#occupywallstreet

zyyllyhoo:

occupywallstreet:

occupyallstreets:

occupywallstreet:

I saw OWS people trying, not to integrate with but to change the direction of the route. I saw OWS people screaming for everyone to go to Zuccotti Park. After seeing this and then seeing the arguments of people saying that this was not about OWS, only to have the OWS people say that it WAS, I became physically ill. If there was ever a time when you should have worked to keep the focus on the actual cause, this was it […]

He tried to remain calm while he explained what he saw. He saw the same thing that I did. Only in a different form and at a different location. He saw OWS people yelling that it wasn’t about race and that it would be best to incorporate this into the OWS movement. 

This behavior is unacceptable.

These are real concerns. They are legitimate concerns. Listen to what people have to say without being patronizing. That people in this movement are acting like this is a serious problem (and don’t think for a second this is an isolated incident) and this blog will no longer turn a blind eye to it. 

Including concerns of POC, women, queer folk, etc. does not mean making them take a back seat to what you think the “real issues” should be, and it does not mean making them assimilate into what you think the movement should be. It is a racist, imperialist attitude and it is an insult to the democratic ideals this movement was supposed to have been built on.

In no way is the idea that we should figure out economic issues first and get to everyone else later acceptable. In no way is deriding people’s concerns because you think yours come first acceptable.

I care about this movement and I have since the beginning, but it is worthless - absolutely worthless - while these serious problems go un-addressed, and while we continue to let racist, alienating garbage dominate the discussion. Read this post, listen to other concerns, learn what the fuck intersectionality is, and use your goddamn brains.

These concerns aren’t “divisive,” your bullshit is. 

OWS needs to become more POC-friendly and address the issue on wealth inequality amongst racial minorities. A large majority of people at Occupy Wall Street are white and do not realize that the recession has effected POC a lot more than it has effected whites.

That is why Occupy The Hood and POCcupy is essential to the movement. What upsets me is that we have to separated ourselves because the entire movement does not recognize the issues latinos and blacks go through. Our median household income is significantly less than whites and the Stop & Frisk policy in NYC (which OWS has protested) is directed at blacks and latinos. 

I repeatedly tried to convince Occupiers to march in Harlem, Washington Heights and Bushwick because we desperately need things to change over here. There are 8 million people living in New York City, why are we limiting ourselves to downtown Manhattan and why are we completely ignoring the issues racial minorities face in America. 

We also need to appeal to Asians. In Chinatown there are a massive amount of undocumented people there. They are afraid and often exploited. There is no excuse for not marching in Chinatown because it is only blocks away. 

If we’re going to grow as a movement we need to recognize our internal flaws and fix them. There is no reason why OWS is more than 80% white in a racially diverse city like NYC. This is a serious flaw in Occupy and OWS cannot defend themselves by saying all races are welcomed because they don’t feel welcomed. Whites do not face this issue so they wouldn’t understand but it’s time that they do. 

If Occupy doesn’t change I have no choice other than to abandon the movement. I believe OWS has the power to change things but if you ignore racial inequality then you are ignoring blacks, latinos and asians. At this point Occupy Wall Street should call themselves the 80% to represent the amount of whites in America.

Just be careful with how you word that and how you present those ideas. It’s way to easy for “we need to include” to end up meaning “we need to lasso their concerns to be part of our concerns and direct their message toward what we think it should be.”

“Appeal to” sounds like politician pandering. Like “we need to get “the Asian vote.”” No. What we need is to support their issues, and for their concerns to be our concerns without expecting them to sit down and take a back seat. What we need to do is stop othering.

And we need to stop making excuses for ourselves.

OWS definitely needs to work to support EVERY group within the 99% - we all have to work together to get what we need, or we will never succeed in getting the change that would make life better for all of us.

However, that does NOT mean it is at all in any way right for OWS to invade and try to take over the events and rallies of other causes. OWS wants to still be noticed and included, I get that - but you cannot steal the spotlight from other issues. You cannot force this cause into another cause, even when they are related; he was not target by the wealthy, he was targeted by a racist, and although his lack of prosecution is because the police, an institute often owned by the wealthy, failed to act… even though you have issues and concerns with police in general, which is the ONLY reason I can think why they would try to come into this protest and claim it’s “not about race”, it is not right to try and take the focus away from this. Justice for Trayvon is what must come first and foremost from these protests, and not the furthering of OWS’s goals.

occupyallstreets:

occupywallstreet:

I saw OWS people trying, not to integrate with but to change the direction of the route. I saw OWS people screaming for everyone to go to Zuccotti Park. After seeing this and then seeing the arguments of people saying that this was not about OWS, only to have the OWS people say that it WAS, I became physically ill. If there was ever a time when you should have worked to keep the focus on the actual cause, this was it […]

He tried to remain calm while he explained what he saw. He saw the same thing that I did. Only in a different form and at a different location. He saw OWS people yelling that it wasn’t about race and that it would be best to incorporate this into the OWS movement. 

This behavior is unacceptable.

These are real concerns. They are legitimate concerns. Listen to what people have to say without being patronizing. That people in this movement are acting like this is a serious problem (and don’t think for a second this is an isolated incident) and this blog will no longer turn a blind eye to it. 

Including concerns of POC, women, queer folk, etc. does not mean making them take a back seat to what you think the “real issues” should be, and it does not mean making them assimilate into what you think the movement should be. It is a racist, imperialist attitude and it is an insult to the democratic ideals this movement was supposed to have been built on.

In no way is the idea that we should figure out economic issues first and get to everyone else later acceptable. In no way is deriding people’s concerns because you think yours come first acceptable.

I care about this movement and I have since the beginning, but it is worthless - absolutely worthless - while these serious problems go un-addressed, and while we continue to let racist, alienating garbage dominate the discussion. Read this post, listen to other concerns, learn what the fuck intersectionality is, and use your goddamn brains.

These concerns aren’t “divisive,” your bullshit is. 

OWS needs to become more POC-friendly and address the issue on wealth inequality amongst racial minorities. A large majority of people at Occupy Wall Street are white and do not realize that the recession has effected POC a lot more than it has effected whites.

That is why Occupy The Hood and POCcupy is essential to the movement. What upsets me is that we have to separated ourselves because the entire movement does not recognize the issues latinos and blacks go through. Our median household income is significantly less than whites and the Stop & Frisk policy in NYC (which OWS has protested) is directed at blacks and latinos. 

I repeatedly tried to convince Occupiers to march in Harlem, Washington Heights and Bushwick because we desperately need things to change over here. There are 8 million people living in New York City, why are we limiting ourselves to downtown Manhattan and why are we completely ignoring the issues racial minorities face in America. 

We also need to appeal to Asians. In Chinatown there are a massive amount of undocumented people there. They are afraid and often exploited. There is no excuse for not marching in Chinatown because it is only blocks away. 

If we’re going to grow as a movement we need to recognize our internal flaws and fix them. There is no reason why OWS is more than 80% white in a racially diverse city like NYC. This is a serious flaw in Occupy and OWS cannot defend themselves by saying all races are welcomed because they don’t feel welcomed. Whites do not face this issue so they wouldn’t understand but it’s time that they do. 

If Occupy doesn’t change I have no choice other than to abandon the movement. I believe OWS has the power to change things but if you ignore racial inequality then you are ignoring blacks, latinos and asians. At this point Occupy Wall Street should call themselves the 80% to represent the amount of whites in America.

Just be careful with how you word that and how you present those ideas. It’s way to easy for “we need to include” to end up meaning “we need to lasso their concerns to be part of our concerns and direct their message toward what we think it should be.”

“Appeal to” sounds like politician pandering. Like “we need to get “the Asian vote.”” No. What we need is to support their issues, and for their concerns to be our concerns without expecting them to sit down and take a back seat. What we need to do is stop othering.

And we need to stop making excuses for ourselves.

When Occupy Wall Street first got the national spotlight they were so worried about the co-option of their message, yet they have no problem co-opting others. A couple of Occupiers recognized me and asked if I noticed some of the nonsense that was happening. I said yes and one of them explained that after this march and two months of working with Occupy, she and her friends no longer wanted to be associated with them.

Every time I attempt to have a conversation about issues within Occupy, I’m told that there are no leaders, and that some people do crazy things, but “that’s not OCCUPY.” I grow weary of actions without consequences and disrespect without anyone being held responsible. Just because a movement did some good doesn’t mean that it’s infallible. Occupy chapters have serious issues and there have been serious discussions about its relations with women and people of color. With incidents like what occurred on Wednesday, I see a clear reason why people of color don’t flock to the movement.

Some more, incredibly important, points.

I saw OWS people trying, not to integrate with but to change the direction of the route. I saw OWS people screaming for everyone to go to Zuccotti Park. After seeing this and then seeing the arguments of people saying that this was not about OWS, only to have the OWS people say that it WAS, I became physically ill. If there was ever a time when you should have worked to keep the focus on the actual cause, this was it […]

He tried to remain calm while he explained what he saw. He saw the same thing that I did. Only in a different form and at a different location. He saw OWS people yelling that it wasn’t about race and that it would be best to incorporate this into the OWS movement. 

This behavior is unacceptable.

These are real concerns. They are legitimate concerns. Listen to what people have to say without being patronizing. That people in this movement are acting like this is a serious problem (and don’t think for a second this is an isolated incident) and this blog will no longer turn a blind eye to it. 

Including concerns of POC, women, queer folk, etc. does not mean making them take a back seat to what you think the “real issues” should be, and it does not mean making them assimilate into what you think the movement should be. It is a racist, imperialist attitude and it is an insult to the democratic ideals this movement was supposed to have been built on.

In no way is the idea that we should figure out economic issues first and get to everyone else later acceptable. In no way is deriding people’s concerns because you think yours come first acceptable.

I care about this movement and I have since the beginning, but it is worthless - absolutely worthless - while these serious problems go un-addressed, and while we continue to let racist, alienating garbage dominate the discussion. Read this post, listen to other concerns, learn what the fuck intersectionality is, and use your goddamn brains.

These concerns aren’t “divisive,” your bullshit is. 

…with the return of warm weather, now focusing on the 2012 elections. Yesterday, hundreds of protesters returned to Zuccotti Park in New York City for the six month anniversary of the beginning of the movement, leading to dozens of arrests when police broke up the demonstration.

It’s shaping up to be a busy spring for Occupy. The movement born last year in a New York City park has come roaring back to life this week after a period of hibernation. It promises to be even livelier in weeks and months to come.

On Monday, according to the Sacramento Bee, a crowd numbering in the thousands, including Occupy protesters, converged on California’s capital to denounce soaring college tuition costs. Chanting “You’ll hear us out, or we’ll vote you out,” they tried to occupy the capitol rotunda. Some succeeded. In what the Bee called “a massive show of force,” 100 California Highway Patrol officers arrested 68.

Occupy is taking credit for the White House’s recent decision to move a May meeting G-8 leaders from Chicago, where Occupy and other groups had threatened protests, to safer and more remote Camp David. “We scored a victory, forcing them to retreat to the back woods of Maryland,” Andy Thayer, Occupier and spokesperson for the Coalition Against NATO/G-8, tells ABC News.

Protests still will be mounted, he says, against NATO, which has chosen not to flee Chicago and will meet there as planned. “There’ll be a mass march on the NATO summit,” says Thayer, “not only a march, but any number of other activities. It’s unclear whether it will be on the 19th or 20th. We will decide in the next few days.”

The Showdown in Chicago has turned into a G8 Backdown. In a stunning about-face, the Obama administration has moved the Chicago G8 summit to Camp David, an ultra-secure military base in rural Maryland. Despite the tough talk of anti-Occupy technology, ordinances and paramilitary preparations, this is perhaps the first time that a major world summit has been relocated due to anticipated protests. And with only two months left before the summit was to begin, the change of venues is clearly a humiliating decision and a surprising victory of the Occupy movement. The specter of 50,000 nonviolent occupiers flooding the windy city with a list of demands for the world’s political elites was apparently too powerful. The NATO summit will still be meeting in Chicago… for now at least.

Check out this take by Occupywallst.org on what could be the movement’s next steps and weigh in below on how you think Occupy should react to the G8 backdown.

The Group of 8 Summit, a meeting of the governments of the world’s eight largest economies, was supposed to convene in Chicago this May. For months, Occupy Chicago, international anti-war groups, Anonymous, and hundreds of allies have publicly planned to shut it down. Now, only two months before the meeting is scheduled to begin, U.S. President Barack Obama is moving the assembly of over 7,000 leaders from the world’s wealthiest governments to the Camp David presidential compound, located in rural Maryland near Washington, DC, one of the most secure facilities in the world. The Chicago Tribune reports that summit organizers are “stunned” by the news.

theamericanbear:

A big Occupy win?

The G-8 summit will be held at Camp David, not in Chicago as had been scheduled.

The White House announced the change in the following statement:

“In May, the United States looks forward to hosting the G-8 and NATO Summits. To facilitate a free-flowing discussion with our close G-8 partners, the president is inviting his fellow G-8 leaders to Camp David on May 18-19 for the G-8 Summit, which will address a broad range of economic, political and security issues.

“The president will then welcome NATO allies and partners to his hometown of Chicago for the NATO Summit on May 20-21, which will be the premier opportunity this year for the president to continue his efforts to strengthen NATO in order to ensure that the Atlantic Alliance remains the most successful  alliance in history, while charting the way forward in Afghanistan.”

The 38th G8 summit was to be held in Chicago alongside the NATO summit. It would have been the first time since 1977 in London that the two organizations held meetings in the same city at the same time.

Chicago police estimated that 2,000 to 10,000 demonstrators were expected to show up for the overlapping G-8 and NATO summits.  At least two major demonstrations were already planned for downtown during the summit, and organizers said they wanted to send crowds of marchers down Michigan Avenue in the middle of the day.

Meetings of leaders of international economic organizations like the G-8 have drawn violent large-scale protests for more than a decade.

Protests and other forms of activism will be stunted at Camp David, to say the least, but the Masters of the Universe are scared - that much is undeniable.

Join the Impact presented an Occupy Chicago teach-in Saturday, sharing information about how Occupy can become more inclusive of LGBT people and the way that the struggle for gay rights complements Occupy’s overall goals.

Twenty-two people attended the event, Out of the Closets into the Occupation, held at Occupy Chicago’s indoor headquarters at 500 W. Cermak in a loft space. The panelists spoke on three topics: LGBT-inclusive terminology, the history of LGBT oppression and then its connection to a capitalist society organized around the nuclear family.

One of the panelists, Ryne Poelker, spoke on the many ways that income inequality affects the LGBT community. He said despite the double-income-no-kids stereotype, teen homelessness, unequal healthcare access and employment discrimination are all problems facing the LGBT community that Occupy protesters can connect with.

“The majority of LGBT people are working class,” Poelker said. “They are not lawyers. They are not business people. It’s like women are depicted in Sex and the City. Those do not match the majority of lives of women”

An hour after Occupy DC protesters organized a rally outside Freddie Mac’s offices in downtown Washington, DC yesterday on behalf of a Maryland resident facing eviction, the mortgage giant announced that it had developed plan to keep her in her home.

Bertina Jones, of Prince George’s county, a suburb of DC, was “a perfect example of a woman who was making her payments, and they still foreclosed on her,” said Maryland Legal Aid Bureau’s Vicki King Taitano, who is helping Jones. Jones, a grandmother and accountant, got a mortgage modification in 2009 from Bank of America, “but the bank repeatedly lost the accompanying documents” and Freddie Mac bought the house at 2010 in a foreclosure auction.