GENERAL STRIKE!

[tavalon]

November 2, 2011. Stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Oakland. Stand up and strike for Scott Olsen. The 1% and their henchmen will not win. Not this time. Not ever!

We will not be silenced. Strike one of us down and 100 will take his place!

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[wtmusic]

2. Curious why you think maturity is at issue. nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Pardon? What do you take issue with? nt

[tavalon]

8. I went to school in Sarasota

New College. Know it? I was raised with activist blood. And I'm likely your age or older. Polite women rarely make history. And politeness is counter productive in this situation. We need to shut them down!

[coalition_unwilling]

15. Mario Savio speaks from beyond the grave:

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."

Speech at UCal-Berkeley (next-door neighbor to Oakland) in 1964

[golddigger]

9. Funny! My 5 yr. old grandson uses the word "Jeeze" alot.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Just FYI...West Coast voters are not prone to look to Florida for advise or

approval, the track record there seems to deliver power toRepublicans.

[tavalon]

13. Already grown. Not going to shut up. You?

[greytdemocrat]

28. Same here

Except I guess someone wanted me to shut up! No problem.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. How can we help? Donations to restaurants? I can't be present at protests because....

my job entails helping the 99%, but I can help in other ways maybe.

[tavalon]

10. Find your local group and if you can't participate directly,

they can give you a list of needed items.

[LoZoccolo]

5. Can you provide us a link to the web site?

[TBF]

6. So amusing that you'd be the one asking - but here ya go

http://www.occupyoakland.org/2011/10/general-strike-mass-day-of-action/

[LoZoccolo]

17. It kind-of is, lol.

Thanks for the link. And I'll let you in on it: a big reason I don't post the link to the Gallup numbers is that I think a lot of people are invested in the notion that there is widespread liberal disillusionment with Obama, so much so, that if I give them a thin little excuse to keep believing it, it's interesting to see how many people take it.

[TBF]

37. Support is still pretty strong where I live -

ironically enough (Texas, but a diverse area south of Houston).

[LoZoccolo]

39. I'd say it's kind-of strong where I am too.

:D

[tavalon]

12. See TBF

You didn't think I was just stirring the shit, did you? Nope, that's what the cops in Oakland did.

[TBF]

38. Nope but I'm watching all this pretty closely on FB and Twitter -

I'm in this for the long haul until we are some sort of socialist state. Capitalism has run it's course and the smart young folks know it. They're trying to find a way to save themselves and their planet - and I commend them for it.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Of course...

What happened in Oakland can not be allowed to happen again.

[randome]

14. Hail Hydra!

Look, I seriously doubt the cops went into the situation thinking to themselves, 'Wow, let's see how many heads we can bust today!'.

The cops are not the enemy. Corporations are not the enemy. Our failed legislators should be the enemy. Milling about in a hundred different cities will inevitably produce a tragedy that the Pukes will then use to paint the entire movement as crazed.

OWS needs better messaging skills. It needs to be focused.

[coalition_unwilling]

16. Capitalism and the ruling elite is the enemy. Wake up! - n/t

[randome]

18. Right. Let's go to Capitalism's doorstep and make it listen!

'Capitalism'? 'Ruling elite'? These are the kind of amorphous enemies that can never be identified much less forced to listen.

Our legislators who utterly failed in their jobs? That's someone we can find and deliver a message to.

[Marrah_G]

22. Since the politicians are owned by Wall Street I think they are in the right place

I think the message is being delivered. Eventually they will have to react and then we will see which direction things head.

[coalition_unwilling]

26. OK, it's clear you want to work within the existing system. I get it. I don't. I

want a re-boot, if you will. I want to destroy the existing system and build a new one focused around meeting people's needs, not satisfying people's greed. Non-violently if possible (using South Africa's repudiation of apartheid as one possible template).

[a simple pattern]

33. PLEASE pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

I beg of you! He's really not doing anything back there, honest! Look at the giant floating head for God's sake!

[randome]

34. Um, yeah, right, that's kind of what I'm saying.

'Corporations' are the enemy? 'Wall Street' is the enemy? Those are paper entities, not people you can send a message to.

Corporations and Wall Street are essential to this country's well-being. Out-of-control financial transactions are what brought everything to a thundering halt. Do you really expect corporations and Wall Street to self-heal? Self-regulate?

The people who will force the system to work more for everyone's benefit are our legislators. The lazy-ass legislators who failed to do their jobs.

[tavalon]

20. Watch the video, it's gone viral.

If after that, you feel the same, okay. But what happened yesterday was an egregious harm to one of our own by an overzealous and dangerous police force. OWS is amazingly focused with great kudos to their general assemblies, the best horizontal democracy I've ever seen.

[randome]

23. I agree the police acted egregiously.

Is that OWS was formed to do -fight an overzealous and dangerous police force?

It is inevitable that these kind of events will occur. People will be severely injured or even killed. And then all of a sudden our legislators will start to listen? I don't see that happening.

[tavalon]

25. Nope they were formed to end Wall Street as it is currently

Unfortunately, violence against us is SOP. But we will push back with more strength and determination every time they try to scare us away with brutality.

[randome]

27. 'They'? The Oakland police department?

They've already been ordered to stand down and maintain a minimal presence.

If that's who OWS was fighting, then declare victory already.

But I think you mean 'they' as in 'the establishment' or 'ruling elites'. More amorphous targets.

Wall Street is not going to reform itself. Corporations will not. They don't make laws. Our legislators do. That's why the message needs to be delivered to them. Some are listening but not enough.

[Marrah_G]

21. No it doesn't

It doesn't need leaders. It is fine just the way it is.

It will either continue to grow until the government listens and changes OR it will continue to grow, the government will try to play hardball and then all hell will break loose OR it will fade away after bringing a much needed illumination of major problems within our society.

Frankly leaders and one message, yadda yadda are just what people like the Koch brothers want. They want a target that they can tear apart. Thousands of people in hundreds of cities is far more difficult to demonize.

[randome]

24. Who gives a shit what 'they' want?

The plain truth is that the message is diluted and is not getting through to the people who need to hear it.

The 'government' is not playing hardball. A police action resulted in making a volatile situation worse. That's not 'the government'. That's just the Oakland PD's lack of training or smarts.

[Marrah_G]

29. I think we see things very differently

And that's okay. The best thing about OWS is that it has gotten people talking.

[randome]

30. I hear you.

And thanks for keeping an open mind.

I'm just worried that all the 'talking' won't result in much when all is said and done. And that injuries or deaths will detract from the conversation.

A lot of DU-ers were eager to declare war on 'the system' after the Oakland fiasco. I wish OWS would narrow its focus on the people who we will, ultimately, look to to make changes: our lazy-ass legislators.

[blindpig]

40. "our legislators' are not failed, they are bought.

Bear in mind that there are more ways to buy a politicians than an envelope full of cash.

But of course they are just tools, capitalism is the enemy.

and as far as a lot of cops go you are dead wrong.

[randome]

41. I KNOW they're bought off.

But how is OWS going to change the system unless new laws and regulations are put into place?

You think if we just stand around united, corporations on their own will decide to play nice?

But if we force the government to see there is a downside to giving everything away to the rich -if we make it more to their advantage to listen to us than to the corporations- then we can press for real change.

We are still dependant on the government to regulate things. We still want to work within the system, otherwise peaceful protest would not be an option and I don't see anyone seriously talking about armed insurrections.

[backscatter712]

42. Bingo. Citizens United is but the latest manifestation.

The politicians are funded by the big-money elites that are the world's billionaires, that run the corporations.

The one-percenters funnel millions of dollars to the politicans' election campaigns. They throw the fundraisers, they let the politicians eat some of their caviar, drink some of their champagne, and fly around in their Learjets. And they make it clear that once they leave their elected offices, they've got cushy consultant and lobbyist jobs waiting for them afterwards. All these valuable prizes if they vote the right way and represent the one percent at the cost of the 99 percent. And thanks to Citizens United, the final shreds of campaign finance regulation have been blown away.

What we have is legalized bribery.

Our politicians fail because they are paid to fail.

[randome]

44. How are you going to get changes made to Citizens United?

Through the government! The corporations aren't going to cooperate.

[AsahinaKimi]

19. I can just imagine

November 2nd, no one doing anything that day. Stay at home.. don't go to work, forget the traffic on the ONE-OH-ONE.. Turn off KGO Radio..go BACK To bed.. sleep a few hours... get up, Make some pancakes and a cup of coffee, sit around the computer and come to DU for some news. Later take a walk in the sunshine. Go to a park.. protest! What a perfect day!

[lapislzi]

31. Of two minds about striking.

For one, I would like to show solidarity with my brothers and sisters in the 99%. No question about that.

But...and it's a big "but" (like mine own), I work for a very kind, compassionate, and liberal company. They are good people and take good care of their employees. Also, our company is not in a position to do any good by striking. We wouldn't be shutting anything down as, say, transit workers, or other municipal employees could do. We would just not show up for work, annoy our tolerant employer, lose a day's pay, and accomplish very little beyond showing up at OWS, if we were so inclined.

I am also certain that less than half of us would heed a call to general strike. We're mostly all Democrats, but we're the responsible ones who believe in doing a good job for a company that does right by us.

Anybody else have similar mixed feelings?

[randome]

32. I'm a contractor.

I don't show up, I don't get paid. I could do without a day's pay but I also have 2 daughters to raise.

I'm sure there are a lot more people who need a day's worth of wages much more than me.

[lapislzi]

35. It's not the money.

I can give up a personal day for any reason I want. But, what message am I sending to my employer who is himself part of the 99%? He just wants to run his honest business and go home at the end of the day like everybody else.

My company striking will affect precisely...no one.

It would be a very different matter if our company dealt with the public in any capacity at all, but we don't.

[tavalon]

45. Do you think that individually, any of us striking matters?

It's the shutting down of whole cities that will terrify the powers that be. And that's as close as I'm going to come to using that boogeyman word. Really, I'm going to show up to show support. The real shut down will be in Oakland and SF and possibly one of the other major cities involved. Luckily, Seattle isn't a major city in this conflict because we have sucked at this protest. I can't believe this is the same city that took on the WTO. We seem to have lost our balls somewhere.

Where, oh, where are Seattle's gonads of power?

[Township75]

36. I will be at work that day, but I will be out there striking and protesting in spirit.

.

[NaturalHigh]

43. Um, yeah I guess that's fine for people who don't need their jobs.

I like my paycheck, so I think I'll just go ahead and go to work.

[yewberry]

46. I've no right to strike, and our last wildcat was bad.

"Essential personnel" here but all the non-unionized folk in my agency make a lot more money & have far more reasonable hours than I do.

<sigh>