Social Activism
Occupy Wall Street ... Zuccotti Park

Zuccotti Park taken back by police ... The City's Attack on Information: Books Dumped in the Garbage, Press Intimidated

COMMENTARY
This comment went a bit off point ... mea culpa! It should have simply addressed the issue of trashing of books and the 'threat' that books pose to the health and welfare of New York. Instead I got onto my standard rant about the failing capitalist market economy and the need to address needs and produce valueadd:

Sure ... give me a break, Mayor Bloomberg is not concerned about the health and safety of the Occupy movement protesters, but is concerned about merely about perception of 'softness' in the face of a perfectly legitimate expression of deep concern about the state of the economy and its impact on ordinary people. The fact that a huge improvement in economic productivity over the past 30 years has been totally expropriated by the infamous 1% is a disgrace and should not be tolerated any more ... the issue should have been addressed years ago, but better now than never. I listen to Bloomberg News and am appalled at the ignorance of those that are allowed to broadcast their opinions about matters of economics and finance ... ignorance not about the market itself, but how the capitalist market economy fits into the broader national and international society. The metrics have to change so that we don't just focus on profit, GDP growth and stock market prices, but on how available resources are being used to satisfy all the important needs of society. The present capitalist market economy is imploding yet we have huge unmet needs both in the United States and all around the globe. We need resources deployed so there is valueadd that maintains and improves quality of life.

The City's Attack on Information: Books Dumped in the Garbage, Press Intimidated Books dumped in the garbage. Press intimidated and shut out. These are not the signs of a functioning democracy. In recent weeks, one of Occupy Wall Street’s perhaps greatest victories became crystal clear: since the protests took off, the number of news stories talking about inequality has skyrocketed. This is perhaps one of the movement’s greatest strengths: the spreading of information about issues that were previously ignored, if felt viscerally by most Americans. Growing income inequality has been no secret, but few were talking about it on a national scale until the movement put it on the radar. The discussion and dissemination of information is a hallmark of the movement. On any given trip down to Zuccotti Park, by far the most common activities I observed were teach-ins on various issues surrounded by smaller, informal conversations ranging from crony capitalism to bank bailouts to student debt. The way most illustrious thinkers got involved with the movement was to visit the encampment and share their wisdom. This love of information was also embodied in Occupy’s call for transparency. Protesters seek a government whose operations are open to the public and not just to lobbyists, one that is accountable and accessible to its citizens. Signs like this said it simply: But perhaps no greater embodiment of this love of information and knowledge was the People’s Library. The first time I went to donate books it consisted of a dozen or so bins neatly arranged by category and title; the last time I was there it had grown to become one of the largest pieces of infrastructure in the park, insanely well organized and beautifully displayed. It’s perhaps most chilling to me, then, that when I awoke to news of the evacuation it quickly became clear thatpolice simply threw all of those carefully donated and organized books in the trash. The symbolism of amilitarized police force piling thousands of incarnations of our country’s knowledge and history into dumpsters is hard to escape today. To top it off, the press was barred from entry and the few who snuck their way in were treated terribly. Those who tried to reason with the police that they had media credentials and therefore should be allowed access to cover events in a public space were rebuffed. As Rosie Gray of the Village Voice Mayor Bloomberg claims the raid was to protect people, including the protesters, from supposed dirtiness and violence. But who is protected when information is blocked or destroyed? Only those doing deeds that can’t stand up to the scrutiny of transparency. Information is one of the most powerful tools of a functioning democracy. It suffered a blow last night.