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starroute

(12,977 posts)
Sat Feb 8, 2014, 10:57 AM Feb 2014

What The Hell Happened to @OccupyWallst?

This stuff is so nutsy, I have no comment on it. It doesn't really seem to be about transphobia, since Tunney was just one of a group of trans anarchists involved in OWS. It may be connected with suggestions I've been seeing recently that anarchists are getting fed up with the libertarians who pass as anarcho-capitalists while often operating as trolls and disruptors. But I'm looking at all this from the outside and don't really know what's going on.

http://pando.com/2014/02/07/occupy-wall-street-leader-now-works-for-google-wants-to-crowdfund-a-private-militia/

Remember Justine Tunney? The OWS-anarchist-turned-cultist-Google-employee who bashed my reporting on Google’s for-profit surveillance? Well, today she hit the big time.

Over the last few days, Tunney has been causing a Twitter outrage tsunami after she took full control of the main Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Twitter account, claimed to be the founder of OWS and then proceeded to tweet out stream of ridiculous anarcho-corporatist garbage. She railed against welfare, described the government as “just another corporation,” argued poverty was not a political problem but “an engineering problem” and told politicians to “get out of the way.” She also debunked what she thought was a misconception: people thought OWS activists were protesting against concentrated corporate power, and that, she claims, is simply not true.

As I wrote before, Tunney’s sudden epiphany that not all corporations are evil just so happened to coincide with her decision to take a well-paid job at Google. Since then she has become an astroturfer par exellence for the company, including showing up in a comment section to bash my reporting on Google’s vast for-profit surveillance operation. “It never ceases to amaze me how far people have to stretch in order to denounce the one corporation that gives away everything for free,” she wrote.


http://my.firedoglake.com/kitoconnell/2014/02/07/what-the-hell-happened-to-occupywallst/

Tunney’s viewpoints included calling out activist philosopher David Graeber, espousing vegetarianism and non-smoking, and insisting that the movement was only anti-Wall Street, not anti-corporation. She defended her employment with Google while simultaneously calling out the liberal middle class for their moral bankruptcy.

"I was the founding organizer of this movement. But prejudiced people have always tried to deny me a voice in this movement. –Justine Tunney"

Tunney’s tale of exclusion stems from being a transgender woman, a class of people often oppressed and silenced in our culture. Yet she plays this card without hesitation in response to her critics. This afternoon, as nearly every activist on social media held their breath in anticipation of the NATO 3 verdict, Tunney shared a sob story of emotional abuse on her personal account. As I pleaded with her to use her new soapbox to share solidarity with three activists that face decades behind bars, she responded by calling me a transphobic bully and temporarily blocking me on Twitter.

The fiasco spawned the humorous #IFoundedOccupyWallSt hashtag, but many who invested months of their lives — or even went to jail for the movement — responded with outrage and a sense of betrayal. It’s sad to see a leaderless movement so diminished in numbers and tarnished in the media further devalued by the bizarre personal agenda of a singular egotist.


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What The Hell Happened to @OccupyWallst? (Original Post) starroute Feb 2014 OP
Shining example Joe Shlabotnik Feb 2014 #1
Perhaps.... De Leonist Feb 2014 #2
Just the fact that she is claiming to be the leader of OWS, shows her up for what she is and sabrina 1 Feb 2014 #3

Joe Shlabotnik

(5,604 posts)
1. Shining example
Sat Feb 8, 2014, 06:46 PM
Feb 2014

of why Occupy cannot/should not have leaders, or official spokespeople. If she truly believed in Occupy's non-hierarchical representation then she would not "Own" the keys to its "official" twitter account.

Whether by design or accident, her selfish action has strengthened the counter-revolution.

De Leonist

(225 posts)
2. Perhaps....
Sat Feb 8, 2014, 09:38 PM
Feb 2014

Sooner or Later a not so peaceful revolution will be the only alternative. Despite my namesake, this possibility fills me with dread.

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)
3. Just the fact that she is claiming to be the leader of OWS, shows her up for what she is and
Wed Feb 12, 2014, 01:09 AM
Feb 2014

probably always was, a PLANT. And that is how she should be referred to from now on. I have no doubt that there were many plants right from the beginning. If anyone doubts that, all they have to do is read the transcripts of the Nato Three trial.

What a jerk, does she really expect anyone to buy her garbage? Well, anyone with half a brain cell working.

What was she doing before she planted herself in OWS? I never heard of her before but I think her history is relevant now considering her exposure, as a PLANT.

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