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.