Happy Halloweeny!

Take Notes;

Phony:

A fake person is someone who is not genuine and will do whatever it takes to make themself look good. They will take credit for other's work or down play the good of others to illuminate oneself. Fake people take part in hipocrisy, lies, and will turn on friendship the moment it no longer is a benefit for them. They will change thier personality to fit in to a certain group. A person who conforms to a particular subculture to appear a certain way in order to please their peers. they are usually too one-dimensional and superficial to realize this. Often times due to their compliance they cannot think for themselves,or have a mind of their own..which is what results in their shallowness. Most of the time they have No clue who they really are, MPD begins to be dsiplayed (Multiple Personality Disorder) just to be liked and accepted.

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I have Never been so disgusted in my life. I support anyone who believes in freedom and people who fight for their rights but I do not support phony people that use capatilism when they claim to be against it, then use it for/as a muse to make money. I use to support a band that I thought was authetic until I recently found out the truth and what is really going on behind closed doors.  Only cowards steal from their people like that.
To spread bs lies to just to make profit to benefit themselves. I will be the one to put them on blast and call them out and I have no shame doing so.. The audacity to protest at the Occupy Wallstreet protest saying
"We are the 99%" yet their parents are the rich ones taking our money!!! Then having no problem giving it to them to flip and make more profit off of a global cause for their band? I don't think so.  Constantly advertising their murchandise, "Purchase our cds's, and shirts go to our website and order.. and get a FREE poster!!"..hmmm that sounds like capatlism to me!! FOOLS!!!  What happened to them supposedly believing in the REALLY REALLY FREE MARKET??? BASTARDS. The audacity to even march in such an event when they are the ones also behind this whole downfall participating, like a bunch of snakes..slowly making their way in. . That has to be the most outrageous thing ever. I will not support such Garbage.  I see right through their game plan and it does not fool me one bit. The whole image just to fit the part right to the music, which is not even theirs. All original songs remade, and not to mention trying to take Full Credit for. I been studying this group for quite some time now and I see all the bs nonsense. Their secret is not safe with me ;) They are crooks and part of that percentage who take from the poor to benefit themselves.... Anything for a name and 15 minutes of fame. They are a bunch of phony bastards doing whatever it takes to fit in and make/get some money. PATHETIC!

wake the fuck up people!!!!

Stand with Occupy Wall Street

Not a single banker has gone to jail for crimes that led to the financial meltdown. But now over 1,000 protesters have been arrested in the inspiring Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City.

Tell Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly: Respect the Occupy Wall Street protesters' constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

The occupation of Wall Street has inspired a nationwide movement in the spirit of Wisconsin.

But there has been a powerful backlash against peaceful protesters who are using both their right to public assembly and tactics of nonviolent civil disobedience to call attention to the fact that our government has bailed out the wealthiest Americans but has done little to help middle and working class Americans who have lost their jobs and had their homes foreclosed on.

The protest is building momentum with solidarity marches that CREDO and Other 98% members, progressive organizations and labor have joined. However the very existence of Occupy Wall Street could be endangered by strongarm NYPD tactics aimed at intimidating protesters and ending their three week stand against the big Wall Street banks.

Tell Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly: Respect the Occupy Wall Street protesters' constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

Many of the rank and file "blue shirts" of the NYPD have shown great poise, respect, and even moments of solidarity with the protesters. After all they are members of the 99 percent of America that has been victimized by Wall Street.

However, NYPD leadership has used brutal techniques to break up the protests. In an incident last week, a police officer attacked nonviolent protesters with pepper spray. There are multiple videos of the attack on four women protesters who did nothing to provoke the officer's action. The New York Times reported that the officer in question "looked as if he were spraying cockroaches.

The officer involved in that attack was not a rank and file cop. He was a deputy inspector with supervisory responsibilities for the police action. What's more, he has a history of violating the civil rights of protesters and is currently facing legal action for accusations of wrongful arrest and civil rights violations at the 2004 Republican National Convention demonstrations.

Tell Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly: Respect the Occupy Wall Street protesters' constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

There have been other incidents of police abuse. But the documented attack on protesters by a high-ranking NYPD officer demonstrates that this is incident isn't simply the collateral damage of a tense and confusing situation. The police are roughing up protesters in an attempt to break up the Occupy Wall Street protest.

Tens of thousands marched in solidarity with the 99 percent and the Occupy Wall Street protesters. But we must ensure that now the march is over and the news cameras are out of sight that the police do not continue their campaign of violence and intimidation to stop the momentum building at the Wall Street protests.

Tell Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly: Respect the Occupy Wall Street protesters' constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

We have heard from our friends on the ground that the most important thing people can do who cannot come down and support the protests in person is to ensure that the Mayor and the Police Commissioner do not drive them out of the park which is serving as the base for Occupy Wall Street protests.

It's important that the Mayor and Police Commissioner know that the eyes of people across the country are on them, and that we consider it an attack on democracy and not just an individual protester when the NYPD systematically uses intimidation and violence with the intent of suppressing the ongoing protests.

"Not a single banker has gone to jail and yet over 1,000 protesters have been arrested. I stand with the protesters of Occupy Wall Street, and I demand that the NYPD respect their constitutional right to peaceful assembly."


SiGN THE PETiTiON!!
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/ows_4/?rc=LA_OWS_10072011_ad3

The Ultimate Fake Blood Recipe

Have y'all decided on a Halloween costume yet?

I been looking for the perfect recipe for fake blood, I've got it down to a T. You're welcome.

Fake Blood
3 bottles light corn syrup
1 empty gallon jug
4 bottles red food coloring

• Pour the corn syrup into the jug.
• Fill the jug halfway with water.
• Pour in the food coloring.
• Shake the living hell out of the jug until everything is well mixed.
• Fill the rest of the jug with water and shake again.

If you want to make it thicker, just add more syrup.

Are you gonna get all gory with the fake blood recipe or what?!

Have a Happy and Safe Halloweeny Everyone!!

My I Ching Hexagram for today

56: The Wanderer

Monday, October 24th, 2011

 

General Meaning: A seasoned traveler knows that a special kind of decorum is called for when one ventures far from home. He or she must develop a yielding nature outwardly, so that the 'local contact' or host can open doors and prevent unseemly errors. But inwardly, the wanderer knows that it is sometimes impossible to discern the true intentions of strangers — are they hostile, friendly or merely opportunistic?

The twin houses of mystery and discovery rule any journey. Each new day is launched on a fresh landscape, one that reaches out to grab our full attention. Though new adventures are a great teacher — and often a great equalizer — there is an art to living lightly in a strange land. Mindfulness and discernment become the keys not only to success, but also to survival.

If you are entering a new environment of any sort attempt to be sincere, flexible and undemanding, rather than obstinate. Let go of old attitudes and habits that could encumber you, or make you overly conspicuous. The onset of a great journey is not a favorable time to enter into binding agreements

The Arc of the Moral Universe, From Memphis to Wall Street

The national memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. was dedicated last Sunday. President Barack Obama said of Dr. King, “If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there.” The dedication occurred amidst the increasingly popular and increasingly global Occupy Wall Street movement. What Obama left unsaid is that King, were he alive, would most likely be protesting Obama administration policies.

Not far from the dedication ceremony, Cornel West, preacher, professor, writer and activist, was being arrested on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. He said, before being hauled off to jail: “We want to bear witness today that we know the relation between corporate greed and what goes on too often in the Supreme Court decisions. … We will not allow this day of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s memorial to go without somebody going to jail, because Martin King would be here right with us, willing to throw down out of deep love.”

West was arrested with 18 others, declaring “solidarity with the Occupy movement all around the world, because we love poor people, we love working people, and we want Martin Luther King Jr. to smile from the grave that we haven’t forgot his movement.”

Over the same weekend as the dedication, the U.S. military/CIA’s drone campaign, under Commander in Chief Obama, launched what the independent, nonprofit Bureau of Investigative Journalism, based in London, called the 300th drone strike, the 248th since Obama took office. According to the BIJ, of the at least 2,318 people killed by drone strikes, between 386 and 775 were civilians, including 175 children. Imagine how Obama’s fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr. King, would respond to those grim statistics.

Back in 1963, King published a collection of sermons titled “Strength to Love.” His preface began, “In these turbulent days of uncertainty the evils of war and of economic and racial injustice threaten the very survival of the human race.” Three of the 15 sermons were written in Georgia jails, including “Shattered Dreams.” In that one, he wrote, “To cooperate passively with an unjust system makes the oppressed as evil as the oppressor.” King revisited the idea of shattered dreams four years later, eight months before his assassination, in his speech called “Where Do We Go From Here,” saying: “Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. … Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

Vegan Boots for Less Than $50

Veganistas enjoy shopping for new seasons (happy face)—but sometimes our wallets don't agree with our seasonal enthusiasm (sad face). This is especially rough at the beginning of boot season, no? I feel you, my friends, and I'm here to help. Fashion forward and fall ready, I present the veganista guide to this season's boots … all less than $50! Complete with a style for every kind of veganista out there, check out these bootiful, cruelty-free picks:

Ankle Slouchy:

Slouchy Studded Ankle Boots, $32.80, Forever 21
   

Wedge:

Qupid Timber 17 Black Burnished Ankle Boots, $42, Lulu's

Lace-up:  These happen to be my personal favorite!

Belt-Wrapped Grunge Boot, $40, Charlotte Russe
   

Heel:

Short Heel Slouch Boot, $32.50, Charlotte Russe
 

Lace-Up With Heel:

Qupid Puffin 06 Black Velvet Lace-Up Booties, $45, Lulu's

So many choices! Which style is callin' your name?

Big ups to my brother and father for making me the Warrior Queen I am today.

They both taught me everything I needed to know for survival...I have been like this my whole life I have always fought for something and so has my finally, this is not anything new to my life..I know what struggle is, I have struggled my whole life and I am still here...My dad taught me cowards always run in packs true soldiers stand alone and fight..I fear nothing.

Animals Join Occupy Wall Street Protest

No animals were arrested in the making of this protest, but yesterday in Zuccotti Park Liberty Square, a "pig," "cow," and "chicken" joined the Occupy Wall Street protesters to push for more corporate accountability. Our animals were at the center of a whirlwind of police, photographers, protesters, and intrigued passersby who stopped to read the animals' posters and pick up copies of PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kit.



Bearing delicious vegan pizzas, the animals—representing 100 percent of the animals raised for food in the U.S.—brought attention to the fact that corporate greed is responsible for billions of animals' being treated like cogs in a meat machine rather than the intelligent, sensitive individuals they are.

On factory farms, pigs have their tails and testicles cut off without being given any painkillers; cows are fattened for slaughter on barren, filthy feed lots; and chickens are crammed by the tens of thousands into airless sheds, where their accumulated waste results in ammonia-laden air that burns their eyes and throats.

To opt out of the corporate abuse of animals, order your own free vegetarian/vegan starter kit and get busy breaking down the barricades to protecting animals, your health, and the planet.

Occupy Wall Street Protesters Rally Against Arrests, Charges

In New York City, several hundred Occupy Wall Street supporters marched to the offices of Manhattan’s district attorney on Tuesday to call on prosecutors to drop all charges against protesters detained over the past month. Following the demonstration, protesters marched to a nearby restaurant where New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was being presented with an award. The protesters were joined by author Naomi Wolf, who had been attending the event inside. After refusing to comply with an order to vacate the sidewalk, Wolf and a companion were arrested. Meanwhile, the New York City Police Department commander who was caught on video pepper-spraying a group of young women while they were corralled in netting last month now faces an internal disciplinary charge that could cost him 10 days of vacation time. The department has found Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna broke department rules in his use of the spray during an Occupy Wall Street protest last month. Bologna can accept the charge and plead guilty or opt for a departmental trial. The victims of the pepper spraying have called for criminal charges.

Most New York City Voters Want Occupy Wall Street Encampment to Remain

New York City voters want the city to allow the Occupy Wall Street protesters to stay in their encampment in the Financial District. In the survey, 72 percent of city voters — including 52 percent of Republicans — expressed support for the protesters as long as they continued to obey the laws. On Monday, thousands of protesters marked the beginning of the second month of the protest. Kobi Skolnick is an organizer with Occupy Wall Street.

Kobi Skolnick, Occupy Wall Street organizer: "Some people did not believe that it will grow so fast, but some of us really wanted it to grow fast. And as you see now, it’s pretty widespread, at least in this nation, and around the world, but around the world is not because of us. Each nation has its own problem with economic injustices."

Occupy Cincinnati protesters have sued police and city officials for violating their free speech rights. The protesters are challenging a city rule that bars gatherings after 10 p.m. at the downtown park they have occupied for more than a week. Meanwhile, Seattle police officers and park employees raided the Occupy Seattle encampment on Monday. Some 150 tents were taken down, and eight people were arrested.

Global Day of Rage: Hundreds of Thousands March Against Inequity, Big Banks, as Occupy Movement Grows

From Buenos Aires to Toronto, Kuala Lumpur to London, hundreds of thousands of people rallied on Saturday in a global day of action against corporate greed and budget cutbacks, demanding better living conditions and a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources. Protests reportedly took place in 1,500 cities, including 100 cities in the United States—all in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement that launched one month ago in New York City.

It’s been a month since thousands answered a call to occupy Wall Street here in New York City, and as of this weekend, the movement has gone global. On Saturday, as thousands marched in New York’s Times Square, people also took to the streets in more than a thousand cities in more than 80 countries. From Buenos Aires to Toronto, Kuala Lumpur to London, people rallied against corporate greed and budget cutbacks, demanding better living conditions and a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources. They were answering a global call to action that’s also coincided with the Group of 20, or G20, meeting in Paris, where finance ministers and bankers are considering naming 50 banks as systemically important to the global economy and in need of, quote, "extra capital."

In Athens, Greece, as the country braces for a general strike, thousands of people gathered in the center of the city in Syntagma Square to protest austerity measures and corporate greed.

Elsewhere in Europe, tens of thousands of protesters filled Madrid’s Sol Square, where the indignados movement, the movement of the indigant, first began five months ago over austerity measures and high unemployment.

Meanwhile, in Rome, reports say as many as 200,000 people joined the global day of rage against bankers and corrupt politicians. The march was peaceful until police fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to disperse hundreds of protesters who set cars on fire and broke windows. Tiziana Bellucci was—from Rome, expressed optimism about the possible outcome of the day’s protests.

The main focuses are basically the same that are everywhere else in the world. We are trying to say that this system is not working. It is spoiling us. It is destroying our opportunities about the present and the future. We know that, a lot of people are losing their jobs. They know that they are not going to find a better way to—for their life, to live. We know that our universities are getting closed for the opportunities, that there’s a lot of people who are not going in it to be there in the immediate future, and the same for education. There’s a whole system. In Italy, we’re talking about bribery, which is like exactly in your face. It’s not like in other places where it is hidden, but it’s completely unveiled.

So, there’s a lot of anger. And there’s a lot of unions and association and parties trying to join their forces and to propose something different and to kick this government out of the way. The problem is that, trying to put all these forces together, that there was—there was a mistake, because it was not clear at a certain point that we had to make a nonviolent statement. And there were people trying to use the march—and they actually did that—to protect themselves, because they wanted to make a major fight and major clashes, which is definitely not—it is something that is not useful, and it’s trying—it is already having these some consequences, bad consequences. It is going belittle the whole movement. It’s really sad. It’s really a bad situation.

Tokyo to protest in solidarity with our brothers and sisters at the Wall Street occupation. We wanted to join the 99 percenters in demonstrating our solidarity with stopping the corporate greed around the world. The people at this protest were representing many different points of view, including resistance to nuclear power, resistance to declining working conditions in Japan, as well as resistance to the TPP free trade—so-called free trade protocol. It was exciting. It was really wonderful. And I was deeply inspired by it.

It was really inspiring to read the news and watch programs like this, learning about the Occupy Wall Street movement. As a result, in this protest, it wasn’t only Japanese workers there, but foreign workers. And for the first time.

Well, the common thread is corporate greed. Corporate greed is what fuels industries like the nuclear power industry. And this is—even people in our union—we have people in our union who support nuclear power, but even people in our union who do still agree that corporations must be accountable, must be accountable for making our energy safe, making our environment clean. And so, it’s about making sure that we don’t fuel our energy policy with corporate greed. We need to fuel our energy policy and our labor policy with a desire to improve human flourishing in countries like Japan and the United States.

As far as the linking up is concerned, it needs to be a global, democratic movement, if we’re going to confront the evils of the nuclear power industry, if we’re going to confront the evils of unfair working conditions and unfair free—so-called free trade, free trade agreements, that just challenge our ability to have fair labor standards and fair environmental standards.

Times Square Taken Over as Occupy Wall Street Enters Second Month, Hundreds Arrested Across Country

It was a month ago today that Occupy Wall Street began in Manhattan’s Financial District. The protest encampment based at Zuccotti Park remains and continues to grow despite last week’s threatened eviction by the City of New York. On Saturday, thousands of protesters marched from Zuccotti Park to Times Square, the heart of New York’s media, tourism and entertainment district. Earlier in the day, about two dozen people were arrested at a Citibank in Lower Manhattan while they attempted to take their money out of the bank.

In New York, at least 92 people were arrested on Saturday during a day of action that saw tens of thousands march from the Wall Street—Occupy Wall Street encampment to Times Square. Earlier in the day, about two dozen people were arrested at a Citibank in Manhattan while they attempted to take their money out of the bank. The protesters were reportedly locked into the bank and then detained. Video shot outside the bank shows undercover police officer dragging a woman into the bank.

There was a barricade line in front of us that prevented the demonstrators from entering into the main strip that most people would recognize as Times Square. This was hundreds and hundreds of people backed up at this point. Thousands were in the area of Times Square. But in that intersection where we were, hundreds and hundreds of people were backed up, as far you could see. The police were attempting to push that barricade line back into the crowd. Some officers physically picked up the metal barricades and used them as shields, pushing back into the crowd. Tensions reached a boiling point when the barricades were opened, and the police allowed officers on horseback to enter into the crowded space. Admittedly, some people chose to stand their ground as the NYPD repeatedly told them to back off, but those who wanted to move really couldn’t. There was no space to get away. And these horses were pushed into the crowd.

The officers would at times pick up the barricades. You know, six or so officers would pick up the barricades by their uprights and use them as sort of broad shields and push them into the crowd. There was one point when there was a metal piece of the barricade that had stuck out perpendicular, and that was shoved into the crowd.

The day started by people marching from Occupy Wall Street. This was right after the day before, where the park was going to be, quote, "cleaned up." Many were fearful it was be cleaned out, and there was such a tremendous response, including from city officials, telling the Mayor, Bloomberg, to back off and not allow this private company that runs the park, Brookfield Properties, to move in with so-called cleaners, that at 7:00 in the morning, the appointed time of the evacuation, the city announced they would not be doing this evacuation. The next day, the protest began in the morning.

That’s correct. The Occupy Wall Street movement here in New York City took part in the global day of action with a number of symbolic demonstrations throughout Manhattan. They began with a march in the Financial District, which led to a march to Washington Square, which is just north of the area, where they were bolstered by several hundred students protesting things like student debt. It was at Washington Square Park that a number of demonstrators broke off and went to Citibank, as we mentioned in the lede and the headlines, where they attempted to close their accounts with Citibank. Two dozen were arrested.

NYC Withdraws Cleaning Evacuation Order in Face of Defiant Occupy Wall Street Protesters

Occupy Wall Street protesters are celebrating in Manhattan’s Financial District today after successfully defying orders to evacuate the encampment they have held for nearly four weeks. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had said Zuccotti Park — renamed Liberty Plaza by protesters — would have to be cleared by 7:00 a.m. following a request by its owners that it be cleaned. Thousands of people began congregating in the square overnight amidst concerns the cleaning order was a pretext for evicting the protesters. Hours later, New York City officials announced the request to clear the park had been withdrawn. We go live to Zuccotti Park to speak with Democracy Now!'s Ryan Devereaux. "At about 6:00 in the morning, a march of union members arrived to Liberty Square, and the reception was one of pure joy, chanting, cheering," Devereaux says. He describes how protesters allocated $3,000 from their treasury to purchase cleaning supplies and then "spent the better part of all day yesterday cleaning this plaza, making sure that it was as clean as possible when the inspectors would arrive, giving the city absolutely no excuse to say that this was a unsanitary place." We also speak with New York City Council Member Jumaane Williams, who is one of many local officials who have lent their support for the occupation. "I think everyone kind of understands that this is a great movement going on," Williams says. “More importantly, it's something that should be supported, just like we supported all the other movements that were going on around the world."

The situation at the Occupy Wall Street encampment is rapidly developing this morning. Thousands answered a call for support and streamed into New York’s Financial District overnight ahead of a, quote, "cleaning" that many feared would actually lead to a [clearing] of Zuccotti Park, where protesters have stayed since September 17th. Well, shortly before 7:00 a.m. this morning, they got word that the feared evacuation had been canceled.

 It’s been a really interesting dynamic between the protesters and the police, that’s for sure. Obviously, you know, some of the things that the police have done in recent weeks have caught a lot of headlines, beginning in late September when 80 people were arrested on a march near Union Square. Four young women were corralled and pepper-sprayed by Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna. That was caught on video, that—those videos went viral, as did another video of Bologna pepper-spraying another protester on the sidewalk. Following that incident, the protest gained more attention. More people began to follow what was going on, and more people turned out in Liberty Plaza to support the cause.

Exactly one week later, the NYPD made headlines once again when they arrested over 700—over 730 protesters attempting to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. The arrests came under fire from a lot of critics who said that the police led the protesters onto the bridge, that they escorted them onto the bridge, and that they gave them the false impression that they would be able to cross the bridge. And then, when they made it about halfway across, about a third of the way across, they were stopped, kettled, as it’s called—caught in orange nets—and arrested en masse. And once again, the police, in their actions, gained this movement a ton of attention, a ton of press and a ton of sympathy in the United States and around the world.
And following that incident, we began to see occupation movements springing up around the country. There are reportedly over a thousand occupations taking place in cities around the United States.

2012 - The 99% of U.S. Social Uprising

United States Long Overdue Political, Economic and Social Evolution

The one thing we all have in common is that we are the (99.09%) ninety nine point zero nine percent of U.S. population, and will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the (0.01%) one tenth of one percent.

In order to evolve out of and remove our current Republican and Democrat (Republicrats) tyrannical and criminal imperialistic political, economic and social shackles, first we need to get an accurate perspective, that: in reality Republicans and Democrats are the two wings of the same brutal bird of prey. 

The said brutal bird of prey consists of one tenth of one percent (0.01%) of the United States and the European populations.  The said (0.01%) of the European and American Monarchy wants all there is for free, including all of our persons and our labor for nothing and would do all that it can in secrecy, to plunder and get what it wants. 

The European Union of Nation-Less Corporations and the United States of Nation-Less Corporations have successfully dumb down millions of people and destroyed any and all social upward mobility chances, replacing it with a dismal downward slavery and misery.


We, the people, have all one thing in common, we are the (99.09%) ninety nine point zero nine percent of the U.S. population, victimized and constantly plundered and held back by the one tenth of one percent (0.01%) criminal, greedy, narcissistic bastards, owners and operators of the Nation-less Corporations. We, the people, will no longer tolerate the massive corruption of the 0.01% percent.

Why Nation-Less Corporation and not Multi Nationals:
Multi-National is a euphemistic and highly misleading phrase, implying that a Multi-National Corporation, operating in multiple of countries, is responsive and loyal to multiple of nations.  We all know nothing could be further from the truth.

Dear Occupiers: A Letter from Anarchists

October 7, 2011 at 8:47 pm ·

-

Starting with the occupation of a park next to Wall Street on September 17, a new movement is spreading across the country in which people gather in public spaces in protest against social inequalities. We’ll present a full analysis of this phenomenon here shortly; in the meantime, here’s an open letter to the occupation movement, engaging with some of the issues that have arisen thus far. Please forward this widely and print out versions to distribute at the “Occupy” events!

Dear Occupiers [online viewing version]
Dear Occupiers [print version]: A two-sided flier intended to be folded down the middle, longways.

Dear Occupiers

A letter from anarchists

Support and solidarity! We’re inspired by the occupations on Wall Street and elsewhere around the country. Finally, people are taking to the streets again! The momentum around these actions has the potential to reinvigorate protest and resistance in this country. We hope these occupations will increase both in numbers and in substance, and we’ll do our best to contribute to that.

Why should you listen to us? In short, because we’ve been at this a long time already. We’ve spent decades struggling against capitalism, organizing occupations, and making decisions by consensus. If this new movement doesn’t learn from the mistakes of previous ones, we run the risk of repeating them. We’ve summarized some of our hard-won lessons here.

Occupation is nothing new. The land we stand on is already occupied territory. The United States was founded upon the extermination of indigenous peoples and the colonization of their land, not to mention centuries of slavery and exploitation. For a counter-occupation to be meaningful, it has to begin from this history. Better yet, it should embrace the history of resistance extending from indigenous self-defense and slave revolts through the various workers’ and anti-war movements right up to the recent anti-globalization movement.

The “99%” is not one social body, but many. Some occupiers have presented a narrative in which the “99%” is characterized as a homogenous mass. The faces intended to represent “ordinary people” often look suspiciously like the predominantly white, law-abiding middle-class citizens we’re used to seeing on television programs, even though such people make up a minority of the general population.

It’s a mistake to whitewash over our diversity. Not everyone is waking up to the injustices of capitalism for the first time now; some populations have been targeted by the power structure for years or generations. Middle-class workers who are just now losing their social standing can learn a lot from those who have been on the receiving end of injustice for much longer.

The problem isn’t just a few “bad apples.” The crisis is not the result of the selfishness of a few investment bankers; it is the inevitable consequence of an economic system that rewards cutthroat competition at every level of society. Capitalism is not a static way of life but a dynamic process that consumes everything, transforming the world into profit and wreckage. Now that everything has been fed into the fire, the system is collapsing, leaving even its former beneficiaries out in the cold. The answer is not to revert to some earlier stage of capitalism—to go back to the gold standard, for example; not only is that impossible, those earlier stages didn’t benefit the “99%” either. To get out of this mess, we’ll have to rediscover other ways of relating to each other and the world around us.

Police can’t be trusted. They may be “ordinary workers,” but their job is to protect the interests of the ruling class. As long as they remain employed as police, we can’t count on them, however friendly they might act. Occupiers who don’t know this already will learn it firsthand as soon as they threaten the imbalances of wealth and power our society is based on. Anyone who insists that the police exist to protect and serve the common people has probably lived a privileged life, and an obedient one.

Don’t fetishize obedience to the law. Laws serve to protect the privileges of the wealthy and powerful; obeying them is not necessarily morally right—it may even be immoral. Slavery was legal. The Nazis had laws too. We have to develop the strength of conscience to do what we know is best, regardless of the laws.

To have a diversity of participants, a movement must make space for a diversity of tactics. It’s controlling and self-important to think you know how everyone should act in pursuit of a better world. Denouncing others only equips the authorities to delegitimize, divide, and destroy the movement as a whole. Criticism and debate propel a movement forward, but power grabs cripple it. The goal should not be to compel everyone to adopt one set of tactics, but to discover how different approaches can be mutually beneficial.

Don’t assume those who break the law or confront police are agents provocateurs. A lot of people have good reason to be angry. Not everyone is resigned to legalistic pacifism; some people still remember how to stand up for themselves. Police violence isn’t just meant to provoke us, it’s meant to hurt and scare us into inaction. In this context, self-defense is essential.

Assuming that those at the front of clashes with the authorities are somehow in league with the authorities is not only illogical—it delegitimizes the spirit it takes to challenge the status quo, and dismisses the courage of those who are prepared to do so. This allegation is typical of privileged people who have been taught to trust the authorities and fear everyone who disobeys them.

No government—that is to say, no centralized power—will ever willingly put the needs of common people before the needs of the powerful. It’s naïve to hope for this. The center of gravity in this movement has to be our freedom and autonomy, and the mutual aid that can sustain those—not the desire for an “accountable” centralized power. No such thing has ever existed; even in 1789, the revolutionaries presided over a “democracy” with slaves, not to mention rich and poor.

That means the important thing is not just to make demands upon our rulers, but to build up the power to realize our demands ourselves. If we do this effectively, the powerful will have to take our demands seriously, if only in order to try to keep our attention and allegiance. We attain leverage by developing our own strength.

Likewise, countless past movements learned the hard way that establishing their own bureaucracy, however “democratic,” only undermined their original goals. We shouldn’t invest new leaders with authority, nor even new decision-making structures; we should find ways to defend and extend our freedom, while abolishing the inequalities that have been forced on us.

The occupations will thrive on the actions we take. We’re not just here to “speak truth to power”—when we only speak, the powerful turn a deaf ear to us. Let’s make space for autonomous initiatives and organize direct action that confronts the source of social inequalities and injustices.

Thanks for reading and scheming and acting. May your every dream come true.

                                    -Crimethinc.

Thanksgiving Survival Guide

 Thanksgiving Survival Guide is here to help!

Here's what to do:

• Print out this checklist. It includes info on vegan products to add to your dinner and recipes for veganizing holiday faves.

Remember: The best way to speak out for turkeys this holiday season is not to eat them!

Have a cruelty-free and happy Thanksgiving!

"We Are the 99%":

 Labor unions and students joined a growing Occupy Wall Street movement on Wednesday in the largest march since the protest began 20 days ago here in New York City. Tens of thousands marched from Foley Square to Liberty Plaza, the site of the protest encampment where hundreds have been sleeping since a timber 17th. The march was peaceful, but police later beat a handful of protesters with batons after they toppled a police barricade in an attempt to march down Wall Street. Police say a total of 28 people were arrested on Wednesday. Meanwhile, smaller protests against Wall Street continue to take part across the country.

Early this morning, police raided the occupy San Francisco encampment less than a day after some 1000 protesters marched to the city’s financial district. In Boston, protesters have entered their seventh day occupying of Dewey Square and the city’s financial district. In St. Louis, police arrested 10 people on Wednesday. In Washington State, 26 Occupy Seattle protesters were arrested after police moved into a public park where protesters have been camped out for five days. Video shot in Seattle shows police entering a tent and arresting the activists inside.

The Occupy Wall Street march was endorsed by a coalition of labor groups including the Transport Workers Union, National Nurses United, SEIU 1199, and the United Federation of Teachers. We hear the voices of union leaders addressing the boisterous crowd at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan before the march headed to the Financial District

Occupy Wall Street captured the spirit of our time. This is the spirit of our time. This is Madison. This is Cairo. This is Tunisia. You can’t see it, brothers and sisters, but back up the street they are still streaming in. We’re here to say, no more to the bailouts of Wall Street and the disasters on Main Street. No more to tax cuts for the rich and no jobs for the rest of us. We need to turn our energy, take this spirit, and take this state and this country back. And we are going to do it. Occupy Wall Street has started a movement that we are all part of around the world. And together, we will win. Together, we will win.

 We need bailouts with jobs. We need bailouts with health care. We need bailouts in education. We need to know that our future generation will have a place in this country, not subservient to those who have more than they will ever need in this country. We’re here because of corporate greed. Everyone one of us is here because of corporate greed. Everyone of us is here there’s signs in the audience that say, we are the 99%. Well, we are the 99%, and it is time that the 1% made the sacrifice that they’ve been telling us we have to make.

Students made up a large contingent of Wednesday’s march in support of Occupy Wall Street. A national day of student walk-outs was held to protest budget cuts and to show support for Occupy Wall Street. According to the website OccupyColleges.org, walkouts occurred at 75 schools across the nation including many in New York City. Democracy Now! met up with several students who walked out of classes at the City University of New York, the New School and New York University to attend Wednesday’s march in Lower Manhattan.

The Occupy Wall Street protest grows daily, spreading to cities across the United States. “We are the 99 percent,” the protesters say, “that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent.”
The response by the New York City Police Department has been brutal. Last Saturday, the police swept up more than 700 protesters in one of the largest mass arrests in U.S. history. The week before, innocent protesters were pepper-sprayed in the face without warning or reason.


Organized labor will serve notice today on the bankers and the politicians that the young protesters of Occupy Wall Street speak for millions.

Tens of thousands of transit and city workers, teachers, and maintenance and hospital workers are expected to march to Zuccotti Park late today in a show of solidarity.

The labor rally will signal just how far unions have come since that infamous day 41 years ago, when bands of construction workers rampaged through the Financial District and City Hall. Back then, the hardhats brutally beat scores of youths protesting the Vietnam War.

Now the young people and the unions are on the same side.

Continued..

Here in New York, the city’s powerful unions are set to join the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations now entering its 20th day. Their march to City Hall be bolstered by the walkout of hundreds, potentially thousands, of students at major public universities in New York City where tuition rates are on the rise. The movement received a boost Monday when the SEIU 1199 healthcare workers union issued a statement of support for the protest, promising to send nurses to train those providing first aid at the encampment. The healthcare workers union joins the Transport Workers Union, which runs the city’s subway and bus system, in supporting the growing movement. On Monday, attorneys for the TWU attempted to obtain a temporary federal restraining order to prevent the police from commandeering buses operated by its members to ferry protesters who are arrested. Over the weekend, the NYPD used at least three city buses to transport some of the more than 700 protesters arrested attempting to cross the Brooklyn bridge. Tony Murphy is an activist with the Bail Out the People movement.

Demonstrators are marching on Wall Street today on the third day of a campaign dubbed "Occupy Wall Street," which began on Saturday when thousands gathered in New York City’s Financial District. Inspired by the massive public protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and Madrid’s Puerta del Sol Square, hundreds have slept outside near Wall Street for the past two nights.

The "Occupy Wall Street" protests in the financial district took a dramatic turn on Saturday when protesters tried to march across the Brooklyn Bridge. When police arrested 700 of the demonstrators, the event quickly turned into one of the largest arrests of non-violent protesters in recent history. Some protesters claim police lured them onto oncoming traffic on the bridge’s roadway; others said they did not hear instructions from police telling them to use the pedestrian walkway. Meanwhile, similar "Occupation" protests have spread to other cities, including Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles, where hundreds of protesters are now camped out in front of City Hall.

The Occupy Wall Street movement, now entering its 17th day, draws inspiration from the Arab Spring. According to its website, the protest consists quote, "people of many colors, genders, political persuasion. The one thing we all have in common is that we are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%." The encampment received a boost last week when one of New York City’s largest unions, The Transit Workers Union, announced its backing. Labor unions in the city plan a solidarity march with Occupy Wall Street this Wednesday. Meanwhile, most of the 700 people arrested Saturday have since been released but were given citations for disorderly conduct and a criminal court summons. Similar occupation protests that spread to other cities including Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, where protesters are now camped out in front of City Hall.

This Saturday will mark the beginning of the third week of the Occupy Wall Street protest. A major demonstration is scheduled here in the Financial District and lower Manhattan. Protesters say they’re planning to stay here indefinitely and hope that Occupy Wall Street inspires similar protests across the country.

For the past two weeks, the media center here at Occupy Wall Street has been the way the protesters have gotten word out to the rest of the country and the world. Over here is the food area. Hundreds of people here have been eating donated food every day: muffins, apples, power bars. They have been serving three meals a day to the hundreds of protesters who have been camping out here. Tents are spread throughout this part of Liberty Plaza. Protesters are preparing to spend another night, the 13th night in a row inside this park, as part of Occupy Wall Street. The Police have barred the use of tents, but it has not stopped protesters from staying here even in the rain and the cold. On the northern end of Liberty Plaza space has been set aside for protesters to make homemade posters. Some of them read: "You are the 99%,” “System Change. Not Climate Change,” “Wall Street Bonuses = Money From Crime.”

Book Fairs, Next Leg of Work Tour

One of my favorite books by Crimethinc. has been on tour, if you are located in any of these areas definitely check it out!

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This Thursday through Sunday, September 29 through October 2, will maintain a somewhat improbable CrimethInc. table at the New York Art Book Fair in New York City. There also will be tables at the anarchist book fairs in Boston, MA and Carrboro, NC on November 12 and in Humboldt County, CA on December 10.

In addition, on the strength of the success of earlier events presenting on the issues discussed in the Work book, they are booking two more short tours: one in October that will traverse the South as far as Texas before returning east via the Midwest, another in November to New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Whether or not you’ve read the book yet, please check it out!

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Promotional Materials

Tabloid (11″x17″): Color[2.9MB] | B&W[1.4MB]
Letter (8.5″x11″): Color[2.3MB] | B&W[1.2MB]
Quarter (4.25″x5.5″): Color[8.7MB] | B&W[4.5MB]

 

Tour Dates

Monday, October 17, 6:30 pm
WonderRoot, 982 Memorial Drive SE Atlanta, GA 30316 / http://www.wonderroot.org/

Tuesday, October 18, 7 pm
Underground Books, 102 Alabama Street, Carrollton, Ga 30117

Wednesday, October 19, 7:30 pm
Nowe Maisto, 223 Jane Place, New Orleans, LA 70119

Thursday, October 20, 7:30 pm
Seminar Room 4 (2nd floor), Monroe Library, Loyola University, 6363 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA

Friday, October 21, 7 pm
Sedition Books, 901 Richmond Avenue, Houston, TX

Saturday, October 22
San Antonio, TX

Sunday, October 23, 7 pm
Treasure City Thrift, 2142 E 7th Streeet, Austin, TX 78702 / http://www.treasurecitythrift.org/

Monday, October 24, 7:30 pm
Smoke and Mirrors Art Gallery & Infoshop, 1920 N.Haskell Avenue, Dallas,TX 75204

Tuesday, October 25
Norman, OK

Wednesday, October 26
Kansas City, MO

Thursday, October 27
St. Louis, MO

Friday, October 28
Boxcar Books, 408 E. 6th Street, Bloomington, IN 47408

Saturday, October 29
Warren Wilson College, NC

Tuesday, November 15 to Wednesday, November 16
New York CIty

Thursday, November 17, 7 pm
Wooden Shoe Books, 704 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19147 / http://woodenshoebooks.com/

Friday, November 18
Big Idea Bookstore, 4812 Liberty Avenue (in Bloomfield), Pittsburgh, PA / http://www.thebigideapgh.org/

The 411 on Dissection

October is "Cut Out Dissection" Month, and we wanted to arm you with the facts on dissection in the easiest, most eyeball-friendly, sharable way—with our handy-dandy infographic!

Feel free to print this out, pass it along, blast it all over the interwebs, and help get the word out!

click image to enlarge