Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Occupy to Boycott

Since the police are tear gassing or arresting people, attempting to exercise their right of assembly, such as in Oakland, we may see even more people pour into the Occupy sites in order to defend the right of assembly. I have always believed you don't leave. But whenever one's safety is at stake, it becomes a personal and political decision.
           

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I wonder how police determine who gets arrested and who doesn't? To follow the rule of law, shouldn't everyone get arrested? If not, are the police discriminating against those arrested? Or are they discriminating against those not arrested? What if all the protesters demanded to get arrested? All or nothing. What would happen?  In any case, it does seems the arbitrary arrests fracture the right of assembly of some but not all protesters.   Interestingly, about half of those arrested in New York recently, were offered freedom with a catch. Why half? Which half is being discriminated against?  What kind of an arbitrary system of law is going on?  How does that arbitrary system fit in with our Constitution? What if one million protesters show up and all engage in acts of civil disobedience? Shouldn't all get arrested?  What about even 10,000? Shouldn't all ten thousand get arrested? If only enough get arrested to make an example of them or fit into a wagon, aren't the police going against their commitment to the law if not the law itself?  These are the kind of questions that I have about the arrests. I am not promoting the arrests. I am promoting an all or nothing arrest system.

How Will the Occupy Movement Keep Its Momentum?

  Practicing boycotts is not an original practice,  just as strikes are not original but  have often been effective .  It seems boycotting is the next step to maintain the momentum of Occupy Wall Street. Already in process, boycotting banks is already expanding toward challenging insurance companies.  But it's a big country. It's easy to get burned out and wander aimlessly in and out of boycotts. Perhaps to involve more people and turn up the volume on the voice of Occupy Everywhere, we might see a system in which protesters begin rotating boycotts. The boycotts might even be called Canceled Shopping Days or someone might create a logo for it, for example, a shopping cart filled with dollars signs with an X through it.

9 comments:

Greenconsciousness said...

In the winter months we could be organizing a constitutional convention which would pass const amendments that remove money from politics as I outline in the links I gave you under the Code Puke's post (you know they got a woman killed in Afghanistan because she quit working for them changing her politics when she saw and met Afghani women).

Also boycotts are a good corresponding action. boycotts. But if this movement turns into elect democrats or elect third parties, it is a failure. It is the system, not the puppets that must be changed.

Do you remember two young girls running from the cops near the federal bldg during Viet Nam demonstrations? I was so afraid for you and trying to find you but you were fast. Later, during the second wave, I gave the best speeh of my life on the steps of the fed building. It was broadcast on NPR and I thought of you, long gone to CA.

Greenconsciousness said...

Much more than the ERA, I would like a constitutional amendment to end this BS below once and for all. A woman's right to control reproduction should be institutionalized (and I would extend the reproduction veto to males although not the affirmative by forced birth-no one should be forced to reproduce their DNA).

I want a Const Amendment saying that control over what comes to or from their body is the right of the individual not the govt.

Or it might read that only the incubator can consent to birth - whatever... I realize at this point it is a diversion from the class revolution but KEE-RIST! Such an amendment is a trillion times more important than the ERA for women's liberation.

And as you see below, the patriarchy understands the value of amending the constitution which is why they will try to hijack the constitutional conventions in each state.

But they can be beat because their power is illusion created by Big Money.

"A constitutional amendment facing voters in Mississippi on Nov. 8, and similar initiatives brewing in half a dozen other states including Florida and Ohio, would declare a fertilized human egg to be a legal person, effectively branding abortion and some forms of birth control as murder."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/us/politics/personhood-amendments-would-ban-nearly-all-abortions.html

Greenconsciousness said...

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/grubby_lowlifes_wvw3jSZRkqIIqJcio5xJaI

What about this which I told you would happen? Not that I am ...against the OWS as a start to Const Conventions-- just maybe it is good winter is come and the transition to state chapters begins... if the left is smart enough to do it right this time which they never are.

Their stupid arrogance misogyny is the source of my wait and see bitterness... women do the work while the boys run the show on their ass. The boys know sooooo much but never get it right...

When Michael Moore was campaigning for Ralph Nader in WI, he said he was sick and tired of all these women worried about losing abortion rights if Democrats were not elected. So we got George Bush HA! - and then I watched him bitch and moan and turn against Nader.

My hope is that the people, guided by grace will own this movement, take it to the states to constitutional conventions.

ld janakos said...

You know, this comment box is impossible to find. Frankly, I could not give directions on how I got here. But here I am again. I too hope the people will own OWS. I guess as long as the movement doesn't gain enough traction to be a real threat, it can own itself. I guess as long as it stays on the margins of change, it can own itself. We'll see what happens. But I do remember that day in which the police directed women one way and men the other, leading the men into the patrol wagons. Do you have a copy of that speech on the steps you gave? I'd like to read it. That's it for me in the public comments arena. Be well.

Greenconsciousness said...

Why is this hard for you? You go to the web - find your website and write in the comment box below your post. Click on "post a comment" just as I do on your blog. That is how I answer my comments on my blog. You post just as everyone else does, not in your moderator pages but under your public post. That way, if you click the follow up box, you will be able to read follow up comments in your email.

Anyway, Happy Hallows Eve. It is an actualized Hallows for me. Can't wait for the little ones tonight. Wishing you fun.

Greenconsciousness said...

Maybe you have pop ups disabled on your computer.

This comment box is a pop up box so you have to allow pop ups on your computer to make it appear.

Greenconsciousness said...

Dylan Ratigan of MSNBC is pushing a constitutional amendment on the website GetMoneyOut.com

They have 250,000 signatures.

Its perfect.

ld janakos said...

While I won't throw Code Pink or Wolf in front of the firing squad yet if ever, I am glad you posted your views and especially glad you posted the Dylan Ratigan link. I hope it really is a step toward some kind of sanity--some kind of chance for working Americans to get more involved with their own country in a participatory democracy. I've just come back from the site and will sign the petition.

ld janakos said...

I really like you idea of a constitutional amendment that assures women the right to control their own bodies or really to allow both sexes to control their own bodies.