Occupy Wall Street: News Round-Up

One of the many heartbreaking entries at We Are the 99%, at which several prominent themes have emerged: Young people being crushed by student loans and unable to find reliable full-time employment paying a livable wage; access (or lack thereof) to affordable healthcare; people who are living paycheck to paycheck; older people who are just making it but have no savings. The overall feeling is one of profound insecurity.

Five years ago, I noted that while the GOP talked incessantly about national security, they busily ignored (or actively undermined) domestic security, "not securing the homeland, but the kind of security that comes from knowing your job is safe, you've got good health insurance, your kids are getting the kind of education that will make them competitive and open doors of opportunity in their future, the air you breathe and water you drink isn't poisoning you, you've got enough well-equipped cops and firefighters to protect you, and your elected representatives take things like [sexual violence] seriously."

In the interceding five years, unemployment is higher, underemployment is higher, foreclosures and bankruptcy have increased, food insecurity is more prevalent, the infrastructure has decayed, the social safety net has further eroded, etc. etc. etc. It has gotten worse, not better.

We've spent a decade obsessed with national security, while we've abandoned all pretense of pursuing policy and making investments that secure and stabilize the lives of average USians. In the 99%, even most of us who are "making it" are living on the edge. Our lives aren't secure; they're precarious. When you've got no savings, you're just one crisis—one job loss, one health issue, one broke-down vehicle, one fucked-up roof—away from total disaster.

Living that way is immensely stressful. We're an entire population under duress, and, instead of the pursuit of happiness, we're preoccupied with the pressure of insecurity. The rising tide has not lifted all fucking boats.

This is unsustainable as a national culture.

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Here's some of the other stuff I've been reading this morning...

Ishaan Tharoor at Time—Occupy Wall Street: A New Era of Dissent in America?

[N]early a month on, it's clear that Occupy Wall Street has struck a nerve, appealing to a wide cross-section of Americans who are hobbled by debt, fearful for the future and increasingly exasperated with ever-widening inequities in American society. According to organizers, the occupation at Zuccotti Park has spawned similar protests in over 100 U.S. cities. Moreover, it has galvanized momentum toward the Oct. 15 international day of action, a global day of protest against plutocracies the world over that was called months ago in Spain to mark five months of the indignado protests there, but seems to have now turned into a day of solidarity with the burgeoning movement across the Atlantic.

...On the ground, uncertainty over what's to come mirrors the palpable excitement of those committed to camp out in the park indefinitely. "It's clear many aren't going to leave [Zuccotti Park] after a piece of legislation [gets passed]," says [Todd Gitlin, activist and professor of journalism]. "They're after a more transcendent sense of change." When asked what it would take to empty Zuccotti Park now, [David Graeber, activist and professor of anthropology] echoes the steely sense of purpose of many of the protesters: "It's not going to empty by itself. Maybe when [the police] come with guns. And maybe not even then."

MTV—Occupy Wall Street: How Movement Stays Organized: "Establishing an infrastructure in the park — now dubbed Liberty Park — was one of the demonstrators' top priorities, ensuring everyone would have access to basic and essential resources. Many, if not all, of those decisions are reached at the General Assembly. The General Assembly is held every night at roughly 7 p.m., and everyone is invited to contribute."

There have, of course, been some problems with that.

WSBT—Occupy Wall Street moves to Elkhart, Indiana: "The Occupy Wall Street movement recently started in New York as a grass roots protest of corporate greed. Some protestors in major cities are sleeping on sidewalks and in parks while getting their message out. Such protests have spread around the country, even in Michiana. ... A group of local protestors with the Occupy Wall Street Movement has been staying on Elkhart's Civic Plaza since Saturday. There are people standing on sidewalks with signs while others are talking with people who are walking by."

Washington Post—Occupy Wall Street movement sparks clashes, arrests in D.C. and Boston: "Scores of protesters from the Occupy Boston movement were arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning, including a group of veterans, in one of the largest mass arrests in recent Boston history. ... [In DC, six] people were arrested in the Senate's Hart office building on Tuesday, after protesters affiliated with the 'Occupy D.C.' movement began chanting loudly and unfurling banners calling for the end of overseas wars and for increased taxes on the rich."

Mercury News—Occupy Wall Street protests gain momentum in Bay Area: "[I]n San Jose, [protesters] remained polite, shaking hands with police officers even as they were given citations. And in Oakland, a city official has joined their cause to show solidarity. No matter the prevailing mood, hundreds of members of the growing Occupy Wall Street protest movement around the country and in the Bay Area are staying on message: Corporate greed and social inequality must be reckoned with in a country facing 9.1 percent unemployment and little hope of imminent change."

Reuters—Thousands in Chicago protest financial industry: "Thousands of people including teachers, religious leaders and union workers marched in downtown Chicago on Monday to voice mounting anger over joblessness and income inequality in protests that snarled rush-hour traffic."

Complex Brown—BLACK OUT! At Occupy Philadelphia [via Vanessa]: "We eventually got our spot. As the sister was talking about her experience, there were some members in support, and there were even members who came up to us afterwards to show support. But many of the people were asking us to hurry up, calm down and finish. One white guy used signals to get us to hurry up. We spoke out about RACISM IN THE 99 percent. We spoke out about how nobody was talking about the racist foundation of corporate greed. How do we talk about classism without taking about racism?"