may next year be the year that we finally not only pray for peace but all actually go out there and make it happen!
I stand in solidarity with this occupation and most certainly with this statement they issued which i copied at the end of this post. I am most impressed that the collective in New York City is actually running under anarchist principles. These folks are appearing to have studied their Bakhunin, their Spanish Civil War history, they have read their Thoreau and Debord! Their actions are hinting at the Situationists at times or am i misreading things?
I look forward to meet them, next week as i will be in my hometown, New York city for a week to attend my awesome niece's wedding and Cori and i certainly plan to show up at wall street during our visit.
Can the same intelligence and commitment to change via non-violent, civil disobedience and commitment to de-centralized leadership remain as the occupations spread throughout the country. Is the working class of the United States actually going to rise up against the banks and corporations that have done so much damage? Can this movement stay completely away from the absurd democratic party and libertarian parties attempts to confiscate it as their own? in Situationist style, occupy wall street have literally told the democrats, the libertarians and others to "fuck off" in their attempts to claim the movement as their own.
Occupy Oakland starts on Monday. In the Mood for Food will help feed occupy Oakland! We are offering time to help cook food for those who plan to camp out in Frank Ogawa plaza beginning on October 10. I will be out of town for their first week but when i return plan to cook daily soups and stews and if time allows, more. The occupation needs donations and food is one of them. Donations of organic vegetables and fruits, grains, beans, herbs and spices will be needed to help out. It is a small gesture that i as a chef can to help.
As a chef and a person with a daily eating habit, it is most obvious that corporations like Monsanto, Conagra, ADM and others have literally destroyed the overwhelming majority of our food sources. And it is most obvious they have done this with 100% approval and assistance of the republican and democratic parties. These are crimes against humanity, poisoning our food and water to put it plain and simply. There are no excuses for our politicians allowing these actions. And there are no excuses for us citizens allowing our politicians to allow these corporations to do this. Zero excuses for no action from my parents geneartion or grandparents generations as these diabolical actions started to take shape. And no excuses for a lack of action by own generation and the ones younger. i am always bewildered by how people not only do not take action but actually, on a daily basis, buy and consume food made by these corporations.
So needless to say, i am inspired by recent actions i am seeing in New York and around the country! And very inspired by what is now appearing to be a true anarchist nature of the wall street occupation collective and this very wonderful first public statement they have made. At the same time seeing the police brutality against unarmed, unaggresive American citizens is appalling! The police are part of "the 99%" and hopefully many of them will start to figure that out as these occupations grow exponentially in coming days and weeks.
This is the statement from occupy wall street.
As we gather
together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must
not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people
who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we
are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the
reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of
its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon
corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their
own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government
derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek
consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no
true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic
power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit
over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality,
run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right,
to let these facts be known. They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the
workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity
and sexual orientation. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel
treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these
practices. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for
ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save
people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a
substantive profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.* To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space;
create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions
accessible to everyone. To all communities that take
action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer
support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal. Join us and make your voices heard!
together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must
not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people
who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we
are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the
reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of
its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon
corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their
own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government
derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek
consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no
true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic
power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit
over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality,
run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right,
to let these facts be known. They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the
workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity
and sexual orientation. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel
treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these
practices. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for
ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save
people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a
substantive profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.* To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space;
create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions
accessible to everyone. To all communities that take
action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer
support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal. Join us and make your voices heard!
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