The Globalization Of Laughter

• 
  

 

 

Adbusters Blog

The Globalization Of Laughter

Tactical briefing #33.

19 comments Adbusters , 16 May 2012

More Sharing ServicesShare

• #LAUGHRIOT
• #OCCUPY
• #occupychicago
• G8
• NATO

Hey all you believers in a new world out there,

May Day wasn’t so great was it… the numbers were low, the maxims weren’t sublime, the excitement didn’t catch on. May 12 was hefty in Europe, reigniting the snuffed Indignados, but the energy did not seem to flow over to here.

Now we’re looking at May 18 ~ 21 when protesters, possibly in Arab Spring numbers, swarm Chicago… Security experts say it will be a challenge the likes of which no American city has had to face – a leaderless, all-consuming non-violent swarm. If we can pull it off in the fierce tradition of Gandhi and MLK, the next few days could become the spark, the eruption, the new spiritual home of our Spring offensive.

 

On a softer, more aesthetic note, the likelihood of a global #LAUGHRIOT starting May 18 feels especially fresh and new … imagine … the globalization of laughter … millions of people around the world decide to take a few minutes off from their usual routines, get together with friends and pull off a global cascade of riotously laughing flash mobs, transforming the flow of power from the heads of the elite to the bellies of the people.

At a time when our human experiment is buckling under austerity, financial madness and eco-angst, there is something so ludicrous, bizarre, even insane about the eight most powerful people in the world trying to conduct the people’s business – to set things right – from behind closed doors and razor wire fences.

A global #LAUGHRIOT could break through the G8’s veneer of legitimacy and expose the Camp David Summit and our current capitalist model for the farce that it really is.

A global laugh-in could be the relief we’ve all been waiting for: the moment when — in a communal burst of laughter — we the people suddenly wake up to the fact that the only power our leaders have is the power we give them.
Here goes … let’s laugh like we’ve never laughed before,

for the wild,

Culture Jammers HQ

OccupyWallStreet.org / Tactical Briefing #30, #31 and #32 / Be present on May 18. Spark the #LAUGHRIOT then swarm Chicago.

Tactical Turning Point

Adbusters Blog

Tactical Turning Point

We innovate spontaneously - we play jazz.

40 comments Adbusters , 10 May 2012

More Sharing ServicesShare

• #M12
• #OCCUPY
• indignados
• Spain

JESUS G. PASTOR

Hey you nimble dreamers, occupiers, believers,

Last May 15, a hundred thousand indignados in Spain seized the squares across their nation, held people’s assemblies and catalyzed a global tactical shift that birthed Occupy Wall Street four months later. Our movement outflanked governments everywhere with a thousand encampments in large part because no one was prepared for Occupy’s magic combination of Spain’s transparent consensus-based acampadas with the Tahrir-model of indefinite occupation of symbolic space. Now exactly a year later, a big question mark hangs over our movement because it is clear that the same tactics may never work again.

Spring re-occupations have largely failed here in North America. The May Day General Strike was stifled by aggressive, preemptive policing that neutralized Occupy’s signature moves. In light of these challenges, Saturday’s May 12 rebirth of the indignados could be a tactical turning point.

Across the world, authorities are using “lawfare” to piecemeal outlaw any tactic that we used last year. In Spain, there is an attempt to criminalize the use of the internet to catalyze nonviolent protests and occupations. The International Business Times reports that this is part of a larger European move to “punish those who use social media and instant messaging to organize and co-ordinate street protests.” Canada wants to ban wearing masks at “unlawful assemblies,” a legal designation often used to disperse nonviolent protesters. Meanwhile Germany is taking a more direct route: they have simply issued a decree “banning” the Blockupy anti-bank protest in Frankfurt. As in the U.S., when outlawing free speech and the right to assembly doesn’t work, authorities are increasingly using brutal, paramilitary force.

The power of Occupy lies in its ability to harness the collective intelligence of our leaderless movement to tactically innovate. We move at viral speed – always one step ahead. “Fight, fail, fight again, fail again, fight again… till victory.”

When one tactical constellation fails, we innovate spontaneously – we play jazz.
Across the world, indignados are preparing for a big blast on Saturday, May 12. Some, like Occupy London, are planning to retake the squares and set up encampments. Others have totally new tactics in mind. Whatever happens, let’s learn from the indignados with an eye towards our Camp David inspired May 18 #LAUGHRIOT and the global convergence on Chicago to confront NATO …
Let’s be humble … let’s “fall in love with hard and patient work” – and keep in mind that this is all just the beginning.

for the wild,

Culture Jammers HQ

OccupyWallStreet.org / Tactical Briefing #29, #30, #31 / Be present on May 12 and on May 18 spark the #LAUGHRIOT then swarm Chicago.

Support + Share

Help us spread the word. Share it online with your friends or subscribe to the print edition.

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on print More Sharing Services

OWS GUT CHECK

Adbusters Blog

OWS GUT CHECK

Three challenges Occupy must overcome.

216 comments Adbusters , 03 May 2012

More Sharing ServicesShare

• #OCCUPY
• #occupychicago
• #occupywallstreeet
• #ows

LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS

Hey you nimble dreamers, believers and jammer tacticians out there,
Our movement has reemerged from winter hibernation to find that this spring we are different but so too is the political and tactical situation. Occupy now faces a series of existential challenges that will define the month of May and set the tone for our long-term future.

#1 challenge: Jump over the corporate media

It took the New York Times two weeks last year to wake up to the insurrection percolating in their own backyard. This May Day, we saw an insidious attempt to ignore and discredit us right across the mainstream media. Time to jam the corpo-commercial lie machine and shift the way information flows and meaning is produced. Here is occupier Charles Young’s take on the blackout:

“I know. It’s just a coincidence. Or conspiracy theory. The .01% who rule the United States would never stoop to such stunts to knock Occupy Wall Street off the front page and surround it with mentions of terrorism… But Occupy wasn’t on the Times’ front page, online or in print, either.”

Read more at Counterpunch.

#2 challenge: Block the co-optation of our movement

Last September, the old left didn’t want to touch us. Then Occupy captured the world’s imagination and now they are jumping in to channel our energy into electoral politics and symbolic actions. Founding Zuccotti Marisa Holmes warns that the co-opters are a deep threat to our movement:

“This is an election year. Everything is at stake. There will be many more attempts like The 99% Spring to come. The 1% have no intention of funding a movement that actually poses a threat to their power. They seek to manage social movements via foundations thru resource allocation, top-down structures, and co-opting language. In the past this strategy has proven effective at dividing, conquering, and integrating movements into respectable forms of activism, and it’s starting to take hold… We have realized our collective power, and we must not be pacified!”

Read more in the Occupy! Gazette #4.

#3 challenge: Occupy the future

Our most difficult task of all is to describe, build and sustain the post-capitalist future we want to live in. Here is Slavoj Žižek’s stab to get your juices flowing:

“It is not enough to reject the depoliticized expert rule as the most ruthless form of ideology; one should also begin to think seriously about what to propose instead of the predominant economic organization, to imagine and experiment with alternate forms of organization, to search for the germs of the New. Communism is not just or predominantly the carnival of the mass protest when the system is brought to a halt; Communism is also, above all, a new form of organization, discipline, hard work.”

Read more at the Guardian.

Hey occupiers: the old world has no future; their leaders have no solutions. Now everything from how we live to how we love and how the world is governed is up for grabs. Can we rise to the challenge? Let the tactical brainstorm begin.
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
OccupyWallStreet.org / Tactical Briefing #29 and #30 / On May 12, retake the squares and on May 18, spark the #LAUGHRIOT then join the movement in Chicago

Support + Share

Help us spread the word. Share it online with your friends or subscribe to the print edition.

The May 2012 Insurrection

Adbusters Blog

The May 2012 Insurrection

Tactical Briefing #30.

172 comments Adbusters , 26 Apr 2012

More Sharing ServicesShare

• #globalchange
• #M12
• #occupychicago
• #occupywallstreeet
• general strike

NICK WHALEN

This article is available in:

• English
• French

Hey you dreamers, strikers and new left redeemers out there,

For thirty-one magical days beginning this Tuesday, May 1, we take the plunge and Strike! We block the Golden Gate Bridge; occupy a Manhattan-bound tunnel; seize the ports. In 115 cities, we march into banks, erect tents and refuse to leave. We disrupt financial institutions forcing thousands to preemptively close. Five thousand of us pray, dance, sleep on Wall Street and in front of the Fed and if the Bloombergs of the world bring out paramilitary police to intimidate us, we use our social media fire to call out 50,000 more occupiers and intimidate them right back.

In the week before the G8 and NATO summits, we light the spark globally. We occupy hundreds of squares in cities on every continent – from Paris to Berlin, Toronto to Athens, São Paulo to Bucharest and beyond – we up the ante with direct actions that paralyze capitalism. For a few days, maybe for a full month, we act as if we already live in a world run by people, not corporations.
Our movement goes geopolitical later in May. We swarm Chicago and confront NATO. We tell the military elites there to stop their saber rattling against Iran, halt the global arms race and get behind what the majority of the people on Earth want: a nuclear-free world starting with a nuclear-free Middle East that includes both Iran and Israel.

And then when the G8 leaders meet in Camp David, we create a global spectacle the likes of which the world has never seen before … millions of us … individually, in flash groups and en masse, we burst out laughing at the lunacy of the eight most powerful political leaders on the planet thinking they can dictate the people’s business from behind closed doors and barbed wire fences. For one day, we take over the global mindspace with a whirlwind of #LAUGHRIOT jokes. (Like: Why did the G8 chickens cross to Camp David? / Cuz they’re on the other side. haha!) We laugh our heads off on every news broadcast in the world.

May 1968 was the first wildcat general strike in history … it lasted two weeks and was a grand gesture of refusal still remembered, but then it fizzled … maybe this May we won’t?

for the wild,

Culture Jammers HQ

OccupyWallStreet.org / Tactical Briefing #26, #27, #28 and #29 / Find out what your local Occupy has planned for May 1, May 12, and the #LAUGHRIOT then join the movement in Chicago

Why Are We Striking?

 

Adbusters Blog

Why Are We Striking?

Or to put it another way – what’s wrong with the world?

129 comments Mike David , 30 Apr 2012

• #OCCUPY
• #occupychicago
• general strike
• protest tactics

DANIEL GOODMAN

Why are we striking? Or to put it another way – what’s wrong with the world?

Of course, most of us know what’s wrong with the world. We know about the poverty, war, violence and disease. We’re conscious of the injustice, but not fully conscious of it, because frankly, we have enough to worry about in our own lives. As such, we’ve come to accept these injustices as simple facts of life – prepackaged side effects of the human condition, as natural and intertwined with our existence as water to a stream, beyond our capacity to effect in any significant way. This collective sense of powerlessness and default apathy is why we’re striking.

Our growing sense of isolation and disconnection, whether from ourselves, from those next door to us, or from those producing our food and products halfway across the globe, is why we’re striking. Our forced support of perpetual war waged for and by the 1% - whether explicitly with speech, or implicitly with inaction and tax dollars - without ever paying mind to the true causes and motives behind it, is why we’re striking. Our failure uptil now to connect the dots and realize that the benefits of a cheap iPod, lovely as it may be, would be far outweighed by the benefits of a truly just world free of exploitation, is why we’re striking.

The fact that most of us are too busy being exploited to realize we’re being exploited – too busy greasing the cogs of our economic system to notice how the fruits of our labor never fail to float up and out of our reach - is why we’re striking, as is the fact that most aren’t able to do anything about this exploitation even when we do notice it. While some of us are lucky enough to have jobs and careers that give real meaning to our lives, allowing us to take full advantage of our talents and fulfill our destiny, most of us have jobs devoid of meaning and dignity, yet full of the feeling that we are fulfilling someone else’s destiny. Our recognition that the ruling class’s seat at the top of the pyramid is prepared and propped up by the working class is why we’re striking.

Our knowledge that it’s actually the CEO who is the most dependent among us, and that the ones truly indispensable to our society are not bankers, lobbyists and politicians, but workers, teachers and engineers, is why we’re striking.
Indeed, the fact that we have an economic system which functions in the same manner as a virus is why we’re striking. Just as a virus’s only reason for existence is to expand, without regard or awareness of the effect of its expansion on its host body, our economic system pursues its infinite expansion without regard or awareness of its effect on human welfare or the environment. Though the earth is finite, it is sustainable, so we reject, in the words of Michael Nagler, “the inherent contradiction of an economy based on indefinitely increasing wants – instead of on human needs that the planet has ample resources to fulfill.”

We’re striking because we also reject the notion that selfishness must be the driving force in our world. We believe, contrary to propaganda, that most people in our world are not selfish, and would rather work together than constantly compete against each other. We believe that the only people who really care about things like power, corporate monopolies and global dominance only make up, say, 1% of the population, making it seem only logical that we should have an economic system which reflects the values of the 99% of us who don’t care about such things. The fact that most of the decisions which have a profound impact on how we go about our daily lives are made by folks in Washington or Wall Street, rather than in our communities by the people actually affected by those decisions, is why we’re striking. The fact that power rests only with those who lust after it is why we’re striking.

We’re striking because another notion we don’t buy into is the presumption that the profit motive can have no outcome other than the best possible one. We understand that the success of McDonald’s has nothing to do with having the best burger, and everything to do with having the most cutthroat business plan. We understand that building prisons, waging wars, polluting the environment, and paying employees inadequate wages are actually quite profitable.

Sustainability, economic justice and true equality? Not so much. We understand that being ruthless and unscrupulous is an economic advantage, and being truthful and virtuous is an economic disadvantage. We understand that money is treated as more natural and inviolable as nature itself, and that too often our place and perceived value in society is determined solely by how much of it we make, or how much of it we make for someone else. We understand that, whether or not you believe in climate change, our ability to adequately address it or any other pressing issue is greatly compromised when our shortsighted need for profit skews our vision of the whole. We’re striking to suggest new motives and new values going forward.

The fact that you might not have known why we’re striking, and you didn’t get and maybe still don’t get what Occupy Wall Street is about, is why we’re striking. And who can blame you? Just like you don’t have the time or energy to really do anything about the world’s problems, you probably don’t have the time or energy to do the deep digging required to get your news from any source other than the corporate outlets conveniently floating on the surface. It’s understandable that you wouldn’t see the inherent conflict of interest of a handful of for-profit corporations with their own interests telling the world’s story to the majority of people in this country. The fact that it’s so hard to be truly informed, and that it’s in the 1%’s interest for the majority of us to be uninformed, is why we’re striking. The fact that it’s entirely possible you could go about your day today and not hear a thing about the general strike, is why we’re striking.

To counter the charge that it’s unrealistic, and overly idealistic, to want to bring about real change in our world, as well as the trusty “life isn’t fair” rationale always used to justify injustice, is why we’re striking. We didn’t accept that line of reasoning during the civil rights movement, and we don’t accept it now. We think it’s far more unrealistic to think that a small cadre of elites will be able to keep up their never-ending pursuit of power consolidation and mass manipulation without waking us up in the process. We think it’s far more unlikely that in 1000 years, humanity will still be playing this game of perpetual one-upmanship, instead of picking up the far more efficient and beneficial manner of interacting with each other in honesty, cooperation and genuine respect.

Perhaps the biggest reason we’re striking is to simply exercise that ever-cherished American value of freedom. Just as our business leaders are free to use every means at their disposal to maximize profit, we are free to use every means at our disposal to maximize the realization of whatever objective we feel is worth pursuing. And by the way, even if you don’t support the Occupy movement, whatever you think the Occupy movement is about, we respect your view, because another reason we’re striking has to do with our political system – the way it thrives and prospers by pitting us against ourselves, encouraging us to demonize each other while discouraging us from disagreeing civilly.
The fact that this post is completely and utterly inadequate in expressing why we’re striking, is why we’re striking. But that’s OK, because like May 1st, this post is just the beginning.

Happy striking!

Mike David is an occupier in San Francisco. He blogs at www.primitivetimes.com.

The Spring Offensive Has Begun!

 

Adbusters Blog

The Spring Offensive Has Begun!

Occupy reemerges with festive, righteous anger.

  Adbusters , 02 May 2012

• #OCCUPY
• #occupychicago
• #ows

JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES

Across the world, Occupy celebrated our reemergence with a bold May Day General Strike. It was a day of tactical innovation and experimentation that sets the tone for the month ahead. Three tactics, in particular, gained prominence: agitating rank-and-file workers and radicalizing unions; deploying temporary, pop-up encampments instead of permanent occupations; and the growing black bloc presence. Over 30,000 occupiers marched in New York with strong union presence while in San Francisco workers disrupted ferry service. In London, occupiers set up tents outside the stock exchange. Meanwhile, in Seattle and Oakland, some militant occupiers embraced black bloc tactics of civil disobedience and property destruction. Overall, the day felt to many like a dress rehearsal for the future. As we move towards May 12, May 18 and May 20, we must, in the words of founding Zuccotti Marisa Holmes, “not just replicate and mimic what we’ve done before — but grow and learn and become even better.” That is the challenge our movement is now beginning to rise toward.
Here is a sample of the best coverage about Occupy’s General Strike.

“The atmosphere was one of festive, righteous anger… As the vanguard of the march, led by taxicabs festooned in banners, crossed Houston Street a huge cry went up and echoed back, turning Broadway into a canyon of noise for block after block. “This is some serious shit,” an onlooker said, shaking his head with a smile, at the throngs weaving back all the way to Union Square.”

Read more at Alternet

“May Day in New York City was beautiful. From the “99 pickets” protest in the morning targeting corporate headquarters in midtown, to the Bryant Park pop-up occupation, to the Free University in Madison Square Park where students and educators went on strike by holding their classes outside, to the joyous, fair-like atmosphere of Union Square and, finally, with the energetic march with tens of thousands of people, chanting, singing, dancing all the way to Wall Street, the city felt re-imagined and re-invigorated. The entire day was inspiring and powerful.”

Read more at the Guardian

Check out a collection of the most powerful photos from the day at The Atlantic and share your experiences and tactical insights below.

"Festive, Righteous Anger": Occupy Makes a May Day Comeback With Massive Demonstrations

AlterNet.org

   

AlterNet / By Sarah Jaffe and Anna Lekas Miller and Sarah Seltzer and Julianne Escobedo Shepherd and Alex Kane and Joshua Holland

"Festive, Righteous Anger": Occupy Makes a May Day Comeback With Massive Demonstrations

Yesterday, Occupy recaptured the public's attention with rallies, marches, parties, and yes, arrests all over the country.

May 1, 2012  |  

Photo Credit: Occupy Wall Street Aerial Shot, NYC

 

All over the world, May 1st is celebrated as International Workers Day. Yesterday, May Day also marked the reemergence of the Occupy movement, with events in cities all over America. AlterNet's reporters were in the field -- here are their dispatches from New York and the Bay Area.

Midtown NYC, morning 

-- Sarah Jaffe

Midtown is a great place for chanting; your voice echoes off the tall buildings and you can hear it blocks away. Even better for marching bands, bells and whistles.  There may not actually be 99 pickets, but midtown Manhattan is clogged with them in the morning, and they're inside the heads of the people on the street--I walk past a couple discussing our "cruel," unequal society as I hurry from picket to picket.

 I made it to Bryant Park a few minutes after eight in a haze of rain, and found a crowd of around a hundred huddled under their umbrellas or the ones at tables in the park. The Rude Mechanical Orchestra were clustered around their instruments but not playing, and Occupiers chatted with one another. 

My first picket stop was at the New York Times building, where the United Auto Workers (UAW) were picketing under a lovely awning in support of the National Organization of Legal Services Workers, (UAW Local 2320). The lawyers and legal support staff of Legal Services NYC provide free legal aid to New York's low-income folks who need support--they help fight evictions, support the unemployed, work on benefits for the disabled, and more. And they're facing cutbacks from their board, who want them to give back part of their healthcare benefits--not to mention cuts to the services they provide. "We make next to nothing," a legal services worker told me, pointing out that her benefits allow her to do a low-paid service job and take care of herself and her family. 

Meanwhile, none of the cuts have hit management. Their target for the day's picket was Michael Young, the vice chair of the Board of Directors at Legal Services NYC, who has been the point person in negotiating with the union. 

As we stood talking, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra and a small march rolled in, playing "Which Side Are You On?" and thrilling the workers, who didn't seem terribly connected at first to the larger May Day celebrations. The picket line turned into a dance party, and the band played along with chants of "Hey hey rich boy, my job is not your toy" and "We're legal services for the poor, fired up won't take no more." 

From Twitter, colleagues Allison Kilkenny, John Knefel and I heard reports of arrests at the Bank of America tower, which was surrounded by barricades when we arrived but quiet at the moment, so I moved on to News Corp headquarters--where the ticker outside the building warned "Occupy plans to shut down city today, gathering at Bryant Park". It made a lovely backdrop for the lively picket line, featuring several members of OWS's Direct Action working group as well as banners and activists from Picture the Homeless, SEIU, VOCAL-NY (includingWayne Starks, who I spoke with on Tax Day), and other local groups. 

As they marched, the crowd repeated the crimes of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp--not only "Murdoch spies," a reference to the phone hacking scandal in the UK, but "News Corp called for closing HIV food pantries, housing for people with AIDS." 

From News Corp, I moved on to Chase, where a small but determined band was chanting "Save our homes, modify loans!" outside the branch on 47th and Madison, but no one had made it to the main headquarters, location of many an Occupy event, yet. I saw a march rounding the corner as I headed the other way, trying to catch a march that had left News Corp for the headquarters of the Paulson Group, one of the world's largest hedge funds, but instead I crossed paths with a small march flying an anarchist flag, singing "Ain't no power like the power of the people because the power of the people don't stop." 

The marchers were young, mostly white, but the one arrest came when a young black man, whose name, I was told, was Gregory Walker, was slammed against a glass window and thrown to the ground--I didn't see what happened to cause his arrest, but I did watch him loaded into a police van and the crowd spontaneously broke into "Solidarity Forever." 

Back at Bryant Park, the scene had picked up and the feeling was more Liberty Square than grim determination. A woman mic-checked to offer belly dance lessons, and I chatted with Betsy Fagin at the Library, back in action. Screenprinters had the next table over from the Library, and were churning out prints of a Guy Fawkes mask decorated with spring leaves. I caught up with Pam Brown and Suzanne Collado of the Occupy Student Debt campaign, who had been at their own picket outside of NYU, protesting student debt and the university's expansion plan (financed, of course, with students' money). 

The park is also serving as a staging location for marches--I spoke with organizers pulling together an immigrant worker justice march, departing at 11 to his Praesidian Capital, Wells Fargo, the Capital Grille, Chipotle and Beth Israel, in support of workers trying to organize, Wells's support for anti-immigrant legislation through ALEC, wage theft and discrimination, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' Fair Food Campaign, and laundry workers who clean hospital sheets, respectively. 

On the way out, I spoke with Jerry, who told me about the Summer Disobedience school that will be held every Saturday in Bryant Park, training activists in pickets, marches, street theater, and much more. 

Wildcat Strike -- NYC

-- Anna Lekas Miller

The Wildcat Strike -- designed to bring together non-unionized, or unionized workers whose unions had not approved the strike -- was one of the unpermitted actions of May Day. Protestors and strikers came at the risk of their own arrests and the authorities had the right to "do whatever they want."

I arrived at Sara Roosevelt Park half an hour early--there were already fifty or sixty police huddled on the corner of 2nd Avenue and East Houston. At that point, there were maybe ten protestors.

"I feel like they're the ones that should be protesting and we should be the cops," I joked to one of the few other protestors in the park.

"I know. I wish we could pull out our batons and tell them that they're blocking the sidewalk," he replied.

A few minutes later, fellow protestors and marches streamed in from Brooklyn, fresh from having walked across the Williamsburg Bridge. To my surprise, the police began to subside, merely observing the demonstrators as they played music, held signs and chanted.

Though the crowd was mostly young and though not exclusively white, far from racially diverse, their occupations -- and reasons for showing solidarity at the wildcat march in particular -- were vastly different.

"I am a not union metal worker, working a pretty low range for my skill set," said Rachel, a young woman holding a foil flag as an artistic allude to metal workers. "I'm here to represent those who are actually in labor who don't want to be part of a permitted anti-capitalist march and stand in solidarity with my fellow workers who might be afraid or can't afford to be here."

Gregory, a doctoral student and graduate teaching assistant at SUNY Stony Brook College also came to use the wildcat strike as an opportunity to express himself in protest.

"I'm a union member, I'm a public employee of the state--and as a public employee, we are legally not allowed to strike. The wildcat strike provides a space for those of us who can't strike for whatever reason to still express ourselves in protest."

Gregory went on to talk about how his role as an instructor, and a member of the Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU) made him align himself more with student strikers than other instructors. As students face state budget cuts, and increasing tuition and debt, he sees his role as an instructor as part of the larger struggle around education rather than precarious labor.

"I make $15,000 a year -- I should be striking for myself, but actually I'm striking for my students."

After a fairly civil twenty minutes of chatting, singing, live music and navigating the march -- a march began. The first young man that tried to even so much as leave Sara Roosevelt Park was immediately tackled to the ground and arrested by the NYPD. After digesting the chaos, demonstrators decided to run en masse to the south end of the park, many jumping over the railings to avoid the police and began marching south towards Chinatown.

The police followed, a ridiculous-looking parade of 30 riot cops on mopeds following strikers on foot on the sidewalk and on bicycles in the streets. Throughout the crowded, but peaceful march, vans and other arrest vehicles began to follow the mopeds, indicating imminent arrests.

Ironically, the extreme police presence was blocking traffic and inconveniencing the flow of the city far more than the strikers.

Once the march reached Houston and Lafayette -- almost a complete square from where it began -- the cops donned their riot gear and took out their batons. Protestors were kettled onto the sidewalks, spilling off of them and threatened if even so much as a foot was in the street. One nicely dressed man, without provoking anyone, was arrested and thrown to the ground.

After being halted by the police, the march continued up Broadway -- ever racing riot cops to resist being surrounded, the march continued and ended at Washington Square Park.

Free University: Madison Square Park, noon-3pm. 

-- Sarah Seltzer

The sun came out over Madison Square Park as the OWS Free University kicked off. Forgive the pun, but the class war was definitely in session. Professors and experts gathered groups around htem throughout the benches and pathways of this park as midtowners walking by stopped to look. There was a lesson on "horizontal pedagogy,"--or how to teach without hierarchy--talks by noted leftist thinkers Chris Hedges and Francis Fox Piven, a discussion about native/indigenous resistance and another about gender constructs, and most pertinently, a student debt teach-in. One guy was even leading a class on "ancient political philosophy" and I thought about the Athenian forum.




This action was meant to--and did--accomplish two goals. First, it recaptured the "public square" aspect of Zuccotti Park occupation and other encampments, that sense of people radically coming together and talking to each other about major, transformative ideas without boundaries or rules. Secondly, it demonstrated by example a principle of communal, free, shared and sharing education without tuition or fees, a rejoinder to the rising tuition costs at institutions across the country.

As the "class" sessions came to an end under the sunshine, demonstrators talked in clusters, took pictures and gathered around the park's central fountain. And then the sound of chants, whistles, and guitars began to float over the park.
Protesters rushed over to Broadway to see the advancing "guitarmy" march--a musical, un-permitted, wild walk down from Bryant Park led by Tom Morello, its members spilling out onto the sidewalks and the center of Broadway flanked by the NYPD. Cheers and the sound of musical instruments ensued as the march continued on its way down towards the afternoon's destination: Union Square.


Global Justice


-- Alex Kane

The hundreds upon hundreds of protesters streaming into Union Square on May Day were greeted by an elaborate paper “maypole.” There was no need for explanation, as the top of the “maypole” read, “All our grievances are connected”—another way of saying “We are the 99%.”

Walk a couple hundred feet in the park, and there's an Occupy Wall Street group that fervently believes that maxim: the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Global Justice Working Group. A contingent of about 30 people affiliated with the working group had gathered before the union-heavy permitted march from Union Square to Wall Street. The reason? To “declare our commitment to resist and to end wars at home and abroad,” in the working group’s own words.

The names Iran, Palestine, Egypt and more were written on the activists' placards. They joined thousands of demonstrators for a march that capped off a day full of actions highlighting economic inequality, police brutality, immigrant rights and more. In the streets, NY-based Palestine solidarity activist Dave Lippman provided the guitar strumming while others sang songs. “When you shop and when you dine,” they sang, “stand up for Palestine”—a plea for boycotts of Israeli products.

Activists from the Global Justice Working Group are full of knowledge and experience about struggles from Bahrain to Egypt to Palestine. It includes organizers involved with Code Pink, the War Resisters League, Adalah-NY and more--key groups that work on peace and justice issues in the city. And they want to bring their knowledge to the broader world of Occupy Wall Street activism. The march, and songs about struggles here and abroad, were one way of doing that.

“Very often in OWS you get people who don’t know what’s going on across the water,” explained Udi Pladott, an activist and former soldier in the Israeli army. “We’re trying to inject global issues into Occupy.” Towards that goal, the working group has sponsored events on Bahrain and held a teach-in on the global tear-gas industry.

“We want to make connections between the war on the poor here and wars abroad,” said Nancy Kricorian, an organizer with Code Pink. Conversations with working group participants made clear what those connections are: a system that rewards militarism with profits while demanding austerity for the poor.

Apart from Bahrain and Palestine, the specter of a war with Iran, and organizing to stop that possibility, was very much on the minds of OWS Global Justice Working Group participants. A number of signs at the march read “No to sanctions. No to war. No to state repression.” I spoke with Manijeh Nasrabadi, a PhD student at New York University and an organizer with Havaar, an Iranian group that now works with the Global Justice Working Group, for more on this subject.

“There are people in Iran organizing against the same things. They have a government pushing neoliberal policies,” she explained. Nasrabadi also criticized the tendency of some on the left to reflexively back Iran’s leaders since they are in opposition to the West, even as the regime violently cracked down on dissent. “There is a third way: global solidarity,” that isn’t morally compromised, Nasrabadi said.

I then asked Nasrabadi what the connection was between Iran, the US and the Occupy movement. Answers abound to that question.

But she had a simple answer that helps explain the importance of the Global Justice Working Group: “If bombs fall, it would derail thinking about class.”

Tom Morello and the Guitarmy/Union Square/
-- Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

Under unexpectedly sunny skies, thousands converged upon Union Square yesterday afternoon, their numbers growing as the Tom Morello-led “Guitarmy,” flanked by their acoustic axes, marched in from Bryant Park. One of the only spots with a city permit, the Square was the destination for the day’s live music, but it also served as a safe space for those protesters unwilling or unable to risk arrest. As such: the undocumented faction came out in droves, and it became a symbolic place where unions and Occupy joined forces with immigrant’s rights movements. People carried signs reading, “Amnesty Para Todos,” “Trabajando y Educación Para Todos,” “Stop the Raids” and, most crucially, “No a la guerra, ni a la militarización de la frontera.” It’s important not to forget the bigger picture: the border debates are an extension of our country’s war-obsession, and solve no problems.
But the overall spirit at Union Square was one of joy and enthusiasm and united strength. A large stage was set up to accommodate the performers and speakers and the message was clear: through art, activism can glean both power and relief. At around 4 PM, the show started with the beloved Tom Morello, aka the Nightwatchman, aka guitarist in Rage Against the Machine (which we recently learned is Paul Ryan’s favorite band, and who we hope will act on the knowledge by writing a song about him).

Because of the abundance of artists and speakers on the line-up, each act only got to perform two songs, and Morello used his time most effectively. Playing after a speaker announced, “We’re here to announce that another world is not only possible, but on her way,” Morello brought his around 20-person Guitarmy onstage to a fired-up crowd ready to party for justice. He kicked off his set with a singalong of his song “World Wide Rebel Songs,” which pays homage to union classics, and got thousands of protesters singing the chorus (and freaking out when he played the harmonica, because the proles, apparently, love a harmonica).

Then he noted that, were Woody Guthrie alive, he’d be 100, and that if he were still with us, he’d be headlining the event. Morello’s next song? “This Land is Your Land,” which resulted in another joyous singalong and pogo session. His parting words: “Take it easy, but take it.” Morello’s performance was followed by a speech by Emily Park, who announced herself as an undocumented student at CUNY. “DREAMers like me are the future of later,” she said, and advocated the New York DREAM Act that’s currently underway at the state level. Then Joyce Lyon, of the Domestic Workers union, reminded us that, “The thousands of you standing here are the engines that make the economy run,” whether documented or not.

Their speech was followed by a performance by an awesome multinational Latin jazz band representing Local 802, the musician’s union, during which the drummer protested the elimination of 31 multicultural categories at the Grammys. (Including the award for best Latin jazz album and best Native American album, among others.) The band was followed by performances by rap trio Das Racist (full disclosure: the group is this reporter’s family), noise-pop musician Dan Deacon, and rapper Immortal Technique, all of whom celebrated the energy and presence of the thousands in the crowd. And while the focus was certainly on the arts, the most salient point of the rally was made by a speaker later in the day, who reminded us that the Supreme Court is on the cusp of legalizing Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, and that it was up to us to stand against similar racist laws like it. “This is not an immigration issue,” she said.

“This is a people issue.” The crowd was penned in by barricades, guarded by ever-more police as the protest geared up to march downtown, but her message was more powerful than the city’s ominous message. Immigration is a people issue, and this was a joyous, inspiring peoples’ protest.



Marching from Union Square After the Rally: 5:30 pm
-- Sarah Seltzer

Artists for Occupy and immigrant rights groups kicked off the long march from Union Square to Wall Street down Broadway. Despite the barricades and unnecessarily huge numbers of cops on both sides of the street, marchers headed downtown undaunted. Among their numbers were groups like the Teamsters, the Transit Workers Union, and student and community organizations.

Groups let out chants like "we are students, not statistics!" the very May Day-appropriate "black, Latin, Asian, white! Workers of the world unite!" As we entered the shopping district they playfully shouted "out of the shops, and into the streets!" But there was a more mellow feeling than at marches past. One woman cheering for the protesters pointed up at the newly-blue sky and grinned as if to say, "see? even the weather's on your side!" Marchers ran into friends, hugged each other and chatted. The solidarity all the unions and their official signage showed for immigrants was remarkable--groups that once seemed to have been divided by the one percent were making a huge effort to stand up for each other. And the atmosphere was one of festive righteous anger: one protester walked by a Jesus costume carrying a massive cross, and another in a Captain American costume waved at us to applause from a window above.
As the very vanguard of the march, led by taxicabs festooned in banners, crossed Houston Street a huge cry went up and echoed back, turning Broadway into a canyon of noise for block after block after block.

"This is some serious shit," an onlooker said, shaking his head with a smile, at the throngs weaving back all the way to Union Square.

Occupied Lower Manhattan, evening

--Sarah Jaffe

The financial district was occupied all evening--occupied by the NYPD, who were out in riot gear, brandishing batons, lining up on side streets and marching two by two down to rallying points for tired but fired-up occupiers from the final march.

As the march--with crowd estimates of 30,000 or so--wound down, hundreds or even thousands wound up in the space at 55 Water Street, where they held a People's Assembly as night fell. The crowd was peaceful, but the space closed at 10 and so of course the NYPD moved in, calling for dispersal and threatening arrests. City Councilmembers Ydanis Rodriguez and Jumaane Williams were on hand with several members of the clergy, observing and gathering evidence. The two councilmembers are part of a lawsuit filed this week against the NYPD.

I followed a breakout march up side streets, and while at first it was disorganized, a crew of experienced Occupiers, including many from the Plus Brigades (a newer working group that specifically works on clowning and other positive reactions in order to defuse tense situations with police) took lead of the march, walking arm in arm, dancing, and singing. The tension faded from the air as they marched, for a while, without police interference, singing "This is what democracy looks like."

When we came to Wall Street, though, we ran into a barricade--it seems that the worst thing Occupiers can do is attempt to set foot on the actual street their movement is named for. The march turned up William and then down Pine, and as the crew paused to debate where to go next, reports of police violence down on Pearl Street--where we'd just been--came in over Twitter from reporters John and Molly Knefel and Ryan Devereaux. We sat on the steps of a JP Morgan Chase building on Pine, and as some discussed tactics and plans for the rest of the night, stragglers came up William, visibly shaken by what they'd seen. "Police were just grabbing people, throwing them to the ground," one marcher said.

And then the police arrived, bearing batons and riot cuffs. They cleared the steps mostly without incident, though as has come to be usual there was tension and a faceoff for a while before most of the crowd dispersed back down Pine--where a line of police reinforced a line of barricades once again, keeping the crowd from getting anywhere near Wall Street.

Many of the Occupiers wound up where Occupy began, back in Zuccotti Park, where only one side was barricaded off and about 100 people were sitting, chatting in small groups, discussing, once again, what would come next--for the evening, for the movement, for everyone involved. A week of action is planned for later in May, and Brooklyn College is holding a rally today, May 2nd, to build on momentum from May Day.

Oakland/Bay Area:

-- Joshua Holland
The Bay Area celebrated May Day with a series of strikes and protests throughout the day, as 19 local labor unions joined thousands of Occupiers and immigrant rights activists.

The Inlandboatmen's Union staged a half-day strike, shutting down ferry service from Sausalito to San Francisco. The ferry workers are in a dispute with management over health-care costs, and have been working without a contract for over a year. Early in the morning, they were joined by Occupy protesters in a picket line at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. Bus and bridge workers had promised to honor the picket.

About 200 people participated in a peaceful but boisterous immigrants' rights march in San Francisco's Mission District in the morning. Several separate demonstrations wound their way through downtown Oakland, trailed by a heavy police presence. At one point, tear gas was deployed to disperse a crowd, according to protesters who were on the scene.

In the afternoon, a large contingent of Occupy San Francisco activists -- as many as 1,500 -- marched from the Financial District to set up residence in a vacant building from which they had been evicted weeks earlier. The building, formerly a shelter, is owned by the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Police staged around the corner during the afternoon, but at around 4:30, approximately 200 officers clad in riot gear moved in, erecting barricades around the building. A tense standoff ensued, during which time a man on the roof of the building threw several objects -- a brick and some metal pipes -- at police, striking and injuring another protester, who was taken away by ambulance. A San Francisco police spokesman later said that the man had been apprehended and charged with aggravated assault.

After several hours facing down protesters, police again pulled back, and as of press time, protesters had flooded back into the building en masse.

The largest action of the day took place in Oakland during the evening, as an estimated 3,000 people took to the streets around City Hall. The protest was largely uneventful until after nightfall when, in a scene that has come to be all-too-familiar, Oakland police ended up dispersing occupiers with tear gas and "flash-bang" grenades. As of press time, arrests were ongoing.

Sarah Jaffe is an associate editor at AlterNet, a rabblerouser and frequent Twitterer. You can follow her at @seasonothebitch.

Sarah Seltzer is an associate editor at AlterNet and a freelance writer based in New York City. Her work has been published at the Nation, the Christian Science Monitor, Jezebel and the Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter at @fellowette and find her work at sarahmseltzer.com.

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd is an associate editor at AlterNet and a Brooklyn-based freelance writer and editor. Formerly the executive editor of The FADER, her work has appeared in VIBE, SPIN, New York Times and various other magazines and websites.

Alex Kane is AlterNet's New York-based World editor, and a staff reporter for Mondoweiss. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet. He is the author of The 15 Biggest Lies About the Economy: And Everything else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs and Corporate America. Drop him an email or follow him on Twitter.