Category Archives: Freedom of Expression

New York City Police Attack and Destroy Occupy Wall Street Encampment

by Cimaxion | 1 Comment

On the orders of New York mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD staged a brazen and unwarranted attack on the Zuccotti Park protesters of Occupy Wall Street late last night, removing and destroying the entire camp. This assault on Occupy Wall Street appears to be a coordinated nationwide effort with police departments in various cities operating in near concert.

New York has been foolish. The police should not have done this.

There are major protest activities approaching this week. The police assaults may be an effort to head things off before any more major statements can be made by the movement. However, it would be my guess that now all the gloves come off. It would not be unreasonable for massive numbers of protesters to shut down the entire Wall Street area. I think now the movement will be justified in the general public opinion when it escalates its actions. My guess is that if it wasn’t yet, Wall Street is about to become ground zero.

It does appear that there is a court order against New York to allow the protesters back into the park with their tents.  However, Mayor Bloomberg is ignoring the court’s order.

It is also reported that the police destroyed the protesters’ library of 5,000 books during their raid. Get it? That’s basically a book-burning.

It looks like the police also prevented press coverage of the attack. Network news helicopters were prevented from flying and journalists were roughed up and kept away.

However, it has now become clear that the Zuccotti Park protesters last week surrounded an emergency medical technician to prevent him from taking a mentally ill patient to hospital.  The EMT’s leg was broken in the scuffle.  That story fits in perfectly with the experience of a Rolling Stone reporter who was surrounded and prevented from interviewing someone.  One of those acts is a serious crime committed by the protesters against an emergency worker.  The other is an infringement of the right to freely speak with another person.  It is also an attempt to prevent a journalist from doing his or her job. I do not support such actions on the part of the protesters. But those are not reasons to destroy their encampments.

Here is Keith Olbermann excoriating mayor Bloomberg for his raging stupidity:

Here’s a television news report about the NYPD raid:

Here’s a live feed from the Zuccotti Park area:

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

Saturday November 5 Is Bank Transfer Day

by Cimaxion | 1 Comment

Tomorrow, Saturday November 5, 2011, is Bank Transfer Day. That means that Americans everywhere are moving their money out of big banks and putting them into smaller local banks and credit unions that are FDIC insured. The Occupy Wall Street movement is having serious consequences and is beginning to wake people up to how easy it is to change things when millions decide to act. The big banks have been making life very difficult for many people through absurd fees, rates and indecipherable rules meant to empty pockets. But the problem is actually much more serious than that. Big banks are actually putting lives at risk through illegal foreclosures all across the United States. Masses of people are boiling with anger that is going to reach a critical overload. Moving money out of these banks into credit unions is a common sense approach to smacking big banks. But this event is just a warm-up. What we are practicing for is the eventual ability of the population to move almost overnight to totally destroy a chosen corporation. The ability to do so is almost here and will make itself apparent in very short order. I’m talking about a population that will be able to pick a corporation – say a major auto manufacturer for instance – and totally liquidate that corporation. This will be a weaponized and highly focused form of boycott, but it will be characterized by extremely sudden mass decision-making unlike anything ever seen in history. Get ready for it. Start your warmup tomorrow by moving to a credit union or small local bank.

The Bank Transfer Day Facebook page.

A Salon article about why Bank Transfer Day is only the beginning and the power of social media.

Oakland Police Smash Skull of Iraq War Veteran at Peaceful Protest

by Cimaxion

MATURE CONTENT – DISTURBING IMAGES AND LANGUAGE
In Oakland, Tuesday evening, police fractured the skull of Occupy Oakland protester Scott Olsen who is an Iraq war veteran.  Police apparently fired a projectile at his head. Mr. Olsen is in critical condition.

Oakland is an American city where police will lay a person out on a subway platform and brutally murder them with a bullet through the back. They are now firing deadly projectiles at Occupy Oakland protesters.

The use of projectiles by police against crowds is in fact a use of potentially deadly force and should be defended against as such. Any firing of a projectile toward crowds or individuals must be viewed as potentially deadly. The protesters would now seem to have a legal argument for self defense.

I predict that this protester and his injuries will soon cost the city Oakland tens of millions of dollars in damages.

That’s the thing about this movement.  It’s got a lot of very smart and well-educated people involved and they have really powerful attorneys who are going to rip Oakland a great big new asshole.

Oakland police were also filmed firing projectiles at people who went to administer first aid to the seriously injured Olsen. You can see that toward the end of the following video. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quiet like that, but I am very certain that the police officer who fired this projectile at people rendering assistance to an injured person can face serious criminal charges.

Four Reasons to Support Occupy Wall Street

by Cimaxion

Yes, deregulation of the banking industry has led to absolute chaos and total criminality. It is abundantly obvious. The presidents serving since 1980 have been completely owned by corporate lobbyists, as have all senators, representatives and Supreme Court justices. I have arguments with some of the tactics of Occupy Wall Street, but I think they are very minor compared to the overall message. The separation of government from corporations has become an urgent necessity and does in fact require a mass movement of people across the placid lawns of government. Politicians should be examined for any corporate connections whatsoever and immediately dismissed if they fail the test. Corporations should be checked for any attempts at electoral influence. A Constitutional amendment that declares corporations to be nothing more than legal abstractions and forbids them from influencing the federal government is essential. After all, corporations seek to produce products at the lowest possible cost and currently do so by using concentration camps in China. They would gladly build those concentration camps in the U.S. if it was cost-effective. Such entities cannot be allowed the slightest influence on American politics. We may be forced to totally ban all political contributions that do not come directly from an individual person.

Los Angeles to Ease Restrictions on Murals

by Cimaxion

The Los Angeles Times reports that the City Council is easing its restrictions on outdoor murals.  It will no longer classify them the same way it does billboards.  Since 2002 it has been illegal to paint a mural on private or public property because the artworks are considered advertisements.  But Los Angeles is going to try to do a better job of distinguishing between the two.

Of course this will all get muddled again as soon as an artist paints a figure holding a can of Coke!  Is it art or is it an ad?  As a rule though, it is never difficult to tell when something is a giant ad and when it’s not.  It just takes a little common sense and observation.  Surely the City Council can manage this.

But the bottom line is that the murals of L.A. are inspiring and extraordinary.  The city needs to reclaim its title as ‘The Mural Capital of the World!’

The photo is a portion of a photo by Al Seib for the Los Angeles Times,  April 6, 2011.

Is Occupy Wall Street Encouraging Bigotry?

by Cimaxion | 3 Comments

Who are the one percent?

Does anyone pay attention to what is being said when this ‘1%’ thing is thrown around?

Here’s a direct quote from the OccupyWallSt.org About page and must therefore be the definitive statement of the movement’s intentions:

‘The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future.’

If you replace ‘richest 1% of people’ with different words like ‘Muslims’ or ‘Jews’ or ‘Whites’ or ‘Blacks’ or ‘Poor People,’ wouldn’t you have a serious problem?

Why is it that Occupy Wall Street can define a 1% minority out of a population and engage in open hostility and bigotry toward them? Bigotry against a part of a population is bigotry no matter what the rationale for it happens to be. Occupy Wall Street is not talking about corrupt rich people. It is not talking about criminals. It is talking about ALL rich people. It is equating wealth with villainy.

It should be obvious that not all of the richest people are in fact helping to write unfair rules. Michael Moore is rich. Is he writing some of the unfair rules?

Why is Occupy Wall Street unable to confine its hostility to actual policy?

In Germany, during the buildup of Nazism, people grew increasingly angry toward the wealthy and then turned that anger toward Jewish people.  Angry crowds, encouraged to chant mantras and direct hostility toward groups that they define as evil become extremely dangerous when exposed to a charismatic leader who is willing to exploit them.

I do not oppose constructive change of policy to make the economic situation more fair and to prevent the corporate control of government.  But I do oppose the fundamental and defining aspect of Occupy Wall Street which is to associate a particular group of people with a generic and unspecified evil.