Top 12 Movies to Watch on Your Holiday Break!

Your holiday break  is the best time to check out the latest and greatest movies. What makes a movie great? Having a positive message about animals, of course!

There are lots of movies out there about animal rights, food, health, and veganism, and thanks to Netflix, you can watch these movies from the comfort of your living room!

Top 12 Movies to Watch on Your Holiday Break:

1. I Am an Animal—Explores the world of Ingrid E. Newkirk and PETA
2. Earthlings—Delves into the food, entertainment, and medical industries' use of animals and links each to the world economy (narrated by Joaquin Phoenix)
3. The Cove*—Follows daring animal activists at a cove in Taiji, Japan, as they capture video footage of a secret and heavily guarded operation run by the world's largest supplier of dolphins
4. Food, Inc.*—Exposes the sources of the food we eat and its environmental impact
5. Food Matters*—Focuses on using nutritionally rich, plant-based foods for optimal health
6. Crazy Sexy Cancer—Follows the journey of a young woman looking for a natural cure for her cancer
7. The Beautiful Truth*—Promotes a plant-based, vegan diet as cancer and disease prevention
8. Year of the Dog*—Tells the fictional story of a woman who learns from her beloved dog's death
9. At the Edge of the World*—Follows activists as they attempt to stop the Japanese whale slaughter
10. Forks Over Knives*—Follows two medical experts as they reveal the effects of common foods on human health
11. Bold Native—Tells the fictional story of a young animal rights activist (OK, so this one is not available on Netflix … yet! Pick it up at your local video store—if you still have one.)
12. Rise of the Planet of the Apes—Tells the fictional story of the evolution of apes who revolt after being held captive

*Streamable on Netflix too!

Police Crack Down on Occupy Wall Street Protesters, Journalists on Movement’s 3-Month Mark

Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered Saturday in New York City to mark the three-month mark of the now-global movement. More than 50 people were arrested as demonstrators spent the day trying to occupy a new space following their eviction last month from Zuccotti Park. While covering the protest for Democracy Now!, two reporters were harassed by officers with the New York City Police Department. After an officer "jammed his fist into my throat and started yelling at me to get back," Ryan Devereaux says, "I was certain I was going to be hurt or arrested, or both," even though he was wearing Democracy Now!-issued press credentials. At the same time, another officer reportedly hit videographer Jon Gerberg, credentialed by the NYPD, three times in the kidneys as he filmed the protest. "It goes to show you that it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing the credentials that Democracy Now! has or you’re wearing the credentials that are supposed to protect you. The NYPD seems to think it’s OK to treat you as a second-class citizen," Devereaux says. This comes after a number of journalists were roughed up by police as they covered the recent eviction of Zuccotti Park. Major news publications, including the Associated Press and the New York Times, have called on NYPD to treat reporters with more respect.

Declaration of Human Rights

Global civil society is being threatened by a system based on power and not on human values. Day after day it represses basic freedoms and consistently favors the greed of the few over the needs of the many. This power finances wars, food and pharmaceutical monopolies, it sponsors dictatorial regimes across the globe, destroying environments, manipulating and censoring information flow and transparency.



 People all around the world will stand up together to demand the rights we were promised in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed and approved by most of the world’s governments and the basis for many of our constitutions.

The struggle for our rights as human beings underlies everything we have demanded in every square and every demonstration in this historic year of global change. From East to West, North to South:we will take to the streets and squares together to demand the fundamental principles that were promised and are inherent to Human Beings.

The success of October 15th has triggered an unprecedented momentum for global action. Humanity has united across boundaries in a struggle for real democracy and individual rights. Essential to this struggle is the respect for human life and living conditions, including environments

Global civil society is being threatened by a system based on power and not on human values. Day after day it represses basic freedoms and consistently favors the greed of the few over the needs of the many. This power finances wars, food and pharmaceutical monopolies, it sponsors dictatorial regimes across the globe, destroying environments, manipulating and censoring information flow and transparency.

Despite our different cultural backgrounds and social contexts, we all suffer the same threats. Our freedom and dignity are under attack as a result of market dynamics and corrupt government institutions that are turning our local and global societies into increasingly unjust places. The governments of this planet must work for the people, not against them. The time has come to stand up for our rights together and to demand the rights we were promised in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed and approved by most of the world’s governments and the basis for many of our constitutions.

The struggle for our rights as human beings underlies everything we have demanded in every square and every demonstration in this historic year of global change. There is no better culmination to this year of protest than a global day of action to defend our inalienable human equity from those trying to take it away from us.

PETA Supports Wearing Fur …?

After reading this I don't think I can support PETA anymore. At this point they look like a bunch of liars and hypocrites. What do you think?? Check this out:

Last week, PETA gave out 100 fur coatsto the only people who have any excuse to wear them: the homeless. This giveaway took place at the office of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless in a city where frigid temperatures combine with one of the worst poverty rates in the country to make winters truly a matter of life and death.

The coats that PETA distributed at the event were all donated by erstwhile fur-wearers who, once they found out that animals on fur farmsare often bludgeoned or genitally electrocuted, couldn't stand to have carcasses in their closets. The coats are marked so that they can't be resold, and even though the animals' lives can't be returned, at least the coats may help save others' lives.

Anyone who has a coat moldering away in a closet and is too ashamed to wear it in public can give the item as a tax-deductable donationto PETA. Rest assured that we'll put it to good use through giveaways to the homeless, as bedding for animals in wildlife rehabilitation centers, or as a prop in one of our famous street-theater anti-fur demos.

OWS Health Action Assembly

I hope Everyone attended this over the weekend!

A protest by the OWS Health Action General Assembly will take place at St. Vincent’s hospital this Saturday to demonstrate the growing frustration with a system that values luxury condominiums over care for the sick. The OWS Health Action General Assembly is composed of patients, nurses, social workers, physicians, and regular citizens coming together to seek alternatives to the present healthcare system.

We realize that the present healthcare, housing, and food crisis can no longer be solved by the ‘experts’ and ‘professionals’ only. It requires a much broader participation of citizens in order to succeed with any long-lasting alternatives. We are living in an era of created scarcity despite the abundance of technology, resources, and production at our disposal. This inequality present in our current healthcare system serves the interest of the few while leaving millions suffering.

While Wall Street got bailed out, 6 million homes have been foreclosed since 2007, 1.6 million teenagers must live on the streets, and 50 million Americans must exist with no access to healthcare.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has unleashed a wave of protests and assemblies confronting the failures of the present financial system; the gross inequalities which exist within the US healthcare system are a direct result of a structure that values the profits of the 1% over the financial and physical well-being of the 99%.


Occupy Wall Street is part of an international people powered movement fighting for economic justice in the face of neoliberal economic practices, the crimes of Wall Street, and a government controlled by monied interests. #OWS is the 99% organizing to end the tyranny of the 1%. 
For more info www.occupywallst.org

Nearly Half of Americans Below Poverty Line or Low-Income

New figures show hunger, poverty and economic decline are increasing at record levels across the United States. The Census Bureau reports nearly half of Americans have either fallen below the poverty line or are classified under the category of "low income." The number of low-income residents is at 97.3 million, coupled with 49.1 million in poverty, for a total of 146.4 million. The figure marks an increase of four million over 2009. Meanwhile, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reports all but four of 29 major cities saw an increase in requests for emergency food assistance between September 2010 and August 2011.

Defend the Bill of Rights for All of Us.

Posted 19 hours ago on Dec. 15, 2011, 2 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

On Bill of Rights Day, Thursday, Dec 15 there will be a Press Conference on Federal Court Steps, 40 Centre St., Manhattan, 11am. A coffin of the Bill of Rights will be brought to Federal Court Foley Square, NY, NY

The Bill of rights was ratified 220 years ago, on December 15, 1791. It is shameful that today, in the United States, we are forced to come together in defense of the Bill of Rights and our civil liberties, as the representatives of the 1% who rule this country continue to take our rights away.

Congress is attempting to bury the Bill of Rights. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) includes language proposed by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin and Republican Sen. John McCain that allows for the arrest and indefinite detention of U.S. citizens by the military, on U.S. soil and without the right of trial. This is an egregious violation of our first amendment rights and comes at a time when we are witnessing unprecedented attacks on our civil liberties.
Some of these attacks include:

Massive spying on the Muslim community, including the recent revelations of the spying by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the CIA on mosques, Muslim businesses, and Muslim student groups;

The continuation of the policy of sending agents into mosques with phony plots designed to entrap Muslims for so called “preemptive prosecution”;
The recent raids on homes of antiwar activists by federal agents, who have carted away personal computers, cell phones, books, and other possessions and handed the activists subpoenas to appear before federal grand juries;

The recent, often violent evictions of anti-Wall Street occupations around the country; The refusal of the Chicago city government and the federal government to allow for peaceful protests when NATO and the G8 countries come to Chicago in May, 2012 to hold summit meetings.

The potential impact of the NDAA's provisions to expand military detention without trial could render the other issues we all address seemingly trivial; any activist stands at risk of designation as a potential terrorist, especially if their interests include either foreign policy or enterprises that impact the environment.

On December 15, Bill of Rights Day actions and press conferences are planned in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco and other areas of the country. Several national coalitions -- including the Muslim Peace Coalition, United National Antiwar Coalition, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Committee to Stop FBI Repression and others are co-promoting this call to action.

In New York, representatives from civil liberties, religious, social justice, and peace organizations will come together to voice opposition to the National Defense Authorization Act and other recent attacks on our civil liberties. We will discuss our plans to fight for the rights of all people and to defeat this repressive legislation.

For information on actions around the country, go to: http://bordc.org/.

Re-Occupy #D17

Saturday, December 17th, noon

An all day performance event at Duarte Square, 6th and Canal

On Saturday, December 17th Occupy Wall Street — with support from more than 1400 faith leaders, elders of the civil rights movement, prominent artists and community members — will gather at noon in Duarte Square, downtown Manhattan, for an all day performance event. This event is part of a call to re-occupy in the wake of the coordinated attacks and subsequent evictions of occupations across the nation and around the world.

OWS has sparked a national movement that has exposed the moral bankruptcy of an economy of homeless families and vacant homes, crowded classrooms and empty schools, Wall Street bonuses and endless unemployment lines. This weekend, in a vacant lot at the heart of lower Manhattan, we will continue to occupy the nation’s imagination with art, culture, and our vibrant cry for freedom--as we call out for justice and equality for the 99% through the exercise of our first amendment rights.

Canal and 6th Ave is the site of a vacant lot owned by Trinity Real Estate, the corporate arm of Trinity on Wall Street. Over the past month, since the eviction of Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park) on November 14th, members of the Occupy Wall Street movement with interfaith leaders, elders of the civil rights movement and artists have asked Trinity on Wall Street to do the right thing, and offer sanctuary to the movement in this vacant lot. As Occupy Wall Street supporter Bishop George E. Packard cautions, “I have this great worry that this venerable parish will be on the wrong side of history...Think of it as offering hospitality to travelers from our future who bring the message of "no injustice, no more." If we really saw OWS for who they are rather than putting up roadblocks in their path we'd truly delight in their coming!” In the spirit of Advent, we urge Trinity Church to do the right thing and stand with us on December 17 as we mark the three-month anniversary of the Occupy movement and the one-year anniversary of the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, which sparked the Arab Spring and a global movement for social justice.

Speakers, live music and performances will begin at noon and continue into the night. All activities will be broadcast live on WBAI. Listeners and vistors are invited to tune in and participate in the celebration and expansion of this movement for social and economic justice.

Occupy 2.0 #D17

     

Join artists, musicians, and local community members for an all-day performance event in support of Occupy Wall Street and the occupation of space and reclaiming of the commons.

Freedom of expression and the right to assemble are sacred human freedoms. Through bold, courageous actions, Occupy Wall Street has renewed a sense of hope, revived a belief in community and awakened a revolutionary spirit too long silenced. To Occupy is to embody the spirit of liberation that we wish to manifest in our society.

On Saturday, December 17th – the 3 month anniversary of the birth of this movement, we will gather to celebrate Occupy Wall Street and to occupy space together.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17th at 12PM
DUARTE SQ. PARK, 6th AVE & CANAL,
PROTECT & CELEBRATE THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT
FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
OCCUPY

2011 Vegetarian and Vegan Stats

The results are in for the Vegetarian Resource Group's poll of the number of vegetarians in the United States. The results are promising, with approximately 5 percent of poll respondents saying that they never eat meat, including fish, seafood, or poultry. Even better? About half of these vegetarians are also vegan!


If you're having a hard time picturing what 2.5 percent of the U.S. looks like, there are almost as many vegans as there are people in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the country.


If you're still having trouble imagining what 2.5 percent looks like, this should clear up all confusion:


That's right folks, the vegetarian and vegan community is gaining steam—and we're a growing force to be reckoned with!

Can ONE Person Make a Difference?

The short answer? Hell, yes!
Next time you're in the hallway gathering petitions or handing out leaflets and someone so snidely tells you that "one person can't possibly make a difference" or that "you're wasting your time," don't let it get you down!

One person CAN make a difference—and it's important to remember that all social-justice movements were led at some point by "just one person" (or just a couple of people) who realized that a societal norm was cruel, unethical, and unjust. Just think: Everyone didn't stand up at the same time and fight racism and slavery—it was just a few people at first who held demonstrations, fought back, and led a revolution. These people were game-changers—dedicated, passionate, and willing to stand out from a crowd that clung to cruelty and racism just because they were what people were used to. Sound familiar?

The same goes for women's rights and gay rights—it has always been the brave, dedicated few who turn the tide.

It's also important to remember that you are leading a mini-revolution near you!

Revolutions aren't easy. They're not quick. And they're definitely not painless—but they happen, and we will win.

Occupy Broadway

This Saturday, creative artists, performers occupy Broadway and commence an all-night performance in an undisclosed bonus plaza.


EVENT: Occupy Broadway (theatre/shopping district) with a 24-hour performance.
WHEN: From December 2nd starting at 6pm until December 3rd at 6pm
WHERE: Times Square by the red stairs, between 46th and 47th streets, along 7th Ave, NY, NY
SHHH!: location released at 6pm day of: @OccupyWallStNYC #OccupyBroadway

NEW YORK, NY (December, 2011) – On December 2, 2011 New York artists will introduce tourists and New Yorkers going to Broadway shows or shopping themselves into debt to the idea of occupation as CREATIVE resistance with non-stop free performances... will be setting up in a privately owned public space (POPS) near Times Square, turning once blandified space into a space for cultural production.

“The city created privately owned public spaces for the people, in exchange for bonus height and bulk in these spaces,” notes Benjamin Shepard, co-author of The Beach Beneath the Streets. “As State Judge Stallman made clear last week, the people have a right to be in these spaces 24 hours a day.”

In recent weeks, we have seen a push to tramp on our rights to public assembly, public space and by extension democracy itself. In response, we join a global struggle using occupation as a form of creative resistance. Occupations are spreading around the world and around New York City, even UPTOWN! Bloomberg Beware, you take our park, Now Liberty Park is everywhere! In a time when downtown theaters are rapidly losing their spaces, being turned into high-end fashion stores, Occupy Broadway is a symbolic attempt to regain the space of theatre as an accessible, popular art form, bringing it back to where it all started - in a public space, for the common citizen. We are using public space to create a more colorful image of what our streets could look like, with public performances, art, and music. Through this movement, New York re-imagines itself as a work of art, rather than a retail shopping mall. With capitalism gone mad, foreclosures increasing, and bank crises consuming whole communities, we are signaling through the flames that there is another way of living. Join us.
Occupy public space. Reclaim democracy. Enjoy the show. We're all part of the show! Get off the sidelines and break through the fourth wall.
With Over 70 Acts! including: The Working Groups of OWS, Mike Daisey, The Civilians, HERE Arts Center, Jenny Romaine and Great Small Works, The Foundry Theatre, The Church of Stop Shopping, Rude Mechanical Orchestra, NY Labor Chorus, The Yes Men, Ayo Jackson, April Yvette Thompson, The Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, Tony Torn, Carlo Alban, Urban Research Theatre, Yolanda Kay, The Big Bank- A Musical, Rocha Dance Theater, Reno and Penny Arcade

Sign the Manifesto online here: http://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-bloomberg-and-the-citizens-of-new-york-city-join-the-creative-resistance-occupy-broadway

Fur Is for Dummies

Thebiggest shopping day of the year is also the biggest fur-free day of the year—from Anchorage, Alaska to our headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the young, the old, and even, well, dummies were out in force to urge shoppers to cross fur off their holiday lists.

Even a little bit of fur trim means a lifetime of suffering for minks, foxes, rabbits, and other animals on fur farms, who are crammed into filthy wire cages and are often genitally electrocuted to avoid damaging their pelts. Even dog and cat fur has been found in clothing exported from China to the U.S.

Occupy Everywhere: Michael Moore, Naomi Klein on Next Steps for the Movement Against Corporate Power

How does the Occupy Wall Street movement move from "the outrage phase" to the "hope phase," and imagine a new economic model? In a Democracy Now! special broadcast, we bring you excerpts from a recent event that examined this question and much more. "Occupy Everywhere: On the New Politics and Possibilities of the Movement Against Corporate Power," a panel discussion hosted by The Nation magazine and The New School in New York City, features Oscar-winning filmmaker and author Michael Moore; Naomi Klein, best-selling author of the "Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"; Rinku Sen of the Applied Research Center and publisher of ColorLines; Occupy Wall Street organizer Patrick Bruner; and veteran journalist William Greider, author of "Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country.

Check out the special broadcast here!

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/25/occupy_everywhere_michael_moore_naomi_klein

Occupy Wall Street Movement Protesters Look for Ways to Feed the Web

Social media has played a vital role in the Occupy Wall Street movement since it began as a Twitter experiment in July, when the anticonsumerism magazine Adbusters posted a suggestion for a Sept. 17 march in Lower Manhattan. And over the last two months, protesters used cellphones and social sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to spread their message around the world.       
Now, with cities starting to break up dozens of encampments from New York to Oakland, Calif., protesters may no longer have a physical presence that helps produce daily images and live streaming video for the 24-hour news cycle. And, despite having created a large network on social media sites, organizers within the movement and social media experts say that online tools alone are not enough to sustain it.

“I think the online component was critical — the ability to stream video, to capture the images and create records and narratives of sacrifice and resistance,” said Yochai Benkler, a professor at Harvard Law School and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. But he added that a complete retreat to an online-only form would be a mistake.

“The ability to focus on a national agenda will depend on actual, on-the-ground, face-to-face actions, laying your body down for your principles — with the ability to capture the images and project them to the world,” Mr. Benkler said, pointing to the outrage over the use of pepper spray at the University of California, Davis, last weekend as an example of an encounter that ratcheted up the online conversation.

It was video of that episode spreading on YouTube that helped get the conversation going. YouTube is part of the formidable digital presence that has been created with 1.7 million videos, viewed 73 million times, that are tagged with the keyword “occupy” in YouTube’s News and Politics category.
The movement counts more than 400 Facebook pages with 2.7 million fans around the world. On Tumblr.com, the “We Are the 99 Percent” blog continues to publish the personal stories of hundreds of people struggling with student debt, health care costs and foreclosure. There are also dozens of new wikis and Web pages, including OccupyWallSt.org and HowToOccupy.org.

On Twitter there are more than 100 accounts with tens of thousands of followers that come together under the hashtag #ows. The main account, @occupywallstnyc, has more than 94,000 followers.
But movement organizers recognize that they will need news to deliver updates.

To help propel the Occupy movement forward and prompt discussion across social networks, organizers are planning multiple protests in the coming weeks. A general strike has been called for Monday at University of California campuses, and a National Day of Action is planned for Dec. 6 to protest foreclosures. On Dec. 10, organizers are hoping to repeat the huge success they had in October when a call for a global day of action led to dozens of new encampments and protests that rippled from Asia to Europe. They are urging people to take to the streets on that day for a global human rights day.

Another global event would help provide fuel for the groups’ ambitious live video-streaming efforts. The real-time video showed people around the world what was happening in Zuccotti Park in New York, and also allowed them to talk about it on video-streaming platforms, including Livestream.com.
What began as one channel live streaming from the park has evolved into more than 200 Occupy-related unique channels on video-streaming sites.

“We can provide the real-time perspective, and we can also give people a place to talk about what they are seeing,” said Vlad Teichberg, 39, one of the volunteers who helps operate GlobalRevolution.tv, the first Occupy channel on Livestream.com.

Mr. Teichberg and other volunteers are planning to deliver regular broadcasts from a new television studio in a dilapidated building in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. They want it to serve as the main portal for aggregating and curating video content about the movement from all over the world.
An analysis of the conversation on Twitter shows how important it is for the movement to have real things on the ground to talk about.

In the last month, the conversation about Occupy was beginning to wane but picked up again last week, according to an analysis by Trendrr, a social media analytics firm. That is due in part to the protests that followed the well-publicized police raid on the encampment at Zuccotti Park and the outrage at the pepper-spraying in California.

According to Jason Damata, a spokesman for Trendrr, the daily volume of posts about the movement on Twitter averaged 400,000 to 500,000 a day since Oct. 7. Mr. Damata said there were just over 2 million Twitter posts on Nov. 15, the day the police took apart the Zuccotti Park camp. This represented the highest volume of posts about the movement on Twitter during the last month.

But Occupy Wall Street’s online visibility could also diminish if other events, like the protests in Egypt this week, pick up momentum and drive the conversation online. Or they could help bolster it.
Another firm, 140Elect.com, which tracks political trends online, noted a rise in tweets in the last week that shared content from both the Occupy movement and Egypt, according to the firm’s co-founder, Adam Green.

Mr. Green also observed that the conversation on Twitter was shifting from what was taking place inside the Occupy encampments to major news about the movement and other large protests around the world, including Egypt.

Buy Nothing Day

Occupy Wallstreet Tshirt design

America’s Not Broke: Solving the Debt Crisis By Making Nation More Equitable, Green & Secure

The bipartisan so-called "supercommittee" has failed to reach an agreement on reducing the federal deficit after three months of negotiations over taxes and spending. The full Congress will now have a little over a year to come up with an alternative. A trigger of $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over 10 years to military and domestic programs takes effect in 2013. “What people need to remember is that we are a rich country and that this crisis is actually an opportunity to harness our abundant resources in ways that will position us better for the future,” says Sarah Anderson, co-author of a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies, “America Isn’t Broke: “How to Pay for the Crisis While Making the Country More Equitable, Green, and Secure.

 As we turn to Washington where the bipartisan so-called, "super committee" has failed to reach an agreement on reducing the federal deficit. On Monday, Democrats and Republicans abandoned their effort for sweeping deal after three months of talks that failed to bridge deep divides over taxes and spending. The full Congress will now have a little over a year to come up with an alternative. A trigger of $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over 10 years takes to military and domestic programs takes effect in 2013. At the White House last night, President Obama faulted Republicans for the impasse. He vowed to veto any Republican effort to exempt military spending from the mandated spending cuts in 2013.

 Although the news of the super committee’s failure made for a somber mood on Capitol Hill Monday, some say the bipartisan deadlock could leave more room tax payers in shaping the nation’s fiscal policy. Instead of a select group of lawmakers, the full Congress will now be tasked with reaching a spending deal during a year when many of its members are up for reelection. They’ll be doing so amidst a political landscape that’s different than when it was when the super committee began three months ago with the Occupy Wall Street movement now in full swing. Well, on the heels of the super committee’s failure, we look at a new report that suggests a series of fiscal proposals that try to address the concerns expressed in the Occupy protests nationwide. The report is released by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. It’s called, "America Isn’t Broke: How to Pay for the Crisis While Making the Country More Equitable, Green, and Secure."

 "America Isn’t Broke." It reminds people that we’re a rich country, we’ve just been spending too much money on war and handing out tax breaks to rich people and corporations, and we identify a number of fiscal reforms that could, as you said, save—-create $824 billion in savings while making the country stronger by making us more equitable, by having a cleaner environment and making us safer. And so, first of all, we tackle the problem of Wall Street and the wealthy not paying their fair share.

 What’s overwhelmed this debate is the idea that we’re broke, that we have no choice except to make these painful cuts that will affect the poor, affect the elderly, affect all of us. And what people need to remember we are a rich country and that this crisis is actually an opportunity to harness our abundant resources in ways that will position us better for the future. So things like slashing all of the subsidies we now hand out to the big fossil fuel industries. These are subsidies that are keeping us dependent on foreign oil. If we remove those, companies will have more of an incentive to adopt new green technologies that could make us more competitive. And then on the war issue, the public opinion polls are showing the majority of Americans support cutting, ending the war in Afghanistan. We can save money by doing that and also eliminating all kinds of obsolete weapons systems, military bases that were developed during the Cold War era and really serve no real purpose anymore. So we have plenty of money in this country to not only deal with our deficit over the long term, but free up funds to put into real job creation now.

This is an issue I think the super committee completely ignored. All of the money that is now going into these perverse incentives to support the fossil fuel industry, making oil and gas artificially cheap. If these industries had to pay the full cost of the environmental harm caused by their products and services, they would have a much greater incentive to move into greener technologies. We’re seeing other countries develop their own domestic industries, to develop alternative energies, technologies.

We’re falling behind in that area. And again, to have a vision of our economy that is looking 20, 30 years down the road, if you do that, you see we need to invest now in ways that can not only create jobs and put people back to work, but also position America to be much more competitive and healthy down the road. No deal is better than a bad deal that would have resulted in a lot of immediate cuts that would have caused real suffering in our communities. We do have this window, between now and
January 13th, when the automatic cuts are supposed to go into effect. People should really redouble their efforts to push for a bold vision for this economy that would make us stronger, that would have a more equitable society, a healthier democracy. This is an opportunity to push that vision. And we’re already seeing in the polls that the majority of Americans are for increasing taxes on the wealthy. That means a lot of Republicans out there disagree with the position of the people who are representing them in Congress. So this is a real opportunity to turn things around.

Occupy Bat Signal for the 99%

On November 17th, tens of thousands of people peacefully gathered in Foley Square in solidarity with #OWS. It was a powerful night of music, chant, and protest. We marched across the Brooklyn Bridge finding strength in our numbers and inspiration in our shared resolve to challenge the neoliberal economic system that controls our government and destroys our communities. As we marched a beautiful light appeared in downtown Manhattan......

     

Celebrate a Vegan Holiday!

Chances are, if you’re hosting a holiday feast this year, you’ll have at least one friend or family member who will be a little flustered by the feathered fowl at the center of the table. For either ethical or health reasons, many people are making the switch to a vegetarian or vegan (vegetarian minus the eggs, dairy products, and other animal products) diet. Although this is all well and good for them (and for turkeys), it can present a definite challenge for their carnivorous hosts.

These delicious recipes will please every palate and make it easier to give up the giblets, giving everyone—including animals—something to be thankful for this holiday season.

Appetizers and Snacks
Soups and Salads
Entrées
Side Dishes
Gravies
Faux Turkeys
Desserts
Beverages
Meals

In order to avoid ruffling any feathers this holiday season, PETA has dished up these handy tips:

• Make the holiday stuffing vegetarian-friendly by using vegetable broth instead of a meat-based broth.
• Great gravy is a cinch with canned Franco-American mushroom gravy or Hain instant vegan gravy, available in traditional brown or “chicken” flavors. Just add water and simmer.
• Serve any one of these tasty vegan turkeys instead of the traditional fowl.
• When baking the holiday bread, be sure to use an egg replacer and soy milk in place of eggs and milk.
• Not sure what to make for hors d’oeuvres? Check out our recipe page and choose from a variety of tasty vegan recipes.
• Swap the milk and butter with soy milk and margarine for vegan mashed potatoes that everyone will love.
• Whip up a vegan dessert using one of our recipes, or if you’re in a pinch, pick up some nondairy ice cream for a quick and delicious dessert.
• Be sure to have a vegan dressing for the salad; our shopping guide has a list of vegan dressings that can be found at most grocery stores.
• Forgo the butter this year and use margarine instead. Try Earth Balance, or check out our shopping guide for more vegan margarines.
• Save time in the kitchen by having each of your guests bring a vegan dish to share.

Veganize Your Thanksgiving!

Is the thought of a vegan Thanksgiving overwhelming? If so, relax. It's super easy—all you have to do is use vegan products instead of animal products. That's it.

Here are some popular vegan alternatives to common animal ingredients found in Thanksgiving recipes:

• Replace butter with Earth Balance.
• Replace sour cream with Tofutti Sour Supreme.
• Replace cream cheese with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese.
• Replace marshmallows with Dandies.
• Replace mayo with Vegenaise.
• Replace turkey with Tofurky or Gardein.
• Replace milk with Silk.
• Replace cheese with Daiya.
• Replace beef stock with vegetable stock.
• Replace eggs with applesauce, bananas, and more!

Here's how you work it: Find out who is making the food for your Thanksgiving dinner and ask them to buy the vegan versions of these products and use them instead of the animal versions. No one will be able to tell the difference (I know from experience).

If you're shut down, just make a couple of dishes of your own and take them with you to your Thanksgiving celebration! You'll look like a good person for making food to share, plus you can still eat tasty food.

Good luck!

Long Island Food Not Bombs Thanksgiving Bonanza 2011

Starting November 19th and going through November 25th Long Island Food Not Bombs and Community Solidarity, Inc. will be holding their largest endeavor to date; it will include parties, Food Shares, copious amounts of decadent meals, the sharing of clothing, books and the organized efforts of hundreds of community members.

The largest of all these events will be the Vegan Thanksgiving. It's a 2-day affair that starts as an all night cooking party, (on Nov.19th, everyone is invited) and culminates into the Vegan Thanksgiving Food Share the next day (Nov.20th) in Hempstead, “Hempstead Food Share Bonanza”.

The Hempstead Food Share, on November 20th, will be the largest Food Not Bombs ever (even bigger than last years, which was the largest FNB event to date)! We expect to be able to share a feast with everyone that comes! We'll then be continuing the week with nearly a dozen events spread across our Food Shares in Bed-Stuy, Coram, Huntington and Farmingville.

Please Spread the word! This is our most ambitious project to date and to pull it off we are going to
need your help, your friends help and even the help of their friends. Solidarity is what makes Long Island Food Not Bombs so strong and we ask that you help us make these events even more absurdly inspirational than we could ever imagine.

Whom Do You Serve?

This incident took place at UC Davis. See below for video of this incident, as well as more examples of state repression against the 99% movement across the U.S.
*TRIGGER WARNING: Graphic images.
Such incidents are unfortunately common. Brutal repression has long been a daily reality for people of color, trans and queer people, criminalized drug users, sex workers, and other marginalized communities. But now that the 99% and the Occupy movement are standing up for social and economic justice, we all are subject to those same violent tactics of repression. How can the police protect and serve the public, when they repeatedly assault the public in the interest of the 1%? What exactly are the police defending -- our right to free speech and peaceful assembly, or broken financial and government institutions?

Police officers that brutalize people fighting for democracy and against the tyranny of the 1% need to be brought to justice. We call on police to protect and serve by taking direct action to prevent the abuses of power by their fellow officers. More broadly, we call on police to work to end the criminal injustice system that profits from the systematic imprisonment and dehumanization of poor and working class people, queer and trans people, people of color and other marginalized groups. We call on all police officers to disobey illegal orders and follow the example Captain Raymond Lewis and others who stand proudly in solidarity with the 99%.

A few more examples of repression, from Los Angeles and Portland:

November 17: Historic Day of Action for the 99%

November 17 Day of Action:

• Over 30,000 People Rally in New York City (NYPD estimated 32,500), including organized contingents of workers, students, and other members of “the 99%”
• Actions in at least 30 cities across the country and around the world
• Commemoration of 2-Months Since Birth of the 99% Movement, Festival of Lights on Brooklyn Bridge
• Blockade of all Entry-Points to NYSE; hundreds participate in nonviolence civil disobedience
• Sense that a powerful and diverse civic movement for social justice is on the ascent

Tens of thousands took action Thursday, November 17 to demand that our political system serve all of us — not just the wealthy and powerful. The NYPD estimated tonight’s crowd at 32,500 people, at the culmination of the day of action. Thousands more also mobilized in at least 30 cities across the United States. Demonstrations were also held in cities around the world.

"Our political system should serve all of us — not just the very rich and powerful. Right now Wall Street owns Washington," said participant Beka Economopoulos. "We are the 99% and we are here to reclaim our democracy."

New York led the charge in this energizing day for the emerging movement. In the wake of billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s predawn raid of Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square, 1:00am Tuesday morning, thousands of people throughout the five boroughs and the greater region converged to take peaceful action. Following Bloomberg’s action, the slogan “You can’t evict an idea whose time has come” became the new meme of the 99% movement overnight. The mobilization today proved that the movement is on the ascent and is capable of navigating obstacles.

The day started at 7am with a convergence of a few thousand people on Wall Street. All entry points to the New York Stock Exchange were blockaded. 'People's mics' broke out at barricades, with participants sharing stories of struggling in a dismal and unfair economy.

Through the course of the day, at least 200 people were arrested for peaceful assembly and nonviolent civil disobedience, included City Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito, City Council Member Jumaane Williams, Workers United International Vice President Wilfredo Larancuent, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry, SEIU 1199 President George Gresham, CWA Vice President Chris Shelton, CWA Vice President , Fr. Luis Barrios of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization-IFCO, retired Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis, and many others.

At 3:00pm, thousands of students converged at Union Square in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. They held a teach-in to discuss their concerns about the prospect of a lifetime of debt and economic insecurity. They held a student General Assembly and marched en masse to Foley Square.

The rally at Foley Square was electric. It was remarkably diverse in participation, across race, religion, gender, and age. As the rally concluded, thousands of participants walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, holding up lights — for a “festival of lights” to mark two months since the birth of the “99% movement”. (November 17 marks two months since the start of Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square.)

Last Day To Get Your Stuff Back

If you were present when the NYPD attacked Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park) in the middle of the night to raze our encampment and destroy our homes, today is the last day the city is willing to return the personal possessions they stole.

Date/Time
Date(s) - 18 Nov 2011
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Location
Manhattan District 7 Garage (Map)
650 West 56th St.
Manhattan, NY

Occupy Wall Street Draws Massive Turnout in NYC and Across the Nation to Mark 2-Month Milestone

The Occupy Wall Street movement entered its third month Thursday with protests against the economic system in dozens of cities across the country. Reports estimated some 300 people were arrested nationwide, with the majority of the arrests taking place in New York City when protesters attempted to shut down the New York Stock Exchange.

Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters swarmed the streets of Lower Manhattan Thursday morning, kicking off a day of mass demonstrations and the arrest of well over 200 people. After weeks of planning, protesters chose to clog the Financial District with a series of staggered marches, entering the Financial District from multiple directions in an effort to delay the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange and shut down Wall Street. The demonstrators linked arms and formed human barricades in front of key intersections in the area. According to organizers of the action, online RSVPs for the protest tripled after protesters were evicted from their base of operations at Zuccotti Park, renamed Liberty Square earlier this week.

The city responded to the demonstration with full force. At least four helicopters hovered overhead while scores of NYPD officers, vehicles and barricades could be seen on every street. Police used batons and physical force to break up human barricades and forcibly arrested protesters who defied orders to stay out of the street. The department claims more than 240 people were arrested over the course of the morning. Though the opening bell did ring and Wall Street managed to conduct business as usual, the daily operations of the Financial District were significantly altered by the day’s actions. The protesters largely viewed the demonstration as a success and a declaration that the Occupy movement is still strong.

Yesterday was an amazing demonstration of people power. We had thousands of people pour into the streets around Wall Street, marching together strongly, dropping off hundreds of people at each access point, that it was closed down. We set up human barricades, people linking arms, preventing people from getting inside. People were arrested, blocking people coming in. And it’s been a huge day so far.

Occupy Wall Street’s National Day of Action Launches with Protest at NY Stock Exchange

Today is a national day of action to mark the start of the third month of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here in New York, organizers have been distributing posters reading "Shut Down Wall Street! Occupy the Subways! Take the Square!" As we broadcast protesters marched in various parts of the Financial District in an attempt to block the New York Stock Exchange from opening at 9:30 a.m. Labor organizers are planning protests at dozens of bridges across the country today as part of a campaign to highlight the need for increased spending on the nation’s infrastructure. In Portland, protesters are planning to occupy the Steel Bridge. In Seattle, an action will target the Montlake Bridge. In Washington, D.C., protesters will march on the Key Bridge. In New York, a 5 p.m. action is set at the Brooklyn Bridge. The protests come just two days after New York police raided Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Plaza and destroyed the encampment. Protesters have been allowed to return to the park, but without sleeping bags, tents or musical instruments. Democracy Now!'s Ryan Devereaux reports live from Wall Street, where protesters, with help from New York police, blockaded all streets leading to the Stock Exchange. "The plan is for sort of a three-pronged blitz on the Financial District, marches coming from all different directions, and trying to basically swarm the area with people," Devereaux says. "The NYPD's response has been equally robust. There are police vehicles, officers and barricades on every single street

A national day of action is being held today to mark the start of the third month of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here in New York City, organizers have been distributing posters reading "Shut Down Wall Street! Occupy the Subways! Take the Square!"
As we speak, protesters are marching in various parts of the Financial District in an attempt to block the New York Stock Exchange from opening at 9:30.

Labor organizers are planning protests at dozens of bridges across the country today as part of a campaign to highlight the need for increased spending on the nation’s infrastructure. In [Portland], protesters are planning to occupy the Steel Bridge. In [Seattle], an action will target the Montlake Bridge. In Washington, D.C., protesters will march on the Key Bridge. And here in New York at 5:00 p.m., an action is set at the Brooklyn Bridge.

The protests come just two days after New York police raided the Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Plaza and destroyed the encampment. Protesters have been allowed to return to the park, but without sleeping bags, tents or musical instruments.

A national day of action is being held today to mark the start of the third month of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here in New York City, organizers have been distributing posters reading "Shut Down Wall Street! Occupy the Subways! Take the Square!"

Now, the NYPD’s response has been equally robust. There are police vehicles, officers and barricades on every single street. There are four helicopters hovering above the Financial District this morning. The police are definitely out in full force. City officials say they have had made plans to deal with tens of thousands in the streets, if necessary. Police wear their riot gear, helmets. And it’s a tense situation. The police have set up these barricades at every major intersection near the Financial District, and they’re checking work IDs of people that are employed in this area. And this is something that actually has been going on for the last two months of this occupation, and it’s been a major complaint among business owners here and people that work in the Financial District. The barricades and the extremely heavy police presence has really slowed down the ability of people to get to work and commerce and those sorts of things. So, it definitely frustrates the people that work here in the Financial District.

Mad Cow Disease: We're Not out of the Woods

Alarming new findings from Britain's Health Protection Agency reveal that many people could still be infected with, and eventually die from, mad cow disease. In humans, it is referred to as "new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease," or vCJD. As leading vCJD expert Professor John Collinge notes, "The incubation period, where there are no symptoms, can last for decades."



But that's Great Britain, not the U.S., right? Well, we're potentially at an even higher risk because while Europe banned the macabre farming practice that is believed to have caused mad cow disease—feeding ground-up farmed animals to other farmed animals—it is still legal in the United States. And while England tests every cow slaughtered for the presence of the disease, the U.S. tests only a small percentage.

The symptoms of vCJD are so similar to those of dementia or Alzheimer'sthat there is some indication that a large number of Americans may have been misdiagnosed.

Obviously we can't un-eat meat we ate in the past that may have contained the indestructible prions that cause mad cow disease, although British scientists are working on a blood test that can check for the disease. But what we can do is reduce our risk of future infection by quitting hamburgers and steaks, ahem, cold turkey.

But if you're thinking that eating cold turkey or another meat would be better, don't be fooled—you still run the risk of all those other diseases that any kind of meat consumption contributes to, including heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.

Continuing to eat meat despite the mounting evidence that it will hurt us in one way or another seems pretty mad, right?

Day of mass action

New York, NY — We are a global movement that is reclaiming our humanity and our future. We have stepped into a revitalizing civic process, realizing that we cannot fix our crises isolated from one another. We need collective action, and we need civic space. We are creating that civic space.



To occupy is to embody the spirit of liberation that we wish to manifest in our society. It is to exercise our freedom to assemble. We are creating space for community, values, ideas, and a level of meaningful dialogue that is absent in the present discourse.

Liberated space is breaking free of isolation, breaking down the walls that literally and figuratively separate us from one another. It is a new focus on community, trust, love and hope. We occupy to create a vision of equality, liberty and social justice onto the blank paving stones of public parks, in the silent hallways of abandoned schools, banks, and beyond. Public space plays a crucial role in this civic process and encourages open, transparent organizing in our movement. As we have seen in Liberty Square, outdoor space invites people to listen, speak, share, learn, and act.

Last night, billionaire Michael Bloomberg sent a massive police force to evict members of the public from Liberty Square—home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months. People who were part of a dynamic civic process were beaten and pepper-sprayed, their personal property destroyed.

Supporters of this rapidly growing movement were mobilized in the middle of the night, making phone calls, taking the streets en masse, and planning next steps. Americans and people around the world are appalled at Bloomberg's treatment of people who peacefully assemble. We are appalled, but not deterred. Liberty Square was dispersed, but its spirit not defeated. Today we are stronger than we were yesterday. Tomorrow we will be stronger still. We are breaking free of the fear that constricts and confines us. We occupy to liberate.

We move forward in the grand tradition of the transformative social movements that have defined American history. We stand on the shoulders of those who have struggled before us, and we pick up where others have left off. We are creating a better society for us all.

Occupy Wall Street has renewed a sense of hope. It has revived a belief in community and awakened a revolutionary spirit too long silenced. Join us as we liberate space and build a movement. 9 a.m. Tuesday morning at Sixth Avenue and Canal we continue.

You can't evict an idea whose time has come.

A massive police force is presently evicting Liberty Square, home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months and birthplace of the 99% movement that has spread across the country and around the world

The raid started just after 1:00am. Supporters and allies are mobilizing throughout the city, presently converging at Foley Square. Supporters are also planning public actions for the coming days, including occupation actions.
You can't evict an idea whose time has come.
Two months ago a few hundred New Yorkers set up an encampment at the doorstep of Wall Street. Since then, Occupy Wall Street has become a national and even international symbol — with similarly styled occupations popping up in cities and towns across America and around the world. A growing popular movement has significantly altered the national narrative about our economy, our democracy, and our future.

Americans are talking about the consolidation of wealth and power in our society, and the stranglehold that the top 1% have over our political system. More and more Americans are seeing the crises of our economy and our democracy as systemic problems, that require collective action to remedy. More and more Americans are identifying as part of the 99%, and saying "enough!"
This burgeoning movement is more than a protest, more than an occupation, and more than any tactic. The "us" in the movement is far broader than those who are able to participate in physical occupation. The movement is everyone who sends supplies, everyone who talks to their friends and families about the underlying issues, everyone who takes some form of action to get involved in this civic process.

This moment is nothing short of America rediscovering the strength we hold when we come together as citizens to take action to address crises that impact us all.

Such a movement cannot be evicted. Some politicians may physically remove us from public spaces — our spaces — and, physically, they may succeed. But we are engaged in a battle over ideas. Our idea is that our political structures should serve us, the people — all of us, not just those who have amassed great wealth and power. We believe that is a highly popular idea, and that is why so many people have come so quickly to identify with Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement.

Move Your Money: Campaign Grows to Divest from "Too Big to Fail" Banks to Local Banks, Credit Unions

As participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement continue protesting the record profits made by banks bailed out by taxpayer money, a group of grassroots activists are hitting America’s largest banks—including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo—where it hurts most: the wallet. Dubbing this Saturday, Nov. 5 as "Bank Transfer Day," activists are urging people to move their money out of the banks deemed "too big to fail" into local community banks and credit unions. Bank Transfer Day draws on an idea popularized by filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, economist Rob Johnson and columnist Arianna Huffington, among others. In 2010, they created the short film called "Move Your Money," which became a viral sensation. 

Last month, about two dozen people were arrested at a Citibank branch here in Manhattan when they attempted to move their money out of the bank. The protesters were reportedly locked into the bank, then detained. Bank officials accused the protesters of being disruptive. Video shot outside the bank shows an undercover police officer dragging one woman into the bank and then arresting her.

As Occupy Enters Third Month, a Look at How Protesters Are Building a Global Movement

As the Occupy movement approaches its two-month anniversary, we’re joined by two guests who are studying its strategies and successes. Author Jeff Sharlet helped found the group Occupy Writers and is assisting efforts to reestablish the evicted library at Occupy Wall Street. His recent article for Rolling Stone is "Inside Occupy Wall Street: How a Bunch of Anarchists and Radicals with Nothing but Sleeping Bags Launched a Nationwide Movement." We also speak with Marina Sitrin, who is researching global mass movements from Spain to Egypt and has just returned from Greece. Sitrin says the Occupy movement’s assemblies offer a "radical, if not revolutionary, way of organizing... When we’re in our neighborhoods and come together and relate in that way, it’s more like alternative governance."

So both schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, but then, yes, coming together, as well, just like in Athens. I mean, learning from the experiences in Athens, it was both going to the neighborhoods, but then coming back to Syntagma Square and having assemblies of assemblies. So we had gatherings—I participated in gatherings from many different neighborhoods coming together to share experiences, learn from the Argentine experience, talk about New York.

So, in New York and all over the U.S., if we’re more in our neighborhoods, but then we also do come together—we have to—whether it’s in general assemblies or spokescouncils or whatever directly democratic form to reflect on our experiences and generalize out, I think that’s actually more powerful. But yes, holding—Liberty Plaza has become so important to people around the world.

Occupy Wall Street Protesters Return to Zuccotti Park After 200 Arrested, Camping Barred

Thousands of defiant Occupy Wall Street protesters streamed into Zuccotti Park late Tuesday, less than 24 hours after police forcibly removed them from their camp. Police arrested more than 200 people, including about a dozen who had chained themselves to each other and to trees. As protesters returned, a judge upheld the city’s ban preventing them from bringing backpacks, tents and sleeping bags with them into the park.

Defiant Occupy Wall Street protesters streamed into Zuccotti Park late Tuesday in a bid to rebuild their cause less than 24 hours after police forcibly removed them from their camp. A fired-up crowd of [thousands of people] joined in the first general assembly since the surprise eviction. The eviction had occurred around 1:00 a.m. with hundreds of police storming the camp and dismantling tents, tarpaulins, outdoor furniture, mattresses and signs. They arrested over 200 people, including about a dozen who had chained themselves to each other and to trees.

Even as protesters returned Tuesday evening, they were banned from bringing backpacks, tents and sleeping bags with them. A judge ruled yesterday afternoon that the city had the right to enforce rules against camping gear in the park. Justice Michael Stallman found the city, at least for now, can ban the protesters from pitching tents and unrolling sleeping bags in the park.

Inside Occupy Wall Street Raid: Eyewitnesses Describe Arrests, Beatings as Police Dismantle Camp

The Democracy Now! team rushed down to Zuccotti Park in the middle of the night to report on the police crackdown on Occupy Wall Street. We were there until the early hours of the morning, witnessing the arrests in the streets in Lower Manhattan and the dismantling of the encampment — and the hauling away protesters’ belongings. "They can’t pull wool over our eyes. They can’t put nothing in our eyes that’s going to blind [us to] what’s going on here. And the same goes for all the people who are out there," a protester told Democracy Now!

Last night, the Democracy Now! team rushed down to Zuccotti Park to cover the police crackdown. It began just after 1:00 a.m. We were there until the early hours of the morning, coming in to do this broadcast. We witnessed the arrests in the streets and made it into the square just as police were dismantling the tents, as well as sanitation workers, and hauling away protesters’ belongings in dump trucks. This is our report.

An hour later, they basically surrounded the park, at least 100 to 200 cops, and with the shields on there across their faces. And they basically put up—they put up huge beams of light into the park, on every side. They had about three beams on every side of the park. Got super bright. And they came with a loudspeaker. There was a ton of them, at least 100 to 200. And they lined up in front of the park, on all sides of the park, where they lined up in the front, on Trinity Avenue. And they came with the loudspeaker. They said, "Listen, we’re going to need you guys to clear the park. We’re going to take out the tents and get the sanitation team in here. And you can come back to the park without your tents. You won’t be able to have your tents in the park."

"And they basically started pushing people. They started tearing down tents. They started to break them down, and without even checking if anybody was in the tents. But they started pushing everybody around."

They basically started pulling them and stepping on them, yeah. And everybody started to leave the park. And this is where we are, basically. Everybody kind of rushed out. They started pepper-spraying people. I got—I have milk here. I actually was helping somebody get the spray out of their eyes. And this is where we are right now.

Occupy Wall Street Evicted in Late Night Raid; Lawyers Secure Injunction to Reopen Zuccotti Park

Nearly two months into Occupy Wall Street, New York City police have carried out a major crackdown on the protesters’ Lower Manhattan encampment, dismantling tents, confiscating belongings, and arresting more than 70 people. At around 1 a.m. local time, police officers in riot gear circled Zuccotti Park—renamed Liberty Plaza by the protesters—ordering them to leave. Although most people complied, a group of around 200 to 300 people refused, locking their arms together in the middle of the park. They were eventually detained after a tense standoff that saw police use pepper spray and hit protesters with batons. Police also dismantled the protesters’ encampment, tearing down tents and tossing the sea of belongings, clothing, tarps and equipment into large dump trucks. During our live broadcast, a judge issued a restraining order prohibiting the city and police from evicting the protesters from the Occupy Wall Street encampment. We get an update from longtime civil rights attorney, Danny Alterman, who helped file the injunction as part of the Liberty Park Plaza Legal Working Group. "We put together a set of papers on the fly, working nonstop throughout the night, and around 3 o’clock in the morning contacted Judge Lucy Billings of the New York State Supreme Court, who agreed to meet us between 5 and 6 a.m. to review our request for a temporary restraining order, restraining the police from evicting the protesters at Liberty Park, exclusive of lawful arrest for criminal offenses, and, most importantly, enforcing the rules published after the occupation began almost two months ago—or otherwise preventing protesters from re-entering Liberty Park with tents and other property utilized therein," Alterman says. Judge Billings signed the order before 6:30 a.m., and a court hearing is set for today.

Nearly two months into Occupy Wall Street, New York City police have carried out a major crackdown on the protesters’ Lower Manhattan encampment, dismantling tents, confiscating belongings, arresting more than 70 people. At around 1:00 in the morning local time, police officers in riot gear encircled Zuccotti Park, renamed by the protesters Liberty Square, ordering them to leave. Although most demonstrators complied, a group of around 200 or 300 people refused, locking their arms together in the middle of the park. They were eventually detained after a tense standoff that saw police use pepper spray and hit protesters with batons.

Police meanwhile took to dismantling the protesters’ encampment, tearing down tents, tossing the sea of belongings, clothing and equipment into large dump trucks. Hundreds of sanitation workers participated in the trashing of the private belongings. More people were arrested in the surrounding streets as police sought to clear demonstrators as far as possible from Zuccotti square.

In a statement, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was acting to protect public safety, saying, quote, "Unfortunately, the park was becoming a place where people came not to protest, but rather to break laws, and in some cases, to harm others." Bloomberg added, protesters will be allowed to return to Zuccotti Park, but without their camping gear.

Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street supporters are now gathering in nearby Foley Square to plan the movement’s next step. Clergy and labor are expected to join them.

FDR's 1944 State of the Union Address, better known as the Second or Economic Bill of Rights

In 1944, for his state of the union address, president Franklin D. Roosevelt presented a social and economic program which would have expanded on the original bill of rights. Most of it was a radio address, as he had the flu, but part of it was filmed (the footage was found recently). Similar programs are found in modern constitutions, and part of it would inspire the universal bill of rights. Obviously, it didn't pass. FDR would die barely a year later, and this would die with him. Their inspiration can be found in the writings of enlightenment philosophers, already, but also in early socialist thought, up to the current day.

As an example, the language and the rights used could be found in the principles of the old french socialist party, who had formed the government before WW2, and whose principles would end up being part of the preambles of the 4th and 5th republics' constitutions, but also in the, admittedly symbolic, soviet constitution of 1936. These sentiments were repeated in the modern constitutions of Peru, Spain, Finland, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.

 

 

The speech

It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.”[2] People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.
Among these are:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

Occupy Wall Street: Improving Quality of Life for the 99%

The participants of Occupy Wall Street are working for a better quality of life for the 99%. We are everyday Americans who want our voices and every voice to count in the political process. We want policy that looks out for all of our health and economic well-being — not a system that's rigged to look out for only the interests of the very wealthy and powerful.

While we work for these goals, we also occupy a physical space in lower Manhattan, and we work hard to create a safe, secure, and positive environment for everyone who comes to Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park). We have been working diligently to be good neighbors to area residents and businesses. Here are some of the ways we have been making measurable progress on quality of life issues:

• Toilets: Installed. Despite denials of permits by the City, Occupy Wall Street participants have worked diligently with the help of local officials to secure 24/7 access to toilets within reasonable distance of Liberty Square. Starting today, OWS is providing access to porta-potties in a private, well-lit space with 24-hour security, only 2 blocks away from the square. The portable toilets will be maintained by a professional service, and OWS volunteers are blanketing Liberty Square with fliers directing people to the facilities.
• Sanitation: Active and effective. Occupy Wall Street has a volunteer sanitation working group that has included hundreds of participants who maintain the park, making sure that anything left discarded is disposed of, sweeping, and cleaning. Their work is particularly important after rainstorms. At any given moment, a visitor to Liberty Square will find volunteers engaged in maintenance and cleaning throughout the park.
• Security/Community Watch: Active and delivering results. Occupy Wall Street is in a public space in a major metropolis. We acknowledge that there are security challenges that accompany that fact. We have a multi-stakeholder Security Team versed in nonviolence and de-escalation tactics, as well as an overnight Community Watch, whose job is to ensure that everyone is safe. There have been cases of individuals with predatory intentions coming to the space and assaulting Occupy Wall Street participants. OWS security and volunteers has expelled such individuals, and when there was criminality involved, turned the individual over to the police.
• Noise Level: Reduced and time-limited. We recognize that the drumming the first few weeks of Occupy Wall Street was excessive for many local residents. Stakeholders throughout the OWS community, including the activist-drummers, worked to provide guidelines and Pulse—the drummers working group—has self-regulated for the past week and a half to limit drumming to a total of four hours per day (12pm-2pm, 4pm-6pm). When new people arrive without knowledge of our drumming hours, a member of Pulse now approaches them to explain the policy to them.
• NYPD Barriers to Business: Down. Some local businesses have been glad to have Occupy Wall Street in the area, and have reported a boom in their business because of OWS participants, and massively increased visitors to Liberty Square. Other businesses have complained about losses, mostly blaming the barricades erected by police after the occupation started. OWS and the neighborhood have requested a removal of these barricades, and thankfully many are now coming down after Community Board 1 and local officials made it clear they were a problem. Additionally, OWS has launched local business outreach initiatives, including the Street Vendor Project, which will encourage supporters of Occupy Wall Street to remotely purchase food from local vendors for OWS participants: http://streetvendor.org/ows

We will continue to work hard to improve the quality of life at and around Zuccotti Park, as we continue pursuing our larger purpose of improving the quality of life for all. Since the arrival of a new grassroots economic justice movement represented by Occupy Wall Street’s, we have helped to block new debit card fees the big banks wanted to impose on millions of Americans; helped homeowners win easier terms on mortgage debt and college grads on student debt; and opened a broad national conversation on income inequality and economic justice that is leading to real change. We will keep working locally, nationally and globally to demand a more just economy and better lives for all.

Rule of Law vs. the Forces of Order

Occupy Wall Street, with its defiant style of non-violent protest, has consistently clashed with the NYPD’s obsession with order maintenance, resulting in hundreds of mostly unnecessary arrests and a significant infringement on the basic rights of free speech and assembly.

Prior to the massive protests at the WTO in Seattle, protest policing in the U.S. was a largely casual affair punctuated with isolated outbursts of police misconduct. After Seattle, police departments embarked on a major rethinking of how to handle increasingly large and militant protests and, most importantly, how to handle the growing use of large coordinated direct actions. Without too much concern for First Amendment rights, police departments have tended to take one of two approaches and sometimes a bit of both.

The first is the strategic repression of direct action movements in particular. Beginning with the Miami police’s aggressive response to the FTAA protests in 2003, many departments resorted to using surveillance, agents provocateurs and negative publicity before an event, followed by massive deployments, “less lethal” weaponry and restriction on protest permits, including the creation of isolated “protest pits.”

Similar problems emerged in 2004, during the Republican National Convention in New York City. Permits were denied to use Central Park and other traditional protest locations; barricades were used extensively at peaceful, permitted demonstrations; and over a thousand people were preemptively arrested, with all the charges eventually dropped by the Manhattan DA.

The other approach has been to attempt to micromanage demonstrations in such a way that dissent becomes a tightly controlled and dispiriting experience. This is accomplished through the use of large numbers of officers, extensive restrictions on access to demonstrations through choke points, penning in and subdividing crowds with barricades, heavily restricting march permits, and making multiple arrests, sometimes using excessive force for minor violations.

This latter strategy is especially common in New York City, which has an almost limitless supply of police officers (upwards of 30,000) to use for controlling crowds. During the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, we have seen a gross overreaction to peaceful demonstrators engaging in minor violations of the law, such as using a megaphone, writing on the sidewalk with chalk, marching in the street (and across the Brooklyn Bridge), standing in line at a bank to close an account, and occupying a public park past closing hours.

The effect of this has been a low-level criminalization of dissent that serves only a limited legitimate public safety function. The important thing to keep in mind here is that while some protests have been illegal and disruptive, they have been consistently nonviolent in character. This raises the question of whether the tight and expensive control of these demonstrations is an unwarranted interference in people’s right to free expression that exceeds any legal objective.