The latest on Occupy Wall Street and the 99 percent movement from Truthdig contributors, editors, commenters, from Twitter and sources across the Internet.
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It’s easy to see that apathy among a subset of middle-class youth is turning to politicization, and the natural form of this politicization is protest against the neoliberal state’s slashing of the social benefits that created the modern middle class in the first place.
There is no danger that the protesters who have occupied squares, parks and plazas across the nation in defiance of the corporate state will be co-opted by the Democratic Party or groups like MoveOn.
Nicholas Kristof writes in The New York Times that, although there are parallels between the revolutionary protests in Egypt and the occupation of Wall Street, Americans actually experience worse income inequality than Egyptians.
Thousands of people of all ages, races and creeds gathered beneath the jumbo-size screens and billboards in Times Square on Saturday night to demand a participatory role in American democracy, while similar protests occurred in cities throughout the world. (more)
The nationwide demonstrations against Wall Street are physical manifestations of broad dissatisfaction with a colossal market power that exists and functions in the abstract—that is, apart from the rest of society. And protesters have organized accordingly, with an occupation of the virtual space of social media. (more)
Christopher Ketcham’s essay “The Reign of the One Percenters,” which we linked to a few weeks ago, shows how long-standing American individual and group behavior visible nationwide is profoundly determined by inequitable consumer capitalism. With the occupation of Wall Street gaining momentum, Ketcham revisits the subject to offer protesters some historical perspective. (more)
Contrary to the assertions of much of the Congress and the mainstream media, those “99 percent” members who have staked their ground in New York City’s Liberty Plaza know what they want, and in a video here nine of them tell you in a few words. (more)
In this episode of “Left, Right & Center,” show regulars Tony Blankley, Robert Scheer and Matt Miller, along with special guest panelist Laura Tyson, take on all things related to the economy in the week’s news, finding a lot of bad and ugly but not much good.
I thought about Susan Dey and blisters and being a hippie last Thursday when I found myself driving around outside the Air and Space Museum looking for a place to park. I was in D.C. for the purpose of lending my body and rancor to the Occupy Wall Street protesters gathering in Freedom Plaza for their first day of rabble-rousing.
Occupy Wall Street will hold a number of major events Saturday. First will be a march on a JPMorgan Chase branch to protest the $94.7 billion taxpayer bailout of the company and the bank’s layoff of 14,000 workers since then. (more)
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Long before Occupy Wall Street took form, and long before the corporate media caught on, two of our top columnists at Truthdig foresaw the economic calamity that still grips our country. Chris Hedges devoted his time and energy warning Americans about the disastrous symbiosis between big business and our government, both in his columns and in the streets. Meanwhile, Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer covered the buildup to the meltdown for over a decade, naming names and taking no prisoners in his latest book, in his own columns and in his zinger of an acceptance speech at the 2010 Webby Awards -- held, as it happened, in the heart of Wall Street.