uk Archives - Occupy Toronto

The Democracy Project: a History, a Crisis, a Movement

The Democracy Project: a History, a Crisis, a Movement by David Graeber – review What&#8217s the 1st question that springs to thoughts when you believe about Occupy Wall Street? Where did it go? Was something in fact achieved? What went incorrect? These are not the concerns that David Graeber desires to answer in his new book on the protest and its ramifications. Graeber, an anthropologist and lifelong activist, was there from the beginning and helped give OWS its start in life in September 2011. He also helped coin the slogan &#8220We are the 99%&#8221, which did so significantly to brand the movement. Now, nearly two years on, Graeber wants to draw some of the wider lessons. He thinks the query that demands to be answered is: Why did it function? This is not as crazy as it sounds. Graeber has two motives for believing that Occupy was a huge good results. The 1st is that so several folks showed up at all. Graeber, who is also an anarchist, is a veteran of actions, rallies and occupations whose participants can normally be counted in the tens, not the tens of thousands. Bloombergville, a forerunner of the occupation of Zuccotti Park, was a camp of 40 activists living in tents opposite City Hall in decrease Manhattan throughout the summer time of 2011. No a single noticed, which is what tends to occur with this kind of protest. The original occupation of Wall Street on 17 September drew a couple of thousand folks, which was regarded as a triumph. But within weeks the movement had spread to a lot more than 600 cities, and large crowds were assembling day-to-day in New York. Graeber writes of possessing to pinch himself as he watched thousands of men and women mimicking the hand gestures and rallying cries of activists who were more used to shouting at every single other across empty rooms. full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/28/democracy-project-david-graeber-assessment...

Some Banksters

help launder money… http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1234096–shamed-hsbc-takes-2-billion-hit-for-u-s-uk-flaws...

‘new economics foundation’ – ‘new economy’ renegade economists propose radical changes in banking

Occupy Toronto 01 August 2012 by Michael Holloway ‘The Centre and Centre-Left, Social Democrats and Liberal opposition parties could effectively, electorally challenge neo-liberal governments’ economic policy with this model…’ “new economics foundation” is a group of renegade economists who have named themselves as part of a new school called the ‘new economy’ school. They propose specific changes to banking rules; basically a coarse away from fractional reserve banking – and towards sovereign central banks under democratic control. ‘New Economics’ is a sensible and realistic economic policy alternative to the neo-liberal regime and their austerity approach to solve the crisis they have created. It’s a template that a people’s government could institute right now as an alternative to the neo-liberal economic model. The strategy takes key powers away the banks and financial institutions which presently account for almost all the ‘growth’ in the neo-liberal economys. New Economics proposes a restart the economy with spending by central banks to maintain and expand public infrastructures – education, transportation, housing, energy. Centre and Left-Centre, Social Democratic and Liberals in opposition could effectively, electorally challenge neo-liberal governments with this model – the model becomes a more effective political tool as the crisis deepens. “new economics foundation” (nef) is a group of ‘radical’ economists who propose specific changes to banking rules that would end the financial crisis. By returning the power to create new money back to the central banks, thus ending the recent era marked by the dominance of the financial sector. Solving the Debt Problem & Financial Crisis: On Monetary Reform with Ben Dyson About nef (http://www.neweconomics.org/about) nef (the new economics foundation) is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. We aim to improve quality of life by promoting innovative solutions that challenge mainstream thinking on economic, environment and social issues. We work in partnership and put people and the planet first. nef was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) which forced issues such as international debt onto the agenda of the G7 and G8 summits. We are unique in combining rigorous analysis and policy debate with practical solutions on the ground, often run and designed with the help of local people. We also create new ways of measuring progress towards increased well-being and environmental sustainability. nef works with all sections of society in the UK and internationally – civil society, government, individuals, businesses and academia – to create more understanding and strategies for change. Renegade Economist with Positive Money Ben Dyson lecture (24:24) Ben Dyson of Positive Money at the Just Banking conference on 20th April 2012 Dyson fields questions from the audience at 19:16. Via Critical Mass Film | Critical Press | podcasts | “The Magic Box of Money Creation with Ben Curtis and Ben Dyson of Positive Money “ * * * [Via Donna Jennison post at Casseroles Canada –https://www.facebook.com/groups/242330792546515/permalink/263875993725328/] Links: Positive Money – http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/ New Era Network | Ben Dyson profile – http://neweranetwork.info/generationnext/ben-dyson/ Youtube, Event Video Services | playlists | Just Banking Conference – “Just Banking conference on 19th April 2012” (2 videos) – http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDF418BE7D931F75A&feature=plcp “Just Banking conference on 20th April 2012” (13 videos) – http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6A55C517496A1DE7&feature=plcp Just Banking – www.justbanking.org.uk/ Critical Mass Film | http://www.criticalmassfilm.com/ The American Monetary Institute – http://www.monetary.org/ The American Monetary Institute 2012 Conference – Chicago, Sept. 20-23, 2012 –http://www.monetary.org/2012-conference Alternet, “The Rise of the New Economy Movement” (Activists, theorists, organizations and ordinary citizens are rebuilding the American political-economic system from the ground up.)– http://www.alternet.org/economy/155452/the_rise_of_the_new_economy_movement mh...

VIDEO: Spanish coal miners conclude 3 week march to Madrid with mass rally at Puerta del Sol

Occupy Toronto 13 July 2012 by Michael Holloway I don’t follow mainstream broadcast news – did this story make the evening news Wednesday? Spanish coal miners walked 400km across Spain from the Castile coal mining region, to the Spanish capitol in Madrid on Wednesday – to protest new austerity introduced by Spain’s centre-right, People’s Party (PP) government. Today the miners continue their protest with a civil disobedience occupation of of Madrid’s Puerto Del Sol, the place where in October 2011 decisions were arrived at though consensus in general assembly, which lead to the birth of the North American Occupy Movement. * * * (A little history: The PP has been in charge of Spain’s austerity regime after beating the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) in a Novemeber 2011 general election. The PSOE’s electoral fortunes began to take a turn for the worse after they introduced Spain’s first – G20Toronto mandated – austerity budget in 2010. The democratic socialist’s first hit came after regional elections on May 22nd, 2011 with 28,000 ”Indignados” occupying Puerta Del Sol the result of a spontanious grass roots movement known as 15M (May 15th). About a week after elections various police forces of several Spanish cities began to clear occupiers by force. An on-going cat-and-mouse game developed with occupy-ers occupying different Squares, then police clearing the square, and then an occupation of another square – all over Spain. This police crack down on dissent, and more austerity, and higher unemployment – resulted in a massive 500,000 strong Occupation of Puerta Del Sol which began October 15th 2011. The result was another election trouncing for the democratic socialists, about a month later – this time in a general election. The centre-right PP gained the most from PSOE’s collapse – many observers noted a record number of spoiled ballots as an important factor in the PSOE’s demise. The PSOE suffered it’s worst showing in the modern democratic era (which begins at the end of the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco, 1975). * * * The coal miners three-week march against a proposed slashing of Federal Coal Subsidies began in the last week of June. As the procession neared Madrid people joined the march in their thousands – by the time the procession reached Puerta del Sol on Wednesday (11 July 2012) the rally had swelled to 10′s of thousands of people. On the same day as the mners arrived in Madrid, Spain’s Prime Minister announced another round of austerity cuts to services – with new taxes – helped swell the crowd appreciably. The Guardian’s Giles Tremlett reports from Madrid, “A tense standoff saw occasional police charges, rubber bullets, and demonstrators hurling objects at police. At least 76 people were injured in clashes along Madrid’s central Castellana Boulevard, but the march eventually ended with nothing more violent than a rousing singsong.” (from “Spanish coal miners bring message of defiance to Madrid” – link below) Some real beautiful moments in the video below (Reuters, published at the Guardian), of men letting themselves show ‘feminine emotions’; coal miners from small mining towns and urban Indignados hugging and crying. Spanish miners’ anti-austerity protest reaches Madrid – Guardian.co.uk (Source: Reuters) Once again, The Indignados rock!...

VIDEO: Spanish coal miners conclude 3 week march to Madrid with mass rally at Puerta del Sol

Occupy Toronto 13 July 2012 by Michael Holloway Update: 20 July 2012 – This story so, did NOT get coverage in the 1% media that it’s taken me until now to come across this great photo of the Spanish Coal Miners arrival in Madrid 10 July 2012 – via Twitter user, ‏@EnekoAA (Eneko Aritz) – at 4:43 PM – 10 Jul 12 –https://twitter.com/EnekoAA/status/222838397209808898 – and Via a Retweet by XenoxNews @xenoxnews – https://twitter.com/xenoxnews. @EnekoAA (Eneko Aritz) – at 4:43 PM – 10 Jul 12 https://twitter.com/EnekoAA/status/222838397209808898 (Image link to original Tweet) I don’t follow mainstream broadcast news – did this story make the evening news Wednesday? Please comment. Spanish coal miners walked 400km across Spain from the Castile coal mining region, to the Spanish capitol in Madrid on Wednesday – to protest new austerity introduced by Spain’s centre-right, People’s Party (PP) government. Today the miners continue their protest with a civil disobedience occupation of of Madrid’s Puerto Del Sol, the place where in October 2011 decisions were arrived at though consensus in general assembly, which lead to the birth of the North American Occupy Movement. * * * (A little history: The PP has been in charge of Spain’s austerity regime after beating the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) in a Novemeber 2011 general election. The PSOE’s electoral fortunes began to take a turn for the worse after they introduced Spain’s first – G20Toronto mandated – austerity budget in 2010. The democratic socialist’s first hit came after regional elections on May 22nd, 2011 with 28,000 ”Indignados” occupying Puerta Del Sol the result of a spontanious grass roots movement known as 15M (May 15th). About a week after the regional elections police forces of various Spanish cities began to clear occupiers by force. An on-going cat-and-mouse game developed over the summer all across Spain: occupyers occupying Squares; police clearing them; a new occupation of different square. This police crack down on dissent, more austerity, and constantly higher unemployment, resulted in a massive 500,000 strong Occupation of Puerta Del Sol on October 15th 2011. The result was another election trouncing for the democratic socialists, about a month later – this time in a general election. The centre-right PP gained the most from PSOE’s collapse – many observers noted a record number of spoiled ballots as an important factor in the PSOE’s demise. The PSOE suffered it’s worst showing in the modern democratic era (which begins at the end of the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco, 1975). * * * The coal miners three-week march against a proposed slashing of Federal Coal Subsidies began in the last week of June. As the procession neared Madrid people joined the march in their thousands – by the time the procession reached Puerta del Sol on Wednesday (11 July 2012) the rally had swelled to 10′s of thousands of people. On the same day as the mners arrived in Madrid, Spain’s Prime Minister announced another round of austerity cuts to services – with new taxes – that helped swell the crowd appreciably. The Guardian’s Giles Tremlett reports from Madrid, “A tense standoff saw occasional police charges, rubber bullets, and demonstrators hurling objects at police. At least 76 people were injured in clashes along Madrid’s central Castellana Boulevard, but the march eventually ended with nothing more violent than a rousing singsong.” (from “Spanish coal miners bring message of defiance to Madrid” – link below) Some real beautiful moments in the video below (Reuters, published at the Guardian), of men letting themselves show ‘feminine emotions’; coal miners from small mining towns and urban Indignados hugging and crying. Spanish miners’ anti-austerity protest reaches Madrid – Guardian.co.uk (Source: Reuters) Once again, The Indignados rock! Map indicating Spain’s coal mining region of Castile via Google Maps In the central Spanish coal mining region of Castile, miners have been on strike against the government’s plan to end coal subsidies since May 1, 2012. There, residents of coal mining towns are blockading roads – defying government authority over the region – after the minister of natural resources tried to downplay the effects of the subsidy changes – that miners now believe will end coal mining in the region for good. The government’s tactic of lies and half-truths has lead to a loss of faith by area residents in the democratic institutions of the country, and to daily running street battles between police armed with riot guns and rubber bullets; and teams of protesters armed with fireworks, practicing their aim with bottle-rockets shot out of pipes. One teenager has been killed by a rubber bullet to the head. Protesters have found golf balls which have been fired out of riot guns – a much more lethal projectile, says one activist. The video below reminds more of the civil war than a contract negotiation. Spanish coal miners: ‘We need to keep on fighting’ – Guardian.co.uk Meanwhile in Madrid o Wednesday, Al Jazeera reporter Tim Friend reports “isolated clashes between police and demonstrators”. The article under the video embedded below seems to have little to do with Tim Friend’s reporting. It tries to accent the violence that ended the day at the Industry Ministry – where, the unattributed Al Jazeera article says, “The miners detonated deafening fireworks as they marched, then hurled them at the police riot vans guarding the ministry, which oversees the mining industry.” The article, which sights “Agencies”, goes on to say the violence caused the demonstration to break up immediately, “Most demonstrators fled to side streets for safety after the violence began, …” . These ‘Block bloc’ style tactics (teenagers and young men with psychological problems – or an all-consuming hedonism), use mass demonstrations to launch violent attacks on authority figures – then run and hide in-amoungst parents, children and the elderly who are participating in these other-wise peaceful mass demonstrations. In this writers opinion, there is a good possibility that agent provocateurs are nested in amoungst these masked anonymous ones who don’t like to take responsibility for their actions (unlike the everyone else). Wednesday’s isolated incidents of violence in Madrid give authorities the framework they need to justify violent police action to break up the peaceful, mass, civil-disobedience occupation now under-way at Puerto Del Sol – by the miners and their Indignados supporters. Spanish miners dig in for prolonged protest – Al Jazeera I suppose if there was any coverage from Spain on the evening news Wednesday, it most likely focused on this tiny minority of hedonistic individuals with unresolved parental issues. A quick video search of of the major broadcast outlets confirms my prediction; in all, the accent is on the isolated incident at the Industry Ministry building. Most people ignorant of the details of a news story will stare at violence on a screen – it attracts our attention because of our social imperatives – we are soft wired to resolve conflict. But because it is virtual, not real – and we know it – we slide into a transfixed, zombie like state, much like that which happens when an advertisement offers an intellectual paradox. Our eyes widen, the pupils dilate – and the ears open, and the subtle narrative message seeps in without the reasoning parts of our intellect getting in the way – because that part ofour brain is busy trying to resolve the paradox; either – as in the advertising example – an intellectual one, or the paradox attacking one of our most essential imperatives – our conflict resolution imperative: settle conflict – (can’t, not there) – but watching… . The zombie reaction is most common, but another popular one is the individual who jumps up and starts yelling at the screen, throwing pop-corn spilling drinks – unfortunately that is also a neutered response – (and one that internalizes a violent response to a conflict resolution paradox). It’s a symptom of a condition of isolation from real life, community – identity. Later, after getting drunk – in order to numb an intuition towards this truth – this individual will hit a significant other, or fantasize about running down a cyclist (or other non-conformist) on the way to a job they hate (but which, paradoxically, provides for the beer, or whatever the addiction is – shopping for example). Anyways, enough amateur physiology. Turn off your air conditioning; turn off your Facebook – get out of the house, meet your neighbours – talk to them. References: Wikipedia, “Spanish local and regional elections, 2011″: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_local_and_regional_elections,_2011 Wikipedia, “Spanish general election, 2011″: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_general_election,_2011 Al Jazeera, 12 July 2012, ”Spanish miners dig in for prolonged protest“: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/07/20127126330831737.html Guardian.co.uk, 11 July 2012, ”Spanish coal miners bring message of defiance to Madrid” – Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/11/spanish-coal-miners-protest-madrid Guardian.co.uk, 11 July 2012, ”Spanish coal miners: ‘We need to keep on fighting’ ” – Video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/jul/11/spanish-coal-miners-video mh...

Occupy Wall Street: what is to be done next?

What to do in the aftermath of the Occupy Wall Street movement, when the protests that started far away – in the Middle East, Greece, Spain, UK – reached the centre, and are now reinforced and rolling out all around the world? In a San Francisco echo of the OWS movement on 16 October 2011, a guy addressed the crowd with an invitation to participate in it as if it were a happening in the hippy style of the 1960s: “They are asking us what is our program. We have no program. We are here to have a good time.” Such statements display one of the great dangers the protesters are facing: the danger that they will fall in love with themselves, with the nice time they are having in the “occupied” places. Carnivals come cheap – the true test of their worth is what remains the day after, how our normal daily life will be changed. The protesters should fall in love with hard and patient work – they are the beginning, not the end. Their basic message is: the taboo is broken, we do not live in the best possible world; we are allowed, obliged even, to think about alternatives. In a kind of Hegelian triad, the western left has come full circle: after abandoning the so-called “class struggle essentialism” for the plurality of anti-racist, feminist etc struggles, “capitalism” is now clearly re-emerging as the name of the problem. The first two things one should prohibit are therefore the critique of corruption and the critique of financial capitalism. First, let us not blame people and their attitudes: the problem is not corruption or greed, the problem is the system that pushes you to be corrupt. The solution is neither Main Street nor Wall Street, but to change the system where Main Street cannot function without Wall Street. Public figures from the pope downward bombard us with injunctions to fight the culture of excessive greed and consummation – this disgusting spectacle of cheap moralization is an ideological operation, if there ever was one: the compulsion (to expand) inscribed into the system itself is translated into personal sin, into a private psychological propensity, or, as one of the theologians close to the pope put it: full article by Slavoj Zizek: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/24/occupy-wall-street-what-is-to-be-done-next...