Occupy Wall Street

Is anyone watching what's happening all over the world right now?

It sounds like the whole world is standing up against corporate greed!  WOW!!!

Gotta go do more surfing.

So do I.  Can't seem to live without them, and can't seem to get out from under them.

It seems this has been going on for a little while (at least a month?).  I'm on the internet everyday:  funny how this only showed up today after violence in Rome.  Guess this is one of the disadvantages of giving up TV.

Just came back from Occupy Pittsburgh. Amazing energy.

There's quite a few  protests/occupations/marches over here. Considering the Rugby World Cup is on here, which trumps pretty much everything, that's impressive.
One of the things I think is really cool is the movement's non-specific nature. Demanding a future economically and environmentally brings all sorts of different groups together.
Makes for a rubbish soundbite though... "a whole bunch of people were there, asking for something, we're not quite sure what though"

I'm starting to think that the chance to stand around griping about things without actually offering solutions is the big driving force here.

While these protests are not providing solutions, having a hundred million people around the globe defying their governments should be a wake-up-call to governments, telling that their citizens are not happy with "business-as-usual".

Perhaps, some politicians may see the need for some real changes, if they want to keep their jobs.

Yes I'm watching avidly, and participating.

A week ago Saturday I went in to New York City to participate.

Yesterday - which was the day for global protest - I stayed home and watched all day on my computer.

Livestream is here-
adbusters.com
Warning - it can get boring. But there has been some wonderful writing on the protests, which when I get a chance I'll link to.

At the site you can also follow twitter which is quite interesting. Example: "Those who don't move, don't know they're in chains."
"Those who say it can't be done, are interrupting those who are doing it."

Here's one from Naomi Klein, author of the Shock Doctrine:
http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-most-important-thing-world-now

Do you know they have their own newspaper called (of course)
The Occupy Wall Street Journal.   

They have their own pizza pie - called the occu-pie.
The Pizza pies arrive in large boxes, and they rip off one side to use for signs.
They are very creative resourceful and bold.
They compost.

The camp in NY has a lending library, a medical clinic, good food, a clean-up committee, a publicity committee, music...

The movement has sparked suportive actions all over the world, at the livestream yesterday, I saw actions in South Africa, Belgium, Spain, Milan, Manilla, Tokyo, on and on...I can't remember all the places.

those who are demanding the protest be more specific in articulating their demands do not understand it. This is not politics as usual. There are specific demands, such as tax on millionaires, but more importantly this protest is about raising the consciousness, particularly of the youth.

I am 64 years old and have been an activist since the '60's. In recent decades, I and others, have despaired that the next generations were lethargic and apathetic. This movement proves that is not true. That the (mostly) young can be spurred to fight for a better world.

Even if this movement were to end today, it has changed the world forever: it has shown people that being active, building a better world is FUN, and can be effective. That we can have victories. (albeit small ones)

ellen

MarlaKC wrote:
Is anyone watching what's happening all over the world right now?

It sounds like the whole world is standing up against corporate greed!  WOW!!!

Gotta go do more surfing.

I went to Occupy Amsterdam on the 15th : ) I love the Occupy Wall Street Movement, I've been waiting so long. It  really is a big deal: I don't think people in 1000 cities in over 80 countries have ever before simultaneously protested the same cause. To those who criticize, all I can say is - history has already been made, and hopefully this is just the beginning. I have been blogging about the movement, and have written a page about permies at Wall Street who are have built a greywater system and are looking to build a Humanure collection point : ) If anyone is interested, http://www.occupy-wallstreet.com/permaculture/

I'm sure each protestor at any of the "Occupy" sites would have good reason for being there.  However, it is the lack over oversight and regulation in the corporate world, coupled with draconian hurdles for new small business start-ups that has led us to this impasse, IMO.

I support it 

Exactly.

One distinct effect of OWS is to change the political discourse.

Talking about weath inequality is verboten in the U.S.
"Oh you must be a Communist." lol
or
"You are fomenting class war"

Not noticing that there has been a class war by the super-rich against the rest of us for decades.

Now in the media - to a small but increasing degree - they are talking about Wall Street.

H Ludi Tyler wrote:
One of the demands is to close the gap between the rich and everyone else.  Just talking about there being such a gap here in the US is unusual, as most people are not aware of it but rather think the US is somewhat equal in its wealth distribution.  The US has one of the greatest wealth disparities in the developed world.  Many, perhaps most, Americans still believe wealth is created by virtuous hard work and that if people just work hard enough, they too will be rich.  Social mobility in the US is actually lower than in most European countries, with the rich getting richer, the rest of us getting poorer.

Wealth distribution in the US: http://www.lcurve.org/

Wealth distribution in the world: 

http://www.gizmag.com/go/6571/picture/29669/


Solutions (or actions, at least) being demanded include as mentioned increasing taxes on the wealthy, also, removing personhood from corporations (reverse the Citizens United decision) and reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act which regulated the activity of banks, among others.

Lolly K wrote:
I'm sure each protestor at any of the "Occupy" sites would have good reason for being there.  However, it is the lack over oversight and regulation in the corporate world, coupled with draconian hurdles for new small business start-ups that has led us to this impasse, IMO.

I fully agree, but the government plays a big part in allowing it to happen, so I think we need to pressure them too. And what people should do more, IMO, is put the numbers in perspective. These bailouts represent all social spending put together multiplied up to 20 times. It isn't about changing the system overnight, it is about stopping this bailout, because if these banks are allowed to be given so many trillions, yet they don't reinvest it and all kinds of austerity measures are pushed through - then you will see some draconian times I am afraid. The way I see it, we are the hurdles, a handful of banks are running with trillions, trying to get out of our reach, but more and more people will hopefully get in the way!

H Ludi Tyler wrote:
100% agree. 

me too : ) I think this thing has blown up in the corporate media's face. They blacked the story out at first, while mass arrests occurred, and police violence was recorded, posted online and went viral. This went on for days, until the media was forced to acknowledge the exploding online story, and they attacked it viciously. With slander ranging from calling the participants "disorganized smelly hippies" to calling the movement "fascist"...

I don't mind folks getting rich.  But I do mind people getting rich by screwing others.  I mind the lack of integrity that is happening to screw people.  I think the government is supposed to protect us from getting screwed by bad guys, but instead they often seem to be in on it.

From my past "Corporate whore" days, I would have to say that I can see how the CEOs earn the big bucks.  It's a matter of supply and demand.  Some are so good that they will make the company a lot of money.  And some are that good because they take inappropriate short cuts.  I would say that I am okay with CEOs with integrity making freaky big money.  I would say that I hope that those without integry get caught and end up jobless and go to jail.

I think chasing down all CEOs isn't going to solve anything.  I think cracking down on illegal stuff or wickedness is going to solve nearly ALL of our problems.

In re H Ludi Tyler's post re understand what it is about - here are some links to articles I think explain OWS very well. (It is more art and poetry than political action imo.)

This is rather long, as I include an excerpt with some.
Sources:
Al-jazeera online has been giving more coverage to OWS than any mainstream US media. Also Democracy Now online devotes a lot of time, yesterday had the whole hour on it.
and the "official" OWS site - http://occupywallst.org/

articles:
"It is five minutes to dawn and the wind smells like freedom"
http://kasamaproject.org/2011/10/14/suddenly-it-is-five-minutes-to-dawn-and-the-wind-smells-like-freedom/

"It is no longer five minutes to midnight. After Arab Spring leaps to Spain, and Greece, and on to New York’s Wall Street, it suddenly feels like five minutes to dawn...For so long, all of the things that leave people crying at night: the numbing global poverty itself, the painful loneliness of atomized non-community, the discarding of the old and the young, endless war for dominance, global structures of empire, the ravaging of nature, the manufacture of ignorance, intolerance and bigotry, the rape and casual daily brutality toward women — all of these things have seemed untouchable and permanent.

Now suddenly….a different day is approaching — where we can increasingly see and act in in startling ways, with rippling new impact. Ears perk up. Sights are raised. The pulse quickens. Suddenly we recognize the faces of others — once unknown to us — animated and awake with a common spirit. The powerful look discredited and vulnerable."
===
"Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/25/occupy-wall-street-protest/

"We are watching the beginnings of the defiant self-assertion of a new
generation of Americans, a generation who are looking forward to finishing their education with no jobs, no future, but still saddled with enormous and
unforgivable debt. Most, I found, were of working-class or otherwise modest
backgrounds, kids who did exactly what they were told they should: studied, got into college, and are now not just being punished for it, but humiliated – faced with a life of being treated as deadbeats, moral reprobates.

Is it really surprising they would like to have a word with the financial
magnates who stole their future?"
==
"Occupy Wall Street Gets What the 'Very Serious People' Have Missed for 30 Years
http://www.alternet.org/news/152634/

"For all their alleged naivete, the thousands of people who have participated in Occupy Wall Street (OWS) have managed to put their finger on something that has completely evaded the "Very Serious People" for more than three decades. While the talking-heads have insisted that reforming Wall Street has little or nothing to do with getting the economy back on track, the occupiers have correctly diagnosed that the problems we now face flow almost entirely from our out-of-control financial sector.
So, if a small, fluid, group of people want to try something different, who can blame them? They face an enormous uphill battle and they may not succeed. But, I think they have as much or more chance than any organization I've seen in the last three decades to catalyze a national progressive movement."
==
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_best_policy/2011/10/occupy_wall_street_s_victory_it_has_shaken_up_american_politics_.html
"OWS's victory"

"Suddenly, the issues of equity, fairness, justice, income distribution, and accountability for the economic cataclysm–issues all but ignored for a generation—are front and center. We have moved beyond the one-dimensional conversation about how much and where to cut the deficit. Questions more central to the social fabric of our nation have returned to the heart of the political debate. By forcing this new discussion, OWS has made most of the other participants in our politics—who either didn’t want to have this conversation or weren’t able to make it happen—look pretty small."

Danimal wrote:
I went to Occupy Amsterdam on the 15th : ) I love the Occupy Wall Street Movement, I've been waiting so long. It  really is a big deal: I don't think people in 1000 cities in over 80 countries have ever before simultaneously protested the same cause. To those who criticize, all I can say is - history has already been made, and hopefully this is just the beginning. I have been blogging about the movement, and have written a page about permies at Wall Street who are have built a greywater system and are looking to build a Humanure collection point : ) If anyone is interested, http://www.occupy-wallstreet.com/permaculture/

Great blog!
I will go back and read it in detail. I saw references elsewhere to greywater at OWS, but not much info, looks like your blog explains things.

ellen

  I stumbled upon one of the events here in Victoria BC. It occupied an outdoor stage and concert area which is beside City Hall. There is usually a vegetable market on Sundays and that's why I found myself amongst this group. I was there primarily as a voyeur. There were probably 75 to 100 people lounging on the grass with various signs. They had singers, dancers etc.. Very similar to the ongoing protests which happen here regularly. I spoke to several participants, all young men. I attempted to interview them to see what their key issues were. Although they weren't a very articulate bunch I got the gist of it.

1. We want free food and free housing.    2. Marijuana should be legalized.     3. Stephen Harper(our Prime Minister) is a dink.     4. We want to be able to live in public parks.      5. Most business is bad.     6. We are unhappy with how the world is run.   7. George Bush Junior was a way worse dink.        8. We are all being poisoned by the secret ingredients of airliner contrails.

     I let each guy have his rant and then asked them this question. Is there anything other than talking about it that you personally do to change any of what you're unhappy with. The answers range from no comment to fcuk off to there's really nothing individuals can do on their own.

   I'm going to do exactly what governments all over the world are going to do about these folks. I'll watch them on TV for a while until I decide to check out old episodes of Frasier, then I'll ignore them until they go away.

    I heard some good ideas expressed at this little gathering and I met some really crazy bozos. But I wasn't able to find one person who could point to their own personal contribution to any of this change they so desperately want. I didn't sign any petitions, didn't get converted to anything, didn't learn anything and I am a sponge for knowledge.

Ellen, thank you very much for the various links.

Ellen, thank you for the compliment! I am trying to keep up the blog, but it's all in my little bit of spare time!
Honestly, I am surprised that so many people seem to have no idea what OWS is about. If you look for an interview of an intellectual sympathetic to OWS, you can get a very clear idea of what is going on. Asking random people to express an OWS agenda, is not very informative or productive, which is why the media has focussed on this tactic so much. I wrote this on my blog:

"Here in Europe, more than 5 trillion $ will be given to banks: more than 20 times all public spending combined. In the mean time, brutal austerity measures will be enforced, cutting all social spending. We pay insanely high taxes here, and we don’t mind because it is supposed to get reinvested back into our society. This will kill the wellfare state over night, but the high taxes will remain. We will effectively be handing over a large percentage of our income to pay for future interest on money we are borrowing now to give away as bailouts. In the US it is worse – no one even knows the exact amounts of the various bailouts. This is the central focus of OWS, participating democratically in the monumental decision facing the world economy. The #1 priority right now is not to protest the unfairness of the system in general. It isn’t about revenge against greedy CEOs making millions, or unethical corporations making billions.  It is about banks receiving over 10 trillion $ of our money worldwide, and us being excluded from the debate." if anyone is interested I wrote a bit more: http://www.occupy-wallstreet.com/why-occupy/why-occupy/

Danimal wrote:
It is about banks receiving over 10 trillion $ of our money worldwide, and us being excluded from the debate.

Thank you for this clear answer.

I am just an 'anonymous' voice too, and by far not the most qualified advocate OWS has to offer : ) I apologize if I sound like a know it all, it is just that I think the media has failed to find a coherent narrative intentionally. There are plenty of intellectuals who have spoken at OWS, but the media has failed to report what their narrative was, prefering to focus on the unemployed (and) students.
I do think the bail outs are the most clear and present danger at this moment. Specifically the conditions attached for the tax payer. But of course there are a lot of other issues (relating to self- and planet defense) that are very urgent. That is the power of OWS, it can potentially evolve into a platform for people get together, and represent their different causes as one. OWS is kind of proposing a reinvention of democracy, grassroots up.

Thanks, Danimal - so inspiring to see the PC demos... a picture/story is worth a thousand words!   It is real 'dynamite'!  Sooooo much education is going on for those who don't know the deep story behind their dissatisfaction.

No, Dale - the Masters of the Universe and 'their' gov's will do as they have historically done - watch; infiltrate; plant provacateurs (e.g., damaging photos from yrs ago have been presented as being from current OWS, - COINTEL, Northwoods Projct, etc.); they want 'specifics' so they can generously toss us sops, etc. - they are the masters of PR, media manipulation, lawmaking, damage control, etc.  OWS lack of 'goals' is to their advantage, stragically, at the moment.  (Check out 'The Sociopath next Door'

The bottom line which, I hope, will be OWS' ultimate target, is to remove $ from the political system, as far as possible, and enable real representation so real problems can be addressed, and gov 'of, by' and for' us can be achieved.  Why do you think the necessary regulations, et al, are not now in place?  Why do you think building codes seem written to enrich certain industries?  etc, etc, etc. Campaign funding. (For something to do this very instant Google 'getmoneyout.com'.)

Ellen, I'm 65, and I never thought I'd live to see... a year! like this one   Wow!!!  The worm may be turning... maybe Tolle's (and others) 'new earth' is a real possibility   Can it hurt to hope? - it is energizing and motivating - while despair and pessimism are ennervating and play into 'their' hands.

Re: good/bad corps/ceos.... they all have to play by the 'rules' (which they [google 'ALEC'], or their judicial puppets, wrote) by which they have fiduciary obligation to place stockholders enrichment over every other value.  (Stockholders who buy/sell stock like used cars, etc.)

I agree Nancy, the worm may  be turning, and if anyone wants to be really energized and motivated, check out Spain!

I believe this has been covered not at all in mainstream media. (But what do I expect?)- a friend just returned from there and spoke of 300,000 in the street, and that the public squares in Barcelona and Madrid have been occupied for months.

Here is a link and some excerpts from the article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/15/spain-15-m-moveme...
excerpts:
The new, networked activists have revealed a side of Spain few thought
existed: a politicised public eager for real change.

20% unemployment (40% among the youth) and the looming possibility
that the country's finances might have to face an intervention

Five months into the long "Spanish spring" of 2011, what started as a
small, inarticulate and youth-centred movement has transformed itself
into what some here call the most interesting political development
since the death of Franco in 1975.

A hybrid and novel experiment of online and offline activism that has
steered clear of the traditional and weary avenues of political
engagement

The movement has studiously avoided engaging with ideological agendas,
unions and, most importantly, professional politicians. It has filled
city squares, co-ordinated online actions and targeted specific topics
like banking and electoral reform. It has experimented with bottom-up
networked approaches to challenge the rigid, top-down, party driven
system that has dominated Spanish political life since 1978.

City square by city square, individual meeting by individual meeting,
thousands of citizens have come together in a networked approach to
politics that is fresh and engaging because it defies, above anything
else, the hierarchical approach favoured by vested interests.

The movement's strategy is based on assembling ad hoc citizen
coalitions to help push back and challenge specific government
actions; trying to figure out how to affect policy by exerting force
on specific choke points in the system that badly needs reform.

Politicians worried about intra-party politics, re-election or special
interests can't see the importance of this. It's about using the power
of the network to break entrenched silos and find ways to make the
political process more responsive to the needs of everyday citizens.


---ellen

after reading all the responses i think i should make my first official post.

i have been following politics and going out of my way to petition and call for change since about 2006. I'm only 27 now, young enough for some to say i'm a kid, old enough for some to say i should be doing more.

i graduated college witha  degree in historic preservation of buildings, and a strong desire to go into infrastructural design for cities (more seeded cities, more walkable cities, green power, recycling systems). and i was shunted from the path to my dream. I've been unemployed for a year.

As an active person, i agree there needs to be more specifics in deciding what needs to be demanded. But  the people are far too many to ignore. they may disagree about who should be doing what, they all agree, change has to happen and the new world order needs to have its wings clipped.

so for those who want to do something, and havent already.

take all of your money out of any bank, and put it into a local credit union, or a non profit bank

if you use a cell phone, consider moving over to credo mobile (thats more a personal choice, but i admire their company quite a lot)

visit an occupation, and maybe bring them some old business clothes or some supplies.

look into any of these proposed laws and support the ones you agree with

http://www.wolf-pac.com/28th
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/buffett_taxes/?r_by=-1964334-8nmuAdx&rc=paste1
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12473

and gently spread the word to friends and family, try to talk to people who are on the other side of the aisle too. i'm not tea party, but i think that if the tea party members joined on making some of these changes, the movement would have ended a week after it started with all the pressure.

so i'm done, thanks for letting me into the forums. I'm probably gonna hang out in the green building section a lot.

Welcome, Atomdari - great ideas

And for another OWS suggestion... maybe we should clean out the thrift stores of their woolens & long johns, and contribute to our nearest 'occupy' event... it's getting colder

Also, a medieval re-enactor called a radio show today with an idea.  To replace the sleeping bags which police often confiscate, she suggested the kind of 'cloaks' they make -  long, heavily lined, with a waterproof exterior, and a puffy pillow-like hood, they could replace sleeping bags and be un-confiscatable, as they are clothing.

And for inspiration (maybe from Gandhi... or union leader.. or ?)

"First they ignore you; then they ridicule you; then they attack you, and then you win."

Hello all,

Want to share a Rolling Stone article http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/owss-beef-wall-street-isnt-winning-its-cheating-20111025 I love Matt Taibbi! His point: OWS isn't protesting the rich, it's protesting the corruption. He very nicely points out how insane it is to suggest the country has suddenly become jealous of the rich, and has turned on them after all these decades: if anything Americans idolize the rich, and were quick to turn on the poor (under Reagan). Anyway, he says it a lot better than I can : )

Love the quote Nancy: "First they ignore you; then they ridicule you; then they attack you, and then you win."

@ Atomdari

that cloak idea is pretty genius nancy. if you used some goodwill clothes for some of it that might help keep costs low. hell i wander around an unheated house in a blanket kimono half of the time in winter, so it wouldnt be hard to make 2 cloaks from one decent sized blanket and maybe some tarp material.

if you can find any designs for it you should share them on parts of the web with a lot of occupy visitors and supporters.

if i get the job i'm trying for right now, i'll be sending as much wool as i can to the local movement, the one in DC, and the one in NYC.

and you can just call me Atom, all my friends do.

thats funny as being a bedroll too was a large part of the purpose of garments like the cloak and poncho

on that note army surplus stores often have the army rain ponchos that can be buttoned together into a tent

The cartoon reminds me:
Someone I know is in an organization which advocates for the chemically-injured, and for awareness of toxicity.
She is very leftist, and reports that others in the group are members of the Tea Party.
I take this and the cartoon as a good sign!

A somewhat harsh criticism of the Tea Party, by Pulitzer Prize winning author Chris Hedges, is that the Tea Party functions as America's fascist party:

It celebrates the gun culture,

it has undercurrents of racism: the scapegoating of people who are vulnerable or weak within the society - Muslims, undocumented workers, homosexuals and intellectuals

and it is bankrolled by corporations that have deflected the tea parties outrage toward government.

Deflecting outrage against government is a red herring, because in our system there is no way to vote against corporations, such as Goldman Sachs - Obama has served them just as loyally as W Bush did. Obama care is a 2000 page document drafted by the pharmaceutical lobby - it's  the pharma equivalent of the bank bailouts. The tea party keeps accusing OWS of supporting Gov, while that is totally untrue. In the mean time, the tea party fails to address the problems caused by corporations, which are the cause of the Gov's failure in the first place. So I do not see them as a very useful ally of OWS.

remember that the people of the tea party are all still people though. they can choose to push their movement wherever they want, just like OWS can.

the argument of that picture just shows how much the two sides are stuck in their ways of thought right now though, but with some time and understanding of what each other wants through normal talking, there isn't any reason that the two parties of protest wouldn't be able to join, at least partially.

it's just an issue of the media vilifying one side or the other instead of sitting in and trying for peaceful conversation. just talk it out over a game of chess or some food. a plate of good food makes any debate better.

I see OWS as still in it's infancy and as it coalesces a consistent platform of what it is will emerge.
I can get behind some of the Tea Party rhetoric and I can get behind some of what I believe OWS is saying.

Atomdari wrote:
remember that the people of the tea party are all still people though. they can choose to push their movement wherever they want, just like OWS can.

the argument of that picture just shows how much the two sides are stuck in their ways of thought right now though, but with some time and understanding of what each other wants through normal talking, there isn't any reason that the two parties of protest wouldn't be able to join, at least partially.

it's just an issue of the media vilifying one side or the other instead of sitting in and trying for peaceful conversation. just talk it out over a game of chess or some food. a plate of good food makes any debate better.

I disagree with the statement that OWS is "stuck in it's way of thought" - the idea that OWS is pro Big Gov is a myth, being circulated by the media. You could replace Tea Party and OWS with Conservative and Liberal, and the cartoon would be more accurate. OWS is not leftist, it is very diverse (Hell it is going on in almost 100 countries). Calling people who are fighting against corruption Leftist, then socialist, then communist, is merely an attempt to marginalize the protestors, and distract from the crimes they are protesting against. I shared the cartoon because I like how it shows that Gov and Industry have merged, which was Mussolini's definition of fascism by the way.
I am open to individuals who sympathize with the Tea Party, but I am not real keen on focusing blame for our problems on immigrants, or denying gay people equal rights - as you said, they are people too. As far as opposing the bailouts, spot on Tea Party : )

i didn't say that they were leftist, communist, or anything else. I tried to write out my point as polite as possible so it wouldn't point fingers.

they are stuck in the train of thought now, of not having an opinion. everyone wants something, some people with more sense and some people with less, all facing in some direction and they haven't yet reached an agreement on a solid modus operandi.

part of that stems from there not being a leader. anyone who steps up as a leader is stepping away from the mood of the movement. The issue is that they are starting to need that leader now. people are interested in changing all levels and facets of society in one way or another. it seems like a prudent time for people to start voting up specific civic leaders that can be mouthpieces for a representation.

the leftists, rightists, and the shades and tones thereof will either agree or disagree, but with a situation where they have a tension building around them, and government and police officials openly looking for ways to undermine and displace them, they need their voices to begin to ring clear on some levels of demands.

i'd be all for joining in on the infrastructure and conservation section.

Hey Atom, I totally didn't mean to suggest you were defining OWS as Leftist, etc! Sorry if it sounded directed at you. I mean that virtually every corporate news outlet is saying that.

Atomdari wrote:

they need their voices to begin to ring clear on some levels of demands.

The clear demands seem to be:

1. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act

2. Reverse the Citizen's United decision

but there has not of yet, been an official statement on that. plenty of groups have been working towards that though.

I'm really interested in wolf-pac. They seem to be working hard to make sure that their actions will ring clearly.

This link was pretty informative to me. If only there was more of a government hand in ensuring the clarity and honesty of political donors and lobbyists.

http://www.care2.com/causes/campaign-cash-a-roundup-of-money-in-politics.html#ixzz1bv4TYBi8

Anyways. New Orleans has had a 400 person surge in occupiers since the Oakland incident. I've got a test for a job on the 1st, and pass or fail, I'll be out at the park with the rest of them, difference being whether I'll be staying full time, or just supporting when I can.

hope I didn't come off as offensive. I do that sometimes without knowing.

Atomdari wrote:
but there has not of yet, been an official statement on that.

There is unlikely to ever be an "official statement" from a group which has no officials.  There are no officials in the Occupy movement.

(I wasn't going to get involved in this conversation, but here I am breaking my own rule.  Oh well.  )

There have been some unofficial lists of demands.  And lots of people holding signs with demands on them.  Many of the signs contain the same or similar demands.  The two which seem to be the most clearly articulated are the ones mentioned above.