Occupy Wall Street?

There is something corny importance about this Conservartive.com speech. I get it one vote one voice, etc etc, let's not glamorize even our heroes, but it gets boring and predictable around the 3 minute mark.

Originally Posted by NekoNinja

@<span class="highlight"><i><a href="http://personalitycafe.com/member.php?u=21743" target="_blank">Catenaccio</a></i></span> , @<span class="highlight"><i><a href="http://personalitycafe.com/member.php?u=8579" target="_blank">Shahada</a></i></span>

I don't think its really all that relevant how left or not left a specific group is. Occupy Wall Street is something which is gathering many different people from different groups, because the "Occupy" protests don't align themselves with any specific group. They are simply acknowledging that there is in fact a problem, and protesting against it. There are both people from the left and right in this, because both recognize that something needs to get done. The question is what is going to be done.

Hmmm I believe this of the people there but it seems to be very infiltrated led by some radicals. See the links and video I posted. Actually I will post the video again you should watch it and decide for yourself, I found it shocking:

Sorry to go abit off course here but referring back to how grassroots this movement is after reading an article here, the genuinity of some of the protestors tweeting(there's one on the Michael Moore vid) on their 'Iphones' buying into the very thing they supposedly hate, I find that quite strange and hypocritical not to mention does little in getting people to take these lefties seriously, actions speak alright. This maybe small but it just takes a little of my faith out of these movements, god, some of these people need to rethink their actions.

Originally Posted by Rachael Trilby

Sorry to go abit off course here but referring back to how grassroots this movement is after reading an article here, the genuinity of some of the protestors tweeting(there's one on the Michael Moore vid) on their 'Iphones' buying into the very thing they supposedly hate, I find that quite strange and hypocritical not to mention does little in getting people to take these lefties seriously, actions speak alright. This maybe small but it just takes a little of my faith out of these movements, god, some of these people need to rethink their actions.

I sort of agree but you can't really expect people to just be ascetic hermits or else their message is undermined. You have to live in the society you have, not the one you'd like to have. That being said I think this is more of a symptom of this, thus far, being mostly a movement composed of white middle-class college students, and because of that you're going to see more of that sort of thing. I think organizers across the country need to do more outreach with seriously marginalized groups, particularly minorities, which is something a lot of observers have criticized the movement for so far.

Also this complaint is mostly hypocritical coming from the people who make it because earlier this year the media wouldn't stop talking about the role of social media and such in the uprisings in the Middle East/North Africa and back then no one asked "they have internet and iPhones, what are they complaining about?"

So the Boston protest got broken up last night, about 200 arrested and reports of beatings, particularly among the protesting Veterans for Peace group. Several other camps across the country were raided last night as well.

For all the comparisons to the Tea Party, few people seem to be comparing the police responses to both movements. How many Tea Party rallies have come under this much violence from the state? Should tell you all you need to know about what the people in power find threatening to their rule. Granted I don't think these people are a real threat to the ruling class (I wish) and police responses have varied by city, but you don't see peaceful people getting beat up and pepper sprayed by cops at Tea Party rallies.

Originally Posted by Shahada

So the Boston protest got broken up last night, about 200 arrested and reports of beatings, particularly among the protesting Veterans for Peace group. Several other camps across the country were raided last night as well.

For all the comparisons to the Tea Party, few people seem to be comparing the police responses to both movements. How many Tea Party rallies have come under this much violence from the state? Should tell you all you need to know about what the people in power find threatening to their rule. Granted I don't think these people are a real threat to the ruling class (I wish) and police responses have varied by city, but you don't see peaceful people getting beat up and pepper sprayed by cops at Tea Party rallies.

Most Tea Party rallies didn't last longer than a few hours.

Also, I'm pretty sure that this has been the normal Police response to peaceful protests for decades. Sad but true.

I watched the video. I think this is where some people are right in saying it doesn't matter a person's political persuasion. I also think this video is a good example of not all hippies in the 1960s were liberal, some were conservative or libertarian,but that doesn't fit into the trajectory of what happened in the 60s myth. Ronald Reagan's election can be directly tied to hippie's questioning President Johnson and listening to Jimi Hendrix. The video is a conservative artist, basically I'm beginning to think he was against the Civil Rights Movement cause he doesn't let John Lewis speak. And if you go to his website, it's just an art gallery of conservative propaganda. It's ironic that one section is Osama Bin Laden's death photos, and yet his side gave up looking for Bin Laden,went after old stand by Saddam Hussein. But I think the vast majority of camper protestors are left of center, because a lot of liberal friends of mine are posting on facebook about the other 99%, and FOX news opinion heads like Sean Hannity, and Republican politicians like Eric Canter, are calling them "marxists" and "mobs." And this is because the Republicans have a disgruntled movement, in the Tea Party.

Originally Posted by Catenaccio

Hmmm I believe this of the people there but it seems to be very infiltrated led by some radicals. See the links and video I posted. Actually I will post the video again you should watch it and decide for yourself, I found it shocking:

Originally Posted by Psychosmurf

Most Tea Party rallies didn't last longer than a few hours.

Also, I'm pretty sure that this has been the normal Police response to peaceful protests for decades. Sad but true.

I'm aware on both points. Some of the more violent police action though has happened away from occupation sites, like the march in NYC last weekend that saw the police beating and pepper spraying protesters.

You're absolutely right on the second point but again I think it's important to make the comparison. Tea Party rallies are generally left alone because they are not seen as a threat to the establishment, and this does probably have a lot to do with the people in both groups, with Tea Party members generally being pro-establishment and not the type to get upset about police pushing them around. There's pro-establishment people in the OWS protests too, but I think the movement's character is going to draw many more genuine dissidents.

In regards to that video, I'm at work and didn't get on this site at home yesterday so I haven't watched it, but I did hear at least a bit about the incident. It seems the GA people didn't want to give up the floor to Lewis right away because they are very committed to the principles the movement was founded on and don't want to give anyone any more leeway than anyone else. Lewis is also, besides a former civil rights activist, a Democratic Congressman, and many of these people are aware of the party's attempts to co-opt the movement and want to avoid that. Again though I haven't watched the video so I'm not sure what "radical" behavior people are upset about, so I can't comment on that. I wouldn't be surprised if there were racial tensions, this has always been a problem with American protest movements and there have been reports in some cities of racial conflicts. Hopefully this is something that can be sorted out among the movement.

EDIT: Found more about the Lewis incident, apparently it's your typical selective editing: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/0...ccupy-atlanta/

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) is a prominent figure in the House of Representative and American politics. But his stature wasn’t enough to speak on his own designated time at the Occupy Atlanta protests Friday evening.

The Georgia congressman was introduced by the general assembly session at the Atlanta offspring of Occupy Wall Street. However, general assembly speaking rules in Occupy Atlanta is an approach where a consensus needs to be made to allow everyone to speak that even Lewis had to abide by.

Lewis didn’t have enough time in his schedule to wait and left before his opportunity to speak came. But he didn’t have a problem with not getting special treatment.

“No, not at all, not at all,” he said. “In another time, another period, when I was very young, I was ahead of the student non-violent community, better known as SNCC. We participated in a similar process. We would discuss, we would debate, until we reach consensus. This is not something strange or out of the ordinary for me. ”

So it was a completely normal thing and Lewis was not at all offended by the procedure. So so much for that.

You cannot compare this movement with a tea party. The tea party was funded by the Kochs to push their agenda, occupy walstreet has no agenda other than reclaiming the gov't for the people instead of corporations.

What they need to demand is:
a transparent gov't.
End super-pacs and power political contributions.
That companies be no longer recognized as people.
The end of the Federal Reserve.
Taxes on the Rich go back to Clinton Standards.
Reduction in our army world wide presence and standing armed forces
More tuition grants (afterall graduates will pay more in taxes)
Make the candidates debate be done by outside groups instead of television networks (so the candidates can debate in more neutral places)
Uphold the constitution and disband the many laws passed in the last few years that revoke constitutional rights

Originally Posted by Brian1

I watched the video. I think this is where some people are right in saying it doesn't matter a person's political persuasion. I also think this video is a good example of not all hippies in the 1960s were liberal, some were conservative or libertarian,but that doesn't fit into the trajectory of what happened in the 60s myth. Ronald Reagan's election can be directly tied to hippie's questioning President Johnson and listening to Jimi Hendrix. The video is a conservative artist, basically I'm beginning to think he was against the Civil Rights Movement cause he doesn't let John Lewis speak. And if you go to his website, it's just an art gallery of conservative propaganda. It's ironic that one section is Osama Bin Laden's death photos, and yet his side gave up looking for Bin Laden,went after old stand by Saddam Hussein. But I think the vast majority of camper protestors are left of center, because a lot of liberal friends of mine are posting on facebook about the other 99%, and FOX news opinion heads like Sean Hannity, and Republican politicians like Eric Canter, are calling them "marxists" and "mobs." And this is because the Republicans have a disgruntled movement, in the Tea Party.

No, the people who made the video are not the guy with the megaphone. The people who made the video are critical of him.

I think the guy was definitily a radical leftist/anarchist kind, and the video shows how the result of revolutionary "horizontal democracy" is tyranny.