Tweet
7:00 PM Occupy Jacksonville sues the city for threatening to take signs and items stored outside City Hall.
6:09 PM City moves to evict Occupy Bellingham
6:05 PM Occupy Iowa City participants agree, according to Iowa Press Citizen—”They don’t like any of the contenders for president — including the current one, Barack Obama.”
6:04 PM “We are the 99 percent” – a top political quotation of the year
3:37 PM Occupy the Caucuses: Occupiers expect people from all over the country to continue to arrive for planned protest action
2:00 PM Top ten revolutionary videos of 2011
1:50 PM The GOP moves to suppress Occupy’s effort to convince delegates to vote “Uncommitted” or “No Preference” in the Iowa Caucus.
1:18 PM Eric Lichtblau for the New York Times looks at how the economic downturn that Americans experienced scarcely impacted politicians on Capitol Hill. The article mentions how Rep. Ed Pastor, a Democrat, has become a millionaire.
Adding context, Lichtblau provides numbers for how Congress members have grown more and more rich over the past decades:
…the median wealth of House members grew some two and a half times between 1984 and 2009 in inflation-adjusted dollars, while the wealth of the average American family has actually declined slightly in that same time period, according to data cited by The Washington Post in an article published Monday on its Web site.
With millionaire status now the norm, the rarefied air in the Capitol these days is $100 million. That lofty level appears to have been surpassed by at least 10 members, led by Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican and former auto alarm magnate who is worth somewhere between $195 million and $700 million. (Because federal law requires lawmakers to disclose their assets only in broad dollar ranges, more precise estimates are impossible.)
Not surprisingly Issa is one member of Congress actively seeking ways to squash the Occupy encampments that have sprung up in DC.
1:04 PM Weeks after Occupy Philly was evicted and then tried to move to Rittenhouse Square, area around the square is still heavily policed.
1:03 PM
12:58 PM Bloomberg reports Los Angeles city spent $2.35 million evicting Occupy LA
11:36 AM FAIR marks the end of the year with examples of some of the worst coverage of OWS this year. List includes Gina Bellafante of the NYT‘s now-classic example of press contempt for protest, which was published under the headline “Gunning for Wall Street, With Faulty Aim.” Oh, and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “Protests here in New York on Wall Street entering a third day. Should New Yorkers be worried at all about what’s going on?”
11:30 AM Justin Elliott of Salon writes about conference calls Occupy groups are using to stay in contact and “focus” the movement. This may seem new to those unfamiliar with organizing in the United States. As someone who has been on multiple activist conference calls (some held regularly), this is what one could have expected occupiers to utilize in the aftermath of encampments being dismantled.
10:55 AM The Occupy Movement is one of Al Jazeera English‘s top ten news stories of the year. (Full top ten list of stories can be found here. The “Arab Awakening” is not surprisingly the #1 story.)
10:50 AM State representative in Tennessee files a bill to “prohibit state-level political contributions” by too-big-to-fail financial institutions, especially ones that received federal bailout money. The bill would also make it somewhat easier to file lawsuits against the TBTF institutions.
Original Post
Sign at Occupy Des Moines
Occupy groups in Iowa are coming together to demonstrate and organize during the 2012 Presidential Iowa Caucuses. Planning what they call a “raucous caucus,” they say they will not “settle for a least-worst candidate” and will push people to be “uncommitted to the candidates.”
A group of Iowa occupiers held a press conference yesterday later in the afternoon announcing plans. A website for this planned effort appears to entail a “caucus for the ‘uncommitted,’ which occupiers point out is not unprecedented and happened in 1976.
Here is part of the “call to action”:
…Every Iowan who identifies with the 99 percent should caucus on the evening of January 3rd. But after years of foreclosure, bailouts, corruption, warfare, corporate welfare and the erosion of our freedoms we cannot support any of the Presidential candidates. We cannot consent to this broken system any longer. We will join with our neighbors and caucus for “uncommitted.” Uncommitted means we support no candidates and sends a strong message to the leaders of both parties. Link on how to caucus.
After caucusing for “uncommitted” we will select delegates to the county conventions that also reflect our uncommitted views. In turn, those county delegates will select uncommitted delegates to go to the District conventions and to both state Democratic and Republican conventions. At the state conventions, we will select uncommitted delegates to go to both national party conventions.
This idea is born out of a general frustration with the two-party system that I saw on display at Occupy Des Moines when I visited. For example, a list with check boxes appeared on a poster. The boxes next to Democrat or Republican were empty. The box next to “Pissed Off” was checked. (In fact, Occupy DSM has put together their own “call to action” for a “first in the nation caucus occupation.”
The planned action is not a call for people to support a run for president by an independent or third party candidate. It is rather designed to send a message to the politicians, media and other people engrossed in this quadrennial process. In the same way that Occupy Wall Street was a wake up call for non-electoral politics, crashing the caucuses with protests or transforming them into a side show would build on the successes of the Occupy movement thus far.
Firedoglake’s premier live blog for the Occupy movement went on hiatus to cover Pfc. Bradley Manning’s pre-trial hearing (the soldier accused of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks). The blog now resumes and, more or less, the live blog has been going since Occupy Wall Street began on September 17 over one hundred days ago.
58 Comments
A little leftover Christmas spirit from Seattle:
99% Choir Forecloses on Bank of America
First Occupy the Caucus.
Then, Occupy New Hampshire is gearing up for Occupy the Primary actions. Don’t know how many primaries they might ripple out to but Occupy locations in Wisconsin and some other states are coordinating with Occupy New Hampshire.
Thanks for the update on occupying the primaries.
AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Kevin Gostola:
I am very happy that “Occupy” is plannin’ action at the Republican caucuses and primaries but let us not forget the Democratic caucuses and primaries. As a progressive insurgent in our Wisconsin Democratic Party, I can testify to the impact of the recalls on the structure of the Democratic Party state-wide and for the first time since ObamaRahma booted Howard Dean from the DNC we are seein’ organizers at the grassroots in heavily red areas. We are raisin hell inside the local parties challengin’ the amount of dues that are paid out of our districts directly to the state coffers – the 60/40 split to the state is ridiculous especially in heavily red districts that need to have money spent to grow opposition in local elections. In addition, the election of delegates to the state convention has become a vehicle for pressurin’ for planks in the party platform and for opposition to national Democratic policies. Local candidates for school board and city councils are also bein veted by grassroots progressives originally organized around the recall petitions and the influence of rankandfile unionists in the local party has risen tremendously.
So please let us not forget the Democratic Party in our efforts to derail politics as usual and influence policy from the ground up this year.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION AND FOR GOD’S SAKE ORGANIZE!!!
This was an extremely important move in Iowa, to highlight the manner in which independent Iowans could in former times remain part of the process in selecting a candidtate. A huge victory for the message of Occupy, since it has forced the Republican Party to exhibit its dogmatic stance. I do predict that the same will happen with respect to the Democratic party gatherings; they cannot allow dissent of this nature. It may happen in less blatant a manner but be assured it will happen since both ‘parties’ operate under the same obligations to corporatocracy.
Bravo to Iowan Occupiers! Spring has indeed come! Keep shining that glorious light!
Sure wish that ballot was the real ballot. Would so love to vote then.
For all those that still think this country is basically split 50/50, put that ballot in all 50 states. I bet Pissed Off wins at least 40 of the states. I sure know which one I’d check.
Also, too, the gingerbread cookies are pretty cool too. Can’t say I ever saw a pepper spraying gingerbread cookie before.
I promise you there will be a variety of festivities leading up to the New Hampshire Primary on January 10.
I would point out that close on the heels of that is the anniversary of the Citizens United decision on January 21, which presents yet another opportunity for Occupy voices to be heard on the subject.
“…Every Iowan who identifies with the 99 percent should caucus on the evening of January 3rd.”
So do the 99% caucus with the Democrats or the Republicans? I guess it doesn’t matter.
They might manage to elect some uncommitted delegates but I fail to see what that will accomplish. I doubt any will get further than the County Conventions.
I am an Iowan living in Louisiana. I have participated in Iowa caucuses for both parties. I promise you this action will alienate caucus goers who will see that it’s only purpose is to discredit and derail the process. Disrupting polling places is not good policy in my opinion. Voters are part of the 99%. I hope they reconsider.
Wonder who the paranoid parties are in Philadelphia?
There is medical treatment available for those suffering from severe paranoia. Someone should clue the paranioid 1% in Philly that they should seek help.
The Obamabot Democratic Party in Iowa has already shown its true colors.
The problem with this is that there is no goal. To create a few, even all, uncommitted delegates will not change in any way who will be on the ballot in the fall. The goal of the entire occupy movement has become a continuation of the occupations. We are interested in providing them warm clothes, tents food and the like. There is no positive agenda than can result in actionable platforms. That is in large part why the movement has disappeared from the media.
The answer is to get behind someone and actively try to get them elected. If both parties are not the answer, support someone who can be the answer and convince the 99% that is the right person to receive their vote.
If a third party s the answer, form one and promote it. If there is a candidate out there that is viable, support them. Maybe have our own caucus and select someone – Rocky Anderson, Cynthia McKinney or someone. Maybe even Jane.
Just being “Pissed Off” doesn’t move the ball forward and the entire vitality of Occupy will dissipate if we do not propose a viable action. We will be seen as dilettantes with no real plan.
Occupy Evansville, IN: Day after Christmas Mic Check at Eastland Mall
Occupy Iowa is planning to push for uncommitted delegates at the Democratic caucuses as well.
Let us just vote to create the most objectionable candidate ever: Newt Gingrich or Michelle Bachmann
I’m really puzzled by this: “The goal of the entire occupy movement has become a continuation of the occupations.” This isn’t true of any of the Occupys that I am involved with. They have moved on to other tactics and a day doesn’t go by that something is being done.
Yes certain encampments still exist and they need above all to be protected from cold produced injury.
I don’t think the answer is to get behind someone and actively try to get them elected. Sorry, but I don’t see that happening.
Being “Pissed Off” moves the ball forward when you can convince someone to put down their TV remote and see what we see about what is going on with the country.
The goal is to build a broad-based movement who reject the 1%’s canned choices. At least that is the electoral politics goal as articulated in many general assemblies. The general assemblies are very aware that there are a large range of political groups who want to co-opt their energy and prominence to be a spoiler for some other political group and either protect the current 1% or create a new 1%.
A third party is not an answer for 2012. Folks cannot get on enough ballots to be serious threats. If you are talking about 2016, you better get cracking. In the scheme of things, you are already a year behind. For 2012, a third party is just another way of saying “Pissed Off” without having a hand in the decision that gets made.
You better look at the whole Occupy movement over all its locations before writing it off as dilettantes. There are some folks making wave locally in a way that has no existed before.
And Occupy disappearing from the national media is a good thing for right now. There is a lot of planning and organizing and local movement building going on that only occasionally surfaces in the social media that we depend on for liveblogging.
And the key issue of the absence of public space from which one cannot be evicted based on the ideas being presented has surfaced big time. And as many groups have found out in the past, private church or NGO space can easily be yanked when the PtB get paranoid.
My own experience was with a single banner for Amnesty International’s Human Rights Day celebration that a local minister allowed us to put up at a downtown Main Street church. Only to ask us to take down ten days later because his board had complained (the board being made of of local businessmen). These guys on the board were even hostile to a letter-writing campaign to the Soviet procurator trying to spring an Afghan political prisoner. (Yeah, Guantanamo was no big surprise to me.)
The complaint about no goals masks the illusion that we are not in a situation that cannot be solved with existing thinking of one kind or another. What we are finding is that the system is so effed up that electoral solutions of our problems are not possible right now and not likely to be possible as long as campaign funding operates on post-Citizen United rules. So I think there is a lot of common ground for the “Pissed off” faction in both parties.
Phillip Brennan: Signs of a Police State: The DDR versus the USA – Part One
For those just catching up with Occupy Wall Street NYC:
I am having a hard times seeing how occupy changes anything. The tea party had some very specific goals with our political system and they elected 1/4 of the majority party in the house and have controlled much of the public agenda since. How do we do that?
So what changes it? If we cannot do it through either party, and the whole system relies on laws enacted by the legislature, are we completely impotent? Or does it require real armed uprisings? Is this a precursor to a revolution like 1917?
I suggest an FDL Party, with a real convention and all of the trappings of political action.
Rose Aguilar, TruthOut: Small Occupy Movements Across the Country Accumulate Victories
If there were no 9/11, they would have had to invent a 9/9.
I love it because I am planning a write in candidate named “None of the Above”. But I do see a number of third parties evolving, so perhaps I can pick one of those candidates to vote for.
You are free to go to a General Assembly and propose an FDL Party.
I don’t think we know yet what changes it. Do not forget that December 17 marks a mere four months since the first Occupation. I do know that what the country is talking about has changed since October. You do not hear talk about how it is necessary to cut Social Security and Medicare and other safety net programs in order to fix the number one problem of the country being the Federal deficit.
If anything the Tea Party candidates have created a situation in the Republican caucuses where our legislature is completely unable to pass legislation more substantive than a Post Office rename.
You seem to have conveniently forgotten that the Tea Party is 100% astroturf, funded by the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, and other right wing organizations of the same ilk
I have yet to hear that Occupy has a similar sugar daddy. I have also yet to hear that it is looking for one.
You are thinking theoretically. What changes it is worked out in practice in many different local situations. By people of diverse opinions coming together, admitting the system is effed up, researching the details of how it is effed up, and coming up with local solutions and through federative relationships with other local groups state, national, and global solutions.
There is no quick fix that allows people the luxury of sitting on their couches and not talking with people they might disagree with. There is no vision yet because all of the ramifications of how the 1% has entwined around the global, national, state, and local institutions are known concretely and locally. Until Occupy Columbia SC, who drew the connection between work that SC politicians want at the Savannah River facility and the idea of turning South Carolina in to a major nuclear waste reprocessor, while several nuclear plants in the state have been given poor safety ratings.
It’s not violation of city ordinances that drives mayors to evict Occupy encampments.
And frankly, we don’t know yet what changes the system; otherwise it would already be changed. And I’m afraid that the trappings of political action in the current environment might be just trappings and not political action–in other words, another diversion from the fundamental problems. What we know is that electoral action in 2008 definitely did not work (and some gloaters are going “I told you so”). Right now, the consensus of most of the country is to hope that it doesn’t take an armed uprising. Because the PtB are most of all prepared for that. And have already available their Second Amendment goon squads.
As for an FDL Party, to make it effective politically would require fielding candidates for all levels of government, in all states, getting them on the ballots, and having a strategy that defeats the media carpet bombing that will come if it gains strength. And with vetted candidates and means of party accountability. Like I said, that could be done for 2016 with a bit of urgency. But the 2012 train has left the station already. Being branded FDL doesn’t make it any easier than any effort to create a third party from scratch.
greybeard says
The people in Delaware are obviously not listening to greybeard’s moanings.
Here is one small example of a change in tactics
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwmdp7oHjq1r8x2wpo1_500.jpg
I am particularly touched by the inclusion of the Medical tent and the Spirituality tent and the Gandhi.
Also, there is terribly sad news connected to the Camp Alex tent, which was used by Carlos Arredondo, which I will take this opportunity to note to a wider audience.
http://www.occupyboston.org/2011/12/27/high-cost-war-famil/
Hopefully some Occupy event will be held to remember the Citizens United ruling.
Think globally, act locally …
FDL Party? Heh. Try herding *that* cat.
Love the Pike cookies, BTW.
This one’s for you NorskeFlamethrower:
Expanding on 911′s 26, I think it’s safe to say that homelessness and foreclosure relief are an important near term focus. Just yesterday I heard some stories from a visitor from Occupy Wall Street about some successes they are having in New York.
There are enough vacant homes in the country to house all of the people who need houses several times over.
LOL
And enough idle workplaces and vacant commercial buildings to create full employment. And enough closed and shuttered schools, libraries, and community centers to create vibrant communities across the nation.
It’s hard to keep up with events. I missed this. When last heard from, they had been evicted from under an underpass.
Michael Thomas, The Daily Beast: The Big Lie
Just Wow!
Occupy Chapel Hill-Carrboro: Pepper spray fun on Christmas w/ Walkupy
Celebrating a traditional North Carolina Christmas.
Oh, my. That’s quite an essay.
Nathan Schneider, The Nation: Thank You, Anarchists
I see the winter festivities have refreshed you. Bravo on your reponse!
Corporations = People.
Soylent Green = People.
Ergo,
Corporations = Soylent Green.
Conclusion:
Eat the Corporations.
That, of course, is one of the major problems of occupy. There does not seem to be a unifying theme.
Thank you, TarheelDem.
I’ve been having bad thoughts about some commenters who continue to use Anarchists as a whipping post. Expressed my sincere disagreement with the propaganda style version of Anarchists. crickets
I heart the Anarchists who embrace non-violence, the true Anarchist,imho. And well read as a group.
I’m in a dilemma. I live close enough to OccupyBellingham that I can make it there for the 9 a.m. police raid on citizens asking for redress of government. But, I’m only just beginning to recover from the flu.
Do you think the Bellingham police will really raid the camp?
If so, I’m going. My Anarchist mask will be a medical mask the says : I have the flu and no health insurance.
I think the largest part of this country feels the same. I also agree with Tarheel in the fact that the PTB will not allow someone from outside their systems to be elected.
I think we are all going to have to live by the laws and freedoms that we were taught and ignore what is being sent to us via Media and a Government that does not care if we live or die.
The People are going to have to throw away all those things that divide us and come together to make our own way. Do you think that we will have full employment with living wages in this lifetime as our government stands now?
Why are people so attached to the government for their very lives and those of their children?
The THEME IS THIS:
Hey, People! Something is wrong here. Banks were bailed out and the people were sold out.
Why are the banks still pretending to own those mortgages we paid for?
Because Pretend is what they’re good at..?
Your Mask with the message is Awesome!
Wear it with Pride.
Yes, and they pretend that fake pieces of paper are worth billions in investments. They are worried that we know the truth.
Yeah, but, I’m not convinced “They” are worried. Their minions are scared as shit. That’s how it’s supposed to play out,right? fear in the masses….fear in the minions….exhilaration in the private militia… the New World Order.
“They”‘s army is jacked up on new toys and new games. And endless propaganda control,… and yet.
In a strange way, I have a new confidence that the new World order will be completely different than my fears.
Thank you, Occupy Wall Street !! It won’t be fucking easy to rethink Community,but the young are leading the way. And that gives me hope.
If all we can do is point out the problem with no way to fix it, then occupy will not have succeeded.
So go and find an Occupation to contribute to, and learn what it is actually about, and how the decision process works, and do something. Hand wringing and pure play punditry are not viewed as helpful contributions. Some things take time and a great mass of support.
How long do you suppose it took the Founding Fathers to get the Constitution together?
There are no easy fixes, and figuring out the ones that work will take time. But moving to fixing it begins with accurately identifying the problem. And that is what Occupy Wall Street has done. The problem is that the economic powers have bought out (corrupted) democratic government at all levels. That is the central thing that has to be addressed. But in order to address it, one has to figure out where all the tentacles of the vampire squid go. That leads you to mortgages and the privatization of the registrar of deeds system through MERS, the rubber-stamp foreclosures of friendly judges, the inability to prosecute the bankers who created a huge fraud and benefited themselves (not their banks) with the largest bonuses in history. It also leads to the particular interests that have bought out state legislatures–electric utilities being a big one. At the local level, corporations have extorted massive amounts of money for the empty promise of bringing jobs to the community, and then there are the builders and real estate developers who can get away with zoning and building practices not permitted to folks who cannot pay off politicians directly or indirectly.
Folks who want to trot out all the old political agendas will get all the old defenses and ways of dividing the public so that nothing happpens. So, what has to be done is to have a consensus from the public about what the fix is instead of announcing from on high through a national political platform.
It’s not that the Occupy Wall Street movement will not address fixing the issues. It is that it will take time to get fixes that there is a consensus about and that can be used to rally pressure on the political process.
To counteract money power, you actually have to have in hand real independent people power. The violent reaction of municipalities and states to Occupy encampments and protests shows that those who want to preserve the divisions in the 99% are threatened by the possibility of unified people power that Occupy Wall Street groups nationwide are building.
Walkupy: Gibsonville, NC
About halfway between Chapel Hill and Greensboro, NC
Heads up:
x2, OpenHope.
The problems get fixed when different people are elected, at all levels, or if the current political structure is completely overthrown. I have no stomach for the second, so it requires the first. That happens when the right folks are nominated or otherwise put on the ballot and elected. Without that, there is no change. Can occupy gestate for four more years?? Maybe, but I don’t think that will be easy and it is made much more difficult when there is no road map.