November 2: General Strike In Oakland

Oakland is going to observe a general strike on November 2. The strike will be “against the growing gap between the rich and everybody else,” said the website of Occupy Oakland. “The whole world is watching Oakland,” OO said in a statement. “Let’s show [the world] what is possible.” The OO announced on its website that it is planning a march to the Port of Oakland, the US’ fifth busiest, to “shut it down.” New agency reported that tens of thousands of people are expected to participate in the general strike. It was also reported that organized labor will extend support. These are signs of growing discontent.

The decision for city-wide general strike was passed by Occupy Oakland General Assembly by a 96.9% majority. The OO has urged other groups nationwide to organize similar events.

The OO statement said: “We […] propose that on […] November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%. We propose a city wide general strike.” Now, Oakland is getting prepared for a general strike that in 1946 also observed a general strike

The OO has invited all students to walk out of school. “Instead of workers going to work […] the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.” The statement said: “All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.”

The OO has also called on people “for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.” On November 2, marches have been planned at 9 a.m., noon and 5 p.m., so that as many people as possible can participate.

The decision for the general strike came out as a result of an incident related to Scott Olsen, 24, former Marine and Iraq War veteran. Olsen sustained a skull fracture after being shot in the head on October 25 with a police projectile while peacefully participating in an Occupy Oakland protest. The images of Olsen standing peacefully in the Oakland protest frontline, next to a Navy vet holding a “Veterans for Peace” flag, and the images from moments later of Olsen lying on the ground wounded have shocked all. The atrocity sparked anger leading to a call for the general strike. Olsen has become a rallying cry for the USwide Occupy movement.

Olsen served two tours of duty in Iraq before being discharged in 2010. After leaving the Marines, he was working as a system administrator for a software firm. He joined the Oakland protests with members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group raising issues of homelessness and unemployment among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. “It’s ironic that days after Obama’s announcement of the end of the Iraq War, Scott faced a veritable war zone in the streets of Oakland […]”, The IVAW said in a statement.

John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation and associate editor of The Capital Times writes: “We Are All Scott Olsen!” was the message of solidarity vigils, rallies and marches held in cities across the US and around the world in answer to a call from IVAW and Occupy Oakland for recognizing Olsen. Thousands attended a candlelight vigil in Oakland. In Las Vegas, an image of Olsen was projected at the site of the Occupy encampment. In New York, Occupy Wall Street activist took to the streets chanting “New York is Oakland, Oakland is New York.” In London, images of Olsen were displayed at gatherings. The buzz about the wounding of the veteran was everywhere, and was best summed up by activist protesting at Wisconsin’s state Capitol with Olsen in February. It read: “He could be any one of us.” (The Nation, Oct. 28, 2011)

The Oakland Occupy protests that began October 11 have witnessed more than 100 arrests and a violent confrontation last week between protesters and police. According to press reports, the conflict came after police dismantled the protesters’ camp for more than two weeks. Police fired tear gas over a three-hour period clearing out the camp on October 25.

Only Oakland is not experiencing steps by authorities. Steps against the protesters are being escalated as people are protesting in US cities. On October 30, about 30 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested in Portland, Ore., after they refused to leave a park. Later they have been freed. In Nashville, demonstrators raised slogans in defiance of an official curfew: “Whose plaza? Our plaza.” State troopers began enforcing the curfew on October 27 night, three weeks after protests began. In Phoenix, a Councilman suggested charging demonstrators the costs of the city in overtime for police, and others since the protests began October 14. The cost was calculated: $204,162. Probably, it is the fee for protest in a democracy!

The issue of cost is not sarcasm with democratic rights, but the real face of a democracy that spends trillions of dollars to help its absolute minority, the finance-elites, and fails to help the suffering millions, the absolute majority. This has plainly been told by Monthly Review editor John Bellamy Foster in his speech in Occupy Eugene rally on October 15, 2011: “US society has become fundamentally unequal.”

In this society, John B Foster said, “between 1950 and 1970, for every additional dollar made by those in the bottom 90 percent of income earners, those in the top one hundredth of one percent received $162 dollars. But that was back when things were more equal! Between 1990 and 2002 for every added dollar made by those in the bottom 90 percent of the population, those in the top one hundredth of one percent made an additional $18,000. […] In the United States 400 individuals […] own as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population, some 150 million people. […] The top 1 percent of the population in the United States owns four times as much financial wealth (excluding houses) as the bottom 80 percent of the population. […W]e live in a plutocracy rather than a democracy, where money outvotes public opinion at every point in the political process. […U]nions are on the defensive in this country. [T]hey have been smashed by unfair legislation. [T]hey are struggling to find a way to fight back. […E]lementary and secondary education system in the United States is being privatized and destroyed. […A]ll of this is related to the system of economic power, to a society that believes in the Wall Street principle, “greed is good,” the signature of capitalism.” (“Why We Occupy, What We Know”)

The worldwide monopoly-finance capital’s tricks are many, and it has to depend on its political machine. Attempts are made to avoid public scrutiny, which expose the real face of democracy and accountability. Actual amount of bail out is much more than the widely cited amount. Citing an audit by the US General Accounting Office, John Bellamy Foster said, the Fed provided more than $16 trillion in financial assistance in the latest financial crisis to the largest corporations in the US and the world. “The rich were bailed out while the majority of the population was made to pay the cost! And we are still paying!”, he said.

The present financial crisis that has built up the background of today’s occupy movement should be understood in proper perspective. The crisis has not cropped up from housing bubble, etc. that are widely being mentioned. Rather it is a terminal stagnation in the economy that Paul Sweezy and his fellow-travelers told decades back. Pointing out this Foster said: “[T]here is no real economic recovery; […] we are in a period of economic stagnation, where only the rich are prospering. That economic growth in the United States has been slowing down in each successive decade since the 1960s and is now virtually stagnant.”

Today’s worldwide movement has the painful experience of blood and tears, an inevitable output of imperialism. The Monthly Review editor said: “United States and its allies have been engaged recently in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. […A]n intervention is being planned for Iran, and possibly Venezuela. […US] military bases dot the entire globe and are increasing in numbers. […US] spends around a half a billion dollars officially on the military each year, and in reality a trillion dollars a year.”

Today’s worldwide Occupy Movement is historically significant in this world of seven billion people. “We know that we are the necessary, last defense of humanity. That we are the world’s 99%. That we will not ‘thin out’ when the weather gets bad. That we are not a mob. That we are the earth, we are democracy, we are the future. The world has been occupied too long by a tiny minority. It is time for the people to reoccupy it. To take it back”, Foster said. [Emphasis added.]

Resistance and revolts in societies have respective trajectories determined by historical and socioeconomic condition. “[…A] Great Revolt from Below was likely in the United States today, given a deep and lasting economic stagnation. But that we might have to wait three or four years, just as in the great depression, for it to get off the ground, and for the people to ignite. That, just as in the Great Depression, the revolt would not materialize until people had learned that the promise of economic recovery was false, that they had been lied to and systematically robbed. Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Eugene, Occupy the United States is the Great Revolt from Below in our time. […] Everywhere people are uniting in struggle”, said the Monthly Review editor.

Today’s movement in the US is significant. “The reason is that we in the United States live in ‘Fortress America’, the heart of a world empire. Revolts are not supposed to happen here! If a break in the wall appears, if massive protests occur, here, ‘Inside the Monster’, as José Martí called it, the whole world is suddenly uplifted and encouraged to resist. Because then they know that the empire is crumbling. Our struggles here are opening up space for resistance for all the people of the world”, John Belly Foster said.

But, it should not be expected that these public protests and the general strike are the US’ Tahrir Time. Still a critical mass of labor, and, broadly, people are in the waiting. Without their active participation the Tahrir Time will not touch ground. A general strike, part of democracy people can practice, turns political, broadly and specifically. A general strike for political rights, and based on democratic principles trains people with politics. It facilitates activate passive part of populace, and raises essential and functional political questions, which are essential parts to move forward. The plebeians’ general strikes, secessio plebis, ultimately made the patrician creditors bow down – adoptions of the Twelve Tables and the Lex Hortensia. But, it took more than two hundred years in Rome.

The Opaque Brussels Deal Shows Germany’s Upper Hand

German capital’s bold face and private bankers’ negotiating power are evident in the Brussels deal the euro-leaders have made on October 27. The summit made Italy, the “brave” warrior in Libya, a caricature while the UK, the Empire’s faithful friend, stood on the sideline. The deal now keeps hope on China. There are yet knots to untie, and the task has been kept for future that signals significant changes on the world stage.

The deal, essentially with private bankers, came out after long wrangling as the power game was with the private creditors. The summit had to negotiate with interests of private banks, represented by the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The EU communiqué sets out a 10-point program for an inner EU institution. Policing of euro is preferred by the euro-leaders, and a police baton will be carried by the EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner. Capital needs disciplining. It cannot always free wheel.

Despite vague in detail the deal is not totally empty. It made the French president feel a sense of relief. “If there was no accord […],” Nicolas Sarkozy said, “it’s not just Europe that would face catastrophe, but the whole world.” Now the leaders are keeping hope on investment by China, Russia and Japan.

But the leaders failed to succeed in making a comprehensive package they were trying for. Two of the key elements of the deal are the recapitalization of European banks, and leveraging the EFSF, increasing its potential available capital to about $1.4 trillion. They hope that it will be capable of financing big countries like Spain and Italy.
Cutting down sovereignty of Greece and Italy is one of the achievements of the summit. Bosses will now check all tax and spending decisions, and ensure implementation of austerity plans in Greece. Athens will be virtually controlled by Brussels bureaucrats, as Rome by Berlin.

Private creditors hold about two-third of Greek debt, which is 360bn euro in total. The leaders have banked on voluntary commitment of private banks. They hope that the private creditors will write off Greece’s 50% of debt, and this act of mercy will reduce the mauled country’s debt to 120% of its annual income, down from the present 180%.
A ray of hope is there for the tormented country: additional financial help from the IMF and the EU. This benevolence will enable Greece to pay its bills until 2014.
The Greek tragedy heroes are now going to land on heavily indebted and slowly growing Italian capital’s domain with its diminishing sovereignty. Italy with $2.6 trillion in sovereign debt outstanding, the fourth-largest debt in the world after the US, Japan and Germany, will now be dictated. Rome will be assigned to carry out this job and that task within a time frame. This is the democratic face of global capital that knows no frontier. It’s capital’s bold, but tragic journey.

Italy’s Libya expedition friends, France and Germany, pressured Rome. Italy publicly turned a caricature. Later, Berlusconi assured in an interview that Merkel had apologized to him, but immediately after, in a statement the German government denied the Italian leader’s assertion that made the Italian comedy much more laughable.
Italy has agreed to reduce its debt level over the next three years from a current level of 120% to 113% of GDP. Rome will also increase retirement age from 65 to 67. In August, Berlusconi promised ambitious reforms to get the ECB to buy Italian debt. But he failed to accomplish any of those.

Berlusconi, who, by his count, has survived 577 police interrogations and 2,500 court appearances related to political and saucy scandals, again had to make pledge to the EU, actually to Angela Merkel and Sarkozy. Probably it was not befitting for a powerful player in the NATO’s Libya Conquer play. After all, the Italian prime minister was close ally of the French power in the expedition, and as a genuine NATO warrior he boldly disregarded calls for help from his former friend Gaddafi. The Italian warrior, however, had no other way but to agree to the pressure mounted on him by the two European powers as French banks have the biggest exposure to Italian sovereign debt, more than $500 billion, and Italy is too big to bail out.

After “sweet” encounter with French and German friends, the billionaire prime minister of Italy will have to face Italian labor now. That will not be an easy game not only for Berlusconi, but also for the entire Italian fuel thirsty elite. Italy’s labor unions are angry with the Italian leader’s pledge. The Roman elites have now pledged to their European friends, philosophers and guides – the German and the French – to allow capital to put burden on shoulder of labor, make cutting down of labor easier for capital. Promise has been made to legalize the drive against labor by next May. The sovereign savior of capital has also pledged to sale assets, public assets. The Italian labor will now find no other way but to respond boldly and widely. A number of lawmakers from Berlusconi’s coalition have signed a letter asking him to stand down.

With one of the worst interest rates among eurozone members and sitting at the top of a list of defaulters Italy’s, the world’s eighth-largest economy, debt rating has recently been down graded by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. They have warned of more in future.

Europe now seeks help from China as the Brussels Deal expressed its desire. The continent hopes that the emerging giant will contribute to Europe’s Special Purpose Investment Vehicle, one of the two proposed ways of increasing the firepower of the EFSF. But there are unresolved problems.

There is the already-known opposite pulls. Germany will not allow the ECB to provide unlimited funds in case of a domino effect from the Greek write down impacting Italy or Spain. France likes the ECB to provide the ultimate backstop so that investors are assured that no eurozone country would bust. The opposite views have respective deep interests.

The Brussels deal is the German chancellor’s success story. Merkel dreams of revision of the union treaties and imposition of German political discipline on the Greek public sector. Then, shall that be on a wider domain? She is now competing with Sarkozy for dominant position. The Deal made it clear that France has been forced to give up a few of its position it clutched for the last few months. Germany seems got upper hand. It is competition of fragmented capital united in its global expedition.

There are significant questions related to China’s investment in Europe, and Germany’s bold face. Already, the debt crisis has taken character of political problem with roots deep in areas of capital and society.

Toward Sino-Russian Comprehensive Strategic Relationship

Russia and China are in a chorus after their recent Libya experience. The old foes turned friends are moving toward, as Chinese president Hu Jintao said, a “comprehensive strategic relationship.” Putin, the Russian leader, found no problem “in the political and humanitarian fields at all.”

Putin is not happy with the US. The former KGB boss with the dream of a new empire tried to make a sweeping stroke at US monetary policy, but the Empire. Was that a tactical restrain? To him, dollar’s dominance is parasitic. “The US is not a parasite for the world economy, but the US dollar’s monopoly is a parasite”, Putin said in an interview with Chinese state media.

Almost at the same time, as an initial response to the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Act that the US Senate passed, and that till now verbally threatens to punish China for undervaluing its currency, China condemned the US.

The condemnation, essentially a political reaction, shows that China now stands for free trade, stands for WTO, an essential arrangement for almost global capital. Capital in its voyages to expansion required “free” trade. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said: The bill is essentially trade protectionism, a serious violation of WTO rules. The Chinese commerce ministry and the People’s Bank of China had no reason to react differently. With a $273bn trade surplus with the US in 2010 China warned of triggering a trade war. Beijing will retaliate in case the bill turns into a law by taxing US multinationals in China.

China, however, still prefers to avoid confrontation with the US. The Chinese leadership’s choice is a win-win situation. The capital there, not entirely Chinese, still needs time and space. The Chinese, the former Mao followers, now, like to depoliticize economy. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said: “We should […] resist politicization of economic and trade issues, and safeguard the healthy development of Sino-US relations.” A dream indeed! Economic and trade issues in modern world is fully politicized.

Led by conservatives and Democratic liberals the US bill with thin possibility of turning into a law is actually a political tact, targeting own electorate, on the part of a section of the US capital. Another section dislikes even the tact. Echoing the section, Economics professor at Long Island University Panos Mourdoukoutas wrote in Forbes: Major US multinationals with a large presence in China will be particularly vulnerable.

Many multinational companies oppose the US legislative initiative, which is still now a political posture. John Boehner, the House Speaker, also dislikes the legislation. To him, the legislative action is like dictating another country. He apprehends that dictating another country’s currency policies would be dangerous. House Republican leaders agree with many business groups that action against China could result in a trade war. The Obama government prefers diplomacy instead of the legislation that might violate international trade rules. Critics warn that it will provoke Chinese retaliation and hurt Americans in one of their fastest-growing markets.

Capital in the US is in a multidimensional problem with itself. It is failing to create jobs in home. But the jobless rate is a threat to its politics. It cannot hurt its part in home. It has to make the part competitive. It cannot also hurt its other part operating from the soil of China using cheap China labor. That part, not totally “communist” capital, has to be kept profitable. That part needs the US market. Even, cheaper commodities from “friendly” capitals will enter the US market and engage into competition if Chinese commodities are pushed away with the power of legislation. Market is really difficult! “Free” market is much more! Profit reigns there. This compels capital to dictate market for making market “free”. It is capital’s dictatorship, not even capital’s democracy. It is dictatorship of a free, democratic capital.

This Sino-US trade tension provided a partial background to Putin’s China visit, an annual diplomatic ritual. The diplomatic act commemorated the 10th anniversary of Russia-China treaty of “Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation”.

China-Russia strategic partnership is passing a decade and a half. Now, China, as premier Wen Jiabao told reporters after meeting Putin, wanted to strengthen the strategic partnership into a comprehensive strategic partnership. The process was initiated months ago. In June 2011, Hu and Medvedev, the Russian president, confirmed the strategic goal while the Chinese president was visiting Russia: comprehensive strategic partnership.

Putin has an imperial target in view – Eurasian Union – that he unveiled in an article in Izvestia, the Moscow daily, about a week ago. His dreamed Eurasian Union, a counterweight to the EU and the US, will be a confederation of former Soviet republics. He has proposed for “creating a powerful supra-national union capable of becoming a pole in the modern world, and at the same time an effective bridge between Europe and the dynamic Asia-Pacific Region”.

Russia’s learning with the EU and NATO close-ship is not a happy one. NATO troops are training at the Russian border, in Georgia. It’s NATO’s first military training center in the Caucasus. With a vigorous posture France is trying to take an active role in the area. Ukraine and Georgia are moving closer to NATO. A chain of NATO missile defense systems stretches along the Russian border, from Turkey through Romania and Poland to Norway. The US and Romania signed an agreement on deployment of US missile defense system by 2015 at a Romanian Air Force Base. A few hundred US military personnel will be stationed there also. A few elements of EUROPRO system will be installed in Turkey. Everything indicates that the US military machine and NATO are encircling Russia.

The East appears brighter to Russia. The country likes to build a pipeline through North Korea to South Korea.

Russia, the world’s largest energy producer, and China, the world’s top energy consumer, are expanding cooperation in areas of energy and military technology. The former rivals, and now occasional partners in diplomacy, have already resolved their boundary conflict. They have held a number of joint military exercises over the years. They are in BRICS and the SCO, emerging counterweights to NATO.

Replacing Germany China became Russia’s top trading partner in 2010 with commercial turnover of $59 bn. This year, it may exceed $70 bn. The partners want to increase trade to $100 bn by 2015 and to $200 bn in 2020. Immediately before Putin’s arrival in China the two countries made 16 economic and trade deals worth over $7 bn that include China’s investment of $1.5 bn in a Siberian aluminum smelter and $1 bn into a joint investment fund.

Russia wants more Chinese investment. The energy giant began supplying oil to China through the 1,000 km Skovorodino-Daqing pipeline on January 1, 2011 boosting China’s energy security and entering a reliable energy market.

These deals, partnership, will impact regions. Russia and China will not be lone actors in these regions. Ruling elites in the region have varying types of relations with geopolitical giants. South Asia will not be a far away idyllic place.

Army General Nikolay Makarov, Russia’s chief of general staff, a few weeks ago said: Russia’s military must be ready to the worst possible scenarios as the political situation in the world is taking complicated and unexpected turns. At a Moscow press conference Makarov said: The world situation especially in North Africa and the Middle East is constantly changing. “What happened in these regions was difficult to predict and the events developed at a tremendous speed. No one can tell now what will happen there. However, this is a signal for all states. We, the military, must be ready for the worst scenarios”, said the Russian general.

Pawns and lackeys in the Third and Fourth Worlds will, if tricky enough, find opportunities to have a better prize from masters in this increasing rivalry. Faction(s) of ruling classes in these societies will enter into deals with the geopolitical actors. A few of them may have scope, at least temporarily, to withstand masters’ pressures. In turn, masters will find out trusted lackeys to replace disobedient friends. Lackeys will appear on stage with masks of civility, democracy, poverty alleviation, etc. only to ensure masters’ interests. Political strife and upheaval in some of these societies is in the waiting. Countries in south-east and south Asia are vulnerable to this changing balance of power.

Gradually increasing competition for market and source of raw materials leading to rivalry will influence democratic movement in Third and Fourth World societies. Identifying friend and foe in democratic struggle, struggle for building up a peaceful, happy life, will turn into a complex job. An informed and aware people make the task easy that can also thwart design to install new pawn.

It’s Now, Occupy World Wide

Across oceans and covering continents people around the world are struggling. There are protest marches, demonstrations, occupations. It’s now global, a globalization of struggle for democracy, for a decent life. It is One Earth One Humanity One Loved, as a placard in the Occupy Wall Street Movement announces.

It stands opposed to capital’s globalization that is going for centuries but that has failed to make this world livable. All around the globe, capitalism, its ideology and political systems in all variations are being questioned, criticized, condemned, and rejected. Even, political leaders cannot now ignore the broad message people are trying to articulate in their own ways. The leaders have to admit, even as tact to win over electorate, the rightful claims made by people.

Even, main stream media cannot now ignore the people’s struggles, sometimes sporadic, isolated, unorganized and immature, sometimes lacking clear vision, and sometimes lacking mooring in proper perspective and politics. But all are great, great in terms of goals, dreams and aspirations, great in terms of common journey. They, collectively, own a power, a power that is exerting pressure on status quo. Status quo, its politics and politicians, its arrangements and facades, its tricks and theatrical moves, its demagogues and democracy, is feeling existence of the movement, and is getting exposed. Its recent pronouncements and practices revel these.

Struggles appearing small and insignificant carry promises of lofty goal: a peaceful, mutually tolerant, decent life free from greed. The struggles, small and smaller, big and bigger, are, as a whole, creating force for gaining momentum for bringing in change in this planet, for a livable, beautiful planet.

Now, the facts:

Barack Obama, told reporters: “I think people are frustrated and [...] the protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.”

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has spoken out in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. She said on ABC’s “This Week”: “I support the message to the establishment, whether it’s Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen”, Pelosi said. “We cannot continue in a way that is not relevant to their lives.” She added that the bank bailout has fuelled animosity towards Wall Street as the benefits have not been felt by ordinary Americans. “The thought was that when we did that [pass the bailout], there would be capital available and Main Street would benefit from the resources that went largely to Wall Street”, said Pelosi. “That didn’t happen. People are angry.”

Eric Cantor, House Majority leader, a top Republican, referred to the OWS movement participants “growing mobs” that are trying to divide the country.

Two Republican presidential candidates accused the protesters of carrying out “class warfare”.

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the protests are designed to draw away attention from President Obama and labeled them “anti-American”. “The proof is quite simply the bankers and the people on Wall Street didn’t write these failed policies of the Obama administration,” he said. “They didn’t spend a trillion dollars that didn’t work. The administration and the Democrats spent a trillion dollars.”

Newt Gingrich, another Presidential candidate, told CBS that he agreed that the protests are “a natural product of Obama’s class warfare.” “We have had a strain of hostility to free enterprise. And frankly a strain of hostility to classic America starting in our academic institutions and spreading across this country.”

Michael Bloomberg, New York mayor, said the protesters are “trying to destroy jobs of working people in this city.” In his weekly radio address, Bloomberg said: “They’re trying to take away the tax base we have, because none of this is good for tourism.” “If the jobs they’re trying to get rid of in the city - the people that work in finance, which is a big part of our economy - go away, we’re not going to have any money to pay our municipal employees or clean the parks or anything else”, he said.

Richard Fisher, Dallas Fed president said: “I am somewhat sympathetic - that will shock you. We have too many people out of work for too long. We have a very frustrated people, and I can understand their frustration.”

Michael Neal, head of GE Capital, the finance arm of General Electric Co, said that he was sympathetic to the OWS movement. “If I were unemployed now, I’d be really angry too. There are a lot of unhappy people right now and there’s not a lot going on that gives you much reason to be inspired”, said Neal.

The pronouncements/observations tell respective economic-political position. But, the fact is: at least for now, and till a rightist onslaught begins, it is not possible to ignore people’s aspiration and indignation. All and everyone have to reveal respective position in terms of capital and classes. One of the gains the movements have made: expose status quo, its limits, status quo cannot maintain its silence.

Depending on social reality and equation of social forces, similar movements are moving with own pace. News headlines from main stream tell: “Wall Street protests hit 70 US cities”, “Wall Street protest movement spreads to cities across US, Canada and Europe”. Similar many are there. The movement organizers claimed: In the US and around the world, there are now 1,257 Occupy Together communities.

Other than these Occupy Together communities, in struggle/occupation, in the phase of preparation, in solidarity, there are occupations going on, functionally and effectively, challenging neo-liberal policy and politics. Following are a few, very recent:

Brussels

AFP reported: Hundreds of ‘Indignants’ from France, the Netherlands and Spain set up camp in Elisabeth Park in Brussels on October 8 to protest EU-ordered austerity measures. Belgian protesters joined them. Defying a ban and rain they pitched tents. The protesters have walked, some for months, from as far as Spain’s Atlantic coast. They plan to hold an alternative parliament in the park in October 8-15. The protesters informed: police have been deployed around the park with dog handlers, mounted police and a bus for mass arrests. The authorities had banned the group from setting up camp there as the park had no running water. The local mayor suggested the protesters to move into a Flanders University empty building. The EU leaders will meet in a summit, dominated by the continent’s debt crisis, on October 17-18. (“Anti-Austerity ‘Indignants’ Occupy Brussels Park”, Oct. 9, 2011)

London

The Guardian/UK reported: More than 2,000 people staged protest on Westminster Bridge in central London on October 9 to highlight the health and social care bill. Unfurling banners reading “Save our NHS” the protesters dressed up as medics sat down and blocked the bridge. Hundreds of police looked on. UK Uncut, the anti-cuts group that organized the Block the Bridge, Block the Bill demonstration, said: “Today has brought together doctors, nurses, parents, students, unions, pensioners and children together in an unprecedented act of mass civil disobedience. We are occupying the bridge because the bill would be bad for the NHS, bad for patients and bad for society.” The protest drew support from people across the UK. Sam, a therapy radiographer from London, said: “The NHS is the greatest invention in this country's history, providing universal healthcare for all. If it is sold to private companies this will no longer be the case.” Susan Secher, 53, a human resources manager from London said: “…the bill is being pushed through and this is our last chance to stop it and people are becoming desperate.” Janet Bennett, a pensioner who had traveled down from Liverpool said: “The NHS is so important to people in this country and we need to stand up and protect it from this creeping privatization, and this is why I am here today.” The bill is due to go before the House of Lords this week. (Matthew Taylor, “Protesters Against NHS Privatization Occupy Westminster Bridge”, Oct. 9, 2011)

Chile

From Santiago the Guardian/UK reported: In late May, came the “Chilean Winter”, a national student uprising seizing control of the political agenda and taking over of public educational institutions. Now, about 200 state elementary and high schools and a dozen universities are being occupied by students in Chile. Weekly protest marches throughout the country find 50,000-100,000 students on average. There are protest marches by thousands of students in Santiago. Recently, downtown Santiago saw protesting youth, tear gas, and arrest of more than hundred students.

One of the occupied schools is the Carmela Carvajal primary and secondary school, Chile’s one of the most successful state schools. Dozens of girl students of the school, the country’s most prestigious girl’s school, are living a revolution since May. They held a vote after taking over the school to approve the takeover. About half of the 1,800 students participated in the polls. The yays outnumbered the nays 10 to one. The five-month occupation shows no signs of dying.

They are still fighting for their goal: free university education for all. The student-occupied school is a wired reality of a generation that boasts the communication tools that feisty young rebels of history never dreamed of. When police forces come closer, the students use Facebook chat sessions to mobilize. Within minutes, they rally support groups from other public schools in the neighborhood. “Our lawyer lives over there”, said Angelica Alvarez, 14, as she pointed to a cluster of nearby homes. “If we yell ‘Mauricio’ really loud, he leaves his home and comes over.”

Sleeping on a tiled classroom floor and using classroom chairs to barricade themselves they are always on the lookout for police raids. Authorities have repeatedly attempted to retake the school, police were sent to evict the rebel students, but so far the students have held their ground. Police took back the school 10 times. But every time the students occupied it back.

Guest lecturers provide free classes on topics ranging from economics to astronomy. Extracurricular classes are there. Rock bands perform on weekends. Neighbors donate foods. So much food is donated that the Carmela Carvajal students regularly pass on those to hungry students at other occupied schools.

The students vote on all issues including daily duties, housekeeping schedules and the election of a president and spokeswoman. The school rules now include several new decrees: no sex, no boys and no booze. A few students tried to bring in alcohol, but they were caught and punished. As punishment they had to clean the bathrooms.

Politicians and many parents fret that 2011 is “a lost year” for public education. But for many of the students the past five months has been the most intensive education of their life.

The students are demanding a return to the 1960s’ free public university education, and education be recognized as a common right for all, not a “consumer good” to be sold on the open market. Current tuition fees average nearly three times the minimum annual wage, and with interest rates on student loans at 7%. Now, Chile’s many schools are for-profit institutions, run as businesses. A leading newspaper regularly featured advertisements of schools for sale that often described the institutions as highly profitable investments. This pushed students demand financial reform, a centerpiece of their uprising. Initially, the students’ demands were flatly rejected by the conservative government of president Pinera. But, now, the government is moving towards meeting students’ demands.

The students’ unified front is supported by an estimated 6 of 10 adults in Chile, far higher than the country’s political coalitions or President Pinera. (“Chilean Girls Stage ‘Occupation’ of Their Own School in Education Rights Protest”, Oct. 8, 2011)

Greece

In Greece, demonstrators are blocking government agencies and clashing with government thugs amid plumes of tear gas. Workers and employees are staging job actions. Almost everyday a sector is on strike. Demonstrations become more massive and more organized. “[C]lass oriented trade unions and anti-monopoly coalitions of the self employed take up initiatives, through meetings at the work places, at neighborhoods…” Students move on to huge demonstrations. In a correspondence with In These Times, George Pontikos of the All Workers Militant Front (PAME), described a steady escalation of militancy across a growing swath of Greek society. (“While Wall Street Quakes, Greece’s Fire Still Burns Bright”, In These Times, Oct. 7, 2011)

A few days back, a group of students occupied a TV station in Greece. A number of campuses are being occupied by students also.

MSM

Main stream media initially tried to ignore the movement. But it failed. That’s because of power of society, which MSM always tries to manipulate. MSM’s change in tone or posture signals a number of aspects. Now, section of MSM speaks, with its own tone that safeguards its interests, in favor of people’s aspirations and questions section of capital.

In an editorial the New York Times said: “As the Occupy Wall Street protests spread […] the chattering classes keep complaining that the marchers lack a clear message and specific policy prescriptions. The message — and the solutions — should be obvious to anyone who has been paying attention since the economy went into a recession that continues to sock the middle class while the rich have recovered and prospered. The problem is that no one in Washington has been listening.”

Further indicating the non-responsive political system, the editorial said: “It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation. That’s the job of the […] leaders, and if they had been doing it […] there might not be a need for these marches and rallies.”

It said, as the leaders have not performed “the public airing of grievances is a legitimate and important end in itself.”

Citing the Occupy Wall Street protest as “more than a youth uprising” and “the first line of defense against a return to the Wall Street ways that plunged the nation into an economic crisis from which it has yet to emerge” the editorial said: “[P]rotest is the message […] the protesters […] are giving voice to a generation of lost opportunity. […]”

Mentioning collusion between financial sector, regulators and elected officials, it said: “The protests […] are exactly right”.

Citing profiteering from credit bubble, and consequently loss of jobs, incomes, savings and home equity costing millions of Americans the editorial said: “As the bad times have endured, Americans have also lost their belief in redress and recovery.”

The NYT editorial mentioned that bailouts and “elected officials’ hunger for campaign cash from Wall Street,” have increased “[t]he initial outrage”. Terming combination of these two as “toxic”, the editorial said: the “combination […] has reaffirmed the economic and political power of banks and bankers, while ordinary Americans suffer.”

“Extreme inequality”, it said, “is the hallmark of a dysfunctional economy, dominated by a financial sector that is driven as much by speculation, gouging and government backing as by productive investment.”

It mentioned “concentration of income in today’s deeply unequal society”, resurgence of inequality, corporate profits reaching to “highest level as a share of the economy since 1950, while worker pay as a share of the economy is at its lowest point since the mid-1950s”, decline of real income of working-age households.

Referring to research the editorial said: “[S]uch extreme inequality correlates to a host of ills, including lower levels of educational attainment, poorer health and less public investment. It also skews political power, because policy almost invariably reflects the views of upper-income Americans versus those of lower-income Americans.”

“No wonder”, the NYT editorial said, “that Occupy Wall Street has become a magnet for discontent.” As policy goals to address the grievances of the protesters the editorial mentioned 1. lasting foreclosure relief, 2. a financial transactions tax, 3. greater legal protection for workers’ rights, and 4. more progressive taxation. The editorial said: “The country needs a shift in the emphasis of public policy from protecting the banks to fostering full employment, including public spending for job creation and development of a strong, long-term strategy to increase domestic manufacturing.” (“Protesters Against Wall Street”, New York Times, Oct. 9, 2011)

MSM in the periphery initially followed its masters: totally ignore the movement, total disregard to the movement. But, now, “things” are changing. A section of the peripheral MSM, talks in the tone of movement participants, questions speculators, criticizes failures of capitalism. It’s not because of only advancement of the movement, but also because of power of capitalism’s failure, power of people’s mood, and need of the section to secure it consumers and credibility.

Solidarity from afar

Hugo Chávez has condemned the “horrible repression” of anti-Wall Street protesters. He expressed solidarity with OWS activists who are staging rallies and marches against corporate greed. “This movement of popular outrage is expanding to […] cities […]”, Chávez said at a political meeting shown on state TV. (“Chávez condemns Wall Street protest ‘crackdown’”, guardian.co.uk, Oct. 9, 2011)

Solidarity is there in countries. In countries, people have hope. Materializing hopes takes time, and time teaches through achievements and failures. This solidarity, this hope makes the movement worldwide.

Cut Down Ratings And The Split In Europe

With confusing creditworthiness two more countries and many banks in Europe have “achieved” downgraded ratings over the last few days. And, there is a split. The Germans and the French have, temporarily, disagreed to agree. For the financial elites, political implication of these pulls and pushes is in the wings. “There is a high risk that this crisis further escalates and broadens,” Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister warned.

The sovereign debt crisis now burdened with downgraded rating of Italy and Spain, the third and fourth largest economies in the euro zone, needs financial power of the two European giants, Germany and France, to salvage it. But the giants were split on the question of salvage approach. They have unity of aspiration in rescuing interest seeking capital. But they differ on the rescue path. Ultimately, because of their common interests, they have to agree. They will agree on at least one point: press down people, take away labor’s bargaining capacity, appropriate whatever people have.

Belgium, a former colonial plunderer, owns a public sector debt equal to Ireland. The country has been warned of a downgraded rating. France is also at risk of facing the same reality. If it slips down, a larger problem will appear: financial support for the PIG would tumble. Fitch said: market confidence in Italy had been eroded. Fitch’s rating for Italy is now equal to Malta and Slovakia. The south European state with the largest debts in the euro zone, at 1.9 trillion euros – 120% of GDP, seemed is teetering.

But Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, does not care about those ratings, it seems. He trusts market, which is now ravaging people. A confident Frattini said: “markets don’t care much about the role of Fitch, Moody’s and company.” However, the Spanish economy ministry expressed “respect” to the downgrading decision. It seemed, the political representatives of the financial elites are confused with their tools, domain and approach. A confused mind of “confident” capital!

Moody’s has downgraded credit rating of 12 UK financial firms: Lloyds TSB, a division of part-nationalized Lloyds Banking Group, government-controlled RBS, Nationwide Building Society, Co-operative Bank, Santander UK, and the building societies of Newcastle, Norwich & Peterborough, Nottingham, Principality, Skipton, West Bromwich and Yorkshire. Nine Portuguese banks have experienced the same. Simultaneously, French banks are over-exposed to peripheral euro zone debt.

However, the UK chancellor George Osborne is confident in the viability of his country’s banks. He said: “I’m confident that British banks are well capitalized, they are liquid, they are not experiencing the kind of problems that some of the banks in the eurozone are experiencing at the moment.” During an interview with Radio 4, Osborne expressed his agreement with the governor of the Bank of England, who said on October 6 that the world was facing its biggest ever financial crisis. Osborne said: “Not only have we faced the biggest banking crisis of my lifetime and your lifetime, the deepest recession since the Second World War, but also Britain was at the epicenter of it.” (guardian.co.uk, Oct. 7, 2011)

But the British leader, it seems, considers that the mighty British financial firms are immune to capitalist disease as he expressed during the interview. Probably, he has forgotten that poor Greece is putting pressure on the rich French and the Germans, and there is capital’s globalization, which has made immunity impossible for the big capitals. A Greek default would create catastrophic consequences for the European and global economy. It will be impossible for the British finance capital to escape that consequence.

Banks and financial firms, cruel characters appearing comical at current time, are one of the stakes of the entire system. Capital cannot dream to let these drown. The European banks, as the IMF estimates, need up to 200 billion euros. Paris wants to use the EFSF, the euro rescue fund, to recapitalize its own stake. Berlin prefers to use the fund as a last resort. Market appears as the first choice to the Germans. But, market is not behaving in a way that can be perceived by capital rational.

Greece has also made impact on the Belgian-Franco municipal lender Dexia, which is facing the threat of becoming the first major European institution to fall victim to the eurozone debt crisis. France and Belgium are arguing over respective taxpayers’ share to salvage it. The two countries plan to break up Dexia and provide state guarantees to cover a “bad bank” of assets. To provide state guarantee, they have to use public money, the old, easy escape route, which is virtually stealing public money.

Greece standing on the brink of bankruptcy has created a buoyant investment market, for which capital was counting days. Germany having high stake in Greece is now trying to grab a bigger part of the country by taking the role of advisor there. Already, the German government has voted in favor of a European bailout fund to aid Greece. Germany now has offered its civil servants and banking experts to Greece with the task of showing salvation path: cut down red tape, set up a new state bank, formulate laws, attract private investment, design project finance, etc. The German consultants will bring salvation!

Crisis brings new opportunity. Germany is looking for investment opportunities in Greece. The German economy minister has made a deal during his Athens visit. He brought with him German industry representatives seeking business in Greece, whose ruling elites have put important chunks of public property on sale. A scramble for Greece will not be surprising. It will be a competition that capitalizes bankruptcy. Labor with a huge reserve army there is hard pressed that puts capital in a better bargaining position.

Greece is at a crossroads and will need to implement “much stricter structural reforms” to avoid default, IMF mission chief to Greece was cited as saying by a German newspaper on October 8. It’s an old, global prescription the bosses prescribe. A “much stricter structural reforms” will press the Greek people much strictly, and that is more dispossessions, more hardship, snatching away of bargaining capacity of labor.

Capitals still are trying to act jointly, especially as they face stronger competitors. The heads of the French, German and Italian employers’ lobbies on October 8 called for stronger European economic and political union. They suggested EU’s only “determined” action. “A diverse Europe, composed of many countries, will only be in a position to maintain its economic position and retain its role of political decision-maker in this changing world if it progresses relentlessly toward a political union,” the heads of France’s MEDEF, Germany’s BDI and Italy’s Cofindustria said in a joint letter. They like to follow this path “to confront the United States, China and emerging economies”, as they said. The business leaders are aspiring to build bridge of unity on a foundation split by competition at its core.

But for capitals, still there is no way out from crisis. “There should be no confusion about what is happening. These are desperate remedies for increasingly desperate problems. […] These shifts may be too little and too late – and millions may still pay the price of that”, said an editorial of guardian.co.uk (Oct. 7, 2011)

The people in the UK, as people of other countries, are paying the price. Citing PricewaterhouseCoopers guardian.co.uk informs: British workers going to retire with private pensions will be facing harder days as their pension incomes are substantially less than three years back. Overall pension incomes are now 30% lower than they were three years ago. (Oct. 8, 2011) These facts provided by the main stream cannot be ignored by capital. And, capital cannot ignore the reaction these acts, appropriation at social level, will produce.

Dance With People: A Choreographer's Creation

People participate in dance. Artists dance with people. Dance turn people's domain, their way of expression. It is neither the partnered steps of Jive nor the “triple step” movement of Cha Cha. It is Allegory of a Puzzle , a ballet. Cuba , the country having roots of the dances Tango, Conga and Habanera, has created the artist, who is taking dance among people. He is Narciso.

Narciso Medina, internationally renowned Cuban choreographer, principal dancer, considers dancing not as a performance, but as a space of coexistence. Alegoría de un rompecabezas , Allegory of a Puzzle , a new ballet, has brought Narciso to headlines again. Granma International 's Mireya Castañeda talked to him. Granma International carried the interview on July 21, 2011 .

Narciso's professional choreographer life began in 1986 with the classic Metamorfosis , his most outstanding work. Movements, manner, style, language, themes of his creations turned distinct. His dance workshops are part of the community.

In Alegoría de un rompecabez he puts dancers “on the stage dancing, acting, declaiming, interacting with the public”. He says: It is not a performance; although there is dancing, a lot of energy, it as a space of coexistence. He tries to bring the public and dancers very close, have them interact, not seek distance. As time passes, dancers and audience share together the process of creation. As proposed by the public a lot of staging and improvisation are created.

He is now “more uninhibited, more natural, in terms of the performance, not doing anything technical, elitist, which could make the public feel that distancing, but to bring them closer to the dancers.” For that reason he changes according to the theme, according to the passion he has to create.

What's dancing for him? “For me”, Narciso says, “it is 24 hours of the day. In dance and in the choreographies I express all my sentiments. Physically, it makes me feel very good, I disconnect from my problems and enter into a world which I create while I am dancing, teaching. Dance entered into me and I entered into dance. We have gone about creating a good couple. Dancing is to feel alive. Dancing is an irresistible fever.”

Narciso also creates short stories and poems, but dance ensnares him. He has the novel Ojo de la vida and essays including “ El suspendido vuelo del ángel creador ”, “The suspended flight of a creative angel”, on dance, the world of art in a general sense, and a book for teaching, Danza creative , which has been translated into Japanese. It is going to be published for secondary schools where creative dance is going to be an obligatory subject, and one of the teaching materials will be its text. The first part is Educación sico-corporal para la danza , Psycho-physical education for dance.

Narciso says: Literature and dance are two different languages, but they come together, because one has to work on dramaturgy, history, themes, levels of surprise, characters, different languages, movement. “The written word satisfies me at the end of the day, but I have had more of a field in dance.”

Narciso (Guantánamo, 1961) graduated from the National School of Art (ENA) in 1981, the year he joined what is now the Danza Contemporánea de Cuba company. He stayed there for more than 10 years as solo dancer and principal choreographer. With his company founded in 1993 “he has achieved his own language, mixing with ease diverse styles and trends.” This brought famous international prizes and distinctions including a Special Mention at the International Choreography Competition in Lausanne and First Prize in the 9th Creative Dance Competition, Saitama , Japan . Cuba has decorated him with the National Choreography Prize for Metamorfosis in 1986; the National Juvenile Choreography Prize for Caverna Mágica in 1987; the National Choreography Prize for Un Grano de Oro in 1994; and a prize for Ligero de Equipaje at the 2nd International Choreography and Interpretation Competition. Framed within a distinct style, Metamorfosis is laden with international prizes including one from Maurice Bejart, a celebrity in world choreography for its presentation in Switzerland .

[ This short piece is entirely based on the interview. ]

Labor Supports The Occupy Wall Street Movement

Labor is extending support to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. With arrest of hundreds of the protesters and their release, the protesters’ uninterrupted brave presence, increasing support to them from wider society, and spread of the movement to other parts of the US the Occupy Movement is facilitating widen public space in political life. The time, it seems, is vibrant with movements, and democratic spirits and aspiration.

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president said: “Wall Street’s out of control”. On the Occupy Wall Street Movement he said: “[I]t’s a […] valid tactic to call attention to a problem.” (John Nichols, The Nation, Sept. 30, 2011) Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers (USW) extended support to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The USW is North America’s largest industrial union representing workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, atomic energy, airline, health care, service and public sectors with 1.2 million active and retired members in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. In a statement on September 30, Leo W. Gerard said:

The United Steelworkers union stands in solidarity with and strongly supports Occupy Wall Street. The brave men and women, many of them young people without jobs, who have been demonstrating around-the-clock for nearly two weeks in New York City are speaking out for the many in our world. We are fed up with the corporate greed, corruption and arrogance that have inflicted pain on far too many for far too long.

Our union has been standing up and fighting these captains of finance who promote Wall Street over Main Street. We know firsthand the devastation caused by a global economy where workers, their families, the environment and our futures are sacrificed so that a privileged few can make more money on everyone’s labor but their own.

Wall Street and its counterparts on Bay Street (Toronto), The City (London) and across the world tanked our economy in 2008. They caused a crisis that we’re still suffering from - record job losses, home foreclosures, cuts to schools, public services, police, fire and so much more. They’ve gambled with our pension funds and our futures for far too long.

They should have gone to jail. Instead, they got bailed out, while we got left out. And now they want us to go down the same path.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement represents what most Americans believe: Enough is enough! It’s time to hold those who caused our economic crisis accountable, to ensure they don’t get away with it again, and to demand that everyone pay their fair share. It’s time to stand and fight for the creation of real wealth by focusing on making real things and creating family- and community-supporting jobs.

The USW is proud to join with the brothers and sisters of the Occupy Wall Street Movement as we continue this important fight for a more just economy and a brighter tomorrow.

According to Village Voice, the historically militant Transport Workers Union that primarily represents workers in the public transportation system and at some private bus lines in the New York City metropolitan area has unanimously voted to back, and provide food and services to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The TWU plans to assemble on October 5 and march to Zuccotti Park, the place the protesters are staying. The union counts 38,000 active members and covers 26,000 retirees.

In a statement the union applauded the courage of the young people on Wall Street, and said: “the shared sacrifice preached by government officials looks awfully like a one-way street. Workers and ordinary citizens are putting up all the sacrifice, and the financiers who imploded our economy are getting away scot-free, increasing their holdings and bonuses. Young people face a bleak future with high unemployment, and minimum wage jobs. Public sector workers face Mayors and Governors who demand massive wage and benefits givebacks or face thousands of layoffs. That’s not bargaining. That’s blackmail.”

The statement said that the union’s Executive Board is united in their “determination that this state of affairs is dangerous for America and destructive to its citizenry. We support the Wall Street protesters and their goal to reduce inequality and support every American’s right to a decent job, health care, and retirement security.”

The TWU’s October 5-March is being co-sponsored by eight labor and community outreach organizations having a total membership of over 1 million. These are United NY, Strong Economy for All Coalition, Working Families Party, VOCAL-NY, Community Voices Heard, Alliance for Quality Education, New York Communities for Change and Coalition for the Homeless.

Terry O’Sullivan, General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), on September 30 in a statement on Occupy Wall Street said: “The workers who build America – the half-million men and women of LIUNA – are united behind the fight against corporate tyranny and for economic prosperity for all and stand with the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York City and across the United States.” It should be mentioned that the half-million members of LIUNA are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers.

He said:

The most valuable asset in America isn’t Wall Street, it is working people. Yet in America today, millions of working people are jobless and are losing their homes, their hopes and their dreams. Meanwhile, corporations are making record profits and the most profitable among them pay no taxes, shifting more wealth from the working and middle class to the rich. This ill-gotten wealth is being used to finance an unprecedented assault on working people and unions in states across the country and in Washington, D.C. Wall Street caused our economic crisis, and yet corporations are attempting to force working people to pay for it. The only way to turn back the assault is to strengthen unions and build movements, such as Occupy Wall Street.

Professors at the City University of New York affiliated with the Professional Staff Congress union have taken a number of labor-oriented solidarity actions. Their group, Solidarity with OWS, is organizing demonstration against police abuse. Their academic allies include Frances Fox Piven, Christian Parenti, and Stanley Aronowitz. (Michelle Chen, “Labor Movement Rolls Into Wall Street Occupation”, In These Times, September 30, 2011)

Huffington Post informed: the trade union representing doormen, security guards and maintenance workers with about 70,000 members (New York Metro SEIU 32BJ) was “re-purposing a previously planned rally on Oct. 12 to express solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protesters”. Kwame Patterson, the 32BJ spokesperson said: “The call went out over a month ago, before actually the occupancy of Wall Street took place.” Now, “we’re all coming under one cause, even though we have our different initiatives.”

Crain's New York Business informed: local unions are collaborating with community-based groups that include Make the Road New York, Coalition for the Homeless and Community Voices Heard. These organizations are involved with the struggles of the poor and working-class.

The movement is spreading. The main stream media (MSM) now inform this fact. ABC News said: “The protests have spread across the country, with events popping up in Boston and Chicago in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. … [E]vents in Boston will continue with a ‘Take Back the Block’ festival. At least 1,500 have registered for the festival. Along with New York and Boston, an Occupy Chicago movement has emerged, with nearly 100 people gathering in front of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. The protests have been peaceful and no arrests have been reported. Occupy Los Angeles protests which have also been small in numbers, has called for a march today ...” (Oct 1, 2011) The Telegraph/UK carried news with the headline “Occupy Wall Street Protests Spread across US”. It said: “Inspired by the events in New York City, protesters begin assembling in several cities across the U.S. … [M]ore demonstrations began to spring up across the U.S. In Los Angeles, protesters gathered in front of City Hall and danced on buses with ‘peace’ emblazoned on the side. A smaller protest was held in Chicago’s financial district where protesters held placards demanding ‘Jobs Not Cuts’. Protesters also turned out in Denver, gathering downtown before marching into the city chanting, ‘Occupy the streets’.” (Oct. 2, 2011)

The protest organizers/sympathetic websites claimed that many events, demonstrations, and assemblies were held around the US including in Atlanta, San Diego, and San Jose in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Around 200 protesters in Boston took to the streets. An Occupy Chicago event also began on Sept. 23. At least 52 cities in America are occupied or organizing as the protesters claimed. Web sites are cropping up in increasing number that reflects the expansion of the movement. Occupy Together is playing a role of broader banner.

Sister campaigns with names like Occupy Chicago, the protesters claimed, have emerged in Albuquerque, Arkansas, Austin, Binghamton, Birmingham, Boise, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Clarksville, Cleveland, Columbus, Colorado Springs, Columbus, D.C., Dallas, Daytona Beach, Durham, Eugene, Hartford, Houston, Indiana, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Las Vegas, Lexington, Los Angeles, Louisville, Maine, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nashville, New Jersey, New Orleans, OKC, Orlando, Olympia, Omaha, OSU (Stillwater), Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Providence, Richmond, Rochester, St. Louis, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Spokane, Tulsa, Tampa, Tallahassee, Tucson, Vermont, Winston Salem, Wisconsin.

San Francisco: Occupy the San Francisco Financial District kicked off outside the Bank of America (BoA) building, also known as the “Wall Street of the West.” Approximately 150 people including members of US Uncut and the Revolutionary Poets Brigade, as well as people of all ages and students participated in the opening rally. After a couple of hours, one group marched through a street while the other met in a public assembly. Then, a small group of campers formed and stayed the night. A small camp came up. The camp is growing. There are now daily meetings at the camp and General Assemblies every Saturday.

Huffington Post reported Mayoral candidate and city Supervisor John Avalos initiated the San Francisco march with a speech: “[T]his [BoA] building right here is a symbol of the incredible greed and wealth that has accumulated into fewer and fewer hands. And how do they stay wealthy? They took our tax dollars. They got bailed out.” He urged the crowd to withdraw their money from national banks and invest in small, community-like banks. The demonstrators marched down to Charles Schwab, surrounding the building and chanting, “Charles Schwab, give us our money back”. The San Francisco protesters ended the day at Chase Bank. Six demonstrators walked into the branch and staged a sit-in in the lobby. They were arrested, and eventually released, after they refused requests to leave. (International Business Times, Sept. 30, 2011)

Portland: Occupy Portland, a nonviolent movement for accountability in the US government plans to assemble on October 6, 2011. The assembly will be in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street, and the increasing “number of cities whose people will no longer sit back watching corporate and special interests run their government.”

Berkley: An AP news report datelined Berkeley, Sept. 22, 2011 said: Students occupied a building on the University of California, Berkeley campus to protest tuition hikes and state budget cuts. There was a confrontation between police and protestors. Later, the student demonstration dispersed. One protester was arrested. “Resistance Social,” a group, organized the protest. “Protesters say”, the news report cited, “the University of California is becoming increasingly unaffordable as the 10-campus UC system raises tuition in response to state cuts to higher education.” (“UC Berkeley Classrooms Occupied By Tuition Hike Protesters”)

Global: The Wall Street protesters pronounce: “This is really a global movement.” According to their claim there were more than 35 events around the world in solidarity of the movement. These include Occupy Brisbane, Occupy Frankfurt, Occupy Hamburg, Occupy Manchester, Occupy Melbourne, Occupy Perth, Occupy the London Stock Exchange, Occupy Toronto Market Exchange, and Occupy Vancouver.

Horizontally connected, broader coalitions are coming up through the movement. The coalitions include community, environment, youth and rights organizations. Organizations against predatory lending, and elder persons’ organizations are also joining.

Movement’s Media: The MSM tried to black out news of the movement. The protest was ignored. But the MSM-silence could not be sustained. Now, MSM is giving up space to the Occupy Movement. At the same time, the MSM’s unwillingness to accommodate the movement led the movement participants to devise their medium to communicate. Now, there is The Occupied Wall Street Journal. “It debuted on [October 1] with a print run of 50,000, after two independent journalists in New York started a campaign using the online fund-raising platform Kickstarter. The four-page broadsheet includes a story […] headlined ‘The Revolution Begins at Home’, an essay by the former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges urging people to participate in the protests, and a ‘Declaration of the Occupation’ approved at a meeting of protesters on Sept. 29.” The initiators of the newspaper raised more than $12,000 within eight hours. (New York Times, Oct. 3, 2011)

Communiqué: Communiqués of the protesters are disseminating hard facts. In their Fifth Communiqué the 99 percent cited the following information:

On September 21, 2011, the richest 400 Americans owned more wealth than half of the country’s population; about 80% of Americans thought the country was on the wrong track; about one-sixth of Americans did not have work; the same ratio lived in poverty; about 50 million Americans were without health insurance; the US had military bases in around 130 out of 165 countries; and the US was at war with the world.

With this background, the movement demands end of wealth inequality, poverty, joblessness, health-profiteering, political corruption, corporate censorship, modern gilded age, American imperialism and war.

It is true, the movement, a very smaller one in terms of number, is in its formative stage. It is also true, there are a lot of weaknesses and weak connections. Many factors are yet to be identified. It will be an illusion that the movement will provide people a full fledged public space, and compel capital’s greed to compromise within a short time. But it’s part of a learning process, which is essential for expanding people’s scopes. Already it has produced important lessons and learning “materials”. Even, societies far away can learn from the movement. Socially and politically, the movement is significant. Even, its mistakes will be valuable assets as these will act as teacher. The voice of the section of labor, a part of broader society, extending its support to the movement is significant also.

“The movements suggest”, Michelle Chen writes, “a general trajectory of grassroots organizing: a spark of protest led by younger activists, followed by the support of labor organizations, bringing up the rear and then moving to the fore.” “[T]he movement is organically structured, with no formal ‘list of demands’ yet […] Not everyone came to Wall Street knowing exactly what they wanted, but everyone there today knows they’ve had enough, and that they’re not the only ones. […] After decades of a one-sided class war, the fightback has begun.” (“Labor Movement Rolls Into Wall Street Occupation”, In These Times, September 30, 2011)