Yeah that's a shame too. Lots of energy and motivated people and nothing to show for it except a projection of a few catch phrases on the Verizon building. They really should have put together some sort of concrete and attainable demands. Now the movement is over and will be just remembered as some disgruntled kids who failed to penetrate the fortress of business as usual in the financial sectorOriginally Posted by BBMW
Nothing? OWS managed to organize with beleaguered unions and shut down Port facilities up and down the west coast today.
Not bad for a group that didn't even exist 3 months ago.
So much for the claim that "now the movement is over"
And just wait until Spring.
Well, literally loft, I would say they accomplished a very BIG nothing with that shut-down!
Yeah that's some accomplishment, now people from Miami to Seattle can get a good paying job and a good mortgage. I mean you can't be serious? The movement has ZERO accomplishments except making a lot of noise and creating disruptions. Shutting down a port and getting on the front page is not an accomplishment, it's getting attention. That attention has been used to get zippo doneNothing? OWS managed to organize with beleaguered unions and shut down Port facilities up and down the west coast today.
Not bad for a group that didn't even exist 3 months ago.
So much for the claim that "now the movement is over"
And just wait until Spring.
You think any solution is instantaneous?
"you can't be serious".
Of course not, but where are we headed. What is the solution, remedy or even positive development from the government or wall street in the works as a result of this? I have to tell you, whatever it is (if anything), it is in serious jeopardy with these escalating tactics of disrupting ports and threatening commerce
The movement s only 3 mos old. Evidence of progress, or lack their of, will be illustrated during the election cycle. To the extent thier issues become the issues of the candidates and the candidates embrace thier ideas, they will have shown progress.
Threatening Commerce? Oh, right, my bad ... I keep forgetting that those banksters are keeping us running all on their own, with no help from anybody (so glad they pay for the roads, electric grid, etc that keep their goods moving & working). Never mind that those same money guys are instituting their own escalating tactics of disruption and making every attempt to downgrade the very workers who used to buy their products (before the money magicians saw the light you describe and started moving everything across the borders).
Not to worry ... those well paid workers in SE Asia are building their way up to buy all that stuff. The new customer base will emerge ... somewhere, sometime.
Gordon, it has you upset so they're doing something right.
Over the summer, the asinine talk of "class warfare" against the wealthy was all over the major media, from Fox to the Associated Press. OWS put an end to that.
They shifted the conversation. That's something, and it is not trivial.
With all they're doing to fight for the right to protest in various places, they should be fighting to speak before congress or anyone in Washington who will listen.
It is hard to do what you need when you fight for your right to say it.
They also shifted the way the police response has been viewed.
Whenever there's civil unrest, it's usually assumed that the police are doing the right thing; therefore, the protests must be wrong. Opinions about the issues often change when the police are seen in an unfavorable light. This has happened in the past, before today's instant media. It's useless for the mayor and NYPD to try and freeze out the media, and stupid to turn around and deny it. Yesterday, there was an ugly confrontation at the Wintergarden.
And moving people out of static locations was counterproductive, when winter weather might have taken care of it. Instead, the protests have gone mobile, which is easy using social networks. A few days ago, there was a protest at City Hall Park by parents and children, not so much against OWS issues, but more about police aggression.
Busted for tweeting
Police escalation in New York as my brother and 17 other people are arrested for observing an occupation
SALON
December 12, 2011
... The protesters — maybe 100 or so — had gathered in the center of the floor and were dancing and chanting, “Occupy Brookfield!” A long line of police began to form in the periphery, and John and the other media people dispersed to take pictures. As the police formed an outer circle to surround the large group, the crowd began to disperse. Many of the protesters headed up the marble staircase away from the cops, and a small group bolted up a nearby escalator.
That was when everything escalated completely out of control. The escalator was stopped. Suddenly, the outer circle of cops was swarming in and violently pushing people away ...
... Several cops pushed me away as I asked, “What is he being arrested for? He was taking pictures.” A cop said, “He didn’t produce an official press pass, so that means he was resisting arrest.” I quite literally didn’t understand, so I said, “What?” At that point, the same cop said, “If you don’t step back immediately, you will be arrested too.”
I was pushed behind a line of police. I stood there, several inches from them, and heard myself saying, “Why are you doing this?”
A protester next to me was yelling at the cops, something about free speech or unnecessary force or any number of logical things to say at a time like this; I was too distracted to pay attention. But then, an officer said to him, “Get out of my face. I have a gun, and I don’t need people up in my face like this.” ...
In a massive push, everyone was forced from the building, shoved out the doors by police in riot gear, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. In moments, the building was barricaded and anyone left inside was trapped ...
Today felt like a blatant crackdown on the individuals who were documenting the behavior of the police. But whether it was a tactical decision or a wild coincidence, the police were unable to silence the cacophony of voices. The entire morning was still captured in pictures, in video, in livestreams. Lots of eyes were arrested today, but thankfully, many more eyes saw it happen.
***
Posted at 04:36 PM ET, 12/12/2011Occupy Wall Street is bad PR for police (videos)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/occupy-wall-street-is-bad-pr-for-police-videos/2011/12/12/gIQAzgRKqO_blog.html
By Elizabeth Flock
The Occupy protests have been nothing but bad PR for police (excepting Rick, for Occupy hipster cop), and two new videos from New York’s protests have only made it look worse for the boys in the blue.
A New York police officer tears paper hearts made by children off of a fence in front of City Hall. (YouTube)In the first video, New York police are shown ripping down paper hearts that children of “Parents for Occupy Wall Street ” made for Mayor Bloomberg, and taped onto the fence of City Hall. “NYPD and NYC City Hall breaks kids hearts,” the video declares. In the second video, police at the Occupy Goldman Sachs protest Monday morning are shown repeatedly blocking a New York Times freelancer from getting photos of arrests taking place. The freelancer, Robert Stolarik, has a press badge, but may have been blocked because he is one of just a few members of the press who got inside Zuccotti Park during last month’s raid, according to the Gothamist.
Watch the videos:
Police start ripping up the hearts at the 3:20 minute mark:
Police begin blocking Stolarki at the 2 minute mark:
But as many have pointed out, videos of police behaving badly at the protests have only caused the Occupy movement to grow larger. Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, told AlterNet that cameras have become an essential part of the activists’ strategy. We “encourage everyone to get out there with their cameras .... Let the cops push you around, let them slap you, let them arrest you, but it’s absolutely crucial to get your cameras out there. Because all the lawsuits we can bring, which we should resolve five years from now, won’t make the same difference as putting that stuff on YouTube and the evening news will do.”
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