OCCUPY WALL STREET

[atomiczombie]

How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street

By Chris Moody

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Republican Governors Association met this week in Florida to give GOP state executives a chance to rejuvenate, strategize and team-build. But during a plenary session on Wednesday, one question kept coming up: How can Republicans do a better job of talking about Occupy Wall Street?

"I'm so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I'm frightened to death," said Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist and one of the nation's foremost experts on crafting the perfect political message. "They're having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism."

Luntz offered tips on how Republicans could discuss the grievances of the Occupiers, and help the governors better handle all these new questions from constituents about "income inequality" and "paying your fair share."
Yahoo News sat in on the session, and counted 10 do's and don'ts from Luntz covering how Republicans should fight back by changing the way they discuss the movement.

1. Don't say 'capitalism.'

"I'm trying to get that word removed and we're replacing it with either 'economic freedom' or 'free market,' " Luntz said. "The public . . . still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we're seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we've got a problem."

2. Don't say that the government 'taxes the rich.' Instead, tell them that the government 'takes from the rich.'

"If you talk about raising taxes on the rich," the public responds favorably, Luntz cautioned. But "if you talk about government taking the money from hardworking Americans, the public says no. Taxing, the public will say yes."

3. Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the 'middle class.' Call them 'hardworking taxpayers.'

"They cannot win if the fight is on hardworking taxpayers. We can say we defend the 'middle class' and the public will say, I'm not sure about that. But defending 'hardworking taxpayers' and Republicans have the advantage."
4. Don't talk about 'jobs.' Talk about 'careers.'

"Everyone in this room talks about 'jobs,'" Luntz said. "Watch this."
He then asked everyone to raise their hand if they want a "job." Few hands went up. Then he asked who wants a "career." Almost every hand was raised.

"So why are we talking about jobs?"

5. Don't say 'government spending.' Call it 'waste.'

"It's not about 'government spending.' It's about 'waste.' That's what makes people angry."

6. Don't ever say you're willing to 'compromise.'

"If you talk about 'compromise,' they'll say you're selling out. Your side doesn't want you to 'compromise.' What you use in that to replace it with is 'cooperation.' It means the same thing. But cooperation means you stick to your principles but still get the job done. Compromise says that you're selling out those principles."

7. The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: 'I get it.'
"First off, here are three words for you all: 'I get it.' . . . 'I get that you're angry. I get that you've seen inequality. I get that you want to fix the system."

Then, he instructed, offer Republican solutions to the problem.

8. Out: 'Entrepreneur.' In: 'Job creator.'

Use the phrases "small business owners" and "job creators" instead of "entrepreneurs" and "innovators."

9. Don't ever ask anyone to 'sacrifice.'

"There isn't an American today in November of 2011 who doesn't think they've already sacrificed. If you tell them you want them to 'sacrifice,' they're going to be be pretty angry at you. You talk about how 'we're all in this together.' We either succeed together or we fail together."

10. Always blame Washington.

Tell them, "You shouldn't be occupying Wall Street, you should be occupying Washington. You should occupy the White House because it's the policies over the past few years that have created this problem."

BONUS:

Don't say 'bonus!'

Luntz advised that if they give their employees an income boost during the holiday season, they should never refer to it as a "bonus."
"If you give out a bonus at a time of financial hardship, you're going to make people angry. It's 'pay for performance.'"

LINK: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/r...133707949.html

This is not surprising. Occupy is starting to effect the national conversation about politics. This is a great sign when the conservatives are feeling the heat!

[ruffryder]

(Newser) – When the protesters of Occupy LA vacated their encampment, they left behind 30 tons of debris. Sanitation workers have already removed 25 tons of garbage, clothes, and random belongings—all of which went to a landfill, the Los Angeles Times reports. Protesters, who lived in the tent city for two months, left behind not just trashed protest signs and food, but everything from mattresses to electric razors to bicycles to a treehouse—and, of course, dozens of tents.

According to the AP, the site doesn't smell so great, either—specifically, it reeks of "urine and unwashed bodies." The grass is ruined, trees are damaged, there's graffiti on the walls of City Hall and on statues, and there are rumors of a lice or flea infestation. The site is "so contaminated, it doesn't even make sense to sort [the left-behind belongings] out," says a sanitation superintendent. There were rows of portable toilets, but protesters still urinated in bottles that must now be disposed of. Says a city refuse collection supervisor, "I've never seen anything like this."

[SoNotHer]

I wrote about a student with health issues and no health insurance a couple weeks ago. Though the Now she's about to get evicted with two small kids in two. She's going to school to try to be a nurse. She's being evicted for $200 - $150 of that is the court filing fees for the eviction. I am scrambling to find her pro bono help and money or assistance somewhere.

And then I get a call today from an old friend who is no without a job or a permanent place to stay for her and her daughter. I invite her to live with me several hundred miles away, but because of a custody issue, she can't leave her area. And so in one I have poured over the internet looking for resources for two mothers with young children who, though several states away from each other, are in the position of now having to look for money and a place to live.

This is how we do it here, right?

[persiphone]

Originally Posted by SoNotHer

I wrote about a student with health issues and no health insurance a couple weeks ago. Though the Now she's about to get evicted with two small kids in two. She's going to school to try to be a nurse. She's being evicted for $200 - $150 of that is the court filing fees for the eviction. I am scrambling to find her pro bono help and money or assistance somewhere.

And then I get a call today from an old friend who is no without a job or a permanent place to stay for her and her daughter. I invite her to live with me several hundred miles away, but because of a custody issue, she can't leave her area. And so in one I have poured over the internet looking for resources for two mothers with young children who, though several states away from each other, are in the position of now having to look for money and a place to live.

This is how we do it here, right?

the unfortunate thing is that because unprecedented numbers need help right now, the lines these women will have to wait in will be pretty long. as far as the custody issue, she can make a plea of financial hardship to the judge (i believe without an attorney) to get permission to leave the state. (i think don't quote me...still worth looking up).

as far as the eviction goes....in my state there was a program called ARCHES that asissts with the expense of getting a new place to live and with temporary rent. when i found myself out of a place to live recently due to a disaster to my apt building, i applied. of course, i didn't qualify because i don't have any evictions in my history. go figure. however, there are social programs that help those that have.

usually, social services or human services will have compiled lists of all the resources and agencies that can be made available to your friends. that's the upside. the downside is that the processes will take time and in some cases weeks to get an answer of yes we will help or no we can't help. i know the red cross gave us some assistance but again we suffered a disaster so i dunno if they can or will help. prolly not. it's worth a phone call?

edited to add.....what pisses me off is if i had the money i'd just send it to you. it's so frustrating.

[SoNotHer]

Thank you both for your posts and concern. I couldn't find ARCHES in Indiana or a eviction mediation program, but I did find several possibilities in terms of pro bono services this morning for her. I found few other possible resources as well. An ex I reached out to today who suggested both the student and my friend try the 2-1-1 line that many states have set up to connect folks to services. Let's hope something works soon.

And yes, this is becoming all too common of a story. I have been teaching for well over 20 years, and I have never seen so many of my students to this point and with stakes for any missteps higher than ever.

Originally Posted by persiphone

the unfortunate thing is that because unprecedented numbers need help right now, the lines these women will have to wait in will be pretty long. as far as the custody issue, she can make a plea of financial hardship to the judge (i believe without an attorney) to get permission to leave the state. (i think don't quote me...still worth looking up).

as far as the eviction goes....in my state there was a program called ARCHES that asissts with the expense of getting a new place to live and with temporary rent. when i found myself out of a place to live recently due to a disaster to my apt building, i applied. of course, i didn't qualify because i don't have any evictions in my history. go figure. however, there are social programs that help those that have.

usually, social services or human services will have compiled lists of all the resources and agencies that can be made available to your friends. that's the upside. the downside is that the processes will take time and in some cases weeks to get an answer of yes we will help or no we can't help. i know the red cross gave us some assistance but again we suffered a disaster so i dunno if they can or will help. prolly not. it's worth a phone call?

edited to add.....what pisses me off is if i had the money i'd just send it to you. it's so frustrating.

[MsMerrick]

And taking a moment for a smile...
Here is Occupy the North Pole..in Ginger Bread : )
Occupy the North Pole

[persiphone]

Originally Posted by SoNotHer

Thank you both for your posts and concern. I couldn't find ARCHES in Indiana or a eviction mediation program, but I did find several possibilities in terms of pro bono services this morning for her. I found few other possible resources as well. An ex I reached out to today who suggested both the student and my friend try the 2-1-1 line that many states have set up to connect folks to services. Let's hope something works soon.

And yes, this is becoming all too common of a story. I have been teaching for well over 20 years, and I have never seen so many of my students to this point and with stakes for any missteps higher than ever.

my professors were outstanding during my plight. and they still are. three of them came to my rescue in a few different ways. perhaps find out who her other professors are? my program is pretty small and everyone pretty much knows each other so it's prolly different. does the college have any type of resources for the students?

[SoNotHer]

I am smiling as I read this, Persiphone. I am glad to hear some profs stepped up for you.

Well I've tried a couple of my top people at school, and I've been told there is nothing. Nevertheless, I will keep asking and looking. I've also contacted my church which is looking for a family to adopt this holiday season. Keep your fingers crossed. :-)

Originally Posted by persiphone

my professors were outstanding during my plight. and they still are. three of them came to my rescue in a few different ways. perhaps find out who her other professors are? my program is pretty small and everyone pretty much knows each other so it's prolly different. does the college have any type of resources for the students?

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by SoNotHer

I wrote about a student with health issues and no health insurance a couple weeks ago. Though the Now she's about to get evicted with two small kids in two. She's going to school to try to be a nurse. She's being evicted for $200 - $150 of that is the court filing fees for the eviction. I am scrambling to find her pro bono help and money or assistance somewhere.

And then I get a call today from an old friend who is no without a job or a permanent place to stay for her and her daughter. I invite her to live with me several hundred miles away, but because of a custody issue, she can't leave her area. And so in one I have poured over the internet looking for resources for two mothers with young children who, though several states away from each other, are in the position of now having to look for money and a place to live.

This is how we do it here, right?

"The face of hunger is changing"- as "they" say." In the past month, 2 more friends of mine have now been laid off. Another is just waiting for the notice to come shortly.

I watched a program last week on this "new face" of hunger- the increased numbers of middle-class people now applying for food stamps that have been laid off but are hanging on with minimum wage jobs. They have small children and until the last 4 years have been employed and attained some of their dreams. Now?

Sometimes I think that it is still going to have to get worse before the numbers of Occupy demonstrators to grow to the level that will scare those in Washington. Is that what it will take? Today, the democratic payroll deduction bill as well as the GOP's failed in Congress. Deadlocked ideological bullshit bickering as usual. It is going to be a very long campaign season with billions of dollars spent on it. Billions on freaking election campaigns!

We have got to get private $ out of politics. OCCUPY Campaign Funding!

[atomiczombie]

Originally Posted by ruffryder

(Newser) – When the protesters of Occupy LA vacated their encampment, they left behind 30 tons of debris. Sanitation workers have already removed 25 tons of garbage, clothes, and random belongings—all of which went to a landfill, the Los Angeles Times reports. Protesters, who lived in the tent city for two months, left behind not just trashed protest signs and food, but everything from mattresses to electric razors to bicycles to a treehouse—and, of course, dozens of tents.

According to the AP, the site doesn't smell so great, either—specifically, it reeks of "urine and unwashed bodies." The grass is ruined, trees are damaged, there's graffiti on the walls of City Hall and on statues, and there are rumors of a lice or flea infestation. The site is "so contaminated, it doesn't even make sense to sort [the left-behind belongings] out," says a sanitation superintendent. There were rows of portable toilets, but protesters still urinated in bottles that must now be disposed of. Says a city refuse collection supervisor, "I've never seen anything like this."

[persiphone]

Originally Posted by atomiczombie

hahahahahhahaaaa

[SoNotHer]

From - http://www.paramuspost.com/article.p...11203183336535

OWS Hunger Strike For Open Spaces

By Press Release Saturday, December 03, 2011, 06:33 PM EST

New York City—On Saturday, December 3, in Liberty Plaza, we—THE OWS HUNGER STRIKERS—will begin a hunger strike. We are striking to demand outdoor space for a new occupation. We will hold our strike, for its duration, outside at Duarte Square on Sixth Avenue and Canal Street in Manhattan as part of a continued effort seeking sanctuary on Trinity Wall Street's unused and vacant lot of land. Should we be arrested, we will continue the strike in jail. We are calling on Occupiers across the nation to join us.

This is a call for escalation in response to the escalated levels of government-enacted violence and repression The Occupy Movement has endured over the last few weeks. In cities across the nation, Mayors chose to stifle freedom of speech and the right to assemble by evicting peaceful occupations using illegal and unconstitutional force. Here in NYC, in the middle of the night on November 14, billionaire Mayor Bloomberg used the NYPD to illicitly evict our community from Liberty Square.

We recognize the long history of hunger strikes as a radical action that has liberated countries, communities and individuals from repression,
slavery and injustice. From colonial India to modern Turkey; from the Northern Ireland H-Block cells to Palestinian prisons; from 1970s Cuba
to present-day California, hunger strikes have amplified the voices of the oppressed.

Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered direct action movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District. OWS is part of a growing international movement fighting against neoliberal economic practices, the crimes of Wall Street, government controlled by monied interests, and the resulting income inequality, unemployment, environmental destruction, and oppression of people at the front lines of the economic crisis. For more visit www.occupywallst.org.

[atomiczombie]

By Tex Shelters

1. The Occupy Movement blames everything on Wall Street. This is false for many reasons. First, there are many culprits in the economic crisis and corporate takeover of government, including the government itself. We understand that. Wall Street is a symbol of the excess and corporate dominance in our daily lives, not the only cause. Wall Street is a good rallying point, but if journalists and talking heads would look beyond the surface, they would find more. How about looking at the signs online while in your warm offices and you will see signs at Occupy Rallies and elsewhere about many different issues.

2. “They have no agenda.” Josh Barro, a “research scholar” at the right-wing think tank the Manhattan Institute has derided Occupy Wall Street (obviously doing little “research”) for not having an agenda.

But as I wrote in a response to this nonsense in his National Review article,

“You talk to one representative and now you are an expert? Have you been to an encampment or event? There are several clear goals that the Occupy Groups have, and if you had bothered to do research and looked at the various declarations of these groups (online, so you don’t even have to visit a camp to learn) you would find goals such as:

Protect homes from unlawful foreclosures
Repeal Citizens United
Single payer health care
Forgive and reduce student debt obligations
Make college more affordable for families
End foreign wars and bring our troops home
Reinvest in education and infrastructure
End indefinite detentions
Repeal the patriot act
End corporate personhood
and so on.

Perhaps the reason you don’t know of these goals is that you are too lazy to look them up and main stream reporters such as yourself refuse to report on them.

If you want to refute what I say, why not have me debate you and your ignorance.”

Perhaps I am being unfair to him and should forgive his inability to understand a movement that doesn’t fit into his “liberal versus conservative paradigm”, a leaderless movement full of capable people, and a movement that has many goals and objectives but isn’t as narrowly focused as Republican Senators are on bringing down Obama and nothing else.

3. They are all unemployed hippies who are aimless but at the same time violent anarchists, and other demographic falsehoods. The population of the Occupy encampments changes from day-to-day and city to city. I have seen different surveys of the group, but the highest unemployment stat on the movement I have seen is 30%. We are employed, part-time workers, unemployed, retired, homeless, rental unit owners, entrepreneurs, students, vets, and so on.

The actual number of hippies in the movement is quite low, and what’s wrong with hippies anyway? Do hippies make right-wingers uncomfortable or jealous that these reporters and pundits chose a life defending the 1% while hippies are free of such nonsense and don’t have to lie and misrepresent facts for living? I know it’s hard for people in the media to understand that there is not one type of person involved with the Occupy movement, and it makes the movement hard to stereotype. But they keep trying.

4. The Occupy Movement is disorganized. This is false. With few resources and no corporate or political party backing, Occupiers have daily and weekly general assembly meetings. We have declarations, clean camps, feed people, make the media contacts available to us (somehow, the Today Show hasn’t called Occupy Tucson), and so forth. We have no central committee, and I know that is hard to understand for inflexible minds reporting news for the 1%.

Yes, we don’t fit the standard non-profit organization, or the Tea Party (paid for by Koch), but if you go to the camps and talk to the organizers, there is a lot of order for an underfunded, non-aligned, independent organization. People say we are disorganized because they don’t understand our organization and want to marginalize us.

5. Occupy Movements caused their own troubles and the violence. Little of the violence was instigated by the protesters, and at least in LA, much of the violence has occurred to Occupiers after they were in custody. To blame movement activists for being violent when they are attacked is like blaming a rape victim for injuring their assailant, something Republicans and many others have done. Don’t buy it when someone tells you that being hit by batons, or being pepper sprayed or being hit by rubber bullets is the fault of the occupiers. If the police would let us occupy or surrender in peace, there would be little to no violence.

6. We’re Anti-captilist. Not true. While some may hold this view, it is more accurate to say that we are all against the rigged system. We are against a system that gives more tax cuts and affords tax loopholes to billionaires and millionaires and increases fees on the lower classes. We are against a system that passes laws to deregulate industries and gives corporate welfare in free rent, under-market prices for mining rights, military projects we don’t need to help contractors profit off of our tax dollars while they target cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, education and other social programs that help the vast majority of the people. We are against the selling off of valuable assets that only benefit the 1% such as the Rosemont Copper mine in Arizona and we are against the selling of our education system for profit while damaging that system.

Many of us own businesses, promote local enterprises and are for responsible capitalism that doesn’t damage the environment.

Can we ever really ever truly understand a movement that is in progess? Only by being at an Occupy rally or meeting can you have the slightest understanding of the full implications and people in the movement. We must work for the benefit of the 99% forever, whatever the falsehoods told about the Occupy Movement.

Peace,

Tex Shelters

LINK: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12...cupy-movement/

[greeneyedgrrl]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...comm_ref=false

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations envoy for freedom of expression is drafting an official communication to the U.S. government demanding to know why federal officials are not protecting the rights of Occupy demonstrators whose protests are being disbanded -- sometimes violently -- by local authorities.

Frank La Rue, who serves as the U.N. "special rapporteur" for the protection of free expression, told HuffPost in an interview that the crackdowns against Occupy protesters appear to be violating their human and constitutional rights.

"I believe in city ordinances and I believe in maintaining urban order," he said Thursday. "But on the other hand I also believe that the state -- in this case the federal state -- has an obligation to protect and promote human rights."

"If I were going to pit a city ordinance against human rights, I would always take human rights," he continued.

La Rue, a longtime Guatemalan human rights activist who has held his U.N. post for three years, said it's clear to him that the protesters have a right to occupy public spaces "as long as that doesn't severely affect the rights of others."

In moments of crisis, governments often default to a forceful response instead of a dialogue, he said -- but that's a mistake.

"Citizens have the right to dissent with the authorities, and there's no need to use public force to silence that dissension," he said.

"One of the principles is proportionality," La Rue said. "The use of police force is legitimate to maintain public order -- but there has to be a danger of real harm, a clear and present danger. And second, there has to be a proportionality of the force employed to prevent a real danger."

And history suggests that harsh tactics against social movements don't work anyway, he said. In Occupy's case, he said, "disbanding them by force won't change that attitude of indignation."

Occupy encampments across the country have been forcibly removed by police in full riot gear, and some protesters have been badly injured as a result of aggressive police tactics.

New York police staged a night raid on the original Occupy Wall Street encampment in mid-November, evicting sleeping demonstrators and confiscating vast amounts of property.

The Oakland Police Department fired tear gas, smoke grenades and bean-bag rounds at demonstrators there in late October, seriously injuring one Iraq War veteran at the Occupy site.

Earlier this week, Philadelphia and Los Angeles police stormed the encampments in their cities in the middle of the night, evicting and arresting hundreds of protesters.

Protesters at University of California, Davis were pepper sprayed by a campus police officer in November while participating in a sit-in, and in September an officer in New York pepper sprayed protesters who were legally standing on the sidewalk.

"We're seeing widespread violations of fundamental First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-chair of a National Lawyers Guild committee, which has sent hundreds of volunteers to provide legal representation to Occupations across the nation.

"The demonstrations are treated as if they're presumptively criminal," she said. "Instead of looking at free speech activity as an honored and cherished right that should be supported and facilitated, the reaction of local authorities and police is very frequently to look at it as a crime scene."

What they should do, Verheyden-Hilliard said, is make it their mission to allow the activity to continue.

Using the same lens placed on the Occupy movement to look at, say, the protest in Egypt, Verheyden-Hilliard said, observers would have focused on such issues as "Did the people in Tahrir Square have a permit?"

La Rue said the protesters are raising and addressing a fundamental issue. "There is legitimate reason to be indignant and angry about a crisis that was originated by greed and the personal interests of certain sectors," he said. That's especially the case when the bankers "still earn very hefty salaries and common folks are losing their homes."

"In this case, the demonstrations are going to the center of the issue," he said. "These demonstrations are exactly challenging the basis of the debate."

Indeed, commentators such as Robert Scheer have argued that the Occupy movement's citizen action has a particular justification, based on the government's abject failure to hold banks accountable.

La Rue said he sees parallels between Occupy and the Arab Spring pro-democracy protests. In both cases, for instance, "you have high level of education for young people, but no opportunities."

La Rue said he is in the process of writing what he called "an official communication" to the U.S. government "to ask what exactly is the position of the federal government in regards to understanding the human rights and constitutional rights vis-a-vis the use of local police and local authorities to disband peaceful demonstrations."

Although the letter will not carry any legal authority, it reflects how the violent suppression of dissent threatens to damage the U.S.'s international reputation.

"I think it's a dangerous spot in the sense of a precedent," La Rue said, expressing concern that the United States risks losing its credibility as a model democracy, particularly if the excessive use of force against peaceful protests continues.

New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman welcomed the international scrutiny.

"We live in a much smaller, connected world than we ever did before, and just as Americans watch what goes on in Tahrir Square and in Syria, the whole world is watching us, too -- and that's a good thing," Lieberman said.

"We're kind of confident that we're living in the greatest democracy in the world, but when the international human rights world criticizes an American police officer for pepper spraying students who are sitting down, it rightly give us pause."
* * * * *

[SoNotHer]

What does it say when an UN envoy has to call attention to the treatment of protestors exercising a right we so proudly put on display for the world and so often use to distinguish ourselves from the rest of the world? Great post. Thank you, Greeneyedgrrl.

Originally Posted by greeneyedgrrl

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...comm_ref=false

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations envoy for freedom of expression is drafting an official communication to the U.S. government demanding to know why federal officials are not protecting the rights of Occupy demonstrators whose protests are being disbanded -- sometimes violently -- by local authorities.

Frank La Rue, who serves as the U.N. "special rapporteur" for the protection of free expression, told HuffPost in an interview that the crackdowns against Occupy protesters appear to be violating their human and constitutional rights.

"I believe in city ordinances and I believe in maintaining urban order," he said Thursday. "But on the other hand I also believe that the state -- in this case the federal state -- has an obligation to protect and promote human rights."

"If I were going to pit a city ordinance against human rights, I would always take human rights," he continued.

La Rue, a longtime Guatemalan human rights activist who has held his U.N. post for three years, said it's clear to him that the protesters have a right to occupy public spaces "as long as that doesn't severely affect the rights of others."

In moments of crisis, governments often default to a forceful response instead of a dialogue, he said -- but that's a mistake.

"Citizens have the right to dissent with the authorities, and there's no need to use public force to silence that dissension," he said.

"One of the principles is proportionality," La Rue said. "The use of police force is legitimate to maintain public order -- but there has to be a danger of real harm, a clear and present danger. And second, there has to be a proportionality of the force employed to prevent a real danger."

And history suggests that harsh tactics against social movements don't work anyway, he said. In Occupy's case, he said, "disbanding them by force won't change that attitude of indignation."

Occupy encampments across the country have been forcibly removed by police in full riot gear, and some protesters have been badly injured as a result of aggressive police tactics.

New York police staged a night raid on the original Occupy Wall Street encampment in mid-November, evicting sleeping demonstrators and confiscating vast amounts of property.

The Oakland Police Department fired tear gas, smoke grenades and bean-bag rounds at demonstrators there in late October, seriously injuring one Iraq War veteran at the Occupy site.

Earlier this week, Philadelphia and Los Angeles police stormed the encampments in their cities in the middle of the night, evicting and arresting hundreds of protesters.

Protesters at University of California, Davis were pepper sprayed by a campus police officer in November while participating in a sit-in, and in September an officer in New York pepper sprayed protesters who were legally standing on the sidewalk.

"We're seeing widespread violations of fundamental First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-chair of a National Lawyers Guild committee, which has sent hundreds of volunteers to provide legal representation to Occupations across the nation.

"The demonstrations are treated as if they're presumptively criminal," she said. "Instead of looking at free speech activity as an honored and cherished right that should be supported and facilitated, the reaction of local authorities and police is very frequently to look at it as a crime scene."

What they should do, Verheyden-Hilliard said, is make it their mission to allow the activity to continue.

Using the same lens placed on the Occupy movement to look at, say, the protest in Egypt, Verheyden-Hilliard said, observers would have focused on such issues as "Did the people in Tahrir Square have a permit?"

La Rue said the protesters are raising and addressing a fundamental issue. "There is legitimate reason to be indignant and angry about a crisis that was originated by greed and the personal interests of certain sectors," he said. That's especially the case when the bankers "still earn very hefty salaries and common folks are losing their homes."

"In this case, the demonstrations are going to the center of the issue," he said. "These demonstrations are exactly challenging the basis of the debate."

Indeed, commentators such as Robert Scheer have argued that the Occupy movement's citizen action has a particular justification, based on the government's abject failure to hold banks accountable.

La Rue said he sees parallels between Occupy and the Arab Spring pro-democracy protests. In both cases, for instance, "you have high level of education for young people, but no opportunities."

La Rue said he is in the process of writing what he called "an official communication" to the U.S. government "to ask what exactly is the position of the federal government in regards to understanding the human rights and constitutional rights vis-a-vis the use of local police and local authorities to disband peaceful demonstrations."

Although the letter will not carry any legal authority, it reflects how the violent suppression of dissent threatens to damage the U.S.'s international reputation.

"I think it's a dangerous spot in the sense of a precedent," La Rue said, expressing concern that the United States risks losing its credibility as a model democracy, particularly if the excessive use of force against peaceful protests continues.

New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman welcomed the international scrutiny.

"We live in a much smaller, connected world than we ever did before, and just as Americans watch what goes on in Tahrir Square and in Syria, the whole world is watching us, too -- and that's a good thing," Lieberman said.

"We're kind of confident that we're living in the greatest democracy in the world, but when the international human rights world criticizes an American police officer for pepper spraying students who are sitting down, it rightly give us pause."
* * * * *