Unstoppable: Politics Beyond Two Corrupt Parties

NEW YORK (Frameshop) – As OWS heads into its first winter, the time has come to have a serious discussion about whether or not the movement should shift its focus and take up as its top priority the goal of influencing the outcome of the 2012 Presidential election? Should OWS become “occupy the Democratic Party” as a strategy of influencing the outcome of 2012 elections–yes or no?  My answer is:  No, it should not.  Why not?  Let me answer that question with another question: Is it possible to transform a gambling casino into a public park or a school or a hospital, simply by walking into it and playing blackjack? Of course not.  If a park, school or hospital is what you want, you need to go out and build it. 

Eyes Open, Imagination Awake

NEW YORK (Frameshop) – Yesterday, at 1am, the three-term billionaire Mayor of New York City sealed off all bridges, roads, and public access to lower Manhattan, then sent police in riot gear to raid Zuccotti Park in the name of public safety.  Don Hazen expressed it best when he described Bloomberg’s  offensive–thrust upon the protesters like a knife in the night–as the latest failure of imagination by America’s ruling class.  Beyond all the legitimate outrage against  ridiculously out of proportion police violence, Hazen directs us to a clarifying keyword.  What has OWS achieved in this first stage of the movement? It has pulled back the veil for so many millions of Americans, helping us find the courage to see past the endless cycle of corruption, violence, and failures. 

The Wall Street Extortion Scheme

NEW YORK (Frameshop) – Beyond the tear gas and stun grenades,  the latest attempt to discourage and disperse Americans protesting against economic injustice has come from Wall Street types heading into the street to denounce the evils of government, extol the virtues of unregulated globalism, and finger the real source of financial suffering: Americans who, supposedly, would sell their own children into slavery just to make sure WalMart never runs out of cheap cell phones and 50-gallon drums of Juicy Juice.  In terms of persuasion and meaningful debate, the effort has been useless. Not a single protester has moved to anything but more anger and resolve by these obnoxious arguments.

Interestingly, however, these new encounters have served a purpose: they have captured on tape the ongoing extortion scheme Wall Street robber barons heretofore reserved for closed-door meetings.

Flash Grenades and the American Dream

NEW YORK (Frameshop) – It should come as no surprise that the Oakland Police Department–hurling enough rubber bullets and flash grenades to make a Columbian drug lord wince–finally raided the Occupy Oakland encampment at around 5:00am this morning.  The justification for the using so much violence?  According to reports, the OPD claims protesters were hurling water bottles, paint, and rocks.  Within hours, Mayor Jean Quan was already praising her police department for keeping the park safe for peaceful protests.

“Horizontal” Organizing and Occupy Wall Street

NEW YORK (Frameshop) – WYNC leads, this morning, with an interesting post about Occupy Wall Street (OWS) by reporter Kathleen Horan.  The article is valuable because it offers a description of the signature anarchist organizing techniques at work in OWS.  Curiously, terms like direct action, horizontalism, leaderless structure, block,  are presented without once using the word “anarchist” by way of establishing a broader context for the reader. Nonetheless, the article is well worth reading and suggests, by virtue of having been written, that a small part of the mainstream media has shifted from casting aspersions on OWS in order to lay down a baseline description.  Besides a bunch of people discussing direct actions without a leader, what is “horizontal” organizing and why is it so important for OWS?