We begin this long and winding ode on August 7, 2012 — a classic hot-and-humid Big Apple summer day. I was taking part in a demonstration called “Occupy Saks” and I came within an eyelash of being arrested by seven cops. I’ll get to that shortly. For now, I’ll explain that the protest was ostensibly […]
The post BLM, OWS and the Folly of Street “Activism” first appeared on Dissident Voice.
When Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was still in Zuccotti Park, I became close friends with a woman named Ashley. She shared a thought-provoking anecdote with me. But first, some context: Firstly, as some of you may know, there was always a massive police presence surrounding the park at all times. The vibe was mutually confrontational […]
The post When Each “Side” sees the Other as “Brainwashed” first appeared on Dissident Voice.
Marching past the Metropolitan Museum of Art: June 17, 2012 I don’t write about the failings of “activism” as part of some kind of bitter vendetta. Instead, I present posts like this as cautionary tales. I lived it. It took a while but I learned from it. Now, I implore others to blaze new paths […]
The post That Time an Undercover Cop “infiltrated” Occupy Wall Street first appeared on Dissident Voice.
Part I – Pre-History of Socialist Planning Beyond Capitalism Waking Up In 2001 Barbara had her awakening to the disasters that capitalism caused. This started as part of the 9/11 events, beginning after the response to the supposed attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. It became immediately clear the US would […]
It was ten years ago this week that thousands of people from across the country and from different social movements started an occupation of Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC that lasted six months. The action was called “Stop the Machine, Create a New World” to reflect the two-pronged approach of resistance to harmful policies and practices […]
The post Ten Years Later: Lessons for today from Occupy first appeared on Dissident Voice.
Person arrested protesting for Medicare for All. New York City. 2009 (HealthcareNow.org.) It was ten years ago last week that the Arab Spring began. I recall it well as the day before Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia and ignited a revolutionary movement, I stood in the snow for hours protesting outside the […]
The post This Is How We Fight for Our Human Rights first appeared on Dissident Voice.
Change doesn’t come from the top, especially within a manipulated ‘democracy’ as exists in the United States. When social transformation occurs, it follows years of educating, organizing and mobilizing at the grassroots. Elected leaders who represent that transformation ride on a wave created by social movements, not the other way around. As many people around […]
I’ll get to the punch line soon, since this is part two of a two-part mini-horror story of a neighbor’s 41-year-old MAGA son, the actual son’s 63-year-old MAGA-mean mom, and alas, the 41-year-old son’s 39-year-old brother. And then the lot of them under the roof of a 63-year-old stepfather who has “US Navy retired” on his Facebook account, as well as every single post about on-line Texas Hold’em. [Part One! Your Right Ends with My Right to Might]
The offending sign:
The May 25th killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota shocked the world and set off mass protests against racism and police brutality in dozens of cities from the mid-western United States to the European Union, all in the midst of a global pandemic.
