This is kinda on this thread… the right is waking-up and beginning to realize OWS might be their last hope of regaining the Idea of America (the propaganda we’d all love to believe)
Here is a link to a fresh thread over at market ticker that might be interesting to watch (the comments could get interesting):
There may be hope for our nation yet.
And this is worth a read:
We need more jurist like this fellow…

Posted by: DaveS | Nov 15 2011 14:53 utc | 4

Ok well their are a few ways to look at it.
Firstly it is to acknowledge that the American protests and European protests will likely take different paths (even if the goal ends up being similar). While the American protests are really just kicking off in the last 2-3 months almost all of Southern Europe has been in full scale riot-mode for over a year, London burned at the start of the summer and Paris will likely be the next tinderbox similar to the Paris riots of 2005. Also Europeans have a more militant left wing than Americans. I doubt you will see moltov cocktails hurled at police in New York for quiet a while (in my general experience Americans are to damned polite, and trusting, hard to see them taking a aggressive approach).
Secondly at a more practical level the steps they should take are to look into the past at previous revolutionary groupings. The French Revolution succeeded because of the grassroots organisation within the Paris Communes that were designed to help the poor and became thriving urban communities. Baader-Meinhof were able to operate and gather strenght from the large amount of squatters residences in Germany and from the organised student movements led by people like Rudi Dutschke. It’s all about creating a network that can withstand police repression.
My advice would be to decentralise. If you have one single camp like Occuppy Wall St the police know where to go to break it up. If you move groups of 20-30 people into 6 or 12 foreclosed/abandoned buildings and create squatter homes linked into each other it becomes alot more difficult. With that kind of infrastructure you can then experiement with different approaches including maybe violent factions and non-violent factions. The people who insist on non-violent approaches are just handicapping themselves, as Bush said “All options are on the table” why would you want to remove methods and box yourself into one approach only? Better to have a full toolbox that allows you to adapt to evolving circumstances.

Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Nov 15 2011 16:14 utc | 6

Not singling any one in particular out… certainly not this fine blog. But the blogosphere in re US OWS has performed terribly over the last couple of months, imo. They do not know how to operate without a leader.. or celebrity to bash most of all… much less promote.
There are very few cogent discussions about how to frame this beyond how to do it inside the MSM or veal pen, existing political talking point friendly box. What people need are specifics.. very specific suggested legislation in re how to word effective de-personhood of corporations which simultaneously lead to all elements of people having a fair shake at electing representative governance. I’m having difficulty with admittedly rudimentary research skills at finding out which existing systems of elections exist with least corruption… and how they work. We need very specific, short cogent fact sheets … simple dot connections that the basic TV viewer can connect when finally having face to face contact. The vast majority of people I meet in this movement are horribly under/misinformed. They are TV watchers or at best yahoo news readers online… maybe one or two other sites like huffpo or Alex Jones (Gah!). Few people even understand specifically what I mean when i say we are all being looted… right now, today. Or that the beast we face is the most violent on earth.
Otherwise we will end up promoting ineffectual crap like this or MoveOn’s wish list to nowhere… and even if we get it, we lose. http://movetoamend.org/model-resolution

Posted by: Eureka Springs | Nov 15 2011 19:30 utc | 8

Occupy Building 7
November 19 and 20
March from Liberty Plaza to WTC 7 at noon each day.
Occupy the park in front of WTC 7 until nightfall.
General Assemblies will be held at 2pm each day to discuss the direction and continuation of the Occupy Building 7 occupation after 11/20.
Go to OccupyBuilding7.org to learn more and to start following #OccupyBuilding7 on Twitter. On the website

Posted by: Atheo | Nov 15 2011 20:27 utc | 10

Gee, youall, all I have is a song
Or, even (much) better Pete Seeger’s One Man’s Hands
Less negativity and falling into the error that media illusions mirror reality and ever more so that analysis of the illusion is real – real people are doing real things where they are, just do!

Posted by: Chuck Cliff | Nov 15 2011 21:55 utc | 12

What the real left hasn’t done is make any effort, to my knowledge, to inform some likely supporters of the protests which might to those particular supporters make sense. What happened in the last few days wrenches the guts of those who participated in and watched the 60s. Beyond ideology. I live a few miles from the events in Oakland, and 45 years ago watched the same thugs commit the same crimes in the interests the same corrupt warmongering constitution shredding life ruining elites.
So now I am well educated, academic middle class. The class that was in the late middle ages in Spain termed ‘Clerks’ – of the rich.
I am now too old to take the front lines. One well placed baton and I might be in very serious trouble. But I can sure show up, and make other contributions. However I am not asked. I know a dozen like me, but the ‘youth revolution’ tag seems to be getting in the way. This is not about ‘youth’ or ‘generations.’ As it was not in fact in Egypt, if one studies the matter. In my view the ‘youth’ and ‘twitter’ tags are another form of elite misdirection. Elite misdirection.
In any case there is a vein of real rage deep in the hearts of many those of us who lived through that time. Ruined hopes then, ruined hopes now. Those veins should be mined.

Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 16 2011 1:55 utc | 14

What other steps do you suggest to keep #OWS growing and to increase its efficiency? Just Do It, b…! 😉

Posted by: CTuttle | Nov 16 2011 5:45 utc | 16

@17, I don’t see them as fearful…at all. They have legions of Ball Busters who are always aching to bust some chops…and this is a perfect scenario to bust some chops….so chop busting is on the menu. At most, OWS, at least in NYC, Oakland is different, is a minor nuisance and novelty that has worn out its welcome. Comparing this to India’s Revolution or The Civil Rights crusade is ridiculous. There is no comparison, whatsoever. Also, in regard to the 99%, it’s a not a cohesive, monolithic group in solidarity….nor will it ever be. Take the students rioting at Penn State and overturning media vans in outrage of the firing of their God, Joe Paterno. Forget about the children who were raped whilst he sat back and did nothing…..that doesn’t mean anything to them, in fact, no doubt, in this world of winner and losers, them’s the breaks, the whining young boys and their whining parents should juts suck it up for the Gipper. These “youth” are presumably the 99%…..and I’m not so proud of them….and I’m afraid, they are the majority in the U.S., all protestations aside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTwk-2fKT7o
That is the U.S. for all of you in Europe who are not U.S. citizens, meaning it’s more indicative than the OWS crowds. The OWS crowds are a very small minority

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Nov 16 2011 11:39 utc | 18

Well, from the looks of it, China and Russia are calling the bluff by not agreeing to any new sanctions. They’re effectively warranting three possible outcomes.
1.) The U.S., Israel, and The West in general, back off the Iran Nuclear issue, and just let it be. Of course, they know this is highly improbable and won’t happen, but it is, nevertheless, a possibility, however slim the odds.
2.) The U.S., Israel, and The West in general, engage in constructive diplomatic dialogue to come to a mutually beneficial agreement concerning Iran’s nuclear ambitions. They know this is also improbable, but not as improbable as #1. The odds are better, but not great, and they’re not betting on it, because they’re not stupid.
3.) The U.S., Israel, and The West in general, implement an attack on Iran. This is probable, the odds are in favor of it, and they’re most likely betting this will be the most likely outcome, and preparing accordingly. I don’t think they will retaliate in any way, other than verbal condemnations, but they will lay in wait to see what, if any, opportunities arise in the aftermath of the destruction.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Nov 16 2011 14:01 utc | 20

Ryan Harvey, “Global Economy”(youtube)
Lyrics here

Posted by: Outraged | Nov 16 2011 14:37 utc | 22

The movement needs numbers. So it will wait for them to come. Talk about initiative. This is and always has been what passes for ‘organization’ on the left.

Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 16 2011 17:55 utc | 24

“OWS needs its own media…”
Occupy Oakland Attendance Buried By MSM

Cenk Launches Wolf-PAC.com
TYT on Current Begins Dec. 5th @ 7 & 10pm Eastern

Posted by: CU | Nov 16 2011 19:56 utc | 26

@ 18. Here’s an extract from Xymphora’s post of Nov 16.
“Update: ‘Occupy’ crackdowns coordinated with federal law enforcement officials”:
“Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict “Occupy” protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night’s move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.
The official, who spoke on background to me late Monday evening, said that while local police agencies had received tactical and planning advice from national agencies, the ultimate decision on how each jurisdiction handles the Occupy protests ultimately rests with local law enforcement.
According to this official, in several recent conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules. Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present.”
“Mayors, police chiefs talk strategy on protests” (I think this is the sanitized Official Story provided as a public service by the AP)
There is push-back from the ‘left’ on this, based on the fear it is a right-wing attack against Obama (who left the country just before the multitude of simultaneous raids, no doubt a big coincidence).
#Occupy is about greed and abuse of power.
If the 1% weren’t worried about #Occupy, they’d ignore it.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the 1% are shitting themselves – and with good reason.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 16 2011 23:34 utc | 28

second attempt:
The underlying plutocracy of the USA is irrefutable by the fact that the state, not merely the monied, has taken a keen interest in stopping this movement. B pointed out in his entry on 3 October that the services of the NYPD had been purchased outright by the JPMorgan Chase & Co, so I will not waste one of my limited links here to point that out again.
But turning local and municipal police forces into the private army of the rich is not the only response they are are having to this. They are also targetting the populace’s means of organization (see: HR 3261, or the “Stopping Online Piracy Act.”) They want to have a monopoly on not only the discourse, but also the method by which the narrative is promulgated, and they are serious about this at the highest levels.
So what should the #occupy movement do? If they wish to survive, they will promote mechanisms to that end in the form of go-to responses in the absence of outside communication. They must discover methods of organizing and being able to make themselves heard in the absence of electronic media… which will become even more unanimous in its denunciations and vilification of them once it has eliminated their ability to defend or speak up for themselves.
How will they do that? Frankly, I’m not optimistic that they will. I see a problem forming that from my perspective appears to be insurmountable. Public opinion will turn when it hears one side only, so how do the 99% make themselves heard after that?

Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 16 2011 23:52 utc | 30

@31, I take it you’re a right winger then, since you tend to blame the Jews for everything. It’s a weird, roundabout way for you to say it, though. There is the possibility, and a strong one at that, that I just posted my response to the wrong thread. I’ll admit that and take full responsibility for it…no problem. But, I guess I could blame the Jews for it, or blame the 1%, to include the Jews, for screwing with b’s site, and relocating my post.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Nov 17 2011 0:57 utc | 32

@ 33. You’re better off spending the time learning how to garden
Interesting idea … defeatist veges teaching each other how to replicate in the safety of their yards.
What will the pessimists say if it turns out that #Occupiers would rather die on their feet than live on their knees?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 17 2011 4:45 utc | 34

What will the pessimists say if it turns out that #Occupiers would rather die on their feet than live on their knees?
or…
What will the pessimists say if it turns out that #Occupiers would rather die in their tents than live on their knees?
Well, that’s not exactly fair, I know. As it turns out, the tents were as much a facade as they were a shelter…..a number of them remained empty at night whilst the “Occupiers” snuck home and snuggled back on their knees, fitting in their “Activism” when it was convenient. It sounds a lot like Valley Forge.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-696988?ref=feeds%2Flatest

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Nov 17 2011 12:11 utc | 36

Apparently OWS is whatever you want it to be…meaning it’s merely a repository for a myriad of projections. Now, I’ve heard it claimed that it is non-violent, but this song is not non-violent, by any means. Obviously, there are violent sentiments running just beneath the surface, but for some reason, many choose to ignore it, overlook it, and refuse to tap it in a focused, effective manner. If you don’t acknowledge the inevitability of violence and direct it to your ends, rather than to others’ ends, you will be trampled beneath its feet. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish for violence, but that won’t make violence go away. Violence is coming, and either you ride it like a wild horse, or it will run you down. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it will buck you off and deal you a back-breaking blow. The problem with violence, and using it throughout history, is that it eventually controls and defines you, and not the other way around. It’s not something to be taken lightly. It’s a very powerful thing, and it will arrive uninvited if not invited.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ66Qu5MEiI
Here’s part of the lyrics

We stand against your desire for more
Hear how we knock,soon there won’t be a door
And what you won’t share will be ripped from your hand
Your body destroyed the way fire lands
Burning your homes, the privilege you stake
The payback beyond anything you could take
And naked you’ll be and full of regret
The way they were treated you”ll long to forget
As we stand as one
You’ll wish you could go back and undo what’s been done
You’ll wish you were never insanity’s son
You’ll wish you were fair, you’ll wish for compassion
But it will be late and long out of fashion
Strung up you’ll be like the pig you became
A symbol of hatred and one with no name
Our country will come back belonging to us
Regain its spirt and regain our trust
As we stand as one

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Nov 17 2011 14:07 utc | 38

The Myth of Bernie Sanders

The Myth of Bernie Sanders
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has recently been elevated to near godlike status by the political Left in the United States. Some of his fans have even suggested that he should challenge Barack Obama in the Democratic Presidential Primary. The more often he is accused of being a socialist by his political enemies on the Right, the more convinced the Left becomes that he surely walks on water.
Although Sanders may have once been a socialist back in the 80s when he was Mayor of Burlington, today, a socialist he is not. Rather he behaves more like a technofascist disguised as a liberal, who backs all of President Obama’s nasty little wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Since he always “supports the troops,” Sanders never opposes any defense spending bill. He stands behind all military contractors who bring much-needed jobs to Vermont.
Senator Sanders rarely misses a photo opportunity with Vermont National Guard troops when they are being deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. He’s always at the Burlington International Airport when they return. If Sanders truly supported the Vermont troops, he would vote to end all of the wars posthaste.
Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Congressman Peter Welch could hardly contain their enthusiasm over the news that Burlington International Airport had been named as a possible site to house the Air Force’s new F-35 fighter jet scheduled to replace the Vermont Air National Guard’s aging fleet of F-16s. The new high-tech instruments of death will cost $115 million a pop in sharp contrast to the F-16s which cost a mere $20 million each.
From whom might these F-35s protect Vermont? Possibly, Canada, separatist-minded Quebec, upstate New York, the New Hampshire Free State, or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? Why on earth would anyone want to invade Vermont? Vermont has no military bases, no large cities, no important government installations, and no strategic resources unless you count an aging nuclear power plant. What if Canada, China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, or even the U.S. Marines were to invade the Green Mountain state? Just what would they do with it? Would all of the black-and-white Holsteins be confiscated, or perhaps the entire sugar maple crop be burned? Imagine trying to enslave freedom-loving Vermonters. Good luck!
Vermont is too small, too rural, and too independent to be invaded by anyone. It is a threat to no one. Furthermore, Vermonters, not unlike the Swiss, tend to stick to their own knitting rather than intruding into the affairs of their neighbors. Vermont has always been that way and probably always will be.
Major General Michael Dubie, head of the Vermont National Guard, has expressed the hope that the Vermont Guard might be morphed into a center for unmanned drone aircraft. Sanders, not unlike President Obama, thinks drones are cool.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 17 2011 16:19 utc | 40

Major General Michael Dubie, head of the Vermont National Guard, has expressed the hope that the Vermont Guard might be morphed into a center for unmanned drone aircraft. Sanders, not unlike President Obama, thinks drones are cool.
If only all three, and many more, would live up to the General’s fine name. If they did, we could call them The Dubie Brothers.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Nov 17 2011 18:25 utc | 42

“If you’re the same PissedOffAmerican who used to comment at SBS….”
I’m not.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Nov 18 2011 1:41 utc | 44

@ 44.
Whew! That was a close call…
Thanks. I was getting ready to be disappointed & non-plussed if you had been.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 18 2011 2:19 utc | 46

re: The communication problem…
1) Wireless routers
2) Ethernet switches with spanning tree protocol
3) IP over shortwave for longer spans, or where 802.11 wifi is being jammed
4) VPN WITH STRONG ENCRYPTION!!!

Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Nov 18 2011 3:33 utc | 48

A retired Philadelphia police captain, Ray Lewis, who joined Occupy Wall Street has been arrested in New York City

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 18 2011 7:45 utc | 50

99%
MIC CHECK!
YOU ARE PART
OF A GLOBAL UPRISING
FROM THE HEART
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE
WE ARE WINNING

Complete message projected onto Verizon building

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 18 2011 8:54 utc | 52

@ Uncle $cam
Is it a stretch to imagine that the first blood (dead bodies) isn’t too far away?
And can we get a UN security council resolution condemning the repression of the opposition in the US (complete with no-fly zones and R2P) ?
(and there was this on al-akhbar English yesterday:
Tested on Palestinians, Perfected on #OWS Protesters: Introducing the LRAD Sound Cannon. No word in the Western MSM, I suspect)

Posted by: Philippe | Nov 19 2011 4:41 utc | 54

Response to the sound cannon?
A car full of 30″ woofers and a copy of Rhythm Devils – Apocalypse Now Sessions.
Remember when the US military played “Welcome To The Jungle!” to try to scare Noriega? A dose of “Now” would probably be quite effective. The ‘dirty hippies’ would get it, but for the cops it would be a real WTF moment.

Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Nov 19 2011 7:14 utc | 56

Re: Sound Cannon tit for tat.
Some bullhorns have a detachable mic. In theory, holding the mic in the mouth of the bullhorn could/should induce acoustic feedback (a high-pitched squeal).
But it would pay to check that the theory actually works with bullhorns, and whether the positives outweigh the negatives for OWS.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 19 2011 16:02 utc | 58