I was looking for a definitive news story that explains what the “Occupy Wall Street” protest is all about. I did not find one but I did find the article at the following URL (and link in the heading)
http://www.businessinsider.com/occupy-wall-street-rise-up-and-burn-this-system-to-the-ground-2011-10
I sincerely hope the protest has more substance than simple inflammatory language. Does anyone know what “Occupy Wall Street” is really about?
Well, since you are looking, there are several "definitive" news stories about what is happening, what the protest are about, and what is happening to the protesters. There are live streams of the protests, a manifesto, and the website BoingBoing has been aggrigateing a lot of articles about it here. If you're looking for "official" news coverage, keep this in mind.
ReplyDeleteYou can also follow the #occupywallstreet hashtag on twitter for more information.
After viewing the links that Michael furnished I am not sure whether I should laugh, cry, or panic so I guess I will just be disappointed. But that’s just it; I don’t know in what I should be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteShould I be disappointed with the protest participants or the various heads of the hydra of which they have been bitten?
From their website:
ReplyDeleteNew York City General Assemblies are an open, participatory and horizontally organized process through which we are building the capacity to constitute ourselves in public as autonomous collective forces within and against the constant crises of our times.
From listening they are
for: the other 99%, taking back the planet, the rich paying their fair share of taxes, not solving the country's problems on the backs of the poor and middle class.
against: corporations
and
they have nothing to lose but their chains.
I think that they are a Green Tea Party. Opps that name is already taken.
They're the same as the Tea Party... same as every angry populism movement... just add water/ideology du jour. If it catches on, which it seems like it might, the left wingers will come out of the woodwork, the semi mainstream frustration with faceless corporations will be coopted by a very partisan agenda, it will likely push the democrats farther left than they've ever been, cause more moderates to leave the democratic party and make things worse than they already are partisanship wise.
ReplyDeleteWrote about this several months ago. I thought the tipping point would be when unions jumped in bed with left wing activist types... just like when the libertarian-esque types on the far right jumped in bed with the movement social conservatives... turned out I may have been right.
I'm hoping I'm also right that this spreading will be the proverbial "other shoe" dropping, and lead to something lasting in the center finally catching fire and staying lit.
I have seen 2 references on this post comparing the “Occupiers” to the “Tea Partiers”. While I can agree that both are populist movements I think the similarity ends there.
ReplyDeleteThe “Tea Partiers” message, from the beginning and still today, is that they want smaller government. That message and the willingness to stick to that message has had a true impact on American politics over the last 1 ½ years and continues to do so since it is the central mantra for all of the Republican Presidential candidates and many congressional members, both Rs and Ds.
As for the “Occupiers” their message seems to be that “everything about the establishment that was in place before they got here is bad”. Sounds like the same mantra used by the counterculture movement of the 60s
Oh yes they are definitely on the other extreme.
ReplyDeleteI saw a hilarious tape (sorry I couldn't find it on you tube) from the Jimmy Kimmel show which had a leader with bull horn and a group of people doing a chant:
ReplyDeleteLeader: "What do we want?"
group: "We're not really sure!"
Leader: "When do we want it?"
group: "Now!!!"
It is now up. It is around the 4 minute mark in the skit..
ReplyDelete