October 5, 2011
Coalition of Resistance
Student speaker, 27 Nov. 2010, at Coalition of Resistance conference, Camden, U.K.
Thought for the day
“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”
—John Maynard Keynes
October 4, 2011
Happy birthday, Eugène Pottier
| Awake, the cursed of the earth, Awake, the slaves of hunger, Reason thunders in its crater, It's the eruption of the end. Let's make a clean slate of the past, Enslaved masses, rise up, rise up — The world will change at its foundation; We are nothing, we will be all. This is the final struggle; Let us unite and tomorrow The International Will be the human race. There are no supreme saviors No God, no Caesar, no Court — Producers, let us save ourselves, We decree the common greeting. To make the thief disgorge his booty, To free the spirit from its prison, Let us fan the forge together, Strike the iron while it is hot. This is the final struggle; Let us unite and tomorrow The International Will be the human race. The state represses and the law cheats, The tax bleeds the disenfranchised; No duty is imposed on the rich, The right of the poor is an empty word. No more to languish in submission, Equality means other laws; "No rights without duties," it says, "And no duties without rights." This is the final struggle; Let us unite and tomorrow The International Will be the human race. Hideous in their glory, Kings of the mine and rail, Have they never done anything But steal from the worker? In the strongholds of their gang What work created is melted down — In demanding its return The people claim only their due. This is the final struggle; Let us unite and tomorrow The International Will be the human race. The kings drugged us in their smoke, Peace among us, war to tyrants, Bring the strike to the armies: Surrender and break the ranks! If these cannibals persist To make us heroes They soon will know that our bullets Are for our would-be generals. This is the final struggle; Let us unite and tomorrow The International Will be the human race. City, country, we are The great party of workers, The earth belongs only to us, The idle will stay away. How many have fed on our flesh! But if these ravens, these vultures, One of these mornings are gone, The sun will shine forever. |
Testify! (Rage Against the Machine)
"If you're not turned on to politics, politics will turn on you." —Ralph Nader
October 2, 2011
First Official Release from OCCUPY WALL STREET
This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street around 8pm, Sept 29. This is a living document. [It is likely to have changed since this posting.] You can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing c2anycga/gmail.com.
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. ...
Click here for complete declaration.
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. ...
Click here for complete declaration.
A note about capitalism
In the minds of many people, capitalism is a system essential to individual freedom and happiness. But it is not. It is so much less.
Capitalism is nothing more than a system of banking to accumulate ever more money so that it can be loaned, with interest. The charging of interest is key, since a secured loan is already virtually risk free — when you get a mortgage, the bank owns your house until the loan is paid off, and yet you pay back almost twice as much (or more, depending on the interest rate) as the loan is worth.
That is capitalism. It does not mean trade, the use of money, or any other exchange of goods or services. It means usury.
To justify usury by claiming risk is only to underscore its inappropriateness, since risk is the realm of insurance, i.e., the socializing of expenses due to chance or probability. (The revocation under Clinton of the Glass-Steagall act keeping insurance and banking separate was so destructive because banks were then able to socialize their own risks: a "win-win" for them and a "lose-lose" for society.)
Capitalist banks are the modern means of maintaining feudal power relationships in society long after such power hierarchies have been supposed to have broken down. The banks consolidate the wealth of the people, and to the banks we must apply to use it.
Capitalism is the enemy of freedom and happiness for the vast majority of people. It shares its pleasures with just enough of a "successful" cohort of the population (particularly those selected as the people's representatives in government and those in the media) to protect its dominance.
A society centered on capitalism is a dictatorship. All of its institutions — legislatures, courts, schools, military, media, etc. — methodically enforce and defend its logic.
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