[PAA-Discuss] Freedom Rider: Occupying Wall Street

Sun Oct 9 14:53:49 EDT 2011

Nowhere in this article does Margaret Kimberley talk about people running
for office as alternative candidates, Don. Why must everything be turned
toward the Green Party and its need for candidates?? This article discusses
not allowing the Occupy Movements to be co-opted by the Democratic Party,
their politicians or Barack Obama. There is a very real possibility, even a
probability that will happen.

People must get out of the parks and get busy learning new, sustainable ways
of doing things. The Transition Groups that have formed all over the United
States are vehicles for people to learn sustainable ways of living. People
must take their money out of big banks and put it into credit unions. They
must either pay off their credit cards or choose NOT to pay them. Those are
two things people can do right now under this capitalist system. I have
never heard the Green Party give a view on capitalism. Where does the GP
stand on this? I do appreciate and support the fact that the Occupy
Movements have finally gotten some attention from the MSM and are shining a
light on the very real and righteous anger of the majority of the American
people, but we have to do more.

I am not for political parties or for capitalism. I am for individuals
helping to create an anarchistic society based upon the inherent value of
every individual and the right of every person to live free of tyranny, wage
slavery and suffocating government repression.

I am not interested in running for office on any ticket. 

Kris

  _____  

From: donald cook [mailto:zenblews at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2011 12:39 PM
To: RonandKris graham; discuss paa
Subject: RE: [PAA-Discuss] Freedom Rider: Occupying Wall Street

We need a good alternative candidate alright.  You ready to run Kris?

  _____  

From: graham2639 at mindspring.com
To: discuss at paa-tx.org
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2011 10:01:00 -0500
Subject: [PAA-Discuss] Freedom Rider: Occupying Wall Street

Freedom Rider: Occupying Wall Street

By Margaret Kimberley

Created 10/04/2011 - 21:52

Submitted by Margaret Kimberley on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 21:52

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

It is great that the Occupation "movement" exists, but unclear where it is
going. Its leaderless nature may help to avoid cooptation and media
manipulation, but there are equally serious drawbacks. "The movement may be
doomed to become a permanent gripe session against an obvious villain, but
with no means of planning how to end the system that increases income
inequality, debt peonage and unemployment." Most importantly: can the 99%ers
bring themselves to abandon the Democrats?

Freedom Rider: Occupying Wall Street

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

"Do they know and are they ready to state that they must dump the Democrats
if they are to have any opportunity to save themselves and what is left of
democracy?"

The Occupy Wall Street/99% movement has succeeded in demonstrating one
important fact. There is a great deal of anger and frustration directed at
the financial services mobsters and the political system that gives them
such great power. Any mass effort directed against the prerogatives they now
enjoy is a positive indication that there is still something left of what we
call democracy. 

The spread of the Occupy Wall Street movement around the country should be
the beginning of a much needed political movement, but at the moment it
isn't clear that will take place. While the righteous and justifiable
indignation is evident, organizing and the analysis which it should be based
upon are not.

It isn't really difficult to be angry with the bankster class which has
ruined not just the American economy, but which has also devastated the
lives of people around the world. It is much more difficult to think outside
of the paradigm of the two parties which are both in fact servants of the
plutocracy. Collapsing markets and rising unemployment are but symptoms of a
larger and more worrisome disease.

In all likelihood the Democratic Party has benefited most from the votes
cast of demonstrators at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. Do they know and
are they ready to state that they must dump the Democrats if they are to
have any opportunity to save themselves and what is left of democracy? 

"Collapsing markets and rising unemployment are but symptoms of a larger and
more worrisome disease."

If the "
<http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/overcoming-divide-and-conquer-s
trategy-%E2%80%94-economic-elite-vs-people-usa> spectrum of thinkable
thought [6]" is not done away with, some of these same protesters who are
now so valiantly acting in opposition, will one year from now return Barack
Obama and his policies of bailing out Wall Street, back to the White House.

The cry for change must include a cry in opposition to the Democratic Party.
When Congressman Charles Rangel visited Zuccotti park, he was shouted down
by one protester, but then received words of apology from others.

Certainly Charles Rangel is not himself the cause of all that ails American
politics, but Democratic members of Congress and the Congressional Black
Caucus have time and again been subservient to the dictates of their
leadership and to the career trajectory of Democratic presidents. This
subservience almost always takes precedence over the needs of the people. If
protesters apologize for the righteous anger of one of their members, it is
an indication that this movement is not quite ready to look outside of the
thought spectrum which allows the economic elite to control both Democrats
and Republicans. 

The leaderless, mass-led nature of this action presents both benefits and
problems. It is good that the corporate media cannot personalize these
activities and designate any one person or group of people as leaders.
Inevitably, those people are scrutinized in ways that render them useless or
in the worst case scenarios are co-opted and bought off. 

"They must not succumb to fears about the latest Republican bogeyman or
woman."

The down side to this non-organization is that there may not be anyone able
to direct the mass action in any effective way. The movement may be doomed
to become a permanent gripe session against an obvious villain, but with no
means of planning how to end the system that increases income inequality,
debt peonage and unemployment.

Make no mistake, Occupy Wall Street should be the beginning of fundamental
changes in the political landscape. Whether it will be or not, will depend
upon the willingness of activists to stand up for those changes. They must
not succumb to fears about the latest Republican bogeyman or woman. Rick
Perry or Michelle Bachman or Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney will be mocked as a
fascist, charlatan, idiot who doesn't believe in gay
marriage/evolution/global warming and who is therefore unfit to serve as
president.

But it is Barack Obama, a man no doubt supported by many of the occupiers,
who backs offshore oil drilling and the wholesale resurrection of the
nuclear power industry. It is Barack Obama who has forestalled efforts to
require cleaner air standards. It is the constitutional law professor who
decides that Anwar al-Awlaki or any other American citizen can be marked for
death. 

Some commentators have likened Occupy Wall Street to the actions at Tahrir
Square in Cairo, Egypt which brought down president Mubarak. The Egyptian
protesters had a clear demand, that Mubarak had to go. What is the clear
demand in Zuccotti Park, that Obama and the Democrats go? That is to say,
are they committed to end their support for them? 

Right now this site has become a magnet for celebrities and gawking
tourists. It ought to become the place where Democratic Party control of the
left dies once and for all. 

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is
widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well
as at  <http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/> http://freedomrider.blogspot.com.
[7] Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at
Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.com.

<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http://blackagendareport.com/con
tent/freedom-rider-occupying-wall-street&linkname=Freedom%20Rider:%20Occupyi
ng%20Wall%20Street> Share this[8] 

  _____  

Source URL:
http://blackagendareport.com/content/freedom-rider-occupying-wall-street

Links:
[1] http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/dump-democrats
[2]
http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/leaderless-wall-street-occ
upation
[3] http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/occupy-wall-street
[4] http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/us-political-duopoly
[5]
http://blackagendareport.com/sites/www.blackagendareport.com/files/occupying
_wall_street01.jpg
[6]
http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/overcoming-divide-and-conquer-st
rategy---economic-elite-vs-people-usa
[7] http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/
[8]
http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblackagendareport.co
m%2Fcontent%2Ffreedom-rider-occupying-wall-street&linkname=Freedom%20Rid
er%3A%20Occupying%20Wall%20Street

--------------- Progressive Action Alliance
http://progressiveactionalliance.org/ Discuss mailing list
Discuss at paa-tx.org To subscribe, unsubscribe, access the archives, or change
your options on this list, go to:
http://mail.paa-tx.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_paa-tx.org To reply only to
the person posting this note, use "Reply". To reply so that everyone on this
list receives your note, use "Reply All". Check the "To:" field in your
message, before sending, to ensure it goes to the correct address.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://paa-tx.org/pipermail/discuss_paa-tx.org/attachments/20111009/8f035aa6/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 1551 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://paa-tx.org/pipermail/discuss_paa-tx.org/attachments/20111009/8f035aa6/attachment.gif>