A group of about 100 locals gathered on Wednseday night in hopes of bringing Occupy Wall Street-style protests to Iowa City. The group met at Public Space One discuss specifics of the event. The group came to the consensus the event will kick off concurrently with the Rally to End the War in Afghanistan at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Protesters will then march to College Green park at 6 p.m.
Local organizers say corporate greed doesn't only impact those living in New York — it hits here in the Midwest as well.
One of the group's main concerns was how quickly they would act. With Friday being the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan, most people who attended the meeting agreed it would be in their best interest to act sooner rather than later.
Tyler Anthony, who traveled from Waterloo to attend the event, agreed....
Obama: Occupy Wall Street protests show Americans' frustration (click title to entry - thank you)
President Obama said Thursday that the Occupy Wall Street protests show a "broad-based frustration" among Americans about how the U.S. financial system works.
Speaking at an East Room news conference, Obama said he has monitored the movement, which has spread to dozens of cities nationwide.
"I think it expresses the frustrations the American people feel, that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country ... and yet you're still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on the abusive practices that got us into this in the first place," he said.
Obama said he used "a lot of political capital" to prevent a financial meltdown and ensure banks remained solvent after he took office. He also touted the financial reform legislation he and Democrats in Congress moved through in 2010.
He criticized Republican presidential candidates whose economic plans, he claimed, gut those reforms....
Writers Guild East Joins Occupy Wall Street March (click here)
The Writers Guild of America East will join scores of other unions and community groups in a demonstration today. Do you think more writers should join this growing movement?
The solidarity march will move from Foley Square to the Financial District in New York City at 3 p.m. ET. Writers Guild of America East executive director Lowell Peterson had this comment: “We are proud to join the Occupy Wall Street protests to hold Wall Street and corporate America accountable for the financial crisis and growing economic inequality in our country. Occupy Wall Street shows that people don’t have to sit on the sidelines. Like the other labor unions that are participating in these protests, WGAE advocates on behalf of its members to insure they receive appropriate compensation and benefits. No union can do this in a vacuum. The economic crisis affects everyone.”...
Connecticut is getting involved at protests against corporate greed.
Wednesday, Oct 5, 2011
Updated 12:58 PM EDT
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.Wall Street protesters are now "occupying" Connecticut
Groups in Hartford and New Haven are organizing events tied to the ongoing Wall Street protests in New York City and a planning meeting is being held in Bushnell Park in Hartford on Wednesday morning.
The "Occupy Wall Street" movement centers on corporate greed and economic inequality. It began on Sept. 17 with a few dozen demonstrators. Since then, hundreds have set up camp.
In Hartford, organizers are asking people to help them plan their "occupation." According to the group's Facebook Page.
About 50 people attended an "Occupy Hartford" public meeting on Wednesday morning in Bushnell Park to discuss how and when to hold a demonstration in Hartford....
Occupy Wall Street movement reaches OK (click here)
NORMAN, Okla. -- A group of about 15 members of "Occupy Norman" gathered at noon at the Bizzell Library to participate in a nationwide "campus walkout" to show solidarity with the "Occupy Wall Street" movement.
"Freedom, freedom, freedom," the group chanted, walking across the campus.
Organizers say the "Occupy Wall Street" protest has grown so huge, they had to take part.
"We are trying to get back to the American dream, of well, of not just an individual succeeding, but as a whole succeeding. We're definitely on the decline," OU student Emma Baker said.
She brought signs, markers and called her friends about the protest.
"Freedom, freedom, freedom," the group chanted, walking across the campus.
Organizers say the "Occupy Wall Street" protest has grown so huge, they had to take part.
"We are trying to get back to the American dream, of well, of not just an individual succeeding, but as a whole succeeding. We're definitely on the decline," OU student Emma Baker said.
She brought signs, markers and called her friends about the protest.
A number of them gathered at noon, while others fell into the march once it started....
The Repuglicans have no defense or ideas or solutions, they can only call it names to attempt to make it go away by adding stigma. I don't think so. Not this time. Not ever again !
Making Room for Racial Justice in the People Power Exploding Around Us (click here)
Over the last few weeks I see a certain poetry in two movements that have emerged: one to save Troy Davis, and end the death penalty. And another to control corporations, especially those of the financial industry, with Occupy Wall Street. The first speaks to social control, the latter to economic control—two sides of the same coin.
The intense protests have been riveting as both online and on-the-ground activism have gained momentum and been covered by mainstream media. The efforts to save Troy Davis were tragically unsuccessful, and Wall Street continues to operate, business at usual. Still, policy and institutions that perpetuate inhumane capital punishment and corporate greed are, for the time being, under scrutiny.
While the racial dimension of the criminal justice system is obvious to many people, the movement to reform Wall Street may be less so. In economic justice, it is particularly tempting to ignore the links between race and poverty, as well as the profound influence of sexism and sexuality on economic hierarchies.
Everybody’s suffering, and these wedge issues are so often used to divide the working class that many activists lean toward a universal framework for making change. The problem with a universal framework is that what is dominant also gets called universal....
October 6, 2011 10:01 AM EDT
Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Herman Cain showed themselves to be no fans of the burgeoning Occupy Wall Street movement, dismissing the critique of corporate power and economic inequity as "class warfare."...
99 Percent Protesters Joined In Foley Square By Union Members (click here)
...Members of the United Federation of Teachers, National Nurses United, and other unions joined the thousands of protesters camping out in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park during a rally in Foley Square. Some came from as far away as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and planned to stay the weekend.
College students across the country walked out of classes to show their support, The Associated Press reported. Protesters have also grown increasingly organized, with medical care and their own newspaper.
Tax Wall Street,” said Karen Higgins of Boston, co-president of the nurses' union, who joined the protest. “Those who make all the money need to start paying their fair share.”
Occupy Wall Street protests spread to Main Street (click here)
Occupy Wall Street protests spread to cities across the United States Thursday, including St. Louis, Dallas, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Wall Street protestors were arrested in St. Louis.
...On Thursday morning, Occupy Wall Street (or 99 percent) protestors gathered in St. Louis, Dallas,Philadelphia and other large and small cities nationwide.
Hundreds of protesters marched in Dallas, Houston andAustin to join the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations demanding an end to corruption in politics and business.
Several hundred marchers worked their way to theFederal Reserve Building in Dallas. A similar number marched from the J.P. Morgan Chase building in Houston to City Hall. Several dozen demonstrators also gathered at Austin's City Hall....
Their answer to "Occupy Wall Street" is to be the ONLY ONE PERCENT and cut out all the employees on suspicion of discontent !
They call us ignorant and then accuse us of using state of the art technology. It isn't confusion though, it is desperation.
Published: Oct. 5, 2011 Updated: Oct. 6, 2011 12:17 a.m.
