The Positive Aspects of OWS and... North Korea's State Run Media Backs OWS

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

Like most concerned citizens OWS has held my attention as I try to analyze where the movement may eventually lead us. Certainly OWS protests represent America's unrest with the business and financial world as well as our federal government.

To the degree the movement focuses on the need to end corporatism, crony capitalism, taxpayer bailouts, and an inequitable tax system the movement has a justifiable purpose. As many conservative and liberal bloggers have noted there is common ground for OWS and the Tea Party to unite and work to effect the needed changes in government's relationship with the business and financial sectors.

One major issue standing in the way however is OWS has no leadership, no clear and cohesive vision, and thus no direction. Hopefully, much as the Tea Party did, OWS will quickly develop into a cohesive group of patriotic American capitalists who with the Tea Party can bring unbearable pressure on Washington and the corporate world to change or end their destructive impact on America's security.

Even given the several positive goals of OWS a most disturbing development has surfaced. OWS has began to attract anti Semites, neo-Nazis, anti capitalists, and individuals looking for that free ride. Please don't read more into the preceding statement than is there. Certainly these kind of individuals do not make up the majority of OWS advocates.

Freedom of speech is often offensive, but nonetheless these groups are entitled to their voice as long as they remain within the law and maintain common respect and decency for others and their property. Just as those attending Tea Party rallies did. And lets hope these groups do not gain strength within the movement. They do deserve the cold shoulder and chagrin of every thinking person advocating OWS.


Tuning abroad to witness the most recent in global support for OWS.

WSJ - North Korea’s state news agency weighed in on the Occupy Wall Street protests Thursday, highlighting the “stern judgment” of “millions of people” against a capitalist system that “brings exploitation, oppression, unemployment and poverty to the popular masses.”

The Korean Central News Agency’s daily dispatches usually contain a few accounts of the woes of the rest of the world, so KCNA’s editors were probably rubbing their hands with glee at the chance to play up the Occupy movement, which the report says is “sweeping across the capitalist world.”

With no apparent sense of irony, KCNA says that in capitalist society “1% of privileged class is granted all preferential treatment while 99% of working masses are forced into poverty and death.”

Predictably, the report focuses on the woes of the U.S. in particular, reeling off a list of stats about declining incomes, increasing homelessness and unemployment.

“Low-income earners’ pent-up wrath against avaricious big banks and companies that caused economic inequality finally gave its vent,” the report says.

In the final few paragraphs, the report appears to start channeling Karl Marx in predicting the decline and ultimate fall of the “exploiting class” under the weight of “the socio-class contradiction of capitalism.”

“The end of capitalism is one of inevitabilities of history,” it signs off.

It remains to be seen if the backing of Pyongyang will give the Occupy Wall Street movement fresh momentum.

What say you?

Via: Memeorandum


UPDATE Much closer to home. A birds-eye view if you will of OWS's leaderless {and perhaps in many ways clueless}movement. It is still early yet, but as the movement continues some things are beginning to appear not so positive.

Daily Intel - All occupiers are equal — but some occupiers are more equal than others. In wind-whipped Zuccotti Park, new divisions and hierarchies are threatening to upend Occupy Wall Street and its leaderless collective.

As the protest has grown, some of the occupiers have spontaneously taken charge on projects large and small. But many of the people in Zuccotti Park aren't taking direction well, leading to a tense Thursday of political disagreements, the occasional shouting match, and at least one fistfight.

It began, as it so often does, with a drum circle. The ten-hour groove marathons weren’t sitting well with the neighborhood’s community board, the ironically situated High School of Economics and Finance that sits on the corner of Zuccotti Park, or many of the sleep-deprived protesters.

“[The high school] couldn’t teach,” explained Josh Nelson, a 27-year-old occupier from Nebraska. “And we’ve had issues with the drummers too. They drum incessantly all day, and really loud.” Facilitators spearheaded a General Assembly proposal to limit the drumming to two hours a day. “The drumming is a major issue which has the potential to get us kicked out," said Lauren Digion, a leader on the sanitation working group.

But the drums were fun. They brought in publicity and money. Many non-facilitators were infuriated by the decision and claimed that it had been forced through the General Assembly.

“They’re imposing a structure on the natural flow of music," said Seth Harper, an 18-year-old from Georgia. “The GA decided to do it ... they suppressed people’s opinions. I wanted to do introduce a different proposal, but a big black organizer chick with an Afro said I couldn’t.”

To Shane Engelerdt, a 19-year-old from Jersey City and self-described former “head drummer,” this amounted to a Jacobinic betrayal. “They are becoming the government we’re trying to protest," he said. "They didn’t even give the drummers a say ... Drumming is the heartbeat of this movement. Look around: This is dead, you need a pulse to keep something alive.”

Skip

Daniel Zetah, a 35-year-old lead facilitator from Minnesota, mounted a bench. “We need to clear this out. There are a bunch of kids coming to stay here.” One of the hoodied men fought back: “I’m not giving up my space for fucking kids. They have parents and homes. My parents are dead. This is my space.”

Other organizers were more blunt. “If you don’t want to be part of this group, then you can just leave,” yelled a facilitator in a button-down shirt, “Every week we clean our house.” Seth Harper, the pro-drummer proletarian, chimed in on the side of the sitters. “We disagree on how we should clean it. A lot of us disagree with the pile.” Zetah, tall and imposing with a fiery red beard, closed debate with a sigh. “We’re all big boys and girls. Let’s do this.” As he told me afterwards, “A lot of people are like spoiled children." The cure? A cold snap. “Personally, I cannot wait for winter. It will clear out these people who aren’t here for the right reasons. Bring on the snow. The real revolutionaries will stay in -50 degrees.”

“The sunshine protestors will leave,” said “Zonkers,” a 20-year-old cleaner and longtime occupier from Tennessee. (He asked that his name not be used due to a felony marijuana conviction.) “The people who remain are the people who care. You get a lot of crust punks, silly kids, people who want to panhandle ... It disgusts me. These people are here for a block party.”

Skip

In response to dissatisfaction with the consensus General Assembly, many facilitators have adopted a new “spokescouncil” model, which allows each working group to act independently without securing the will of the collective. “This streamlines it,” argued Zonkers. “The GA is unwieldy, cumbersome, and redundant."

From today’s battles, it’s not yet clear who will win the day: the organizers or the organized. But the month-long protest has clearly grown and evolved to a point where a truly leaderless movement will risk eviction — or, worse, insurrection.

Not sure what it all means. But it might be just an unruly block party after all.

Via: Memeorandum