I majored in journalism in college for awhile and am struck by the above image. Of all the images coming out of the Occupy Wallstreet movement this one of veteran Scott Olsen being carried away after Oakland police injured him is the most breathtaking. BagNotes analyzes the photo here. A commenter over there remarked how the photo looked like the Descent from the Cross paintings. I can see it. You have the injured martyr figure being carried down from the makeshift lamppost cross in the background by mourners.
If you don’t know the story Olsen was at Occupy Oakland when he was struck by a tear gas canister. He has a skull fracture and was until recently in critical condition. Video of the incident shows police throwing the tear gas canister at him. I suppose I should put “allegedly” in front of that. After watching the video tough it seems pretty clear to me what happened. Video of Olsen getting hit with tear gas is here and him being carried away by fellow protesters is here. (searching YouTube will give more videos from different angles) In the first video you can see the police throw more tear gas at the protesters who ran towards Olsen to carry him to safety. The irony of a US Veteran surviving two tours in Iraq getting critically injured in the US by police is staggering.
Call for Vigils for Scott at Occupations Everywhere
Occupy Oakland contact:
Matt Howard, Iraq Veterans Against the War Bay Area
415 819-6430, matt.dubya.howard @gmail.com
National contact, to arrange interviews with veterans:
Joseph Carter, Iraq Veterans Against the War national office:
253-777-6117, josephcarter @ivaw.org
This morning Occupy Oakland and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) put out a call for occupations across America and around the world to hold solidarity vigils for Scott Olsen, a former Marine and two time Iraq War veteran. Olsen sustained a skull fracture after being shot in the head on October 25 with a police projectile while peacefully participating in an Occupy Oakland march.”
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From Reuters: Injured soldier spurs veteran support for “Occupy”
“A former soldier wounded in a protest on the streets of Oakland after surviving two tours in Iraq has put a new face on the ‘Occupy’ movement by galvanizing veteran backing for the push against economic inequality in the United States.”
It’s sad that it took a critical injury to force news coverage away from the dirty hippie tent city angle. Not all news agencies of course but some of it was pretty bad.
Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old former U.S. Marine struck in the head during Wall Street protests on Tuesday night, had been upgraded from critical to fair condition overnight.”
As part of the #OccupyWallStreet protests people have been talking about moving their money. Moving their money? Yup, let’s close our accounts at the big corporate banks that are screwing the 99% over and open up an account at a small bank.
Why do it? From Move Your Money:
“The Move Your Money project is a nonprofit campaign that encourages individuals and institutions to divest from the nation’s largest Wall Street banks and move to local financial institutions. Little has changed to prevent another financial crisis or to end ‘Too Big To Fail,’ and with Congress unwilling to act, we are encouraging individuals to take power into their own hands by voting with their dollars and no longer contributing to a financial system that has led our country astray. We are a campaign that gives people real, concrete actions they can take to create a more sane, stable and localized banking system.”
There have been incidents where people have been turned away and arrested for trying to close their accounts (story here)so it’s best to plan ahead. Open up a new account at a small bank first. Make sure you update your account information wherever necessary (like your Audible account for example). Make sure any automatic payments are transferred.
Mr. Radical and I have a Wells Fargo account we’ll be closing in solidarity. What we plan to do is take out most of the money via ATM machine. Then with a small balance remaining we’ll go in and close it. Just in case they refuse us we still get our money out.
Now I love protest marches as much as the next rebel but actions like Move Your Money are hugely important. This hits the banks where they are the weakest-their pocketbook. The official day is November 5th but that’s a Saturday which is kind of inconvenient since most banks close early. I say take your money out as soon as possible and move it to a small bank.
In Colorado hundreds are already doing this in an action called the Mile High Showdown.
As Move Your Money says “If you leave your money with the big banks, they will use it to pay lobbyists to keep Congress from fixing the system.”
However, the decision doesn’t mean the nationally known political science scholar is out of hot water.
It’s a move that buys the D.A. and the police more time to analyze evidence and the build their case against Garcia and other men busted in what police call a prostitution ring.”
I’d been hearing some NM rumors that the case against Garcia was falling apart. I don’t like this whole “buying time” bit. If prosecutors don’t have a case then they shouldn’t file charges in the first place.
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From the Advocate: A Gay Grandson to an Evangelical Empire
“Ten years later, Potts sits in front of an emotional crowd — many of them Oral Roberts University alumni — inside the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center to speak about his perspective on faith and sexuality, as he often does as a member of the Liberty Education Forum’s speakers bureau. He shakes his head, smiles a honeydew grin that belies memories big enough to break through stained-glass windows, and then begins sharing them. Potts continues to measure his former self — the closeted grandchild of televangelist Oral Roberts — against the one we see onstage: a proud, openly gay man.
(snip)
Oral Roberts pioneered TV evangelism, conducted more than 300 crusades on six continents, and founded Oral Roberts University and the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association —a holy empire that was worth more than half a billion dollars. He would also achieve worldwide notoriety after he claimed that God “would take him home” unless his followers raised $8 million in cash.”
Congrats to Randy Roberts Potts for speaking his truth!
As United States Ambassador to the United Nations under the Nixon Administration, President George H.W. Bush (the first President Bush) wrote a letter to Alan Guttmacher (founder of the Guttmacher Institute) congratulating him on creation of a “family planning” stamp commemorating (gasp!!) Margaret Sanger.”
Considering how many anti-choice laws are being hurled Planned Parenthood’s way these days it’s important to remember the Bush’s family one time spot on their board.
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Found via Tits and Sass: Get on the bus: St. James Infirmary’s new sex worker PSAs are
“St. James Infirmary has been providing free, non-judgmental medical and social services for sex workers since 1999. This week, it’ll take the next step. The clinic is putting ads up in Muni buses throughout the city this month meant to educate and inspire Muni riders throughout the city.
From Planned Parenthood’s Facebook:
“Oct. 16th, 1916: The first birth control clinic in America opens. Today Planned Parenthood marks its 95th Anniversary! We are proud to be celebrating nearly a century of service to women and families in the U. S., as well as 40 years of service worldwide.”
They then link to this slideshow to show then and now pictures.
I love Planned Parenthood. Back when I was on birth control I went to them for my pills. I still go to them for my under the hood exams. Plus they’re the one medical place that always took my childfree status seriously.
If you’re in the mood to donate to a charitable cause they’re always a good choice. You can do that here.
A statement from New York City Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway explained that the park’s owners were “postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation.”
“Our position has been consistent throughout: the City’s role is to protect public health and safety, to enforce the law, and guarantee the rights of all New Yorkers,” Holloway explained. “Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown, and we will continue to monitor the situation.””
Wow did Occupy WallStreet go viral! Are you following this?! It’s crazy, inspiring and revolutionary.
Some links:
From Adbusters:
“#OCCUPYWALLSTREET is a people powered movement for democracy that began in America on September 17 with an encampment in the financial district of New York City. Inspired by the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprising and the Spanish acampadas, we vow to end the monied corruption of our democracy … join us! We’re now in DAY 22.”
The above link also has a live stream of Occupy WallStreet.
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From Occupy Together:
“Welcome to OCCUPY TOGETHER, an unofficial hub for all of the events springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. As we have followed the news on facebook, twitter, and the various live feeds across the internet, we felt compelled to build a site that would help spread the word as more protests organize across the world. We hope to provide people with information about events that are organizing, ongoing, and building across the U.S. as we, the 99%, take action against the greed and corruption of the 1%.”
Occupy Together has a lot of info on their site.
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From Reddit: OWS: The US vs International Media
“The limited coverage the Occupy Wall Street protest has had from US media has been dismissed on the claim that the protesters “lack a clear objective” other than to protest. This line is widely parroted.
AP via CBS, NPR, ABC, Forbes, Newsday, MSN Money, and many others.
(snip)
vaslittlecrow made a great post that spells out why the US media coverage is currently dismissive, what to expect next, and how this movement may survive becoming the next “Tea Party”.
The media in the US is lying. The protesters are diverse, but have some general unifying objectives. The non-US media sees that.”
This is a great post to see how the international media is covering the protests.
From Forbes: Some Say Occupy Wall Street Protesters Aimless; Facts Say Otherwise
“There has been a lot said about the lack of vision, lack of specific demands, and a disparity of beliefs and goals among the Occupy Wall Street protesters in the media in the past several weeks. A survey of the protestors shows that none of these criticisms are true.”
There are some good statistics in this post.
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Is there a protest near you? Click here to find out.
