Indignés/Indignados/Outraged/Occupy the Earth

[Holly Stick]

Here's a thread for news about Occupy movements all over the world. 

We also have the Occupy Wall Street thread for the US:

http://breadnroses.ca/community/index.php/topic,7449.0.html

And OWS Canada:

http://breadnroses.ca/community/index.php/topic,7459.0.html

[lagatta]

Death threats against the leader of the movement in Frankfurt, which sees people camping out in front of the European Central Bank (EZB in German):

http://www.fr-online.de/frankfurt/banken-protest-morddrohung-gegen-occupy-anfuehrer,1472798,11020130.html

I can't find an English version of this story, perhaps there will be one later at Spiegel or DW-World. Here is an article in English in DW-World on the anti-banking protests, with another photo of people in front of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15463572,00.html

I have found one news brief on the young Occupy Frankfurt (European Central Bank) leader stepping down after death threats to his family, from the Iranian Republic news service of all things. I post this with misgivings about such a source (after such lies and misinformation about the recent protests in their own country and how they were violently repressed) but it seems a fairly accurate summary of the news in German, whatever the Iranian government's reasons:

http://www.irna.ir/ENNewsShow.aspx?NID=30617135&SRCH=1

200 000 Indignadas y Indignados in Madrid. Almost all the protests were peaceful. A small group of rioters marred the protests in Rome - it is still unclear whether these are just very pissed-off unemployed or underemployed youth or a deliberate provocation.

There are still people camped out here at "Place du Peuple" (Square Victoria), between la Tour de la Bourse and le Centre de commerce mondial. So far the police are letting them camp there.

[Toedancer]

Jeebus those threats must have been awfully visual. Ew.


Protesters plan to have their own G20 in Cannes next month. France and Italy plan to closer the borders so protesters cannot attend.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/17/g20-protesters-major-demonstration-cannes


The worry is Black Bloc in Europe. We still don't know enuf about them. remember in 2001 an article in the Guardian said they were seen in police stations and getting out of police vans to join protesters, they never attack the police, just cause massive chaos and destroy shops. I hope OWS always has a camera ready from above.

[Antonia]

I dropped into OccupyToronto briefly on Saturday and there was nothing but cops on bikes, and they were all very friendly. Lots of pot smoking in the park, but no interference.

[Toedancer]

I needs an interpreter! This was sent to my e-mail from a yahoo group I belong to.
I think it says the Portugese Sarjeants in the Military (ANS) say if there is social upheaval they Side with the People not the Institutions. Yowzers, that's a warning.
http://economico.sapo.pt/noticias/militares-avisam-governo-que-estao-com-a-populacao-contra-a-austeridade_129069.html


Revolutions do not announce themselves

And that, according to the official, the new austerity measures announced yesterday by Passos Coelho, "undermine the constitutional rights of sovereignty and even" the country, where "the cutting of subsidies is an aggravation of a situation that was already very difficult "."Revolutions do not announce"
Antonio Lima Coelho admits that "for ordinary people is very difficult to fail to meet their commitments, but to a soldier who is obliged to comply with the laws of the Republic is much more serious."
The military thus ensure that "serve the Portuguese people and not private institutions," and warns, "Let no one dare to think that the armed forces can be used in the repression of social upheaval that these measures may cause."
Asked about a possible hardening of the protests by the military, the Association adds that "revolutions do not announce themselves when they come, they come because they have arrived, but I hope the good of the rule of law ever such a scenario will be put "he concludes.

Here are some numbers from the G-20 Financial Reform/European Institute on Austerity
http://www.europeaninstitute.org/Special-G-20-Issue-on-Financial-Reform/austerity-measures-in-the-eu.html

[Antonia]

Toe, I asked a Portuguese friend. He has inserted his two cents:

Yep, that's pretty much it.
Intro: The army in Portugal was leftist (unlike in Canada and 
elsewhere), and it was the lts. and cap.'s who brought down the regime 
in 1974.
Many were very FAR left!
It would appear that at least the lower ranks continue to be so.
 
Militares admitem endurecer as manifestações de descontentamento e já 
marcaram um encontro nacional para 22 de Outubro.
 
Military (men) allow for or promise or threaten to HARDEN the demos of 
discontentment, and have already set the date of 22/10 for a NATIONAL 
meeting.
 
The National Assoc. of Sarg.'s today reacted to the new austerity 
measures announced yesterday (on the 13th) by the government to be 
included in the 2012 state budget.
 
The ANS prez told the paper that it's been a while that they've been 
preparing a several "initiatives".
And if in doubt remained, the statements by Passos Coelho (current PM) 
have erased any doubts.
 
A. Lima Coelho (geez, everybody is Coelho in this story, and that's one 
of my family names, on my mother's side, meaning Rabbit) (this guy must 
be the prez of the ANS) recalled that when the current PM was the 
opposition he said that cutting subsidies would be silly.
We must have memory and not go to sleep listening to well spoken words!
 
(Doesn't sound like a Canadian Military guy, does he????????... hehehehehe)
 
Further down, those in the military assure (the people) that they're 
still at the service of the Pt people, and not of private institutions 
(meaning I guess banks, etc...).
Nobody should even think that the Armed Forces will allow themselves to 
be used in repression of the social upheaval which these measures may 
provoke (I like this guy!!).
 
Furthermore, "revolutions come as a surprise when they arrive. The 
happen because they MUST happen, but I hope that no such scenario shall 
take place.
 
The PM had recently said that in Pt there's the right to demonstrate and 
the right to strike. These are rights inscribed in the Constitution.
But, he warned that if somebody tries to start a war against the 
government, the government will react (with which army, I ask?).
 
Sounds to me that they've got it up to here.
A doctor married couple that a friend of mine knows over there are 
planning to emigrate to Angola (!), so bad that things are now in Pt.
 
I'm also reading the comments below.
Mention of April 1974 (revolution), good that there's still people with 
balls, the government is moving on extremes (from 8 to 80, a Pt saying), 
  pingpong mentions several dates of note in the '74 revolution (he 
joined the army in June 74) and says he's never the country in this 
condition, one cautions that these are sarg's only and not higher 
officers, another hints that the government has been arming the police 
and the GNR (National Republican Guard, sort of like a Pretorian guard) 
possibly because they are expecting trouble from the army...

[Toedancer]

Yeah, it's too much really. Who will have the balls to write an editorial saying the EU, the G8, the G20, the UN and the entire banking industry are going to be responsible for bloodshed between the people and the military or police.  Worthless, the lot of them.
I read somewhere today (can't find it now) that if Greece/Italy/Portugal go down the tubes, Flaherty will consider another bailout, or as it is called in Europe 'recapitalize banks' which is exactly the same as 'bank bailouts', which should really be called 'recapitalizing bankers'. Banks and War go hand in hand, so I'm expecting a big one. The U.S. is insolvent, they can't do another one. (as a friend pointed out from another article) If you were alive when Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now, and the U.S.budget deficit is $1.3 TRILLION. (or more, not exactly sure)Meantime in Portugal "Manuel Carvalho da Silva of the CGTP union told AFP Tuesday: "The Portugese people need to be mobilised."We must make people aware and make them react," to the proposed measures, he said." http://news.ph.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5417955

The lying liars of France and Germany are saying:"The package includes maximizing the firepower of the euro-zone bailout fund and finding a solution to Greece's debt problems, the report said. Progress was also made on a shared plan to recapitalize banks, French Finance Minister Francois Baroin told reporters after a meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris". That's the exact same shit they did originally and IT DIDN'T WORK! Shit for brains, rinse/repeat.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/germany-france-see-europe-debt-progress-report-2011-10-14

The disinformation is so thick with hypocrisy they haven't even taken the time to 'see' nobody believes them. They're gonna burn. And Flaherty is setting us up to say it is all Europe's fault when the shtf.

[Antonia]

More from my Portuguese friend:

I've noticed that in Portugal and Spanish-speaking countries, the 
protesters are being called 'indignados'.
 
This morning I see this 'indignés' on Radio-Canada!
 
For some reason, 'protesters' isn't being translated to the closest 
equivalent, but rather to what I'd translate as 'outraged', which, all 
in all, is BETTER.
 
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/societe/2011/10/17/001-squarevictoria-occuponscanada-manifestants.shtml

[lagatta]

Antonia, please tell your Portuguese friend, and also to remind EVERYONE, that the name for these protests stems from a booklet/pamphlet (in the C18 sense) penned by Stéphane Hessel, a very old guy of originally German origin, but a French citizen from adolescence, who was active in the Resistance and drafting the postwar human rights charters. http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stéphane_Hessel

Unfortunately the Portuguese language article is a stub: the articles in French, English, Spanish and German (at least) are complete articles with reference to his booklet, "Indignez-vous" in French, which became "Indignaos" (if my not-perfect Spanish serves me well, and I'm not looking it up this late in the evening" and "Time for Outrage" in English.

This is important, as while the fact that these protests have spread to Wall Street and the US has obvious historic significance, it is just as important to remember that they did NOT start there.

Periodisation is a difficult task for historians. One can clearly trace the filiation of these protests back to the immediate spark of the so-called "Arab Spring" (which pisses off my Berber friends in North Africa) but very similar "modern" or post-modern protests certainly go back as far as the great public response to the economic crisis in Argentina ten years ago (and we see echos of that next door in Chile right now).

[Toedancer]

YES Lagatta! Wondrous of you to remind me. I have a post-it on my desk of books I simply cannot find in Hamilton and that is one of them, I had forgotten, Merci!


http://www.franceinlondon.com/en-Article-689-Indignez-vous---The-essay-thats-shaking-France-up-Politics--Stephane-Hessel-Essay.html

[lagatta]

Toe, you might even be able to find the essay online. It isn't very long. I have tried to take it out of the libraries near me (in French, obviously) but all the copies were out.

I really like this poster: http://www.humanite.fr/fete_huma for the Fête de l'Humanité held by what is left of the old French Communist Party - a shadow of a shadow of itself, but the event attracts far beyond their electoral audience and is an rendez-vous for the left in general.

Probably a young Tunisian, this Indignée. With hennaed hands as for a party.

[Toedancer]

Yes but you must subscribe to the Nation to read, I don't subscribe to subscribing.
Meantime @ the Nation Occupy the World updates.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/164104/occupyusa-blog-friday-oct-21-frequent-updates

[Holly Stick]

Here's a copy of the Hessel essay (I think - Google Chrome does not seem to have a translate function):

http://www.attacmadrid.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/Indignaos.pdf

Also links here: http://edicionessimbioticas.info/Indignate-de-Stephane-Hessel

The book is available in French and English:

http://www.amazon.ca/Indignez-vous-St%C3%A9phane-Hessel/dp/291193976X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/191-2428914-3911244

[Boom Boom]

I can't remember where the last 'occupy St. Paul's' post was - this is in response to it:
 
On standing down from the Pastoral Team at St Paul's Cathedral
 

[Toedancer]

There is a bit of St. Paul's in this Guardian article BB. It is fascinating. The Corporation (City of London) no controls, no accountability, no democracy and the Corp. works for the Banks. All to be exposed because OWS has demanded oversight. The Corp. is a medieval old boys' club.

As

Nicholas Shaxson explains in his fascinating book Treasure Islands

, the Corporation exists outside many of the laws and democratic controls which govern the rest of the United Kingdom. The City of London is the only part of Britain over which parliament has no authority. In one respect at least the Corporation acts as the superior body: it imposes on the House of Commons a figure called the

remembrancer

: an official lobbyist who sits behind the Speaker's chair and ensures that, whatever our elected representatives might think, the City's rights and privileges are protected. The mayor of London's mandate stops at the boundaries of the Square Mile. There are, as if in a novel by China Miéville, two cities, one of which must unsee the other.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/31/corporation-london-city-medieval