Occupy Movement

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While the Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping the country and peaceful arrests are mounting, Chicagoans took to the streets this week to hold the big banks accountable for crashing the economy and to demand city, state and federal policies that work for working families. more »

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It was inevitable, I suppose, that the success of Occupy Wall Street and "We Are the 99 Percent" would spawn reactions and imitators on the right. But the newly launched "We Are the 53 Percent" is a miracle of the kind of contradiction and contortionism that has become typical of conservatism's attempts at a relevant response to the economic crisis, in that it not only contradicts its own points, but goes a long way towards proving the point of the movements it tries to critique or ridicule.

The best response we on the left can offer is: "Welcome to the 99 percent, 53 percenters." (And, to borrow a quote from "Blue Collar" comedian Bill Engvall, "Here's your sign.")

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Lame, pat, pre-packaged putdowns of Occupy Wall Street: We all deal with 'em, whether we're arguing with a neighbor, appearing on Fox, or answering the jeers of relatives who've just received a chain email that "really puts the protesters in their place."

Here are a few easy comebacks for your next argument. They cover everything from the supposed "hypocrisy" of demonstrators who buy cardboard (really!) to snarky comments about scruffy-looking anticapitalists with beards.

1. They say "Oh, look. The demonstrators buy stuff from corporations!" You say "Whaddya expect? Corporate lackeys in government have forced everybody else out of business!"

I don't know who came up with this lame picture, but it's making the rounds on Wall Street - and with all the other Americans co-opted by its propaganda: more »

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Once Occupy Wall Street demonstrations started to sweep across America, the mainstream media began to pay attention -- and sounded a chorus of criticism. The movement was disorganized; it had no agenda. It wasn't organized like the Tea Party. Fox News trotted out ace reporter Geraldo Rivera -- really -- to charge that European anarchists, paid illegal aliens, and out and out leftists were behind the innocent kids. Herman Cain led disapproving Republicans, calling the movement "un-American," when he should have been celebrating what it was doing for pizza sales.

Virtually everything said about this movement is wrong. Stand back; take a clear look. Every politician should understand one thing: this is coming at you and you must decide. Whose side are you on?

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What did the politicians in Washington think would happen? They forgot about the "We, the People" part of our Constitution. After bailing out the banks and bankers and interests of the top 1% they fiddled while our jobs burned and mortgages defaulted. With people losing their incomes, pensions and healthcare they worried about deficits instead of jobs and cut back on essential services. more »

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It's been a while since empathy — the uniquely human capacity to recognize and share the feelings experienced by others, that science even suggests is hardwired in us — when President Obama included it in the qualities he sought in a Supreme Court appointee, and conservatives from Glenn Beck to Sen. Jim Sessions. So I was surprised to see columnist David Brooks turn the spotlight on empathy again.

However, when I put it in the context of popular and growing movements like Occupy Wall Street and We are the 99 Percent, and even the movements in Wisconsin and Ohio, I was not surprised to see Brooks holding forth on the shortcomings of empathy. These the success of these progressive movements constitute a powerful challenge to conservatives.

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Even the sympathizers don't always get it. I'm sure I get a lot of things wrong too, but here's one thing I do understand: Change doesn't begin with policy. It begins with perception. And you don't change things by asking. You change them by acting.

But it begins with perception. "All money is a matter of belief," as someone once said.

In the New York Times, Nick Kristof shows that he understands the #OccupyWallStreet movement more than most of his peers. "The protesters are dazzling in their Internet skills," he writes, "and impressive in their organization."

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"Either you are a rebel or a slave." "Why is life a bitch? Cause we don't tax the rich!" The protests have spread to San Francisco and Boston. People are fed up, and our government has refused to hold Wall Street and the banksters accountable. more »

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"We are occupying Wall Street. We will not be moved."

"Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%." more »

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