This is the TRUE reason they cleared out the encampments...

[Ken Burch]

The camps were the beginnings of a community...the community needed for a culture of resistance.

Simply allowing that many people who refuse to accept that things MUST be the way they are is the true threat that Occupy posed and continues to pose to the powers-that-be.

It was never about "sanitation".

It was never about "crime".

It was about people getting together in large groups and having them show that people in such groups can help rather than harm each other. The longer those groups survive, the more human connections can be built within them, the more abundant the evidence that they can give to people who want a better world that, despite the sneering, hate-based corporate propaganda, they are NOT alone, the greater the likelihood that these communities will demonstrate that we can run the country, and the rest of the world can run itself, without the need for the "services" of the arrogant, the violent, and the greedy.

This is what our political class could not allow to continue uninterrupted.

This is why Occupy, in newer and more creative forms, must and WILL continue.

[DeSwiss]

1. K&R

''A riot is the language of the unheard.'' ~Martin Luther King Jr.

[alittlelark]

2. Nicely said. It really is the 'bottom line'.

[sce56]

3. Thanks to Hosni Bloomberg

[azurnoir]

4. well put

K&R :kick:

[Fumesucker]

5. I need video of this.. Please..

I can use it to very good effect.

[Ken Burch]

9. If you want to out together a video using it, go ahead.

Perhaps tape a group of people each saying part of it.

[snappyturtle]

6. Succinct and excellent! nt

[Desertrose]

7. You are exactly right! Thank you.

Community and working together....hope!!

"This is what our political class could not allow to continue uninterrupted.

This is why Occupy, in newer and more creative forms, must and WILL continue."

[Warren DeMontague]

8. I think you're right, actually

I mean, a public space with lots of people that isn't devoted to a few of them selling stuff made in china to the rest of them. It's sort of outside the box.

[EFerrari]

12. Exactly. They won't have it.

The problem for them is, they really can't stop it, either.

[Tsiyu]

10. The PTB believe that OWS is a group of pests

they can eradicate with pepper spray and batons and evictions.

But OWS is more like a flood, and no matter how many levees they build, the water is going to pour and keep on pouring....

The waste of taxpayer money in the form of obscene police presence is actually a good thing. Eventually the cities will run out of money, and appeal to Congress, who refuses to tax the wealthy for any reason. Congress will have to raise taxes to help the cities defend themselves, or watch the cities be completely overtaken by OWS.

OWS has only just begun, and those who think otherwise are living in Fantasy Land.

[mfcorey1]

11. The real reason is the coming Thanksgiving Day Parade. nt

[PuraVidaDreamin]

23. Damn it now I wish I had a tv

Maybe T.Poole will be on the scene.

[RoccoR5955]

45. And the shoppers following the day after. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Yup, you got it

[WildNovember]

14. Good point. "having them show that people in such groups can help rather than harm each other. "

the ptb are all about telling us other people are dangerous.

[femrap]

32. The paradigm

we have endured for roughly 2,000 years is just about done...it's Competition and the resulting violence and conquering and oppression. It has gone about as far as it can go.

The new paradigm is one of Cooperation as demonstrated by the OWS Movement...it's time has come. The Earth can not survive without Cooperation.

May Wall Street self-destruct.

[Raksha]

15. K & R - So true.

But it wasn't just growing the community that was the threat to them. The bigger threat was making the community VISIBLE.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Further

giving faces and names to stats... in other words making invisible people quite visible, thank you very much.

[starroute]

17. And this is why the people advocating mass rallies are wrong

We don't need a million people marching on Washington. We need communities -- real and lasting communities -- to demonstrate visibly that another world is possible.

Camping out in parks and plazas may not ultimately be the way to do it -- but a way is needed, and it will be found.

[FreakinDJ]

18. I think the "Super Committee" recommendations coming out next week

have a little some thing to do with the organized coast to coast suppression of the OWS movement. Slashing employee funded programs like Social Security and Medicaid while giving Corporations and the Wealthy Elite 1% an ENORMOUS Tax Cut isn't going to be very popular

[Fire Walk With Me]

19. They're terrified that we'll realize that WE DON'T NEED THEM.

New chant: "WE DON'T NEED YOU!"

:rofl::hi:

[Brigid]

37. Love it!

:rofl:

[FirstLight]

20. no shit!

I wholeheartedly agree...Cooperative Community is going to be our trump card in the long run too...just watch ;)

[Blue_In_AK]

21. That makes a lot of sense, Ken.

[slay]

22. You're right - but I don't think they grasp the depth of #OWS

It's global. It's not going to go away because we're not going to let it go away - we can't - any kind of decent future depends on it. But your post is spot on - those in power don't like it when we help each other - they want us competing with each other CONSTANTLY. they don't like the power of our #OWS community - but it's become more than a local, physical community now. whether we are in Portland, or Oakland, Seattle, NY, LA, or Anytown, USA - as long as the spirit of community stays alive, #OWS will flourish.

[Kaleko]

26. + 1 planet.

[Citizen Worker]

24. You are spot on. Symbols of community and solidarity were beginning to manifest and that must be

crushed immediately lest it take hold.

[onethatcares]

25. the ptb hate Community Organizers

and a million people together are the worst nightmare they could possibly face.

[bvar22]

27. Plus, it just looked all messy.

This is clearly a violation of the Owners Association ByLaws,
right there under hanging a beach towel on the balcony railing.
Very Untidy.
What will the neighbors think? :shrug:

Something like this could get all Out of Control and spread to other neighborhoods,
THEN where would we be?

Gotta go and spread some Weed Killer on my lawn.
Cheers!



Solidarity99!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Zorra]

28. Rockin' good post! Rec. nt

[WillyT]

29. Most Excellent Post !!! - K & R !!!

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

:hi:

:kick:

[CoffeeCat]

30. What about business owners, farmers or home owners...

...who have land or areas that could be used for a protest, such as the ones in Zucotti Park?

There's got to be OWS-friendly organizations or land owners who would allow OWS to regroup
and be seen.

Also, I think telling people to take action is very effective. Many people don't protest, but they
will withdraw their money from a big bank--or boycott certain products or do other things. If OWS
gave people specific things to do--they would do them.

These protests have clearly illustrated that OWS cuts along all socioeconomic and age levels. We've got
60 year olds out protesting with college students--from every background, all over the country. The
people will act.

[MedleyMisty]

31. I've seen a lot of Occupy Black Friday going around

Urging people to not buy anything on Black Friday.

I'd add that it'd be cool to buy from local and small business. Just not from any corporations. Most especially not the ones forcing their employees to work starting at midnight that day.

[mulsh]

33. That's also why NYPD destroyed laptops and other electronic

devices while clearing the park. OPD and other police forces too. Kill the ability to communicate and you can kill the culture or come awful damn close. I don't think these tactics will work this time around.

[chaska]

34. Yes, exactly. I've been meaning to post about this myself.

[latebloomer]

35. very well said!

A new community born from an evolving consciousness.

[Utopian Leftist]

36. Brilliant!

This sentence is a perfect summary:

"The camps were the beginnings of a community...the community needed for a culture of resistance."

As is obvious to most of us, in the past our culture of consumerism has been, to paraphrase Noam Chomsky, manufactured by the corporations via their propaganda tool, the M$M. Nothing was real, in other words, until the television told us that it was real. Community is a magic word that appears to be opening many doors within the OWS movement, to its great dignity. The word is of the same root as communion and commune. We can come together without the television telling us to. But we must re-learn what the television has brainwashed us to forget: the value of community.

Anyone remember Scott Peck, the guy who wrote "The Road Less Traveled," one of the bigger self-help books of the previous century? He wrote a lesser-known but IMO more valuable book, on the subject of community building, called "The Different Drum." This book should be in every library of the OWS movement, if they can find it.

[BigBearJohn]

38. Wow! Wish I said that!! K/R

[JDPriestly]

39. So true. As for the police --- they are just scared they will lose their jobs

and be left nothing but to demonstrate. They are afraid of being in the position of the protestors.

They convince themselves that they are cleaning up the streets, but they aren't. They are trying to destroy the futures that they fear.

[certainot]

40. those OWS communities need the left to get their back & it's not happening if radio is ignored

there is no organized challenge to the 1000 radio stations attacking OWS 24/7 to 50 mil a week, on national (limnbaugh hannity beck savage) and local levels (the blowhards who piggyback on uni and pro sports). all are coordinated to some degree from wall street think tanks like the heritage foundation, all to different degrees hide behind call screeners, and all take paid callers.

[Bluenorthwest]

41. Our Occupation continues in Eugene

Staying occupied
Improvements and donations keep protest camp running smoothly.
http://www.registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/27197584-57/camp-occupy-protesters-eugene-friday.html.csp

[oldhippydude]

42. we are stardust

we are golden

[MrMickeysMom]

43. The OWS message is too strong...

It can't be drowned out, or cleaned out.

OWS gets stronger so... What next? What WILL the ruling class have to do?

[graywarrior]

44. They fear us governing ourselves

We may become "colonies".

[alcibiades_mystery]

46. I rarely like your posts, but I like this one

http://hermetic.com/bey/taz3.html#labelTAZ

[Jim_Shorts]

47. It's more, they DARE to stand up, that makes them leaders

They take down anyone who dares stand up and lead the pack. Cenk Uygar stood up in the media so they tried to buy him off and silence him. Paul Wellstone wouldn't back down and now he's gone. (conspiracy nut - maybe - but I remember that day, and it was cool but not cold enough for a plane to ice up and crash)

[pam4water]

48. So true K&R

[Mosaic]

49. The more they kick us around the Bigger we get!

Michael Moore had that on his home page and I agree wholeheartedly. Great post! K&R!