[GPSCC-chat] Fw: Status of the Resistance Movement: Growing, Deepening, Succeeding

[Caroline Yacoub]

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: shane que hee <squehee at ucla.edu>
To: 
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2013 7:42 AM
Subject: Status of the Resistance Movement: Growing, Deepening,  Succeeding 
  


Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 02:10:36
-0700
>Subject: Status of the Resistance Movement: Growing, Deepening,
Succeeding 
>From: Thomas Scott Tucker <scott at tstucker.com>
>
>
>Status of the Resistance Movement: Growing, Deepening,
Succeeding
>
>Wednesday, 25 September 2013 11:55 
>
>By Kevin Zeese
and Margaret Flowers , Truthout |
News 
>
>http://truth-out.org/news/item/19046-status-of-the-resistance-movement-growing-deepening-succeeding 
>
>So much has been accomplished by Occupy and other social justice
movements in the past two years that it is incredible the corporate media
and their pundits do not report on what is happening around them. Despite
the lack of corporate media coverage, the movement is deepening, creating
democratic institutions, stopping some of the worst policies from being
pushed by the corporate duopoly and building a broad-based diverse
movement.
>
>This is not to say things are getting better for the 99%; in fact, quite
the opposite is happening. Big business government continues to funnel
money to the top while robbing most Americans of the little wealth they
had. More Americans are being impacted by the unfair economy and realize
that their struggle is not their fault but is the reality of living in a
system with deep corruption and dysfunction. Economic injustice is the
compost creating fertile ground for the movement to grow.
>
>Too many commentators focus on the lack of encampments and think Occupy
is dead. Camping out in public parks was a tactic - it was not the
movement or the only tactic of the movement. Too many fail to look at
what members of the Occupy community are doing along with other social
justice, environmental and peace activists. We report on the movement
every day at Popular
Resistance so we see lots of activity all over the country on a wide
range of issues and using a variety of tactics. And we see a growing
movement having a bigger impact.
>
>On the second anniversary of Occupy Wall Street (OWS), these writers
captured the essence of Occupy. David Callahan, in Seven Ways Occupy Changed America And Is Still Changing It, correctly
noted how we changed the debate, revived progressive populism, spurred
worker revolts and challenged capitalism. Rebecca Solnit, who has been active in Occupy and other movements,
also made important points. She writes, “Those who doubt that these
moments matter should note how terrified the authorities and elites are
when they erupt. That fear is a sign of their recognition that real power
doesn’t only lie with them.”
>
>Occupy taught us that we have power, that we can have an impact and that
by building an ever-bigger movement, the power structure will shake. We
are optimistic that the movements for peace and social, economic and
environmental justice will continue to grow and find ways to work in
solidarity. As the movements mature, we expect to see more successes in
the struggle to weaken corporate domination and create a more just and
sustainable society.
>
>Deeper and Broader Resistance Movement
>
>We recently spoke with three people who have been involved with OWS since its
beginning two years ago. Each is still active, and their work
demonstrates how the resistance movement is deepening.
>
>Laura Gottesdiener is the author of A Dream
Foreclosed. She traveled across the country to record the stories of
one of the most vibrant aspects of the Occupy - the anti-foreclosure
movement. This includes Occupy Our
Homes and groups like Take Back the Land, Home Defenders League and
City Life/Vida Urbana, which work to stop home foreclosures and
evictions. Through a range of tactics, including blockades, these groups
have kept hundreds of families in their homes.
>
>Gottesdiener writes that 10 million have been evicted since the crash
began in 2007; that is more than the number of people living in Michigan.
According to the Department of Treasury, the housing crisis has destroyed
$19.2 trillion of US household wealth.
>
>In addition to blockading homes to prevent evictions, housing activists
take back vacant properties and fix them up so families can move into
them. They have successfully pressured banks to accept this as a better
alternative than leaving the properties vacant.
>
>Preventing evictions is ongoing work. The Center for Responsible Lending
reported in 2011 that we were not even halfway through the foreclosure
crisis. Every month thousands are still evicted and facing
foreclosure.
>
>When Gottesdiener drove across country to see the nationwide reality of
the movement to stop foreclosures and evictions, she found that it had
especially deep roots in the African-American community, where people see
this as part of a historic pattern of disenfranchisement. The old
prejudicial practice of red-lining to keep blacks out of neighborhoods
has been transformed into predatory lending to drive them into debt then
take away their homes. The resistance movement is fighting back where the government has failed to act to stop this theft of wealth
by the looting class.
>
>Another example of Occupy solving problems that the government handles
inadequately is the response to environmental disasters. Occupy Sandy
organizer Goldi Guerra described how that movement continues to provide support
to affected communities.
>
>When the storm hit, thousands of people, including many who were involved
in Occupy, created a mutual aid project in Occupy Sandy. The group provided
immediate aid to people hit by the storm. It prepared tens of thousands
of meals, helped clean houses and remove debris, distributed donated
items and provided security and alternate places to live.
>
>Many gave Occupy Sandy more credit than FEMA or the Red Cross for its
quick and effective response. Now it continues by helping businesses
restart and, through the organization Working World, by remaking businesses as cooperatives. It also is working through Long Term Recovery Groups to plan for
the future.
>
>This work is creating deep community relations across the waterfront of
New York City in Queens, Brooklyn, lower Manhattan and Staten Island. The
goal is to empower these communities to become stronger than they were
before the storm, in part so they can protect themselves from predatory
practices that arise after disasters that affect low-income
residents.
>
>Other occupy groups are doing similar mutual-aid work after storms. Occupy Oklahoma stepped forward after massive tornadoes devastated
parts of Oklahoma. And Occupiers in Colorado are helping people in Boulder and surrounding
communities after the recent massive floods.
>
>Our third guest, Justin Wedes, is working with a new project that went
public on the anniversary of Occupy - the Occupy Money
Cooperative. This group sees itself as the “start of the financial
services revolution.” It is a financial services project that will be
owned and controlled by its members in a democratic way. It seeks to
provide financial services to the millions of people shut out of the
banks in a way that is transparent, with no hidden fees.
>
>The Occupy Money Cooperative will show by example that financial services
do not have to rip people off to succeed. And by doing so, it will push
other financial institutions in that direction. It will begin with the Occupy Money
Card, a debit card, savings facility and virtual checkbook that
people can use without the cost, or the balances required for a regular
bank account. They see it as a “bank on a card.”
>
>The Occupy Money Cooperative is a great example of the evolution of
Occupy. The movement started because of the excesses of Wall Street, the
financial collapse, mass debt and an unfair economy. While the movement
knows that it is going to take a mass resistance movement mobilized for
change to put in place polices that end the rule of money, it also knows
that right now we need to build our own institutions that can provide the
services people need. This requires operating outside of government. They
are capitalizing the bank in a grass-roots way, seeking
donations from people across the country.
>
>Finance, the wealth divide and unfair economy are central issues among
Occupy and other justice activists, and many of the strongest off-shoots
of Occupy are in this area. Occupy
the SEC does brilliant work by pushing the SEC to properly regulate
the banks. Strike Debt, a nationwide
movement of debt resistors that sees “debt as the tie that binds the 99%”
published the Debt Resistors Manual. And, their Rolling Jubilee project has
raised $615,000 and has forgiven $12,300,000 of debt.
>
>Across the country, creative alternatives to the dominant finance and
employment system are developing. These include local currencies, time banks, community supported agriculture,
farmers markets, worker or consumer cooperatives, land trusts to control housing prices and discussion of complementary monetary systems. There is a growing movement for
public banks and remaking the Federal Reserve while people take steps to opt out of Wall Street
by moving their money from the big banks. A new democratic economy is
being created outside of the Wall Street-dominated economy.
>
>One of the main purposes of the Occupy encampments was to show people
they were not alone, that a lot of people shared their values and
concerns about the unfair economy and dysfunctional government. Occupiers
showed people they could stand up. And the police repression showed their
courage against an abusive government that was doing the work of the
banks rather than protecting the constitutional rights of Americans. This
courage has been contagious as we can see in the growing movements around
the country.
>
>The worker’s rights and jobs movement has taken off in the past two
years. Strikes by low-wage workers at Walmart and fast-food companies over the right to organize and to increased pay
are more frequent. They bring greater awareness to the reality that
people should be paid a wage they can live on, not one that requires them
to get food stamps and taxpayer-funded health care and housing to
survive. The unfairness of this is particularly stark when corporate
profits are going through the roof along with executive
salaries.
>
>Teachers, students, families and whole communities are protesting the closing
of community schools while taxpayer dollars are being used to fund private schools, disguised
as charter schools. People are refusing to accept poor-quality education
while cities build sports stadiums and give away tax dollars to big-box
stores. College students are organizing across the country to fight high
tuition that is leading to record college debt in a time when many can
find only low-paying jobs that do not use their educational skills.
>
>Environmental activists have escalated their protests against the
extreme energy economy that relies on risky and expensive extraction
methods like tar sands, hydrofracking , mountaintop removal and off-shore drilling. At the same time, increased
resistance turned the nuclear renaissance into a nuclear retreat with
companies pulling out and reactors being closed. These protests have been
joined by, and often led by, Native
Indian groups like Idle No
More.
>
>And, for the first time, the American people helped stop a war after a
president said he wanted to bomb a nation. The bombing of Syria may be
halted only temporarily, but this is an amazing feat. This may be the
beginning of an antiwar movement
that crosses the political spectrum and can take on the challenge of ending US imperialism and militarism.
>
>This brief review does not do justice to the depth and activity of what
is occurring every day in the United States and around the world. Rather
than disappearing, Occupy has evolved and is bigger and deeper, more
connected to communities and other organizations, than it was when there
were encampments all over the country.
>
>Fertile Ground for Resistance
>
>The movement continues to grow and broaden because of the very fertile
environment created by a government that cannot respond to our demands
for a fair economy, that tramples on our Free Speech and other rights and
that puts profits ahead of protecting the planet. The hubris and greed of
those with unfair wealth has not diminished. They continue to take more,
want more and create a rigged economy that serves only them, not all of
the people.
>
>The most recent report from the Census,
"Income,
Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States:
2012," shows how the economy continues to be working against the
99%. Some key findings indicate that most Americans are getting poorer. There
has been an 11.6 percent decline in household income between 2000 and
2012. Median earnings are dropping except for the wealthiest 5 percent of
Americans. Despite 46.5 million Americans living in poverty, Congress is
talking about cutting food stamps, rather than increasing them.
>
>More Americans realize their loss of income means increased profits for corporations and
income for stock-holding wealthy Americans. And, it is not only income
that has been lost, but the little wealth most Americans had has
virtually disappeared. The Federal Reserve reported in 2012 that the median net worth of
families dropped 39 percent in just three years, from $126,400 in 2007 to
$77,300 in 2010. That means the average American lost 18 years of wealth
because of the housing crisis. Of course, this affected working
Americans, particularly blacks and Latinos, even more severely.
>
>Recent college graduates and current students are at a severe
disadvantage. Demos reported:
>
>"Student debt has skyrocketed over the past decade, quadrupling
from just $240 billion in 2003 to more than $1 trillion today. If current
borrowing patterns continue, student debt levels will reach $2 trillion
in 2025. Average debt levels have risen rapidly as well: two-thirds (66
percent) of college seniors now graduate with an average of $26,600 in
student loans, up from 41% in 1989. The rise of this 'debt-for-diploma'
system over the past decade was largely caused by the sharp decline in
state funding for higher education, which has fallen by 25 percent since
its peak in 2000."
>
>This means that if students graduate with $53,000 of debt, they will have
a lifetime loss of wealth of $208,000. The $1 trillion of debt being
carried by today's millennial generation means it will have $4 trillion
less wealth overall. Student debt already is leading
torecord rates of default and the inability to buy homes.
>
>And, we see the government continuing to put in place a rigged economy
for the wealthiest. One example of horrendous policy is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the
largest trade agreement since the WTO. It is being negotiated in secret,
and the terms have been classified as secret. As the former US Trade
Representative Ron Kirk said, it is being kept secret because if the people knew what was in this agreement, it would not pass.
Even operating in secret will not save this agreement. Opposition is
growing; a cross-partisan alliance in Congress is developing, and
research is showing how it will devastate most Americans. A recent study concluded that 90 percent of Americans would see their
incomes decline if the TPP became law.
>
>And, we know it does not have to be this way. It is not a shortage of
money; it is where money is used. The Federal Reserve essentially has
given the big banks $20 trillion since the economic crash. In the past
year, through Qualitative Easing and other policies, the Fed has given $1
trillion. As economist Jack Rasmus, who serves as Fed chair for the Green
Shadow Cabinet, points out, that same $1 trillion could have been used to
"create 20 million jobs at a fully loaded full time $50,000 a
year."
>
>To underscore the fact that it is not a question of lack of money, David
DeGraw writes in his two-year OWS anniversary column that according
to the most recent numbers: "US millionaire households now have $50
trillion in wealth." What is $50 trillion? In
another column he explains: "One trillion is equal to 1000
billion, or $1,000,000,000,000.00." When we limit ourselves to not
mere millionaires, but the wealthiest 400 people, they have as much
wealth as 185 million Americans combined. There is enough wealth, but
because of the design of the economy - not because these people are
smarter or work harder - wealth is concentrated in the hands of the
few.
>
>It is not only the economy that provides reasons for the resistance
movement to grow; other issues such as the attack on civil liberties,
especially the dragnet searches of phone calls, emails and Internet
activity, are mobilizing Americans. The revelations about NSA spying gave rise to a new wing of the resistance movement that is working to
restore civil liberties and weaken the surveillance state.
>
>And, a major impetus for growth of the resistance movement is environmental
damage being caused to our food, water and air; and especially to the climate by a government that puts the profits of energy corporations ahead of
protecting the environment. The government is deep in the pockets of the
nuclear, oil, gas and coal industries.
>
>The Best of the Resistance Movement Lies Ahead
>
>The combination of a movement that is broad-based and deepening and a
government that is dysfunctional is a recipe for a movement that is
likely to grow. Not only are current participants in the resistance
movement building relationships and expanding the scope of their work,
but they are also learning how to be more effective. There is more
information available about what it takes to win and more often than not, the movement is using
the right strategies and tactics.
>
>And, the movement is winning battles. Stopping a war after a president
announced a plan to bomb is an amazing, indeed unprecedented, feat.
Repeatedly stopping President Obama and Congress from cutting Social
Security, something the president has tried to do four times since 2010,
is another important success. Forcing Larry Summers, Wall Street's
favorite and President Obama's first choice to be the chairman of the
Federal Reserve, to withdraw from contention is another victory.
>
>Keeping hundreds of people in their homes who were facing evictions and
foreclosures are the types of victories that build strong community bonds
and that are happening all across the country. Closing nuclear power
plants across the country and energy companies pulling out of developing
new plants are a major step toward a clean energy economy, as are
moratoriums on hydrofracking, as occurred in New York. Other wins include
ending the stop-and-frisk program in New York City, moving away from the
war on drugs with reform of marijuana laws and passing a California
initiative requiring treatment instead of prison for many drug offenders.
And Washington state is likely to win the vote to require GMO labeling,
despite Monsanto and other Big Ag businesses spending millions to stop
it.
>
>We need to consistently highlight our successes because there is no
question the government and corporate media will not acknowledge them. It
is much easier to build a movement on victories because it shows people
that we can have an impact and we can make a difference by being part of
a broad-based popular resistance.
>
>We have no doubt that the movement is growing, that support for our views
are rising and that we are reaching a tipping point that will ensure our
ultimate success. People who want to see transformative change in this
country should go forward with confidence and build on the strengths we
have shown. We will look back on this era in amazement at all we have
accomplished.
>
>You can hear our show "Two Years Later - Where is the Occupy
Movement?" with Laura Gottesdiener, Goldi Guerra and Justin Wedes
here.
>
>This article was first published on Truthout and any reprint or
reproduction on any other website must acknowledge Truthout as the
original site of publication. 
>
> 
>
>
>Kevin
Zeese and Margaret Flowers 
>
>Kevin Zeese JD and Margaret Flowers MD co-host ClearingtheFOGRadio.org on
We Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC and on Economic Democracy Media and on UStream.TV/ItsOurEconomy , co-direct It's Our Economy and
are organizers of PopularResistance.org.
Their twitters are @KBZeese and @MFlowers8.
>
>
>________________________________
> 
Show Comments 
>
> 
>
>************************************************
>
> 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.cagreens.org/pipermail/sosfbay-discuss_lists.cagreens.org/attachments/20130927/fd9dfbfc/attachment.html>