Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

[don]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

yes, it's fallacious of me to hint at this comparison but the Bolshies had a simple, two demand program that the Mensheviks couldn't meet - Bread and Peace . . .

Camps Are Cleared, but ‘99 Percent’ Still Occupies the Lexicon

Most of the biggest Occupy Wall Street camps are gone. But their slogan still stands. (this is, after all, the NYTimes)

Whatever the long-term effects of the Occupy movement, protesters have succeeded in implanting “We are the 99 percent,” referring to the vast majority of Americans (and its implied opposite, “You are the one percent” referring to the tiny proportion of Americans with a vastly disproportionate share of wealth), into the cultural and political lexicon.

First chanted and blogged about in mid-September in New York, the slogan become a national shorthand for the income disparity. Easily grasped in its simplicity and Twitter-friendly in its brevity, the slogan has practically dared listeners to pick a side.

“We are getting nothing,” read the Tumblr blog “We Are the 99 Percent” that helped popularize the percentages, “while the other one percent is getting everything.”

Within weeks of the first encampment in Zuccotti Park in New York, politicians seized on the phrase. Democrats in Congress began to invoke the “99 percent” to press for passage of President Obama’s jobs act — but also to pursue action on mine safety, Internet access rules and voter identification laws, among others. Republicans pushed back, accusing protesters and their supporters of class warfare; Newt Gingrich this week called the “concept of the 99 and the one” both divisive and “un-American.”

Perhaps most important for the movement, there was a sevenfold increase in Google searches for the term “99 percent” between September and October and a spike in news stories about income inequality throughout the fall, heaping attention on the issues raised by activists.

“The ‘99 percent,’ and the ‘one percent,’ too, are part of our vocabulary now,” said Judith Stein, a professor of history at the City University of New York.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/us...ef=todayspaper

[don]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

Professor Wallerstein Weighs in . . .

Commentary No. 318, December 1, 2011

"The Second Wind of the Worldwide Social Justice Movement"

During the protests in Tahrir Square in November 2011, Mohamed Ali, age 20, responded to a journalist's query as to why he was there: "We want social justice. Nothing more. That's the least that we deserve."

The first round of the movements took multiple forms across the world - the so-called Arab Spring, the Occupy movements beginning in the United States and then spreading to a large number of countries, Oxi in Greece and the indignados in Spain, the student protests in Chile, and many others.

They were a fantastic success. The degree of success may be measured by an extraordinary article written by Lawrence Summers in the Financial Times on November 21, with the title, "Inequality can no longer be held at bay by the usual ideas." This is not a theme for which Summers has previously been known.

In it he makes two remarkable points, considering that he has been personally one of the architects of the world economic policy in the last twenty years that has put us all in the dire crisis in which the world finds itself.

The first point is that there have been fundamental changes in world economic structures. Summers says that "the most important of these is the strong shift in the market reward for a small minority of citizens relative to the rewards available to most citizens."



The second concerns the two kinds of public reactions to this reality: that of the protesters and that of the strong anti-protesters. Summers says he is against "polarization," which is what, according to him, the protesters are engaged in doing. But then he says: "At the same time, those who are quick to label any expression of concern about rising inequality as misplaced or a product of class warfare are even further off base."

What Summers' article indicates is not that he has become an exponent of radical social change - far from it - but rather that he is worried about the political impact of the worldwide social justice movement, especially in what he calls the industrialized world. I call this success for the global social justice movement.

The response to this success has been a few minor concessions here and there, but then a growing amount of repression everywhere. In the United States and Canada, there has been a systematic clearing out of the "occupations." The virtual simultaneity of these police actions seems to indicate some high-level coordination. In Egypt, the military has been resisting any dilution of their power. Austerity policies have been imposed on Greece and Italy by the fiat of Germany and France.



The story, however, is far from over. The movements are developing their second wind. The protestors have reoccupied Tahrir Square and are treating Field Marshal Tantawi to the same scorn they treated Hosni Mubarak. In Portugal, the call for a one-day general strike closed down the whole transport system. An announced strike in Great Britain protesting the cut in pensions seems likely to reduce traffic in Heathrow by 50%, which will have major worldwide repercussions, given the centrality of Heathrow to the world transport system. In Greece, the government has tried to squeeze poor pensioners by putting a big property tax on their electricity bill, threatening cut-off of electricity if it's not paid. There is organized resistance. Local electricians are illegally reattaching the electricity, counting on the inability of the reduced municipal government staffs to enforce their law. It's a tactic that has been successfully used in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto for a decade now.

In the United States and Canada, the occupation movement has spread from the downtowns of cities to the campuses. And the "occupiers" are discussing alternative places to occupy during the winter months. The Chilean student rebellion has spread to the secondary schools.

Two things should be noticed about the present situation. The first is that the trade-unions - as a part of what is happening, as a result of what is happening - have become far more militant, and far more open to the idea that they should be active participants in the worldwide social justice movement. This is true in the Arab world, in Europe, in North America, in southern Africa, even in China.



The second thing to notice is the degree to which the movements everywhere have been able to maintain their emphasis on a horizontal strategy. The movements are not bureaucratic structures but coalitions of multiple groups, organizations, sectors of the population. They are still working hard to debate on an ongoing basis their tactics and their priorities, and are resisting becoming exclusionary. Does this always work smoothly? Of course not. Does this work better than reconstructing a new vertical movement, with clear leadership and collective discipline? Up to now, it has indeed worked better.

We have to think of the world struggle as a long race, in which the runners have to use their energy wisely, in order not to become exhausted while always keeping their eye on the end goal - a different kind of world-system, far more democratic, far more egalitarian than anything we have now.

by Immanuel Wallerstein

[don]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

[don]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

"something’s amiss”

At Top Colleges, Anti-Wall St. Fervor Complicates Recruiting

By KEVIN ROOSE

NEW HAVEN — College students seeking jobs on Wall Street have always had hurdles to overcome — grueling applications, endless rounds of interviews and fierce competition for the relatively few available spots at top firms.This year’s Wall Street hopefuls have had a new force to contend with: the wrath of their peers.

Banks and hedge funds have long wooed undergraduates from elite colleges with lavish dinners, personalized e-mails and free trips to New York for interviews. It’s all part of an annual courtship ritual known as on-campus recruiting.

But this fall, the antibank animus of the Occupy Wall Street movement has seeped onto college campuses. At some schools, anger at big banks has turned the on-campus recruiting process into a crucible of controversy.

“I teach financial markets, and it’s a little like teaching R.O.T.C. during the Vietnam War,” said Robert J. Shiller, a professor of economics at Yale University.

“You have this sense that something’s amiss.”

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/...e&ref=business

[Revert2Mean]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

The unbridled greed of the few has resulted in great damage to global economies and society. They say no good deed goes unpunished, and the reverse seems to have happened here. Their bad deeds have been rewarded with bailouts, blame shifting and bonuses. If these people are still living in such a world of delusion, what hope is there for society. Can the 'Occupy' protests ever change the minds of people who are that sure the debt bubble is a myth? Let's hope we can change their outlook. For if we can't, the world is doomed.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

"Solidarity with Egypt"? What do the Occupy Wall Street protests have anything to do with Egypt? Yes, both are for some kind of justice, but what is it?

What do these protesters want the American government to do? Name the SPECIFICS: Like, do you want to re-instate the Glass-Stegal Act? Do you want Medicare for EVERYONE in America, regardless of age or pre-existing health conditions? Do you want open borders and open immigration? Do you want bilingualism and bilingual education in America? Do you want to get rid of standardized timed-testing in the American schools and allow teachers the freedom to teach? Do you want a guaranteed annual income for people in America ( known as the GIC in Canada )? Do you want to a federal sales tax on all purchases except for food? Do you want a gold standard and the abolishment of the Federal Reserve Bank?

And in Egypt, what do the Islamists want? Why was Mubarek (the only progressive in the Arab world) arrested? Why were the Coptic Christians persecuted in Egypt by these Islamists, and especially after living in Egypt for thousands of years in religious tolerance and peace? What kind of democracy do these Islamists want? Will Egypt's peace with Isreal remain, and even be built upon? What is Egypt going to do about Hamas and Hesbollah in Gaza? Will some Nile River water be diverted to Gaza, Isreal, the West Bank, and Jordan? Will a super-highway be built across the Sinai Desert to connect Cairo with Isreal and Jordan? How would Egypt reform its public education system? Will another Aswan Dam be built on the Nile River?

In these worldwide protests, it is the specific demands and proposals that count, NOT THE PROTESTS THEMSELVES.

[lektrode]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

yep.
just purrrfect sort of sign for inside the beltway.. somebody ought to apply for some sort of stimulous grant/project to start planting em up and down pennsylvania ave.

I knew there'd be an opportunity for this sometime in 2011. ;-)

[bart]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

I knew there'd be an opportunity for this sometime in 2011. ;-)

[don]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

It's really something to live in a country that doesn't know what it's doing in a world that doesn't know where it's going in a time when anything can happen. (Jim Kunstler)

It's time to get comfortable with uncertainty.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

Tax Law for the 1%

The NYTimes Looks at the Estée Lauder Tax Evasion


“And there is no limit on the amount of property taxes that can be deducted from federal income. So Mr. Lauder is entitled to deduct the $400,000 he pays annually on his Palm Beach mansion as well as what he pays on his home on Park Avenue and his holdings in the Hamptons.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/bu...ewanted=3&_r=1

[lektrode]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

http://ampedstatus.org/exposed-david...s-99-movement/
EXPOSED: David DeGraw Works For A Soros-CIA-Obama-Socialist Front Group That Is Secretly Controlling the #OWS 99% Movement

That is my Onion-esque satirical headline to make light of what has become a very frustrating and infuriating experience. There are all sorts of wild conspiracy theories being spun about the #OWS 99% Movement and I have come under personal attack. I have repeatedly been confronted by irate people that accuse me of working for or with people like George Soros, Lyndon LaRouche, the FBI, CIA, US State Department and/or the Democratic Party and the Obama Administration.
...
.....
To clear up any questions or misguided theories about my role and background within the movement, I have already written a long report, which I will repost below, that people making accusations against me have repeatedly ignored and have refused to reference. When people make unfounded accusations and blatantly ignore this history, I get the feeling that they are divide and conquer pawns....

must say, eye DO like his style... (having been accused of same myself, sez the small-r kinda-guy, believe it or NOT...
even IF i tend to more heavily-weight the political class on the blame column - as EJ has mentioned, i do think that we are 'all on the same team', perhaps its just disagreement on 'how we got here' )

his reading list looks pretty good too:

http://daviddegraw.org/2011/07/compl...aws-reports-2/

tho i'm sure there'll be a few 'points to ponder' i'm generally in agreement, will do some more reading.

IN OTHER NEWS...
there's an 'art house' kind of movie called: MARGIN CALL playing in the area, another quikie engagement, ala INSIDE JOB
so kinda curious to see how it portrays 'a day in the great crash of 08' - any comments on this?

[don]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

David DeGraw

[don]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

+1 3rd generation . . .

[lektrode]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

"The New Tammany Hall"

Fred Seigel is a broken record. He's been writing the same article over and over for years. I know the by-line is Kaminski, but Kaminski is just quoting Seigel while the same readers chime in with the usual refrain: “It's getting hard to tell public sector unions from communism.”

The first four paragraphs are so muddled, I read them three times and then burst out laughing.

OWS anger at the banks is misplaced. OWS should be angry at government workers. Hoo-ha.

wont argue with this - tho writing as a 2nd gen irish american (of boston extraction), its just a bit hilarious that we have a new yawker named siegel using tammany hall as an example to 're-direct the anger' away from the denizons of wall st.....

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Occupy Movement: First Fruit - Paradigm Shift

"The New Tammany Hall"

Fred Seigel is a broken record. He's been writing the same article over and over for years. I know the by-line is Kaminski, but Kaminski is just quoting Seigel while the same readers chime in with the usual refrain: “It's getting hard to tell public sector unions from communism.”

The first four paragraphs are so muddled, I read them three times and then burst out laughing.

OWS anger at the banks is misplaced. OWS should be angry at government workers. Hoo-ha.