Featureless Features

Some of us may have been shocked to have read The New York Post’s coverage of trouble at #OWS.  As a native born Neu Yawker I'm used to the Post's peculiar way of, uh, I think they call it reporting.  I did a little research and I’m gonna say, the NY Post twists a story with clear intent to spread propaganda and to sow seeds of discontent, divide and conquer, create media stars and generally distract from the fact that #OWS is astonishingly, beyond comprehensionally, ragingly SUCCESSFUL!  Now, I’m not there so I can only make assumptions based on what I read and what I already know.  So I present the NY Post’s coverage of what was “important” today, followed by what I found on #OWS:

Occupy Wall Street kitchen staff protesting fixing food for freeloaders

By SELIM ALGAR and BOB FREDERICKS

Last Updated: 10:58 AM, October 27, 2011

Posted: 1:43 AM, October 27, 2011

The Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a “counter” revolution yesterday -- because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for “professional homeless” people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters.

For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.  [Sounds almost as good as Guantanamo Bay!  BTW--Haven't we seen that guy before?  Like early on in this movement as a former Wall St. hot shot who knew better than anyone else what to say and do next?]

They will also provide directions to local soup kitchens for the vagrants, criminals and other freeloaders who have been descending on Zuccotti Park in increasing numbers every day.

It goes on but there’s nothing really relevant until this little paragraph sneeks up:

As the kitchen workers met with the “General Assembly’’ last night, about 300 demonstrators stormed from the park to Reade Street and Broadway, where they violently clashed with cops.

Officers made at least 10 arrests when rowdy demonstrators refused to get out of the street and stop blocking traffic. A dozen cops on scooters tried to force them back to the sidewalk.

There were no reported injuries.

The demonstrators said they were angry over the violence in Oakland.

Huh?  That’s it?  Then there’s a video which purports to be about the drummers being difficult, but if you’re really bored you can watch it to find out they’ve already worked things out (with one exception, brought to you by the NY Post!)  Also sidebars about, hold your breath, the repuglican’s talking point for today:  #OWS is controlled by, gasp, ACORN!!!!

Read more if you can stand it, here: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/zuccotti_hell_kitchen_i5biNyYYhpa8MSYIL9xSDL#ixzz1c25h9iiT

I am sure there are grievances and difficulties for people living there, as the temperature drops and supplies and energy gets low, but if you go to #OWS’s web site, the lead story’s headline is what was given only a passsing mention in Rupert Murdoch's disinformation sheet:

#ows Takes The Streets In Solidarity With #occupyoakland

Posted Oct. 27, 2011, 2:53 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

Last night hundreds marched through the streets of NYC, chanting "New York is Oakland, Oakland is New York." We circled City Hall, ran in the streets, refused to be kettled or have our voices silenced, marched up broadway, North on 6th Ave, circled around on Bleecker, and marched south against traffic on 6th ave, running past police barricades, running past our fear, running in solidarity with each other and #occupyoakland.

Further down are reports about many different solidarity actions for Oakland and significantly, announcements of vigils for Scott Olsen.  There’s a post from Cairo, a report titled “Drumming and the Occupation” and one called “Where Do We Go From Here?”  All the rest of the web home page is about getting more information and learning how to DIY.  As for the NY Post, there’s no “there” there.  I got the story and it wasn’t from them.

http://occupywallst.org/

Hofstra Police Attack Iraq Veterans

Shame on these calvary officers. Shame on the people who trained them to disparage our first amendment rights!
IVAW members arrested while attempting to present questions to Obama and McCain
One hour before the final presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, fourteen members of IVAW marched in formation to Hofstra University to present questions for the candidates. IVAW had requested permission from debate moderator Bob Schieffer to ask their questions during the debate but got no response.
The contingent of veterans in dress uniforms and combat uniforms attempted to enter the building where the debate was to be held in order to ask their questions but were turned back by police. The ten IVAW members at the front of the formation were immediately arrested, and others were pushed back into the crowd by police on horseback. Several members were injured, including former Army Sergeant Nick Morgan who suffered a broken cheekbone when he was trampled by police horses before being arrested.
"Neither of the candidates has shown real support for service members and veterans. We came here to try and have serious questions answered, questions that we as veterans of the Iraq war have a right to ask, but instead we were arrested. We will continue to ask these questions no matter who is elected. We believe that the time has come to end this war and bring our troops home" said Jason Lemieux, a former Sergeant in the US Marine Corps who served three tours in Iraq, and member of IVAW.
A total of 10 veterans were arrested during the action, including Matthis Chiroux, Kristopher Goldsmith, Adam Kokesh, Mike Spinnato, Geoff Millard, Marlisa Grogan, Nathan Peld, Nick Morgan, James Gilligan and Jose Vasquez.
Watch Democracy Now's coverage of the action.
http://ivaw.org/

Justice for Rebel Diaz!

The story of Rebel Diaz will spread all over the planet and live beyond our time, because it is truly extraordinary. Young men whose lives were impacted by TWO traumatic 9/11 events, somehow remained determined to stand up for liberty, for justice and freedom. Rebel Diaz have been tormented and harassed and could possibly go to jail for defending someone they thought with less power than they had. Learn more about Rebel Diaz:
The NYPD Rips Up Rappers Rebel Diaz and their
hip-hop politics run afoul of the cops
By Tom Robbins,
Village Voice
July 7 2008
On June 18, a pair of brothers named Rodrigo and Gonzalo Venegas decided to take a friend visiting from Chicago for a city tour. The brothers Venegas, who comprise two-thirds of the activist hip-hop group known as Rebel Diaz, are big on the Bronx, and one of the sites they wanted to show their pal was the wonderful wall mural dedicated to the late rapper Big Pun on Westchester Avenue in Hunts Point.
Gonzalo Venegas, 22, whose rap name is G1, tells what happened when they reached the corner of Westchester and Simpson Street: "We see police picking up boxes of street vendors' product and throwing it away. This one vendor was looking all bewildered and helpless. We approached him, and he says in Spanish that he doesn't understand why they are taking his stuff."
The pair asked the police if it was all right for them to translate. The cops, Gonzalo says, didn't seem to have a problem. One of the officers explained that there were health-department violations, but others became belligerent, he says, and told the brothers to butt out. This degenerated further when the brothers asked for badge numbers.
It is important here to understand that in addition to being rappers, the brothers Venegas—whose Chilean parents fled into exile after Pinochet's coup—are also organizers. In fact, the slogan of their group is: "If Hip Hop organized, the whole world would be in trouble." It is not a coincidence that one of their big tunes is a rap version of the old labor standard "Which Side Are You On?" This is sung with the familiar, ominous minor-key drone of the title, while hip-hop lyrics pound alongside: "This music is resistance/It's the voice of the poor." [You can view/hear it in the next post] Rebel Diaz, which, along with G1, include 27-year-old Rodrigo ("RodStarz") and Teresita Ayala, a/k/a Lah Tere, see their music as an organizing tool. One of the areas they focus on is police behavior—hence the brothers' decision to ask about the officers' identities.
"This one officer started to get a little agitated," says Gonzalo. "He says, 'Back up. Get back on the sidewalk.' We said, 'Well, we will be on our way when we get the badge numbers.' One of them puts his hand over his badge so we couldn't see it. I pull out a piece of paper and a pen and begin to write down the number. At this point, the officer goes to grab my arm, and all of a sudden, there is this rush of police."
Thanks to the miracle of modern gadgetry, what followed was recorded by the friend from Chicago on the video device on his cell phone. The resulting video, visible on YouTube and the Rebel Diaz website, shows police grappling with the brothers, pinning them down, and cuffing them.[...]
From this point the story becomes truly Kafkaesque:
[...] "Yeah, they were pains in the asses at certain points. They got involved with some police action," said Detective Martin Speechley. "Two wannabe hip-hop guys decided they didn't like someone being written a summons. And they got involved, and they tried to fight us, and they went to jail for it. Kind of what happens when people are idiots."
This is not how the police usually talk about arrests, but take it as an indication of the kind of animosity that simmers barely beneath the surface these days. The attitude is troubling to Norman Siegel, the civil-rights lawyer who is representing the brothers. "The middle-of-the-night visit by NYPD is very questionable," he says. "We have to get answers to who ordered it, and what was the rationale."
Indeed. Read the whole story here:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-07-09/news/cops-rip-up-rappers/
Here’s the web site for Rebel Diaz:
http://www.rebeldiaz.com/
Thank you, Rebel Diaz, for reinvigorating the glorious and righteous “Which Side Are You On?” The next two posts will treat your ears while making your heart race and blood pound for JUSTICE!

"Which Side Are You On?" Busted Dub

With this video, which was captured on a cell phone by a friend of Rebel Diaz as they tried to show off NYC, the whole world will witness the NYPD out of control. With this video, the people will learn that authority DOES NOT equal honor or respect. WE, the people pay the salaries of PEACE officers with our hard earned salaries, but instead of standing for the people’s rights, some greedy, mindless sadists push working class communities around and kiss, no, suck the shit out of rich people’s asses by letting the rich get away with MURDER.
Each one, tell TWELVE!

Mongolians Demand Liberty, Police Murder Five

Well, are we supposed to believe this another CIA plot? Aren't Mongolians, like Tibetans and the Uyghurs simply demanding the same civil liberties we have here and shouldn't we be supporting them? Messers Parenti and Michel Chossudovsky would disagree, along with numerous China-is-ONE nuts who troll the internets. Shame on China for not listening to the people!

5 Killed in Riots After Mongolia Vote
By JIM YARDLEY
July 3, 2008
BEIJING — The president of Mongolia, Nambariin Enkhbayar, declared a national state of emergency on Tuesday after hundreds of people angered by election results rioted in the capital, Ulan Bator, leaving five people dead. Troops were patrolling the capital to enforce martial law, Mongolian state media reported.
Mongolia’s national news agency, Montsame, said 710 people were detained after groups of protesters, alleging fraud in last weekend’s national elections, clashed with the police. [my bold] Preliminary results of the elections gave a parliamentary majority to the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, the successor to the country’s Communist Party, which dominated the nation when it was a puppet of the Soviet Union. The opposition Democratic Party rejected the election results but disavowed the violence, Reuters reported.
Both political parties held closed meetings on Tuesday, and the Parliament was planning to hold a special session to address the crisis, the national news agency reported. “At this moment, the situation in the capital city is relatively normal,” the Ulan Bator police chief, Amarbold, said on state television, according to Reuters. “It is very peaceful compared to yesterday, but the troops need to stay on the street.”
[...] The UB Post, an English language newspaper in Ulan Bator, reported that 74 percent of the country’s 1.6 million eligible voters cast ballots in Sunday’s parliamentary races. [my bold] [Doesn't the fact that 74% of eligible voters turned out indicate a desire for change?] It also reported that the People’s Revolutionary Party had won at least half of the 76 legislative seats even as votes were still being counted. “Based on information we got through our primary units, we have won all mandates in nine provinces,” Yo Otgonbayar, secretary general of the party, told a news conference in Ulan Bator.
A 16-member team of international election observers confirmed the results of the race. Leaders of the Democratic Party disagreed with the preliminary results but also wanted to meet with the People’s Revolutionary Party to defuse the crisis.
“From the Sea of Japan to the eastern border of Europe, we are the only functioning democracy, and we have a duty to save it,” the Democratic Party leader, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, told Reuters. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/world/asia/03mongolia.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

For previous posts on ethnic struggles in China, please click on the tags below.

Protest Injustice in New York

This is a very sad day for those of us who hold the rule of law dear. In a bureaucratic legal maneuver, the decision was made to protect cops, even when their behavior has been murderous. How can this be? When cops become lawless, no one is safe in New York City.

COPS ACQUITTED ON ALL COUNTS
IN THE MURDER OF SEAN BELL

RALLY TODAY, 5:30 PM
Queens DA's Office, 125-01 Queens Blvd.
(between Hoover Ave and 82nd Ave.)

E or F train to Union Turnpike.

Once again the justice system has failed to protect the rights of people of color. A message is once more sent that law enforcement officers can act with impunity. Sean Bell joins a tragic list of those victimized by police, who have been denied justice. The names sound through history like drumbeats in a funeral procession: Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Eleanor Bumpers, Alberta Spruill, Ousmane Zongo, and on and on and on.
Meanwhile, racism is seeping through the presidential selection process like a poisonous stain. The two phenomena, the police acquittal in our city and the insidious reluctance to believe that a Black man is "ready" for the White House, are related. The readiness to commit violence against people of the Mid East is not unconnected to the disregard for the lives of people of color here and across our country.
As United for Peace and JUSTICE, we must always respond to injustice. We must affirm that all human life is worthy, that injustice must always be confronted. That is why we urge everyone who can to come out to the protest rally today.

It's The Death of LAW Enforcement

Since GW BushCo. took over, cops have been encouraged to stretch their authority to be judge, jury and executor in the blink of an eye. They have been completely discharged from civil behavior. They have free reign to taser, beat, intimidate and MAKE SHIT UP in the course of their “workday.” Does it take a door kicked in on you to make it real, or do you get it now? WHO’s SUPERVISING THESE COPS? WHO’s TELLING THEM IT’s OK?

See Sept. 21, Waist Deep in Our Big Muddy for more on this issue

Case draws famed lawyer Allred
Great-grandma Betty pleads innocent to resisting arrest over dead grass

By Donald W. Meyers, The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6928168?source=rss