Thousands of protesters descend on Manhattan...is this the start of a middle class uprising?

[truthwillout777]

New York City police are bracing for a weekend of mayhem in lower Manhattan with thousands expected to risk arrest as the Occupy Wall Street protest moves into its third straight week.The movement, whose members have vowed to stay through the winter, are protesting issues including the 2008 bank bailouts, foreclosures and high unemployment.

And the increasing presence of more affluent-looking demonstrators is fuelling questions over whether this is the moment a frustrated middle America is uniting for a national uprising. 'The main thing is to draw attention to the disparities,' she said. 'The rich and the greedy are taking the country down. It's really a discouraging time.'You have young people with college degrees left out in the cold, unable to find jobs. I have kids and grandchildren. I really worry what their lives are going to be like.'

Smaller protests have also sprouted in other cities, including Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.
Marty Goodman, a unionized subway worker, said, 'Last year we had 900 of our members laid off... These are our issues too: Wall Street, the banks, layoffs, the struggle that these young people are spearheading is our struggle too.'








http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044001/Occupy-Wall-Street-Thousands-protesters-descend-Manhattan-police-gear-weekend-mayhem--start-middle-class-uprising.html?ITO=1490


http://getsmartnews.com/

[flamingdem]

1. The UK covering this a lot, nice. Europe thinks we're cool again, yay!

We are not wankers, really.

[HuckleB]

3. Who cares what Europe thinks.

They're in the same boat.

[flamingdem]

7. Yes, but they don't have quite the extremist nut jobs and their protests are better nt

[HuckleB]

9. Their protest might be better...

... but if you're going to say they don't have quite the extremist nut jobs, I don't think you've spent much time in Europe.

[seabeyond]

32. would that be the violence, stealing, raping, killing.... ? think back to their last

protest. seems like ours is kicking their butt in not only effectiveness of bringing others in, but civil.

[blank space]

58. No - America dose not compare in any way shape or form to the

level of civic activism in Europe - American riots (LA Riots) are far far worse than Uk.

So lets compare Apples to APples here - no, America does not protest well, at all.

[whathehell]

63. Is that right?...

I'm wondering just what your personal

experience of American protesting would

be, since you live in Australia, and all.:eyes:

[seabeyond]

71. what a ridiculously stupid post. the LA riots was anger over police brutality.

they were riots. not protest.

look at france, greece, and england with their riots being claimed to be protests.

americans are kicking ass

[sabrina 1]

15. They're in the same boat because of US.

The men who crashed the world are here in the US on Wall St. Otoh, Europe went for all that Global Capitalism too, so they definitely are not blameless. Greed knows no borders.

[tama]

16. In the same boat

we care about others sharing the same boat. People in America learn from Arab spring, Greece and Spain, Occupy Wall Street. Then occupy together all of America and spreading also to many places Europe, there will be Occupy Turku (my home town) 0n 15th this month. This is a global problem we share and global movement. Watching the waves rocking the boat, taken by a strong current...

[lunatica]

67. They're the ones covering this story, so I care

[October]

77. Exactly! Everyone is ignoring your point. It's illogical -- and talk about irony...

[roguevalley]

49. I think the conciousness of the world is awakening starting in

tunisia and ending up here. I think 12-21-12 is going to be a revolution of the spirit moment. Give this a year, unemployed people with time and purpose, young people without jobs ... it will be a revolution. GOd bless all of them.

[KOfan]

2. Time to rise!

Enough of the bs, lets get up and start marching!

[Cal Carpenter]

4. Middle class? No, we are WORKING CLASS

We are the 99%. We are the workers. The 1% is owners. It's pretty simple.

That is all :)

[Starry Messenger]

8. +1

[sam11111]

12. "working class"=lower class to many. "Middle class"better term IMO

M.C. term causes less confusion.

[Luminous Animal]

20. What? Please clarify... working class = lower class? What the fuck is lower class.

[xmas74]

29. I'm the lower class

and damn proud of it.:hi:

I'm working poor and I'm used to the "lower class" comment. Maybe it's time to take it back, make being "lower class" something to be proud of.

Then again, maybe I'm just talking too much.

[eilen]

52. Good question

I guess working class is those of us who wear hardhats, uniforms or nametags, the middle class must be wearing suits and get weekends, holidays off and vacations twice a year, the lower class must be like the working class and some might have work lives similar to the middle class except they are temps, have no benefits, are paid a lot less--but can't get enough hours or wages to pay the rent and eat too.

Except one day big lay offs come and the middle class magically transforms into the lower class then points the finger at the working class saying we earn more in benefits and pay than we deserve. The 1% applauds their genius.

[Cal Carpenter]

33. Middle class causes more division

And ignores the needs of the poorest people, once again.

[TBF]

42. Accept reality - there IS no "middle" class. There are the 1% who own everything

and everyone else. Just because you live in a McMansion and drive your mortgaged to the hilt Lexus does not mean you are "rich" or better than others. You can shove your "lower class" crap.

[BiggJawn]

51. "Middle Class"? Sorry, I don't make enough money to be "Middle Class".

I'm WORKING CLASS!
Don't worry, I'll let you stand upwind from me so the "smell" doesn't bother you.

[Scruffy1]

57. Scrwe that. As long as their is a "lower class" I'm in it.

Middle class is just a phony division like dividing workers by race or ethnicity. It's symptomatic of the need of the rulers to divide the population.

[Doc Holliday]

60. Dad used to say

that the difference between being poor and being rich can be determined by asking one simple question:

Do you worry more about paying your bills or about paying your taxes?

[Beartracks]

74. Doc, your Dad rocks. +1000

That is one of the TRUEST truisms I've ever heard.

SO many working class people seem to believe the corporate-backed politicans and teapartiers who claim that what makes it hard to make ends meet is that their TAXES are too high, when it is actually that their WAGES are too low! This simple question tells the truth to the lie.

Thanks for sharing!!

====================================

[Luminous Animal]

19. That's pretty funny. Asi if all the 99% have the same concerns. I'm a 99% but certainly

then bottom 20% are living a life are living a life that you, apparently, cannot imagine.

[Cal Carpenter]

31. No, I think you misunderstand my point

I understand the problem with the phrase 'working class' in that it seems to not include the people who can't get a job or who can't work for other reasons. Without getting into personal details, I assure you I can imagine.

But my point is that the middle class is an illusion, it is an idea that does not exist. And using that phrase further divides people. It assumes the existence of the lower class and the underclass, and it assumes that our interests are not the same.

As far as I am concerned every who can work should have the opportunity for meaningful work (not slave wages for a profiteer's benefit), and everyone, whether they can work or not, has the right to housing, health care, education, etc.

The core is economic issues, and until the 99% can see what we have in common against the 1% we are doomed. We are the workers (at least if there were jobs for us) and they are the owners.

The term middle class is meaningless. The bottom 20% have struggled forever. This movement, if it becomes about the middle class, would be useless because once again the poorest would be ignored.

[truedelphi]

36. Our household just received a phone call - collections for a student loan

From some woman half a world a way. Speaking English in a way that I cannot understand at all.

How screwed up is a country if their main student loan agency (Sallie Mae) outsources jobs to people who cannot even speak the language of the person being called?

If we had a government worth having, such jobs as a matter of course would go to people inside this nation.

It would be cheaper too - people wouldn't be using food stamps and ending up as nut cases at local mental health facilities.

They'd have money to spend and the local economies would recover.

[Aerows]

37. It really annoys me when I get calls from obviously foreign bill collectors

They wouldn't need to be calling 90% of the people they are calling if the jobs hadn't been outsourced overseas in the first place.

[vets74]

72. The term Middle Class has changed with the times.

First, etymology:

middle class Look up middle class at Dictionary.com
-- 1766 (n.); as an adj., "characteristic of the middle class" (depreciative) it dates from 1893.

middle
-- O.E. middel.... Middle age "period between youth and old age" is attested from late 14c.; middle aged first recorded c.1600. Middle name first attested 1835, Amer.Eng. Middlebrow first recorded 1925. Middle management is 1957. Middle-of-the-road in the figurative sense is attested from 1894; in old times, edges of the dirt road could be washed out and thus less safe.

-----------

Bourgeoisie is earlier, from Moliere and his Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Originally that applied to a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." It settled in with the shop owners and non-landowners.

H.L. Mencken amended this to "booboise" and enthralled his American audience.

My read from OWS is that today's Middle Class is The 99%. Everybody getting f_cked by the Top 1% By Wealth and their goons.

(Btw: I don't give a shit about people who EARN in the Top 1%. Mostly, outside of Financial Capitalism, more power to them. The ones who own in the Top 1% -- that's the big problem here.)

[TBF]

43. If you don't accept that you are in the same boat as the rest of us you are part of the problem

There is no magical middle - there are owners and the rest of us.

[Luminous Animal]

21. Well. No, you are not. Most likely you are 99%er but, in a long tradition of what is defined

as labor, you are not part of the working class.

[Cal Carpenter]

41. I can't help but wonder how you know so much about me.

LOL. Or what my working life consists of, or what my knowledge is of labor history and workers movements. Anyway, I addressed your concerns above. Didn't see this message until now.

[malaise]

24. +1,000

Rec

[socialist_n_TN]

34. What you said, Cal

It's time to call a spade a shovel and not crap out. We also need to call the exploiters what they are, capitalists (the greedy is inherent in the word itself) and call out the system for being the cause of ALL of these problems that this protest is about.

I'm tired of pussyfooting around about this. Call things what the ARE and to hell with delicate liberal/conservative sensibilities.

[Cal Carpenter]

55. Thank you and I agree

The longer we use inoffensive terms with no meaning, like 'progressive' and 'middle class', the longer we will be in a confused muddle about what is really happening. We draw all these imaginary lines and somehow ignore the REAL lines that actually exist in our world.

Capitalism is failing, and when it does, it won't be the protestors that made it happen - it will be the vultures, the ruling class. But as the people get more clarity and organization, there is some hope that we can build something from the ruins.

Solidarity!

[SOS]

48. Capital (1%) sowing division amongst labor (99%)...

Jay Gould in 1896:

"I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half"

[Left Coast2020]

50. You got it. As George Carlin used to say....

...We're not in the big club.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dBZDSSky0

:mad:

[dogmoma56]

59. actually, top 1% holds 43% of Financial wealth, top 10% holds 72%, top 20% holds 93% bottom 50%..~3%

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

[RagAss]

5. You mean the ex-middle class.

[StarsInHerHair]

6. kickety

[doc03]

10. I hope this keeps building and we have protests

like in the 60's. I come to the conclusion that is the only way we will ever turn this country around if it is not too late.

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. Kick and Recommend!

[sam11111]

13. goal is "dollar a day" worldwide with one billionaire

That d a d wage maximizes the profit/wealth of the billionaire.

Those who are mentally ill with unthinking greed....
rise to the top.

An economy needs educated specialists but doesn't have to pay them more than $1.10 when all others get $1.00.

A comfortable middle class
is not something a hi-tech economy has to have.

[Fire Walk With Me]

40. I like that because I'm "mentally ill", but I'm not greedy...and I'd put it a different way...

...the selfishly negative who enjoy fucking others over...

[Citizen Worker]

14. This is a working class struggle that we all MUST join, whether in New York or the financial center

of the nearest city to where you are.

[slay]

17. This is looking like it could actually be the time

where people stand up and say ENOUGH!!! woo-hoo! they have my support in any way i can give it!

[classysassy]

18. The greedy criminals must go

we can no longer afford those bloodsuckers.

[Ilsa]

22. How to get rid of the protesters?

Create an economy with jobs. Real jobs that pay decent wages and where the worker doesn't have to spend much more than forty hours per week to do it.

[leftyladyfrommo]

23. Those pictures aren't just kids.

If you look they are working class people - and a whole lot of them aren't especially young.

That's great!

[Zax2me]

25. Unless you multiply numbers by a million or so, of course not.

These numbers are funny low.

[Odin2005]

26. The Revolution begins NOW!

[alfredo]

28. Steve Earle "The Revolution Starts Now."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG8ZUaLACZ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Check out the Ry Cooder below

[alfredo]

27. Ry Cooder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXHckAFMzaw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[elehhhhna]

30. Yay! American workers OCTOBER SURPRISE!!!

Take America back? YES WE CAN.

[hack89]

35. I doubt it

what coverage this event is getting has more to do with location then with popular support. It is certainly not an issue in Rhode Island - we have more important things to worry about.

[butterfly77]

38. Kick..

[zacherystaylor]

39. These people sound much more rational than the Tea Party

They may not be in lock step and as well organized in some ways; however that may be because they're doing their own thinking instead of mostly following their leaders. This doesn't mean that all Tea Party-ers are cult zombies but overall they don't seem to have quite as good rational thinking skills and they tend to respond much more to emotions and less to reason.

Also people not in areas where there are major protests can speak out any way by pointing out corrupt activities at major oligarchies like Wall Mart that participate in planned obsolescence and other activities. By saving receipts and complaining in front of the crowds they can let them know that they will be held accountable.

[calimary]

61. And chances are, they spell much more accurately on their protest signs, too.

Poor saps must believe in the value education or something...

:sarcasm:

[TBF]

44. Yes, it is an uprising -

but fuck that magical "middle" thinking

[Dutchmaster]

45. I bet Obama is putting his sneakers on right now!

No really! I bet he is!

[lonestarnot]

46. K & R!

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

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

[femrap]

53. this is not

just the middle class....this is the 99% of the Americans who have been screwed by the Banksters.

[gtar100]

54. You feel the momentum in New York. That's awesome!!

Problem with the conservative, right-wing nuts spread throughout this country is that they will refuse to look at it and they have hundreds and thousands of miles with which to buffer their delicate sensibilities. But to hell with the news media, the right wing talkers, and all their brain-damaged listeners. Fight back, New York! You feel it first when the bankers and investors steal our money. I hope it spreads wider than the even the borders of the US. 99% of the entire world wants economic justice. I hope the self-serving rich get their justice as well.

[DeSwiss]

56. K&R n/t

[japple]

62. Thousands, you say? Looks more like hundreds to me. 200-300, max.

Of course if it were the teabaggers, the estimate would be "tens of thousands, maybe a million!"

Edit to add: :sarcasm:

[Abin Sur]

64. Not a chance.

[Jakes Progress]

65. Which side are you on, boys? Answer Florence Reece's question.

Do you like it sweet? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeKYVxvzKcU Natalie Merchant

Or rough? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKWfnO7fhQM&feature=related The Dropkick Murphys

Traditional: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g&feature=related Pete Seeger

Really new; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dr05tXktSo Rebel Diaz

Or straight up and original? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzudto-FA5Y&feature=related Florence Reece herself

Her words. Our anthem.

Oh, workers can you stand it?
Oh, tell me how you can.
Will you be a lousy scab,
Or will you be a man ?

Don’t scab for the bosses,
Don’t listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven’t got a chance,
Unless we organize.

[mother earth]

66. I certainly hope this is the begining of the middle cl. uprising.

It's long overdue....we have been the backbone of the nation while we busted our backs working. Now they have a cheaper labor market & zero patriotism when there are profits to be made.

[MissDeeds]

68. The people must rise up to save this country

And I think that is finally happening. Democratic activism is a beautiful thing.

:patriot: :applause:

[elleng]

69. How about 'U.S. Peoples Autumn Uprising???!!!'

:bounce:

[vets74]

70. I "descended" today. Got a good look at OWS.

1. It's the Middle Class down there.

2. Union people are starting to show up and make their affiliations known.

3. This is building.

My read is that this will move blame for the economic collapse back to Wall Street. Where it belongs.

The Republican and White Citizens Council ("Tea Party") lines blaming democracy/government for the 2008 blow-out -- that crap gets busted for good.

"The 99%" phrase is brilliant.

Talked with people for a couple hours. They are mostly of the "Low Information" persuasion. But don't you doubt it -- like the dumbest bleach-blonde high school cheerleader who ever shook a pom-pom, they do know who's out to fuck 'em.

This is going to build up big-time. Despite the absence of any help from the Democratic Party or any other super-smartie media/internet famous geniuses.

Arab Spring in New York !!

[Canuckistanian]

73. Boy, is Anthony Bologna red-faced now

I think his actions were probably the ONE factor that pushed this over the edge.

And I couldn't be happier.

[coalition_unwilling]

75. Wife and I just returned from Occupy Los Angeles downtown at

City Hall. Very inspiring and well done, entirely peaceful and LAPD surprisingly very muted in its response. Non-permitted event, so was wondering if LAPD would use it as an excuse to do the Berkeley Shuffle. Paranoia was misplaced. I estimate between 700-1000 based on a very ad hoc and unscientific headcount I tried to do while we were marching from Pershing Square to City Hall.

I will publish a lengthier OP tomorrow (hopefully with pics my wife took, if I can figure out how to publish them). But wanted to say my hat is totally off to the Lawyer's Guild which provided green-hatted legal observers and support. The LG reps spoke before the march for about 20 minutes, giving everyone involved a referesher course on what to expect in case the LAPD started channeling its inner Darryl Gates. Very reassuring to have their support, given that the march was unpermitted.

[Desertrose]

76. OCCUPYTOGETHER.ORG

Check it out!!

[coalition_unwilling]

80. Photo of today's crowd at Los Angeles at City Hall:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9RpryccgvTU/TogJ-5AGlnI/AAAAAAAAAG0/HRGQN3WcfLE/s320/Crowd+at+Occupy+LA.jpg

Taken on the south lawn of the Los Angeles City Hall.

[dogmoma56]

78. there is no middle class, this is a Peasant Uprising..!! >link>>

richest 1% holds 42% of Americas Financial Wealth 6 times what the bottom 80% hold, top 5% holds 72% which is 10 times what the lower 80% hold, bottom 80% holds only 7% now that is what i call Wealth Redistribution, there is a recession because there isn't enough money in circulation because wall street has looted it thru speculation that is a non value added activity, it raised the cost of living for the under classes, inhibits education and scientific research so a bunch of psychotic OCD narcissistic wealth and power hoarders can get richer... those people are mentally ill and out of control.

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

richest 1% holds 42% of Americas Financial Wealth, top 5% holds 72%, bottom 80% holds only 7%
the GOP believes that wealth/power is proof of gods favor of a man so it is a sin to tax them, and the poor are being punished by god so it is a sin to help them or not torment them. this crap is a product of Doug Coes "the Family, AKA: the Christian Mafia, they call themselves that. their organization was started by a Nazi, Abraham Vereide in 1934. Vereide started the popular Prayer Breakfasts that Politicians are always going to.. Doug Coe, who picked up Vereides torch/cross personally draws up the guest list and chooses who speaks. Coe and 'Family' members call themselves the Christian Mafia. their organization is constructed of secret prayer cells. they have taken over the leadership of the GOP and the Evangelical movement.. they have merged with the Straussian NeoCons and the Dominionist evangelical movement to over throw the government and destroy the constitution.

http://doggo.tripod.com/doggchrisdomin.html

http://blog.buzzflash.com/hartmann/10016

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm


Jeff Sharlet is the investigative reporter of the century.!!
http://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298244911&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Street-Fundamentalist-Threat-American-Democracy/dp/0316091073/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Trickle Down doesn't mean money, it means only gods blessings to those who followed gods greatest plan which is to make the rich richer. the New World Order is the Utopian Paradise created when all the worlds poor submit to gods great plan, and become slaves.. the GOP is Theocratic Cargo Cult of OCD psychotic narcissistic wealth/power hoarders.. in the 30's Depression FDR appointed Abraham Vereide to a Cabinet position to start programs for the poor to bring them out of poverty.. Abraham Vereide's (vereide was a Nazi and Guru for Doug Coe of the C street "Family's Political Prayer Breakfasts") plan was to start Dominionist evangelical "Revivals" all over the country, only the Poor who came and prayed thru and totally submitted to the Dominion of the rich and Gods great plan would get help. he was replaced ..he immediately began undermining the New Deal.. still the fundamental purpose of the GOP is to repeal the New Deal, because it is the work of Satan, communists and Socialists, all interchangeable. god will speak thru the rich, they will become our new Prophets in the new Godly Utopia.

the bullshit from the GOP isn't Ideology... it is DOGMA. SO THEY CANT NEGOTIATE AGAINST GOD'S WILL

[fromwyoming]

79. Where can I send money?

I cannot be in New York to occupy Wall Street. I wish I could. Where can I send a donation to keep the people who can be there fed, hydrated and comfortable? I want to help and from 1600 miles away, this seems like the only thing I can do. Let me know.