"Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins" - We Are the 99%

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/15-2

Published on Saturday, October 15, 2011 by Green for All Blog

by Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins

Being part of the 99% isn't about dominance – it's about universality.

The struggling economy is impacting everyone. Well, almost everyone. Americans on the whole aren't getting ahead; they're falling further behind every year. Nearly every American is worried about paying his bills or keeping her job. The terrible economy of 2008 has become the still-horrible economy of 2011.

We've worked and waited for change, for the system to improve, for the reasons the economy got broken to be fixed.

America's done waiting for change. Frustrated, furious - people took to the streets.

Occupy Wall Street, Occupy DC, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Boise – they're done waiting for change. Now, they're demanding it.

Washington isn't making our economy better. Politicians aren't. Oil and gas companies aren't. Wall Street isn't. They aren't making the economy better because the economy doesn't impact them. The Senators who voted against the jobs bill aren't unemployed or struggling to pay their bills. The heads of ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs aren't either. And they aren't holding each other accountable.

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"Naomi Klein" - 'The Stakes Are Too High for Us Not to Make the Absolute Most of This Moment'

http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/10/15

Published on Saturday, October 15, 2011 by Grounded TV Network

Naomi Klein Interview at Occupy Wall Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BaEeeLOB5IA

"Daniel Silva" - 'Indignant' Activists Launch Worldwide Protests

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/10/15

Published on Saturday, October 15, 2011 by Agence France Presse

by Daniel Silva

Activists scuffled with police in London and decried the wealthy in Hong Kong on Saturday as an unprecedented outcry against corporate greed and government cutbacks spread worldwide.

Protesters of the 'Indignant' group demonstrate against banking and finance in Rome October 15, 2011. Protesters worldwide geared up for a cry of rage on Saturday against bankers, financiers and politicians they accuse of ruining global economies and condemning millions to poverty and hardship through greed. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini)

Inspired by America's "Occupy Wall Street" and Spain's "Indignants", people took to the streets in a rolling action targeting 951 cities in 82 countries from Asia to Europe, Africa and the Americas.

It was the biggest show of power yet by a movement born on May 15 when a rally in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square sparked a protest that spread internationally.

Anger over unemployment and opposition to the financial elite hung over the protests, which coincided with a Paris meeting of G20 financial powers pre-occupied by the eurozone debt crisis.

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"Matt Taibbi" - My Advice to the Occupy Wall Street Protesters – Hit Bankers Where It Hurts

by: Matt Taibbi

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/my-advice-to-the-occupy-wall-street-protesters-20111012

I've been down to "Occupy Wall Street" twice now, and I love it. The protests building at Liberty Square and spreading over Lower Manhattan are a great thing, the logical answer to the Tea Party and a long-overdue middle finger to the financial elite. The protesters picked the right target and, through their refusal to disband after just one day, the right tactic, showing the public at large that the movement against Wall Street has stamina, resolve and growing popular appeal.

But... there's a but. And for me this is a deeply personal thing, because this issue of how to combat Wall Street corruption has consumed my life for years now, and it's hard for me not to see where Occupy Wall Street could be better and more dangerous. I'm guessing, for instance, that the banks were secretly thrilled in the early going of the protests, sure they'd won round one of the messaging war.

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"Amanda M. Fairbanks" - Occupy Colleges: Student Supporters Of Occupy Wall Street Continue To Show Solidarity

Published on Thursday, October 13, 2011 by Huffington Post  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/13/occupy-colleges-occupy-wall-street_n_1008619.html 

by Amanda M. Fairbanks

NEW YORK -- Thursday afternoon, in concert with the Occupy Wall Street movement, students from nearly 150 college campuses across the country will participate in their second protest in as many weeks.

Occupy Colleges, which started as a Facebook page and Twitter handle less than two weeks ago, has quickly blossomed into a burgeoning movement bolstered by a groundswell of student-led support. As of Thursday morning, student organizers at 136 college campuses -- from Sarah Lawrence College to Boise State University to San Diego City College -- have pledged to participate in Thursday’s show of solidarity. As with the nationwide walkout held last Wednesday, the students will band together to make their voices heard -- with many expressing frustration over increasing amounts of student loan debt and the rising cost of tuition, in addition to a paucity of jobs for recent graduates.

“We’re planning to do these walkouts and shows of solidarity every two weeks until these issues are resolved,” said Natalia Abrams, 31, who helps to organize Occupy Colleges, a student-led grassroots group based in Los Angeles that helped facilitate both nationwide protests. “If Occupy Wall Street is indefinite, we’re indefinite as well. We plan to keep the solidarity protest going for as long as it takes.”

In many ways, today's protest marks a significant challenge for student backers of the Occupy Wall Street movement, not only in terms of coordination and organization, but also with respect to maintaining momentum.

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"Lauren Kelley" - Occupy Wall Street Update: NYC Protesters Fight Against Eviction, Another Pepper-Spray Victim Presses Charges

By Lauren Kelley, AlterNet
Posted on October 13, 2011, Printed on October 13, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/679714/occupy_wall_street_update%3A_nyc_protesters_fight_against_eviction%2C_another_pepper-spray_victim_presses_charges

Here are some of the latest developments regarding Occupy Wall Street and other occupations around the country:

--A showdown is brewing in Zuccotti Park/Liberty Plaza over clean-up of the occupation space. In one corner is Mayor Bloomberg, who\'s dispatching sanitation workers to the square on Friday and has ordered the occupiers to comply with the workers\' clean-up efforts (which would involve "temporarily" vacating the area). Bloomberg swears the protesters will be able to return in the park "provided they abide by the rules that Brookfield has established for the park." But the protesters are (understandably) worried that officials will start enforcing park rules (no tarps, no laying down, etc.), effectively destroying the infrastructure of the space. So they have a different plan to clean up the area, while keeping their park. Their statement, via Gothamist:

On Wednesday/Thursday, all campers/supporters should reach out to friends/family/anyone to donate or purchase brooms, mops, squeegees, dust pans, garbage bags, power washers and any other cleaning supplies to be collected at sanitation. The sanitation committee should move full-speed ahead on purchase of bins allocated by consensus at GA.

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"Robert Creamer" - 5 Reasons the Right Is Terrified of Occupy Wall St.

By Robert Creamer, Huffington Post
Posted on October 12, 2011, Printed on October 13, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/152707/5_reasons_the_right_is_terrified_of_occupy_wall_st.

The Occupy Wall Street movement really frightens the Right Wing. It is not frightening to the Right because of Congressman Eric Cantor's feigned fear of "the mob" that is "occupying our cities." It is not frightening because anyone is really worried that Glenn Beck is correct when he predicts that the protesters will "come for you, drag you into the street, and kill you."

That's not why they are really frightened -- that's the Right trying to frighten everyday Americans.

There are five reasons why the Right is in fact frightened by the Occupy Wall Street movement. None of them have to do with physical violence -- they have to do with politics. They're not really worried about ending up like Marie Antoinette. But they are very worried that their electoral heads may roll.

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"Bernie Sanders" - Six Demands to Make of Wall Street

Published on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/12-6

by Bernie Sanders

The Occupy Wall Street protests are shining a national spotlight on the most powerful, dangerous, and secretive economic and political force in America.

If this country is to break out of the horrendous recession and create the millions of jobs we desperately need, if we are going to create a modicum of financial stability for the future, there is no question but that the American people are going to have to take a very hard look at Wall Street and demand fundamental reforms.  I hope these protests are the beginning of that process.   

Let us never forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street, this country was plunged into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.  Millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes, and life savings as the middle class underwent an unprecedented collapse.  Sadly, despite all the suffering caused by Wall Street, there is no reason to believe that the major financial institutions have changed their ways, or that future financial disasters and bailouts will not happen again.  

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"Mary Bottari" - Chicago to Wall Street: Pay US Back!

Published on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 by PR Watch

by Mary Bottari

While the Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping the country and peaceful arrests are mounting, Chicagoans took to the streets this week to hold the big banks accountable for crashing the economy and to demand city, state and federal policies that work for working families.

For many, the goal was stopping the foreclosure mill and telling the big banks it was time to Pay US Back! for the $4.7 trillion bailout. For others, the demands focused on the bailout from the financial crisis including contentious contract negotiations with the administration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

For most, the range of issues were inextricably linked.

Emanuel Goes to Bat for the Big Banks

At the height of the financial crisis in March of 2009, a new president was grappling with an unprecedented meltdown. Huddled with his closest advisers, his instincts were sound.

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"Rev. Jesse Jackson" - Winning the Class War: Don't Sleep Through the Revolution

October 11, 2011

by Rev. JESSE JACKSON

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/11/winning-the-class-war/

Occupy Wall Street protests have now spread to some 800 cities.  It’s spreading like a fire on a strong wind over a dry field.  The heat is likely to keep on building.

Conservatives have fallen over themselves rushing to side with the top 1% against the rest.  Eric Cantor, House majority leader, denounces “mobs” and “the pitting of Americans against Americans.”  Herman Cain dismisses the demonstrators as “anti-American.”  Mitt Romney accuses them of waging “class warfare.”

But class warfare is the reason Occupy Wall Street has sounded such a chord.  Sure there’s class warfare, one of America’s richest men, Warren Buffett, concluded, “and my class is winning.”

Last week just before I left for Europe, I joined the Chicago “wing” of the Occupy Wall Street movement last week.  I spoke to students who dropped out of school because they couldn’t afford tuition; now they are left with guaranteed student loan debt.

Students graduate with average student loan debts of over $20,000, and the bankers lobby passes a law that forces payment of those debts, even after bankruptcy.  Now students are graduating from college laden with debts and without a job.  Any wonder they are protesting.

I spoke with professors and teachers who have lost their jobs, as state’s face declining revenues – driven in part by the foreclosure/housing crisis and resulting loss of property tax revenues.

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