Occupy Oakland January 28, 2012
Finally homeeeeee, I’m so exhausted! Today was amazing, it added another whole dimension to the Occupy movement for me. I’ve got loads of photos and footie to share tomorrow (or the day after, #sopablackout)
“Bail Out the Students.” Chelsea Peil, Roger Peet, Katherine Ball, Portland, OR. (Source.) Download PDF.
More than 270,000 organic farmers are taking on corporate agriculture giant Monsanto in a lawsuit filed March 30. Led by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, the family farmers are fighting for the right to keep a portion of the world food supply organic—and preemptively protecting themselves from accusations of stealing genetically modified seeds that drift on to their pristine crop fields. via Occupy Monsanto
Take Monsanto dowwwwwwwwwwn!!!
Lawyers representing protesters have filed lawsuits — or are planning them — in state and federal courts from coast to coast, challenging eviction orders and what they call heavy-handed police tactics and the banning of demonstrators from public properties.
#Occupy Protest at Sotheby’s Art Auction House
On the morning of September 22nd, 2011 activists involved in #OCCUPYWALLSTREET disrupted an art auction at Sotheby’s Art Auctions on the Upper East Side. Last year Sotheby’s made profits of $680 Million Dollars. Their CEO Bill Rupprecht awarded himself a 125% raise. At the same time Sotheby’s has decided to use union busting tactics, demanding over 100 concessions to the IBT 814 Art Handlers Union Contract.
The Occupy Poster Project was born out of a love for print. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to curate and create a body of screenprinted posters that could be utilized by the people currently protesting. We got in touch with some of our favorite designers and gave them only a few stipulations: Design whatever you’d like, make it 20” x 30”, and 1 color. The project is ongoing as we continue to get in touch with designers to contribute, and we are currently shipping these prints out to organizations all over the world. 25% of all sales on this site will be donated to the Occupy Wall Street Organization.
If you’re in NYC, go check it out.
How on earth did I miss this one??
The United States has ended a 30-year tax subsidy for corn-based ethanol that cost taxpayers $6 billion annually, and ended a tariff on imported Brazilian ethanol.
Congress adjourned for the year on Friday, failing to extend the tax break that’s drawn a wide variety of critics on Capitol Hill, including Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Critics also have included environmentalists, frozen food producers, ranchers and others.
The policies have helped shift millions of tons of corn from feedlots, dinner tables and other products into gas tanks.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth praised the move.
“The end of this giant subsidy for dirty corn ethanol is a win for taxpayers, the environment and people struggling to put food on their tables,” biofuels policy campaigner Michal Rosenoer said Friday.
The subsidy has provided the oil and agribusiness industries with 45 cents per gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline. By some estimates, Congress has awarded $45 billion in subsidies to the ethanol industry since 1980.
More at Detroit News
(via thegreenurbanist)
I’m gonna tell you fascists
You may be surprised
The people in this world
Are getting organized
You’re bound to lose
You fascists bound to lose
- All You Fascists Bound To Lose by Woody Guthrie
Good Morning Baltimore!
Well, after 4 years, we found ourselves back in Baltimore. Charm City! No big deal, just the place where the Crow and the Wolf met! Inevitably, this visit has been one of reflection, returning to our alma mater and a city that we left under emotional and drastic circumstances.
We were welcomed back with an opportunity to give lectures to students sitting in the exact seats we were in just months before we decided to embark on our unconventional, artistic voyage. We were also able to participate in Occupy MICA, occupying the familiar grounds of the MICA campus. It was surreal, not only to be back in Baltimore, but also to see the apparent consistencies of the art school experience. Though the art school institution can be a fantastic and productive environment, similar grievances with fellow artists and superficiality were expressed and we shared the frustrations that inevitably arise when interacting with the “art world.” These are the things, however, that drive us together and there we stood with a group of young artists who were dedicated to their practice and to the evolution of their political and public presence. The students we met from occupy MICA are combating the disconnect that occurs between artists and pursuing a productive dialogue about their purpose as artists within multiple communities. It was uplifting to meet the students of Occupy MICA and see that they embody a passion and drive that is inspirational and necessary for progress within the art world and society at large.
In addition to engaging with the MICA artists, we reached out to Occupy Baltimore. Unfortunately, their encampment was raided the evening we arrived in Baltimore, but we DID have the opportunity to witness the movement’s vitality and determination. The eviction, a familiar emotional event for us and for all occupations, didn’t prevent the Baltimore occupiers from continuing their general assemblies and community direct actions and planning. Connecting with friends we met in NY, creative voices, and Red Emma’s folks, we witnessed a similar pattern in conflicts and progress. The energy in Baltimore, is undeniably, that of great positivity and determination both on local and national issues.
All in all, despite the eviction!…our Baltimore experience was fantastic. It was great to come back and be welcomed with open arms to a place we both once called HOME.
Money into schools not jails
(via peinter)
For decades, labour unions in the US have been on the decline. While they are widely credited with boosting safety standards and worker pay, many have received blame for wanting too much in times of a struggling economy.
Unemployment is at nine per cent and people are clamouring for jobs, unionised or not. And their greatest political ally, the Democratic party, has taken its support for granted, weakening its pull on the strings of power in Washington, DC.
A new battle has emerged in 2011 as Republican governors have taken on public sector unions, in some cases stripping them of rights that have been in place for 50 years. It is part of a trend that is happening in key swing states and may weaken democratic voting strength in next year’s presidential election.
But organised labour has fought back hard. In Wisconsin, unions occupied the state capitol as 100,000 protesters took to the streets. In Ohio, voters overturned a law that was intended to greatly reduce the right that unions have in that state to bargain collectively.
Now as Occupy Wall Street galvanises Americans to take action against financial institutions and big corporations, labour unions have a new ally. But can organised labour harness the anger that everyday Americans are emitting or will this opportunity pass it by? Do labour unions still have the strength to organise or has their power waned to the point that they will no longer be a major player in American politics?
Source: Al Jazeera
