The Gary Null Blog

By Mitchell J. Rabin

The world is beginning to percolate with people speaking out and standing up for what they believe. One can do these in any number of ways---through art, theater, media, writing, business and of course, marching and demonstrating. An increasing number of people, largely due to overwhelming frustration and in no few cases despair, are taking their concerns and upset to the streets. This is happening big-time down in Wall Street in the Big Apple in the Occupy Wall St. Movement, which is catching fire across America and now other parts of the world. I've heard that hundreds of "Occupy Cities" are occurring as the wounding upset of outright theft and criminality, thinly disguised as corporate banking "business-as-usual" is being called out for what it is.

The exercise of First Amendment rights protected by the Constitution, which is said to be protected by the sanctity of God, is often a healthy and beautiful exercise. Some police in NYC, however, apparently beg to differ. There have been a few incidents of mass pepper spraying, largely of peaceful women, wholly unprovoked and one of the largest arrests in U.S. history last weekend occurred on the Brooklyn Bridge of around 700 people. In general, the good news is that the demonstration, now completing its third week, has been significantly peaceful, friendly, open to newcomers and affecting world change and attention. The goals of the gathering are coalescing and its purpose gathering coherence. As the focus comes together, so will its power to effect desired outcomes.

This is Democracy-in-Action, which has otherwise become quite marginalized in our society due to numerous causes and for numerous reasons. Suffice it to say here that, as in the classic film Network, people are angry and are saying "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"