#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

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Why Now? What's Next?
Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom in Conversation About Occupy Wall Street

Naomi Klein: One of the things that’s most mysterious about this moment is “Why now?” People have been fighting austerity measures and calling out abuses by the banks for a couple of years, with basically the same analysis: “We won’t pay for your crisis.” But it just didn’t seem to take off, at least in the US. There were marches and there were political projects and there were protests like Bloombergville, but they were largely ignored. There really was not anything on a mass scale, nothing that really struck a nerve. And now suddenly, this group of people in a park set off something extraordinary. So how do you account for that, having been involved in Occupy Wall Street since the beginning, but also in earlier anti-austerity actions?

Yotam Marom: Okay, so the first answer is, I have no idea, no one does. But I can offer some guesses. I think there are a few things you have to pay attention to when you see moments like these. One is conditions—unemployment, debt, foreclosure, the many other issues people are facing. Conditions are real, they’re bad, and you can’t fake them. Another sort of base for this kind of thing is the organizing people do to prepare for moments like these. We like to fantasize about these uprisings and big political moments—and we like to imagine that they erupt out of nowhere and that that’s all it takes—but those things come on the back of an enormous amount of organizing that happens every day, all over the world, in communities that are really marginalized and facing the worst attacks.

So those are the two kind of prerequisites for a moment like this to take place. And then you have to ask, What’s the third element that makes it all come together, what’s the trigger, the magic dust? Well, I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know what it feels like. It feels like something has been opened up, a kind of space nobody knew existed, and so all sorts of things that were impossible before are possible now. Something just got kind of unclogged. All sorts of people just started to see their struggles in this, started being able to identify with it, started feeling like winning is possible, there is an alternative, it doesn’t have to be this way. I think that’s the special thing here.

NK: Do you feel that there is an organic discussion happening about fundamentally changing the economic system? I mean we know that there is a strong, radical, angry critique of corruption, and of the corporate takeover of the political process. There’s a really powerful calling out happening. What’s less clear is the extent to which people are getting ready to actually build something else.

YM: Yeah, I definitely think we’re in a unique moment in the development of a movement that’s not only a protest movement against something but also an attempt to build something in its place. It is potentially a very early version of what I would call a dual-power movement, which is a movement that’s—on the one hand—trying to form the values and institutions that we want to see in a free society, while at the same time creating the space for that world by resisting and dismantling the institutions that keep us from having it. Occupation in general, as a tactic, is a really brilliant form of a dual-power struggle because the occupation is both a home where we get to practice the alternative—by practicing a participatory democracy, by having our radical libraries, by having a medical tent where anybody can get treatment, that kind of thing on a small level—and it’s also a staging ground for struggle outwards. It’s where we generate our fight against the institutions that keep us from the things that we need, against the banks as a representative of finance capitalism, against the state that protects and propels those interests.

It’s surprising and it’s really encouraging because that’s something that has been missing in a lot of struggles in the past. You usually have one or the other. You have alternative institutions, like eco-villages and food coops and so on—and then you have protest movements and other counter-institutions, like anti-war groups or labor unions. But they very rarely merge or see their struggle as shared. And we very rarely have movements that want to do both of those things, that see them as inseparable—that understand that the alternatives have to be fighting, and that fighting has to be done in a way that represents the values of the world we want to create. So I do think there’s something really radical and fundamental in that, and an enormous amount of potential.

NK: I absolutely agree that the key is in the combination of resistance and alternatives. A friend, the British eco-and arts activist John Jordan, talks about utopias and resistance being the double helix of activist DNA, and that when people drop out and just try to build their utopia and don’t engage with the systems of power, that’s when they become irrelevant and also when they are extremely vulnerable to state power and will often get smashed. And at the same time if you’re just protesting, just resisting and you don’t have those alternatives, I think that that becomes poisonous for movements.

But I’m still wondering about the question of policy—of making the leap from small-scale alternatives to the big policy changes that allow them to change the culture. A lot of people have come to the realization that the system is so busted that it really isn’t about who you get into office. But one of the ways of responding to that is to say, “Okay, we’re not going to form a political party and try to take power, but we are going to look at this system and try to identify the structural barriers to real change, and advocate for political goals that might begin to mend those structural flaws.” So that means things like the way corporations are able to fund elections and the role of corporate media and the whole issue of corporate personhood in this country. It is possible to find a few key policy fights that could conceivably create a situation where, ten years down the road, people might not feel so completely cynical about the idea of change within the political system. What do you think about that?...

[MORE.]

[Allegro]

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Where Were You When They Crucified My Movement?
— Chris Hedges, Truthdig | Op-Ed | Monday 5 December 2011
— several links in original

Chris Hedges gave an abbreviated version of this talk Saturday morning in Liberty Square in New York City as part of an appeal to Trinity Church to turn over to the Occupy Wall Street movement an empty lot, known as Duarte Square, that the church owns at Canal Street and 6th Avenue. Occupy Wall Street protesters, following the call, began a hunger strike at the gates of the church-owned property. Three of the demonstrators were arrested Sunday on charges of trespassing, and three others took their places.

The Occupy movement is the force that will revitalize traditional Christianity in the United States or signal its moral, social and political irrelevance. The mainstream church, battered by declining numbers and a failure to defiantly condemn the crimes and cruelty of the corporate state, as well as a refusal to vigorously attack the charlatans of the Christian right, whose misuse of the Gospel to champion unfettered capitalism, bigotry and imperialism is heretical, has become a marginal force in the life of most Americans, especially the young. Outside the doors of churches, many of which have trouble filling a quarter of the pews on Sundays, struggles a movement, driven largely by young men and women, which has as its unofficial credo the Beatitudes:


Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons and daughters of God.

Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It was the church in Latin America, especially in Central American and Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, which provided the physical space, moral support and direction for the opposition to dictatorship. It was the church in East Germany that organized the peaceful opposition marches in Leipzig that would bring down the communist regime in that country. It was the church in Czechoslovakia, and its 90-year-old cardinal, that blessed and defended the Velvet Revolution. It was the church, and especially the African-American church, that made possible the civil rights movements. And it is the church, especially Trinity Church in New York City with its open park space at Canal and 6th, which can make manifest its commitment to the Gospel and nonviolent social change by permitting the Occupy movement to use this empty space, just as churches in other cities that hold unused physical space have a moral imperative to turn them over to Occupy movements. If this nonviolent movement fails, it will eventually be replaced by one that will employ violence. And if it fails it will fail in part because good men and women, especially those in the church, did nothing.

Where is the church now? Where are the clergy? Why do so many church doors remain shut? Why do so many churches refuse to carry out the central mandate of the Christian Gospel and lift up the cross?

Some day they are going to have to answer the question: “Where were you when they crucified my Lord?”

Let me tell you on this first Sunday in Advent, when we celebrate hope, when we remember in the church how Mary and Joseph left Nazareth for Bethlehem, why I am in Liberty Square. I am here because I have tried, however imperfectly, to live by the radical message of the Gospel. I am here because I know that it is not what we say or profess but what we do. I am here because I have seen in my many years overseas as a foreign correspondent that great men and women of moral probity arise in all cultures and all religions to fight the oppressor on behalf of the oppressed. I am here because I have seen that it is possible to be a Jew, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Christian, a Hindu or an atheist and carry the cross. The words are different but the self-sacrifice and thirst for justice are the same. And these men and women, who may not profess what I profess or believe what I believe, are my brothers and sisters. And I stand with them honoring and respecting our differences and finding hope and strength and love in our common commitment.

At times like these I hear the voices of the saints who went before us. The suffragist Susan B. Anthony, who announced that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God, and the suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who said, “The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.” Or Henry David Thoreau, who told us we should be men and women first and subjects afterward, that we should cultivate a respect not for the law but for what is right. And Frederick Douglass, who warned us: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” And the great 19th century populist Mary Elizabeth Lease, who thundered: “Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master.” And Gen. Smedley Butler, who said that after 33 years and four months in the Marine Corps he had come to understand that he had been nothing more than a gangster for capitalism, making Mexico safe for American oil interests, making Haiti and Cuba safe for banks and pacifying the Dominican Republic for sugar companies. War, he said, is a racket in which newly dominated countries are exploited by the financial elites and Wall Street while the citizens foot the bill and sacrifice their young men and women on the battlefield for corporate greed. Or Eugene V. Debs, the socialist presidential candidate, who in 1912 pulled almost a million votes, or 6 percent, and who was sent to prison by Woodrow Wilson for opposing the First World War, and who told the world: “While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” And Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who when he was criticized for walking with Martin Luther King on the Sabbath in Selma answered: “I pray with my feet” and who quoted Samuel Johnson, who said: “the opposite of good is not evil. The opposite of good is indifference.” And Rosa Parks, who defied the segregated bus system and said “the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” And Philip Berrigan, who said: “If enough Christians follow the Gospel, they can bring any state to its knees.”

And the poet Langston Hughes, who wrote:


What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

And Martin Luther King, who said: “On some positions, cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ And there comes a time when a true follower of Jesus Christ must take a stand that’s neither safe nor politic nor popular but he must take a stand because it is right.”

Where were you when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there to halt the genocide of Native Americans? Were you there when Sitting Bull died on the cross? Were you there to halt the enslavement of African-Americans? Were you there to halt the mobs that terrorized black men, women and even children with lynching during Jim Crow? Were you there when they persecuted union organizers and Joe Hill died on the cross? Were you there to halt the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in World War II? Were you there to halt Bull Connor’s dogs as they were unleashed on civil rights marchers in Birmingham? Were you there when Martin Luther King died upon the cross? Were you there when Malcolm X died on the cross? Were you there to halt the hate crimes, discrimination and violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and those who are transgender? Were you there when Matthew Shepard died on the cross? Were you there to halt the abuse and at times slavery of workers in the farmlands of this country? Were you there to halt the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamese during the war in Vietnam or hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan? Were you there to halt Israel’s saturation bombing of Lebanon and Gaza? Were you there when Rachel Corrie died on the cross? Were you there to halt the corporate forces that have left working men and women and the poor in this country bereft of a sustainable income, hope and dignity? Were you there to share your food with your neighbor in Liberty Square? Were you there to become homeless with them?

Where were you when they crucified my Lord?

I know where I was.

Here.

With you.

[Allegro]

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Religion Claims Its Place in Occupy Wall Street
— several links in original

BOSTON (AP) — Downtown Dewey Square is crammed with tents and tarps of Occupy Boston protesters, but organizers made sure from the start of this weeks-old encampment that there was room for the holy.

No shoes are allowed in the "Sacred Space" tent here, but you can bring just about any faith or spiritual tradition.

A day's schedule finds people balancing their chakras, a "compassion meditation" and a discussion of a biblical passage in Luke. Inside, a Buddha statue sits near a picture of Jesus, while a hand-lettered sign in the corner points toward Mecca.

The tent is one way protesters here and in other cities have taken pains to include a spiritual component in their occupations. Still, Occupy Wall Street is not a religious movement, and signs of spiritually aren't evident at all protest sites.

Clergy emphasize they are participants in the aggressively leaderless movement, not people trying to co-opt it. Plus, in a movement that purports to represent the "99 percent" in society, the prominent religious groups are overwhelmingly liberal.

Religion might not fit into the movement seamlessly, but activist Dan Sieradski, who's helped organize Jewish services and events at Occupy Wall Street, said it must fit somewhere.

"We're a country full of religious people," he said. "Faith communities do need to be present and need to be welcomed in order for this to be an all-encompassing movement that embraces all sectors of society."

Religious imagery and events have been common since the protests began. In New York, clergy carried an Old Testament-style golden calf in the shape of the Wall Street bull to decry the false idol of greed. Sieradski organized a Yom Kippur service. About 70 Muslims kneeled to pray toward Mecca at a prayer service Friday.

A Chicago group, Interfaith Worker Justice, has published an interfaith prayer service guide for occupation protests nationwide.

Clergy who support the protests say they are a natural fit with many faiths, because they share traditional concerns about economic injustice. They also point to history, including the civil rights movement and abolition.

"Every movement for social change that has really made a difference has included the power of God, the power of the spirit and the power of people of conscience," said the Rev. Stephanie Sellers, one of the Episcopalian "protest chaplains" praying with protesters at different sites.

Sieradski said his Jewish faith's commitment to helping the powerless was one reason he was attracted to the movement, but he didn't intend to establish regular Jewish services. He announced his first event, a Sabbath potluck dinner, on online social networks, not knowing what to expect. The strong turnout led him to help organize the Yom Kippur service, activities during Sukkot, and what Sieradski hopes will be regular religious events.

In Boston, Marty Dagoberto said the Sacred Space was also created in an unforced way, after he suggested the idea at Occupy Boston's first general gathering. He said the space helps promote a spirit of calm and unity crucial to bringing change.

"I feel like it's really important for us to stay rooted in love, simply put," Dagoberto said.

Religious elements haven't sprouted up as visibly in other Occupy Wall Street movements nationwide, said Elizabeth Drescher, a lecturer on Christian spirituality at Santa Clara University, who has visited the occupations in Santa Cruz and St. Louis.

She said some protesters are wary because they don't recognize the authority of institutions, including religious ones, and are generally looking for clergy to be "ministering but not proselytizing." She recalled a conversation with an Occupy Santa Cruz protester while a man in a clerical collar picked up trash.

"(The protester) said, 'That dude's here with us. He's not handing out pamphlets and trying to save me. He's picking up trash,'" Drescher said.

[SECOND PAGE.]

[Weather Balloons]

Empty buildings must remain empty!
For the greater good, of course.

[JackRiddler]

Empty buildings must remain empty!
For the greater good, of course.

The video (for those with Flash difficulties) shows a big demonstration, attempted building occupation, police crackdown (tear gas, clubs) followed by a confrontation with militants.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002237315

Watched 3 livestreams from Oakland last night. All said the same, heard no order to disperse before
being kettled, tear gassed..then many ran into and out of the back of the ymca..over 250 arrested. I watched as bus after bus hauled PEACEFUL protestors away...seniors, medics, journalists, regular Americans who were marching on a sunny day in Oakland. I watched a guy be arrested for standing at the intersection who wasn't even a part of the protest later in the evening. Hundreds of police in riot gear. Bicycles of the protestors confiscated and chained to the posts. The entire picture is very disturbing and I woke up thinking about the dark luminous silhouettes of the police. One citizen journalist guessed the costs for last night at one million dollars and said there would just not be enough space in the jail for those arrested. None of this makes any sense. None of it.

[Plutonia]

WHEN THEY ATTACK ONE OF US
WE ALL RESPOND

Yesterday, Occupy Oakland moved to convert a vacant building into a community center
to provide education, medical, and housing services for the 99%.

Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds and mass arrests.
The State has compounded its policy of callous indifference with a ruthless display of violent repression.

The Occupy movement will respond, as we have always responded:
With an overwhelming show of collective resistance.
Today, we take to the streets.

Across the country, we will demonstrate our resolve to overcome repression
And to continue to build a better world grounded in love and solidarity for one another.
All eyes on all Occupies.

SOLIDARITY SUNDAY
Sunday, January 29th – 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
Check your local Occupation for convergence points.

Be there.

NEW YORK
Washington Square Park 7PM

BOSTON
Copley Square 7PM

PHILADELPHIA
Love Park 7PM

WASHINGTON D.C.
McPherson Square 7PM

CHICAGO
HQ – Jackson & LaSalle 7PM

LOS ANGELES
Macarthur Park 5PM PST

DALLAS, TX
JFK Memorial 6PM CT

PORTLAND, OR
Justice Center 4PM PST

TAMPA
Voice of Freedom Park 7PM

INDIANAPOLIS
Superbowl Village 6PM

Organizing initiatives are underway in
HOUSTON
PITTSBURGH
NEW HAVEN, CT
ALBANY, NY
BUFFALO, NY
BALTIMORE, MD
AMARILLO, TX

If your city would like to organize & join in this call to action, email directaction@nycga.net

http://www.nycga.net/OaklandSolidarity/

[Allegro]

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Very Happy Song | Brian Ray
— lyrics, too

[Laodicean]

Black Bloc in NYC right now...

http://www.ustream.tv/timcast

[operator kos]

Empty buildings must remain empty!
For the greater good, of course.

The video (for those with Flash difficulties) shows a big demonstration, attempted building occupation, police crackdown (tear gas, clubs) followed by a confrontation with militants.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002237315

Watched 3 livestreams from Oakland last night. All said the same, heard no order to disperse before
being kettled, tear gassed..then many ran into and out of the back of the ymca..over 250 arrested. I watched as bus after bus hauled PEACEFUL protestors away...seniors, medics, journalists, regular Americans who were marching on a sunny day in Oakland. I watched a guy be arrested for standing at the intersection who wasn't even a part of the protest later in the evening. Hundreds of police in riot gear. Bicycles of the protestors confiscated and chained to the posts. The entire picture is very disturbing and I woke up thinking about the dark luminous silhouettes of the police. One citizen journalist guessed the costs for last night at one million dollars and said there would just not be enough space in the jail for those arrested. None of this makes any sense. None of it.

My eyes and lungs are still burning, and I'm still a bit tweaked out from sleep deprivation in jail, but that is essentially correct. When I'm (hopefully) more coherent tomorrow I will post a summary of what went down. In the meantime, I just have this to say...

FUCK THE PIGS
WE DON'T NEED 'EM
ALL WE WANT IS TOTAL FREEDOM

and

WHEN OAKLAND IS UNDER ATTACK
WHAT DO WE DO?
STAND UP, FIGHT BACK!

[Plutonia]

*Hero* Kos

[Project Willow]

^ I'm glad you checked in, I was worried about you. Rest well.

[operator kos]

Very Happy Song

Thank you! That was wonderful. I'd like to share this one as well. Call me a cheeseball if you will, but this one straight up makes me cry with happiness sometimes:

[Allegro]

^^^
Kos, Thank You. I guess we're two cheeseballs on life's platter . We're invincible! That video is one I've just put in my personal library -- love the tunnel, the message and especially those images!

[crikkett]

Glad you're safe, brave operator kos

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A Message to Occupy | It’s Time to Move Forward
— links and pix in original

Occupy movements across Canada achieved great public attention and worked as the trigger for a paradigm shift. It is the Canadian chapter of a much required global wake up call. Occupy Canada has, through all its chapters and camps, successfully shaken the foundations of our status quo.

Last night, a vast majority of participants referred to the first week of Occupy Toronto as the highlight of the whole movement. And, I agree, it was the introduction to a new way of understanding ourselves and our relations with other human beings.

The beginning of Occupy Canada marked a rediscovery of our sense of humanity, too long denied. Prior to October 15, we were used to understanding each through social roles. How many of us have held meaningful conversations with homeless people prior to Occupy? How many of us have deeply debated political and social issues with people we barely knew? Where else would we have been able to join a physical circle of discussions with people we have never met, discussions on issues of poverty, homelessness, drug addition, living standards?

Reflecting now, honestly, it was not Occupy as a reified community that have allowed us to create a new sense of community. It was, mainly, before Occupy, that individuals did not bother engaging at the same level with other human beings. Thus, the lack of sense of community and outreach, the lack of sense of comradery between us, was not only systemic consequences brought about the 1%, it was you and I who just lack the courage to build these relationships on our own.

Occupy created the space, but, you and I created Occupy by being, and participating. There is no Occupy. Occupy is a brand. I do not mean this in a negative way. Not at all. I mean that the people are the force behind Occupy. You do not have to maintain a camp ground and tents to prove its existence.

The Occupy camps throughout the country, and even throughout the world, have already achieved a lot of public discussion. The word Occupy is still necessary to make the editorial agenda of the mainstream media. However, have we lost the understanding that it is not the idea of Occupy that drives people? Rather, it is the people, you and I, who drive the idea of Occupy forward.

There is much that needs to be openly and freely discussed about Occupy.

Here is what I consider shortcomings. Please do not ‘hate’ on these comments. I see them as true shortcomings that can be addressed and improved upon. These comments reflect my perspective within the context of a larger strategic social justice movement. I am not intent on ‘bashing’ Occupy, rather, I’m presenting a sober analysis based only from my own personal experiences.

1. Die hard Occupy organizers want to own Occupy, its Facebook page, twitter accounts, and sites. There is so much paranoia trying to own these accounts and limit access to the public, that actual participants are sometimes accused to be infiltrators or outright censored.

We could surely find a balance between public involvement and security. Media teams in Occupy have become the information authorities of everything that takes place throughout each movement. Women were physically attacked at the Occupy Toronto camp. Did their media team report on that as a method of ensuring issues of safety around camp?

Occupy Vancouver had some very nasty confrontations between members, some of whom have publicized alleged physical and death threats. Have you been to the original Occupy Vancouver Facebook page? People who advocated against violent tactics were verbally crucified! Has Occupy Vancouver media team ever reported on these in order to create and facilitate a safe discussion on these internal divisions? No. Media teams act as the very mainstream media outlets that we criticize by failing to be honest to the movement and themselves. There was a great deal of power reserved only for those who control the flow of information about Occupy camps. This needs to be addressed if Occupy is to be a truly transparent and honest movement.

But this is a movement of the people, not of organizers or media teams! People say “I am in the media team” as though the statement is supposed to attribute them with a particular sense of respect. But, Occupy is an idea. And, as I mentioned, it is not the idea which drives people towards social justice, it is the people who believe in social justice that move the Occupy Movement forward.

2. There is lack of solidarity resulting from the above mentioned ownership of Occupy. It seems that not everyone can act on behalf of Occupy for social change. In a leaderless movement, with dysfunctional general assemblies, who is to decide who can carry on actions under the banner of Occupy? Who does the reputation of Occupy really belong to? Who are the organizers, and, who are the people in charge of protecting the reputation and credibility of Occupy? Is there a sense of hierarchy here? Is there no sense of hypocrisy?

3. General assemblies and the consensus model have proven not only ineffective but also hindrances to actual steps towards change. General assemblies could have materialized down the road. They were not an essential component to our organization at first. There are a couple of factors relating to this:

> Meaningful democracy does not survive on voting alone. Look at our country now. A sustainable democracy requires an informed citizenry, not just voters. Democracy requires a politically and conceptually sophisticated citizenry engaged in the articulation of their own experiences within the context of social and political structures and relations.

> Votes in general assemblies, based on quick discussions on issues that people are not particularly familiar with, are void of meaning… especially so when not all perspectives have equal weight, or the chance to be elaborated upon.

> The consensus model, at this point, is void of all potential solutions. Imagine having a general assembly of people who are aware of the issues that are immediately affecting our lives through local, provincial, and federal policies. Identifying problem issues would not require constant voting and blocking.

> Not all participants, at any given general assembly, have the same social or political interests. I have proposed previously that, instead of holding general assemblies, it would have been more practical to organize based on issues that matter to people. For instance, holding general meetings on particular issues at particularly affected geographical areas: i.e. Neighbourhoods victimized by Rob Ford’s spending cuts.

> Also, as to the procedural aspects of the general assemblies, those I have participated in were too bureaucratic to be emancipating, let alone truly engaging.

4. Occupy groups desperately require a news/current events team rather than just a livestream media team. The focus so far seems to have been on promoting one’s movement through livestream as a reality show. Through this focus on the movement itself, Occupy Vancouver, and Occupy Toronto, have turned inwards on theeir own affairs alienating themselves from the important issues developing in thee world around them. News has been covered about what is happening at Occupy camps but seldom about the daily issues that arise… the daily issues that the public needs to be aware of.

The above has been our main focus. Occupy groups should be advocating for public engagement on current issues. This is why a group of us decided to start 404 System Error with a new focus and a new narrative. We are tired of ongoing verbal attacks and endless rants. We want to identity specific problems, and work on building strategic solutions, while advocating for new ways of making sense of important issues. We are not advocating for utopian solutions at the moment. We are working on building tools for participation leading to actions. Some of our proposals are narrow in scope, for we believe in the importance of thinking globally while acting locally.

We hope to work in collaboration with anyone who cares to identify social, economic, and political problems. We also wish to advocate more conceptualizations while applying all the human potential, creativity, and productive skills, to challenging the status quo and moving the Occupy movement forward.

We are not abandoning the global movement which Occupy Canada emerged from, nor the spirit of the Occupy camps. We are moving forward to collaborate and transcend current limitations and build on it. We are here to be helped, and to help. We are here to expose systemic hypocrisies, and, through this, create public discussions and our much needed paradigm shift.

[SEE PIX.]