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Wall Street and the showdown that wasn't ... A planned 6am 'cleaning' of Zuccotti Park was called off by the authorities at the last minute. Tension between protesters and police has been growing at the Occupy Wall Street- NYC protest [GALLO/GETTY] It had all the makings of a classic confrontation. No doubt that's why all the TV trucks and cameras were in Zuccotti Park in Downtown Manhattan on Friday morning. There was a smell of blood in the water after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a surprise five minute strut through the Occupy Wall Street encampment in the financial district on Wednesday, pronouncing it 'filthy'. I was there and am not sure what he could see in the darkness. He did not speak to anyone and attracted light heckling. He had determined that the police would enforce a call by the realty company that owns and operates the park nominally to serve the public to shut it down for a 'cleaning'. To the protesters, that term sounded more like 'clearing'. They saw the cleanliness issue as a pretext for an enforced political cleansing. And so the conflict flared. Activists and labour unions in New York mobilised. Even The AFL-CIO sent out an alert urging members to go to the park. By 6am the park was overrun with sympathisers. Sympathetic local politicians endorsed the occupiers in the name of free speech. The city went silent, but behind the scenes the real estate company had second thoughts when the telephone numbers of their CEO and international offices were circulated. A rare outbreak of common sense seems to have erupted. The expected 6am battle of Wall Street was called off - for now. On Thursday, the occupation marshalled a volunteer army of their own cleaners to scrub the park down. The New York Times featured a front-page picture of activists with the headline, 'We spruced up the park, now can we stay?' At the last minute, the protesters were allowed to stay in the park [GALLO/GETTY] Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway issued some official speak: '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 ... 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.' When it was clear the police cavalry was not coming, there were shouts of victory and calls to march on Wall Street two blocks to the south. Police mobilised quickly with scooters and horses. One man was reportedly run over by a cycle, leading to a physical confrontation resulting in arrests. As I write, it seems the police may be preparing a wave of mass arrests after a police commander fell to the ground tussling with protesters. So far the Occupy Wall Street approach has been non-violent to a fault but tempers are rising on all sides, along with the testosterone of the more militant marchers. This violence could have a negative impact on growing public support although recent police overreactions actually swelled the ranks of the protest. They insist that the city does not have a right to prevent protests on Wall Street and question Mayor Bloomberg's deep ties to Wall Street where he and his company have made billions. The protesters may have the sympathy but Wall Street owns the property. A story earlier this week reported on how many Wall Street firms hire off duty policemen. JP Morgan Chase recently donated $4.6m to a police charity. An ever-growing movement The Occupy Movement was reported to have sympathisers in 866 cities in 78 countries. It has clearly captured the imagination and support of activists worldwide. More than 700,000 people have signed a petition of support. The Iranian government, under attack for a 'plot' against Saudi and Israeli officials has endorsed the movement as a sign of a deepening crisis in the US. This occupation activation continues to focus attention on economic inequality in the US and allegedly criminal conduct by Wall Street firms. It is now a big story, creating space for dissenting voices that have been denied airtime. '[Ann Coulter] claimed the protesters, now in the thousands in New York, are 'directionless losers [who] pose for cameras while uttering random liberal cliches.'- Walter Brasch Far right writers such as Ann Coulter remain on the attack, calling protesters 'tattooed, body-pierced, sunken-chested 19-year-olds getting in fights with the police for fun'. Walter Brasch writes: 'She claimed the protesters, now in the thousands in New York, are 'directionless losers [who] pose for cameras while uttering random liberal clichés lacking any reason or coherence'.' When you spend time with the Occupation, you know this is blatantly untrue - but we are in a world where images create impressions that shape conflicting narratives. Occupy Wall Street has lived to fight another day, but not all the occupations have. Police raided the Occupy San Diego, vamped on activists in Austin Texas and arrested 100 in Boston, Massachusetts. Many see themselves as part of an awakening, an 'American Autumn' in the spirit of the Arab Spring. There is an ongoing face off between the upholders of a selective 'law and order' and a movement for economic justice. Writes journalist John Pilger: 'The Occupy Wall Street Movement is one of the most exciting signs that the US resistance is finally waking from its Obama-induced sleep. This is the critical issue, above all others, that will ignite support across the US. On the day in 2008 that Bush announced the first bail-out of Wall Street, the White House received some 24,000 emails, most of them from ordinary Americans and all of them angry. If the current protests can join up with this populism, in the best sense of the populist tradition, it will give rise to genuine hope - and, more important, an unerring resistance.' One side in this continuing conflict has physical power but lacks moral power. And that can make the difference as the Martin Luther King Jr statue on the Mall is officially unveiled. It was King who said: 'We have a right to fight for what is right.' News Dissector Danny Schechter writes the newsdissetor.com blog and made the film Plunder The Crime of Our Time (Plunderthecrimeofourtime.com) on financial crimes and the economic crisis. Comments to dissector@mediachannel.org The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. Source: Al Jazeera James Mclean 8 hours ago I have a strong message here for the Police, be very careful how you handle these Protesters as it could all go against you like it has done in other Cities in the World. I like most of the Marchers are 100% behind you keeping the Peace, but hard tactics when they are not needed is certainly not on, and will only make matters worse. At the end of the Day the real Criminals, that is the Banker thieves that have done this in our World are the ones you should have been chasing many Years ago and maybe this Scenario would never have taken Place. They have been lining their Pockets for a very long Time with our Money and then they will involve you by giving you Bonuses and overtime to Police them to keep them doing the same old Dirty tricks on the Working classes Time after Time. These World Wide Marches are to ensure that this never happens to our Future Generations. 1 person liked this. Like Reply swimpool 5 hours ago in reply to James Mclean The Police, and Military (this includes NATO) wings have evolved into nothing more than a protection racquet for the wealthy. Furthermore, they are paid from public funds to suppress the same people they are required (by law) to protect. A shining example of the theft of the public domain. They have no cause; no ideal; no substance! A gathering of wind-up toys with pepper spray and drones (slave bees) hiding behind their skirts of the stars & stripes; and union jack while they snap like miniature poodles at the golden gown of liberty. For this they get recognition; a pat on the head; a citation; a medal; a promotion from their masters. Mainstream Media exults them as heroes. 'Look at how restrained and even handed our hired hands are'; How well our heroes saved us from ourselves. After all isn't that what they are for...to give salvation! Just like they saved all the others Vietnam; Yugoslavia; Afghanistan; Iraq? Iran? Like Reply Robert Tice 12 hours ago To a large degree, the criticism of the movement is valid. Protesting without a goal is...well, stupid. The problem isn't that there isn't a goal, it's that there isn't a single goal that they all agree on. There are some very definite needs they do agree on and they should get with it and work towards those goals and not stop until ALL are reached. For instance...1) End corporate personhood. 2) 12% usury rate. 3) Make lobbying a crime. 4) Break up the media empires 5) Open elections to ten persons, minimum, per position (end the 2-party system). 6) Public financing of elections. But you get the idea. Until there is a demand, there can't be compliance. It other words, they are waiting for someone to control the movement and that will end it. I suspect the current liberal attitude toward it is for the purpose of letting them burn off their anger and return to the status quo. And it's working. Useless protests. Like Reply Ibnbatuta 1 day ago This is the problem with so called civilized society…, when civilized people protest against the degradation of their condition; the system - the powers that be are not supportive. That is because the powers that be are the radicals, by what they do and has done. Therefore, the people ought to be radical to bring about the necessary change. History teaches us that change does not come - unless you take radical measures; here, there and everywhere! Even though at the end of the day the powers that be will still be in charge - exploiting 99% of the general people. 1 person liked this. Like Reply T. A. Hoffman 1 day ago MSM is pretending OWS doesn't exist. All coverage (except PBS and until today CBS News) are ignoring, dismissing or manipulating the coverage. The 99% are relying on you, LiveStream and chats to know what is actually happening. I feel like we're living in North Korea, except we have food. I'm referring to the whole shootin' match as the 'Planation Economy' and we're having a slave rebellion. Wait, wait, I think Homeland Security is at my door after screening my private emails and comments. 1 person liked this. Like Reply leelongchamp 1 day ago The crowd are idiotic stooges of the radical left wing of American politics (bless them all). You admit this by failing to mention why they are there. “economic justice” is the only mention, but what is that ? I heard one protester say “we deserve a living wage whether we work or not”. If you think that that is “right” you should reexamine MLK’s influence on America. Like Reply FreeRangeRadical 1 day ago in reply to leelongchamp As with any movement, take the various Tea Parties for example, it will take time for Occupy to fully coalesce and create a platform. Citing one protester isn't conducive to understanding the underlying causes of discontent, which are many. Yes, some are there simply to protest. Some would be there if you were protesting the color green not be used in traffic signals, but the majority of Occupy would likely argue that they're tired of the system which favors the wealthy and places the poor in positions of disadvantage; simply put, they want parity of opportunities. As yet, I've heard no one ask for '...a living wage whether we work or not', or anything similar. If someone did indeed say that, he or she isn't generally representative of Occupy. The majority of Occupy want truth, clarity, and voice. The truth about what our government is doing; clarity of our national goals and where we're headed, for good or ill; and the voice to speak out about issues that affect them, and the right to be heard. For too long, special interests both left- and right-wing have had the ears and checkbooks of our elected officials. Whether the interests are unions or corporations, they have far too much influence on the lives of people who are affected by decisions made behind closed doors and often for the worse. Elected officials spend more time campaigning and asking donors for money now than they do performing the duties of their offices. We need one-source campaign funds for every office in order to eliminate special interests' tilting the balance of power with money. We also need to limit how they can influence elections in other ways. What people want in any movement is change. Our system is broken. It needs to be fixed and not jerry-rigged, or gerrymandered. It needs a complete overhaul from the national Presidential elections down to the lowest local levels. We need to overhaul our tax code so that it's fair from bottom to top. We need to overhaul the shoddy piecemeal health care system we have. We need to do a lot of things, and that's the reason some have trouble understanding Occupy, because it's a big tent. But if we don't do it now, the next revolution won't be held in parks by people holding up homemade signs. The next revolution with be held with arms. And we don't need that. T. A. Hoffman and 1 more liked this Like Reply fanatik1905 2 days ago Finally, people started to wakeup. This is very good thing. I wish they could understand the root cause of these hardship through by analyzing imperialism. The root cause of all the troubles around the Globe is the Zionism. Every human being must rise up agains the evil greed and power of Zionism. Folks, Zionist put the entire world in to turmoil by using speculative market, risky derivatives to steal peoples money. Where all that money went? Answer, the wealth Zionists stole your money. Do not trust Zionists Federal Reserver,which by the way is NOT part of Federal Government. Fed Reserve is owned by wealth Zionists around the World privately, there is no association with Federal Gov. Farrok and 4 more liked this Like Reply Raymond Chenier 2 days ago Nice try Einstein. You both have a typo, making you functionally illiterate (in your view). Stick your small head back in the sand and let people with integrity get the job done. 1 person liked this. Like Reply Norberto Triemstra 2 days ago Simple, the global financial system is a giant Ponzi scheme,for that reason every country 'need' to grow its GDP. The entertainers argue that 'growth' is necessary to forestall unnemployment, the real reason is that the fianancial sytem collapses if: 1- there is no growth or 2- there are no wars of the needed scale (WW I and WW II or Napoleonic wars). The real problem today is not recession, it is EXCESS OF LIQUIDITY due to what euphemistically some weasels call 'quantitative easing', in other words, printing money. The problem is too much capital (nominal, I mean in the accounting books not in whealth) and very little demand for PRODUCTIVE activities. At the end of the day we do not need to go to Harvard to realize that acient UNIVERSAL religions (non racist) are right, USURY is a sin, is morally bad but it is bad from practical purposes as well as we are experiencing today. ANY system based on USURY is inherently UNSTABLE, and this is the project of the 3 Jews from Yalta, 1945, rule the world through MONEY, this is the system that is collapsing right NOW. Norberto 2 people liked this. Like Reply Reed Meiguoren 2 days ago in reply to Norberto Triemstra The economic problem is defined as a lack of demand: in other words, there's not enough to do to keep everybody busy all the time. Cities get built up with skyscrapers and filled with cars...what happens then to people who build skyscrapers and make cars? Generally what happens is that we get unemployed and restless then we tear down the cities and kill the people living in them, then start over. Our dilemma is that our species is too productive, and that our morality has not kept up with our technology. Of course this fundamental issue gets mixed up in the fact that the bulk of the wealth created by machines accrues to the owner of the machine and is not effectively distributed. 1 person liked this. Like Reply Norberto Triemstra 2 days ago FREE people sooner or later will realize that behind the scenes this global scam is the making of the Jewish lobby and Israel. The Ponzi Stock Exchange global scam combined with what I named, 'Cultural Entropy' pushed by the Jewish controlled mass media monopoly with the aim to reduce the resistance to the rule of the rabbis through corruption, granting non-existent authority to acronyms (IMF), rating agencies that none knows who owns them, and a myriad of media charlatans under the pay of Mammon are merely tools orchestrated by the international Jewry with the aim to loot the western MIDDLE CLASS. Two fetishes are employed systematically by the Jewish media, the cult of life through food (master chef subliminal propaganda to worship Mammon, for instance), sex and dread of death. Only if the slaves are deadly scared of dead and attached to THIS world through their senses they can be controlled and exploited. This is the very reason why suicide bombers are so dreadful to these scheme, the problem are not the innocent victims, as they cynically claim, since the Jews are the worst perpetrators of crimes against humanity (take for instance Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the USSR), the real threat is that the bombers despise life, and that goes counter to the Jewish plan to control man through money. The reality is that the world reverted to the same state as at the end of WW I when the western MIDDLE CLASS organized themselves against the Jewish looters (the Capitalist narrative USA-UK) and the Jewish looters of following the Communist narrative (USSR). We are witnessing the end of the Mammon project devised in Yalta in 1945, and this time we will get the world back, there are no two without three, and the third is the final. We need a free UN outside the grasp and manipulation of Wall Street and the London Corporation, in other words, under the control of Mammon. Norberto 1 person liked this. Like Reply non prophet 2 days ago why all the focus on wall street? sure they are a bunch of crooks; but america's dire situation is not only the result of dodgy dealings in wall street; why don't they protest against the massive cost and subsequent hangover of their global wars? that would save mountains of money and thousands of lives, including american lives. 6 people liked this. Like Reply dchoubak 2 days ago in reply to non prophet They ARE protesting against that....and a whole lot of other large scale issues. You must realize that Wall Street billionaires have their tentacles spread out into most of the issues being discussed. Matt Wilemon and 4 more liked this Like Reply nomem de guerre 2 days ago the police regime, a tool of the elite, will crush this and any other 'popular uprising'. The only thing protesters will come away with are bruises and fractures from the police baton floggings. Flowers and banners do not defeat the parasitical rich. Wake up and smell the tear gas. ATTACHED FILES Matt Wilemon and 3 more liked this Like Reply Matt Wilemon 1 day ago in reply to nomem de guerre I agree that they need to be radical and independent of the power structure however they also need to be careful not to lose the public support they currently enjoy. I agree that the cops are not on the side of democracy but any massive fight with police or violence could mess things up even if the cops initiate the violence as they tend to do. Like that guy who supposedly defecated on a police car. Bad idea! Who does stuff like that??? The media is looking for dumb and reckless behavior to exploit in an attempt to discredit everybody. Anyways I agree with you and I support a peaceful yet very confrontational approach which is why I was wondering why the people just don't storm the Stock Exchange, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and occupy those places or at the very least cause a big dramatic scene there. Take the protests right to the bankers. Make these elitist cowards look you in the eyes so they can see they faces of the people whose lives they destroyed. Just announce it one day and do it. Who cares what the cops or anyone else thinks about it? 1 person liked this. Like Reply non prophet 2 days ago america has been the advocator of peaceful protest for years, now it's citizens will realize that to gather peacefully in protest only serves to maintain the status quo and to keep the authorities happy, it really does nothing to further a cause. only raw unrestrained public anger will bring about change, if change is what you seek. the media is quick to loose interest in anything peaceful and orderly 4 people liked this. Like Reply Jeffrey Harrison 2 days ago Ooo-Rah! Go OWS! After years of two tiered justice where the wealthy and politically connected can get away with murder and an economic system that is stacked against the ordinary working stiff (weather he be a carpenter or a computer programmer), some of the American people are rising up. At last. The banks have nobody to thank for this but themselves. They were the ones that brought the whole system crashing down around everybody's ears (certain government officials didn't help any). The banks are quick to point out that they repaid all the TARP funds back to the government with interest. That's nice but that's not the whole tab is it? If somebody injures you (that's a legal injure, not necessarily a physical injure), you have the right to file a tort to get a court to force the other party to 'make you whole' - pay for your losses, repair/replace damaged and/or destroyed equipment, loss of reputation, etc etc. As a direct consequence of the banks reckless behavior, millions of people in the US and worldwide lost their jobs, their cars, their homes, in some cases, their families. I suspect a conservative estimate of the losses resulting to the American people alone would be in the trillions. The banks have clearly shown that they have no interest in taking responsibility for their actions and making those they injured whole. JaceD and 19 more liked this Like Reply Matt Wilemon 1 day ago in reply to Jeffrey Harrison I am pleased to see that this movement has spread to over 800 cities and 78 countries. People are sick and tired of being sick and tired. There will always be the David Berg's of the world who support the crooks and oppose the good guys who want a better world. There will always be defenders of this system that are incapable of understanding the massive public anger directed at the entire power structure. They will then try to make sense of what they clearly don't understand by dismissing it as a bunch of anarchists, or communists, or filthy hippies smelling of weed and patchouli oil. Something deviant and different from 'decent, respectable Americans' when the reality is this movement is very diverse full of very educated people from all walks of life. Not everyone protesting Wall Street is some 20 something loser with no prospects looking for something to do when they are not getting high listening to Pink Floyd in their mothers basement as is alleged. All that ridiculous logic does is try to diminish the legitimate demands of people by using elitist arguments that are based in the idea that some people in our society don't deserve to have an opinion which ultimately goes back to why people are angry in the first place. I am glad to see that there are more people who agree with this movement swelling the ranks everyday. I always believed that if the American people ever got mad enough to stand up for themselves then the rest of the world would emphatically support them. God bless all of the protesters. We are long due for some radical change in direction. JaceD and 10 more liked this Like Reply David Berg 2 days ago in reply to Jeffrey Harrison I hope fot your sake you're not one of the tantrun throwers claiming that you're 'owed' a job. Since you're clearly funtionally illiterate, no rational job provider would risk his or her business by hiring someone like youself, which would be like asking for an anchor while drowning. Ditto for the rest of the delusional infants who are giddy over being on a cable news feed. CyberRabid and 1 more liked this Like Reply 1 2 Next → Reactions ka11ies 1 day ago From Twitter 866 cities in 78 countries: Wall Street and the showdown that wasn't - Opinion - Al Jazeera English http://t.co/zcv1l3GM via @ajenglish batsflywest 1 day ago From Twitter Wall Street and the showdown that wasn't - Opinion - Al Jazeera English http://t.co/ukOnglxQ via @ajenglish eyezen1 2 days ago From Twitter Wall Street and the showdown that wasn't - Opinion - Al Jazeera English http://t.co/lW5ezcan via @ajenglish ArshienAulryk 2 days ago From Twitter Wall Street and the showdown that wasn't - Opinion - AJE http://t.co/7IGaQ6sA via @ajenglish (Great overview&commentary abt. #OWS #Occupy )祆 RYANGIBBINZ 2 days ago From Twitter Wall Street and the showdown that wasn't - Opinion - Al Jazeera English http://t.co/4QPBUVtD via @ajenglish Related Will Occupy Wall Street be a global catalyst? 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Danny Schechter ... AlJazeera English Opinion
Last Modified: 15 Oct 2011 18:34 |
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