To Deepen our Analysis of Unjust Distribution of Wealth and Power
In a recent article, UT Austin Professor Robert Jensen calls for an end to the demand that we have demands. “Rather than listing demands,” he writes, “we critics of concentrated wealth and power in the United States can dig in and deepen our analysis of the systems that produce that unjust distribution of wealth and power. This is a time for action, but there also is a need for analysis.”
On State Violence and Occupy Nonviolence
The recent events in Oakland have caused much discussion and also speculation. Occupy Santa Rosa has issued a Statement of Solidarity with Occupy Oakland, and an Open Letter to the community on Police Violence, Nonviolent Resistance, and Real Democracy.
Movement thinkers have been publishing commentary at a quick pace. The following articles are provided because they are part of a widespread and important discussion about state violence and Occupy nonviolence. The publication of Chris Hedges’ piece, in particular, pushed many buttons and spurred much debate. Articles posted on our website are not intended to capture the range of feeling and analysis represented in Occupy Santa Rosa. They are here to help start conversations and keep our minds active and informed. We will continue to educate ourselves and others about nonviolent revolutions and social movements, and possible strategies, reactions and responses for positive change.
- “The Cancer in Occupy” (Feb. 6, 2012), by journalist Chris Hedges
- “Concerning the Violent Peace-Police: An Open Letter to Chris Hedges” (Feb 9, 2012), by David Graeber, long-time activist and early organizer with OWS
- “How Not to Block the Black Bloc” (Feb 7, 2012), by long-time Quaker organizer George Lakey
- “Who’s Really Violent? Tips for Controlling the Narrative” (Feb 21, 2012), also by George Lakey
- “Mad, Passionate Love — and Violence: Occupy Heads into the Spring” (Feb 21, 2012), by brilliant San Francisco writer Rebecca Solnit
- Bill Moyers is Back: Sunday Jan 15.
Bill Moyers: “The lack of civility and common sense that has paralyzed our democracy, the vast economic and social inequality that sends both left and right raging into the streets, the corrosive influence of money in politics – we’re in a tailspin with little hope for a course correction from our elected leadership or corporate-dominated media. The need for voices of reason, simple and eloquent, has rarely been stronger.”
First broadcast: “Winner-Take-All Politics” – How Washington made the rich richer at the expense of the middle class. Moyers talks with Winner-Take-All Politics authors Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson and comments on the value of Occupy Wall Street
Program website: http://billmoyers.com
On KQED-TV, program starts this Sunday Jan 15. If you have TV, find out when the program starts on your station at : http://billmoyers.com/schedule/ Or watch online.
- Mitt Romney, Bain Capital and the gospel of ‘creative destruction’
Washing Post article on Mitt Romney’s view of capitalism draws 900 reader comments.
- Paul Krugman: Deliberate Deception in the US: Blaming Fannie and Freddie for Crisis
“…What’s going on in the discussion of economic affairs (and other matters, like justifications for war) isn’t just a case where different people look at the same facts but reach different conclusions. Instead, we’re looking at a situation in which one side of the debate just isn’t interested in the truth; in which alleged scholarship is actually just propaganda.”
- Under Obama, Reach of Deadly Drones Unprecedented
In the space of three years, the administration has built an extensive apparatus for using drones to carry out targeted killings bill of suspected terrorists and stealth surveillance of other adversaries. The apparatus involves dozens of secret facilities, including two operational hubs on the East Coast, virtual Air Force cockpits in the Southwest and clandestine bases in at least six countries on two continents. Other commanders in chief have presided over wars with far higher casualty counts. But no president has ever relied so extensively on the secret killing of individuals to advance the nation’s security goals.
- Group: 162,000 Civilan Deaths in Iraq Since 2003 Invasion
After the U.S. formally declared an end to the Iraq war in December, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who led the 1st Armored Division in 2003,said the U.S. needed to know the outcome was worth the cost. “We’ve paid a great price here, and it’s a price worth paying,” he said. Iraq Body Count (IBC), however, shows that a great price has been paid in Iraqi civilian deaths .
- Article: Unions and Immigrants Join Occupy Movements
…This shared culture and history offer new possibilities to the Occupy movement for survival and growth at a time when the federal law enforcement establishment, in cooperation with local police departments and municipal governments, has uprooted many tent encampments. Different Occupy groups from Wall Street to San Francisco have begun to explore their relationship with immigrant social movements in the US, and to look more closely at the actions of the 1 percent beyond our borders explore their relationship with immigrant social movements in the US, and to look more closely at the actions of the 1 percent beyond our borders that produces much of the pressure for migration…
- BREAKING: Obama Signs Defense Authorization Bill
On 1/1/12, Obama signed the controversial Defense authorization bill, despite his reservations about provisions related to the treatment of terrorism suspects. The National Journal reports:
“President Obama signed on Saturday the defense authorization bill, formally ending weeks of heated debate in Congress and intense lobbying by the administration to strip controversial provisions requiring the transfer of some terror suspects to military custody. ‘I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists,’ Obama said in a statement accompanying his signature.”
- Hallelujah Corporations
A musical tribute to corporate excess from Occupy Sacramento.