military resistance 9j11: americn troops here jeered

8/3/2019 Military Resistance 9J11: Americn Troops Here Jeered

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Military Resistance: [email protected] 10.16.11 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

Military Resistance 9J11

The Aircraft Held ThreeSergeants-Major

As It Made A U-Turn Over ANearby Ridge From Where The

Local Fighters Often Fire,American Troops Here Jeered
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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They Said That One Of TheHaqqani Mortar Crews, Expecting

The Aircraft To Land, Might FireOn The Posts Landing Zone,Putting The Soldiers On The

Ground In DangerAre You High? One Of Them

Shouted. You Trying To Blow MeUp?Another Yelled, Theyre Smoking

Rock!

The New York Times

[Thanks to Don Bacon, Lt Col, US Army (Ret), Vietnam & Smedley Butler Society:http://www.warisaracket.org/ , who sent this in. He writes: Theyre smokingrock! The quote is from near top of page 2. Those brave troops are hanging by athread.]

October 13, 2011 By C. J. CHIVERS, New York Times [Excerpts]
http://www.warisaracket.org/http://www.warisaracket.org/


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OBSERVATION POST TWINS, Afghanistan

Much of what the Pentagon hopes to accomplish in Afghanistan before withdrawingmost of its forces by 2014 is visible from this small, sandbagged mountaintop, where therisks and ambitions guiding the latest effort to reshape a foreign nation are equally clear.

The outpost was built about six months ago.

Perched on a ridge near Pakistan and inhabited by side-by-side American andAfghan infantry platoons, it looks down on several villages under the control ofthe Taliban and the Haqqani insurgent network.

Steep mountains all but close off the basin below, known as the Naka bowl, helping tomake it one of the fighters many havens.

The ruins of a government center and police station, built by the United States anddestroyed by those who hold the real sway in Naka, lie abandoned near the base of afacing slope.

Observation Post Twins, in northern Paktika Province, stands about 8,500 feet abovesea level.

It was built for a single purpose: to allow American troops to introduce an Afghansecurity presence in the valley.

During the next few weeks, ahead of the winter freeze, the close-out will begin asAmerican soldiers expect to increase the Afghan force level and decrease their ownnumbers.

First, said Capt. Craig A. Halstead, the commander of Company B, Second Battalion,

28th Infantry Regiment, his platoons will turn over several bunkers to Afghan NationalArmy soldiers. Many American soldiers will return to the companys larger outpost innearby Zerok.

One recent day, while Captain Halstead discussed the transition with Lt. Bismillah, theexecutive officer of an Afghan infantry company, Shahidullah, the Afghan interpreterassisting the conversation, reprised local history. It was a chronicle of thwarted plans.

This is the third plan that we are making, he said. Two times before when the policecame to Naka, the Haqqani guys stopped them.

The last time, he said, the station was destroyed before the police arrived.

For now, after a unilateral cease-fire on the part of the insurgents that allowed pine-coneharvesters to work on the mountains, the outpost is often under rocket or mortar fire.

The Naka bowl is considered to be brimming with danger, so much so that Americanplatoons rotate through the post only at night, to avoid ambushes in the ravine they mustcross to reach it.


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The sense of imminent threat could be seen on a recent day when an AmericanBlack Hawk helicopter flew past.

The aircraft held three sergeants-major.

As it made a U-turn over a nearby ridge from where the local fighters often fire,

The aircraft held three sergeants-major.

As it made a U-turn over a nearby ridge from where the local fighters often fire,American troops here jeered.

They said that one of the Haqqani mortar crews, expecting the aircraft to land,might fire on the posts landing zone, putting the soldiers on the ground indanger.

Are you high? one of them shouted. You trying to blow me up?

Another yelled, Theyre smoking rock!

In this climate, officers speak of tactical patience not pushing out too often or tooaggressively, which could set off gunfights near civilians, encourage local men to linetrails with bombs, and lose lives in clashes that could be avoided and replaced with moreculturally attuned Afghan-on-Afghan efforts.

Observation Post Twins is supplied almost solely by helicopters that carry inwater, ammunition, batteries and food.

Overland routes from Orgun, the nearest city, to the larger outpost in Zerok areplagued by roadside bombs and ambushes.

And the last leg, from Zerok to the mountain where the outpost stands, is a three-hour hike on a dirt trail through a winding river bed.

Without helicopters, it is not clear whether Afghan troops can keep themselvesfed and equipped, evacuate their wounded or rotate troops.

I dont think theyll make it through the first winter, said one Americannoncommissioned officer, who asked that his name be withheld.

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SOLDIERhttp://www.traveling-soldier.org/
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Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization.

Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the governmentin Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier.

But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to

Imperial wars and all other forms of injustice inside the armed forces.

Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties enlisted troopsinside the armed services together.

We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help organize resistance within thearmed forces. We hope that you'll build a network of active duty organizers.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Foreign Occupation ServicememberKilled Somewhere Or Other In

Afghanistan Friday:Nationality Not Announced

October 14, 2011 Reuters

A foreign servicemember died following an improvised explosive device attack in easternAfghanistan today.

Foreign Occupation ServicememberKilled Somewhere Or Other In

Afghanistan Thursday:

Nationality Not AnnouncedOctober 14, 2011 Reuters

A foreign servicemember died during an operation in eastern Afghanistan yesterday.


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U.S. Base Attacked In Rakha

The gate of an American base in Panjshir north of Kabul, Afghanistan, attacked Oct. 15,2011. Militants tried to blast their way into the American base in eastern Afghanistan onSaturday, striking before dawn with rocket-propelled grenades and a vehicle packed withexplosives. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

October 15, 2011 by NPR Staff and Wires


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Militants tried to blast their way into an American base in eastern Afghanistan onSaturday, striking before dawn with rocket-propelled grenades and a vehicle packed withexplosives.

The attackers failed to breach the gate of the base in Panjshir province's Rakha district,

though they did hit a security tower with a rocket-propelled grenade, said provincialPolice Chief Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh.

Three of the men attacked on foot, shooting, while a fourth detonated the explosives-laden vehicle outside the gate, Jangalbagh said. All four of the attackers were killed, hesaid.

Two fuel suppliers were also killed and three guards were wounded.

There was a complex attack attempted, but it was repelled, Capt. Ebony Calhoun said.She said the guards' wounds were not life-threatening but they had been evacuated to alarger U.S. base for treatment.

The base houses a provincial reconstruction team a mix of military and internationalcivilians who work to improve provincial governance, services and infrastructure.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message sent to TheAssociated Press.

WELCOME TO THE LONELY SIDE OF HELL:ALL HOME NOW!

A US soldier watches the sunset over a hill during a mission in the Turkham Nangarharregion of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan, on October 5. (AFP Photo/Tauseef Mustafa)


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MILITARY NEWS

NOT ANOTHER DAYNOT ANOTHER DOLLAR

NOT ANOTHER LIFE

The remains of Army Sgt. Mycal L. Prince of Minco, Okla., at Dover Air Force Base, Del.Sept. 16, 2011. Prince died when his unit was attacked by insurgents with small armsand rocket-propelled grenades in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

POLITICIANS CANT BE COUNTEDON TO HALT THE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWERTO STOP THE WARS


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FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh hadI the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream ofbiting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom theyoppose.

Frederick Douglass, 1852

It is a two class world and the wrong class is running it.

-- Larry Christensen, Soldiers Of Solidarity & United Auto Workers


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Leading Wall StreetTheoretician Of Capitalism Gets

It:Karl Marx Was Right In Claiming

That Globalization, UnfetteredFinancial Capitalism, And

Redistribution Of Income And Wealth

From Labor To Capital Could LeadCapitalism To Self-DestructThe Result Is That Free Markets Dont

Generate Enough Final Demand

The effects on aggregate demand of decades of redistribution of income andwealth from labor to capital, from wages to profits, from poor to rich, and fromhouseholds to corporate firms have become severe

2011-10-13 By Nouriel Roubini, Project Syndicate [Excerpts]

Nouriel Roubini is Chairman of Roubini Global Economics, Professor ofEconomics at the Stern School of Business, New York University, and co-authorof the book Crisis Economics.

**********************************************************************

NEW YORK This year has witnessed a global wave of social and political turmoil andinstability, with masses of people pouring into the real and virtual streets: the ArabSpring; riots in London; Israels middle-class protests against high housing prices and aninflationary squeeze on living standards; protesting Chilean students; the destruction in

Germany of the expensive cars of fat cats; Indias movement against corruption;mounting unhappiness with corruption and inequality in China; and now the OccupyWall Street movement in New York and across the United States.

While these protests have no unified theme, they express in different ways theserious concerns of the worlds working and middle classes about their prospectsin the face of the growing concentration of power among economic, financial, andpolitical elites.


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The causes of their concern are clear enough: high unemployment andunderemployment in advanced and emerging economies; inadequate skills andeducation for young people and workers to compete in a globalized world; resentmentagainst corruption, including legalized forms like lobbying; and a sharp rise in incomeand wealth inequality in advanced and fast-growing emerging-market economies.

Of course, the malaise that so many people feel cannot be reduced to one factor.

For example, the rise in inequality has many causes: the addition of 2.3 billion Chineseand Indians to the global labor force, which is reducing the jobs and wages of unskilledblue-collar and off-shorable white-collar workers in advanced economies; skill-biasedtechnological change; winner-take-all effects; early emergence of income and wealthdisparities in rapidly growing, previously low-income economies; and less progressivetaxation.

The increase in private- and public-sector leverage and the related asset and creditbubbles are partly the result of inequality.

Mediocre income growth for everyone but the rich in the last few decades opened a gapbetween incomes and spending aspirations.

Firms in advanced economies are now cutting jobs, owing to inadequate final demand,which has led to excess capacity, and to uncertainty about future demand.

But cutting jobs weakens final demand further, because it reduces labor income andincreases inequality. Because a firms labor costs are someone elses labor income anddemand, what is individually rational for one firm is destructive in the aggregate.

The result is that free markets dont generate enough final demand.

In the US, for example, slashing labor costs has sharply reduced the share of laborincome in GDP.

With credit exhausted, the effects on aggregate demand of decades ofredistribution of income and wealth from labor to capital, from wages to profits,from poor to rich, and from households to corporate firms have become severe,owing to the lower marginal propensity of firms/capital owners/rich households tospend.

The problem is not new.

Karl Marx oversold socialism, but he was right in claiming that globalization,

unfettered financial capitalism, and redistribution of income and wealth from laborto capital could lead capitalism to self-destruct.

As he argued, unregulated capitalism can lead to regular bouts of over-capacity,under-consumption, and the recurrence of destructive financial crises, fueled bycredit bubbles and asset-price booms and busts.


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ANNIVERSARIES

October 16, 1859:The Second American Revolution

Begins;The Crimes Of This Guilty Land Will

Never Be Purged Away But With Blood

Mural by John Steuart Curry (1937-1942)

Carl Bunin Peace History October 15-21 & Wikipedia.org [Excerpts]

Abolitionist John Brown led a group of 21 other men, five black and sixteen white, in araid on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

They had hoped to set off a slave revolt, throughout the south, with the weapons theyhad planned to seize. Virtually all his compatriots were killed or captured by Gen. RobertE. Lees troops; Brown was wounded and arrested, and hanged for treason within twomonths.

Before hearing his sentence, Brown was allowed make an address to the court.


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. . . I believe to have interfered as I have done, . . . in behalf of His despised poor,was not wrong, but right. Now, if it be deemed necessary that I should forfeit mylife for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with theblood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whoserights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let itbe done.

Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairlyproved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of thewitnesses who have testified in this case), -- had I so interfered in behalf of therich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of theirfriends -- either father, mother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class -- andsuffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been allright; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of rewardrather than punishment.

Although initially shocked by Browns exploits, many Northerners began to speakfavorably of the militant abolitionist.

He did not recognize unjust human laws, but resisted them as he was bid. . . ., saidHenry David Thoreau in an address to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts. No manin America has ever stood up so persistently and effectively for the dignity of humannature. . . .

John Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859.

On the day of his death he wrote:

I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will neverbe purged away but with blood.

John Brown 1856


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DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THEMILITARY?

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish andwell send it regularly.

Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extraimportant for your service friend, too often cut off from access toencouraging news of growing resistance to the wars and economicinjustice, inside the armed services and at home.

Send email requests to address up top or write to: The Military Resistance,Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550

STUCK ON STUPID

Consensus Is Dictatorship ByThe 1%:

Consensus, By Denying MajorityRule, Offers In Practice Its

Opposite--Minority RuleAny Individual Or Group OfIndividuals Can Hold Up The

Decision-Making ProcessIndefinitely

That Is Rule Of The MinorityOctober 10, 2011 By Paul D'Amato, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

When trying to come to a decision--whether it is a trade union meeting or a group ofstudent activists organizing against sweatshops--participants naturally are happiestwhen everyone ends up on the same page.


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In other words, consensus is always a preferable outcome to a group trying to make areal decision about something than being divided. And often consensus is the resultafter a thorough discussion, because the group already has some level of basicagreement over goals.

But hoping for general agreement after a thorough discussion is very different from

requiring it to move forward.

Consensus with a capital C is a method of operation that requires everyone to agreebefore a decision can be made.

Though its popularity reached its zenith in the 1980s, its use has become widespreadamong green activists, many anarchist groupings, and some student activist in variouscampuses.

Though consensus comes from the best motives--a desire that everyone agree--it isinferior in practice as a method of operation to democratic majority rule.

In many cases, consensus is put forward consciously as an alternative todemocracy, which is characterized as the majority wielding power over theminority, to quote one defense of consensus.

What is not usually acknowledged is that consensus, by denying majority rule,offers in practice its opposite--minority rule.

A description of how consensus works will make this clear. To quote the same defenseof consensus cited earlier: If individuals have STRONG objections to a proposal...theycan block the proposal...The block gives each individual ultimate power to influencedecisions that affect him/her.

Any individual or group of individuals can hold up the decision-making processindefinitely.

That is rule of the minority, sometimes a minority of one.

The other defense of consensus is that with it there are no leaders, no followers. But allstruggles produce leaders--people that others look to because of their experience andideas to move the struggle forward.

The question is--what kind of leadership will develop?

One that is democratically and publicly accountable, or one that is undemocratic,

unaccountable and behind the scenes?

Consensus ensures--by driving out most ordinary people who can't afford to stay inendless meetings, and by refusing to vote for and hold accountable formal leadership--that some kind of informal leadership will make many of the decisions.

Consensus historically has never been the mode of operation in workers' organizations,and the reasons should by now be clear.


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Workers depend on their success in fighting for their rights against employers that theywield power as a collective.

If consensus were used to debate whether or not to strike, most strikes would never getoff the ground.

And a union certainly could not tolerate a situation where a minority of workers whoopposed a strike were permitted to do their own thing to defeat it.

Democracy is a superior method of organizing in struggle.

Democracy encourages the fullest debate and discussion, followed by a prompt majoritydecision and action. The minority is not compelled to change views, but merely to abideby the majority's decision.

Once the decision is implemented, its success or failure can then be opened up forrenewed discussion. After such a debate, the majority might decide that the minoritywas right after all!

By this method of operation, participants in the struggle learn from that struggle and bytheir own decisions and actions how best to move the struggle forward. By adopting, inmost cases, a compromise, consensus prevents such sharp assessments from evertaking place.

Where democracy encourages open and sharp, clarifying debate, consensus tends tominimize debate and differences in order not to upset the possibility of consensus beingreached.

That is why in virtually any mass struggle--whether it be the Flint sit-down strikes of 1937or the French strike wave in 1995--workers have instinctively organized their struggle on

a democratic basis.

Once you accept that complete unanimity is the exception rather than the rule, then youmust also accept that decisions will be made either by the majority (democracy) or theminority.

Consensus, in permitting a minority even of one to prevent a decision supportedby the rest, is based in the final analysis on the rule of a small minority.

Troops Invited:

Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service menand women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or [email protected]: Name, I.D., withheld unless yourequest publication. Same address to unsubscribe.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

CLASS WAR REPORTS


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Boss Told Me To Stop Giving Dying

Co-Worker CPR, Says Service Rep:Get Back On The Phone And Take CareOf Customers

Oct 14th 2011 By Claire Gordon, AOL Inc

Last month, a Time Warner Cable customer service rep died at her desk.

After any unexpected death, people searched for answers, explanations, someone toblame. But in this case, there may have actually been something foul afoot.

A local news station reports that after a co-worker began giving CPR to 67-year-old Julia Nelson, a supervisor allegedly told her to stop and get back on thephone and take care of customers.

Nelson slumped at her desk at the Time Warner Call Center in Garfield Heights, Ohio,and wasn't breathing by the time paramedics arrived.

But before that happened, a co-worker rushed over and began administering CPR, thewoman told WOIO, only to be asked to stop. Employees at the scene have confirmedthis report.

The woman was also told later by another supervisor that she could be heldliable if something goes wrong.

Ohio has a Good Samaritan law on the books, however, which protectsbystanders who provide emergency aid from being sued for unintentional injuryor wrongful death.

Thanks to this legal immunity, many employees have used CPR to save co-workers liveswithout any risk to themselves.

Last year, two co-workers resuscitated 55-year-old Brenda Halliburton after shecollapsed at her desk at American Baptist Churches.

One performed CPR, while the other gave her a jolt with an Automated ExternalDefibrillator. In July, Alex Molina saw his co-worker at Yuma Proving Grounds slumpedin his carseat. Thinking he was sleeping, Molina pulled over to give him a joking scare,but ended up giving him CPR until the paramedics arrived.

Unfortunately, Nelson didn't receive similar care.


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Time Warner released a statement, denying any wrongdoing: Time Warner respondedappropriately to a medical emergency. Our company has procedures in place to respondto emergencies. We are saddened by the loss of one of our employees who was a co-worker and a friend. Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time.

Police are reviewing the incident, according to WOIO.

Occupy Protests Spread Around TheWorld:

Demonstrators Carried Signs SayingGoldman Sucks, Eat Cash, People

Should Not Be Afraid Of TheirGovernment, The Government Should BeAfraid Of Their People

10.15.11 By Faith Karimi and Joe Sterling CNN

Thousands of people across the world railed against corporate power, grinding povertyand government cuts Saturday as the Occupy Wall Street movement spread to thestreets of Europe, Asia and Australia -- and took a particularly violent turn in Rome.

Firefighters battled a blaze at an Interior Ministry [government police] buildingnear Porta San Giovanni in Rome, the main gathering site of the Italian protesterstaking part in the Occupy movement Saturday, said eyewitnesses who reportedseeing a Molotov cocktail thrown near the building.

A spokesman for Mayor Gianni Alemanno, who condemned the violence, confirmed 70people were injured, 40 of them police officers. No arrest numbers were available lateSaturday.

In London, protester Peter Vaughn, reflecting the mood of many in the crowd there, saidpeople criticized financial institutions that have gambled away our money.

We're giving people a real voice against a government that just ignored us, he said.

One protester in Belleville, France, referring to the country's leaders, said governmentisn't listening to the people and dialogue with them is impossible.

You are not listening to us, whatever we do, however we vote, however wedemonstrate. It does not give any result. Quite the opposite, as poverty and austerityplans continue. So we can't go on like this so we are getting out and showingourselves, he said.


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Europeans turned out amid debt troubles and austerity plans in Greece, Belgium, Italy,Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Germany.

More than 10,000 demonstrators of all ages gathered peacefully in Madrid'sspacious Plaza de Cibeles on Saturday and than walked uphill to Puerta del Sol.

The May 15 Movement started five months ago to the day over austerity measures andhigh unemployment. Some demonstrators said they felt Spain's protest had gone globaland that the world had joined the movement started in their country.

The newspaper El Pais said tens of thousands of protesters turned out in Barcelona.

Around the world, protesters marched, listened to speeches, and displayedbanners reading anti-corporate slogans, including the now ubiquitous we are the99%, Banks are cancer and tax the rich 1%.

In Germany, police used pepper spray on two protesters who crossed beyond police

lines.

Still, the demonstrations across the world were peaceful overall, inspired by the protestsin the United States. In London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange spoke todemonstrators.

The demonstrations are contained to an area in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. There havealso been three arrests, two for assault on police.

What is happening here today is a culmination of greed that many people all over theworld have worked towards from Cairo to London, Assange said.

Tens of thousands demonstrated in German cities, witnesses said.

Protests sprung up in 50 German cities including Berlin, where 6,000 took to the streets,and numbering 1,500 in Cologne, ZDF said.

Peaceful protests with a festive atmosphere blended with a mood of anger toward bigbusiness, where demonstrators carried signs saying Goldman Sucks, Eat Cash,People should not be afraid of their government, and The government should be afraidof their people.

In Zurich, about 200 protesters coalesced on Paradeplatz, playing monopoly and sippingfree coffee from a stand. The protests were peaceful.

In South Africa, about 80 people gathered at the Johannesburg Securities Exchange,Talk Radio 702 reported. Protests continued in the face of objection from police that thegathering is illegal. More than 100 people gathered in Cape Town's Company Gardens,close to Parliament, to debate the economic and social challenges faced by SouthAfrica, the radio station reported.

In Taiwan, organizers drew several hundred demonstrators, who mostly sat quietlyoutside the Taipei World Financial Center, known as Taipei 101.


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They are stealing our rights, one banner read at a demonstration of several thousandpeople in Madrid.

Canadians turned out in Toronto, with placards jutting up from a crowd saying Arrest the1% and Stop ignoring the youth, we are your tomorrow. A sign on a dog said 99%

against (corporate) fat cats.

Levin Jiang, 22, an English major at Taipei's Fu Jen Catholic University, joined othersmarching and singing the communist anthem L'Internationale in front of the Hermeswatch shop in the mall of what was until last year the world's tallest building.

I'm angry about the unjust capitalist society, he said. I'm anti-capitalism.

In Seoul, 600 converged on the city hall after changing the location of protest aspolice banned the rally today, Yonhap News reported.

They urged clamping down on speculative capital, and demanded lower colleague

tuition.

In Hong Kong, about 200 people gathered at the Exchange Square Podium in the city'scentral shopping and business district, according to Napo Wong, an organizer.

Hong Kong is heaven for capitalists, said Lee Chun Wing, 29, a community collegesocial sciences lecturer in Hong Kong.

Wealth is created by workers and so should be shared with the workers as well.Capitalism is not a just system.

Retired businessman Wong Chi Keung, in Hong Kong, said, We should not let the

banks get away with being big bullies.

Debbie Chen works for a group protesting against Apple's treatment of its workersin China.

As the world's most valuable company they earn the lion's share while theworkers on the production line earn only 1% of the selling price of an iPhone.

We hope there can be more even distribution of profits, she said.

About 200 people marched through Tokyo carrying various signs, including No MoreNukes and Free Tibet. The crowd included children jumping and skipping behind the

adults. Some protesters wore costumes -- including a giant panda.

I'm here because young Japanese people are suffering for losing their jobs, but notmany speak out their issue to the public, said Kesao Murakami. I really want youngpeople to appeal forcefully to the public saying, 'We are in trouble.'

Australian cities of Melbourne and Sydney joined rallies against corporate greed asprotesters aligned themselves with the global movement.


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In Australia, about 800 people gathered in Sydney's central business district, carryingcardboard banners and chanting Human need, not corporate greed. Protesters willcamp indefinitely to organize, discuss and build a movement for a different world, notrun by the super-rich 1%, according to a statement on the Occupy Sydney website.

Our protests are to show our solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and also protest various

problems -- from indigenous issues in this country to government problems, said AlexGard, one of the Melbourne organizers. We know we have it better than the protestersin the States ... but there are still problems in this country.

Organizers urged protesters to bring sleeping bags and other soft items to sleep on.

I've heard people say they plan to be there for days, even months, Gard said.

Organizers worldwide started social media pages on Facebook and Twitter devoted toOctober 15 --- #O15 on Twitter --- urging protesters to join the global call for protests.

The worldwide movement is galvanized by the Occupy Wall Street movement started

last month as a backlash against the economy and what demonstrators say is an out-of-touch corporate, financial and political elite.

Occupy Wall Street organizers say they are inspired by the Arab Spring that led to thetoppling of regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.

The founding movement in the United States has spread to other major cities in thenation.

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Bilious Bloodsucking Billionaire

Bloomberg Forced To Abandon PlanTo End Occupy Wall Street

Encampment:
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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New York City Unions Mobilized TheirMembers To Get Down To Zuccotti Park

October 14, 2011 By Eric Ruder, Danny Lucia and David Judd, Socialist Worker[Excerpts]

The Call went out yesterday, and from well before dawn on the morning of October 14,people in their thousands gathered at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan to defend theOccupy Wall Street encampment from a threatened eviction by New York City officials.

Then the news came in the early morning hours, and cheers of relief but also somethingmore swept through crowd that had now swelled to some 3,000: Mayor MichaelBloomberg and real estate firm Brookfield Properties were backing down from the threatto clear the square at 7 a.m. in order to clean the plaza.

For hours before, tension hung in the air, as police made preparations and protestersbraced themselves for what most expected--based on the cops' treatment of protestersin prior weeks--would be a mass arrest carried out with the NYPD's typical brutality.

But the thousands of union members, students and everyday New Yorkers whoresponded to the call to come to Liberty Plaza--the protesters' new name for ZuccottiPark, a square privately owned by real estate giant Brookfield Properties--clearlycompelled Bloomberg to question the wisdom of carrying out an act of mass repressionagainst a peaceful crowd as the whole world watched.


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The day before, Bloomberg announced that the square had become a public healthconcern, and that police would move in at 7 a.m. on Friday morning so it could becleaned.

Officials claimed the protesters could return afterward, but the list of restrictions--against,for example, sleeping bags--made it clear what the city really wanted: to put an end to

Occupy Wall Street.

Activists sprung into action.

The occupiers organized a cleaning operation that had Zuccotti Park looking far betterthan it ever had before, say protesters. And Occupy Wall Street and its supporters calledon everyone to defend Liberty Plaza, the symbolic center of a movement that has gainednational attention and spread around the country.

Some 300,000 people signed petitions, and callers clogged the city's 311 informationline to protest the mayor's announcement.

Crucially, New York City unions mobilized their members to get down to Zuccotti Park.

The first calls asked for people to come by 6 a.m., but as fears grew that police mightmove in earlier, the messages, official and not, among activists simply said to comedown as soon as possible.

Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights had sent a letter to Bloombergand Brookfield to make clear that closing down Occupy Wall Street violates the FirstAmendment and is flatly illegal, Ratner said.

The following morning, Ratner described the roar of joy that went up when it wasannounced that the cleaning operation had been called off.

The health emergency was a pretext to destroy something all Americans should beproudest of, he told a reporter. You can eat off the ground in this park.

As he told Democracy Now!:

Apart from the illegality of it, it was just too massive...It would have been abloodbath. The idea that they were going to come in here when there werethousands of people all over the place--union people everywhere--they could nothave successfully closed this park down...It's too big now. This park is becominga permanent feature of the next generation of protests.

Damon McGee, an organizer for the health care union 1199 SEIU, was one of hundredsof union members who responded to the call to defend the encampment, and he wasthere when news of the victory came.

It's exhilarating, said McGee. We're standing up to the wealth. The wealthy havecontrol of our democracy.

Bloomberg's highly public reversal is a big embarrassment for the authorities, whichhave alternated between acting tolerant of the protesters and their grievances, and


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looking for opportunities to attack the Occupy movement, with the NYPD leading theway.

MORE:

Bloomberg Is Technically Part OfThe 0.0000001 Percent, But That's

Hard To Put Into A ChantWhen This Guy Hangs Out With The

One Percent, He's Practically Slumming

Google images

October 13, 2011 By Danny Lucia, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

The occupy Wall Street movement has put New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg(net worth: $19.5 billion) in a bit of a pickle.

Being both the city's mayor and its richest person makes him a poster child for thetyranny of the One Percent. Actually, as the 12th richest person in America, Bloomberg

is technically part of the 0.0000001 Percent, but that's hard to put into a chant.

When this guy hangs out with the One Percent, he's practically slumming.

So naturally, the mayor isn't at his best when he tries to go populist, as he did on hisradio show last week.


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But still, he ought to have been able to come up with something better than claiming,The protesters are protesting against people who make $40,000, $50,000 year and arestruggling to make ends meet.

And to think that there's been so much talk about this movement not having cleardemands.

How did we all miss the No more jobs! chants and the signs denouncing the $20-an-hour plutocracy?

Bloomberg went on to say that those folks struggle on $40,000 and $50,000 a year arethe people that work on Wall Street and in the finance sector--although the transcriptdoesn't note if he waited until completing that sentence before bursting into laughter.

But the mayor isn't the only one having a hard time finding an effective way to slam theprotests.

Rush Limbaugh denounced the protests as 99 percent white kids--which isn't true, but I

like the idea that he would be down with the struggle if only there were more brothers inthe park.

I think if Occupy Wall Street were 99 percent Black and Brown kids, Rush Limbaughwould be calling for air strikes.

Then there's Herman Cain, the Republican presidential hopeful who has shot up thepolls with his plainspoken tough talk.

Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, he declared. If you don't have ajob and you're not rich, blame yourself! Can't you just picture the campaign buttons?Blame Yourself! Cain in 2012

The ideological defenders of the One Percent are scrambling because they've gotnothing (because they have everything.)

The Occupy movement is like a little boy shouting, The emperor has taken all of ourclothes! And finally, everybody in America is talking openly about it.

For all of its branding savvy, the U.S. ruling class is finding it challenging to counter thesimple slogan, We are the 99 percent!

(For the record, a while ago, I suggested that an occupation on Wall Street should usethe slogan, Give us our money back, you motherfuckers.

But the One Percent has an old saying: If you can't beat them, beat them up.

Occupiers in Boston are now learning what those in New York have already foundout: making friends with police officers does about as much good when they getthe order to attack as making friends with their nightsticks.

Thousands of activists across the country are unlearning childhoods spentwatching shows featuring tough but good-hearted cops. (Although it should be


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noted that there's never been a show called Law and Order: Bill of RightsProtection Unit.)

But the American One Percent has long had an ace in the hole when the Ninety-NinePercent start getting rowdy: The Democratic Party, which, now that the Occupymovement has shown it can survive and grow without anybody's help, is rushing in to

offer help.

Nancy Pelosi said she supports Occupy Wall Street's message to theestablishment...that change has to happen.

One would think that as the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Pelosiwould have already been in good position to deliver that message herself.

Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke got in on the act, telling a congressionalcommittee that he can't blame protesters for being mad at banks and the government.

For protesters who have withstood pepper-spraying, mass arrests, media

blackouts and ridicule, all this must feel a bit like the end of an action movie whenthe hero fights off hordes of mercenaries, bursts into the lair of the evil villain andfinds him sitting in a chair with two glasses of scotch saying, Come in, I've beenexpecting you.

We all know the next scene: the offer to join forces.

To be continued.

Mounting Pressure FromProtesters Against The 32-YearRule Of President Jos Eduardo

Dos SantosBetween 1990 And 2008, $34 BillionDisappeared From Angola's Public

CoffersKickbacks, Asset Stripping AndCorruption Must Have Happened

OCTOBER 15, 2011 By NEANDA SALVATERRA, Wall Street Journal [Excerpts]


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Angolan authorities on Friday released 16 demonstrators it detained duringantigovernment protests in early September, amid mounting pressure from protestersagainst the 32-year rule of President Jos Eduardo dos Santos.

In an echo of demonstrations that have overthrown established rulers in North Africa,protesters have mounted a handful of small demonstrations since the beginning of the

year in the capital, Luanda.

The gatherings reached their largest size late last month when about 400 people ralliedin Luanda's Independence Square, demanding the release of the prisoners, who weredetained after violent clashes with police on Sept. 3.

AngolaAfrica's second-largest crude-oil producer by volume after Nigeria, and sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fundemerged in 2002 from 27 years of civil war that claimed 1.5 million lives and severelydamaged its infrastructure.

Protesters charge that Mr. dos Santos's Movimento Popular de Libertao de Angola, or

MPLA, which has been in power for more than three decades, has mismanaged thecountry's resources, primarily oil and diamonds. This, they say, has exacerbatedpoverty and hobbled rebuilding efforts.

Like protesters on the continent and beyond this year, the protesters in Luanda arelargely young and well-educated. Several identify themselves as having family memberswho hold positions in the MPLA.

I don't want to emphasize that, said Deoneseo Gonalves Casimiro, a 28-year-old techworker released Friday. Despite having education, we are still victims of badgovernance.

Rallies have intensified ahead of elections next year.

The government in 2010 passed constitutional changes that protesters fear couldentrench the MPLA.

Protesters have also pointed to what they call government corruption. A 2011 reportcommissioned by the United Nations Development Fund says that between 1990 and2008, $34 billion disappeared from Angola's public coffers.

The report's author, economist Dev Kar of the international watchdog group GlobalFinancial Integrity, said the report measures the gap between a countries source offunds and its use of funds.

Kickbacks, asset stripping and corruption must have happened to the balance ofpayments, said Mr. Kar, saying the underlying numbers come from the InternationalMonetary Fund as self reported by the Angolan government.

Mr. Casimiro, the detainee released Friday, denied the charges against him and theothers, which included aggression against police and destruction of property. Angola'sSupreme Court annulled the ruling on grounds of improper evidence, and returned it forfurther police investigation.


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Pedro Sozinho Neves, a 30-year-old information-technology engineer who had beendetained for three days and released after the Sept. 3 rallies, said organizers wouldcontinue to rally Angolans online.

Nothing has changed. We will take this opportunity to march on parliament on

Tuesday, he said.

Speaking last week from the darkened capital where electricity outages are common,Mr. Neves said the protesters wanted to call attention to the country's poor livingconditions.

Right now anyone who wants to access resources has to show a party member-card just to be helped, he said.

With free primary education, Angola's literacy rates have been climbing. But the countryremains ranked No. 146 out of 169 countries in the United Nations' human developmentindex, which measures access to health, education and income.

More than 54 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line of $1.25 perday, the UNDP says.

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