Ron Paul On Iran :They are not our enemy. The U.S. War Macine must STOP!
In other Iowas news Santorum said he will cut welfare in Iowa to, "help black people become more independent." He was just talking out of his ass to get the racist vote from unsuspecting Iowans.
84% of the people on welfare in Iowa are white.
Santorum pulled the racist card to get Iowa votes that would hurt 84% of Iowans.
(vid) OCCUPY OUR WORLD - SUMMER 2012:
The Occupy Summer That Never Happened
Corporate greed is strangling our nation and world. US military spending eclipses all other discretionary spending! The US imprisons more of its people than any nation on earth, since corporate prisons have been allowed. Our health system is illness and greed based. Foreclosures are up! Massive privatized student loans are creating a generation of indentured servants.
Enough! Join the human race, expanding around the planet - Summer of 2012 - together we can create a new world we can love living in.
Capitolism: How it has been Bastardized.
The same processes are at work everywhere. In our homes, at school, and at work, our lives are taken from us. The banks and landlords profit from our homes while bosses and owners profit from our work and schools control the youth.
Today capitalism is on the offensive. For workers, it’s the attack on workplace organizing and the scarcity of even the lowest paid jobs. For students, it’s rising tuition and loss of ethnic studies and arts programs. For immigrants, it’s the militarization of the borders, the harassment and racism on the job, and raids by ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement). But we are not just against the current excesses of capitalism, we are against the system itself. Because:
Capitalists exploit us at work – We don’t work because we want to. We work because we have no other way to make money. We sell our time and energy to a boss in order to buy the things we need to survive. During our time at work we make things or provide services that our bosses sell. Our everyday working lives are sold hour after hour, week after week, generation after generation.
Capitalists profit from and control what we need to survive – Banks and landlords profit from our need for housing. Actually, all the things we need to survive—the water we drink, the food we eat, even the roofs over our heads—are turned into commodities that someone makes a profit from. This excludes many of us from the necessities of life.
Capitalists terrorize immigrants – Hundreds of immigrants and refugees are forcibly deported every day for doing what humans have done for thousands of years—moving in search of a better life, escaping poverty, abuse, discrimination, disasters, persecution, or war. Those on the wrong side of borders, whose homelands are often torn apart by the same economic practices that define the so-called First World, are illegalized and criminalized and are forced to work for less than those with papers.
Capitalists create schools that produce obedient workers and unquestioning citizens – The primary task of education in a capitalistic society is to teach students to ‘respect authority.’ Authority is imposed through a system that punishes those who do not do what they are told and rewards conformity. Strict adherence to trivial rules teaches us to obey no matter how stupid the order is. This prepares us for the world of bosses, cops, politicians, and military officers ordering us around and treating us as inferior.
Capitalism affects everyone differently, but regardless of who we are, as working class people we are exploited by the system in one way or another. That pervasiveness can be threatening, but it is also a common link that we can use to struggle against it together. Simply standing up for our own interests in this struggle is the starting point for undermining capitalism. – For a pdf of a double sided flyer with the above text go to http://www.mediafire.com/?d26yspdd6t0qece
Today capitalism is on the offensive. For workers, it’s the attack on workplace organizing and the scarcity of even the lowest paid jobs. For students, it’s rising tuition and loss of ethnic studies and arts programs. For immigrants, it’s the militarization of the borders, the harassment and racism on the job, and raids by ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement). But we are not just against the current excesses of capitalism, we are against the system itself. Because:
Capitalists exploit us at work – We don’t work because we want to. We work because we have no other way to make money. We sell our time and energy to a boss in order to buy the things we need to survive. During our time at work we make things or provide services that our bosses sell. Our everyday working lives are sold hour after hour, week after week, generation after generation.
Capitalists profit from and control what we need to survive – Banks and landlords profit from our need for housing. Actually, all the things we need to survive—the water we drink, the food we eat, even the roofs over our heads—are turned into commodities that someone makes a profit from. This excludes many of us from the necessities of life.
Capitalists terrorize immigrants – Hundreds of immigrants and refugees are forcibly deported every day for doing what humans have done for thousands of years—moving in search of a better life, escaping poverty, abuse, discrimination, disasters, persecution, or war. Those on the wrong side of borders, whose homelands are often torn apart by the same economic practices that define the so-called First World, are illegalized and criminalized and are forced to work for less than those with papers.
Capitalists create schools that produce obedient workers and unquestioning citizens – The primary task of education in a capitalistic society is to teach students to ‘respect authority.’ Authority is imposed through a system that punishes those who do not do what they are told and rewards conformity. Strict adherence to trivial rules teaches us to obey no matter how stupid the order is. This prepares us for the world of bosses, cops, politicians, and military officers ordering us around and treating us as inferior.
Capitalism affects everyone differently, but regardless of who we are, as working class people we are exploited by the system in one way or another. That pervasiveness can be threatening, but it is also a common link that we can use to struggle against it together. Simply standing up for our own interests in this struggle is the starting point for undermining capitalism. – For a pdf of a double sided flyer with the above text go to http://www.mediafire.com/?d26yspdd6t0qece
FEDERAL RESERVE : Corporate Bail Out List and 10 Things That Every American Should Know
The Federal Reserve Bank bailed out these companies while everyone else gets the shaft:
The following is a list of loan recipients that was taken directly from page 131of the audit report….
Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC - $868 billion
Bear Sterns - $853 billion
Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
UBS - $287 billion
Credit Suisse - $262 billion
Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
BNP Paribas - $175 billion
Wells Fargo - $159 billion
Dexia - $159 billion
Wachovia - $142 billion
Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
Societe Generale - $124 billion
“All Other Borrowers” - $2.639 trillion
10 Things That Every American Should Know About The Federal Reserve
February 9, 2012
What would happen if the Federal Reserve was shut down permanently? That is a question that CNBC asked recently, but unfortunately most Americans don’t really think about the Fed much. Most Americans are content with believing that the Federal Reserve is just another stuffy government agency that sets our interest rates and that is watching out for the best interests of the American people. But that is not the case at all. The truth is that the Federal Reserve is a private banking cartel that has been designed to systematically destroy the value of our currency, drain the wealth of the American public and enslave the federal government to perpetually expanding debt. During this election year, the economy is the number one issue that voters are concerned about. But instead of endlessly blaming both political parties, the truth is that most of the blame should be placed at the feet of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve has more power over the performance of the U.S. economy than anyone else does. The Federal Reserve controls the money supply, the Federal Reserve sets the interest rates and the Federal Reserve hands out bailouts to the big banks that absolutely dwarf anything that Congress ever did. If the American people are ever going to learn what is really going on with our economy, then it is absolutely imperative that they get educated about the Federal Reserve.
The following are 10 things that every American should know about the Federal Reserve….
#1 The Federal Reserve System Is A Privately Owned Banking Cartel
The Federal Reserve is not a government agency.
The truth is that it is a privately owned central bank. It is owned by the banks that are members of the Federal Reserve system. We do not know how much of the system each bank owns, because that has never been disclosed to the American people.
The Federal Reserve openly admits that it is privately owned. When it was defending itself against a Bloomberg request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Reserve stated unequivocally in court that it was“not an agency” of the federal government and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
In fact, if you want to find out that the Federal Reserve system is owned by the member banks, all you have to do is go to the Federal Reserve website….
The twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which were established by Congress as the operating arms of the nation’s central banking system, are organized much like private corporations–possibly leading to some confusion about “ownership.” For example, the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. The stock may not be sold, traded, or pledged as security for a loan; dividends are, by law, 6 percent per year.Foreign governments and foreign banks do own significant ownership interests in the member banks that own the Federal Reserve system. So it would be accurate to say that the Federal Reserve is partially foreign-owned.
But until the exact ownership shares of the Federal Reserve are revealed, we will never know to what extent the Fed is foreign-owned.
#2 The Federal Reserve System Is A Perpetual Debt Machine
As long as the Federal Reserve System exists, U.S. government debt will continue to go up and up and up.
This runs contrary to the conventional wisdom that Democrats and Republicans would have us believe, but unfortunately it is true.
The way our system works, whenever more money is created more debt is created as well.
For example, whenever the U.S. government wants to spend more money than it takes in (which happens constantly), it has to go ask the Federal Reserve for it. The federal government gives U.S. Treasury bonds to the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Reserve gives the U.S. government “Federal Reserve Notes” in return. Usually this is just done electronically.
So where does the Federal Reserve get the Federal Reserve Notes?
It just creates them out of thin air.
Wouldn’t you like to be able to create money out of thin air?
Instead of issuing money directly, the U.S. government lets the Federal Reserve create it out of thin air and then the U.S. government borrows it.
Talk about stupid.
When this new debt is created, the amount of interest that the U.S. government will eventually pay on that debt is not also created.
So where will that money come from?
Well, eventually the U.S. government will have to go back to the Federal Reserve to get even more money to finance the ever expanding debt that it has gotten itself trapped into.
It is a debt spiral that is designed to go on perpetually.
You see, the reality is that the money supply is designed to constantly expand under the Federal Reserve system. That is why we have all become accustomed to thinking of inflation as “normal”.
So what does the Federal Reserve do with the U.S. Treasury bonds that it gets from the U.S. government?
Well, it sells them off to others. There are lots of people out there that have made a ton of money by holding U.S. government debt.
In fiscal 2011, the U.S. government paid out 454 billion dollars just in interest on the national debt.
That is 454 billion dollars that was taken out of our pockets and put into the pockets of wealthy individuals and foreign governments around the globe.
The truth is that our current debt-based monetary system was designed by greedy bankers that wanted to make enormous profits by using the Federal Reserve as a tool to create money out of thin air and lend it to the U.S. government at interest.
And that plan is working quite well.
Most Americans today don’t understand how any of this works, but many prominent Americans in the past did understand it.
For example, Thomas Edison was once quoted in the New York Times as saying the following….
That is to say, under the old way any time we wish to add to the national wealth we are compelled to add to the national debt.We should have listened to men like Edison and Ford.
Now, that is what Henry Ford wants to prevent. He thinks it is stupid, and so do I, that for the loan of $30,000,000 of their own money the people of the United States should be compelled to pay $66,000,000 — that is what it amounts to, with interest. People who will not turn a shovelful of dirt nor contribute a pound of material will collect more money from the United States than will the people who supply the material and do the work. That is the terrible thing about interest. In all our great bond issues the interest is always greater than the principal. All of the great public works cost more than twice the actual cost, on that account. Under the present system of doing business we simply add 120 to 150 per cent, to the stated cost.
But here is the point: If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good.
But we didn’t.
And so we pay the price.
On July 1, 1914 (a few months after the Fed was created) the U.S. national debt was 2.9 billion dollars.
Today, it is more than more than 5000 times larger.
Yes, the perpetual debt machine is working quite well, and most Americans do not even realize what is happening.
#3 The Federal Reserve Has Destroyed More Than 96% Of The Value Of The U.S. Dollar
Did you know that the U.S. dollar has lost 96.2 percent of its value since 1900? Of course almost all of that decline has happened since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913.
Because the money supply is designed to expand constantly, it is guaranteed that all of our dollars will constantly lose value.
Inflation is a “hidden tax” that continually robs us all of our wealth. The Federal Reserve always says that it is “committed” to controlling inflation, but that never seems to work out so well.
And current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says that it is actually a good thing to have a little bit of inflation. He plans to try to keep the inflation rate at about 2 percent in the coming years.
So what is so bad about 2 percent? That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
Well, just consider the following excerpt from a recent Forbes article….
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) has made it official: After its latest two day meeting, it announced its goal to devalue the dollar by 33% over the next 20 years. The debauch of the dollar will be even greater if the Fed exceeds its goal of a 2 percent per year increase in the price level.#4 The Federal Reserve Can Bail Out Whoever It Wants To With No Accountability
The American people got so upset about the bailouts that Congress gave to the Wall Street banks and to the big automakers, but did you know that the biggest bailouts of all were given out by the Federal Reserve?
Thanks to a very limited audit of the Federal Reserve that Congress approved a while back, we learned that the Fed made trillions of dollars in secret bailout loans to the big Wall Street banks during the last financial crisis. They even secretly loaned out hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign banks.
According to the results of the limited Fed audit mentioned above, a total of$16.1 trillion in secret loans were made by the Federal Reserve between December 1, 2007 and July 21, 2010.
The following is a list of loan recipients that was taken directly from page 131of the audit report….
Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC - $868 billion
Bear Sterns - $853 billion
Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
UBS - $287 billion
Credit Suisse - $262 billion
Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
BNP Paribas - $175 billion
Wells Fargo - $159 billion
Dexia - $159 billion
Wachovia - $142 billion
Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
Societe Generale - $124 billion
“All Other Borrowers” - $2.639 trillion
So why haven’t we heard more about this?
This is scandalous.
In addition, it turns out that the Fed paid enormous sums of money to the big Wall Street banks to help “administer” these nearly interest-free loans….
Not only did the Federal Reserve give 16.1 trillion dollars in nearly interest-free loans to the “too big to fail” banks, the Fed also paid them over 600 million dollars to help run the emergency lending program. According to the GAO, the Federal Reserve shelled out an astounding $659.4 million in “fees” to the very financial institutions which caused the financial crisis in the first place.Does reading that make you angry?
It should.
#5 The Federal Reserve Is Paying Banks Not To Lend Money
Did you know that the Federal Reserve is actually paying banks not to make loans?
It is true.
Section 128 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 allows the Federal Reserve to pay interest on “excess reserves” that U.S. banks park at the Fed.
So the banks can just send their cash to the Fed and watch the money come rolling in risk-free.
So are many banks taking advantage of this?
You tell me. Just check out the chart below. The amount of “excess reserves” parked at the Fed has gone from nearly nothing to about 1.5 trillion dollarssince 2008….
But shouldn’t the banks be lending the money to us so that we can start businesses and buy homes?
You would think that is how it is supposed to work.
Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve is not working for us.
The Federal Reserve is working for the big banks.
Sadly, most Americans have no idea what is going on.
Another example of this is the government debt carry trade.
Here is how it works. The Federal Reserve lends gigantic piles of nearly interest-free cash to the big Wall Street banks, and in turn those banks use the money to buy up huge amounts of government debt. Since the return on government debt is higher, the banks are able to make large profits very easily and with very little risk.
This scam was also explained in a recent article in the Guardian….
Consider this: we pretend that banks are private businesses that should be allowed to run their own affairs. But they are the biggest scroungers of public money of our time. Banks are lent vast sums of money by central banks at near-zero interest. They lend that money to us or back to the government at higher rates and rake in the difference by the billion. They don’t even have to make clever investments to make huge profits.That is a pretty good little scam they have got going, wouldn’t you say?
#6 The Federal Reserve Creates Artificial Economic Bubbles That Are Extremely Damaging
By allowing a centralized authority such as the Federal Reserve to dictate interest rates, it creates an environment where financial bubbles can be created very easily.
Over the past several decades, we have seen bubble after bubble. Most of these have been the result of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates artificially low. If the free market had been setting interest rates all this time, things would have never gotten so far out of hand.
For example, the housing crash would have never been so horrific if the Federal Reserve had not created such ideal conditions for a housing bubble in the first place. But we allow the Fed to continue to make the same mistakes.
Right now, the Federal Reserve continues to set interest rates much, much lower than they should be. This is causing a tremendous misallocation of economic resources, and there will be massive consequences for that down the line.
#7 The Federal Reserve System Is Dominated By The Big Wall Street Banks
Even since it was created, the Federal Reserve system has been dominated by the big Wall Street banks.
The following is from a previous article that I did about the Fed….
The New York representative is the only permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, while other regional banks rotate in 2 and 3 year intervals. The former head of the New York Fed, Timothy Geithner, is now U.S. Treasury Secretary. The truth is that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has always been the most important of the regional Fed banks by far, and in turn the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has always been dominated by Wall Street and the major New York banks.#8 It Is Not An Accident That We Saw The Personal Income Tax And The Federal Reserve System Both Come Into Existence In 1913
On February 3rd, 1913 the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Later that year, the United States Revenue Act of 1913 imposed a personal income tax on the American people and we have had one ever since.
Without a personal income tax, it is hard to have a central bank. It takes a lot of money to finance all of the government debt that a central banking system creates.
It is no accident that the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913 and the Federal Reserve system was also created in 1913.
They have a symbiotic relationship and they are designed to work together.
We could fill Congress with people that are committed to ending this oppressive system, but so far we have chosen not to do that.
So our children and our grandchildren will face a lifetime of debt slavery because of us.
I am sure they will be thankful for that.
#9 The Current Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, Has A Nightmarish Track Record Of Incompetence
The mainstream media portrays Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as a brilliant economist, but is that really the case?
Let’s go to the videotape.
The following is an extended excerpt from an article that I published previously….
———-
In 2005, Bernanke said that we shouldn’t worry because housing prices had never declined on a nationwide basis before and he said that he believed that the U.S. would continue to experience close to “full employment”….
“We’ve never had a decline in house prices on a nationwide basis. So, what I think what is more likely is that house prices will slow, maybe stabilize, might slow consumption spending a bit. I don’t think it’s gonna drive the economy too far from its full employment path, though.”In 2005, Bernanke also said that he believed that derivatives were perfectly safe and posed no danger to financial markets….
“With respect to their safety, derivatives, for the most part, are traded among very sophisticated financial institutions and individuals who have considerable incentive to understand them and to use them properly.”In 2006, Bernanke said that housing prices would probably keep rising….
“Housing markets are cooling a bit. Our expectation is that the decline in activity or the slowing in activity will be moderate, that house prices will probably continue to rise.”In 2007, Bernanke insisted that there was not a problem with subprime mortgages….
“At this juncture, however, the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained. In particular, mortgages to prime borrowers and fixed-rate mortgages to all classes of borrowers continue to perform well, with low rates of delinquency.”In 2008, Bernanke said that a recession was not coming….
“The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.”A few months before Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsed, Bernanke insisted that they were totally secure….
“The GSEs are adequately capitalized. They are in no danger of failing.”For many more examples that demonstrate the absolutely nightmarish track record of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, please see the following articles….
*”Say What? 30 Ben Bernanke Quotes That Are So Stupid That You Won’t ...”
*”Is Ben Bernanke A Liar, A Lunatic Or Is He Just Completely And Tota...”
But after being wrong over and over and over, Barack Obama still nominated Ben Bernanke for another term as Chairman of the Fed.
———-
#10 The Federal Reserve Has Become Way Too Powerful
The Federal Reserve is the most undemocratic institution in America.
The Federal Reserve has become so powerful that it is now known as “the fourth branch of government”, but there are less checks and balances on the Fed than there are on the other three branches.
The Federal Reserve runs the U.S. economy but it is not accountable to the American people. We can’t vote those that run the Fed out of office if we do not like what they do.
Yes, the president appoints those that run the Fed, but he also knows that if he does not tread lightly he won’t get the money from the big Wall Street banks that he needs for his next election.
Thankfully, there are a few members of Congress that are complaining about how much power the Fed has. For example, Ron Paul once told MSNBC that he believes that the Federal Reserve is now actually more powerful than Congress…..
“The regulations should be on the Federal Reserve. We should have transparency of the Federal Reserve. They can create trillions of dollars to bail out their friends, and we don’t even have any transparency of this. They’re more powerful than the Congress.”As members of Congress such as Ron Paul have started to shed some light on the activities of the Federal Reserve, that has caused many in the mainstream media to come to the defense of the Fed.
For example, a recent CNBC article entitled “If The Federal Reserve Is Abolished, What Then?” makes it sound like there is absolutely no other rational alternative to having the Federal Reserve run our economy.
But this is not what our founders intended.
The founders did not intend for a private banking cartel to issue our money and set our interest rates for us.
According to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress has been given the responsibility to “coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures”.
So why is the Federal Reserve doing it?
But the CNBC article mentioned above makes it sound like the sky would fall if control of the currency was handed back over to the American people.
At one point, the article asks the following question….
“How would the U.S. economy then function? Something has to take its place, right?”No, the truth is that we don’t need anyone to “manage” our economy.
The U.S. Treasury could be in charge of issuing our currency and the free market could set our interest rates.
We don’t need to have a centrally-planned economy.
We aren’t China.
And it goes against everything that our founders believed to be running up so much government debt.
For example, Thomas Jefferson once declared that if he could add just one more amendment to the U.S. Constitution it would be a ban on all government borrowing….
I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.Oh, how things would have been different if we had only listened to Thomas Jefferson.
Please share this article with as many people as you can. These are things that every American should know about the Federal Reserve, and we need to educate the American people about the Fed while there is still time.
http://www.blacklistednews.com/10_Things_That_Every_American_Should...
OCCUPY WALL STREET 73 ARRESTS - March 19, 2012
Monday, Mar 19, 2012 3:00 AM 22:13:38 PDT
An Occupy Wall Street demonstrator is arrested in Zuccotti Park after a march to celebrate the protest's sixth month, Saturday, March 17, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) (Credit: AP)
Arrests galvanize Occupy
Allegations of brutality at an OWS anniversary rally spur solidarity marches and fuel calls for a general strike
An Occupy Wall Street demonstrator is arrested in Zuccotti Park after a march to celebrate the protest's sixth month, Saturday, March 17, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) (Credit: AP)
Topics:Occupy Wall Street, NYPD
It’s been six months since Occupy Wall Street first inserted itself into public space and consciousness, so writers and pundits this past week have clamored to quantify and assess the movement: What has Occupy achieved? What next for Occupy? This semi-anniversary has prompted a demand for Occupy’s Greatest Hits.
It is important to note the homes saved from foreclosure by Occupy actions; the policies and mainstream political conversations that Occupy has influenced, both directly and indirectly; the growth in awareness about income inequality, police brutality and racism; as well as the port shutdowns and short-term disruptions to consumer and corporate activity Occupy has notched on its many belts. But any articles aiming to sum up the Occupy effect will miss the point. The temptation for writers is to historicize — to churn out articles, books and anthologies about “what really happened” and what it all means. It’s tempting because it sells and it sells because, well, it feels like something did change since last September and, for a small number of us, at least, the world feels different now that there is Occupy.
There is, however, no linear historical construction of the past six months that could do justice to the diffuse assemblage that is Occupy. There’s no adequate explanation for why, for example, on Saturday, it was beautiful to go back to one of the dreariest slabs of concrete that lower Manhattan has to offer and find nearly a thousand other bodies — dancing, chanting “a-anti-anti-capitalista,” catching up and dashing off into spontaneous street marches to mark six months since the first occupation of Zuccotti Park.
There were 73 arrests at the OWS six-month anniversary gathering — a number of them violent as police surged in to clear the small park of the almost 300 protesters who filled the space just before midnight. One young woman, a long-term Occupy supporter named Cecily McMillan, 23, suffered a seizure after NYPD officers aggressively tackled her (cracking her ribs) and put her in plastic handcuffs. Others arrested in Zuccotti tweeted about injuries inflicted by police on Saturday night. Jesse Myerson described some of the worst police action in the park on TruthOut: “I watched the police break up the group by punching protesters about the head, repeatedly stomping on shoulders and arms, grabbing throats, dragging protesters by the hair and clawing at their faces,” he noted.
Once the space was cleared and guarded by barricades, a march of evicted protesters spilled into lower Manhattan, snaking up through SoHo to Union Square, taking opportunities to run off the sidewalks into the streets before cops on scooters could catch up. “If they get too close, just hit them,” I heard one officer on a scooter tell another as a crowd moved through them at an intersection. Numerous marchers were arrested, including one young man (an OWS street medic) who was shoved so hard into a glass door by police that the impact of his skull cracked the glass. Photographer Stephanie Keith caught this image moments after the incident:
And, just like the early Occupy days, police repression has galvanized further action: Solidarity marches were called by Occupy Wall Street, L.A., Oakland, Chicago, Boston and more on Sunday evening in response to the New York arrests. A few dozen people are also attempting to launch an occupation (albeit without tents) at Union Square in New York; 20 Occupy supporters spent the night there Saturday. Which points to the other reason why assessing and quantifying the Occupy movement at this six-month point is mistaken — as the unified cries of “spring is coming” and “now’s the time for general strike” in Zuccotti Park on Saturday suggested — it’s just about to kick off.
It is important to note the homes saved from foreclosure by Occupy actions; the policies and mainstream political conversations that Occupy has influenced, both directly and indirectly; the growth in awareness about income inequality, police brutality and racism; as well as the port shutdowns and short-term disruptions to consumer and corporate activity Occupy has notched on its many belts. But any articles aiming to sum up the Occupy effect will miss the point. The temptation for writers is to historicize — to churn out articles, books and anthologies about “what really happened” and what it all means. It’s tempting because it sells and it sells because, well, it feels like something did change since last September and, for a small number of us, at least, the world feels different now that there is Occupy.
There is, however, no linear historical construction of the past six months that could do justice to the diffuse assemblage that is Occupy. There’s no adequate explanation for why, for example, on Saturday, it was beautiful to go back to one of the dreariest slabs of concrete that lower Manhattan has to offer and find nearly a thousand other bodies — dancing, chanting “a-anti-anti-capitalista,” catching up and dashing off into spontaneous street marches to mark six months since the first occupation of Zuccotti Park.
There were 73 arrests at the OWS six-month anniversary gathering — a number of them violent as police surged in to clear the small park of the almost 300 protesters who filled the space just before midnight. One young woman, a long-term Occupy supporter named Cecily McMillan, 23, suffered a seizure after NYPD officers aggressively tackled her (cracking her ribs) and put her in plastic handcuffs. Others arrested in Zuccotti tweeted about injuries inflicted by police on Saturday night. Jesse Myerson described some of the worst police action in the park on TruthOut: “I watched the police break up the group by punching protesters about the head, repeatedly stomping on shoulders and arms, grabbing throats, dragging protesters by the hair and clawing at their faces,” he noted.
Once the space was cleared and guarded by barricades, a march of evicted protesters spilled into lower Manhattan, snaking up through SoHo to Union Square, taking opportunities to run off the sidewalks into the streets before cops on scooters could catch up. “If they get too close, just hit them,” I heard one officer on a scooter tell another as a crowd moved through them at an intersection. Numerous marchers were arrested, including one young man (an OWS street medic) who was shoved so hard into a glass door by police that the impact of his skull cracked the glass. Photographer Stephanie Keith caught this image moments after the incident:
And, just like the early Occupy days, police repression has galvanized further action: Solidarity marches were called by Occupy Wall Street, L.A., Oakland, Chicago, Boston and more on Sunday evening in response to the New York arrests. A few dozen people are also attempting to launch an occupation (albeit without tents) at Union Square in New York; 20 Occupy supporters spent the night there Saturday. Which points to the other reason why assessing and quantifying the Occupy movement at this six-month point is mistaken — as the unified cries of “spring is coming” and “now’s the time for general strike” in Zuccotti Park on Saturday suggested — it’s just about to kick off.
Another Arrest Sunday At Protest Of The Heavy Handed 73 Arrests Yesterday At OWS
Members of Occupy Delaware Decry Arrests at OWS: Occupy Delaware Activist Arrested in NYC
Six-Month OWS Anniversary Demonstration Was Protected by Restraining Order
Occupy Delaware Activist Arrested in NYC
Members of Occupy Delaware decry the arrests of activists in New York City’s Zuccotti Park as illegal and a sign that the one-percent who dominate political life in America are pushing for a confrontation. Protected by a Court Order, activists, including Michael Moore, re-occupied the park, now renamed Liberty Plaza, and organized a General Assembly, the movement’s model of leaderless democratic deliberation. Around 11 p.m., police moved in to clear the park, arresting “scores” of persons (according to the NY Times).Witnesses insist that young cadet police officers tried to follow their orders with restraint, but those higher in the chain of command began seizing and beating demonstrators arbitrarily. One activist, Cecily McMillan, had a seizure after being pushed to the ground and handcuffed. She was later taken to the hospital. Occupy Delaware takes these events as a sign that the police, who as members of the ninety-nine percent are sometimes sympathetic to the movement, are being incited by Wall Street bankers’ desperate to forestall the #AmericanSpring.
In response to these heavy-handed arrests, a #SolidaritySunday march was organized on Sunday, March 18th. While taking part in this march, Occupy Delaware activist Timothy Kyle was arrested. Kyle was later released with a “desk ticket.”
There are signs that the one percent is pushing the same repressive policies locally. Wilmington City Council tried to pass an ordinance restricting demonstrations by labor, peace, and social justice organizations, but it was withdrawn after public outrage. Then Occupy Delaware activist Stephen Cottrell was arrested arbitrarily and unnecessarily at the March Sheriff’s sale.
Occupy Delaware insists on the First Amendment Rights of all Americans and calls on the citizenry to join them in the #AmericanSpring.
Occupy Delaware comprises a broad variety of voices. Anyone in Delaware who is fed up with a national agenda that is rigged in favor of the wealthiest one percent at the expense of the other ninety-nine percent is welcome to participate. Occupy Delaware does not endorse political candidates or parties.
You can see the arrest of Kyle in this video – advance to minute 45.
Occupied Wall Street Journal article on crack-down: http://occupiedmedia.us/2012/03/zuccotti-park-raided-barricaded-on-6-month-anniversary/
Occupy Delaware Webpage: http://www.occupyde.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/occupydelaware
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OccupyDE
Occupy Delaware Mission Statement: http://www.occupyde.org/mission-statement/
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City (Occupy Wall Street):
http://occupywallst.org/forum/first-official-release-from-occupy-wall-street/.
Occupy Camps and the Homeless:
Why Occupy Camps Became Homeless Camps
When discussing Occupy with others almost everyone says the same thing: "I agree with what occupy is trying to do in principle but I don't like the defecation on police cars and all that other disgustion homelessness behavior."
My friend Ginger said it quite well so I am sharing hew writing with you. To me the most important part of her piece is towards the end, so I have copied that portion again at the beginning of her piece. She sums up that the fact that the homeless people who gravitated to Occupy Camps all over the country are the same homeless that agencies who deal with the homeless and their problems are not equipped to deal with.
It is an unfair critique of Occupy to expect us to be able to care for the people that soup kitchens, warming rooms, hostiles, missions and churches turned away.
" #1 - We're not just working with the homeless and unemployed population. We are working with some of the most violent, most dysfunctional, most mentally unstable population in the city. We are working with those people who get kicked out of other shelters and other social service agencies. Some of those people get kicked-out of their programs as a direct consequence to a violent attack. And their next step is move to the Occupy camp.
#2 - We are working with less resources than any of the social service agencies in the city. Resources in the sense of stability, training, emotional and psychological boundaries, accountability, personal protection... "
Occupy's Identity Crisis
by the gingerA note for the continuity of this blog: I started out in Food Group. I got frustrated, and burnt out, and pulled back. Only to get pulled into Camp Safety a week later, in an effort to spread my secret subversive agenda of love & compassion in the most direct way I could find.Occupy Seattle is going through an identity crisis.
Occupy [insert American city] is likely also going through the exact same identity crisis. So here's the thing... Occupy Wall Street started out as a very specific and focused protest against corporate greed. "Yes! Yes, I can get behind that!" we all said. "I want to do it too!" we all said.
In Seattle, we jumped in feet first, with all of the passion and enthusiasm of a population truly fed up with The Way Things Are. But "End Corporate Greed" quickly morphed and grew into "FIX ALL OF THE THINGS RIGHT NOW" and "BUILD OUR NEW SOCIETY WITHIN THIS OCCUPATION / TENT CITY". Holy shit. That's a big shift.
All of a sudden, not only were we engaged in an ideological protest... but we turned ourselves into a homeless shelter. Accidentally, unintentionally, without really thinking through what it means to preform that sort of service work. Idealists among us (and really, who among Occupy organizers is not an idealist???) talked about visions of inclusiveness, and healing the harms in our society, and meeting each person where they're at to participate in a movement that belongs to all of us... As we moved into the camp at SCCC, we tried over and over again to pass community agreements through the General Assembly that would govern our community and inform acceptable conduct. But those community agreements were flouted and disregarded by activists and hangers-on alike ("oh, that rule applies to those assholes over there, not to me. I'm peaceful..."). Anyone and everyone wandered into our camp with all manner of addiction, dysfunction, and mental instability.
And it was a clusterfuck. It was the wild wild west, and Lord of the Flies. And one-by one, committed activists packed-up their tents in fear and frustration, and a desperate need to sleep in a safe and restful space. They left behind empty spaces to be filled by those with addiction, dysfunction, and mental instability. They left behind a crew of organizers and activists (many of whom are also homeless), who just couldn't quit. Who were so obsessively focused on trying to make the camp at SCCC work that many of us lost site of the Bigger Picture of what we are trying to accomplish. And also those of us who desperately tried to work with this camp, such as it was, and figure out how to keep moving towards that Positive Vision... And those of us who were willing to take the risk, to open ourselves up to the trauma of others, hoping to serve and help those with addiction, dysfunction, and mental instability. Because we carry with us a vision of the new world we want to create, and that new word is based on inclusion and healing and community support... and creating that new world starts with healing the harms we see before us because we cannot leave that trauma behind us or sweep it under the rug. We must face it head-on and see its source within ourselves.
But there are some very harsh realities of the Existing World that we failed to consider...
#1 - We're not just working with the homeless and unemployed population. We are working with some of the most violent, most dysfunctional, most mentally unstable population in the city. We are working with those people who get kicked out of other shelters and other social service agencies. Some of those people get kicked-out of their programs as a direct consequence to a violent attack. And their next step is move to the Occupy camp.
#2 - We are working with less resources than any of the social service agencies in the city. Resources in the sense of stability, training, emotional and psychological boundaries, accountability, personal protection...
#3 - Social service agencies all have rules, boundaries, and social agreements that limit their populations to those who can step up to them. This is not a tool that they use for oppression; it is a survival mechanism. Any healthy community includes rules, boundaries, social agreements, and consequences for breaking those agreements. We want to create a new paradigm of community governance that focuses on healing and inclusion... But in the meantime, we must protect ourselves from the overwhelming needs of a population that is drowning. Just as a drowning person will flail in desperation and pull an unskilled lifeguard down into death with them, this population of homeless is pulling Occupy down with them in a desperate and very human attempt to grasp onto any support they can find. OS is beginning to realize this and pull back from it. And to many, it feels like tragic betrayal and abandonment.
#4 - Compassion includes boundaries and consequences. It is not compassionate or healing to enable violent and addictive behavior.
#5 - We cannot serve ALL THE NEEDS ALL AT ONCE. As we continue to grow - continue working to build the new world we all envision - our work is to focus on affecting systemic change; holding politicians and leaders and corporate moguls accountable for the oppression of us all. In the process we want to model our future community, but that is a delicate balance. Occupy Seattle needs to preform the same self-care that all of our burnt-out organizers so desperately need. To find our emotion/psychological center, to be grounded and focused and open to seeing the whole big-picture vision of what we are moving towards. To understand the limits of our resources, and understand exactly what roll we intend to play.
So here is the heart of our identity crisis:
Are we a social service agency, or are we a GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR SYSTEMIC CHANGE AND REVOLUTION? Okay, maybe I have a bias about which choice I think we need to make... I think we already know the answer. And we're not really making a choice to take one and reject the other. I am making observation: a Global Movement For Systemic Change and Revolution has many faces. It exists everywhere and nowhere. It is an internet meme, and it is your neighborhood council, and it is your direct action network, and it is a general strike, and it is non-violent gorilla warfare. It is an occupation of foreclosed homes, and it is protesters in the middle of your city every day reminding you and the 1% that THIS SHIT IS NOT RIGHT.
It may also be a community of activists sleeping in tents, some of whom don't have another home to go to. It could also be a new tent city or a new ecovillage, built to model our Positive Vision; built to help serve those whom the system has abandoned. And if some of us within the Occupy Movement choose to pursue that project, let us choose it consciously, with open eyes and open hearts and with the support and knowledge of the social service community that has come before us.
Let us make conscious choices about the work we take on and the paths we choose to walk.
Evidence Of Election Fraud Of GOP Delegates - Ron Paul: Help Document Election Fraud
There is evidence of vote tampering of delegates in Maine, Nevada, and Washington by local GOP members who support
Romney, Santorum, or Gingrich.
Seattle GOP caucus member attempted to block Ron Paul Delegates from being selected for the State Party Convention
The 36th GOP Precinct Caucus on March 17,2012 held at the Seattle Pacific University:
Just moments before the vote to select delegates, caucus member Lisa Chin, said to be working in the capacity of an observer by Chairman Glenn Avery, walked out of the building with the "bubble sheets" and bubble sheet counter used for voting.
Lisa Chin has not made herself available for an explanation but it certainly appears that she tried to prevent the Ron Paul supporters from winning the delegate count.
Prior to the vote occuring each of the four condidates was represented in a speech. Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney had a luke warm response from small groups of their supporters after each speech.
Clearly more than half of the 250 or so GOP members roared with applause, shouts and whistling in support of Ron Paul after the Ron Paul speech. This is when Lisa Chin left the building with the blank ballots and ballot counting machine. Presumably she is a Romney supporter.
The ballot issue was resolved and after being there for nine hours instead of the estimated 3 or 4 hours the delegate vote count re-affirmed what the audience support reflected in the beginning of gthe meeting, Ron Paul recieved all 21 delegates and all 21 alternates from the 36th Precint to go to the State GOP Convention.
After the first vote was all 21 delegates for Ron Paul, many caucus members, mostly Romney supporters also walked out to try to prevent a quarum as required for the alternates vote. There were still over 125 or so Ron Paul supporters there so a quarum was achieved and Ron Paul also swept up all 21 alternate delegates.
These sort of shady tactics used by Lisa Chin and others within the party, the news media, and the other three candidates themselves to block Ron Paul is actually a very strong indicator of his strength. Mainstream media rarely mentions Paul and would have you believe it's a two person race when it is not. Ron Paul got less time than the other candidates during debates, CNN reversed the colors of it's charts during the Maine caucuses to falsely appear that Gingrich was ahead of Ron Paul when in actuality Ron Paul was ahead of Gingrich.
None the less, Ron Paul continues to garner ever increasing support from the people, especially young people and on-line. Several U.S. States are new to the caucus system (such as Washington State) and there has been some confusion with many people about how to get invoolved once they realize that Washington didn't have a primary so they could not simply cast a vote for Ron Paul. If this confusion created by a recent transition from primary to caucus didn't exist, Ron Paul's showings in "official" polls would be much stronger. Even with these handicaps to Ron Paul and young voter support, Ron Paul continues to gain in popularity.
There is one more point I would like to make about Ron Paul supporters. I am active in the Ron Paul campaign and I am active in the Occupy Movement. I have had many, many discussions with people from both camps and what stands out in every conversation is that both Occupy supporters and Ron Paul supporters are saying the exact same things and are in virtual agreement on nearly every single issue.
I believe that due to the courruption of money in government that "party affiliation" has become an illusion of choice, but if you want to play ball, you have to play by the current rules. I truly believe that of you Occupy to be sure to register to vote today and get involved in the GOP for Ron Paul. We must work both within the system and outside the system at the same time to create the changes that are needed.
Just moments before the vote to select delegates, caucus member Lisa Chin, said to be working in the capacity of an observer by Chairman Glenn Avery, walked out of the building with the "bubble sheets" and bubble sheet counter used for voting.
Lisa Chin has not made herself available for an explanation but it certainly appears that she tried to prevent the Ron Paul supporters from winning the delegate count.
Prior to the vote occuring each of the four condidates was represented in a speech. Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney had a luke warm response from small groups of their supporters after each speech.
Clearly more than half of the 250 or so GOP members roared with applause, shouts and whistling in support of Ron Paul after the Ron Paul speech. This is when Lisa Chin left the building with the blank ballots and ballot counting machine. Presumably she is a Romney supporter.
The ballot issue was resolved and after being there for nine hours instead of the estimated 3 or 4 hours the delegate vote count re-affirmed what the audience support reflected in the beginning of gthe meeting, Ron Paul recieved all 21 delegates and all 21 alternates from the 36th Precint to go to the State GOP Convention.
After the first vote was all 21 delegates for Ron Paul, many caucus members, mostly Romney supporters also walked out to try to prevent a quarum as required for the alternates vote. There were still over 125 or so Ron Paul supporters there so a quarum was achieved and Ron Paul also swept up all 21 alternate delegates.
These sort of shady tactics used by Lisa Chin and others within the party, the news media, and the other three candidates themselves to block Ron Paul is actually a very strong indicator of his strength. Mainstream media rarely mentions Paul and would have you believe it's a two person race when it is not. Ron Paul got less time than the other candidates during debates, CNN reversed the colors of it's charts during the Maine caucuses to falsely appear that Gingrich was ahead of Ron Paul when in actuality Ron Paul was ahead of Gingrich.
None the less, Ron Paul continues to garner ever increasing support from the people, especially young people and on-line. Several U.S. States are new to the caucus system (such as Washington State) and there has been some confusion with many people about how to get invoolved once they realize that Washington didn't have a primary so they could not simply cast a vote for Ron Paul. If this confusion created by a recent transition from primary to caucus didn't exist, Ron Paul's showings in "official" polls would be much stronger. Even with these handicaps to Ron Paul and young voter support, Ron Paul continues to gain in popularity.
There is one more point I would like to make about Ron Paul supporters. I am active in the Ron Paul campaign and I am active in the Occupy Movement. I have had many, many discussions with people from both camps and what stands out in every conversation is that both Occupy supporters and Ron Paul supporters are saying the exact same things and are in virtual agreement on nearly every single issue.
I believe that due to the courruption of money in government that "party affiliation" has become an illusion of choice, but if you want to play ball, you have to play by the current rules. I truly believe that of you Occupy to be sure to register to vote today and get involved in the GOP for Ron Paul. We must work both within the system and outside the system at the same time to create the changes that are needed.
Maine Caucus / Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, Fox News = Vote Fraud
Results were tallied with 16.3% of votes not yet counted and Fox News swapped colors on thier broadcast map between Ron Paul and Gingrich so that it falsely appeared that Gingrich was ahead of Ron Paul when in fact Ron Paul placed a very close second behind Romney.
There are still 16.3% of the votes to count. It is so close that Ron Paul may be the Real Winner in the State of Maine.
Romney, Santorum, and gingrich tried to steal Maine from Ron Paul. They cannot be trusted, just listen to them and you will see for yourself.
Election Fraud - An American Tradition
Election Fraud is global corporate bribery. U.S. politicians like to "over see" foreign elections on the premise that our government is perfect and honest and therefore qualified to approve "fairness."
We over see elections wherever we have troops. Wherever we have troops there is oil. George Bush beat Al Gore to the Whitehouse over allegations of election fraud in Florida, the same state his brother Jeb Bush was Governor. If that doesn't smell like Tuna rotting on a dock in the Florida sun I don't know what does.
There has already been allegations of complicancy between the Republican Party and the Media regardeing ron Paul delegate counts in the Maine Caucuses and it should be obvious to everybody that main stream media ignores Ron Paul, he gets less time during debates, less coverage on nightly news, he is not even given face time to set himself apart from the other candidates. Why?
Why? because he could win and become President and the rest of those old boys will be thrown out with the trash. Nobody agrees entirely with another and with that understanding people will change parties to vote for Ron Paul. People who never voted before will vote for Ron Paul. If Ron Paul failed to get the Republican Nomination he would continue to run as an Independent, Green, or Libertarian.
There are two reasons Ron Paul hasn't shown better in the delegate counts: Fraud, and most of his supporters have yet to join the Republican party and become delegates in this time of Caucuses instead of Primaries, but it is not too late if you act now.... otherwisw we will all have to write him in.
Now is the time to decide if you will write in Ron Paul if necessary, or write in Anonymous instead. Meanwhile, the other three Republican candidates are embroiled in a quagmire of ethics violations, religious tunnelvision, and off shore wealth that each obviously only benefit a few special interests and not the people as a whole society.
Obama signed the NDAA which makes every person on the planet is vulnerable to indefinite imprisonment without a trial or due process, made the assasination of U.S. citizens legal, and made free speech a felony if it is done within several city blocks of a politicians appearence. Obama's actions are like a turd in the corner of the room that fouls every other thing he does.
Election Fraud: Russian Protests : New York Daily News
Protests remained peaceful;
less than 100 arrested nationwide
Saturday, December 10 2011, 1:07 PM
Mikhial Metzel/AP
Demonstrators shout during a mass rally to protest against alleged vote rigging
in Russia's parliamentary elections in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011.
Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of Russia's capital to protest what they claim was a rigged parliamentary election. “The falsifications that authorities are doing today have turned into a big theater, with clowns like in a circus,” Moscow demonstrator Alexander Tromifov told the Associated Press. As many as 50,000 people showed up to protest in Moscow, the BBC reported, making it the largest Russia has seen since the fall of the Soviet Union — and the first time Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has had to deal with a mass uprising. Smaller protests took place in cities across the country, including St. Petersburg where about 10,000 turned out to a protest.
The protests remained peaceful, and the police response was uncharacteristically lighthanded. Less than 100 people across the country were arrested, according to the Associated Press.
In addition to a new election, the protest's organizers demanded the resignation of the head of the election commission, new election laws, and freedom for political prisoners, The Guardian reported.
“Everyone is sick of living under this regime which forbids freedom of expression,” a protester told CBS News. “We are against the lies and bankrupt politicians.”
Putin has dismissed popular anger over the election, blaming US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for planting the idea that the vote was rigged in order to destabilize his government.
The protests follow reports from election monitors and Russian citizens that Putin's party, United Russia, engaged in widespread ballot stuffing. Earlier this week, current President Dmitry Medvedev promised an investigation into the allegations of fraud.
Putin has held top positions of power in Russia's government since he became President 12 years ago. He served as President of Russia from 2000 to 2008, before becoming Prime Minister — and he's seeking a third presidential term this spring.
The protests remained peaceful, and the police response was uncharacteristically lighthanded. Less than 100 people across the country were arrested, according to the Associated Press.
In addition to a new election, the protest's organizers demanded the resignation of the head of the election commission, new election laws, and freedom for political prisoners, The Guardian reported.
“Everyone is sick of living under this regime which forbids freedom of expression,” a protester told CBS News. “We are against the lies and bankrupt politicians.”
Putin has dismissed popular anger over the election, blaming US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for planting the idea that the vote was rigged in order to destabilize his government.
The protests follow reports from election monitors and Russian citizens that Putin's party, United Russia, engaged in widespread ballot stuffing. Earlier this week, current President Dmitry Medvedev promised an investigation into the allegations of fraud.
Putin has held top positions of power in Russia's government since he became President 12 years ago. He served as President of Russia from 2000 to 2008, before becoming Prime Minister — and he's seeking a third presidential term this spring.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/russian-protesters-streets-alleged-election-fraud-article-1.989677#ixzz1gjpzLoGy
The Saudi Arab Spring Nobody Noticed
Amnesty (International) says the (Saudi) government has drafted an anti-terror law that would effectively criminalise dissent as a “terrorist crime” and allow extended detention without charge or trial. Sound Familiar people? Just like Obama did to americans in the U.S. No coincidence that the U.S. and Saudi Governments are "oil buddies."
~cleanelectric
The Saudi Arab Spring Nobody Noticed
December 8, 2011
~cleanelectric
The Saudi Arab Spring Nobody Noticed
| by Russ Baker | |
Hear the one about the Arab Spring in Saudi Arabia that nobody noticed?
No, this is not a joke. It is a real situation—and a cautionary example of what happens when Western governments and their media are more favorable to some “revolutions” than others.
With the Syrian regime, long out of favor with the West, we heard about the uprising from the beginning. The drumbeat has grown dramatically, along with Western condemnations and moves to isolate the regime for its crackdown on dissent.
In the case of Libya, run by the fiercely independent and eccentric Qaddafi, much of the world’s press credulously rushed to print every rumor about regime excesses, many of them never verified and seemingly untrue. (For more on that, see this and this and this.) The press portrayed the rebels as heroes, and featured almost daily coverage. As NATO launched a creeping intervention which ended with wall to wall bombing, the media accepted its claim that the intervention was to stop Qaddafi from harming or further oppressing his people.
The media quickly took to—and stayed with— the uprising in Egypt, one of the poorest countries in the region, where the West lost an ally but quickly found a new collaborator in a similarly-inclined military junta.
In the case of the mother of all petro-allies, Saudi Arabia, however, protests have been met with near silence by the media and no expressions of sympathy for the dissenters by Western governments.
THE SAUDI STRUGGLE
Here’s the background: On November 21, government troops opened fire on demonstrators in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, killing at least four and injuring more. Given the general paucity of demonstrations in a country where dissent is dealt with fiercely, the unrest and violence seemed a highly newsworthy development.
The next day, the Middle-East-based Al Jazeera English, the “best” Western source of news from the region, punted. Instead of getting direct eyewitness accounts that might anger the Saudi leadership (close allies of the Emir of Qatar, who owns Al Jazeera), the network used an old trick. It quoted a Western news agency, the French outfit Agence France Press, which merely reported the Saudi government’s version of events. (For more on blatant inconsistencies in how Al Jazeera covers different uprisings in the region, see this WhoWhatWhy article)
Two days after Al Jazeera, the Associated Press had its own report, also based on the Saudi spokesman. The article did note “a series of clashes between police and protesters in the country’s Shiite-dominated eastern region, starting in the spring.” It noted:
The Interior Ministry previously blamed what it described as “seditious” residents, saying they attacked security forces with guns and firebombs with the backing of a foreign enemy — an apparent reference to Shiite power Iran.The ministry statement Thursday said the deaths in the new unrest were the result of exchanges of fire since Monday with “unknown criminals,” who it said fired on security checkpoints and vehicles from houses and alleyways.
The purported context comes in the final paragraph:
There is a long history of discord between the kingdom’s Sunni rulers and the Shiite minority concentrated in the east, Saudi Arabia’s key oil-producing region. Shiites make up 10 percent of the kingdom’s 23 million citizens and complain of discrimination, saying they are barred from key positions in the military and government and are not given a proportionate share of the country’s wealth.
The salient point in Saudi Arabia, however, is not really ethnic discrimination, which exists throughout the world. It is the story of the avarice and brutality through which one extended family dominates a country.
In Libya, the uprising was dominated by a distinct tribal opposition, yet it was quickly characterized as representing broad national sentiment, with a kind of nobility and inevitability. Not so (up to now) with reporting on the Saudi protests. In truth, dissatisfaction with the Saudi royal family is hardly limited to the Shiites, and the levels of anger are probably as great and perhaps greater than that felt by the average Libyan toward Qaddafi.
ANOTHER VIEW
Those wanting a closer look at what is going on in Saudi Arabia can go to the site Liveleak, where there’s highly disturbing video accompanied by this text: “Qatif—Firing live bullets at the demonstrators November 21, 2011: Video shows the brutal style Saudi security forces in dealing with the demonstrators by firing live bullets.” Another source is a blog called “Angry Arab News Service,” which features video in which a large and vocal group in Qatif are apparently chanting “Death to the House of Saud”:
That kind of material seems to warrant worldwide attention. And with that, we might reasonably expect the protests to grow. But the coverage has not come, nor the greater uprising.
New York Times
Who’s to blame? Everyone, really. But based on its claim to be the gold standard, we focus on the New York Times. According to a search of the database Nexis-Lexis, the Times ran nothing at all on Qatif until Sunday November 27, when it featured a survey of turmoil throughout the region. A reference to Qatif was buried deep toward the end of the piece, where it would go almost unnoticed.
Yet the Times should have realizing that it was looking at a pattern. After all, the paper did cover a previous incident in Qatif—back in March. It was a single article, with a Beirut dateline.
Saudi police officers opened fire at a protest march in a restive, oil-rich province on Thursday, wounding at least three people, according to witnesses and a Saudi government official.
[Snip]
Witnesses described the small protest march in the eastern city of Qatif as peaceful, but an Interior Ministry spokesman said demonstrators had attacked the police before the officers began firing, Reuters reported.
[Snip]
The clash with protesters in Qatif, located in a heavily Shiite region, underscored longstanding tensions in Saudi society: there is a sense among the Shiite minority that it is discriminated against by a government practicing a zealous form of Sunni orthodoxy.
No emphasis on the self-dealing, greed and barbarity that characterize the Saudi dictatorship. Ironically, that was when demonstrations in Libya were all over the news, with constant emphasis on Qaddafi’s infamy. Here are some New York Times headlines from Libya in the Spring:
Time’s Up, Qaddafi (an opinion piece)
THE REAL STORY
So, what’s the real story in Saudi Arabia? December brought a report from the human rights group Amnesty International, covered as follows by BBC:
Saudi Arabia accused of repression after Arab SpringAmnesty International has accused Saudi Arabia of reacting to the Arab Spring by launching a wave of repression. In a report, the human rights group said hundreds of people had been arrested, many of them without charge or trial.Prominent reformists had been given long sentences following trials Amnesty called “grossly unfair”. So far unrest has largely been confined to the Shia minority in the east of the country.….In its 73-page report published on Thursday, Amnesty accuses the Saudi authorities of arresting hundreds of people for demanding political and social reforms or for calling for the release of relatives detained without charge or trial.The report says that sinceFebruary, when sporadic demonstrations began – in defiance of a permanent national ban on protests – the Saudi government has carried out a crackdown….Since March, more than 300 people who took part in peaceful protests in Qatif, Ahsa and Awwamiya in the east have been detained, Amnesty says. Most have been released, often after promising not to protest again. Many face travel bans.Last week 16 men, including nine prominent reformists, were given sentences ranging from five to 30 years in prison. Amnesty said they were blindfolded and handcuffed during their trial, while their lawyer was not allowed to enter the court for the first three sessions.“Peaceful protesters and supporters of political reform in the country have been targeted for arrest in an attempt to stamp out the kinds of call for reform that have echoed across the region,” said Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director, Philip Luther.[Snip]Amnesty says that the government continues to detain thousands of people on terrorism-related grounds. Torture and other ill-treatment in detention are widespread, it says – an allegation Saudi Arabia has always denied.[snip]Amnesty says the government has drafted an anti-terror law that would effectively criminalise dissent as a “terrorist crime” and allow extended detention without charge or trial.Questioning the integrity of the king would carry a minimum prison sentence of 10 years, according to Amnesty.[snip]“Rather than deal with legitimate demands, the government is taking the easy route and blaming everything on a conspiracy by the Iranians,” said the activist, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.
The takeaway from the Amnesty report is that demonstrators have been active in Saudi Arabia just as long as in Libya and elsewhere, and as consistently—and, as elsewhere, have been dealt with harshly by their government. Somehow, though, this is not deemed a sufficiently important story to cover.
Could it have something to do with Saudi Arabia’s indispensability as an ally and supplier of oil? In which case, traditional news reporting standards do not apply?
And did anyone ask the US government, so quick to condemn Qaddafi for his crackdown on demonstrators, if it had any reaction to the Saudi crackdown on demonstrators? Doesn’t look like it.
Meanwhile, what of this scapegoating of Iran for what seems to be authentic Saudi dissent? How does this dovetail with the overall western effort to characterize Iran as behind every nefarious act, even the ludicrous-sounding plot announced months ago by the White House, in which the Iranians were purportedly trying to recruit Mexican drug gangs to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US?
What of the buildup to an attack on Iran, through the rightwing government of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu— decried even by the heads of Israel’s own intelligence agencies as unjustified and dangerous?
How much of this larger play is about keeping the Saudi royal family in power, and taking care of the Western oil industry, and the “western way of life”?
Consider Libya vs Saudi Arabia. Two oil producers, one unpredictable and unreliable, one tight with the West. Heavy coverage of dissent in one, almost none in the other.
SAUDIS AREN’T WAITING
Saudis know better than to wait for the establishment media to get into the act. One outlier that tends to be ahead of the pack, McClatchy Newspapers, just ran a piece on how Saudi dissidents are turning to YouTube to get their message out. Though Saudi Arabia’s high standard of living is a chestnut in media coverage, the dissidents highlight the disparities in the Kingdom in a homemade video:
One Saudi man he interviews has 11 children to feed and a net monthly income of $1,200, half of which goes to rent. The family has enough money left over only for flour and one meal a day. The imam at the local mosque reveals that in order to raise money for the household, the parents are sending out young sons to sell drugs, and the women engage in prostitution.[snip]While the film doesn’t explicitly explain the “Monopoly” of its title, a leading Saudi human rights activist said in an interview that it comes down to one thing: “All the land is owned de facto and de jure by the royal family.”
The article notes that uprising hasn’t begun yet—in part because of apathy.
But how much is apathy, and how much is Saudis realizing that no one will come to their aid if they risk throwing off their shackles? They cannot count on the handy boost the West gave to revolutions in nearby countries. Nor can they count on the Western media, which brays about its independence and initiative, but, increasingly, shows neither where the West’s precious oil supplies are involved.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/11/chants-death-to-house-of-saud-in-qatif.html
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/11/chants-death-to-house-of-saud-in-qatif.html
Russ Baker is an award-winning investigative reporter with a track record for making sense of complex and little understood matters-and explaining it to elites and ordinary people alike, using entertaining, accessible writing to inform and involve. he is Editor in Chief of www.WhoWhatWhy.com
Global Research Articles by Russ Baker
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