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Shutdown Solution: Opt Out Of Tyranny

The overwhelming majority falsely believes that we can’t create change, which is why we are in this mess. The mainstream media has propagandized most people into feeling like we can’t do anything to fix the problems we are confronted by. BULLSHIT!! We live in the richest, most technologically advanced society humanity has ever known. We don’t need the plastic puppet politicians anymore. They’re obsolete! It’s time for us to evolve society by starting our own autonomous local communities. Occupy inspired thousands of autonomous camps. What if we reestablished those camps as permanent Sustainable Autonomous Zones? There are already many intentional communities and collectives that are organically growing all over the place. Let’s learn from them. We’ve dedicated our energy to working on a plan to create a decentralized network of Sustainable Autonomous Zones so we can begin creating self-sufficient communities that can model new ways of living that make present ways of living obsolete.

We Want Freedom: Black Panther Party Founded Today In 1966

"On October 15, 1966 the Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in response to rampant police brutality in Oakland. While ultimately decimated by state repression the Black Panther Party during the late 1960s and early 1970s was one of the leading organizations in the United States advocating not just for black liberation, but for socialism and social justice more generally. Below is the 1972 Ten Point Program of the Black Panther Party. Dealing with issues of racism, police brutality, access to healthcare, housing, education, prisoners' rights, and US "wars of aggression" it is stunning how much of their platform remains relevant today."

Mayors Around the Globe Leading an Urban Green Revolution

With presidents and prime ministers failing to take meaningful action to avert a planetary-scale climate crisis, the mayors of cities and towns are increasingly stepping up to enact changes at the local level. “Cities are on the front lines of climate change,” Richard Register, founder and president of Ecocity Builders, an organization that pioneered ecological city design and planning, told IPS. With the backing of their residents, many cities and towns around the world are becoming cleaner, greener and better places to live by banning cars, improving mass transit, reducing energy use and growing their own food while adding public and green spaces. “Getting cities right solves many problems,” Register said. Cities are truly ground zero for action on climate change, protection of ecosystems, biodiversity, energy use, food production and more because that’s where most people live today, he said. Cities consume about 75 percent of the world’s energy and resources. They are directly or indirectly responsible for 75 percent of global carbon emissions.

Activists Confront Financial Titans Larry Fink And William Gross

Two activists who have been on the front lines of the battle against Wall Street's predatory practices confronted two of the world's wealthiest and most powerful financial titans -- BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink and PIMCO founder William Gross -- on Tuesday, pressuring them to discuss their corporations' attack on the working class families of Richmond, CA who are trying to salvage their lives and their homes from the disaster of foreclosure. The activists were calling on BlackRock and PIMCO to negotiate the sale of troubled loans to the city of Richmond, so that the loans can be fixed and foreclosures can be avoided. Peggy Mears (a leader of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment) and Jono Shaffer (an organizer with the Service Employees International Union) tried to educate Fink and Gross about the everyday lives of people who live month-to-month on working class incomes. They confronted the two financiers during a talk they were giving at the Beverly Hilton Hotel sponsored by the UCLA Anderson School of Management and distributed flyers to the upscale crowd.

This Week In Pictures

Each week we are collecting photos from twitter of actions around the country and around the world. Here are photos from Sept 28 to Oct 5. Many of these events were not covered by articles on PopularResistance.org. This week includes BDS protest in London against Sodastrean, a fracking protest in Texas, Tea Time in the streets of Berlin to stop evictions, Arab women calling for safe abortions, health benefit cuts to women health services, First Nation's peoples taking back their lands to stop fracking, government workers on furlough sitting in at the Capitol, Light Brigade pink's slips Congress, free health care attracts over 1,000 in Virginia, immigration reform protests outside ravaged Sandy building, students and workers unite at UCLA for better schools, and protest in Spain against the "political mafia." It is great to see so much happening!

Searching For Occupy

I can still recall my sense of ‘shock and awe’ when, at home on a break from four months of ‘occupying’ a tent, two General Assemblies (GAs) a day and multiple protests each week, I watched on live stream as the police charged through the Washington, D.C. encampment at Freedom Plaza. They tore down our tents, took apart the kitchen and issued threats to the Occupiers still standing their ground. From home, I did the only thing I could do and responded to tweets that the Occupiers were hungry and put out a call to send them pizza. When all was said and done, a few symbolic tents remained, but the Occupy movement was declared (according to mainstream media) ‘dead.’ I sat at home for months, depressed, deflated and yet unwilling to be defeated. In July, 2012, I was in Paonia, Colorado to scatter my parents' ashes, when a local guy named Sid and I decided to protest the younger Koch brother, Bill’s, WWII tank that was to lead the July 4th parade.

Solar Decathlon 2013: The Potential Of Green Homes

I've been to two Solar Decathlon's held on the mall in Washington, DC. It is always an inspiring event. Teams of students compete to build solar homes. It is always great to see what would be possible if the United States put its resources to this type of innovation rather than to war, militarism and the intelligence-security state, while subsidizing carbon and nuclear energy sources. The potential to transform to a carbon-free, nuclear-free energy economy is evident in these competitions. Ladies and gen­tle­men, start your photo­vol­ta­ics! When the green flag drops Sept. 23 on the Sol­ar Dec­ath­lon com­pet­i­tion, 20 teams con­sist­ing of stu­dents from 30 schools around the world will race to build the most en­ergy-ef­fi­cient, wa­ter-wise, af­ford­able and design-savvy house pos­sible.

Banks Find Appalling New Way To Cheat Homeowners

Homeowners victimized by big-bank servicers, who were supposed to get a commitment to honest treatment as part of the National Mortgage Settlement, instead got their servicing rights sold to companies no longer bound by the terms of that settlement. So homeowners lose all of their protections, and often have to start back at square one with their new servicer. For example, if a borrower was in process on a loan modification with their old servicer, the new servicer can choose to simply not recognize that modification, and demand the full monthly payment under threat of foreclosure. This is a very common practice. What’s more, this new breed of non-bank servicers scooping up all these servicing rights has proven themselves as a bunch of cheats profiting off their customers. Green Tree Servicing has a terrible record of ripoffs. Ocwen has been sued in state court over its practices, including an innovative scam involving sending homeowners a check for $3.50, and claiming that cashing the check automatically enrolls the customer in an appliance insurance plan, which costs $54.95 a month.

Judge Lifts Order To Keep NYC Sandy Hotel Program

"About 300 people made homeless by Superstorm Sandy could be forced to leave the York City hotels they've been staying in after a judge lifted an injunction Friday that preserved the program. The displaced residents who began sleeping in city-funded hotel rooms after the late-October storm will have to find new housing by next Friday. Federal funding for the program ends Monday, however the city has paid for the hotels through Friday, said Heather Janik, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Homeless Services."

Gentrification Equals Racism To Me

Where Lexington Terrace’s foreboding high-rises once glared at travelers along the Expressway that goes nowhere along Franklin and Mulberry Streets, now stand The Terraces a community of renters and owners. South of there is the neighborhood of Poppleton, which is being gentrified which, usually means moving in middle-class white people. My old neighborhood is now called Heritage Crossing. George Street is gone and the streets in that neighborhood that is almost surrounded by a wall are named after prominent African Americans. The question that must be asked is,“where are all the poor people who used to inhabit that area?” Gentrification, when it comes to black people means their removal with little or no input or compensation. The biotech park north of Hopkins is a perfect example.

“How We Took My Home Back”

"I sent a loan modification application to Bank of America, and they reviewed the documents. They sent me three letters stating that they were going to work on my case. Then in July 2012, I received a document stating the house had been sold to DMG, which was really sad for me. Three days later, I got another letter from the bank saying that they were still reviewing the loan modification. I tried to call the bank, but they never answered the phone. Two weeks later, I got another letter from DMG's lawyer saying that we had 30 days to quit and vacate the house."

Stop Criminalizing Homelessness: International Boycott Of Palm Restaurant

On Saturday, October 19th, an international protest will take place at The Palm restaurant locations to raise awareness of this chain’s support of criminalization of homeless people. In 2012, Denver’s Palm restaurant manager Wendy Klein spoke on behalf of business groups in support of the Urban Camping Ban. The ban made it illegal for people in Denver to sleep with anything covering them, including a blanket, a jacket (if not worn), or a piece of cardboard. In early 2012 I was a nascent member of the Occupy movement here in Denver, Colorado. My frustration with giant banks crashing our economy and getting rewarded with bail-outs by the American taxpayer had led me to participating in Occupy Denver’s Foreclosure Working Group, now the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition.

Eminent Domain – A Gift Horse Or Trojan Horse?

"If protecting my company's best financial self-interest helps you out, fine. If it doesn't, that's fine, too. To us, you are a cash cow. You see, we get paid whether you make your payments or not. In fact, we get paid more when your loan is delinquent, in default or in foreclosure. If by foreclosing and kicking you out of your home our profit increases by a dollar more than if we allowed you to keep your home, you had better start thinking about packing. But before we kick you to the curb, and in order for me to earn a quarterly bonus, you and your family are gonna ride an emotional and financial roller coaster to hell until I've squeezed every dollar from your pocket, and every dime in fees I can outta this. Then we'll foreclose. Even if my company has no legal right to do so." But such honesty would result in that employee's immediate termination. Under capitalism, profit-first corporations are duty-bound to preserve, protect and expand upon their own best financial self-interest.

SF Supervisor Announces Support For Program To Buy Mortgages

On Monday, September 9, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. (Pacific) San Francisco Supervisor David Campos will announce his intention to introduce a resolution before the County Board of Supervisors expressing support for the City of Richmond’s innovative effort to save hundreds of underwater borrowers (Richmond CARES), and instructing staff to explore opportunities in San Francisco to adopt a similar program. “For the last few years, we have seen Wall Street Banks challenge every effort to rebuild our hardest hit communities from the foreclosure and economic crisis,” stated Supervisor Campos “today we need to show solidarity with bold leaders of Richmond in their effort to break the status quo as defined by Wall Street and rebuild their communities.”

Expecting Arrest For Homeless Protest, They Get Pizza Instead

After sleeping two nights on a Center City sidewalks to protest a lack of shelter beds, a group of homeless women and their children intensified the drama Thursday morning by taking over part of a city office. Their activist leader expected to be arrested by noon. Instead, the women and children were served pizza, then offered places in shelters by midafternoon. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease," Cheri Honkala said triumphantly.
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