'People of the US, standing up to Empire'.. I cannot 'communicate the enormity of what this means.'

[seafan]

Arundhati Roy delivered this speech at the People's University in Washington Square Park, New York, held at Judson Memorial Church, 16 November 2011. Video


We are all Occupiers

By Arundhati Roy
17 November 2011 09.45 EST

.....

What you have achieved since 17 September, when the Occupy movement began in the United States, is to introduce a new imagination, a new political language into the heart of empire. You have reintroduced the right to dream into a system that tried to turn everybody into zombies mesmerised into equating mindless consumerism with happiness and fulfilment.

.....

Today, we know that the "American way of life" – the model that the rest of the world is meant to aspire towards – has resulted in 400 people owning the wealth of half of the population of the United States. It has meant thousands of people being turned out of their homes and jobs while the US government bailed out banks and corporations – American International Group (AIG) alone was given $182bn.

.....

The good news is that people have had enough and are not going to take it any more. The Occupy movement has joined thousands of other resistance movements all over the world in which the poorest of people are standing up and stopping the richest corporations in their tracks. Few of us dreamed that we would see you, the people of the United States on our side, trying to do this in the heart of Empire. I don't know how to communicate the enormity of what this means.

.....

We want to put a lid on this system that manufactures inequality. .... we demand:


• An end to cross-ownership in businesses. For example, weapons manufacturers cannot own TV stations; mining corporations cannot run newspapers; business houses cannot fund universities; drug companies cannot control public health funds.

• Natural resources and essential infrastructure – water supply, electricity, health, and education – cannot be privatised.

.....

(more)

Even in the face of this government sanctioned brutality,



An Occupy Wall Street protestor draws contact from a police officer near Zuccotti Park after being ordered to leave the longtime encampment in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011 (Credit: AP/John Minchillo) Via Salon




There is no stopping this revolution.

[Fumesucker]

1. K&R, thanks for posting.. n/t

[dmr]

2. Thank you for posting. I missed this & now I'm happy I got to read his words.

Seriously, thank you. :fistbump:

:hi:

[Huey P. Long]

3. PHOTOS-

Occupy protesters retake Zuccotti Park, 75 arrested
As the Occupy movement embarks on a "day of action,"...

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/17/8857449-occupy-protesters-retake-zuccotti-park-75-arrested





http://twitpic.com/show/large/7ff2sd

http://cdn.topsy.com/imgsrv/r?c=0&s=0&w=600&h=450&u=http://twitpic.com/7fdstx



MORE AT LINK ABOVE

[The Wizard]

9. If the government

wants to stop this movement it has to prosecute a major bank CEO to the fullest extent of the including summary judgement.

[chrisa]

4. Her last two bullet points (on OP's post) don't make any sense. The rest is okay, I guess

I don't agree with any of them except the third one on the article (about giving people shelter and food).

[newspeak]

13. so, it's okay with you that a giant corporation

in the military industry also owns a major network and helps promote a bogus war? Or a corporation is in the oil industry and also in the clean up industry getting government contracts to clean up their own oil spills?

[chrisa]

14. That's why you have regulation

Not all out banning corporations from doing service in multiple areas. Then you would just have front companies that get around the law anyways.

[newspeak]

17. and how is that working

when the "foxes are guarding the hen house?" Those who are being hired who have been employed by certain corporations, then watching for those same corporations. I guess we better make sure that we have good regulators. But, tell me how do you keep a corporation from spreading propaganda on the telly, to misinform the public on let's say war, that will greatly benefit their business, especially some in government also have business investments for war? It's exactly what happened with little boot's administration, and the public was sucked in--unfortunately, it's the people who are also paying with lives and money.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Great lady. Great speech. Thanks for posting. K&R

[Octafish]

6. 'What you've done is introduce a new imagination, a new political language into the heart of empire'

That is a scary thought, for the small of mind and large of pocket.

Thank you infinitely for the heads-up, seafan. You must be a navigator.

[redqueen]

7. Big K&R!

:kick:

[DeSwiss]

8. K&R!!!

"Democracy, the modern world’s holy cow, is in crisis. And the crisis is a profound one. Every kind of outrage is being committed in the name of democracy. It has become little more than a hollow word, a pretty shell, emptied of all content or meaning. It can be whatever you want it to be. Democracy is the Free World’s whore, willing to dress up, dress down, willing to satisfy a whole range of taste, available to be used and abused at will." ~ http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0518-01.htm">Arundhati Roy, Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy

[woo me with science]

10. K&R nt

[deacon]

11. The mayors are literally trying to physically beat ows into submission. n/t

[a simple pattern]

12. K&R

[TriMera]

15. K&R. n/t

[rhett o rick]

16. I agree. See link below.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2330588&mesg_id=2330588

[jwirr]

18. From the stand-point of history has any other empire fallen at the

hands of it own people? I am sick at the moment so am not thinking clear enough to remember.