The aim of #OCCUPYWALLSTREET is to draw protesters to New York's financial district in a non-violent protest to spark a mass movement against corporate dominance. While the corporate media ignores the protest, Reader Supported News will continue to report on the latest developments.
A demonstrator holds a sign during an Occupy Wall Street protest in lower Manhattan. The protests moved into their third week on Monday. (photo: Reuters)
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Occupy Worldwide
06 October - 10 October 11
This page is an archive. Future OWS updates will go on the new page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxe0dojwBJQ
Were the Protesters Led to Arrest by NYPD?
Occupy Wall Street: A "Work of Art"
10 October 11
I have been watching and listening to all kinds of views and takes on Occupy Wall Street. Some say it's backed by the Democratic Party. Some say it's the emergence of a third party. Some say the protesters have no goals, no demands, no stated call. Some say it's too broad, taking on too much. Some say it is the Left's version of the Tea Party. Some say its Communist, some say it's class warfare. Some say it will burn out and add up to nothing. Some say it's just a bunch of crazy hippies who may get violent. READ MORE
Climate Change Fight Is Down to the 99%
10 October 11
If there is one thing I know, it's that the 1% loves a crisis. When people are panicked and desperate, that is the ideal time to push through their wishlist of pro-corporate policies: privatising education and social security, slashing public services, getting rid of the last constraints on corporate power. Amidst the economic crisis, this is happening the world over.
There is only one thing that can block this tactic, and fortunately, it's a very big thing: the 99%. And that 99% is taking to the streets from Madison to Madrid to say: "No. We will not pay for your crisis." READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street Message Should Be Obvious to All
10 October 11
As the Occupy Wall Street protests spread from Lower Manhattan to Washington and other cities, the chattering classes keep complaining that the marchers lack a clear message and specific policy prescriptions. The message - and the solutions - should be obvious to anyone who has been paying attention since the economy went into a recession that continues to sock the middle class while the rich have recovered and prospered. The problem is that no one in Washington has been listening. READ MORE
Michael Bloomberg: Wall Street Protesters Can Stay Indefinitely
10 October 11
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday the Occupy Wall Street protesters can camp out in Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan for as long as they want.
Zuccotti Park, the movement's unofficial headquarters located just blocks from Wall Street, is a privately owned, publicly accessible park where protesters have gathered for 24 days. Bloomberg said as long as demonstrators do not break the law, the city will permit them to stay, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The mayor told the WSJ he has "no idea" how long the protest will last, but added that he thinks "part of it has probably to do with the weather." Bloomberg has previously spoken out against Occupy Wall Street and slammed the protesters last week, saying their attack on banks could harm one of the city's major employers. READ MORE
Freedom Plaza Is Now Ours
10 October 11
And we're never giving it back. Our permit for Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, expired, we refused to leave, and the Park Police has just proposed to let us stay for four more months.
We've agreed. We have not said that when the four months are over and the American Spring is here we will leave.
In fact, we intend to make it possible for anyone to visit DC with free accommodations. Just bring a sleeping bag and agree to work with us to pressure Congress, the White House, K Street, the Pentagon, and all the lobbyists and profiteers for peace and justice. We have free food, we have free drink, we have free trainings and seminars, we have tents, we have peace keepers, we have a big victory under out belts, and we welcome all peace makers for they shall inherit Freedom Plaza. We own it. It is ours. It shall remain ours world without end.
The Taste of DC food festival just gave us all their remaining food. Or at least all the individual booths did. Ben and Jerry's just endorsed us. Busboys and Poets just fed us. Businesses that support us will be honored and supported by 99 percent of this country.
So, here's the plan: Bring us your reports from around the country at your local Occupations. Fill us in here in the Empire's Capital. We will fill you in too. We will train and inspire and connect you with the rest of this global movement. Then go back home energized. Come down from New York and go back up. We need to coordinate on a personal level.
Our brothers and sisters in McPherson Square have a growing occupation too. Join them. Join us. We're family. We disrupted the work of the NSA today, and the Association of the Army's convention at which our women had generals crawling under tanks to avoid cameras. We shut down a celebration of Christopher Columbus as well.
And Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. sharp in Our Freedom Plaza we will set off to "welcome" Congress back to town. Join us. We are legion.
The one thing that we need now is money, and you can contribute it at http://october2011.org
Or you can wait for the bankster war machine to confiscate your money, eat your retirement, swallow your healthcare, foreclose on your home, and tax you into debt to pay for plutocrats' profiteering.
It's up to you.
It's up to us.
Dancing On Our Occupation Permit
10 October 11
Sunday night, our permit expired for occupying Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. So, we threw a dance party, and when we could dance no more, we went to sleep in Freedom Plaza.
We have until 2 p.m. today to remove our possessions. We do not intend to do so. We suspect that if the police want to remove us by force they will wait until evening. So we're throwing a dinner party, and 99% of the country is invited.
Our permit is now the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
There is no way for the vast majority of people in this enormous country to petition our government for a redress of grievances other than what we are doing. We've phoned, emailed, faxed, and mailed letters. And yet rich people are taxed less than poor people, wars rage on, 65% of discretionary spending goes into the war machine, our social safety net is being shredded, and our environment is being destroyed. So, we're here in person, but most of us cannot afford hotel rooms. We are exercising our First Amendment rights in the only possible way: by camping in Washington, DC, and protesting our government in a manner it cannot avoid.
Whether or not you are sleeping in Freedom Plaza, you can join us there, whether or not the square has been cleared overnight, whether or not we've been arrested, whether or not you've been arrested, whether or not the weather is fine, meet in Freedom Plaza at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, and we will take our grievances to Capitol Hill.
If we are arrested in Freedom Plaza we will return to it. If we are arrested in Freedom Plaza, we want you to replace us in larger numbers. You will not regret the experience.
A friend caught a cab to Freedom Plaza the other day. The cabbie said "If you're one of the protesters, the ride is free."
Stores are saying the same.
Random people are joining in marches when we march through downtown.
We are the 99%, we say, and so are ... You are the 99%, and so are ... We are the 99%, and so are ...
This is an open and welcoming movement. Some of our brothers and sisters are occupying McPherson Square as well, and they can have 500 there with no permit. Join them too.
We need to hold these two squares, not because the marble or the grass is running our government into the ground, but because people from out of town cannot bring public pressure to bear on Congress, the White House, the Pentagon, K Street, or the Chamber of Commerce if we cannot live here.
We cannot learn democracy at home, and let me tell you it is not an easy thing to learn. It takes us longer to talk about a protest action than to engage in it. But we talk about it together. One person, one voice. No corporate persons. No financial voices. Democracy is indeed the worst form of government except for all the other ones.
If the police had come last night, the crowd of dancing demonstrators would have cheered and asked them to join the party.
And I think it's just possible they would have done so.
What do you say we try that again tonight?
Journalists Funded by 'Vulture Capitalist'
Paul Singer to Smear Wall Street Protests
10 October 11
The campaign to marginalize and destroy the growing 99 Percent Movement is in full swing, with many in the media attempting to smear the people participating in the "occupation" protests across the country. However, several of the so-called journalists deriding, and in some cases sabotaging the movement, have paychecks thanks to a billionaire whose business practices have been scorned as among the worst of the financial elite.
As the New York Times has documented, Paul Singer, a Republican activist and hedge fund manager worth over $900 million, has emerged as one of the most important power brokers within the GOP. Now, it appears that the reporters financed by Singer are at the forefront of efforts to tarnish the reputation of 99 Percent Movement demonstrators. READ MORE
Columbia University and Barnard College Faculty Support Occupy Wall Street Movement
10 October 11
Today faculty from Columbia University released a petition signed by over 300 professors expressing their support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. Signatories to the petition come from across the faculty of Columbia University and Barnard College. In their petition, the professors join the Occupy Wall Street movement in condemning the growth of economic, social, and political inequalities. According to the petition, claims that the movement lacks focus are inaccurate and ignore the many important issues that the Occupy Wall Street movement has raised.
"I understand the message of the Occupy Wall Street movement clearly," said Columbia professor and former University provost, Jonathan R. Cole. "The movement speaks to the growing economic inequalities in our society: 1 percent of the population holds almost 40 percent of the nation's wealth; as inequality has increased taxes on the wealthy have plunged; often wealth rather than merit determines who receives educational opportunities; and millions of citizens have lost their homes while those on Wall Street, who are responsible for much of the economic crisis, are rewarded rather than punished." READ MORE
To read and sign the Petition click here.
"Occupy Wall Street" Now in 25 Cities
10 October 11
The movement known as "Occupy Wall Street" has spread far beyond its starting point in lower Manhattan. CBS News correspondent Bigad Shaban reports that it now has offshoots in 25 cities nationwide, and political leaders from both sides are weighing in.
From D.C. to Alabama to Portland, demonstrators protest everything from corporate greed to joblessness to economic inequality. Back in N.Y., 39-year-old Jesse LaGreca is one of the more prominent voices.
"You've got people here being told they need to face a lower standard of living, that we can't pay the wages that we used to enjoy, that the promises that were made to our grandparents are going to be broken," LaGreca said. READ MORE
Panic of the Plutocrats
10 October 11
It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America's direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent. READ MORE
Why the Elites Are in Trouble
10 October 11
Ketchup, a petite 22-year-old from Chicago with wavy red hair and glasses with bright red frames, arrived in Zuccotti Park in New York on Sept. 17. She had a tent, a rolling suitcase, 40 dollars' worth of food, the graphic version of Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" and a sleeping bag. She had no return ticket, no idea what she was undertaking, and no acquaintances among the stragglers who joined her that afternoon to begin the Wall Street occupation. She decided to go to New York after reading the Canadian magazine Adbusters, which called for the occupation, although she noted that when she got to the park Adbusters had no discernible presence. READ MORE
Conversations With Revolutionaries
09 October 11
Thomas Jefferson wrote, "My wish was, to see both Houses of Congress cleaned of all persons interested in the bank or public stocks - cleansed, that is - of all corruption."
If only Jefferson could see what is happening today. Not only do stockholders own the banks and the rotten, stinkin' derivatives they sold us, they have the nerve to scream about socialism now ... after they have been the recipients of it.
The public stock owners of 1776, those Jefferson wanted cleansed of corruption, now own almost everything of influence in America. READ MORE
Pelosi Lashes Back at Cantor, Defends Protesters
09 October 11
House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she supports the growing nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, which began on the streets of downtown New York City in mid - September.
"I support the message to the establishment, whether it's Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen," said Pelosi in an exclusive interview with ABC News "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour. "We cannot continue in a way that is not relevant to their lives."
Pelosi sees the protestors' anger stemming from unemployment, which remains above 9 percent. READ MORE
The Left Declares Its Independence
09 October 11
If some aspects of the Occupy Wall Street protest feel predictable - the drum circles, the signs, including "Tax Wall Street Transactions" and "End the FED" - so does the right-wing response. Is it any surprise that Fox News and its allied bloggers consider the protesters "deluded" and "dirty smelly hippies"?
Then again, maybe it is surprising. As more than a few observers have noted, the Occupy Wall Street chant, "We Are the 99 Percent" - a shot across the bow of the wealthiest 1 percent of the country, which includes the financial predators and confidence gamers who crashed the global economy with impunity - seems synonymous with the Tea Party's "Take Back America" ethos. READ MORE
Local Police Forces Are Now Little Armies. Why?
09 October 11
More and more, in dealing with nonviolent political protesters police across America show up in battlefield dress with intimidating military gear supplied by the Pentagon and Homeland Security. Writer John Hanrahan says reporters, instead of ignoring this ominous development, should ask local, regional and national leaders: Do we need this crap? READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street Treks to Washington Square Park
08 October 2011
An expedition of protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement is scheduled to hold a meeting in Washington Square Park Saturday.
Organizers of the demonstration say they will hold a "general assembly" at 3 p.m, which they describe as an opportunity to recruit new supporters and share ideas.
"The Washington Square Park thing is a great way to bring us to the next level," said Michael Fix, an organizer of the demonstration. READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street: Is It Becoming Your Father's – Even Grandfather's – Movement?
08 October 2011
"More and more middle-age people are showing up all the time," says Robert Hockett, a professor at Cornell University Law School, who has a small apartment just around the corner from Zuccotti Park where the Wall Street protest began in New York. He attends the nightly general assembly meetings, he says with a laugh, adding, "They are my neighbors now."
A student of social protest, he says that "this is different from many earlier movements such as the antiwar actions, because the issues don't fall into partisan political or age divides." Rather, he says, "these economic issues are hitting old and young across political lines."
Veterans from earlier protest eras are putting in a good showing. Margaret Ratner Kunstler, widow of the iconic progressive attorney William Kuntsler, has been in the heart of the fray from early on and represents many of the protesters arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge two weeks ago.
"I'm a grandmother and these are my children," she says with a laugh, noting that the reach and organization she sees springing up around the movement "is giving me hope." READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street Expanding to Washington Square Park - Anti-Flag To Play Set In Solidarity at Liberty Square
08 October 11
#ows is growing. We will be in a thousand cities in this country by the end of the month - hundreds of cities in other countries. We will see General Assemblies on six continents. Liberty Square has grown exponentially over the last three weeks. It is time to form a second General Assembly in Manhattan. We expect more to follow.
"On October eighth at three in the afternoon a General Assembly will convene in Washington Square Park. At the same time Anti-Flag will play an acoustic set in Liberty Square in solidarity with our movement's expansion. We are growing. Block by block – city by city. We will see change in this country, in this world. It will happen sooner than you can imagine."
Pepper-Sprayed for Peace
08 October 11
I've been coughing and vomiting, and my head aches from pepper spray. I'll post videos and photos of why here.
We intended to hold signs and sing inside the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, protesting its promotion of unmanned drones, missiles, and bombs, including its sponsorship by and promotion of weapons corporations. We don't have any museums promoting health coverage or education or retirement security.
We had marched from the Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square occupations, taking over the streets of DC. The museum knew we were coming. Some of our group got in and dropped a banner. Hundreds of us did not. Instead, we were greeted at the door with cans of pepper spray.
There were three sets of entrance doors. I was among the first to open the third set of doors. A guard shook a can of pepper spray in front of me and demanded that we back out. But a dozen feet away at the second set of doors, people were staggering out and collapsing in pain, having been pepper sprayed in the face. I started to go toward them, but began coughing and vomiting. A lot of people were effected, directly or - like me - indirectly by the pepper spray.
It is not true that we assaulted the police. Nobody was accused of or charged with that. I didn't hear about it until later from the media. A young woman named Thi Le was told she'd be charged with assaulting a police officer after she was pepper sprayed and handcuffed, but they switched the charge to disorderly conduct and released her a few hours later.
It is not true that they only pepper sprayed one person. Many people were pepper sprayed.
It is not true that the crowd dispersed. The guards locked the doors and closed the museum. We had not planned to close the museum but to demonstrate and leave. With the museum closed and one of our own in custody, we held a rally on the steps as more people made their way over from Freedom Plaza to join us. We were there for hours.
We will be here for as long as it takes.
Congress comes back to this town on Tuesday.
We're ready.
We're nonviolent.
We're not scared.
We're not discouraged.
We're not fooled.
We've got demands as clear as a blue sky:
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy K Street
Occupy Everything
And Never Give it Back!
Study: Wealthy Stockbrokers More Dangerous Than Psychopaths
08 October 11
Like most people living through this jarring age of economic turbulence and political dysfunction, you can probably recall a moment in the last few months when you thought to yourself that our lawmakers and corporate leaders are all crazy. And not just run-of-the-mill crazy, a la George Costanza's parents, but the kind of crazy that makes films like "Silence of the Lambs" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" so frightening.
The good news for you is that you aren't insane for thinking this. The bad news for all of us, though, is that according to two new scientific analyses, you are more correct in your assessment than you may know. READ MORE
11 Facts About Biggest Banks
08 October 11
The Occupy Wall Street protests that began in New York City more than three weeks ago have now spread across the country. The choice of Wall Street as the focal point for the protests - as even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said - makes sense due to the big bank malfeasance that led to the Great Recession.
While the Dodd-Frank financial reform law did a lot to ensure that a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis won't occur - through regulation of derivatives, a new consumer protection agency, and new powers for the government to dismantle failing banks - the biggest banks still have a firm grip on the financial system, even more so than before the 2008 financial crisis. Here are eleven facts that you need to know about the nation's biggest banks: READ MORE
Naomi Klein | Occupy Wall Street
08 October 11
I love you.
And I didn't just say that so that hundreds of you would shout "I love you" back, though that is obviously a bonus feature of the human microphone. Say unto others what you would have them say unto you, only way louder.
Yesterday, one of the speakers at the labor rally said: "We found each other." That sentiment captures the beauty of what is being created here. A wide-open space (as well as an idea so big it can’t be contained by any space) for all the people who want a better world to find each other. We are so grateful. READ MORE
Wall Street Protesters to 'Occupy' Washington Square, Cops Ready for Clash
08 October 11
Bruner said he expected "hundreds, maybe thousands" to join the demonstrators this afternoon at Washington Square for its first - ever rally there at 3 p.m. Cops are already gearing up for what could be an invasion.
They're fencing off grassy areas in the park, and putting up 10 - foot high chain link fences around public bathrooms. Close to 30 cops, nine scooters and three - wheeled vehicles and a van were already stationed at Laguardia Place and West 3rd St., hours before the new protest.
One officer at Zuccotti Park told The Post: "I think they'll have to move, to find a new place to stay. They can do whatever they want until the sun goes down." READ MORE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhrwmJcsfT0
Alan Grayson on Occupy Wall Street
FOCUS: GOP Blames Obama for Encouraging Anti-Wall Street "Mobs"
08 October 11
The debate over the Occupy Wall Street protests took on a harsh tenor Friday, with Republican leader Rep. Eric Cantor denouncing the demonstrators as "mobs" and slamming President Obama for allegedly encouraging them.
"This administration's failed policies have resulted in an assault on many of our nation's bedrock principles," he said. "If you read the newspapers today, I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country. READ MORE
The Wall Street Occupiers and the Democratic Party
08 October 11
Will the Wall Street Occupiers morph into a movement that has as much impact on the Democratic Party as the Tea Party has had on the GOP? Maybe. But there are reasons for doubting it.
Tea Partiers have been a mixed blessing for the GOP establishment - a source of new ground troops and energy but also a pain in the assets with regard to attracting independent voters. As Rick Perry and Mitt Romney square off, that pain will become more evident.
So far the Wall Street Occupiers have helped the Democratic Party. Their inchoate demand that the rich pay their fair share is tailor-made for the Democrats' new plan for a 5.6 percent tax on millionaires, as well as the President's push to end the Bush tax cut for people with incomes over $250,000 and to limit deductions at the top. READ MORE
Why Occupy Wall Street Should Scare Republicans
07 October 11
In Florida this week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was asked about the growing Occupy Wall Street movement. "I think it's dangerous, this class warfare," he said.
Romney’s right. It may be dangerous - to his chances of being elected.
Occupy Wall Street, now almost three weeks old, isn’t like the anti-globalization demonstrations that disrupted summits in the 1990s or even the street actions at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, though some of the same characters are probably in attendance. With unemployed young protesters planning to camp out all winter in Zuccotti Park (with bathrooms available only at a nearby McDonald's), it's more like a cross between a Hooverville and Woodstock - the middle-class jobless of the 1930s and the hippie protesters of the 1960s. READ MORE
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