Great Teaching Video for Occupiers

This video is quite long, but if you are involved in occupying, its full of valuable information, many ideas for  going forward. Raw footage of an interview with Lisa Fithian, who has a vast bank of experience with political activism. There are some beautiful pieces of advice here. Easy to play this and listen while you multi-task! <3 She says so much that I have been saying and thinking, and other stuff I hadn't thought of that I agree with. Listen up. Even if you're not that involved in Occupying, or not at all, whether you want to be or not, this is a great discussion to hear about moving forward as a community, as citizens of earth. Highly recommended. Spend some time, get some value. <3

Naomi Klein; this is a joyful space

This is a beautiful video.

"It is life-changing. You will never believe again that there is no alternative."

Angela Davis at Washington Square Park October 30

Angela Davis gives a great speech on what this is really all about.


"We say YES to Hope, We say YES to the Future!"

Winter Halloween Occupy Wall Street

here is a link to a list of urgently needed supplies and the address to send them to.

well, and i'll post it all here, too.


Urgent Needs:
•insulated gloves, wool hats, scarves
•long underwear / smart wool thermal socks
•300 hand warmers, 300 foot warmers
•waterproof boots in all sizes
•disposable shoe covers
•winter coats
•hot beverages
•thermal heaters
•all weather sub-thermal sleeping bags
•tarps
•insulating tents; foam padding for inside of tents
•wooden pallets to get tents off the ground
•cots to get people off the ground
•Emergency Blankets
•Dry Socks, Gloves, and Hats
•Payless gift certificates for Shoes
•Towels
•Plastic Bins
•3 post tents
Shipping address:
118a Fulton St
PO Box 205
NY NY 10038

Dropping off in person: Daily until 9pm at the United Federation of Teachers building, ground floor, 52 Broadway Ave.
After 9pm at the OWS Comfort Station on the east side of Liberty Square (aka Zuccotti Park)
The support we receive in the form of donations plays a crucial role in helping the #OWS movement succeed. Below is a list of places to send money and/or supplies that we believe are legitimate.
Occupy Wall Street
•NYCGA General Fund & Material Donations (~$300,000 raised)
•OccupyWallSt.org Fund (~$5,000 raised, not accepting currently)
•OWSJ Print Newspaper Fund (~$75,000 raised, exceeded budget proposal)
•LiveStreaming Team (unknown amount raised)

change the way the whole world works. patience @occupy detroit

its a little hard to hear because of wind, but this is a sweet, short video from a protester named Patience at Occupy Detroit.

it's so simple!

We Are Change; "GET INVOLVED"

Great video on why the deomcratic process and why you need to participate!

Sgt. Shamar Thomas, Iraq Veteran FOR AMERICAN FREEDOM

"that Patriotic blood runs through my veins."







great interview with Iraq War Veteran, Sgt Shamar Thomas. Thank you to another hero.

and the reason he was interviewed, "1 marine vs 30 cops"

the revolution is beautiful; images

a lot of these are from occupy LA. found via flickr searching. just thought it was about time for more images.
enjoy

Occupy Wall Street RADIO!!!

"OCCUPY WALL STREET" to Occupy WBAI

Its birth was Wall Street, here in New York, but it has now crossed continents to Europe and Asia and is alive in 73 cities all across the United States. What will you hear? NYPD activity, arrests and releases, celebrities and personalities, the latest corporate greed target, newest additions and organizations to the movement, the “Occupy Everywhere” segment, a series of reports from national and global occupations. The radical voice of the silenced majority will be heard loud and clear, every day – welcome to OCCUPY WALL STREET RADIO on WBAI 99.5FM.

listen (this link may not work for long, but if it doesnt, just search the main wbai archive for Occupy Wall Street)

the revolution is beautiful; personal account

Ever since I spent the rest of the week at Occupy Wall Street, after the October 5 Labor March, I have been telling people that the revolution is beautiful. It is. I have met a lot of people out in the world who don't know that this revolution belongs to them, too. Those frightening images of police brutality scare some people away. Those other images of angry young rebels yelling their demands also scare some people away. These things exist. In my experience, they are the slim exception, not the rule. The rule is love. The rule is acceptance, realistic optimism, and solidarity. The movement is a demonstration, not exactly a protest. To me, it looks like a gathering of people who have been fighting institutionalized abuse, refusing to buy in to the concept of consumerism as salvation, and doing their best to live outside the dominant paradigm now coming together to show the rest of America and the world, "Look. There is a better way. We CAN take care of everyone. We CAN have real community. The good life is possible. We've been doing our best to live it and you can, too. Our government should support us."

On the day of Naomi Klein's speech, I arrived two hours prior, planning to survey the scene before listening to one of my biggest heroes speak. Before I knew it, the echoing of the peoples' mic at the other end of the park jolted me from whatever conversation I was having at the time, to go and listen. Time at Occupy Wall Street moves in the way self-improvement books will tell you time moves when you've found your passion. It moves fluidly. I found myself going effortlessly from one engaging moment to the next.

There were three or more waves of the peoples' mic (people repeating the speaker's words, in waves so it spreads to the outside) awhen I walked up. I found a dead zone, where only every other word or so was audible. Everyone around me was straining to listen, so I felt compelled to find a spot where I could hear and project into that place where the words were being lost. Naomi Klein's words were so moving, so sweet. It was funny to watch her catch herself each time she forgot to wait for the waves of human voices to reach the outer circles. It was amazing, thrilling, beautiful to feel and internalize the truth in her words while repeating them in my own voice with hundreds of other voices. Her last words: "Treat this movement as if it's the most important thing in the world, because it is."

A General Assembly began soon after, and again I felt compelled to lend my voice where it felt necessary. It was my first assembly, and I was introduced to the hand symbols which everyone is free to use to participate in the dialogue.




The GA was just so cool. I don't know if I had ever seen true democracy in action before. People cling to the notion of the Great American Democracy, but I remember learning in 4th grade or so, this is a Republic. In a true democracy, every person's voice counts equally. There are not representatives whose voices take the place of their constituents. While it definitely makes the process of decision-making slow and meandering, it also educates the people as they participate and does take into account certain perspectives which would certainly be neglected or underrepresented if the conversation was limited to some elite circle. The assembly I took part in went very slowly when the subject of money was included. The specific issue was that the Comittee for Arts and Culture was asking permission to pay money for security at a gallery event. The gallery space at 23 Wall Street was offered up, but in order to maintain safety codes for the turnout expected, security guards would be necessary. Most of the crowd was easily in favor, as the money being asked was a negligible amount compared to the total budget. After much ado, the motion was passed. Before that could happen, many concerns were aired, but many digressions began as well. Attendees were not all paying attention to the code of conduct and tried to exploit the free platform of being able to get one's voice heard to talk about themselves or other off-topic concerns. No one was shamed, but these people were made aware by the crowd that this was not the time or place. So, in the process, those participants learned how to effectively participate by staying on topic and lending attention to the ideas at hand. The motion passed and the Occupy Wall Street art show, No Comment was beautiful. (some photos)I went with my parents, who came down on the day it opened. It was a 24-hour exhibit. My original intent to go was that there would be bathrooms! Using McDonald's and Pret a Manger gets old after awhile, and I sometimes feel a kind of debt if I use their resources and don't make a purchase. My parents and I walked towards Wall Street, and almost overlooked it, due to massive barricades and police presence. The gallery was right next to the stock exchange. We had to walk a full block extra to wind our way around the labyrinthine barricades.

I really enjoyed this image, appropriated from Alphonse Mucha by Libor Von Shonau




My visit to NYC was not solely for the movement, I was also meeting up with close friends who were visiting from Chicago, and I was visiting colleges to decide where I'm going. I didn't realize that once I became acquainted with Occupy Wall Street, I would have a hard time wanting to extricate myself. That first night, after the GA it was just past 10pm. An impromptu quiet jam session was happening and I couldnt help but sing and make joyful noise with others, especially when someone started playing Get Up, Stand Up. Who can resist?

 Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights.

A lot of people were already laid out in sleeping bags by the time the quiet music died out. Spontaneous conversation bubbled between me and the Irish girl who was sitting by me during the music. We talked about the adventures of our lives, the darkness and the brilliance, and how comfortable we both felt in this place. These connections came so easily in this occupied space. People were so PRESENT, so available, so willing to operate on a deeply honest, soul-baring level. It was refreshing.

I hadn't planned to sleep in the park, but after awhile I realized I couldn't kid myself anymore, I couldn't drag myself away. A sweet young traveler had just arrived to the movement and I was his first contact. We talked about the places we've seen and I told him what I knew about this place. He shared his blanket with me in a very kind gesture. We talked about our values and our perspectives about the world. He was young and angry at the world, which I found endearing, but could not let my truth remain unspoken. I countered his argument that "to love, one must also hate," as I do not believe that love and hate are opposites! Love and loneliness are opposites, in my opinion, and I reiterated that I do not hate the oppressors. I don't. I pity them.

Besides the conversation, I was too distracted to sleep. The place we were in was right at the foot of the steps as one enters the park. I was cold, I was not feeling completely safe, and I had a lot to think about. Knowing that police were keeping watch over the park overnight was actually a comfort. I had waited too long to ask for blankets, and there were none left when I inquired. Next time, I will most definitely bring my own gear. We slept on cardboard appropriated from the sign-making station, and a layer of clothing, with the blanket on top. The wind blew right through, and I regretted not taking a crinkly, metallic, heat-conducting, space blanket. (side note: any industrious seamstresses/ tailors/ garment contructors out there, see what you can come up with for heat-conductor clothing?! space blankets could be a good material to keep people warm AND shiny all winter!)




After an apple and some tangerines for breakfast, brushing my teeth and peeing at McDonald's, I was pretty exhausted. News of a massive clean-up prevented me from seeking deep rest, so I sat by the Tree of Life and meditated for awhile. The Tree of Life is a tree at one corner of the park with a ring of marble benches around it, that occupiers have designated as a sacred space. There is a beautiful altar of offerings like chocolate, money, jewelry, flowers, words like "the heart wants what the heart wants" and multi-faith religious objects. At this space is also where one can find news and ways to participate in the Consciousness Committee. My involvement with the consciousness committee happened as spontaneously as so many other beautiful, magical things did during my attendance at ground zero of this revolution (which is RIGHT next to 9/11 Ground Zero, btw.)

Early in the day, I attended a theater games workshop with a dear new friend. I can't recall if it was under the title Theater of the Opressed, or Liberation Theater, something to an effect like that, led by a dynamic woman named Jenn. We played roles such as Opressor/Opressed and explored aspects of that relationship through games. We spontaneously created human sculptures expressing themes such as War, A Better Life, and Racism. A fun game we played was exploring a previously unknown partner's hands with eyes closed in silent physical dialogue, and then linking up with them again, blindly, amidst a mass of everyones' hands. Playing these games really dared me to challenge my own perspectives and see very simply, with no pretensions, where other people were coming from.

Walking back from Battery Park from this workshop which was held in the green space there, my friend and I, having our own sacred moment, were passed by the Consciousness Committee, about to hold a meeting about Sacred Space and planning. They went to the same green space we had just occupied to hold the meeting and I caught up with them at the tail end after taking care of some more mundane details I needed to see to. The part I got to tune in for was incredible. After finishing the meeting with assignments for sub-committees, like signs, writing, internet communications, etc, the 22 attendees formed a big circle, which we turned inside out while still linked by the hands. As one big circle of linked human beings, we sincerely shouted out into the public of Battery Park, "WE LOVE YOU!" and proceeded to form a nebula of bodies in group-hug formation, reaching out through our intentions and our voices, making tonal sounds to radiate metta loving kindness. I cannot express the feeling of being in the middle of this group. What a feeling!

One of the participants here was drawn to the group serendipitously, from his meanderings in Battery Park. He was a very kind-looking young man wearing white, and he said he knew he had just found his people. For years, he had carried with him these buffalo teeth, given to him by the granddaughter of a Native American Tribal Chief, Lakota if I remember correctly, but I'm not positive. In dispersing them amongst us, he told me there was exactly the right number for everyone present to get one. Besides being a symbolic object of connection between us all, this object has come to symbolize, for me, also my connection to a timeless movement where people have stood for Love and Compassion. The reighteous path in which one lives an honest life in accordance to natural law, HARMING NONE and honoring one's deepest truths.




That is what this movement is. Occupy Wall Street is an organism. The growing movements around the country and the world are proof of the way it can work when people come together for the common good. When you speak the truth, it comes out effortlessly, and people LOVE to listen to it!!! Since that first day, I have been interviewed multiple times by all kinds of media, including salon.com where I was interviewed alongside a very intelligent professor and architect, John Lowe. (I haven't been able to find any article where either of us is quoted, though.) Its amazing how communication flows so easily when the truth is behind it. A lot of people seem to want short answers to their questions, and I came to my short answer to the question, "why are you here?"

I am here to support a radical, progressive shift in the operating paradigm. I am here because the system into which I was born is NOT the world I want to live in, and I know there is a better way.

You can quote me on that if you like.


Besides food, blankets, friendships, vitamins, information,  healing energy work, and so much more, I was also given an opportunity to express myself creatively and passionately in support of a truth I fully, whole-heartedly believe in. What empowerment! This is a moment in time that I have been gearing up for for my entire life. What beautiful soul-rebels adorn this square in downtown Manhattan, and I am positive are also occupying all the other sites around the country and the world. I want to yell it from the rooftops, I want to sing it everywhere I go, The Revolution is Beautiful and it belongs to YOU!

Baltimore Support

As Baltimore's Occupation is threatened with eviction, a letter from the heads of many labor unions, including police, urges the mayor to stand down.

The Occupy Baltimore protests have given expression to a widely shared belief that our economy and our politics are controlled by corporate interests to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of working people, including our members, their families and communities. We share this opinion and applaud the courage and sacrifice of the Occupy protestors. We believe these protestors should be commended for standing up for the 99% of us, not threatened with removal

.

Baltimore Sun Article

full letter:




"Dear Mayor Rawlings-Blake:

We have been made aware of the city of Baltimore's intention to close down the Occupy Baltimore site sometime in the next 24 hours. We write to express our firm opinion that nothing be done to close down the site and that instead, an agreement be arrived at which allows for the confrontation of a peaceful, non-violent demonstration.

The Occupy Baltimore protests have given expression to a widely shared belief that our economy and our politics are controlled by corporate interests to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of working people, including our members, their families and communities. We share this opinion and applaud the courage and sacrifice of the Occupy protestors. We believe these protestors should be commended for standing up for the 99% of us, not threatened with removal.

Cities across the country - from San Diego to Little Rock, Philadelphia and Washington DC - have worked with their local Occupy movements to find reasonable accommodations that everyone can live with. Surely, the city of Baltimore can find a solution that meets the concerns of city officials and departments while allowing the protestors to continue their democratic right to peaceful, non-violent protest.

The Occupy Baltimore activists have made a broad call for followers to converge on McKeldin Square in order to defend the occupation tonight. Rather than create a confrontation, we believe it would be wise for the city of Baltimore to act with restraint and responsibility. Rather than remove the protestors, we call upon the city to work with representatives of Occupy Baltimore to find a solution that can maintain the protest location and respect the rights of our citizens.

We look forward to your quick response.

Sincerely,

Ernie Grecco, President, Metro Baltimore Council AFL-CIO
Glen Middleton, Executive Director, AFSCME 67
Anthony Coates, AFSCME Local 647-67
Peggy Peacock, AFSCME Local 2202-67
Ms. Johnnie Phipps, AFSCME Local 558-67
Lorretta Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer, AFT
Mariette English, President, Baltimore Teachers Local 340
Brenda Clayburn, President, City Union of Balto Local 800
Steve Fugate, President, Fire Officers Local 964
Rick Hoffman, President, Fire Fighters Local 734
Jimmy Gittings, President, Public School Administrations and Supervisors Association Local 25
Rod Easter, President, Balto Building Trades Council
Bob Cherry, President, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #3

Nurses Union

video from the Wall Street Journal, on the medic station and Nurses Union support for Occupy Wall Street.

My First Taste of the Revolution, October 5, a personal account.

Before my first chance to attend, I was actively following the movement from afar. My parents and my Aunt had attended on the day 700 peaceful protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. My relatives were on the pedestrian walkway, watching the unfortunate crowd below. My mom sent me a picture message of my dad's arm. His round, mandala-like tattoo that includes the words "EQUAL RIGHTS AND JUSTICE" was visible along with the phone number for the National Lawyer's Guild, written in sharpie on his arm, in case of his own arrest.


 I love the family I was born into, so much.


My aunt is an out-of-work high school science teacher, with a disabled husband and a huge mortgage. I haven't seen her smile like this in a long time. Someone had a sign, "LOST MY JOB, FOUND AN OCCUPATION." Yes.


My own first taste was at the march held on Wednesday, October 5, with a LOT of union workers and student groups and all kinds of people, together, meeting in Foley Square, which is dominated by two huge courthouses and punctuated in the center by a sculpture called Triumph of the Human Spirit.


 some great photos of that day can be found here

On the way, I met some cool girls, I think they were Law students, I can't remember now. They were carrying Nurse's Union signs that someone had given them. It was my first of so many encounters with people, where all the normal awkwardness of breaking the silence between strangers was absent. This movement can remove the barriers of alienation. In standing together, we already know each other. We know we share this truth, we want real change. In the crowd, I saw so many photographers and videographers. I was interviewed by a lot of students who were planning to use this experience in their coursework. That was the beginning of my realization that, if you attend, you become a spokesperson. Your voice becomes aplified. To exactly whom, and how, one may never know, but the discourse will happen. People want to know, "why are YOU here?" and in sharing personal reasons, we all find the universal cause.

I went alone, but found familiars everywhere. A woman I knew from an old job, a friend of friends from Chicago, etc. It was easy to speak to people, and I found random things in common with so many around me. During the march, I walked near the tail end with a marching band and members of the Musicians Union. The drums made it more fun! Someone ahead of me had a flag with a satellite picture of the earth. Everyone was smiling. I caught some police officers looking pleased. Later I would have conversations with plenty of officers around Liberty Plaza, who tried to maintain the professional attitude of "no comment," but were easily readable as supportive. One even told me, and I'm not quoting word-for-word as I just remember the gist, "Listen. Work is hard to find out there. This is my job, I have to pay my bills. You have a job to do, too. Keep it up, ok?" This was not my only conversation along these lines. (check this out! Occupy Police)


Later, as the crowd from the march reached the main Occupation, relations with police did become intense. I squirreled my way into the park, but it wasn't easy to do. It was very confusing trying to obey police who told everyone to "keep moving" when there was no direction in which to move. Thousands of people had marched and were intending to continue until Wall Street and just BE there for awhile, but Wall Street was barricaded, off-limits, and so all these bodies had no place to move into. A lot of people lined the sidewalks all around Liberty Plaza, and the chaos was too much for the authorities, who were trying to maintain the normal flow of vehicular traffic. There was a sense of being penned in, to whichever space a person had found themselves in.

Certain agent provocateurs in the crowd wanted us all to rush the streets. The momentum was there, the chant of "Whose Streets?! OUR STREETS!" erupted many many times. I think, though, everyone knew that a move like that would result in violent chaos. I was very close to the incident where people were bludgeoned by police, but I couldn't see it happen. I just saw police and civilians moving about frantically, and then an activist being dragged past the crowd with his hands in cuffs. Soon after, one person started knocking down the metal barricades and inciting people to take the street. Chants of "PEACEFUL PROTEST!" spread, and everyone on that front line to the street took a slow step back. I think this is a collective feeling of the movement, not wanting to be aggressive or violent, not to initiate any law-breaking or incite authoritarian backlash. This way, when the police act irresponsibly, violently, especially disproportionate to what they are up against, it only reflects on them.


That first night for me at the Occupation ended early because of other comittments, so I didn't get to see how it all played out in the end. It seemed that police and occupiers were at a stand-still, an agree-to-disagree moment, and just trying to figure out the flow of traffic from that moment on. I took a quick walk through Liberty Plaza and knew I would need to come back the next day to get the full flavor of what was/is brewing there.

What is brewing there is what, I believe, most of us have been dreaming about, maybe for our whole lives. A community in which everyone is taken care of, and where everyone has a voice. Food and medicine, warm clothes, blankets, and places to sleep are all available, to everyone. There is music and dancing, workshops, prayer and meditation. Information freely available, at info booths and in the Library. People taking initiative to maintain working order, to pitch in wherever one might be useful. People helping and being helped by fellow people. Honestly, seriously, the revolution is beautiful. The revolution is for you.

democracy now! october 24, 2011

Michael Moore and Cornel West on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

CORNEL WEST: —because what Martin was talking about was revolution. And that’s what I’m talking about, but it’s a Kingian revolution. It’s a love-based revolution that says we’ve got warped priorities, that says we need a transvaluation of our values and a fundamental transformation of our public life and a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats. It is not a matter of hating. It’s a matter of hating injustice. We don’t hate any persons; you hate injustice. And when you have that kind of righteous indignation and holy anger and moral outrage, that I have, that Brother Michael has, that the people, part of Occupation movements all around the world, that’s the makings of the kind of change we want.

i'm having trouble getting the video embedded, but watch it here (http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/24/michael_moore_cornel_west_on_ows)

occupy your heart AND the streets

Some articles on this revolutionary tactic.


the daily love
"In order to lovingly occupy the world outside of us, we must first occupy and cultivate the world inside…occupy your heart."


Elephant Journal
"If I want to change the world I can get out onto the streets or I can work on myself, knowing that the world is affected by me.
If I only take to the streets, the danger is that my protesting becomes clouded by anger that leads to unskillful actions.
If I only work on myself, the danger is that no-one witnesses my change of heart. I do believe that the love we put into the world stays in the world, and dwelling in love is a powerful action which spreads into the world. But how much will one person’s change of heart in a small town in rural England affect politicians and bankers in high places?
If I decide not to protest until I am ‘enlightened’ I’m never going to get out there. Not in this lifetime at least."


monkey mind online
"We're all in this together.
Now this is for the poorest and the richest and everyone in between.
We must travel through the heart of greed and see in it the heart of love."



and, here's this little bit of icing. a lover asks the other, "will you occupy my life?"

Compassion is the Gold of the New Paradigm

my favorite sign, so far.

Transit Workers Union Supports Occupy Wall Street

general information, nice video.

TWU: Occupy Wall Street from TWU International on Vimeo.

Chris Hedges

yes. exactly. thank you. i love this.

Naomi Klein addresses OWS

I was blessed to be here, participating in the peoples' mic, and it was beautiful.
This is part THREE, only.
The whole thing is worthwhile. Naomi Klein is a revolutionary goddess!!!
Its hard to watch with the delay. Here is a transcript of the full speech from theNation.com
videos parts one and two.