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Occupy Wall Street has been growing for over a month now. Everyday people from all over the country are heading to Wall Street to show support, recently there have even been celebrities showing up (Jeff Mangum , Talib Kweli & Kanye) in an effort to bring about change in the US political system. Or for the celebrities, to get a few more twitter followers, depending on which celebrity we are talking about. Many say the Occupy everywhere protests are “unorganized” and “without direction”. Occupy Everywhere has come up with an official statement that can be read below by Keith Olbermann and you can read the transcription below the videos.
Keith Olbermann Reads The Statement Released By The Wall Street Protesters
Obama Responds to Occupy Wall Street (Kind Of)
New York Observer: Exclusive “Occupy Wall Street” Unaired Fox Footage
Incredible Speech By Wall Street Protester “End The Fed” 2011
NYPD Officer on Wall Street bragging “My little nightstick’s going to get a workout tonight”
Senior NYPD Officer Beating Protesters With His Club
Interview with Pepper Sprayed Protester Chelsea Elliott
PAY IN THE US
“In the 1950?s the pay separation between the CEO’s and average workers in what we now call the Fortune 500 companies used to be about 20 to 1 (a CEO made 20 dollars for every dollar a mid level manager made. ) 20 to 1 was here in American and extreme compared to the rest of the world where even now it is more commonly about half of that. During the 1980s the pay gap between CEO’s and average workers grew from 42:1 to almost 85:1. By 2004 it had jumped to 301 : 1. And now???… well now, right here in the good old US of A, the ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay is running 475 to 1 while in Japan, a very profitable nation with a very good standard of living, the ratio is 11 to 1. The average Japanese CEO would kill himself in shame if his company failed so badly that it needed to be bailed out by the government in order to stop the world economy from crashing. American CEO’s take bonuses of 15 million dollars for doing that.” [via]
ART VS WEALTH
The Huffington Post features an emotionally charged, well written article article by JD Samson (one third of Le Tigre) entitled I Love My Job, But It Made Me Poorer I believe the post really sums up how many of our generation feel about our debt load and it reflects the choices that independent artists must make in order to maintain their love of art and maintain their income levels. Read the piece HERE
Official Statement (Transcribed)
Official Statement from Occupy Wall Street – this statement was voted on and approved by the general assembly of protesters at Liberty Square: Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
Great fucking post. If there was ever a time to get involved it is now. If you want to know what the occupy movement is all about, it’s right here in plain text. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t be behind this…besides the 1%. It’s time to take your brains back people. You only live once; it should be a fruitfull, kind, pleasurable experience for all.