If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
In that crowd of wealthy donors at Marc Leder's Boca Raton sex palace listening to Mitt Romney blast Americans who don't pay income taxes, there were probably a few people who didn't pay income taxes.
As of the time of this writing, authorities have arrested more than 7,730 people at events and actions organized by Occupy movement. I was among the 700 people subjected to a mass arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1, 2011.
The need for "movements" is largely overstated. Efforts to educate and organize are necessary, but much of what is done by movements such as OWS has proven to be superfluous nonsense.
The American people don't serve Paul Ryan. They're not "The Help." He's "The Help." And right now, by demanding austerity that Americans already rejected, Paul Ryan is back-talking the boss. It's insolent, insubordinate and disrespectful.
When one considers how completely out of whack our defense budget is in the post 9/11 age of perpetual war, the cuts will still leave us with a military budget that dwarfs all other countries combined.
From the look of things, entering its "terrible twos," OWS is still working through a learning curve on this. If it doesn't manage to find common ground with other activists, this may be a cautionary tale for protests groups in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Our analysis of a representative survey of Occupy activists and supporters suggest that the political transformation that Occupy engendered among those who gravitated to Zuccotti Park and its counterparts around the country will continue to reverberate for many years to come.
It's easy to understand why a professional golfer might believe editorials, politicians and e-mails that spread the myth of an America evenly divided between makers and takers, but it's harder to tolerate the malicious spreading of that fabrication.
Occupy Wall Street held an (un-)holy matrimony of a real human being to a non-human corporate "person" to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Citizen's United, granting corporations equal rights as living things.
Tax increases for the wealthy, national health care, corporate dominance, even gay marriage and global warming were seen in a political context that made them easy to understand and easy to bring back into conventional electoral politics.
The guy had two full-time jobs: running for reelection and running the country. And yet every month he takes about an hour from his schedule to shake hands, chat briefly and take photos with members of the armed forces attached to the White House. Each is allowed one tag-along parent. I won the toss.
A coalition of Occupy groups called StrikeDebt is encouraging people to combat debt by way of popular resistance... up to and including complete default. Occupy hasn't left its "radical" roots, but has evolved as a voice on the subject of banking and finance.
There is something about the Occupy Movement -- and especially in its recent incarnation as "Occupy Sandy" -- that brings out the best in us. And the best in us is increasingly found in the music we call Hip Hop.
This week I spoke to Karen Scharff of Citizens Action New York and Mark Hannay of Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign to talk about the so-called "fiscal cliff." Then I spoke to Yates McKee about Occupy Strike Debt and the Rolling Jubilee movement.
If you are attending Rootscamp this weekend, please join us in this important discussion. #yetta2013 #abettercityispossible
