By Deborah Dupre
Human Rights Examiner, September 30, 2011
Americans have awakened: Hundreds of thousands join Occupy Wall Street to stop it ‘drowning our children in national debt’ by ending wars of aggression
Thursday, as hundreds of thousands of Americans joined Occupy Wall Street in the struggle for basic human rights, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont proved he is the strongest congressional advocate of the people’s occupation movement after Current TV’s Keith Olbermann proved he is the strongest high-profile mainstream media figure to cover the revolutionary event media is blacking out. Members of up to five powerful unions, rights defenders in dozens of cities, plus Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Roseanne Barr, Dr. Cornell West and other celebrities have joined the protesters who intend to occupy the Wall Street area indefinitely, until change occurs in the financial situation that Olbermann and Sanders concur is being demanded by an overdue, active, motivated, American Left coalition forming for betterment of the United States.
“The middle class is collapsing in America today, poverty is increasing, and institutions like Wall Street have enormous power of our economy and political life,” Senator Sanders told Current TV’s Keith Olbermann, former MSNBC anchor.
(Watch embedded Youtube video on this page left of Olbermann’s Occupy Wall Street news, Sept. 29, 2011)
Thursday, with 440 days until the presidential election, Olbermann in New York, highlighted that tens of thousands of people have now joined the Occupy Wall Street movement with up to five powerful unions joining: the Airline Pilots Association, the Transit Workers Union, the United Federation of Teachers, the SEIU and possibly the auto workers.
Olbermann said that “the First Transit Workers Union 100 alone includes as many as 38,000 people.”
Endorsing Occupy Wall Street to end corporate greed over human need, Senator Sanders told Olbermann, “We desperately need a coming together of working people to stand up to Wall St, cooperate America and say enough is enough. We need to rebuild the middle calls in this country and you guys can’t have it all,” said Sen. Sanders, the longest serving independent in U.S. Congressional history.
“What I appreciate that’s happening in New York city today is there’s a spotlight being focused on Wall Street. We desperately need that,” Senator Sanders told Olbermann Thursday.
“If we’re going to get out of this recession, if we’re going to create the millions of jobs that we desperately need, we need real Wall Street reform,” Senator Sanders asserted.
Senator Sanders caucuses with and is counted as a Democrat Party member for committee assignments, but since he belongs to no formal political party, he appears as an independent on the ballot. He was the sole independent member of the House much of his service there.
Senator Sanders said Thursday, “Right now, and a lot of people don’t know this, you have six financial institutions, the largest six banks in the country, who control sixty percent of the assets of the United States of America. After we bail them out, because they were too big to fail, three out of the four largest financial institutions actually became bigger.”
“So, if we’re going to create a situation where capital is going to flow into the productive economy, into manufacturing, into building our infrastructure, into transforming our energy system, we need a lot of pressure on Wall Street. No doubt about that.”
“Focusing attention on Wall Street is absolutely the right thing to do.”
In leading the call for media reform, Senator Sanders opposes increased concentration of ownership of media outlets.
Senator Sanders described himself as a democratic socialist and has praised European social democracy.
Not just left-wing
The rapidly spreading people’s occupation of cities across the nation, in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, is practicing participatory democracy with People’s Congresses for decision making.
Occupy Chicago is live-streaming as is Occupy Wall Street in New York.
Thursday, Occupy Wall Street Lexington Kentucky protesters shouted the chant, “Occupy Wall Street! This is what democracy looks like!” (Watch “Occupy JPMorgan Chase Lexington, Kentucky #occupywallstreet, #occupylexky,” uploaded by HillbillyReport.)
Forbes reported Friday, “Joining with nearly 100 actions in cities from Los Angeles to Dallas, Chicago,and Washington D.C., concerned citizens have come to speak out for greater economic equality.”
Twittering “Occupy Wall Street” (#occupywallstreet) brings a flurry of Tweets from well over 100 cities organizing occupations.
Among some of the cities to join the people’s movement are Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy New Orleans (Occupy NOLA) that begin events Saturday. Three movements in Texas alone are beginning occupations in Austin, Houston and San Antonio according to Tweets on Thursday.
Also according to Tweets, occupations of media moguls are being planned, including Occupy CNN “to bring Occupy Wall Street to media’s doorstep.” That effort that might be thwarted since CNN reported on Occupy Wall Street Friday morning.
“Protests to draw attention to the power of Wall Street firms in the United States and world economies will continue for a 14th straight day Friday in New York City,” CNN reported, complete with a photograph of protesters holding handmade signs, one about poverty and the other saying, “Wall Street has the Real Weapons of Mass Destruction.”
“We are gathered here in this place to craft a mission statement, to shape a statement of what it is we want and how we’re going to get it,” Robert Segal, one of the protesters said as reported by CNN.
Referring to Occupy Boston, Forbes reported, “Planning this event began with a group of over 200 people from all walks of life who assembled on Boston Common Tuesday evening to discuss taking action.”
Occupy Boston, like the other American city occupations is using participatory direct democracy.
“Through the use of direct democracy, Occupy Boston is working to define and solve the problems of: an opaque and exclusive government, a Wall Street without conscience, and a state struggling to guarantee basic human rights.”
Forbes reported, “Everyone is invited to join this conversation about reforming how business and government operate.”
The peaceful revolution, that uses the hashtag #occupywallstreet on Twitter, had its roots in the 2010 White House Protests where Chris Hedges made his empowering speech calling for peaceful revolution.
Following those White House protests calling to end the U.S. led wars of aggression in the post 911 era, Vietnam era Veteran Ward Reilly, attorney Kevin Zeese, author of “War Is A Lie,” David Swanson and others announced on June 6 that an occupation of Washington D.C. would begin October 6 and last indefinitely.
That occupation, the peoples movement now called October201, aims to “stop the machine” and “create a new world” its leaders state on its website filled with preparation guides for participants and a list of people committed to the D.C. encampment.
October 6 marks the tenth year of the U.S.-led war of aggression on Afghanistan.
Occupy Wall Street began in July by launching of a campaign website calling for a march and a sit-in at the New York Stock Exchange.
During actress and TV producer Roseanne Barr’s surprise appearance at Occupy Wall Street the second day of the protest, she called for “a new capitalism.”
Filmmaker, author and humanitarian Michael Moore has been the strongest celebrity advocate of the occupations. (See: “Michael Moore joins Occupy Wall St. rights defenders, Am Revolution Day 11 (vid),” Dupré, D. Examiner, September 27. 2011)
Amid launching his latest book, “Here Comes Trouble,” Mr. Moore has supported the occupations in his appearances on several TV programs in recent days.
“These people on Wall Street ripped off the future of many of these young people here and their not-yet-born children,” AP reported after Mr. Moore joined the hundreds of protesters at the Wall Street area Zuccotti ark encampment in attempt to stop the media black-out of the event.
“It was the greatest heist, certainly of my lifetime.”
“This protest has to start somewhere, and it might as well have started here,” Mr. Moore told the occupiers.
Tuesday, Mr. Moore Tweeted, “It is time for every single American to wake up, to see that the billionaires are drowning our children in National Debts.”
Source: Examiner