But tonight the occupation returned. I was able to make it down there for a little while. I ended up using my Qik video account for the first time, which explains why things were shaky.

The first video is me walking the block north of OWS, showing all the police vehicles.

The second video is walking down Broadway and a quick view into the general assembly.

In the longer third video I walk around the block and into the back of the general assembly.

Some of my reports can be found on my Twitter feed. Follow OccupyWallSt for updates on the Occupation. NYCLU is also monitoring the scene.

And don’t forget about the actions on November 17!

But the most effective agency in filling Southern prisons with Negroes has been, and is, the chain-gang system—the farming out of convict labor. Just as great railway, oil, and telegraph companies in the North have been capable of controlling legislation, so the corporations at the South which take the prisoners of the State off of the hands of the Government, and then speculate upon the labor of the prisoners, are able to control both court and jury. It has been the practice, and is now, in some of the Southern States, to pronounce long sentences upon able-bodied young Colored men, whose offences, in a Northern court, could not be visited with more than a few months’ confinement and a trifling fine. The object in giving Negro men a long term, of years, is to make sure the tenure of the soulless corporations upon the convicts whose unhappy lot it is to fall into their iron grasp. In some of the Southern States a strong and healthy Negro convict brings thirty-seven cents a day to the State, while he earns a dollar for the corporations above his expenses…No system of slavery was ever equal in its cruel and dehumanizing details to this convict system, which, taking advantage of race prejudice on the one hand and race ignorance on the other, with cupidity and avarice as its chief characteristics, has done more to curse the South than all things else since the war.

Axel Caballero, writing last week:

So, here is how it goes. First, the state passes a harsh immigration law. Then, it detains large numbers of immigrants. Third, private prisons (LCS, CCA, GEO) receive fresh inmates. And finally, the artificially created labor shortage is supplied by the new inmates.

Disgusting.

Occupy Philadelphia Inquirer

The following report is from an activist at an Occupy event inspired by Occupy Wall Street.

Several occupations are becoming seriously divided which is the first step toward becoming conquered. Ron Paul people, tea party members, and the full spectrum of libertarians are being indiscriminately shouted down at General Assembly meetings and in side meetings amongst individuals. Personally, I agree that signs promoting any political parties should be discouraged because they are not only divisive, they represent a method that has not worked to serve the people, however, alienating large segments of the population is not only inherently wrong, it is a bad tactic.

One of the things that makes this movement different from others is its intent to let everyone have their say about how they would like to see the economic situation addressed and create a public forum where people can safely engage in constructive, respectful dialogue.

I have not personally seen this happen on a large scale at our occupation yet but I was talking to one of the libertarian right last night and he said he was definitely being alienated. I think he has only bothered to stay around because he is determined to participate as a member of Cop Watch. The rejection of portions of the population who love the idea of participating in a democratic forum will turn this into a right/left thing rather than an underclass/overlords thing and a mob rather than a diverse group of individuals seeking solutions in a horizontal, democratic fashion.

I have heard many individuals saying that have to keep libertarians and tea partiers away, while in the same breath saying, “everyone has a voice, we are here to discuss everyone’s views on economic strategies”. To make matters worse, many people are making no distinction whatsoever between libertarian right and libertarian left.

I have been called naive for continuing to insist that everyone be welcome to come out and talk, but I feel that getting all kinds of different people together in the efforts to agree on one point is much more realistic than aiming to rebuild the world. If we can not manage to sit together, all of us, and find one thing we agree on, we are certainly not going to be able to build a new economic system for ourselves or follow through on any of the other lofty goals people are discussing.

The story below, “Brown Power at Occupy Wall Street”, really sums up, for me, how the occupations are supposed to function. It is about how one little voice can steer things in a better direction.

http://www.racialicious.com/2011/10/03/brown-power-at-occupy-wall-street-92911/

And while the liberals are busy alienating the libertarians, the democrats are knocking on the occupations’ collective door. I got this from MoveOn yesterday…

“Wall Street isn’t the only place where greed is undermining the American Dream. By bringing these speak outs to as many communities as possible, we’ll help to spread and amplify the energy of the Occupy Wall Street protest across the country. . . .To build on this energy, we’re organizing a huge round of speak-outs nationwide next week to deliver the simple message that we need “Jobs Not Cuts” and to “Make Wall Street Pay.” It’s part of a massive week of action to show the human impact of the economic crisis. But we need public events in as many communities as possible to show that this is a national movement. We’ll provide everything you need to hold a successful event. Can you sign up to lead a speak-out?”

Also, people like myself, who are far left and latched onto this movement because of the horizontal, democratic participation that was being promoted, will likely become discouraged with the lack of respect for dissenting voices and begin to drop off, making the occupations even more susceptible to the democrats.

It is a shame when the meaning of democracy – of power vested in the people – comes to mean marginalizing people who leaders cast out of the majority. This is how the government operates and it is unfortunate to see this trend in a protest movement with potential to radically alter how decisions are made. There is potential for progress here. This is not the only trend in the movement and it still presents opportunities to get involved in conversation and change, and to continue to move things in a less authoritarian direction.

Against visions of a bleak and stagnant future, the occupiers assert the optimism that a better world can be made in the streets. They have not resigned themselves to an order where the young are presented with a foreseeable future of some combination of debt, economic dependency, and being paid little to endure constant disrespect, an order that tells the old to accept broken promises and be glad to just keep putting in hours until they can’t work anymore. The occupiers have not accepted that living in modern society means shutting up about how it functions.

For the latest updates on the Wall Street occupation and similar movements check Twitter #occupywallst.

I took some pictures during my brief stay at Liberty Plaza on September 19, which are viewable at my Google+ profile

For more:
http://copblock.org/manchcopblock
http://copblock.org/manchpd
http://libertyontour.com/freestatefriendshiptour

—————————-

May 25, 2011 at 4:16am

With this mail we want to animate others to organize more sit-ins outside of Barcelona, around the world, which will be organized by you. We propose not to target on the Spanish embassies in your countries, also because the Spanish press practically does not cover those actions.

Our proposal is that you join in with your local struggle, to occupy the central places of your city while following the model of organization used during the Arab revolutions (and Spaniards), which means connecting with groups and local organizations and organize a sit-in in the main squares, to work in commissions and to write up your own documents (manifest, calls, proposals, minutes of meetings, etc). To make it public, spread it, use the internet networks to expand your message and to self-manage.

What is happening in different Spanish cities is not accidental nor specific of our society, we fight to recover our dignity, our freedom and our social rights, for direct democracy where we can participate in the course of our lives. We are a spontaneous and independent network, we don’t need leaders thus we offer that you will organize independently, according to what is possible and relevant in your area.

We would like that everywhere people will take the streets, but in each place people will think themselves on the local alternatives to the capitalist and cruel world to which our governments are ‘leading’ us and the whole planet.

For us the borders do not exist, the network is ours and the street also! Another world is possible now!

More concretely, we propose to you that you squat in your city during the next days of THURSDAY AND FRIDAY 26 AND 27 OF MAY to take advantage of the international days of mobilization against the G8 against the world-wide oligarchy, we invite you to take the street and to establish si-ins in sufficiently big places which will receive a consequent infrastructure that allow you to work and to mobilize in the best conditions. These two days and their nights could be the beginning of a long global struggle of the Indignados, please add your sit-in to the world-wide map of: http://www.thetechnoant.info/campmap/

We use the social networks to coordinate and to maintain informed. We encourage you to create an international commission to communicate with us, to share materials and strategies of organization in the Web n-1.cc to look for the group https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/104127/take-the-square-international and open a space with your location. In that link you will find a guide. In the chat (http://ur1.ca/48ogs) you can contact with us and others sit-ins simultaneously or to contact us by e-mail comisiointernacional@gmail.com.

Our content commissions is working on a document which formulate the very elaborated agreements which are agreed on in the general assembly. The document is available on web http://acampadabcn.wordpress.com/

Take the street! Real Democracy Now!

Hugs, International Networks of the International Commission of the Barcelona Camp

Barcelona Information:

#acampadabcn

http://acampadabcn.wordpress.com/

e-mail general: acampadabcn@yahoo.es

Internacional commission – Barcelona Camp:

https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/103405/akbcn_int/

e-mail international commission: comisiointernacional@gmail.com

Internacional coordination:

http://takethesquare.net/

Map: http://www.thetechnoant.info/campmap/

e-lists: https://lists.takethesquare.net/mailman/listinfo/cominterm

https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/104127/take-the-square-international/

Chat irc.freenode.net # takethesquare http://ur1.ca/48ogs

Osama bin Laden plotted and ordered the killing of innocent people to further his authoritarian political agenda. And finally he was killed. Thus always to tyrants.

But those of us who harbor no sympathy for bin Laden shouldn’t be blinded by patriotic or victory euphoria. The death of bin Laden does not solve the problems that enabled his rise to fame.

Read the rest: Good Riddance to Bin Laden — Now Get Rid of the Blinders.

Had time not been of the essence I might have done a few things differently, but I stand behind the article as it is. I might have expanded on the section examining the evidence that bin Laden had at one point been supported by the US Government. I also would have been more careful to distinguish generic “non-state armed forces” from the military units of a stateless society.

I am sympathetic towards those who question the veracity of reports concerning bin Laden’s death. However, I think the government’s obsession with controlling information and making people disappear is more likely the cause of sketchy details than any intent to deceive. I am more inclined to question whether the timing of the strike had anything to do with the US presidential campaign cycle, but there are numerous other explanations for why it took place at the time it did.

Some other good articles:

Killing of bin Laden: What are the consequences?

What next after bin Laden death?

Analysis: Killing the alibi

The death of Osama and the return to reality

[UPDATE: Below are some more good articles.]

Osama Won

JSOC: The Black Ops Force That Took Down Bin Laden

After Osama: Stop feeding the beast

It looks like some will try to insist that torture and secret prisons were necessary to find a globally infamous criminal in a fortified compound in a populous area near a Pakistani military base. If that claim wasn’t absurd enough, here’s some commentary on this: The Osama bin Laden Trail Shows Waterboarding Didn’t Work

The 5th Annual NYC Anarchist Book Fair will be held Saturday, April 9th 2011* at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, between 11am and 7pm.

More info