The 99%: Occupy Everywhere

The 99%: Occupy Everywhere

Directed by Michael Perlman (2013)

Film Review

This is a legacy documentary about the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York city. It includes commentary from several Occupy protestors, from a 90-year old woman who made a daily appearance in Zucuotti Park to support the occupiers, and, most baffling of all, Wall Street economist Jeffrey Sachs. Sachs first came to prominence following the fall of the Soviet Union, when he lead the CIA/Wall Street delegation that administered “shock therapy” to Russia. The “shock therapy” consisted of stripping the country of its financial wealth and handing it over to Wall Street and Russian oligarchs. The process resulted in nearly a decade of misery, as well as a steep reduction in Russian life expectancy.

The film includes some good footage of the mini city that formed in Zuccotti Park to provide occupiers sleeping bags, food, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and even a library. It also captures dramatic footage of the police beating occupiers bloody, long before the final eviction the FBI coordinated with police in cities across the country. The routine brutality was missing as police were shy about assaulting protestors on camera and asked journalists to leave.

Unsurprisingly I disagreed with nearly all the points Sachs made, except for his call to end wasteful foreign wars, his call to reinstate Glass Steagall and his observation that Obama should have appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the banking-led 2008 financial collapse.

His other comments are either factually inaccurate or merely insipid. Some examples:

• “I believe in the power of representation because this is what our founding fathers voted for.”

Wrong. The US founding fathers only extended representation to a small minority of the population – white male landowners.

• “What we need to do is lobby for campaign finance reform.”

Americans tried that, but the Supreme Court overturned campaign finance reform laws in 2010 with Citizens United.

• “We need to close the deficit.”

We don’t need to close the deficit. Deficit spending is the fastest way to put money in the pockets and bank accounts of working Americans during a recession. What needs to change is we need to stop creating debt by borrowing that money from private banks. The Federal Reserve has the power to issue money directly into the economy to cover deficits, just like central banks do in Canada, Japan and China.

• “We just need to elect politicians who really represent us?”

Americans tried that in 2016 and 2020 (ie Bernie Sanders), and the Wall Street elite wouldn’t Sanders to run as the Democratic Party candidate.

People who belong to a public library can view the film free on Kanopy. Type Kanopy and the name of your library into a search engine.

Takeover

 Guest blog by Steven Miller

(The following is an brilliant essay in 6 parts about the takeover of democracy by monopoly capitalism – that includes solutions.)

“Capitalism in the 21st Century is no longer based largely on profits resulting from a real  economy productive process, windfall financial gains are acquired through large scale speculative operations, without the occurrence of real economy activity, at the touch of a mouse button.”  Michel Chussodovsky

Part I – Summary

It is a statement of fact, not ideology, that a class of billionaires, principally based in finance and speculation, control the levers of society. Since the Crash of 2008, the 1% has been waging a war against society that drives the 99% further towards disaster and ruin. Their End Game is the complete privatization of everything that is today owned by the public. This process is inevitable as long as political power remains in their hands. The question is: can this system be reformed? Another is: If not, can we fight and win? If so, how? These are strategic questions.

There are decisive moments in the history of capitalism when one form of wealth, one kind of property, becomes the most lucrative. The capitalists that control this property often become the dominant sector of the capitalist class and take control of the state, dictating policy to society. Marx writes, “The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.”  (1)

The ruling class – call them the 1%, call them capitalists – commonly wages war against itself to seize markets and articulate the strategic view that makes the most profit, especially for them. They call this “the free market”. It is rigged and completely stacked in favor of the billionaires.

When the most profit-making form of labor was slavery, the slave owners ran the government and the state. They were succeeded, after the Civil War, by the railroad barons, industrialists, who owned property in factories, coal, and iron. Slave production was replaced by industrial production. Human slavery was replaced by the far more productive wage-slavery. Early bankers played an enormous role in this transition. Industrial production predominated into the 1950s. It didn’t disappear, but the control of capital passed to banks, investors and finance.

Now it’s all changing again. The tools themselves, the technology, determine which sector of capitalists comes out on top. Today the most revolutionary tools are the vast array of digital, electronic and communication technologies. This revolution is transforming society in ways unforeseen just a decade ago. When Obama was elected in 2008 – the same year as the great economic Meltdown – there was no such thing as social media, no apps, no data in the cloud, no viral videos. The IPhone was only a few months old. The tools are changing fast, driven by constantly evolving hardware and software.

As you read through this essay and examine the evidence, please keep the bigger question in mind. Can this system actually be changed in some sort of meaningful way? What would it take? How do we fight and win?

The growing electronic production of almost everything demonstrates what Karl Marx was referring to when he said, “capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction.” But it was Adam Smith, not Marx, who first proved that the real source of profit is human labor.

References and Resources

 Lead quote – Michel Chussodovsky. “The Speculative Endgame: The ‘Government Shutdown’ and Debt Default’, a Multibillion Bonanza for Wall Street”, Center for Global Research

 1)  Communist Manifesto. Chapter 1

To be continued.

***

Steven Miller has taught science for 25 years in Oakland’s Flatland high schools. He has been actively engaged in public school reform since the early 1990s. When the state seized control of Oakland public schools in 2003, they immediately implemented policies of corporatization and privatization that are advocated by the Broad Institute. Since that time Steve has written extensively against the privatization of public education, water and other public resources. You can email him at nanodog2@hotmail.com

photo credit: Adbusters Culturejammers HQ via photopin cc

Originally posted at Daily Censored

My New Book Goes Live Today

My young adult novel goes live today on Smashwords. The ebook (all formats) can be downloaded for $3.99 at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/361351. It’s also available from other purchase links listed at the bottom.

Here’s a 3rd and final excerpt from Chapter 24. Below is a YouTube video I made of myself reading the prologue. It’s my very first YouTube video. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but I found the process quite stressful – somewhere between getting a tooth drilled without anesthesia and childbirth.

Chapter 24

When Phillip woke her, she was dreaming about missing her bus and wandering around Northgate parking lot looking for a ride to school. She scrambled out of her sleeping bag, switched on the flashlight Phil handed her, and followed Geneva, Roderick, and Lacey into the lobby. Two people sat up as she picked her way through the maze of sleeping bodies.

 “What time is it?” she whispered to Lacey as she reached her assigned position at the right front window.

 “Two fifteen.” Lacey parted the heavy thermal drapes to unlock it. “The sheriff has just closed off both ends of McDonough Street.”

Ange reached around the right drape to grab the narrow aluminum sash, and there was a blast of cold air as she and Lacey eased it upwards. They heard voices through the two-inch crack as the street protestors moved into position around the building. It was comforting to know that Marilyn, Reverend McLeod, Oscar, Justin, Vanessa, Mos Def, and Rosa Clemente were all out there as a first line of defense. Marilyn and Justin would be busy texting every reporter they knew in greater New York. Knowing they would appear on network TV made cops far more reluctant to use potentially life-threatening force.

The voice came from just beside her. “Geeve me your flashlight.”

Ange startled, realizing Phillip was next to her. “Zees eez zee moment of truth, Ange. Are you een or out?”

“I’m in.” She grasped the weapon he thrust at her. Running her right hand along the butt, she found the pistol grip and the safety. It was a modified M16.

“Check your safety,” he reminded her. “Zat weapon eez fully loaded.”

Feeling for the safety, Ange dropped to her knees and used the barrel to push the drape to one side. By now, Roderick and Geneva would be in position at the other front window. Fabio, Alistair, Tafari, and Alex would be at the two cubicle windows and Victor at the small window in the kitchen.

The rustling and quiet whispering told her that most of the room was awake now. Two people got up to use the toilet. Behind her, Ange heard the cranky voice of a male protestor who had been roused from a sound sleep. “Wa’s up, man?” A chorus of nearby protestors hurriedly shushed him.

“Attention, everyone. Zee sheriff has come to evict us.” It was too dark to see Phillip, whose voice came from the vicinity of the front door. “For now, you are safest on zee floor een your sleeping bags. Zee building has to remain dark and quiet. No overhead lights, no flashlights, no matches or lighters. Eef you make a light, you endanger all of us. Eef you must talk, whisper.”

Closing her right eye, Ange lay her cheek on the sill and fixed her scope on the tiny scroll on top of the sign in front of the Nazarene Church. As they had practiced, the four shooters at the front windows were to divide the street into four sectors based on church landmarks. Hers was sector four. She was responsible for any and all cops who charged the building in a line of site between the southwest corner of the church and Patchen Avenue. She was to fire repeatedly until they fell, dropped their weapons, or withdrew.

Other purchase links:

Kobo: A Rebel Comes of Age

Apple ibooks (iTunes): A Rebel Comes of Age

Nook Book: A Rebel Comes of Age

Kindle edition: A Rebel Comes of Age