Chicago, 1968, revisited

Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Chicago on May 19-20 to protest President Obama and NATO for the NATO Summit.

It was one of the biggest demonstrations in years in the city that was once known for the Democratic National Convention in 1968 that saw protesters sprayed with water and beat by police. Police prepared for the worse for this demonstration, understanding that 1968 was still seemingly fresh on the minds of the protesters.

Toward the end of the march, demonstrators clashed with police as they attempted to make their way towards the convention center in which Obama and other leaders of the NATO summit were gathered.

Police used batons to beat back the protesters, leaving many with blood pouring down their faces.

Authorities said that 45 people were arrested, and four officers were injured. One of the officers suffered from a stab wound to the leg.

The protesters were from many walks of life, not just from the Occupy Movement. All of them shared one common goal, however: to share their grievances with their elected leaders.

Just a week before police arrested 3 in connection with a bombing attempt during the NATO Summit. But there are indications that it was a set-up.

At the rate this is going, something big is about to happen. Something has to give. Hopefully soon, our leaders might get the hint and take our demands seriously, and help create a more equitable world. Until then, however, they're going to have to settle for non-stop demonstrations.

Welcome to America.

France welcomes socialist President Hollande

On May 6, François Hollande was elected president of France, wining over Nicolas Sarkozy by a comfortable margin. Hollande, however, is a socialist, a political stance not well-received, and highly misunderstood, state-side. For many here in the U.S., his win comes as a surprise.

France, though, is no stranger to socialists. From 1981-95, François Mitterrand served as president of France. His presidency is the longest in the history of the Fifth Republic of France. Mitterand, like Hollande, was a socialist, and even invited the Communist Party of France into his cabinet. A move like that would lead to bloodshed in the U.S.

Already, American media is filling the waves with fear of a French socialist, and for good reason. More of that later.

Merrill Matthews, writing for Forbes Magazine, wrote an article titled, “Comparing Obama's Policies with French Socialist Hollande.” One can guess at what the article is about.

And Fox News ran an article titled, “France's new Socialist govt cuts members' salaries,” in which it paints Hollande’s policies as negative.

For those in the know, Europe is struggling financially to get its economy back on track. Greece has been in a constant state of bankruptcy, even after being bailed out, while, Spain, Ireland and Portugal have all had their share of economic turmoil and bail outs.

Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, leader of the European Union, has been one of the key architects behind the “austerity measures,” which, in essence, destroy social programs and safety nets instead of raising taxes. While the conservative side of the argument believes that this is the only way, the other side believes it will only serve to split the classes even further, leading to a class war.

However, the class war has already begun.

It comes as no surprise then that any socialist leader would be against austerity measures as a means to get their economy back on track. Hollande, as a socialist, has no intention of allowing tough austerity measures to be enacted. This is what puts him in stark contrast to the rest of Europe, especially Germany.

Here in America we see the same trend occurring: cut spending where it’s needed most, and nobody budge. It’s gotten to the point where groups like Occupy Wall Street have protested non-stop in defiance to the political stalemate which has led to an ever divided America. 

Occupy the farm!

One way in which the people of Occupy Wall Street haven’t necessarily thought of occupying is on the farm. At first you wouldn’t think that farming is revolutionary. But in a strange way, farming could very well be the most revolutionary idea since the writing of the Communist Manifesto.

Activists in California might very well be the first of their kind. About a month ago, activists with ties to Occupy Berkeley began to occupy 2 acres of land owned by the University of California at Berkeley. There they planted vegetables and other things that could feed the hungry. But police in full riot gear arrested nine of them after removing them from the land.

It’s a new low for the police in Northern California.

"What I believe in is food justice," Ashoka Finley said. Finley stated that he plans to secretly continue watching over the garden regardless of the consequences. "That's why I am here, and that's why I'll continue to be here, planting crops, seeding crops and harvesting crops, and sharing them with our community."

After most companies outsourced precious jobs to the developing countries of the world in order to keep their profit margins, many Americans were left without work. Or, they were forced into low paying service sector jobs to stay afloat. Entire cities in the “rust belt” have fell into disuse and have literally rusted away. One only has to look at Detroit: a population that shrank from a peak of 1.8 million in 1950, to a mere 700,000 in 2010. Cleveland and Pittsburgh both had similar problems due to corporate greed.

However, those same cities are starting to revitalize their inner cores with urban farming. With these inner city farms comes jobs. Not to mention: food, the most prized possession.

Therefore farming just might be the best way to undermine the corporate system, and put some jobs back on the map. 

Puttin’ Putin on the line

Occupy Moscow has sent a sign to Russian President Vladimir Putin: we don’t want you for another five years.

Around 15,000 people showed up on May 15 to protest Putin’s victory. Celebrities, writers, professors and opposition figures were all there, as they crossed through the streets of Moscow. But Russia has usually been a country of very little protest. Something is definitely changing in the ex-Cold War foe.

Only a few days before the G-8 summit at Camp David, Putin said that he would not be joining the other elite countries, but rather would stay back home in Russia. No reason was given for his behavior.

Could it be that Putin is fearful of the potential unrest at home. One reason Nixon didn’t send more troops into Vietnam was because his advisors said that they might need those same troops at home because the social unrest was so great that anything could happen.

Knowing Putin, however, the answer could be anything. But it’s clear: the people of Russia are sick of Putin.

Putin served as president of Russia from 2000-08, then as prime minister from 2008 to May of 2012, when he was reelected president once again. Many Russians believed it was election fraud, and simply assumed he would win regardless. And win he did.

As the world continues to change at a rapid pace, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and unrest in nearly all areas of the globe, only time will tell what any of it means for any leader. But Putin beware: something is definitely changing in the heart of Russia. 

Occupy “losing” momentum

Supposedly.

However, over the winter media outlets mercilessly repeated the same sentiment: Occupy Wall Street is losing momentum.

Everyone kept asking, “Where did Occupy go?” Or, “Why isn’t Occupy visible anymore?” For them, this symbolized only one possible answer: that the Occupy Movement had at the very least lost all of its momentum. And at the most, which was everyone’s favorite, died completely, lost all its steam like the Steam Plant Grill, and went belly up; the way of the do-do.

Where it went, however, was underground. There were many reasons for this: police, taking orders from people like Bloomberg, a billionaire, broke up camps, arrested thousands of people unconstitutionally, injured them, pepper-sprayed them, and more. Then there was the matter of old man winter.

Almost fatefully, winter came and allowed the movement to simmer in the cold silence of the winter, while it unsuspectingly gained academic following. So that by the time spring came, it would be able to live up the hype of the “American Spring,” which would, on March 21, become almost a pun.

But not really.

This is because it’s actually happening. Corporate media is still confused as to whether or not it is a serious thing. Articles are still coming out that repeat the same tired conclusion: Occupy is losing steam. It’s not. The success of May Day shows that it is still alive and thriving.

"They have fewer people, and it's not a new story anymore that there were people protesting in the streets or sleeping in parks," said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress told the Ledger last month. "They need to think of new ways to garner attention and connect with people around the country."

What’s great about a statement like this is that it shows that very few people really understand what’s happening. The discourse has changed, and people are talking. They’re aware. The youth of America especially. It doesn’t have to be constant demonstration for there to be something happening.

In some places, like Spokane, the movement sure has lost steam. But many have fled to Seattle to take part in bigger and more significant demonstrations.

Occupy hasn’t died, it only just begun, to quote Karen Carpenter. 

Fox News can’t wait to paint Occupy as terrorists

The recent failed attempt by radical occupiers to blow an insignificant Ohio bridge to smithereens has sent Fox News, the granddaddy of all liars, into an ideological frenzy.

The headline says it all: Failed plot to blow up Ohio bridge highlights potential 'Occupy' link to violence.” According to this, we’re supposed to start thinking about the potential violence that Occupiers have pent up, and ignore the violence that Fox News has helped to commit for many, many, unforgettable years.

History, Fox News, won’t forget what you did.

Such as the time Fox News, and its affiliates, supported the war in Iraq, which went on to claim the lives of at least a million Iraqi civilians, and over 5,000 American troops.

Or the time they supported the war on drugs, which has now taken 50,000 lives in Mexico.

Or the calls for a more conservative America, as if it’s not conservative enough — liberal economics, deniers of global warming despite ample evidence of its existence, stupidity, stupidity, stupidity.

Or the systemic violence they commit by contributing to the complacency of Americas. This is the easiest to spot, because it accounts for nearly 99 percent of their airtime; which, incidentally, is the same percentage of people in America that Fox News doesn’t seem to give a shit about.

“Authorities have long been concerned about the group's potential to inspire violence,” the report by Fox News says. Authorities should have been long concerned about the wars that had the potential for unlimited violence inspired by media puppets that condone it.

“The case makes an internal Department of Homeland Security report released by WikiLeaks in October seem prophetic. The report, entitled "Special Coverage: Occupy Wall Street," warned that the movement's mantra of peaceful protest would not preclude acts of violence taken up in its name.”

Times in history are littered with points where violence seems to be the only means for which something can get done. The 1960s in America are a prime example, because it happened here, and many people were killed, injured and sent to prison.

The “bombers” had “rigged phony explosives bought from an undercover FBI agent at the base of the bridge and tried to detonate them using a text-message code, “ Fox News said. It was just another FBI attempt at discrediting another amazing potential: social change for the better.

While it’s not good to condone or support violence, it’s also not good to trash an entire movement based on a few fringe radicals. It shows that Fox News is at it again: the granddaddy of all liars.

Much ado about May Day (nothing is implied)

As citizens of New York marched, and as Oakland burned, Seattlites smashed windows in black-clad armies of anarchists, and … Spokane didn't do much.

With a population of 208,000 people, I would think that we might have more than half-dozen people aching to take to the streets in protest of the biggest robbery in history: 2008.

A few people gathered today in the International District off Sprague Street in East Spokane where a barbeque happened.

A few more people gathered at the Veteran’s Triangle on Bridge Street in downtown Spokane at noon. There were a couple signs with one kid eager to stand on the side of the road just off the Monroe Street Bridge on the eve of Kendall Yards.

What happened?

The central organizers didn’t show up for this one. Only at the last minute were there calls for an occupation of sorts. Nary had a soul turned out on this cold first day of May, 2012.

Could it be that Spokane is just too small for something like this to appeal to its inhabitants?

Or is it that Spokane is simply isolated from the outside world and its problems?

When you think about it, Spokane seems to whether these downturns better than most because it’s already highly impoverished. For most, Spokane was already poor, no use in worrying about any kind of economic downturn.

What downturn?

A few of the attendees at today’s local May Day General Strike stated that most of the regulars at Occupy Spokane went west to Seattle to take part in that city’s strike.

It’s possible that maybe Spokane is really just in the shadow of Seattle.