Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Economy
In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 19 April 2012 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)26. The Landscape of May Day in New York
http://truth-out.org/op-ed/item/8587-the-landscape-of-may-day-in-new-york
... OWS organizers have been patiently patching together an historic joint rally and (MAY 1ST) march with labor unions, immigrants rights groups and community organizations, many of which were invited to participate in the planning process since the beginning. The members of this tenuous coalition, however, have refused to demand the impossible together which is to say, a general strike. Instead, the coalition speaks of a day without the 99% and the slogan, Legalize, Unionize, Organize. But at just about every other opportunity, people from OWS have been echoing the call for a general strike on May Day, which originated from Occupy Los Angeles General Assembly in December. During the April 4 press conference announcing the New York coalitions plans, the OWS representative avoided saying those words, but after his speech he stripped down to an undershirt with general strike scrawled on it in red. Meanwhile, a group called Strike Everywhere, consisting of anarchists, anti-capitalists and autonomists, has made a general strike its unapologetic mission, and it is busy covering the city and the Internet with propaganda, both beautiful and obscene, to agitate for revolt. Some of its members have even constituted a tantalizing Central Park Exploratory Committee, which has yet to disclose its intentions to the public.
A strike, if it actually happens on May 1 or thereafter, may not look like one ever has before. Strike Everywhere, for instance, has been holding assemblies for precarious and service workers as a way to create new solidarity networks, and numerous social media accounts are trying to do the same online. Tumblrs have appeared collecting peoples various ideas for how and why they plan to strike. For those who cant skip work or school, OWS recommends at least a consumer boycott: no housework, no shopping, no banking. And, of course, TAKE THE STREETS!!!!! Much like the Adbusters call that resulted in Occupy Wall Street itself, the logic of May Day has been to start with the impossible and figure out the possible from there. The plan for the day, insofar as there is any single plan, starts at 8 a.m. in Bryant Park, in Midtown. From there, Occupiers and allied organizations will break off into pickets and other kinds of groupings, each targeting one or several of the many corporations with offices in the surrounding skyscrapers. Meanwhile, in the park, there will be a bazaar of mutual aid, with food, trainings, medical care, teach-ins, radio transmitters, massages, bike repair, free stores and more. Over the course of the afternoon, the theater of action will shift (likely by way of a ruckus march) down toward Union Square, where the unions and immigrants rights groups will by rallying. From there, at around 5:30, there will be a safe, taxi-led, permitted march further down, through Foley Square and into the Financial District. The general consensus seems to be that the bulk of arrests will be saved for after that for whatever the night will hold.
When the subset of Occupiers preparing for May Day arent planning, or wheatpasting posters, or viral-video making, or negotiating, or tweeting, theyre studying history the Haymarket Massacre, Rosa Luxemburg, and so on through old films, teach-ins, zines and the movement-made magazine Tidal. Theyre also warming up in the streets. Every Friday, there are Spring Training marches to greet the closing bell of the Stock Exchange, and at each Occupiers test out a new creative tactic, like civilian, in which they revert to non-protester status so as to evade police blockades, or melt, in which they collapse into a disarming die-in or cuddle-puddle. Spring Training culminates in the peoples gong, replacing the NYSEs bell with the voices of Occupiers standing in concentric circles and crying, Ding!
On April 17, too, Occupiers will be testing their synergy in the streets for Tax Day actions with many of the institutional allies who will come out in much greater force on May 1. This comes at the end of a nationwide effort called the 99% Spring, in which 100,000 Americans are supposed to be receiving training in nonviolent action, and it will be the first test of a newly-trained populace, just in time for May Day...
... OWS organizers have been patiently patching together an historic joint rally and (MAY 1ST) march with labor unions, immigrants rights groups and community organizations, many of which were invited to participate in the planning process since the beginning. The members of this tenuous coalition, however, have refused to demand the impossible together which is to say, a general strike. Instead, the coalition speaks of a day without the 99% and the slogan, Legalize, Unionize, Organize. But at just about every other opportunity, people from OWS have been echoing the call for a general strike on May Day, which originated from Occupy Los Angeles General Assembly in December. During the April 4 press conference announcing the New York coalitions plans, the OWS representative avoided saying those words, but after his speech he stripped down to an undershirt with general strike scrawled on it in red. Meanwhile, a group called Strike Everywhere, consisting of anarchists, anti-capitalists and autonomists, has made a general strike its unapologetic mission, and it is busy covering the city and the Internet with propaganda, both beautiful and obscene, to agitate for revolt. Some of its members have even constituted a tantalizing Central Park Exploratory Committee, which has yet to disclose its intentions to the public.
A strike, if it actually happens on May 1 or thereafter, may not look like one ever has before. Strike Everywhere, for instance, has been holding assemblies for precarious and service workers as a way to create new solidarity networks, and numerous social media accounts are trying to do the same online. Tumblrs have appeared collecting peoples various ideas for how and why they plan to strike. For those who cant skip work or school, OWS recommends at least a consumer boycott: no housework, no shopping, no banking. And, of course, TAKE THE STREETS!!!!! Much like the Adbusters call that resulted in Occupy Wall Street itself, the logic of May Day has been to start with the impossible and figure out the possible from there. The plan for the day, insofar as there is any single plan, starts at 8 a.m. in Bryant Park, in Midtown. From there, Occupiers and allied organizations will break off into pickets and other kinds of groupings, each targeting one or several of the many corporations with offices in the surrounding skyscrapers. Meanwhile, in the park, there will be a bazaar of mutual aid, with food, trainings, medical care, teach-ins, radio transmitters, massages, bike repair, free stores and more. Over the course of the afternoon, the theater of action will shift (likely by way of a ruckus march) down toward Union Square, where the unions and immigrants rights groups will by rallying. From there, at around 5:30, there will be a safe, taxi-led, permitted march further down, through Foley Square and into the Financial District. The general consensus seems to be that the bulk of arrests will be saved for after that for whatever the night will hold.
When the subset of Occupiers preparing for May Day arent planning, or wheatpasting posters, or viral-video making, or negotiating, or tweeting, theyre studying history the Haymarket Massacre, Rosa Luxemburg, and so on through old films, teach-ins, zines and the movement-made magazine Tidal. Theyre also warming up in the streets. Every Friday, there are Spring Training marches to greet the closing bell of the Stock Exchange, and at each Occupiers test out a new creative tactic, like civilian, in which they revert to non-protester status so as to evade police blockades, or melt, in which they collapse into a disarming die-in or cuddle-puddle. Spring Training culminates in the peoples gong, replacing the NYSEs bell with the voices of Occupiers standing in concentric circles and crying, Ding!
On April 17, too, Occupiers will be testing their synergy in the streets for Tax Day actions with many of the institutional allies who will come out in much greater force on May 1. This comes at the end of a nationwide effort called the 99% Spring, in which 100,000 Americans are supposed to be receiving training in nonviolent action, and it will be the first test of a newly-trained populace, just in time for May Day...
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
66 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
Giant Banks Now 30% Bigger than When Dodd-Frank Financial “Reform” Law Was Passed
Demeter
Apr 2012
#2
Crisis to Suicide: How Many Have to Die Before We Kill the False Religion of Austerity?
Demeter
Apr 2012
#5
I have a sleep "disorder". And while I've cut the going to sleep time down from 1.5 hours to average
TalkingDog
Apr 2012
#59
Well, if you are desperate, homeopathy works for some people (yes, I know it's just a placebo)
TalkingDog
Apr 2012
#61
ALEC Disbands Most Insidious Task Force After Public Pressure and Loss of Sponsors
Demeter
Apr 2012
#28