Link to Really Great Read From The Boston Review. The Graeber Book Is Going To The Top Of My 'Must Read' Stack

oldenough2burmom:

Graeber’s book apparently discusses at length the disenchantment felt by young people who played by the rules: They studied hard, were admitted to the nation’s elite universities. Then they found they were saddled with $50,000 in debt and could only find low-waged jobs as banks were bailed out and left off the hook for their malfeasance. 

Source: oldenough2burmom

Romania’s government collapsed Monday following weeks of protests against austerity measures, the latest debt-stricken government in Europe to fall in the face of raising public anger over biting cuts. Emil Boc, who had been prime minister since 2008, said he was resigning “to defuse political and social tension” and to make way for a new government. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets in January to protest salary cuts, higher taxes and the widespread perception that the government was not interested in the public’s hardships in this nation of 22 million. President Traian Basescu quickly appointed Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu, the only Cabinet member unaffiliated with a political party, as interim prime minister to serve until a new government is approved. Romania spy chief to be new PM? Mihai Razvan Ungueranu nominated after Emil Boc resigns after pressure from own party and protests against austerity.
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Romania’s government collapsed Monday following weeks of protests against austerity measures, the latest debt-stricken government in Europe to fall in the face of raising public anger over biting cuts.

Emil Boc, who had been prime minister since 2008, said he was resigning “to defuse political and social tension” and to make way for a new government. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets in January to protest salary cuts, higher taxes and the widespread perception that the government was not interested in the public’s hardships in this nation of 22 million.

President Traian Basescu quickly appointed Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu, the only Cabinet member unaffiliated with a political party, as interim prime minister to serve until a new government is approved.

Romania spy chief to be new PM?

Mihai Razvan Ungueranu nominated after Emil Boc resigns after pressure from own party and protests against austerity.
occupyallstreets: thebeautyofislam: [Flickr/14bah] Please everyone, make dua for our brothers and sisters in Bahrain. They are under severe persecution and need our dua’s inshAllah.  Citizens of Bahrain are currently under attack by their government. Children and women are being kidnapped by police and homes are being raided for supporting the pro-democracy protesters. The Bahrain uprising began a year ago. The protesters selected 14 February as a day of protest to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the National Action Charter. A month later on 15 March, the government began a retaliatory “crackdown” when the protest became inconvenient. On November 23, 2011, the& Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry released its report on human rights violations during the February and March 2011 protests, finding that the government “systematically” tortured prisoners, summarily fired Shi’ite employees and university students, and committed other gross human rights violations. Clashes have continued in districts populated by Shi’ites but have worsened in recent weeks as the anniversary approaches. Shi’ites say the government uses foreign police hires, mainly from Pakistan, who they face in clashes. We need to show our support for Bahrain protesters as we did with Egypt. We need to empower them and expose their corrupt monarchy to the world.
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occupyallstreets:

thebeautyofislam:

[Flickr/14bah]

Please everyone, make dua for our brothers and sisters in Bahrain. They are under severe persecution and need our dua’s inshAllah. 

Citizens of Bahrain are currently under attack by their government. Children and women are being kidnapped by police and homes are being raided for supporting the pro-democracy protesters.

The Bahrain uprising began a year ago. The protesters selected 14 February as a day of protest to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the National Action Charter. A month later on 15 March, the government began a retaliatory “crackdown” when the protest became inconvenient.

On November 23, 2011, the& Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry released its report on human rights violations during the February and March 2011 protests, finding that the government “systematically” tortured prisoners, summarily fired Shi’ite employees and university students, and committed other gross human rights violations.

Clashes have continued in districts populated by Shi’ites but have worsened in recent weeks as the anniversary approaches.

Shi’ites say the government uses foreign police hires, mainly from Pakistan, who they face in clashes.

We need to show our support for Bahrain protesters as we did with Egypt. We need to empower them and expose their corrupt monarchy to the world.

(via whisperedinsecret)

Source: thebeautyofislam

99% Serbia: Noam Chomsky - 10 strategies of manipulation by the media

1. THE STRATEGY OF DISTRACTION

An essential element of social control is the strategy of distraction, which is to divert public attention from problems and important changes decided by the political and economic elites. Through the technique of flooding, constant distractions and trivial information the mind becomes more docile and less critical. The strategy of distraction is also essential in preventing mass interest in science, economics, psychology, neurobiology and cybernetics. “Keep the public busy, busy, busy, with no time to think; back on the farm with the other animals.(Quoted in the text Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars).

2. CREATE PROBLEMS AND OFFER SOLUTIONS

This method is also called “Problem-reaction-solution.” They create a problem, a “situation” to cause some reaction in the audience, so that this becomes the norm of the measures you would accept. For example: ‘let us intensify urban violence, or organize bloody attacks, so that the public becomes more accepting of the laws and policies that are detrimental to their freedom’. Or: create an economic crisis in order for the public to accept as a necessary evil the annulment of social rights and dismantling of public services.

3. THE STRATEGY OF GRADUALISM

To make an unacceptable measure acceptable, gradually apply enough pressure, drop by drop, for a few consecutive years. It is in such a way that new, radical socioeconomic conditions (neoliberalism) were imposed during the 1980s and 1990s the minimal state, privatization, insecurity, flexibility, mass unemployment, wages that do not ensure decent incomes, many changes that would have given rise to a revolution if they had been applied all at once.

4. THE STRATEGY OF DEFERENCE

Another way to accept an unpopular decision is to present it as “painful and necessary”, in order to win over public acceptance at that time. It is easier to accept a future sacrifice than an immediate sacrifice. First of all, because the measure is not used immediately; secondly, because the public, the masses, always have the tendency to expect naively that “everything will improve tomorrow” and that the sacrifice required may be avoided. This gives more time to the public to get used to the idea of change and accept it without resignation when the time comes.

5. ADDRESS THE PUBLIC AS YOU WOULD A LITTLE CHILD

Most ads targeted towards the general public use discourse, arguments, characters with especially childish intonation, often targeting frailty, as if the viewer were a creature of very young age or mentally impaired. The more you try to fool the viewer, the more childish the adopted tone. Why? “If one goes to a person as if she had the age of 12 years or less, then, due to suggestive quality, the other person tends, with some probability, to respond or react without much thought as a person 12 years old or younger would (see “Silent Weapons for quiet wars “)

6. APPEAL TO EMOTIONS RATHER THAN REASON

Make use of Emotional response’ is a classic technique to cause a short circuit on rational analysis and finally the critical sense of the individual. Moreover, appealing to emotions opens the door to the unconscious and makes it easier to implant ideas, desires, fears and doubts, compulsions, or induce behaviors…

7. KEEP THE PUBLIC IN IGNORANCE AND MEDIOCRITY

Make sure the public is incapable of understanding the technologies and methods used to control and enslave. “The quality of education given to the lower social classes should be as poor and mediocre as possible so that the gap of ignorance between the lower classes and upper classes is and remains impossible to achieve for the lower classes (see ‘Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars).

8. ENCOURAGE THE PUBLIC TO BE COMPLACENT TO MEDIOCRITY

Make the public believe that being stupid, vulgar and uneducated is fashionable, while at the same time suffocate culture, science and art that do not conform to the norm.

9. REINFORCE SELF-BLAME

Make the individual believe that he/she is the culprit of their own misfortune and make them doubt their intelligence, their abilities, or their efforts. So, instead of rebelling against the economic system, the individual devalues and blames himself, which generates a depressive state, the purpose of which is to stifle action, and without action, there is no revolution!

10. UNDERSTAND INDIVIDUALS BETTER THAN THEY UNDERSTAND THEMSELVES

During the past 50 years, rapid advances in science have generated a growing knowledge gap between the public and the dominant elites. With biology, neurobiology and applied psychology, the “system” has enjoyed a sophisticated understanding of human beings.. The system has gotten better at knowing the common folk than what he knows of himself. This means that in most cases the system has a greater control over individuals than what the individuals have over themselves.

Source: 99posto.org

The Game Is Rigged: Isn't "lack of detail" something Occupy critics like to throw around a lot?

Thank you! Perfectly on point with my previous post. Nice analogy.

fralcon:


You don’t take your car in because it’s making a funny noise, and hand the mechanic an orderly list of bolts to remove and belts to tighten and computer variables to check. The man who wants to be in a position to enact the reforms required should come to the table with a list of credible actions based on responsible research, and not expect it to be handed over by the constituents.

This is important to keep in mind when people ask why Occupy itself doesn’t have a detailed how-to for fixing all the problems. That’s not their job, and they are angry because the people who have that job are dropping the ball.

Source: fralcon

Revolution of the Heart

poemsfallfrommycursedlips:

The names are placeholders for now,  representing the quality of the characters.

Jasim: Protector (The Body, play on words, al-jism is the body in Arabic). Embroiled in a desire for action
Aqueel: Wise (The Intellect). The theorist of the trio.
Rohan: the Spirit. His words cut to the heart of the meaning.
Ilyas: Coptic comrade of the three main characters. 
Protestor/Heckler: the cynic, abrasive

Act I

A group of Protestors is gathered in Cairo. They have taken shelter underway highway overpass. The crowd murmurs to each other. As they begin chatter one voice calls for their attention.

Ilyas:

My fellows, we must have quiet,
we must have order!

Protestor/Heckler:

Your words are those of the state!
perhaps I have misjudged you all this time,
Officer Ilyas!

Ilyas:

Then it must be a self-imposed order.
Mubarak’s lackeys would have us slaver
over a handful of breadcrumbs
while they gorge on opulent feasts.
That’s their idea of order
but it isn’t ours, my friends.
We must have inner discipline,
for then we can be free from the cudgel
and the burning cancer of hunger.

[Read More]

Source: poemsfallfrommycursedlips

Dozens Arrested in Occupy D.C. Protests Today

Click here for a video

Dozens of people were arrested Wednesday during a chaotic and often tense day of protests in downtown Washington as protesters from the Occupy movement blocked intersections and snarled traffic around K Street for hours.

(See live tweets about the arrests and traffic conditions.)

Hundreds of protesters from Occupy D.C. and around the country joined in the “Day of Action: Occupiers Unite,” targeting K Street NW — long a symbol of the nation’s lobbying industry because of the numerous lobbying firms based there.

A D.C. police commander estimated that 50 to 70 people had been arrested, many of them charged with obstruction of a public highway, but he cautioned that the figure was preliminary.

Protesters filled K Street as a cold rain fell, chanting the now-familiar slogans of the Occupy movement while slogging through puddles and blocking intersections along K Street between 14th and 16th streets. They blocked intersections with newspaper boxes, wooden pallets, office furniture and tents. Tempers frayed. Horns blared.

Occupy D.C. protesters marched and chanted this week in front of the Podesta Group, the lobbying firm co-founded by John Podesta, Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, as curious employees took pictures of them from behind the windows above. Other protesters have gone to Capitol Hill to disrupt and chant in front of congressional offices and even at Charlie Palmer Steak, a favorite restaurant of the D.C. elite.

“K Street is the place to be if you’re going to stop the moneybags who are corrupting our government!” said Jim Sessions, 75, a Methodist minister from Tennessee who was one of the protesters arrested. He and eight others from Houston, Massachusetts and Washington state had linked arms across the intersection of K and 16th streets NW and refused to move.

The demonstrators were among those who had been bused in from cities across the country to join the Occupiers as part of a week-long protest called “Take Back the Capitol,” sponsored by the Service Employees International Union, one of the biggest labor unions in the country.

It was the second day of escalating drama and tension at the Occupy D.C. encampment at McPherson Square this week. On Sunday, 31 protesters were arrested in a day-long standoff with U.S. Park Police after they began erecting a wooden structure in the park that they hoped would be their winter headquarters. The structure has been taken down.

On Monday, a U.S. District judge ruled that the National Park Service must give protesters some notice if it moves to evict them, except for in emergency situations. A protester had sought the ruling clarifying his rights if the National Park Service decides to evict protesters, who have been camping at McPherson Square without a permit since Oct. 1.

Source: Washington Post

A Note on “Police Brutality” and Police Escalation

baritonepats:

Today I Facebook Shared this photo shared by UCSA with the caption “UCLA this morning. Shame.”

I personally added the caption “If you didn’t know, the UC Regents meeting today is being held via teleconference to “avoid harm to students”, at multiple UC’s and other locations. This is the scene at UCLA. Them police sure look ready to take on the non-violent peaceful student protesters!”

A few people began having a heated discussion/debate over the implications of my caption and UCSA’s caption, as well as the content of the image. 

Hit Read More for a transcript of what I wrote. I realize just my comments don’t provide enough context, but I want to respect the privacy of the other people who commented, and also it’d just be too long.

Read More

Source: baritonepats

Breaking: Egypt cabinet offers to resign as Cairo protests grow BBC’s Lyse Doucet in Tahrir Square: “The anger that has been mounting for many months has now boiled over” Egypt’s cabinet has offered to resign after three days of protests against the country’s military rulers, state media have reported. Cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said the resignation had not yet been accepted by the military council. As he spoke, thousands of people swelled crowds of protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. More than 20 people have been killed and nearly 1,800 injured in three days of violence in the Egyptian capital. Egyptian activist groups have been demanding the military council hand power to a civilian government. “The government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has handed its resignation to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,” cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said in a statement carried by the official Mena news agency. “Owing to the difficult circumstances the country is going through, the government will continue working.” The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo says the issue now for the military is whether it is prepared to appoint a new cabinet and give its members greater powers. The biggest criticism in recent days has been that the military has taken too much power for itself, he adds. A military source told Reuters that the council was seeking agreement on a new prime minister before it accepted the resignation. (via wespeakfortheearth)
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Breaking: Egypt cabinet offers to resign as Cairo protests grow

BBC’s Lyse Doucet in Tahrir Square: “The anger that has been mounting for many months has now boiled over”

Egypt’s cabinet has offered to resign after three days of protests against the country’s military rulers, state media have reported.

Cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said the resignation had not yet been accepted by the military council.

As he spoke, thousands of people swelled crowds of protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

More than 20 people have been killed and nearly 1,800 injured in three days of violence in the Egyptian capital.

Egyptian activist groups have been demanding the military council hand power to a civilian government.

“The government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has handed its resignation to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,” cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said in a statement carried by the official Mena news agency.

“Owing to the difficult circumstances the country is going through, the government will continue working.”

The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo says the issue now for the military is whether it is prepared to appoint a new cabinet and give its members greater powers.

The biggest criticism in recent days has been that the military has taken too much power for itself, he adds.

A military source told Reuters that the council was seeking agreement on a new prime minister before it accepted the resignation.

(via wespeakfortheearth)

(via voicesofearth)

Source: BBC

occupiedworld:

Keith Olbermann on a brief history of “American freedom”, protests, mayor Bloomberg, and Occupy Wall St.

This is amazing.

(via occupyphilly)

Source: occupiedworld

thedailywhat: Second Occupy Wall Street News Update of the Day: A New York Supreme Court Justice has reversed the restraining order requiring the city to allow Occupy Wall Street protesters and their tents to return to Zuccotti Park. Justice Michael D. Stallman ruled against extending the order issued earlier today by Supreme Court Judge Lucy Billings, who was later revealed to be a former long-time ACLU lawyer. “The court is mindful of movants’ First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and peaceable assembly,” Judge Stallman wrote in his ruling. “[But] even protected speech is not equally permissible in all places and at all times.” Protesters will be allowed to return, but their tents will not. Hundreds were gathered outside Zuccotti Park awaiting the final decision. Watch a livestream from the scene below:  Live Updates: NYT; WaPo; NYDN. In Related News: — Oakland mayor Jean Quan hints at a possible crackdown coordination among occupied cities; are Occupy London and Occupy Toronto the next to go?; The Guardian’s helpful summary of the city-by-city police crackdowns so far. — Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed in Orwellian fashion the suspicions of a media blackout, saying the decision to bar the press from witnessing the eviction was made “to protect the members of the press”; meanwhile, the list of arrested journalists has grown. — Read the letter Zuccotti Park landlord Brookfield sent to the mayor that sparked the raid; read Occupy Wall Street’s response to the raid, entitled “You can’t evict an idea whose time has come.” — Photos suggests the NYPD used potentially lethal long range acoustic devices to help clear out protesters. — Hipster Cop Rick Lee claims he didn’t know raid took place until after the fact; the 10 most psychotic facial expressions from police officers at Occupy protests; high-res photos from Operation Clean The Park; the most adorable victim of the OWS raid. — Despite earlier claims, it appears the OWS library is safe and sound.  — The Occupy Wall Street raid: Brought to you by Chase? [photo: don emmert via in focus.]
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thedailywhat:

Second Occupy Wall Street News Update of the Day: A New York Supreme Court Justice has reversed the restraining order requiring the city to allow Occupy Wall Street protesters and their tents to return to Zuccotti Park.

Justice Michael D. Stallman ruled against extending the order issued earlier today by Supreme Court Judge Lucy Billings, who was later revealed to be a former long-time ACLU lawyer.

“The court is mindful of movants’ First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and peaceable assembly,” Judge Stallman wrote in his ruling. “[But] even protected speech is not equally permissible in all places and at all times.”

Protesters will be allowed to return, but their tents will not.

Hundreds were gathered outside Zuccotti Park awaiting the final decision. Watch a livestream from the scene below: 

Live Updates: NYT; WaPo; NYDN.

In Related News:

— Oakland mayor Jean Quan hints at a possible crackdown coordination among occupied cities; are Occupy London and Occupy Toronto the next to go?; The Guardian’s helpful summary of the city-by-city police crackdowns so far.

— Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed in Orwellian fashion the suspicions of a media blackout, saying the decision to bar the press from witnessing the eviction was made “to protect the members of the press”; meanwhile, the list of arrested journalists has grown.

— Read the letter Zuccotti Park landlord Brookfield sent to the mayor that sparked the raid; read Occupy Wall Street’s response to the raid, entitled “You can’t evict an idea whose time has come.”

— Photos suggests the NYPD used potentially lethal long range acoustic devices to help clear out protesters.

— Hipster Cop Rick Lee claims he didn’t know raid took place until after the fact; the 10 most psychotic facial expressions from police officers at Occupy protests; high-res photos from Operation Clean The Park; the most adorable victim of the OWS raid.

— Despite earlier claims, it appears the OWS library is safe and sound. 

— The Occupy Wall Street raid: Brought to you by Chase?

[photo: don emmert via in focus.]

Source: thedailywhat

'...Occupy Wall Street is not a movement without a message. It’s a movement that has wisely shunned the one-note, pre-chewed, simple-minded messaging required for cable television as it now exists. It’s a movement that feels no need to explain anything to the powers that be, although it is deftly changing the way we explain ourselves to one another.'

Source: thesmithian

It is clear that poverty, drilled down into neighbourhoods and families for long periods of time, leads to violence – not only the direct violence of crime and suicide, but the structural violence that stunts individual lives, fractures communal bonds, and turns the state into an armed occupier of poor communities … For several decades, protests over poverty and unequal treatment were limited to representatives of the most impoverished and marginalised communities. But the spread and intensification of deprivation, coupled with the impotent posturing of the political establishment, is rapidly changing that.
Edward Palmer and Richard E. Rubenstein

Source: shannonpareil

Latest developments in the Occupy protests occurring in places around the world

Nice update of recent events

Very Interesting: Parsing the Data and Ideology of the We Are 99% Tumblr

Upon reflection, it is very obvious where the problems are.  There’s no universal health care to handle the randomness of poor health.  There’s no free higher education to allow people to develop their skills outside the logic and relations of indentured servitude. Our bankruptcy code has been rewritten by the top 1% when instead, it needs to be a defense against their need to shove inequality-driven debt at populations. And finally, there’s no basic income guaranteed to each citizen to keep poverty and poor circumstances at bay.

We have piecemeal, leaky versions of each of these in our current liberal social safety net.  Having collated all these responses, I think completing these projects should be the ultimate goal of the 99%.

Source: fralcon