US protesters rally to occupy Wall Street

[cheapdate]

Source: Aljazeera

Building on the momentum of the Arab Spring movements, protesters in the US are gathering in New York City's financial district in a bid to show mass resistance against the dominance of the country's financial system.

Read more: http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/us-protesters-rally-occupy-wall-street

---

Go get 'em!

This action in New York was organized through the magazine AdBusters. Much respect to these protestors.

A tweet on the streaming section of the article (which may or may not still be there) said:

<<The police ask to speak to the leader. We told them that there is no leader. They didnt understand. #TakeWallStreet #OccupyWallStreet #Sep17>>

[gateley]

1. Well God Bless Al Jazeera. Not feeling too kindly today about the

American Media. I didn't find mention on msnbc or cnn's front pages.

[DirkGently]

4. Must be a Tea Party member sitting in a lawn chair somewhere they needed to cover instead.

[gateley]

26. Bwah! Yes -- that's always Breaking News! nt

[cyclezealot]

41. I suggest you watch Democracy Now..

Their coverage is democratic , offering what you won't hear elsewhere.. that's why its called Democracy Now..

[gateley]

58. WHERE do I watch it? Thanks. nt

[harun]

79. Can watch on LinkTV or their website. Link in sig.

[cheapdate]

2. I believe you can call CNN news desk at 404-827-1500

and ask why no coverage.

[tcaudilllg]

7. It's there now.

[ProgressoDem]

3. My very liberal friend went down there and said it was mostly Paultards and Anarchists?

I guess these pictures would suggest otherwise. Anyone else go down there?

[cheapdate]

5. AdBusters is pretty radical, God bless 'em. n/t

[Dover]

8. At last divisiveness gives way to common ground!

We need to ALL pull together when and where possible.

Divided we fall.

[FarLeftFist]

9. Not from what I see. It's all "Stop The Cuts", "People over Profits", "Wall St. Greed", etc etc.

Paultards are not people saying Stop The Cuts. This definitely appears to be Socialist, borderline Anarchist. These people want the Govt to step in and help the situation and end corporate malfeasance. Fright-Wingers want to de-regulate and let corporations run amok.

[OutNow]

10. Anarchists - and.....

Who did your friend expect to see at the Wall Street occupation, Chuck Shumer and Harry Reid?

[patrice]

33. Their posters suggest there's a couple of other groups in there; one, notably, with HOPE. nt

[patrice]

35. Hell, I don't care who's doing it, as long as someone DOES. nt

[bengalherder]

47. For one united we stand

For two, the 'Paultards' and 'anarchist's line has been used by other very concerned posters. Perhaps you can find new adjectives as the old ones are relatively predictable. Points recinded if you use 'hippie' or 'drugs' in a sentence.

[ProgressoDem]

64. I'm not sure what you mean. n/t

[JackRiddler]

54. Your "very liberal" friend sounds like (s)he's got a very narrow comfort zone.

The biggest contingent is of young and creative people who are sick of an injust and insane economy destroying all the best things in life and putting humanity and its ecological basis at risk. It's time we all stopped slaving and suffering and paying so that the banksters can get better returns on their trillions.

If your friend has a problem with anarchists or Ron Paul supporters being present in the righteous fight against bankster tyranny, debt slavery and world war, maybe your friend should worry less about what (s)he looks like next to one of these anarchists or Paul people and just join the protest to take influence on it.

Everyone is welcome. Of course people who are not permanent protest types are exactly the ones who need to get off their butts. Professionals, workers, nurses, teachers, firefighters, garbage collectors, students, janitors, people in suits damn it. This is everyone's fight, whether you like everyone fighting it is a separate question.

The remarkable thing about it so far is that everything is open platform. Everyone there had all the say they desired. People listened. These were genuine street assemblies.

[ProgressoDem]

65. Very cool. We need more street assemblies.

I only bring it up because I find it ironic that Paul people would oppose Wall Street. Anarchists, however, are just silly and I disagree with you - having those folks involved only spells trouble, and turns off mainstream America. Better to have progressive focus (which it sounds like this is, from what I'm reading, I think my friend was wrong).

[tama]

68. Chomsky,

the most widely known American anarchist, is just silly? :)
It would be better to understand what anarchism means and who really are anarchists, instead of buying into the corporate media picture of ragtag hooligans.

Adbusters and Anonymous are anarchically organized movements, there is no central organization or organizer in the Wall Street Occupation, it is as whole an anarchic self organizing and inclusive gathering of We the people, inclusive gathering were every one is wellcome. (Neo)liberals of Democratic party didn't organize it and cannot organize it and cannot take over it to push their hue of partisan politics.

As Einstein said, insänity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Partisan politics is thus insanity, Hopebama is just same'o same'o corporatocracy. Anarchic grass roots mass movements have been the revolutionary force of Arab spring, as in Athens, Madrid etc. and as it was in Seattle. And no, you don't have to be a self-defined "anarchist" in order to be part of an anarchically self-organizing movement, all voices are wellcome and deserve to be listened. Liberals, progressives, libertarians, greens, anarchists, socialists, etc. :)

[ProgressoDem]

76. I do find Chomsky to be fairly silly...

But okay, so I can better understand. What is different about anarchism and libertarianism? The process - great. The goal of anarchism seems strange to me and, unless I don't understand correctly, seems to be dangerously close to libertarianism.

[tama]

77. Terminologically

and historically anarchism is libertarianism. There is a libertarian sect that still holds to the ideas of private capitalistic ownership and a "night-watch" state (basically just police and army and judicial system) to protect capitalistic ownership. In modern usage these capitalistic right-wing libertarians are usually referred by "libertarians", and likewise, anarchism - which is against also (and especially) night watcher state and capitalistic ownership is defined as "left-wing" libertarianism.

Left-wing libertarianism aka anarchism has close relation with communism, as both aim to classless and stateless society, Marxist communism through medium of socialist state, which anarchist Bakunin criticized on the grounds that "all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Many and especially anarchists consider that history of Soviet Union is a case proven for Bakunin's criticism of communism and revolutionary socialism. Rough sketch of eurocentric anarchism, the anthropologically oriented discussions about so called "anarcho-primitivistic" critique of civilization have pointed out that among all human cultures non-hierarchical anarchic and communal cultures seem to be rather the norm than the exception.

This all sounds very boring and ideological, at least to me, but needs to be cleared out. To me anarchism means more everyday practice that ideological orthodoxies. First, to behave and to live anarchically there is absolutely no need to self-identify as an anarchist or even know the word. It means not waiting for revolution to happen some day, but living a constant revolution, taking responsibility of ones actions instead of expecting some authority to be the responsible one. Decision making by listening and discussing until mutual understanding has been found, instead of voting and/or selecting a leader to deside. There are no rules, especially no rule that there can be no rules, no voting, no leaders, etc. Freedom of trusting, living and letting live.

I've been living in couple ecocommunities and they didn't self-identify as anarchists though they behaved and made decisions anarchically, I've participated in Rainbow gatherings and similar hippie events, and there is relatively little talk of anarchism though they are organized perfectly anarchically. Families and groups of friends behave usually anarchically, without hierarchical leader telling other members of the group what to do. Leadership arises naturally when needed, not hierarchically and institutionally but according to the situation and what skills and experience various individuals posses, e.g. leader and organizer of house building project being the individual who knows how to build a house and can instruct others with less experience to be usefull. Anarchism is about getting things done and not expecting others to do them for us, taking initiative, taking responsibility, taking care of others. I've witnessed many times how anarchistic self-organization works wonders.

Addbusters and Anonymous function anarchically, and the Occupy Wall Street is also a leaderless self-organizing event. Anarchic self-organization is about taking initiative, taking care of others and getting things done, like getting people together to protest against corporatocracy on Wall Street and discussing together what to do next and most of all, to have FUN! First rule of anarchic (and any good) revolution process: if it ain't fun, don't do it.

Hope this helps :)

[Dover]

6. The Arab Spring gives way to the American Fall.

puns intended :P

[socialist_n_TN]

11. I haven't seen anything about it, but I've been at a

coalition meeting most of the afternoon.

[Yon_Yonson]

12. Great one New York City ... go get those greedy wall street pricks

Lets all meet in Washington DC in October 2011 and show em WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE! I shall be there with protesters coming in from Wisconsin

read more:

http://october2011.org/

[No Elephants]

37. Those who cannot make it in D.C. can donate or have a local event or help get out the word.

Every one of us can do something about October 6, so please get started.

[RoccoR5955]

13. About freakin' time!

Will we see it on any of the mainstream media? Doubtful!

[paparush]

14. Jump, you Fuckers!!

[PADemD]

15. Is that on a bumper sticker?

If so, where can I buy one?

[unkachuck]

16. a humungus K&R....

....it does no good to protest in Washington these days when the seat of real power is on wall street....

....bless you wonderful protestors for taking mass resistance to those evil corporate pigs on wall street....they deserve to earn only prison money, not the billions they've stolen by destroying our country and economy....

[bossy22]

17. Ive got one simple question for these protesters

WHAT KIND OF FINANCIAL SYSTEM DO YOU WANT????? So far I have never heard a good alternative that won't end bad for main street as well. Main Street and Wall Street are interconnected and will always be interconnected unless you want to go back to the barter system.

[Dover]

18. Hear hear!

Listen up you worthless, gandhi loving, peace train, tea hugging, revolting "revolutionaries" -

Wall Street is your sugar daddy and you are its sugar consumers blaming us for your diabetic condition. You act all righteous now that you're not being kept in the style you've become accustomed to, but in truth you want the same things we do. We MADE the middle class based on our values and we can take it away. And now your ungrateful hordes are descending on our Street looking for a handout and messing in our business.

You have meddled with the primal forces of nature,... and I won't have it!! Is that clear?!... You think you're merely (stopping our) business deals. That is not the case. It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are (like old men) who think in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multi-national dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, Reichmarks, Yen, Rubles, Pounds, and Shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE! Am I getting through to you? You get up on your little (soapbox) and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state - Karl Marx (or in the U.S. representative government, prayer in the schools, gay marriage or abortion? Ha!)???
They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. Only one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.~

Read more: http://www.finestquotes.com/movie_quotes/movie/Network/page/0.htm#ixzz1YG3qdUbc

[AnnieK401]

43. News Blackout

MSNBC, CNN, and of course FOX are ignoring this story. There is, in fact, a news blackout. That is something that should really make us angry.

[cheapdate]

19. What kind of financial system do you want?

Should Wall Street just continue to take whatever they can get until everyone and everything in the country is completely broken? Is that "always" the way it should be? Maybe they don't have a plan and maybe they're just sending a message.

[Flatulo]

21. I'd like a system that isn't rigged so that every few years

the middle class doesn't lose their life savings.

I'd like a system where a CEO can't make $144,000,000 in one year for busting up a viable enterprise and moving the jobs to a slave labor country.

I'd like a system where a hedge fund manager who makes over $1,000,000,000 in a single year pays more than 15% in taxes.

I'd like a system where companies and banks cannot become too big to fail and require taxpayer bailout every few years.

I don't think we need to move to a Cuban or Soviet style centrally planned economy, but we need to restore a sensible tax code and corporate governance that rewards long-term investment, not quarter-to-quarter planning. We are now competing on a a global stage with very smart people who have 50 year plans to dominate every single industry that we once did, and we're helping them every step of the way so that CEOs can make tens of millions a year in compensation.

If you want to look at a country where the people are happy and well-cared for, with a robust and competitive private sector and market economy, and very low unemployment, look at Denmark. Whatever they're doing, it's working very well.

[Imajika]

25. What a great post...

I agree completely with pretty much everything you say here.

"I'd like a system where a CEO can't make $144,000,000 in one year for busting up a viable enterprise and moving the jobs to a slave labor country."

"I'd like a system where a hedge fund manager who makes over $1,000,000,000 in a single year pays more than 15% in taxes."

"I'd like a system where companies and banks cannot become too big to fail and require taxpayer bailout every few years."

All of this. Very, very well said. 3 easy examples people can understand!

[Flatulo]

27. I'm just hoping any protest action isn't portrayed as being

the efforts of 'Commies' in an attempt to discredit the effort. There's no need to subscribe to those beliefs to still be plenty pissed about the current state of business affairs.

And thanks for your kind words. I used to be convinced that the 'invisible hand' of free markets would always produce the best outcomes for the most people, but in the last decade my eyes have been opened. Reluctantly.

[No Elephants]

38. We never had a free market in this land, so we have no idea if they would work well or not.

We were colonized to enrich the Crown, the East India Company, etc.

Read the Constitution, as it was before any amendments were added.

For example, do you think average working people in the colonies--farmers, tailors, etc.-- were concerned about having the new federal government deal with piracy on the hig seas and regulate commerce between the states?

Those provisions were in there because the businessmen of the time wanted them in there, the shippers, the slave traders, etc., getting government to protect their business activities at the expense of public money and lives.

There was a reason John Hancock's signature was the largest on the Declaration of Independece. He had a lot to gain from independence--and gain he did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hancock

The founders and Framers were remarkable people and I don't mean to take anything away from them. But, I think our educations tended to romanticize them considerably.

[JDPriestly]

49. Jefferson thought we would be a country of farmers, that people would

own and tend their land. The Founding Fathers would be horrified to know what happened during the Industrial Revolution. George Washington had to look around to find a tailor who could make his inauguration suit. We were a country of resources whose manufacturing was pretty much the preparation of raw materials for further manufacture in the UK and elsewhere.

We had some industry, but that was not at all our focus. So that is why our Constitution reads as it does.

[tama]

70. Don't let

fear of what "others" might think take over you, your opinions and actions. Follow your heart and be true to yourself and you will find you are not alone.

[patrice]

31. 1+++++++++++++

[joshguitar]

52. hear hear! nt

[appal_jack]

75. a BIG +1 to this reply. n/t

[Nihil]

78. Nice post! (n/t)

:applause:

[Amonester]

22. I think they and I want a financial system that is honest.

To Begin With.

[patrice]

32. One that can't hold American equity HOSTAGE politically by exposing it to FOREIGN take-over.

[fasttense]

42. How about the financial system we had before Ronnie Raygun.

Before the repeal of Glass-Steagall, before the ENRON loophole, before anti-trust laws and the Buy America Act were ignored, before NAFTA, CAFTA, and SHAFTA all destroyed our jobs, before the idle rich got tax breaks while the working class got increases in taxes and decreases in government services.

I want a financial system that is regulated, controlled and fair. We had that system for over 30 years and it worked just fine.

[JDPriestly]

50. Agreed. We don't want to do away with capitalism, we want to make it work

for the whole country.

There will always be differences between rich and poor, but those differences should not be as great as they are in the US today. The rich have no idea how the poor live, what it means to have to make some of the choices that the poor have to make, especially when it comes to things like health insurance or food, a car to drive to work, or a roof over your head. The rich just can't imagine the choices the poor have to make.

[bengalherder]

48. Main street used to function just fine without wall street.

IMO, they need us more than we need them.

[JackRiddler]

55. Your ignorance is manifest in the ridiculous myth of "back to the barter system," which...

never existed in the first place, except as a bogeyman with which capitalists scare anyone trying to come up with alternatives to the present system, which is most accurately described as man-eat-man: cannibalism.

[sudopod]

57. Notice that this isn't happening in Oslo.

Just sayin.

[tama]

69. Something Else

There are many voices and opinions, that is why people get together to discuss what unites them and what can and will be the demand in this particular revolutionary situation, and what it is that they DON'T want. Revolution is an open and continuous process, not a well defined path to this or that ideological utopia.

Every (wo)man speaks for herhimself and listens to what others have to say in an open dialogue. Methinks that first thing in order is another economic system that is not based on interest and capitalistic profit margin, not based on ideology of continuous growth that destroys our common environment. There are many detailed ideas for such systems available and freedom to think and create new and better ones. In terms of cultural anthropology, most common economic system among human cultures is gift economy, often mixed with elements of barter. If we can't do without money for time being, there are many alternative money systems not based on interest, debts and banks. Local money systems, internet money systems a lá Bitcoin, money creation by citizens salary, etc. etc.

[midnight]

20. Yoga at occupy wallstreet- love it.

[lunasun]

23. occupywallst site has a list of places to order food for the protesting crowd

https://occupywallst.org

[Initech]

24. Take 'em down!!!!

[Puregonzo1188]

28. I was there most of the day, just got back home now.

I wasn't in a position to stay the night, so I guess I didn't "Occupy Wall Street" though I did spend most of my day traveling to and attending the protest.

[xiamiam]

39. great..thank you..nt

[sabrina 1]

40. Lucky you, wish I could be there. If it lasts long enough as planned

maybe I will. Thanks for being there ~

[Yon_Yonson]

44. Great wonderful, job well done

Wish I could have been there ... but I shall be at October 2011 in D.C.

http://october2011.org/

[No Elephants]

71. And you're getting out the word, too. Good for you. Each of us can do something about Oct. 6.

[wordpix]

66. the best thing is have others take your place

unfortunately, if people are working all day they might want to rest at night and not be sleeping on the cold hard pavement

[JackRiddler]

67. Good for you! Hope to meet you there soon!

[1776Forever]

29. CNN.com report link.....

Wall Street protesters inspired by Arab Spring movement By Michael Saba, CNN
updated 11:18 AM EST, Sat September 17, 2011

This isn't, Lasn stresses, an excuse for rioting and looting like the world recently witnessed in the United Kingdom. It's a call for radical change, but in the tradition of nonviolent protesters like Mahatma Gandhi, he says. If protests turn violent, he fears the message will be lost.

"What we are hoping for is to have a very large number of people turn up in Lower Manhattan and start walking toward Wall Street peacefully, signs in hand," Lasn said. "If we have peaceful assemblies and debates about what our demands to President Obama should be, then bit by bit we can create a situation that will rival what happened in Egypt."

"That would be a wonderful, energizing and positive moment to feel like we the people are in charge," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/16/tech/social-media/twitter-occupy-wall-street/index.html?iref=allsearch

[patrice]

36. The police were blocking people from going in there. The crowd would have been bigger. nt

[JDPriestly]

51. Regular pauses for moments of silent meditation and silent prayer

help to keep the nonviolent momentum at these events. It is important to remember the people that you represent, their tedious, daily struggles.

Violence occurs when people forget that they are marching for those who must be patient just to survive, just to make it through their impoverished day, so they, as marchers, should be patient.

As long as the leaders of the march remind the crowd of the importance of patience, things will go smoothly. If they try to anger the crowd or rile them up, then everything will be lost.

[patrice]

30. GOOD WORK!! Occupy Wall Street! Be proud of your service to othhers! Solidarity!

[patrice]

34. Here's their video feed (looping now) and chat stream:

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution

[Zorra]

45. "We told them that there is no leader. They didn't understand."

There's something very profound about those two simple sentences.

Sincere thanks to Adbusters and all the protesters.

I really wish I could have been there.

[rhett o rick]

46. Are they still there? What happened in other cities?

I hear the crowd in LA was about 50.

[swilton]

53. Power to the People!

[blaze]

56. Can someone tell me about the mask on the forth pic down?

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/us-protesters-rally-occupy-wall-street

I don't know the significance of it.

[Sandrine for you]

59. It is take from the movie V for Vendetta as a symbol of Anonymous.

The signification is if everyone take that mask, nobody can be identified as the leader of the insurgency.

[blaze]

60. Ah! V for Vendetta!!!

Thanks so much!!

[Sandrine for you]

61. My pleasure, my first post in almost 2 years...nt

[blaze]

62. Ha! I noticed that '07 join date!!

Happy to pull you out of lurk mode! :)

[boppers]

63. It's a Guy Fawkes mask.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

He wanted to blow up parliament. His failure is a national holiday in Britan.

Later cultural touchstones reference it, such the comic/movie V for Vendetta (an unknown person wearing that mask taking on a fascist Britan), and the internet collective of Anonymous, etc....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot_in_popular_culture

[Waiting For Everyman]

72. The protest is on its 3rd day - looks like it has 'lift off'.

The live stream link again:

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution

Twitter hash tag #OccupyWallStreet is heating up. Evidently $2800 in pizza was ordered for the protesters from around the world... here's a link to the pizza locations from twitter:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11aEYlrHbWsYw9UFLmnR3V62NRdN0EtN5aVFJs_YXbg8/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

or the short link

http://is.gd/JPru6e


Way to go, NYC! Solidarity!


article in The Nation:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/163462/occupywallstreet-searching-hope-america

another from MoveOn:
http://front.moveon.org/the-biggest-thing-happening-right-now-that-your-local-news-probably-isnt-telling-you/?rc=tw.fol

[sweetapogee]

73. first time for everyting

Interesting live feed. First time I've have ever seen protesters wearing business casual attire. Strange.

[goforit]

74. LOL, Let the tea party'ers protest in DC,

Where the entire US gov't is useless.
And let the real issues of our time be protested at the source of power, Wall street.
And be protested at corporations that abuse the rights of citizens.