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Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Please forgive us, your elders, for the many sins we have visited upon you. Specifically (for I know the list is long), for failing to foresee the end of growth. Given our quest for infinite growth on a finite planet, we should have seen this coming. And it has come…and, unfortunately, just as you and your peers are entering the work…errr un/der-employment force.
It is encouraging to see thousands of people in hundreds of cities around the world marching in the streets in solidarity for the 99% of the population disempowered and disenfranchised by despots and corporatist elites, pulling the strings of government and making all the key political, economic and social decisions in our world. But in order to convince the despots and elites that we really are the 99%, we need to engage those who are unable, because of fear, or lack of access or opportunity, to join us in the streets…How can we build on the Metamovement phenomenon to start to achieve the objectives that 99% of us believe in, that the current power structures are disinclined to pursue?
Though they’ve played an especially mendacious role in our predicament, it’s not just the big banks that have created our manifold problems. We all play a role every time we spend our hard earned money. Each one of us feeds the hyper-consumption beast by shopping at big box stores and malls, by using disposable cups and straws, and by confusing petty indulgences for necessities.
“When They Execute a Corporation,” read a sign held by activist Gary Abreim, 69, “You Know They Are Real People.” When asked why he had been coming to the occupations, Abreim explained, “There are seeds being planted here. I’m here to water those seeds. They are a yearning, a passion on the part of Americans to return to a democracy that we have lost.”
As the Wall Street protests have spread from New York City to the rest of the country, some media pundits have criticized the protesters for being unfocused — as if there were only one thing wrong with the financial sector of the U.S. economy. The protests have provided a welcome response to Wall Street’s massive takeover of governance, and continued opposition to the status quo could produce opportunities to enact real reforms.
What the Occupy Wall Streeters are beginning to discover, and homeless people have known all along, is that most ordinary, biologically necessary activities are illegal when performed in American streets — not just peeing, but sitting, lying down, and sleeping. While the laws vary from city to city, one of the harshest is in Sarasota, Florida, which passed an ordinance in 2005 that makes it illegal to”engage in digging or earth-breaking activities” — that is, to build a latrine — cook, make a fire, or be asleep and “when awakened state that he or she has no other place to live.”
– Twenty-four hours at Occupy Wall Street (video)
– Occupy: protesters in their own words (slideshow)
– Everything The Media Told You About Occupy Wall Street Is Wrong (photo essay)
– The Economist: Leaderless, consensus-based participatory democracy and its discontents
– Intellectual Roots of Wall St. Protest Lie in Academe
– Athenian Democracy
– A brief history of consensus decision-making (Quakers and pirates)
– Naomi Wolf:The First Amendment and the Obligation to Peacefully Disrupt in a Free Society
– Barbara Ehrenreich: Why Homelessness Is Becoming an Occupy Wall Street Issue
– At Zuccotti Park, Conflict Arises Among Occupiers
– Michael Kinsley: Four Iron-Clad Demands for OWS
– Global indignation inspires Spanish movement
– Chinese web censors block terms related to “Occupy,” to stamp out movement’s spread in China
– Video of modern dance piece inspired by John Michael Greer’s The Long Descent
– Design for an amphibious house enables occupants to cope with rising water levels in Thailand
– Drive a Car in the City? Time to Embrace Bike Infrastructure
– Design with the Other 90%: Cities
– How to cook a pacific #revolution (from Spain)
– Consensus (Direct Democracy @ Occupy Wall Street)
– #occupywallstreet general assembly facilitation
– Quick guide on group dynamics in people’s assemblies
– HowToCamp / HowToOccupy
– Ketchup’s description (via Chris Hedges)
– How Occupy Wall Street Really Got Started
– From Protest to Disruption: Frances Fox Piven on Occupy Wall Street
– What ‘Diversity of Tactics’ Really Means for Occupy Wall Street
– Could the Occupy Movement’s General Assemblies Replace Today’s Parliaments and Legislatures?
– What can OWS learn from a defunct French avant-garde group? (Situationists)
