lost and stumbling

who are you protecting?

America was founded on the idea of a living social contact, giving its laws and practices the ability to change over time. If the Bostonians had not thrown tea into the bay, If Martin Luther King had not made his speech, and if Rosa Parks hadn’t have sat in the front of the public bus, the world would be a much different place. It is no longer the battle of blacks versus whites or men versus women, but rich versus poor, an opposing duality that has been at the heart of our capitalist society since its creation. Despite the inhumane attempts that Mayor Bloomberg has made to exterminate the Occupy protestors, the demonstrators’ numbers are growing exponentially with each day as laborers across the nation wake up from their complacent stupor.

Whether or not one agrees with the economic injustice perpetrated by big business or the corruption of our government, every American can understand that the suppression of those who express what they believe in can never be tolerated in a free, democratic world.

(Source: blog.thezeitgeistmovement.com)

thepoliticalnotebook:

Photos from the ongoing police-protester standoff in Oakland right now. All of the photos were taken by Intifada Tent, a Twitter user currently live-tweeting from Oakland. The tear gas canister pictured above is, according to @IntifadaTent, the same brand used by the Israeli military.

[via]

(via socialuprooting)

"We have been captives of corrupt economic and political systems for far too long. The concentration of wealth and the purchase of political power stifle the voices of the increasingly disenfranchised 99 percent. Corporate dominance subverts democracy, intentionally sows division, destroys the environment, obstructs the just and equitable pursuit of happiness, and violates the rights and dignity of all life."

Why We Occupy: The Declaration of Occupy D.C. (via cultureofresistance)

(via socialuprooting)

ain’t no party like an occupy party, cause an occupy party don’t stop!

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Protest

Occupy Wall Street protesters plan to disrupt the traditional holiday parade by marching along the parade route with a giant inflatable dollar bill. “The world’s inflated debt balloon keeps expanding, so at the last general assembly, someone said we should enter a balloon in the world’s largest balloon parade,” stated Occupy protester Bill Watson of Queens. “We are hoping that this big-ass inflatable dollar bill makes people understand that we cannot keep going with an economic system focused on corporations.”

A team of artists worked to morph the portrait of George Washington into the face of a pig. “I hope the thing careens into a light post and goes ‘pop’ in front of the eyes of thousands of children like that Clifford dog from a few years ago,” said a masked protester named ‘Choo’. “The symbolism, man, would be like, the most righteous thing ever.”

8 deaths in a non-violent movement, and still no one has a fucking clue who we are.

this is so fucked up.

Occupy Movement reactions in the US - wikipedia

On 16 October 2011, President Barack Obama spoke in support of the movement, though also asked protesters not to “demonize” finance workers. Local authorities in the United States have collaborated to develop strategies to respond to the Occupy movement and its encampments, and political leaders in eighteen United States cities consulted on cracking down on the Occupy movement, according to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who participated in a conference call. Within a span of less than 24 hours, municipal authorities in Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, Oakland and New York City sent in police to crack down on the encampments of the Occupy movement.

Impact

On November 10, 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported that occupy had been the “most commonly used English word on the internet and in print” over the past 12 months according to a top ten list published by media analysis company Global Language Monitor.

heading to the protests in my city.

☮♥

Seattle activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after police hit her with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011 at Westlake Park in Seattle. Protesters gathered in the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street after marching from their camp at Seattle Central Community College in support of Occupy Wall Street. Many refused to move from the intersection after being ordered by police. Police then began indiscriminately spraying pepper spray into the gathered crowd, hitting dozens of people.

“There were times when I entered the ring as a boxer and knew, as did the spectators, that I was woefully mismatched. Ringers, experienced boxers in need of a tuneup or a little practice, would go to the clubs where semi-pros fought, lie about their long professional fight records, and toy with us. Those fights became about something other than winning. They became about dignity and self-respect. You fought to say something about who you were as a human being. These bouts were punishing, physically brutal and demoralizing. You would get knocked down and stagger back up. You would reel backwards from a blow that felt like a cement block. You would taste the saltiness of your blood on your lips. Your vision would blur. Your ribs, the back of your neck and your abdomen would ache. Your legs would feel like lead. But the longer you held on, the more the crowd in the club turned in your favor. No one, even you, thought you could win. But then, every once in a while, the ringer would get overconfident. He would get careless. He would become a victim of his own hubris. And you would find deep within yourself some new burst of energy, some untapped strength and, with the fury of the dispossessed, bring him down. I have not put on a pair of boxing gloves for 30 years. But I felt this twinge of euphoria again in my stomach this morning, this utter certainty that the impossible is possible, this realization that the mighty will fall.”

"In Portland, Oakland and New York, with their baton-wielding cops, our decaying corporate regime has strutted into a fool’s paradise. They think they can clean up “the mess”—always employing the language of personal hygiene and public security—by making us disappear. They think we will all go home and accept their corporate nation, a nation where crime and government policy have become indistinguishable, where nothing in America, including the ordinary citizen, is deemed by those in power worth protecting or preserving, where corporate oligarchs awash in hundreds of millions of dollars are permitted to loot and pillage the last shreds of collective wealth, human capital and natural resources, a nation where the poor do not eat and workers do not work, a nation where the sick die and children go hungry, a nation where the consent of the governed and the voice of the people is a cruel joke."

Chris Hedges, “This Is What A Revolution Looks Like”

(Source: truth-out.org)

ocelott:

spill-acid-on-myself:

ocelott:

police threatening to use chemical agents. the exact words are, “if you do not move chemical agents will be used against you.”

they are calling it an unlawful assembly despite the fact that it is a public area and the first amendment allows us to assemble peacefully.

please watch the livestream

Bro learn your rights and how they work. Love your blog and all but this occupy stuf is bullshit. There is a reason why there part of the 99% and I’m part of the 1%. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_protest

Um. I know my rights. Love that you referred me to wikipedia. But I think I’ll refer you to the Bill of Rights.This “occupy stuff” is not bullshit. You said there is a “reason why there are part of the 99%” (they’re*), please, tell me that reason. Please explain to me why I am part of the 99%.  Please explain to me how it is that over 300 million people are part of the 99% of the United States. While you’re at it, can you explain to me why people have faced foreclosure despite the fact that banks haven’t had the proper paper work. Also explain to me how the richer are getting richer and the poorer are getting poorer? Is it just our fault- The 99%? Are we just lazy and the 1% the ones who are actually moving? Oh waittttt….. aren’t the the working people are the backbone of society? You need us.

If this “occupy stuff” is such bullshit how come many large, and reputable unions such as the UFT and UAW are joining? Why is it still going on and spreading to thousands of cities around the world?

How about you do some research yourself?