Feel the moment, forget about where this is heading (photo by Adam Lempel):

It doesn’t matter if Occupy Wall Street brings no practical changes to the world.  It doesn’t matter if it fails to halt the onslaught of global corporate capitalism.  If humanity does indeed annihilate itself through nuclear holocaust or climate collapse or the next boom-bust cycle—which will likely be even bigger and worse than the sub-prime mortgage crisis, as power is now more concentrated than before— we’ll at least know that we spoke the truth when it mattered.  That we took a stand for what was right.  Even against all odds.  Even in the face of ridicule and state sanctioned brutality.

We live in a world ruled not by Orwell’s Big Brother, but by the forces of “free markets,” a euphemism right out of 1984’s Ministry of Truth, a misnomer in a sea of big lies pushed by the corporate state.  For it is not a world of genuinely free markets described by Adam Smith that today’s corporate capitalists have imposed on the world.  It is the antithesis.  It is a system of concentrated power, carefully crafted to enrich the privileged few beyond comprehension, at everyone else’s expense. Read the rest of this entry

(Photo by Adam Lempel)

A Huge Victory for Occupy Wall Street:

When it was announced at 6 AM last Friday that the NYPD would not go through with evicting Occupy Wall Street I experienced one of those moments that make life transcendent.  The crowd erupted in cheers.  People hugged, high-fived, clapped, jumped up and down, pumped their fists in resistance, chanting “the people, united, will never be defeated.”  Chills went down my spine.  It was a significant victory, providing an acute sense of jubilation.  The state desperately wants to crush Occupy Wall Street.  They thought their opportunity had come.  But they failed.  We proved that strength does indeed lie in numbers.

The two thousand plus people who showed up at Liberty Square at 6:00 AM yesterday were determined.  We all knew what we were up against.  We were prepared to get arrested.  We were willing to sacrifice for a supremely just cause.  And we refused to surrender.  The corporate state will not be able to silence us.  Bloomberg and his cohorts in the NYPD didn’t call off the eviction because they value free speech.  They abstained from their campaign of mass arrests and brutality because they knew it would be a disaster.  The media would be all over it, and Occupy Wall Street would only double in size, judging by the public’s reaction to the mass arrests at Union Square and the Brooklyn Bridge. Read the rest of this entry

(Photo by Adam Lempel)

Humanity faces a daunting battle against corporate forces that have historically proved willing to employ any means necessary to preserve an evil system.  The police brutality and corporate funding aimed at crushing Occupy Wall Street hint of the savagery unleashed by corporations in countries around the world over the past 150 years.  Yet the recent crackdown has provided our rebellion with an extraordinary public relations weapon by demonstrating the veracity of our charges against a ruthless system that despises democracy and justice.

The movement sweeping America is our link to a world-wide chain of rebellion.  The majority of the world’s population, which for half a century has borne the brunt of neoliberal policies, is finally determined to stop the onslaught of global capitalism, which is the force sustaining most brutal systems on the planet, from the military dictatorships in the Middle East to the neo-feudalist societies now permeating industrial nations.

Since World War II the United States has expanded its ever-present imperial quest to entail global domination.  Our government has used nearly every method imaginable to ensure a world order that benefits big multi-national corporations.  It dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even though officials such as General Eisenhower knew Japan was about to surrender, to send a message.  That message was the same as the one sent in Vietnam—do as we say or suffer a holocaust. Read the rest of this entry

(Photo by Adam Lempel)

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Max, a 33 year old activist from upstate New York who’s been camping out here in Zuccotti Park for days.  “I’ve been to many protests before, but there’s never been such energy and promise as what I see here today.  The revolution has begun.”

Indeed, as Occupy Wall Street enters week two of what will almost certainly be many more to come, the excitement is palpable.  Every day there are many new faces and a steady stream of stalwarts.  We have live music, with a group of people bangin’ on drums, others playing guitar, and some blaring trumpets.  We hold general assemblies, where we all crowd around the middle of the park and listen to each other float propositions for action, repeating what each speaker has to say, word for word.  We participate in smaller group sessions, where a dozen or so of us discuss strategies for outreach and craft ideas for demands.  Everyone is friendly.  There are so many cool and interesting people here from all over America.  And it’s easy to start conversations, since we all have something important to say and want to listen to others. Read the rest of this entry

A first hand account of the protests outside the New York Stock Exchange:   (photo by Adam Lempel)

For months, every time I passed the New York Stock Exchange, I wondered why people weren’t rioting in the streets.  Do Americans not realize that Wall Street has completely hijacked our government and economy?  Do they not understand that the corporate elites who have trashed the global economy now have more wealth and power than before the financial crisis?  Finally, people are starting to fight back.  The protests rocking the financial district the last couple of days could be a significant spark, and they offer much hope.

On Saturday, a friend of mine was in the Financial District.  He called me because he thought there must have been a terrorist attack or something.  What do you mean, I asked.  He replied that the area was swarming with cops, the Stock Exchange had been barricaded, and nobody was allowed to enter.  A couple of minutes later he told me what was the source of the security crackdown.  There were protestors. Read the rest of this entry