Pax Occupata.

Instead of a singular Dylan for the movement, there are poets cropping up everywhere and providing the soundtrack of this era in real time. Indeed, this is as it should be: everyone’s a bard, and all the world’s a stage. The curtain is finally closing on the old order, and a new paradigm of peace is being hewn from the colossus.[/QUOTE]

[SoNotHer]

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/...059182-1uhuvUx

Tell House Democrats: Stand up to Wall Street banks

It sounds really simple: The largest banks that caused the housing crisis that led to our economic meltdown should be investigated fully, punished to the full extent of the law, and forced to compensate their victims for the harm they caused.

But the Obama administration is pressuring state attorneys general to quickly cut a deal with the banks that lets them off the hook for massive amounts of mortgage and foreclosure fraud.

Democratic Representative Tammy Baldwin is pushing back. She has introduced a resolution that supports taking a tough line with the banks.

The more Democratic members of Congress who cosponsor it, the stronger the message it will send to President Obama that he cannot give Wall Street a "get out of jail free" card for mortgage and foreclosure fraud.

Tell House Democrats: Stand with Tammy Baldwin and stand up to Wall Street banks. Not one of the Wall Street crooks who drove our economy off a cliff has gone to jail. And without aggressive investigation and prosecution of misconduct, none of them will.

Yet the Obama administration is pushing for a deal between state attorneys general and the large mortgage firms that essentially revolves around how lightly the banks would get off. There has been no real investigation, and no real push for meaningful penalties or accountability. In many ways, the settlement terms under consideration would amount to another backdoor bailout for the banks.

This is unacceptable. Tell House Democrats: Stand with Tammy Baldwin and stand up to Wall Street banks.

Rep. Baldwin's resolution has three tenets:

(1) The mortgage servicers who engaged in fraudulent behavior should not be granted criminal or civil immunity for potential wrongdoing related to illegal mortgage and foreclosure practices.

(2) The Federal Government and State attorneys general should proceed with full investigations into claims of fraudulent behavior by mortgage servicers.

(3) Any financial settlement reached with mortgage servicers should appropriately compensate for, and accurately reflect, the extent of harm to all victims, including homeowners and State pension beneficiaries, caused by the mortgage servicers' fraudulent behavior.

What's on the table now--and what the Obama administration is pressuring the states to accept--falls far short of these standards. While the Baldwin resolution itself is non-binding, a large number of Democratic co-sponsors will do two things. First it will make it harder to spin a terrible settlement deal as a victory, which itself makes a deal less likely. Second, by establishing criteria for what an acceptable settlement might look like, it helps demonstrate the inadequacy of what's on the table.

We need to put the brakes on the headlong rush by state attorneys general and the Obama administration to settle with the banks. It's incompatible with the health of our democracy to allow wealthy and powerful people off the hook after they have caused massive and widespread suffering.

Tell House Democrats: Stand with Tammy Baldwin and stand up to Wall Street banks.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/...059182-1uhuvUx

[atomiczombie]

It's not on You Tube so I can't embed, but this is a video about the call to action on November 17th. It's so awesome I wanted to share it!

http://vimeo.com/31114509

[SoNotHer]

Beautiful and inspiring - thank you for posting this, AZ.

I am so proud of everyone moving this forward. It has given me such hope. :-)

Originally Posted by atomiczombie

It's not on You Tube so I can't embed, but this is a video about the call to action on November 17th. It's so awesome I wanted to share it!

http://vimeo.com/31114509

[SoNotHer]

Occupy Atlanta Encamps In Neighborhood To Save Police Officer’s Home From Foreclosure
By Zaid Jilani on Nov 8, 2011 at 11:30 am

Occupy Atlanta has repeatedly run into hurdles, as it has been evicted from Woodruff Park in Atlanta multiple times by the city’s unsympathetic mayor, Kasim Reed. Yet the group was invigorated yesterday as it moved to a new location to take action for economic justice.

Last week, Tawanna Rorey’s husband, a police officer based in Gwinnett County, e-mailed Occupy Atlanta to explain that his home was going to be foreclosed on and his family was in danger of being evicted on Monday. So within a few hours Occupy Atlanta developed an action plan to move to Snellville, Georgia on Monday to stop the foreclosure. At least two dozen protesters encamped on the family’s lawn, to the applause of neighbors and bystanders.

Nearly two dozen protesters assembled Monday afternoon at Tawanna Rorey’s four-bedroom home in a neighborhood just south of Snellville, clogging the narrow, winding street that runs in front of the house with cars, vans and TV trucks. Many neighbors stopped to gawk at the spectacle and even honked their car horns in support of the crowd. [...] [The protesters] set up two tents in the front yard, draped a “This Home is Occupied” sign over the porch railing and handed out bottled water and granola bars to other members.

A local CBS station filed a report about the new occupation. Watch it:



The Sheriff’s Department did not come to evict the Roreys that day. A spokesman for the department told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the foreclosure process is still ongoing and that it has not scheduled an eviction. “It’s a good cause,” said Diona Murray, one of the Roreys’ neighbors, about the occupation. “If we don’t take a stand, who will?”

[atomiczombie]

Originally Posted by SoNotHer

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/...059182-1uhuvUx

Tell House Democrats: Stand up to Wall Street banks

It sounds really simple: The largest banks that caused the housing crisis that led to our economic meltdown should be investigated fully, punished to the full extent of the law, and forced to compensate their victims for the harm they caused.

But the Obama administration is pressuring state attorneys general to quickly cut a deal with the banks that lets them off the hook for massive amounts of mortgage and foreclosure fraud.

Democratic Representative Tammy Baldwin is pushing back. She has introduced a resolution that supports taking a tough line with the banks.

The more Democratic members of Congress who cosponsor it, the stronger the message it will send to President Obama that he cannot give Wall Street a "get out of jail free" card for mortgage and foreclosure fraud.

Tell House Democrats: Stand with Tammy Baldwin and stand up to Wall Street banks. Not one of the Wall Street crooks who drove our economy off a cliff has gone to jail. And without aggressive investigation and prosecution of misconduct, none of them will.

Yet the Obama administration is pushing for a deal between state attorneys general and the large mortgage firms that essentially revolves around how lightly the banks would get off. There has been no real investigation, and no real push for meaningful penalties or accountability. In many ways, the settlement terms under consideration would amount to another backdoor bailout for the banks.

This is unacceptable. Tell House Democrats: Stand with Tammy Baldwin and stand up to Wall Street banks.

Rep. Baldwin's resolution has three tenets:

(1) The mortgage servicers who engaged in fraudulent behavior should not be granted criminal or civil immunity for potential wrongdoing related to illegal mortgage and foreclosure practices.

(2) The Federal Government and State attorneys general should proceed with full investigations into claims of fraudulent behavior by mortgage servicers.

(3) Any financial settlement reached with mortgage servicers should appropriately compensate for, and accurately reflect, the extent of harm to all victims, including homeowners and State pension beneficiaries, caused by the mortgage servicers' fraudulent behavior.

What's on the table now--and what the Obama administration is pressuring the states to accept--falls far short of these standards. While the Baldwin resolution itself is non-binding, a large number of Democratic co-sponsors will do two things. First it will make it harder to spin a terrible settlement deal as a victory, which itself makes a deal less likely. Second, by establishing criteria for what an acceptable settlement might look like, it helps demonstrate the inadequacy of what's on the table.

We need to put the brakes on the headlong rush by state attorneys general and the Obama administration to settle with the banks. It's incompatible with the health of our democracy to allow wealthy and powerful people off the hook after they have caused massive and widespread suffering.

Tell House Democrats: Stand with Tammy Baldwin and stand up to Wall Street banks.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/...059182-1uhuvUx

1. Yay Tammy. She f'kin rocks.
2. I signed.

[Cin]

Originally Posted by atomiczombie

1. Yay Tammy. She f'kin rocks.
2. I signed.

Me too.....

[Kätzchen]

This morning I got a txt from Team Blue about our President drafting and implementing a US amendment to the constitution to clean up ethics issues and term limits for the US Supreme Court. I was like: “Yeah, I’m on your side Joe, Let’s Go Team Blue!”

I’m bumping this ages old thread by Atomiczombie that is ripe with posts made years ago that reflect the challenges people face everyday in America: Police brutality, brutal treatment of those who migrate and immigrate to the US, problematic institutional issues that are still current today with Wall Street, Banking entities, Tax evasion by the so-called wealthy (t—p, et al), and of course at the bottom of the ‘swamp’ is all the GOP elected officials who make laws and decisions in the best interest of themselves and the rich who don’t give two hoots about the ordinary citizen, big pharmaceutical interest or PAC’s whose dark interests want your money to keep tearing you down so they can ‘rule the world’ (tears for fears reference).

We need a tsunami of voters who will hurtle us past the dark interests of those who continue to tear down our country and violate democracy.

I hope new members, or members still around, enjoy reading this thread. Thank you to all the members here who posted years ago.

Remember: Freedom — it’s what we must fight for every day, every year and in every election cycle in our country. Freedom from violence, freedom from organized oppression, freedom in our personal lives and freedom from fraud, and freedom from dark interests who only care about lining their pockets with your hard earned money. Don’t let them win. Support Democracy. Support Freedom.

[Kätzchen]

I am bumping AtomicZombie’s forum thread again today. I miss the members of our online community who cared deeply about socio-cultural-political issues that continue to dominate American’s lives.

In today’s current “economy” it would seem that Team Hate is ‘ruling’ the world (Trump & his family of crooks, con-artists & the GOP, etc) and in other places across the globe there is Team Hate in Russia (Putin) and Team Hate in a Mediterranean country who is killing (ethnic cleansing) a certain indigenous people that do not deserve to die or be starved to death or shot at or (…).

The apocalypse is really here and all people are concerned about, in my opinion, is political rivals who outclass them in ethical treatment practices and how they can get revenge on them. But, according to their own version of biblical prophecy “all of it is as it should be.” Meanwhile … people are so overwhelmed with news coverage and reporting about all these evil deeds, that it would appear that the Haters are winning, every single moment of life on earth.

We need an Occupy Hateful People movement supported by a People for Life & Love movement, I think.🤔

Before it’s too late.