democracylookslike: Three High School Students Arrested in Sit-In at JPMorgan Chase, Banking Skyscraper Completely Shut Down to Public Posted by Devon Whitham 450.80k on October 24, 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 24, 2012 Contact: Devon Whitham; (562) 370-8411; devon@99Rise.org Guido Girgenti; (646) 249-6500; guido@99Rise.org Students Demand Full Disclosure of All Secret Political Spending in Run Up to Most Expensive Election In History…

democracylookslike:

Three High School Students Arrested in Sit-In at JPMorgan Chase, Banking Skyscraper Completely Shut Down to Public

Posted by Devon Whitham 450.80k on October 24, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 24, 2012

Contact: Devon Whitham; (562) 370-8411; devon@99Rise.org 
Guido Girgenti; (646) 249-6500; guido@99Rise.org

Students Demand Full Disclosure of All Secret Political Spending in Run Up to Most Expensive Election In History…

thepeoplesrecord: Imagine - No more shareholders, no more private sector, just more democracy & less capitalism October 12, 2012 The way capitalism works right now is that workers are told what to produce, how to produce it, what role to play in production, how long they will work, etc. Then there is a decision maker, or in larger companies, a decision making body, made up of share-holders who are not workers and do not have workers’ interests in mind and don’t care if the environment gets ruined or if shipping jobs overseas is disruptive to the livelihoods of the people they employ, etc. Democracy doesn’t exist in this sector which we’ve called the “private sector”. Democracy@Work is a movement focused on changing that. With Worker Self Directed Enterprises (which are a little different from co-ops), workers make the decisions collectively. They share skills, trade jobs and everyone decides collectively on how to divide the labor and of what to do with the surplus that’s created. Imagine working 4 hour days Monday-Thursday and coming into work on Friday and spending all days in meetings with your coworkers deciding what to tackle the next weak, how to tackle it and dividing the labor appropriately. Everyone’s the worker. Everyone’s the boss.  Imagine the impact that that could have in society and imagine the threat it could create for capitalism - a more viable, more human alternative to capitalism that doesn’t take on the baggage from the years of propaganda and misinformation against the words “socialism” and “communism” and that provides a type of stability and safety for society that has never been provided with capitalism. We could have consciously-anticapitalist workers self directed enterprises that set out both to succeed in order to sustain themselves and to change or overthrow the system that allows for wage-slavery under the guise of a “private sector” (meaning the private space where the rulers of the world get to continue to be the unchecked rulers of the world, the owners, the exclusive decision makers, etc without the nagging influence of democracy).  I love this movement because it frames capitalism where it belongs, as the opposite to democracy. And again, by taking the ideas of Karl Marx and applying them to the society we actually live in today in 2012, Richard Wolff does a service to the left, giving us one way to talk about capitalism that can be effective without all the propaganda-nonsense associated with words like “socialism” and “communism”. Additionally  if you think of these ideas as a first step, as a way to build infrastructure to channel the growing left into, to get groups of people practicing collective action and gaining confidence in their ability to achieve great things through working together, then the implications of building this go beyond systemic reform, they could provide the material circumstances for a revolutionary situation, without having to take on the baggage of publicly aiming to do so. There’s also something about this concept that seems to me could be uniting on the left between anarchists, socialists and progressives. It’s consciously anti-capitalist, but not overtly revolutionary. It’s workers-focused, but not so centralized as some fear socialism would be. And it’s an idea that now has a growing organization working on spreading it, which gives it a fighting shot of entering the realm of discussed ideas in our society.  Richard Wolff goes line by line to address obvious criticisms to these ideas in his new book by the same title “Democracy@Work” and answers questions like: “How could this work on a large scale?” (here’s a hint: Google Mondragon), and “Could this work in America?”, “Could workers really make the decisions themselves?” etc. I’d like to work on building a WSDE in the near future and would love to see this idea get spread across tumblr, becoming a blip on the radar of many of the socially-aware young in our society, as it continues to be something that I think we should be thinking about and channeling ourselves into. We face unprecedented circumstances in society today, the likes of which many who are older than us have yet to even begin to acknowledge; unemployment paired with austerity measures and rapidly inflating tuition & student debt have created monumental challenges for this generation. Unfortunately, it will be up to us to find creative solutions out of this mess and I think this is one worth considering.  Richard Wolff does monthly updates in New York (if you’re ever in the area you can see them live for free). Here’s the most recent one that I was at a few days ago, which covers most of what I’ve mentioned in this article and more.  -Robert Photosource of one Arezmendi bakery (they have six locations) - a successful worker owned, democratic workplace bakery chain in the Bay Area.  I look forward to exploring this material, looks like some awesome radical left thought to me :)

thepeoplesrecord:

Imagine - No more shareholders, no more private sector, just more democracy & less capitalism

October 12, 2012

The way capitalism works right now is that workers are told what to produce, how to produce it, what role to play in production, how long they will work, etc. Then there is a decision maker, or in larger companies, a decision making body, made up of share-holders who are not workers and do not have workers’ interests in mind and don’t care if the environment gets ruined or if shipping jobs overseas is disruptive to the livelihoods of the people they employ, etc. Democracy doesn’t exist in this sector which we’ve called the “private sector”. Democracy@Work is a movement focused on changing that.

With Worker Self Directed Enterprises (which are a little different from co-ops), workers make the decisions collectively. They share skills, trade jobs and everyone decides collectively on how to divide the labor and of what to do with the surplus that’s created. Imagine working 4 hour days Monday-Thursday and coming into work on Friday and spending all days in meetings with your coworkers deciding what to tackle the next weak, how to tackle it and dividing the labor appropriately. Everyone’s the worker. Everyone’s the boss. 

Imagine the impact that that could have in society and imagine the threat it could create for capitalism - a more viable, more human alternative to capitalism that doesn’t take on the baggage from the years of propaganda and misinformation against the words “socialism” and “communism” and that provides a type of stability and safety for society that has never been provided with capitalism. We could have consciously-anticapitalist workers self directed enterprises that set out both to succeed in order to sustain themselves and to change or overthrow the system that allows for wage-slavery under the guise of a “private sector” (meaning the private space where the rulers of the world get to continue to be the unchecked rulers of the world, the owners, the exclusive decision makers, etc without the nagging influence of democracy). 

I love this movement because it frames capitalism where it belongs, as the opposite to democracy. And again, by taking the ideas of Karl Marx and applying them to the society we actually live in today in 2012, Richard Wolff does a service to the left, giving us one way to talk about capitalism that can be effective without all the propaganda-nonsense associated with words like “socialism” and “communism”. Additionally  if you think of these ideas as a first step, as a way to build infrastructure to channel the growing left into, to get groups of people practicing collective action and gaining confidence in their ability to achieve great things through working together, then the implications of building this go beyond systemic reform, they could provide the material circumstances for a revolutionary situation, without having to take on the baggage of publicly aiming to do so. There’s also something about this concept that seems to me could be uniting on the left between anarchists, socialists and progressives. It’s consciously anti-capitalist, but not overtly revolutionary. It’s workers-focused, but not so centralized as some fear socialism would be. And it’s an idea that now has a growing organization working on spreading it, which gives it a fighting shot of entering the realm of discussed ideas in our society. 

Richard Wolff goes line by line to address obvious criticisms to these ideas in his new book by the same title “Democracy@Work” and answers questions like: “How could this work on a large scale?” (here’s a hint: Google Mondragon), and “Could this work in America?”, “Could workers really make the decisions themselves?” etc.

I’d like to work on building a WSDE in the near future and would love to see this idea get spread across tumblr, becoming a blip on the radar of many of the socially-aware young in our society, as it continues to be something that I think we should be thinking about and channeling ourselves into.

We face unprecedented circumstances in society today, the likes of which many who are older than us have yet to even begin to acknowledge; unemployment paired with austerity measures and rapidly inflating tuition & student debt have created monumental challenges for this generation. Unfortunately, it will be up to us to find creative solutions out of this mess and I think this is one worth considering. 

Richard Wolff does monthly updates in New York (if you’re ever in the area you can see them live for free). Here’s the most recent one that I was at a few days ago, which covers most of what I’ve mentioned in this article and more. 

-Robert

Photosource of one Arezmendi bakery (they have six locations) - a successful worker owned, democratic workplace bakery chain in the Bay Area. 

I look forward to exploring this material, looks like some awesome radical left thought to me :)

Profit and democracy are so contrary that there is no scope for comment. The aim of democracy is to leave people free to decide how they live and to make any political choices concerning them. Making a profit is a disease in our society, based on specific organisations. A decent, ethical society would pay only marginal attention to profits.

Noam Chomsky (via noam-chomsky)

This is important: DemocracyNow.org - A major force pushing for ex-IMF and Bankia chief Rodrigo Rato’s prosecution has been the May 15 Movement, or M15, known around the world as the “indignados.”

See also: Sarkozy Raided

Sarkozy, 57, who has taken a low profile since his defeat, could come under the spotlight in a number of legal cases now that he is no longer head of state. He could also become a focus of the separate investigation into whether or not there was a shady “cabinet noir” at the highest reaches of the French government which used the secret services to spy on journalists at Le Monde to uncover their sources for stories about the Bettencourt affair. A security chief and Sarkozy ally has been placed under investigation in the alleged political spying scandal. Sarkozy has denied any links to the case. (h/t mbalmed)

Remember: It is not possible to change the reality you see now. Do not criticize the Important Respectable Men who rule you now. That will make you look crazy. Be sure to participate in the systems that benefit them. You do not belong in the decision making process. 

Remember: It is not possible to change the reality you see now. Do not criticize the Important Respectable Men who rule you now. That will make you look crazy. Be sure to participate in the systems that benefit them. You do not belong in the decision making process. 

Why should -we- support SYRIZA? (video: Tsipras’ concession) 

The Irish Left Review offers translations of important political commentary emerging from Spain’s Left:

We should support Syriza, and other forces of the Greek left, out of internationalist solidarity, one of the best values of the left that has not given in, and because in Greece what is at stake -as has been at stake in other occasions and will happen in the future until the economic, political and social framework in Europe and the world is no longer what it is, an avaricious civilisation that is the enemy of humanity, of republican virtues and of Nature itself- an essential stage of the struggle that the European peoples are generating against the exploiters of workers, from the most disadvantaged sectors, against the destroyers of the Earth, against those who are prepared to consign justice, freedom and equality to the trash can of History.

Some years ago, Mrs Thatcher, a very representative figure of the soulless neoliberalism in which we are obliged to live, said it with clarity and ultraconservative arrogance: ‘Economics are the method; the object is to change the soul.” And they have continued with that. Syriza, other left forces and the outraged Greek citizens, who are combative and rebellious, are not proepared to let the same vampires as always to suck their blood, our blood, and to unceremoniously break their soul and ours into a thousand pieces. They want it all, even with the risk of ecosuicide. Faust is their reference point and any trace of humanity generates guffaws in their boards of directors and their government meetings.

I AM ASHAMED TO BE A US CITIZEN: Humanity is so hard to find in my country.

Read Clive Stafford Smith’s article “What drones victims in Pakistan would do with $60,000 - the price of a Hellfire drone missile”:

[From Rasul Mana’s story] The kids know what the voice of the drone now. Every day we hear the voice of the drones at least six or seven times.  We listen for the voice 24 hours a day. We are afraid at night as we lie in our beds. The drones are going around and around over our heads. There may be four or five at any given time. They are normally very high, but sometimes they come down if there is a dust storm or it is cloudy.  They also tend to come down lower to attack, which is when you get very scared. When the missile is launched it makes a loud noise – zzhhooo – as it drops onto its target. Many of the strikes are in the black of night. We run to where the attack has happened, we see people dead and crying in pain. No matter what time of night, the children will all be awake and crying. When we look for the injured, or pick up the pieces of the dead bodies, we know that the Americans may do another attack. It’s called a Good Samaritan attack, aimed at anyone who tries to help the injured, as they’re assumed to be friends of the original victims, who are themselves assumed to be militants.

Reports of the drone campaign are so diffuse throughout the media (corporate, mainstream, independent and otherwise) that I don’t bother to keep up with the various articles anymore. But my god: people don’t care. 
We are in the age of endless war, and the war state’s ‘justifications’ are so painfully mythological, so thoroughly unsubstantiated not congress, nor the people, nor the courts could ever honestly believe the bullshit the Obama administration spits out. War and the manufactured threat of “terror” have killed American democracy. We are pursuing a policy of insanity, producing not peace or security, but only the assurance the mendacious ‘national security’ narrative will continue:
Each time we hit a family — as we will, with our policy of firing ‘signature strikes,’ CIA’s euphemism for killing people for behaviour that from a drone’s-eye view seems suspicious — how many more will we drive into al Qaeda’s ranks? (from: Deploying killer drones in Yemen will make us all less safe)

RED SCARE: Socialists poised to take control of French parliament

Hollande defeated Sarkozy in last month’s presidential election and wants voters to give him a strong mandate to enact reforms as France battles Europe’s crippling debt crisis, rising joblessness and a stagnant economy… If next week’s second round confirms Sunday’s results, it will boost his status in Europe as champion of the movement away from German-led fixation on austerity towards growth, which he favours as the solution to the economic crisis.

With Greece leading the way, Europe’s debt doom could spark a continental shift in favor of the people.

(h/t arielnietzsche)

“It’s high time for the peoples in these countries to say, ‘NO’”

Birgitta Jónsdóttir is a member of parliament of Althing, the Icelandic parliament, formerly representing the Citizens’ Movement, but now representing The Movement. She was elected to the Icelandic parliament in April 2009 on behalf of a movement aiming for democratic reform beyond party politics of left and right. Birgitta has been an activist and a spokesperson for various groups, such as Wikileaks, Saving Iceland and Friends of Tibet in Iceland. She acts as a spokeswoman for the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative.

part 2 (here)

Barack Obama is a racist, mass-murdering, child-mutilating, corporation pleasing, authoritarian war criminal who deserves to be no where but beside an excellent attorney at The Hague and I will -never- politically support or vote for him. To participate in the current US ‘electoral’ process by voting (D) or (R) for what ever reason is to ritually grant legitimacy to an illegitimate government that runs on the blood and exploitation of millions of disenfranchised human beings.  I am not exempt in my obligation to agitate for nonviolent revolution and total and complete democratic reform. In this way I join my sisters across the globe who are fighting for the same. Americans have been taught by the people of e.g. Iran or Egypt or Bahrain what it means to be responsible political agents concerned for the welfare of their nation.  

Barack Obama is a racist, mass-murdering, child-mutilating, corporation pleasing, authoritarian war criminal who deserves to be no where but beside an excellent attorney at The Hague and I will -never- politically support or vote for him.

To participate in the current US ‘electoral’ process by voting (D) or (R) for what ever reason is to ritually grant legitimacy to an illegitimate government that runs on the blood and exploitation of millions of disenfranchised human beings. 

I am not exempt in my obligation to agitate for nonviolent revolution and total and complete democratic reform. In this way I join my sisters across the globe who are fighting for the same. Americans have been taught by the people of e.g. Iran or Egypt or Bahrain what it means to be responsible political agents concerned for the welfare of their nation.  

MUST WATCH

Democracy Now interview with Shahzad Akbar, the lawyer representing victims of drone attacks. I’ve posted this before, but I’m posting it again because it’s just too important. 

Click (here) to read the complaint sent to the UN Human Rights Council against the US for killing innocent Pakistanis. 

Click (here) to read Clive Stafford Smith’s article published yesterday:

The New York Times reports that Obama first embraced a policy of taking no prisoners in order to avoid the embarrassing sore of Guantánamo. Then he accepted a method for assessing casualties that “counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants” unless there is explicit posthumous proof of their innocence – because they are probably “up to no good”. While Obama’s policies may go down a treat in the US, they are fomenting radicalism abroad, the very policy not only undermining our way of life but provoking an extremist hydra with many more heads. Some sane voices penetrate the gloom. Starting last summer, Cameron Munter, Obama’s ambassador to Islamabad, was required to give a thumbs up or down assessment of each drone attack on Pakistani turf, as if he were an emperor in the Colosseum. “He didn’t realise his main job was to kill people,” said a colleague. Munter is quitting his job early this month because his diplomatic mission has been rendered impossible. The dearth of US domestic criticism is astounding. The last time a president indulged in an illegal bombing campaign in the sovereign territory of allies (Richard Nixon in 1969, in Cambodia and Laos), the policy nearly got included in the articles of impeachment. We should remember that history, as the Vietnamese capitalised on the backlash, helping to impose the genocidal Khmer Rouge on Cambodia, and a single-party regime that endures 40 years later in Laos. … The rest of us must be concerned as well: we are sleepwalking into the Drone Age, and few people are debating the dire consequences.