In its latest videos, the stormclouds gathering’s channel argues that the current occupy movement in the United States is bound to fail for quite a few reasons that are discussed in the video.
And at the same time he doesn’t leave us disappointed and astray in some dead-end alley but he recommends a way out.
In the video he argues “The only way any movement will be able to build the momentum to actually unseat the criminals in government and finance is by building a coalition based on a platform, with both conservative and liberal Americans can agree on.
This should be a pretty simple platform and could look something like this:
1- Take the power to coin money from the private central banks.
2- Take away the right of corporations to make political contributions.
3- End all wars of aggressions and bring the troops home”
On Nov. 11, the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly agreed to send a delegation of twenty members to Egypt to participate in monitoring, in a symbolic way, the first post-Mubarak parliamentary election due to take place on November 28th.
Lately, a group of Egyptian activists have visited OWS in a show of solidarity to the movement which a lot of the participating American youths envision as a revolution in the making.
In a meeting of the think tank at OWS on Nov.12, the group discussed who will be sent to Egypt by the end of the month.
‘Occupy Boston’ protesters in the US have stormed the Israeli consulate in the city and held a brief sit-in in the building’s lobby, Press TV reports.
On Friday, activists gathered calling for the liberation of Palestine, angry at Israel for intercepting an aid flotilla on its way to the besieged Gaza Strip.
Protesters chanted slogans such as, “not another nickel, not another dime! No more money for Israel’s crimes” and “Vive viva Palestina,” demanding the departure of Israeli consulate officials from the US.
The protest is part of a global movement against social and economic inequalities, and corporate greed.
'Occupy Boston' anti-Israeli rally.
Participants made clear that they are not anti-Semites, but anti-Zionists, critical of the Israeli government’s current policies.
The “Occupy” movement emerged after a group of Americans on September 17 gathered in New York’s financial district to protest against the unjust distribution of wealth in the US and the excessive influence of big corporations on the American politics.
Despite mass arrests and widespread police crackdown, the movement has now spread to major US cities, as well as to other countries, including Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal.
A letter from Cairo to the Occupy movements & other solidarity movements.
Occupy Tahrir square, February 2011
After three decades of living under a dictatorship, Egyptians started a revolution demanding bread, freedom and social justice. After a nearly utopian occupation of Tahrir Square lasting eighteen days, we rid ourselves of Mubarak and began the second, harder, task of removing his apparatuses of power. Mubarak is gone, but the military regime lives on. So the revolution continues – building pressure, taking to the streets and claiming the right to control our lives and livelihoods against systems of repression that abused us for years.
But now, seemingly so soon after its beginnings, the revolution is under attack. We write this letter to tell you about what we are seeing, how we mean to stand against this crackdown, and to call for your solidarity with us.
The 25th and 28th of January, the 11th of February: you saw these days, lived these days with us on television. But we have battled through the 25th of February, the 9th of March, the 9th of April, the 15th of May, the 28th of June, the 23rd of July, the 1st of August, the 9th of September, the 9th of October. Again and again the army and the police have attacked us, beaten us, arrested us, killed us. And we have resisted, we have continued; some of these days we lost, others we won, but never without cost.
Over a thousand gave their lives to remove Mubarak. Many more have joined them in death since. We go on so that their deaths will not be in vain. Names like Ali Maher (a 15 year old demonstrator killed by the army in Tahrir, 9th of April), Atef Yehia (shot in the head by security forces in a protest in solidarity with Palestine, 15th of May), Mina Danial (shot by the Army in a protest in front of Masepro, 9th of October). Mina Daniel, in death, suffers the perverse indignity of being on the military prosecutor’s list of the accused.
Moreover, since the military junta took power, at least 12,000 of us have been tried by military courts, unable to call witnesses and with limited access to lawyers. Minors are serving in adult prisons, death sentences have been handed down, torture runs rampant. Women demonstrators have been subjected to sexual assault in the form of “virginity tests” by the Army.
On October 9th, the Army massacred 28 of us at Maspero; they ran us over with tanks and shot us down in the street while manipulating state media to try and incite sectarian violence. The story has been censored. The military is investigating itself. They are systematically targeting those of us who speak out. This Sunday, our comrade and blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah was imprisoned on trumped-up charges. He spends another night in an unlit cell tonight.
All this from the military that supposedly will ensure a transition to democracy, that claimed to defend the revolution, and seemingly convinced many within Egypt and internationally that it was doing so. The official line has been one of ensuring “stability”, with empty assurances that the Army is only creating a proper environment for the upcoming elections. But even once a new parliament is elected, we will still live under a junta that holds legislative, executive, and judicial authority, with no guarantee that this will end. Those who challenge this scheme are harassed, arrested, and tortured; military trials of civilians are the primary tool of this repression. The prisons are full of casualties of this “transition”.
We now refuse to co-operate with military trials and prosecutions. We will not hand ourselves in, we will not submit ourselves to questioning. If they want us, they can take us from our homes and workplaces.
Alaa Abdel Fattah
Nine months into our new military repression, we are still fighting for our revolution. We are marching, occupying, striking, shutting things down. And you, too, are marching, occupying, striking, shutting things down.
We know from the outpouring of support we received in January that the world was watching us closely and even inspired by our revolution. We felt closer to you than ever before. And now, it’s your turn to inspire us as we watch the struggles of your movements. We marched to the US Embassy in Cairo to protest the violent eviction of the occupation in Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland. Our strength is in our shared struggle. If they stifle our resistance, the 1% will win – in Cairo, New York, London, Rome – everywhere. But while the revolution lives our imaginations knows no bounds. We can still create a world worth living.
You can help us defend our revolution.
The G8, IMF and Gulf states are promising the regime loans of $35 billion. The US gives the Egyptian military $1.3 billion in aid every year. Governments the world over continue their long-term support and alliance with the military rulers of Egypt. The bullets they kill us with are made in America. The tear gas that burns from Oakland to Palestine is made in Wyoming. David Cameron’s first visit to post-revolutionary Egypt was to close a weapons deal. These are only a few examples. People’s lives, freedoms and futures must stop being trafficked for strategic assets. We must unite against governments who do not share their people’s interests.
We are calling on you to undertake solidarity actions to help us oppose this crackdown.
We are suggesting an International Day to Defend the Egyptian Revolution on Nov 12th under the slogan “Defend the Egyptian Revolution – End Military Trials for Civilians”
Events could include:
– Actions targeting Egyptian Embassies or Consulates demanding the release of civilians sentenced in military tribunals. If Alaa is released, demand the release of the thousands of others.
– Actions targeting your government to end support for the Egyptian junta.
– Demand the release of civilians sentenced to military tribunals. If Alaa is released, the thousands of others must follow.
– Project videos about the repression we face (military trials, Maspero massacre) and our continued resistance. Email us for links.
– Videoconferencing with activists in Egypt
– Any creative way to show your support, and to show the Egyptian people that they have allies abroad.
If you’re organising anything or wish to, email us at defendtherevolution@gmail.com. We would also love to see photos and videos from any events you organize.
Occupy Oakland rally in solidarity with Egypt revolution.
Sandy Nurse, of Occupy Wall Street, said: “The Egyptian people have changed the face of the regime and the revolution is momentous but unfortunately it is far from over. Changing the face of the regime, getting rid of Mubarak, is like changing the curtains: the military is in control of the country and has been for a long time.”
Nurse, who is on the direct action committee of OWS, expressed her personal solidarity with the people of Egypt and added: “I believe Occupy Wall Street would be in solidarity with the continued struggle of the Egyptian protesters.”
Anup Desai, a press spokesman for OWS, said: “The effort put out by the entire country in Egypt gave us motivation. Egypt has won the first step. I was not aware what was happening so I am grateful for this opportunity to learn and I thank the Egyptian activists. What is happening with the military and the military courts is 100% wrong and we need to share this and tell people about it.”
Desai, who is also a professor of philosophy at City University of New York, expressed solidarity with the activists and said: “We need to keep coming together.”
Naomi Colvin, from the Occupy London movement, said: “All decisions are made through a general assembly but I’m sure we will strongly support the call from our friends in the Middle East to stand in solidarity with them through an international day of action.
Occupy London in solidarity with Egyptian activists- St. Paul's Cathedral.
“Egyptians provided us with an example of courage that has inspired not only our own protest but many others around the world, and we owe it to them to support their ongoing struggle in any way we can.”
Links between political upheavals in the Arab world and the campaign against financial injustice in the west have strengthened in recent weeks, with demonstrators on both sides claiming inspiration from the others’ struggle. On Wednesday protesters in Oakland waved an Egyptian flag during their general strike, prompting some Cairo-based bloggers to reflect on the similarities between the police tactics used in the US and Egypt. On Thursday activists camping outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London conducted a live video link with anti-regime protesters in Syria, while plans are under way for a solidarity rally on Saturday in support of Egyptians being held by the junta.
“Every success story is also a story of great failure.”
Dr. Ashraf Ezzat
Tahrir square saga
What took place in Egypt Tahrir square last February is proving, as days go by, to be a decisive turning point in the psychology of the silent masses around the world.
What made this Tahrir revolution so influential is that we were not told about it, we did not read about it days or years later in some newspaper or history book, we didn’t watch a 30 seconds-clip of it on the TV news, rather we watched the whole uprising as it unfolded during 18 consecutive days live and uncensored.
In other words, we, the huddled masses, the silent majority, saw for ourselves that people, if united in their aspirations and vision, could break the long chain of sinful obedience.
As the world follows the current New Yorkers sit-in and their anti-corporate greed rallies in Wall Street as well as in many other American cities, we find it hard for any scholar or observer of socio-political affairs to skip the link, or rather the impact the Tahrir square phenomena had, not only on “Occupy Wall Street” but around the world.
It is not hard to connect the dots as we recollect what happened in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, Spain and Israel ever since the millions of Egyptians made good on the famous motto “the street is ours”
But every success story is also a story of great failure.
Occupy Wall Street protests
Engulfed by the naïve impulse of mass culture and mesmerized by the system apparently bending to their demands the thousands of Egyptians who occupied Tahrir square for almost three weeks prematurely evacuated the place without delegating a committee to speak on their behalf and without choosing some leadership to represent them and carry on the political struggle necessary for the full realization of their demands.
This is where the tahrir saga went wrong and the reason why their revolution has been unabashedly hijacked. We hope the American youths currently steering “occupy Wall Street” have learned the Tahrir square lesson and that they will take the necessary precautions not to let their uprising get hijacked.
Beware, the old hawks are watching.
‘I Am Not Moving: Occupy Wall Street’ – Short Film
Edited by Corey Ogilvie
Dedicated to the People, Shot by the People, For the People who are breaking the chain of obedience.
Segments of speeches made by the US President and Secretary of State, as they discuss present-day social unrest in the Middle East, professionally and beautifully edited with scenes of recent police brutality in Lower Manhattan, drawing a powerful observation about the hypocrisy and corruption of US foreign and domestic policy.
- U.S in vicious cycle of social & economic issues, it’s about time for some protest.
- Israel now on the way to South Africa style isolation.
- U.S backed dictators but shifted policy when they were overthrown.
- EU takes cowardly stance unwilling to oppose U.S position.
Noam Chomsky
In an interview with RT’s Marina Portnaya, prominent scholar Professor Noam Chomsky gives his take on some of the world’s political hot topics.
Chomsky vividly shares his reflections on the wall street protests and warns of an impending serious poverty and real unemployment similar to the great depression, he talks about the 2012 American presidential campaign spending and how positions in both the white house and the congress are being bought, not earned and he refers to the killing of Osama Bin Laden and how this marks a shift of American policy from Bush’s abducting and torturing whoever the CIA thought posed a threat to the U.S to Obama’s “just kill `em when you spot `em” approach regardless of the legalities overlooked in the process.
He concludes that the killing of Osama Bin Laden was done, in such a way, as to infuriate, and may be implicate the Pakistani military, something he seriously regards as extremely dangerous.
In regard to the Arab spring, Chomsky acknowledges that the U.S and its western allies did not support the Tunisian or the Egyptian revolutions; rather they opposed them, and backed the dictator till the last minute and then shifted policy when they were overthrown.
Pinning its hopes on the sole support of the US, Chomsky warns “the Zionist state would risk a collapse if that support was to be withdrawn or compromised – much like apartheid-era South Africa.” He recalls how South Africans felt safe to ignore a UN embargo and corporations pulling out of their country throughout the 1980s, as long as the Reagan administration continued to support them.
As soon as the US withdrew its support, the apartheid regime collapsed. “For 35 years, the US and Israel have been rejecting a political settlement that is supported virtually by the entire world.
A couple of months ago, there was a meeting of the oligarchs — people who pretty much run the economy of Israel,” Chomsky says, “and they warned the government that it better accept something like this resolution, because otherwise, Israel will be, as they put it, South Africanized: even more isolated, with boycotts, refusal to load ships, and their economy will collapse.”
In its latest videos, the stormclouds gathering’s channel argues that the current occupy movement in the United States is bound to fail for quite a few reasons that are discussed in the video.
