Unions Join in the Occupy Wall Street Movement

As per usual, the NY Times isn't reporting this; instead they stay with Anthony Bologna, the infamous, non-justifiable pepper spraying NYPD cop, whose behaviors of this nature reach back to the 2004 rethug con here -- thereby derailing any discussion of the issues that Occupy Wall Street is protesting -- oooh violence, lets look at that instead of what the banks are doing right this minute to us all:

Groups that are joining the marches and providing support (as well as friends and acquaintances) include: The United Federation of Teachers; 32BJ SEIU & 1199 SEIU; Workers United; and Transport Workers Union Local 100, which has 38,000 members.

Additionally, Working Families Party, Moveon.org, Make the Road New York, the Coalition for the Homeless, the Alliance for Quality Education, Community Voices Heard, United New York and Strong Economy For All are involved in the organization of the march.

Other affiliated protests and groups are or already have created demonstrations across the country.

You all know the banks are charging us a fee for using our debit cards?  This means at least another $60 of OUR MONEY that the banks are grabbing.

It's gonna be a big one tonight, that march to Wall Street.

* The Glades * Season 1

The Glades is an A&E Network drama series starring Matt Passmore, who is an attractive fellow. His character, Jim Longworth, is anything but attractive, but actively dislikeable. At least this was so in the first episode. So much was he dislikeable that it's kind of a surprising I continued into the second episode. They'd immediately dialed his arrogant self-centered selfish assholery waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down. Nevertheless there remained a lot of blanks here -- it took at least until the 5th episode that I actually learned his name and about that long until I learned the name of the romantic interest, and I'm still not sure how it is spelled -- Calley? Kelly? Cali? Callie? I don't know what her last name is either (ah, Wiki says Cargill, which for me, midwesterner born, means the eviLe grain and commodies family monopoly), and can't remember the name of her son (Jeff). Yes, she's a mom with a husband in prison, who works as a nurse while in medical school. She has a dragon MIL, who guards Callie and her grandson from the utterly charming and obviously besotted (alas, MIL seems to have gotten lost along the way) Jim Longworth on behalf of her convict son. This loser husband's name was the first one I ever got -- Ray, since the name of his prison contains Ray's name -- Raiford.

Not the best television series by any means, but entirely shot in southern Florida, the locations are delightful eye candy, particularly as winter rolls every closer up here. Even walk-ons and generic passersby are mostly young, glossy and very pretty. What I do admire is that while keeping this show light entertainment the writers center each episode on a subject or activity that is endemic to Florida – Seminole casinos plus Seminole racism keeping Seminole-African descent peoples out of their tribe so they can’t collect the $7,000 a month stipend from said casinos – sunken treasure, -- golf --, paranormal practioners (Seance was weakest episode, even weaker than the first one) a high school reunion during a hurricane -- Big Sugar -- golf.

The other thing I truly admired about The Glades is that Callie's rival for Jim's affections is a pretty, very rich blonde, who works as a pharmaceutical salesperson. She is not a bitch -- Callie's the bitch here --. She's nice. She's fun. She's a cool person. Even though they named her Heather.

Whatever they are they center around, the focus is a murder, which Jim Longworth solves, with the noble support system of Callie, Colleen his African American Regional Director (who in the first episode was a hardass you didn't like anymore than Jim, but by the second ep they'd also dialed all that waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down too), a young Jewish grad student intern named Daniel, who functions as Willow does in Buffy, and my favorite character, Carlos Sanchez, a latino (though they carefully do not individualize of which background – Cuban, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Central American – who is the forensics guy.

And here are the verisimilitude problems. Carlos would not be a homicide detective's partner in the car. In fact, the entire organization and behavior of the FDLE (Florida Department of Legal Enforcement) makes a farce of the real FDLE, as well as providing surely much prettier faces. Like Raylon Givens in Justified (located in Kentucky), Jim Longworth operates as a lone wolf, skirting and breaking law and rule as he pleases. Unlike Raylon though, Jim never has reprecussions for his behaviors and always gets his man or woman. Both of them feed into the bottomless appetite of the U.S. audiences to see our police state portrayed as invincible supermen who are always right, who can be as violent as they please. But it is much lighter and more fun here in The Glades, which is clearly a fantasy world, without angst.
As Callie and Jim gave the audience what the writers surely believed the audience wanted in the last episode I'm not sure their relationship is going to be interesting any longer. I will check out the second season when it's available with no effort on my part, but I'm not expecting it to hold up as well as this first one did.

From A Long-time Amiga & Lister

The NY Times, along with the rest of the primary media, seem to be wishing that the Occupy Wall Street story would go away.  Meanwhile, responding to Ms. ExPat's piece yesterday on Occupy Wall Street, a friend in Israel writes:

[ " >It seems to be a replica of the social protest that gained such a momentum here over the summer. They were also accused of being "without focus", " middle class spoiled brats," "sushi and narghilas"  but they brought close to a 1/2 million people to the streets. that is the equivalent of 15 million people on the streets in the US (some say 25, I'm being conservative here). I feel there is an international movement framing itself here, and it's equivalent in its demands. It should not be underestimated, even if it seems unfocused. . . .

>If you look at what is happening in spain, chile, israel and other places, I think it's the same all over. the middle class in every country where capitalism has gone wild is being proletariarized. once they wake up and see that its not "the security situation" (here); the "recession" (the u.s.) but a trend borne of policy, young people start coming out. and they know how to organize and how to speak to power and how to write. it remains to be seen here whether real change will come after the tent city phase, but they have completely changed the discourse in the country. They have taken academics (economists, sociologists) to advise them on how to negotiate with the government, which is what is happening at the moment. here they have banded with low income folks, under the banner "the people demand social justice" and "welfare state". that's what they want, and according to the polls, 87% of the population identifies with this.  " ]

BTW, this particular friend is a member of one of Israeli's Founding Families.  Her first name is that of the first Spy Network-Service, that began in the 19-teens, in the Middle East, started by her great whatever grandfather.
It's probably unneccesary to say that she and her friends and immediate family are anti-war with the Palestinians, appalled by the state of Israel and its leadership and its U.S. supporters in these matters, and is among those out on the streets.  She's currently writing her dissertation in ethnomusicology.  Her M.A. thesis was on the music of the Jews of Ethiopia.

Personal Life Is All Good

I have been posting and will continue to post about the Occupy Wall Street movement here in NYC, and the ugly, stupid, counter-offensive launched by the primary media, not least public radio's NPR, and right here at home WNYC -- by first ignoring it is happening, and then when they kept it up, sneering at the people protesting that the Banksters are eating their present and future, and third lining up to tell us that they asked for illegal treatment by the cops.

But at home things are good. This doesn't mean that our friends aren't out there doing what they can to support the protesters -- this didn't happen in a void or out of nowhere.  In a way that the primary media is ignoring it's well-organized, planned, and had a lot of fore-thought for a long time going into it.

But still, I'm one of the privileged ones for whom things are going relatively well, at least for us.  I am feeling productive on at least three fronts at the same time -- and I cannot express how much what these protestors are doing for my own frame of mind.  Can you be more privileged, can you make any of this more about ME than that?

But it's still NYC in the fall and all kinds of events and actions are going on, and in one way and another we're part of that. There is nowhere like NYC in the fall to be energized with hope and action and productivity!

Corrente: Ms ExPat: Don't be afraid to say revolution!

Dr. Cornel West was at Zuccotti Park last night, and Ms. ExPat got video of it. Here's her account, but follow the link to her blogpost to see the video.

Also recommended today: Ralph Nader's article in Counterpunch on drones.
http://www.correntewire.com/dont_be_afraid_to_say_revolution

[ " Don't Be Afraid to Say Revolution!

Wed, 09/28/2011 - 1:55am — MsExPat

"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will smile from the grave/ And say, we movin' step by step/ Toward what he called a revolution/Don't be afraid to say, Revolution!"

"Cornel West is here", Milcho said, as we were wandering through Zuccotti Park at dusk. The sky was gray and it smelled like rain; people here and there were securing food, medicine, bedding, under plastic tarps. Milcho, Wendy and Amy and I came to Wall Street together tonight. I am corralling everyone I know to come to the Park to see this live and without filters. And you who are reading this, and can get here should come too, for this is history, friends!

We walked over to the meeting area, and sure enough, there was the unmistakable corona of hair, the too-long white shirtcuffs. We followed him up to the meeting area, sat down. And then watched as tonight's General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street unfolded:

It's late, and I'm too tired to write this well, but as the 11th night of Occupy Wall Street closes, I note a couple of new things:

1. Demographics: Changing, indeed. More diverse, different ages. Some union people, college professors doing teach-ins, old lefties having a look-see. Also: the front line of the media has officially landed. Yesterday it was Michael Moore, today Susan Sarandon. Matt Taibbi says he's visiting tomorrow. Moore is coming back tomorrow to film the General Assembly with Laurence O'Donnell for his MSNBC show. I think O'Donnell is a jerk, but if they just sit back and film the process of the meeting, that would be a real breakthrough in changing the MSM narrative, I think. Right now, most of the people I talk to in my daily life still think OWS is a hippie fest.

2. Cops: Now there are two kinds of blue shirts on the scene--the regular patrol cops, and the (kinder, gentler) Community liason cops in royal blue polo shirts. No white shirts. When the community police are around, you know someone is worried about image. What this says to me is that the city's decided that more violence would be really bad for optics.

3. The Organization--continues to dazzle! After West's remarks, the meeting began with reports from Outreach Committees (they've teamed up with an important black radio station in Philadelphia for Occupy Philly, and they're going to support the Verizon worker's union strike), from the Medics who've started a counseling service, from techies who are doing Linux and open source teach-ins, and from the Laundry Committee, who've washed everything. They've even organized morning tours of Wall Street, which they're offering free to passing tourists!

The most interesting report though was from the committee that's drafting Demands. This is the big media sticking point ("But What Do They Want? There's No Unified Message!").

The group is going to use the next few days to talk about demands. And then here's what they'll do: on Friday, they will spread blank sheets of white paper all across the park. Some will have topic headings, some will be all blank. Magic markers will then be distributed, and everyone will write, in large letters, the issues and goals they think are most important. If you agree with someone's poster, you can put a "Check".

Fascinating! It is actually rather Chinese in technique. It reminds me of the student Big Character Posters that appeared in Tienanmen Square.

After the writing exercise, they'll collect all the papers and collate them into a larger online manifesto, which can then be debated/modified/changed online in a Wikipedia-style collaboration.

4. Location, location location: It's becoming clearer that the choice of New York City, as opposed to say, Washington DC, for the launch of this effort, was genius. For what it says is, of course, that this movement is not about the US government. The real enemy is the Financial-Bankster complex. I have not heard or seen any mention of any political candidate or party inside the Park. Forget "post-partisan"--that was so 2008. This is a post-party movement. It is what we Correntians have been waiting for--but not in the form we expected!

5. Obama is dead, dead, dead. Really. These young people were his eager troops. And they've moved on. Way on. The talk on the ground is not about elections anymore. It's about transforming society.

That's it for now. I urge all of you who can to come to Wall Street if you possibly can make it. This is one of those moments when time seems to hover and pause, and focus is laser-sharp. It's a rare moment of collective creativity. Who could have guessed it would bloom now? " ] 

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, YOU SHOULD BE ABOLISHED!

They got on a woman who,from John Jay College for Criminal Justice (justice, her? hah!), who sounded as though she was one of the torturers employed during Pinochet's "Dirty War" in Argentina, is supposedly an expert in violence. She blithely scolds us for our ignorance and over-reaction. The cops didn't do anything wrong pepper spraying those women, she instructs us. The problem is, she says, that violence isn't pretty so when we who aren't used to violence see those women who are confined in an orange net and then deliberately sprayed by cop, it's our problem because we don't like to see the non-prettiness of violence. But there wasn't a thing wrong done by the cops, you know. The young women got what they had to expect to get BY THEIR VIOLENCE FOR MARCHING PEACEFULLY.

You should probably be able to hear it here:

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/27/140854961/wall-street-protest-continues-this-week?ft=1&f=2

The Guardian: NYPD Officer, Anthony Bologna, Civil Rights Violator

This is from the US edition of the Guardian, which is completely different from the UK edition, but even so: it's a British newspaper, and they've been way out in front of the NY Times on this . . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/27/occupy-wall-street-anthony-bologna

[ " Anthony Bologna, NYPD officer named in pepper-spray incident, is accused of civil rights violations at the time of the 2004 Republican national convention protests

Karen McVeigh
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 September 2011 19.46 EDT

A senior New York police officer accused of pepper-spraying young women on the "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations is the subject of a pending legal action over his conduct at another protest in the city.

The Guardian has learned that the officer, named by activists as deputy inspector Anthony Bologna, stands accused of false arrest and civil rights violations in a claim brought by a protester involved in the 2004 demonstrations at the Republican national convention.

Then, 1,800 people were arrested during protests against the Iraq war and the policies of president George W Bush.

Alan Levine, a civil rights lawyer representing Post A Posr, a protester at the 2004 event, told the Guardian that he filed an action against Bologna and another officer, Tulio Camejo, in 2007. The case, filed at the New York Southern District Court, is expected to be heard next year.

Levine said that when he heard about the pepper spray incident "a bunch of us were wondering if any of the same guys were involved".

The lawyer said Posr was arrested on 31 August 2004, after he approached the driver of a Volkswagen festooned with anti-abortion slogans.

His arrest was not directly related to the protest against the Republican convention, but was at a time of heightened tension in New York.

Levine said: "Police contend that Posr hit the man with a rolled-up newspaper. He said he was just talking to the guy. Bologna ordered another officer, Camejo, to arrest Posr."

Posr was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and one count of second degree harassment, and held until September 2. On November 8, all charges against him were dropped.

Levine said that, in a departure from normal police procedure, his client was held in a special detention facility, at Pier 57, where he and others arrested were held until the protests were over.

The Guardian asked the NYPD to respond to the naming of the officer and the allegation that he was previously the subject of a civil rights complaint, but a spokesman said the department had not yet decided whether to comment.

Bologna's name appeared on Twitter and on activists' websites after the incident on Saturday. YouTube footage appears to show a white-shirted NYPD officer firing the spray into the eyes of the protesters, who are penned in by other officers with orange netting. As the officer walks away, two of the women crumple to the ground, screaming in pain.

There were a number of clashes between protesters and police at the march, when protesters moved uptown from their base at a park in the Financial District. There were about 80 arrests.

Hacker collective Anonymnous claimed responsibility on Monday for posting Bologna's details, which they said was in retribution for the pepper-spray incident.

The online postings identified Bologna as a deputy inspector of Patrol Borough Manhattan South, and revealed his phone number and family details.

The information, posted on a site called Pastebin, included a statement which read: "As we watched your officers kettle innocent women, we observed you barbarically pepper-spray wildly into the group of kettled women. We were shocked and disgusted by your behaviour."

"You know who the innocent women were; now they will have the chance to know who you are. Before you commit atrocities against innocent people, think twice. WE ARE WATCHING!!! Expect Us!"

Since the post, other activists have followed suit, urging people to call his precinct to complain or to call him directly.

The move drew a mixed response from the Occupy Wall Street activists who have been camped out in Zuccotti Park for nine days. Many say they were angry about the "brutal and unnecessary" tactics used by police at the weekend.

Hero Vincent, 28, an artist from the Bronx, said: "I think it should be out there, so that people know what's going on and if people want to enter his precinct and ask that he should be fired, they can. We are a peaceful protest. For them to attack us is wrong."

Vincent, who was arrested for resisting arrest on Saturday, claimed he was kicked in the stomach by officers.

But there was also disquiet over the officer's family details being made public.

Another protester, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian: "My dad is a police officer and he got a lot of death threats. I don't know if his family details should be out there. But if the information is correct and he has a rights case against him, I'm extremely concerned that he was put into what was a very tense situation."

One protester, Jeanne Mansfield – who said she was standing so close to the women sprayed in the face that her own eyes burned – claimed other NYPD officers had expressed disbelief at the actions of the senior officer.

In a vivid account of the incident in the Boston Review, Mansfield said: "A white-shirt, now known to be NYPD Lieutenant Anthony Bologna, comes from the left, walks straight up to the three young girls at the front of the crowd, and pepper-sprays them in the face for a few seconds, continuing as they scream 'No! Why are you doing that?!'"

Despite her attempts to turn away from the "unavoidable" spray, Mansfield, who took part in Saturday's march with her boyfriend on a whim after "stumbling across" it, said she suffered burning and temporary blindness in her left eye and tears streaming down her face.

She continued: "In the street I shout for water to rinse my eyes or give to the girls on the ground. But no one responds. One of the blue-shirts, tall and bald, stares in disbelief and says, 'I can't believe he just fuckin' maced her.'" ]

Oh dear, the NY Times tells us: the problem is the NYPD is trained to handle much bigger events than this, soooooooooooooooo ......

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/nyregion/wall-street-demonstrations-test-police-trained-for-bigger-threats.html?_r=1&hp

[ " The police’s actions suggested the flip side of a force trained to fight terrorism, in a city whose police commissioner acknowledges the ownership of a gun big enough to take down a plane, but that may appear less nimble in dealing with the likes of the Wall Street protesters. So even as the members of Occupy Wall Street seem unorganized and, at times, uninformed, their continued presence creates a vexing problem for the Police Department. " ]

I don't know about you, but I worry about a police department that can't tell the difference between a protest of economic conditions and a terrorist event.

This is the real point:

[ " “I can see it from a demonstrator’s view, asking, ‘What changed?’ ” Mr. Richter said. “But there comes a point when the command staff makes a decision that the crowd is too big, and we’re at a breaking point, and we have to take back the street.” " ]

In other words the cops are sick of these people, who march once a day, and are interferring with their comfy routine.