They say Capitalism is about to collapse. Lets give it a push! Time to jump in! Only if we all jump together can we change the lunatic system we live under.
For an end to debt and money… No leaders , No parties, just us.. For a co-op world!
The map now marks 648 Occupations and demos, with 4 days to go!
Destroying the Banks in favour of a phased in Money-Free system. Banning Hierarchical, sexist and homophobic organizations. A minimum world wage, or free rations of basic goods. Abolishing armies and war. Community Co-operatives instead of companies. Phasing out of the Oil Economy in favour of renewables and NH3 fuel. Banning GMO’s. Collectivising excess private property. Abolition of the Prisons and police system….
El 15 de Octubre del 2011 va a ser una fecha inolvidable para la raza humana. Este sera el primer encuentro UNIVERSAL de ciudadanos por un mundo mejor.
NO es un tema de ideas políticas, religión o filosofía.
El asunto es sobre cuanto nos importa nuestro futuro y el futuro de la Tierra
This is not an official statement from the #OWS 99% Movement. As a decentralized leaderless movement, in our opinion, there is no one group, organization, website or individual who can speak for the movement as a whole.
We, a working group of people currently occupying Liberty Park and many other locations throughout the US, are growing increasingly concerned about divide and conquer attempts being made to co-opt the movement. In the following message, we are issuing our first proposed statement. If you agree with the statement, please post it to your website and/or spread it throughout your social networks, both online and offline at occupations throughout the country. If you would like to read this statement at your local GA meetings and vote or edit it, feel free. If you disagree with the statement, please air your disagreements – this is what democracy looks like.
We appreciate, respect and encourage endorsements from individuals and organizations. We invite them. However, just because an individual or organization endorses our movement, does not mean that they in any way have a leadership role in deciding the future direction of this movement. We will not be co-opted by hierarchical organizations. No matter how wonderful their cause may be…….
…We the People, We the 99%, are not the pawns of either wing of the two-party oligarchy.
We emphatically reject the attempted leadership of any political party, organization or individual. If there are elected officials or organizations who endorse our movement, we welcome them….
However, they must do so knowing this: Your voice will be just as loud as any other voice. We are led by no one. You cannot co-opt We The People.
Several thousand anti-Wall Street protesters marched through downtown Manhattan on Friday night to protest against incidents of police brutality at a previous demonstration.
The group was part of the Occupy Wall Street movement which has camped for almost two weeks in a New York square to protest against the finance industry, among other grievances.
The group had attempted a march last weekend which ended in scores of arrests. Numerous incidents of police roughing up protesters were caught on film including one senior officer spraying mace at several female demonstrators being kept behind a police barrier.
Video of that attack went viral on the internet prompted mainstream media – which had mostly ignored the protests – to give them sympathetic attention. Computer hackers also released the name and address of the officer caught on film. Since then the occupation has garnered many new supporters and global press attention.
It has attracted celebrity visits from liberal figures such as filmmaker Michael Moore and actor Susan Sarandon. On Friday an apparently false rumour that the band Radiohead were to play an impromptu gig at the square caused a temporary Twitter storm.
But Friday night’s march was aimed at highlighting the police violence at the previous protest. A long line of placard-carrying demonstrators wound the short distance from Zuccotti Park where the protesters are camped near Wall Street to Police Plaza, where the New York Police Department has its headquarters.
The march was led by a group of elderly grandmothers wearing yellows bibs emblazoned with the words: “Grannies for peace”. That seemed to symbolise the protest’s good-natured mood which appeared to be matched by the police’s willingness to give the group the freedom to demonstrate.
Michele Moore, a former bank worker from Georgia, said she had been on the previous week’s march that had ended in violence. “The videos of those events were completely accurate,” she said. But she added that Friday’s protest had felt completely different. “Everything I saw today was peaceful and positive. It was delightful,” Moore said.
The protest was filled with the usual mix of Occupy Wall Street supporters. But there was also a smattering of people wearing T-shirts with trade union logos as well as ordinary working New Yorkers
Despite being in a hierarchical, antigay religions ,the vast majority of U.S. Catholics support gay rights, believe gay identity cannot be altered, favor gays adopting kids, believe in either gay civil unions or marriage and believe that sexual relationships between two people of the same sex is quite alright, according to a study from the Public Religion Research Institute, .
Not only do a vast majority of Catholics in the United States have a gay rights framework, their views are more friendly to our community that the general public, white evangelicals, and white mainline protestants. In other words, we might find more support at the local Catholic Church than the neighborhood hetero bar.
Unfortunately, the leadership of the Catholic Church maintains a hateful attitude towards gay people, which is not surprising since the Pope was a former Nazi. With the hierarchy of the Catholic Church being usurped by the progressive views of its members, perhaps we can look forward to change in the future.
In the meantime, it is up to us to challenge the homophobia and transphobia of dominant religions and fight for the rights of all. It’s hard to imagine living in a world where mainstream religious organizations would not be organizing centers for homophobia and bigotry; however, with the support of many Catholics, a vision of such a world is viable.
A deep change of attitudes to Gays and Lesbians is slowly percolating through the Indian subcontinent. Now helped on by the new UN gay rights declaration.
In 2009, British colonial law dating back more than 150 years ago that held same-sex relationships as ‘unnatural’, was overturned by the Delhi High Court, responding to a clamour for change from gay rights activists and members of civil society.
“A level of dialogue around sexuality began after the Delhi High Court ruling,” Magdalene Jeyarathnam, founder-director of the Centre For Counselling in southern Chennai city, told IPS. “There has been a surge in the number of young people who have come out over the past couple of years.”
“I see this movement gaining power, strength and momentum with each passing day,” she added. Pawan Dhall, director of the Kolkata-based NGO ‘Solidarity and Action Against the HIV Infection in India’ which pioneered a sensitisation movement on gay rights in the late 1990s, said the country’s top campuses are in fact leading gay rights activism.
In Kolkata, a group called ‘Students against Campus Homophobia’ is active in the city’s Jadavpur University (JU), well known for its liberal ambience as well as academic excellence. JU already offers ‘Queer Studies’ as an optional subject at the post-graduate level in its English department.
Kolkata also hosted the first Gay parade in India in 2003. The ‘Rainbow Walk’ is now an annual feature and other metros like New Delhi and Mumbai have followed.
Gay rights activism and awareness followed the AIDS awareness campaigns that were launched in the country in the 1990s and quickly caught the imagination of the country’s vibrant media.
“We have been fighting for a rights-based approach and inclusiveness from the 1990s. Today, it is heartening to see some change coming our way,” says Malobika, founder-member of ‘Sappho’, a forum for lesbians in Kolkata. She had to flee the town with her partner in the 90s under family pressure.
GENEVA – The United Nations endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever Friday, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by African and Islamic countries.
The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing “grave concern” about abuses suffered by people because of their sexual orientation, and commissioning a global report on discrimination of gays. But activists called it a remarkable shift on an issue that has divided the global body for decades, and credited the Obama administration’s push for gay rights at home and abroad with helping win support for the resolution.
Gay rights percolating through Indian sub-continent
“This represents a historic moment to highlight the human rights abuses and violations that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people face around the world based solely on who they are and whom they love,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement.
Following tense negotiations, members of the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council narrowly voted in favor of the declaration put forward by South Africa, with 23 votes in favor and 19 against.
Backers included the United States, the European Union, Brazil and other Latin American countries.
Those against included Russia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Pakistan.
China, Burkina Faso and Zambia abstained, Kyrgyzstan didn’t vote
love and rage: life after the collapse of capitalism
Greetings to all, especially you FoFees (friend of the Free) hope you’re enjoying the book
Set in the Collapse of Capitalism our heroes escape their School and Family and fall in with the squatters, anarchists and gays, who are busy getting ready for the final confrontation and the Dawn of a co-op Money Free world.. It’s a thriller as well..
Just to say it is selling well..Not a surprise as it’s FREE (lol). It also makes a very economical present.
Abuse of power being consistent in our culture, where fear colludes with the bully, it is cheering to see victims organising and supporting each other . This will appeal to a great many young people. You give us moments of delight:… rolling her big eyes back to us girls … such scandal would zoom round and round the area – like a bee in a jar … Then her daffodil moment of glory: dancing and swirling, waving the flowers at the grey building … the golden snow. I’ve never heard of ‘testerical laughter’, but it kind of hits the mood of the moment.I really like your book and back it with pleasure. Pia (Course of Mirrors)
Wow; I can’t stop reading! I’ve just finished chapter 8, and I’m only stopping because it’s 1AM! It seems to remind me a little of ‘A Clockwork Orange’, combined with ‘A Child Called It’. I cannot wait to read on. I’m still not entirely sure about a lot of things (such as the political situation) but everything I’ve read so far has been wonderful. If I get the chance, I will buy this book.
Karen Eisenbrey I read three chapters and the glossary. I like your ideas for remaking society, especially the mix of practical, earnest things with more whimsical ideas of fashion etc. I especially like how in the first chapters, it’s not obvious that the story takes place in (I would guess) the near future in a shifting, alternative society. But there are little clues all over the place that things are falling apart and changing, present but not taking over the story. We start with Linda, a real, relatable character. You’ve nailed the voice here. She’s articulate and smart, but not at all formal; young, angry, scared, beaten down but ready to stand up. Good luck with The Free!…Karen Eisenbrey
Aaron Pattis wrote After three chapters, nothing will stop me from reading the rest of this book! Who couldn’t pull for a kid like this and wonder where she’s going to end up? There are some terms that I have difficulty with sometimes, like “lekky” and such, but soon enough figure it out. But I wouldn’t change that voice for this story because it adds to the richness realism in the characters. Great job and backed with pleasure..Aaron,”80 Grit”
Lmfrenchwrote Wow, what can I say? I love how you capture Linda’s voice. It wasn’t too long ago that I was a fifteen year old girl and…well…wow. I read some of this the other day and wasn’t too
Occupy The Planet. Abolish Debt. For a Co-Op world.
impressed, but I re-read it and trudged on to see what happened beyond the first page and I must say, I am very glad I did. I found myself giggling a bit and read on with a smile. It is a fun story. I am not normally a fan of 1st person POV but you seem to be able to still bring your characters to life. Very nice.
Great opening. Fast-paced and spirited way of writing. I like the talk about men drooling over Janice (lol); very typical. It’s real! and the “like a pack of randy dogs snifting after her”…This is what happens most of the time, in real life. Good job Mike. This work is so rich and moving, good humored. I can’t stop reading it.GOOD LUCK!! Emma Philips…The Dark Intruder
Well Mikey…a huge HUGE contemporary tale. Brutal and brave..comical and painful. Your style is enviably quirky. The language stripped yet so incredibly weighted. Congratulations, I wish you every success with THE FREE. . Dawn:ARK
Por fin se fue su ridícula santidad, y con él las hordas de devotos, pijos, fascistas y demás ralea que inundó Madrid durante la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud (y de la represión policial). La CNT madrileña da, por razones evidentes, por concluida su campaña que, por desgracia, se ha quedado corta: ni los 1500 carteles, ni los 4000 comunicados, ni las 5000 pegatinas editadas para la ocasión han sido suficientes para satisfacer a los muchos simpatizantes de esta campaña que se han acercado a nuestros locales en la última semana para llevarse unos pocos y se han encontrado que ya se habían gastado.
En otro orden de cosas, no nos cansamos de felicitar a todos los participantes en el concurso de diseños ateos que nos han enviado cerca de 50, y que han conseguido la simpatía de miles de visitantes a nuestro blog. A todos ellos/as trasladamos la invitación de Tinta Negra anARTchist blog a unirse a este proyecto. De las propuestas enviadas, habéis mostrado vuestras preferencias por el diseño “Noconmisimpuestos” enviado por Ángel desde Murcia, al quele llegará ese obsequio pobre en lo material pero rico en lo espiritual que le tenemos reservado.
Desde aquí debemos dar las gracias a los participantes y colaboradores en esta campaña que han contribuido a difundir carteles, pegatinas, comunicados, el blog, proponer iniciativas o que han acudido a la Semana de Cine Ateo, etc. y que han hecho posible que tome forma un mensaje humanista integral, la de aquellos que no queremos que nos gobierne ni un Dios, ni un viejo disfrazado, ni nadie, porque queremos gobernar todos los ámbitos de nuestra vida en sus vertientes tanto individuales como colectivas, y no nos cansamos de repetir:
“La religión dejará de ser necesaria cuando el hombre sea lo suficientemente inteligente como para gobernarse a sí mismo”.
The map now marks 648 Occupations and demos, with 4 days to go!
The Free 