Tag Archives | Occupy Movement

Epic Fail At Shell Oil’s Celebration Of Arctic Drilling

By on June 7, 2012 in News 11

This certainly bodes well. Occupy Seattle sympathizer Logan Price managed to infiltrate a private party held by Shell Oil (commemorating the drilling of the Arctic) and on his cellphone captured a sequence of events that seem almost unreal:

This was a private send-off for Shell’s arctic rigs (Kulluk and Noble discoverer) at the Seattle Space Needle. The rigs were visible outside the window. Incredibly, there was an obvious malfunction of the model rig that was supposed to pour drinks for guests.

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LulzSec Speaks: All Your Base Are Belong To Us (Video)

By on June 3, 2012 in News 19

Says FreakOutNation:

With our Global governments stomping out dissent casually, creating distractions such as their acronymic censorship laws, only to put others forth while one is placed in temporary retirement, virtually exhausting the public until they accept authoritarianism, others have stepped up the plate. Ever since Sabu’s arrest, many in opposition to Anonymous and LulzSec thought the game was over — but it’s only reinvigorated them. The following video is done with a Star Wars theme, with the addition of powerful words and visuals:

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Occupy Consciousness: Essays on the Global Insurrection

By on May 24, 2012 in News 9

Occupy ConsciousnessThe Evolver Social Movement presents OCCUPY CONSCIOUSNESS: Essays on the Global Insurrection, a free eBook anthology (edited by me and Reality Sandwich Associate Editor Mitch Mignano) that offers a variety of viewpoints on the nascent rebellion from writers such as Doug Rushkoff, David Graeber, Starhawk, and Russell Brand. Together these pieces provide an essential perspective on the true significance of Occupy—not a protest movement essentially, but a harbinger of a new way of being.

“Is this movement’s implicit goal to re-engage our humanity? To reach beyond the political, the national and other illusory, temporary concepts and into our true, spiritual nature?” —Russell Brand

“Direct action is, ultimately, the defiant insistence on acting as if one is already free.” —David Graeber

Despite being subject to ridicule from the mainstream and intense suppression from police and government forces in the US and abroad, Occupy has shifted the discourse around critical social, political, and economic issues, breaking the silence around the collusion between government, corporate, and financial interests.… Read the rest

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We Need A Media War On All Fronts

By on May 21, 2012 in News 1

Radionette TV SetWhen do you feel like you are over the hill?

When you get letters like this one from Jose Hevia after writing an op-ed featuring an essay from your recent book Blogothon, recounting your experiences as a network TV insider turned independent media outsider. The essay offered a case study of how the nominally non-commercial network, PBS, turned its back on a human rights TV series I co-produced. It is about the challenges progressives face in offering a counter-narrative to parochial mainstream thinking.

My critical correspondent wondered what I was whining about:

Complaining that the old media is getting more and more monopolized is … Who cares about old media? … Nobody is my inner circle under 30 watches old media any more.

Bye.

Take that, old man. Ha, ha, ha.

I am not sure his view is totally true, what with Comedy Central, movie channels galore and unlimited sports coverage.… Read the rest

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Authorities Define “Violence” As Any Restriction Of Capital Flows

By on May 21, 2012 in News 8

6269542564_1930ee174e_nCritical Legal Thinking on the German government response to Occupy Frankfurt — peaceful protest is now defined as “violent” if the target is financial institutions:

As debate spilled over into a shouting match in the Hessian State Parliament concerning the effective ban of Blockupy protests this 16-19 May in Frankfurt am Main, the administrative decision that effected this ban has come to light. The key finding being that:

The blockade action cannot be assessed as peaceful. To make blockades and hinder traffic with the goal of closing down the entire financial district...has to be defined as violence. The European Central Bank ‘must be functional, especially in times of financial crisis around the clock’. This includes things like ‘the operation of large-value payment system TARGET2′.

So in effect, a civil disobedience directed against the Eurozone’s financial authorities cannot take place because the obligation of the Frankfurt government to support the operation of the Euro-system overrides the right of European protesters to assemble and demonstrate against that very operation.

… Read the rest

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The Web of NATO, Austerity, Capitalism, Economic Hegemony and Occupy

By on May 12, 2012 in News 1

Natalie Solidarity writes at Diatribe Media:

In perusing the online papers, the concern about the NATO summit in Chicago on May 20–21 is palpable in every word. It sticks to the sweaty skin like newspaper ink. The anxiety and fear is obvious across all strata of society.

Chicago police are already threatening violence against Occupy protesters, as documented in this audio footage of a traffic stop. Anti-protester fear mongering rhetoric abounds in the media. A Crain’s Chicago Business article reported that downtown workers have been recommended to doff their suits and ties in order to avoid becoming targets of protester violence.

The same article reported that several downtown banks will shut down leading up to and during the NATO summit. ABC reports that downtown windows are being covered with shatterproof film, high-rise balconies will be closed, entrances locked, and tenants warned to utilize constant vigilance when living their lives during May 20–21.… Read the rest

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Police Intimidation Of Occupy Chicago In Advance of NATO Summit?

By on May 11, 2012 in News 4

2012 Chicago SummitChuck Sudo writes at Chicagoist:

With all the concern about anarchists flocking to Chicago in the days before the NATO summit, there’s another narrative of some members of the police department looking for a fight. To that end, here is some video from a group called “NewsPower TV” of some Occupy Chicago protesters allegedly being intimidated with threats of physical violence during the summit by a group of police officers recently. (We ask that you take the video with the same questions we have about its authenticity.)

Chicagoist’s Aaroncynic spoke with one of the people who was involved in the altercation, who said they were pulled over by police while doing a three-point turn in a parking lot at 31st Street and Halsted Street in Bridgeport. Someone in the group captured the exchange between them and the cops with their smartphone and tried to do it discreetly, but you can hear one cop ask if he’s being recorded around the 50-second mark in the video.

… Read the rest

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Occupy Protesters Envision The Leaderless Movement’s Next Phase

By on May 10, 2012 in News 10

Question MarkLeanne Maxwell writes at SFist:

Last week’s climactic worldwide May Day events, in which police and protesters clashed and black bloc protesters caused thousands of dollars worth of property damage, revived the nation’s waning interest in the Occupy movement long enough for everyone to ask, “What next?”

As can be expected, the cause has hit somewhat of a plateau, and the sentiment amongst the public seems to be that the Occupy groups should separate themselves from the violent factions of the movement and expand their community-minded support into the neighborhoods.

SFist took it upon ourselves to ask members of Occupy in various cities to suspend disbelief for a moment and pretend they were each the leader of the movement. What would be some tangible next steps for Occupy? Naturally, only two of the participants ventured to imagine if Occupy did have a leader, but we like the variety of answers we received…

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The Rise of the New Spiritual Counterculture

By on May 10, 2012 in News 8

Occupy Wall Street MediationIt’s February 17 and I’m standing in front of a full room at Gatsby Books in Long Beach, CA.  Once again, we’ve filled up the seats and people are standing in the back as I deliver my opening line, “If you told me several years, I’d be here talking about Jesus and ayahuasca, I would have laughed my ass off.”  But perhaps more incredible than tales of spiritual awakening is that here I am on the final night of my Electric Jesus West Coast book tour, knowing we have shattered the odds.

Enthusiastic crowds have greeted me at almost all of my sixteen stops. This shouldn’t be happening as first-time author in a wilting publishing industry. But I’ve had a secret grassroots weapon, one that a lot of mainstream America doesn’t know about — it’s the flourishing new spiritual counterculture.

The audience in Gatsby Books is dressed in hipster vintage printed tees and American Apparel cotton hoodies with esoteric flares of spiral plug earrings and Peruvian indigenous bracelets.… Read the rest

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