I had a long chat with one of my professors yesterday, who specializes in social movements, among other things. We discussed revolutions and movements in many countries, and how these revolutions move from being an underground movement to a full-fledged revolt. It was a very interesting chat, and I appreciate him taking the time to talk with me outside of class.
I'm pretty sure my sickness is a sinus problem, due to allergies. Yay. Looks like pretty soon I will be walking with a cane, as well. I don't specifically need it to walk, but I fall so often that it may help me keep my balance in those cases. Another yay.
Okay, so today we have a few links from Charles, and Kate sent in another info-bursting email, of which I will be posting quite a bit. After, we have another episode of "Things That Make Kitty Hiss."
-- Most of the corporate media has been strictly focusing on what is going on inside the RNC. HuffPost brings us a story about the activists outside, and why they think the biggest protests are yet to come. The Occupier they focus on has traveled the country, joining multiple Occupy sites in what he calls "Occupy All Streets."
-- [Charles] Another protest is planned for the RNC, but this protest was originally not supposed to happen. Occupy Tampa Bay has found out the the New Black Panther Party is in fact planning a march for this evening. The group had said there were no plans to do so previously. Who are the NBPP and what do they have planned? Check out the link to find out.
-- [Charles] Moving back inside the RNC, corporate media has been covering speeches by the many delegates and officials for the past few days. However, a disturbing trend has cropped up in one media outlet's coverage. MSNBC has apparently cut away from, or simply not aired, the speeches of many of the minority speakers. (In unconfirmed reports, I have heard that FOX did this as well.) Some are accusing MSNBC of liberal bias by trying to make it seem as though the RNC is racist against minorities. (If in fact this is the case, what is the reason FOX did the same thing?)
-- [Kate] Here is Kate's email. It is chock full of international and more local events. Check it out!
The U.S. is focused on the RNC in Tampa this week, but other protests continue elsewhere in the country and around the globe.
In Greece, conditions continue to deteriorate for the average citizen, with no relief in sight. Today, municipal employees called a 2 day strike and held demonstrations in Athens. Here's a picture from Athens 29 August http://www.demotix.com/news/1412290/municipal-employees-march-athens-against-funding-cuts#slide-7 Of course, no protest is complete these days without police in riot gear and today was no exception for Greek demonstrators as shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zisMDAUpg_k&feature=youtu.be This demonstration escalated into clashes between police and striking garbage truck drivers. Here's a short article with a brief discription of the conflict: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_29/08/2012_458733
Today (29 August) in London, tension heightened between Julian Assange supporters and police in front of the Ecuadorian Embassy. The police removed barricades and used an obstruction law to encourage the supporters to disperse from the area. Here's an article that includes a video from earlier on Wednesday eveninghttp://www.digitaljournal.com/article/331805 The protesters seem to be holding their ground through the night, as indicated in this tweet " Frankfurt FoWL@FFMFoWL #Assange vigil at embassy need sleep. Call out for a change of guard. Bring coffee and croissants. 3 Hans Crescent. Near Harrods. " Hopefully, reinforcements arrived to relieve the sleepy supporters.
In Canada this week, students continue their strike against tuition hikes and for changes in the relationships between society and government. Here's an article that discusses the current situation and ongoing direct actions taken by student protesters: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/29-2 Meanwhile, in Ontario, thousands of teachers protest proposed cuts to education budgets. Here's a short clip from 28 August: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAso8cf7mKA
Speaking of teachers, in Chicago, the teacher's union continues to negotiate with Chicago Public Schools over their contract as well as classroom conditions, and say a strike can be called if necessary: http://truth-out.org/news/item/11222-chicago-teachers-union-to-file-ten-day-strike-notice-say-reports
And in solidarity with Chicago, Seattle is holding a 48 hour vigil for the NATO5 arrestees who are still incarcerated from May's #NoNATO direct actions. Here's additional information on the event from the interoccupy.net site: http://interoccupy.net/blog/ai1ec_event/seattle-wa-48-hour-candle-light-vigil-in-solidarity-with-the-nato-5/?instance_id=3202806
Last week, I read this announcement for a march by Lakota women from Pine Ridge, S.D. to nearby White Clay, NE http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/08/white-clay-lakota-and-deep-green.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FWWcmu+%28CENSORED+NEWS%29 By Sunday night, this article circulated, outlining the day's events, the use of pepper spray on some members of the crowd and the arrests of those protesters that chose to lockdown and barricade the road to White Clay http://dgrnewsservice.org/2012/08/26/womens-march-and-day-of-peace-turns-violent-protesters-arrested/ This morning (29 August), a call for jail support was sent out by the community with an accompanying video of the arrests. You can read more and see the video here:http://dgrnewsservice.org/2012/08/26/womens-march-and-day-of-peace-turns-violent-protesters-arrested/ Pretty sad stuff. :(
In Greece, conditions continue to deteriorate for the average citizen, with no relief in sight. Today, municipal employees called a 2 day strike and held demonstrations in Athens. Here's a picture from Athens 29 August http://www.demotix.com/news/1412290/municipal-employees-march-athens-against-funding-cuts#slide-7 Of course, no protest is complete these days without police in riot gear and today was no exception for Greek demonstrators as shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zisMDAUpg_k&feature=youtu.be This demonstration escalated into clashes between police and striking garbage truck drivers. Here's a short article with a brief discription of the conflict: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_29/08/2012_458733
Today (29 August) in London, tension heightened between Julian Assange supporters and police in front of the Ecuadorian Embassy. The police removed barricades and used an obstruction law to encourage the supporters to disperse from the area. Here's an article that includes a video from earlier on Wednesday eveninghttp://www.digitaljournal.com/article/331805 The protesters seem to be holding their ground through the night, as indicated in this tweet " Frankfurt FoWL
In Canada this week, students continue their strike against tuition hikes and for changes in the relationships between society and government. Here's an article that discusses the current situation and ongoing direct actions taken by student protesters: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/29-2 Meanwhile, in Ontario, thousands of teachers protest proposed cuts to education budgets. Here's a short clip from 28 August: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAso8cf7mKA
Speaking of teachers, in Chicago, the teacher's union continues to negotiate with Chicago Public Schools over their contract as well as classroom conditions, and say a strike can be called if necessary: http://truth-out.org/news/item/11222-chicago-teachers-union-to-file-ten-day-strike-notice-say-reports
And in solidarity with Chicago, Seattle is holding a 48 hour vigil for the NATO5 arrestees who are still incarcerated from May's #NoNATO direct actions. Here's additional information on the event from the interoccupy.net site: http://interoccupy.net/blog/ai1ec_event/seattle-wa-48-hour-candle-light-vigil-in-solidarity-with-the-nato-5/?instance_id=3202806
Last week, I read this announcement for a march by Lakota women from Pine Ridge, S.D. to nearby White Clay, NE http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/08/white-clay-lakota-and-deep-green.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FWWcmu+%28CENSORED+NEWS%29 By Sunday night, this article circulated, outlining the day's events, the use of pepper spray on some members of the crowd and the arrests of those protesters that chose to lockdown and barricade the road to White Clay http://dgrnewsservice.org/2012/08/26/womens-march-and-day-of-peace-turns-violent-protesters-arrested/ This morning (29 August), a call for jail support was sent out by the community with an accompanying video of the arrests. You can read more and see the video here:http://dgrnewsservice.org/2012/08/26/womens-march-and-day-of-peace-turns-violent-protesters-arrested/ Pretty sad stuff. :(
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Things That Make Kitty Hiss!
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FOX has an exclusive trailer of the new "movie" Occupy Unmasked, which of course, features Andrew Breitbart in all his insane glory. The trailer is bits and snippets of angry people and destruction occurring, and is supposed to how how "bad" we Occupiers really are. Now, I don't know about you, but I have said some things in anger before. Emotions are a strong thing, especially in cases where you are talking about a loss of community and financial downfall due to a bunch of guys running around with unregulated control of the financial market. I get pretty upset about that. Again, I don't know about you, but I have also never destroyed property or caused harm, and I firmly believe that the large majority of Occupiers never have either. This "movie" is all about lumping every Occupier into the same dirty, destructive pile, and nothing could be more distant from the truth.
We are Occupy. Yes, we are. But. BUT..... That doesn't mean we are all the same. We have different politics. Different walks of life. Different minds with different viewpoints. I'm a socialist. You may be a Democrat, a Republican, liberal or conservative. You may be a socialist like me. You may be an anarchist. You may have no political affiliation at all, but you know things aren't right. We have different religions.
Just because we stand under a banner of unity and solidarity does not mean we all fight for the same exact reasons. We all have things in common, but we all have our differences. We all have our stories, and they are all meaningful, heartfelt, and honest. I am sick to death of being accused of being some fucked up, drug using, destructive, irrational, angry liberal who doesn't know why I'm fighting. If you think we don't know why we fight, maybe you should just ask us.
Here's the link to that video. It has an article after it in which the director provides this lovely quote: "This film is important because it sheds new light on the myth of the Occupy Wall Street movement."
Who knew we were mythical creatures? I sure in the hell didn't. Ha.
That's it for today. Just one article. I have others, but they are old and the comments make me want to spill bile all over my laptop. No thanks.
***Solidarity***
To contact me, email elvishbutterfly@hotmail.com. Thanks for reading.
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