The Occupy LA site at Los Angeles City Hall was visited twice yesterday by Dr. Cornell West and PBS star Tavis Smiley. Friday was the seventh day of the occupation that sprung from the Occupy Wall Street actions in New York City.
http://www.cornelwest.com

West and Smiley inspired the rally and buoyed their hopes by articulating what they were seeing on their American Poverty Tour as well as their stops at other "Occupy " sites. West stressed that the people gathered at Los Angeles City Hall were of a highly diverse group which is contrary to the picture being painted by the main and right wing press which is portraying the movement as fringe , confused and young. As this reporter looked around the crowd and the encampment, West's view was confirmed. There was consensus, diversity, sharing and intelligence. Hierarchy was not in evidence despite the aura of celebrity that West and Smiley brought with them.



West reiterated his now famous quote from the Occupy Wall street visits that answered the question of what the goals of this movement are....


"It’s impossible to translate the issue of the greed of Wall Street into one demand, or two demands. We’re talking about a democratic awakening...you’re talking about raising political consciousness so it spills over all parts of the country, so people can begin to see what’s going on through a set of different lens, and then you begin to highlight what the more detailed demands would be. Because in the end we’re really talking about what Martin King would call a revolution: A transfer of power from oligarchs to everyday people of all colors. And that is a step by step process "



Tavis Smiley once having walked the floors of city hall under the employment of Mayor Tom Bradley seemed commanding in his stance on the now somewhat tattered city hall lawn.

The pair visited twice on Friday to cheer on the protesters. They were also on the Suzi Weissman show "Beneath The Surface". Kpfk archives http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/ Friday, October 7, 2011 5:00 pm


The occupation continues........................

We are the 99 percent


http://www.cornelwest.com/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornel_West

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But what about other people of color?

I've only been down there a few times, but I notice the invisibility of people of color from the more established LA organizations that have been involved in the huge immigrant rights marches.

One day, I ran into an old acitivist whose done a lot of work in Commerce. He wasn't there for Occupy - he was there to have a meeting with people at City Hall.

I heard that an acquaintance who leads a community organization in South LA was there to make an appeal to build solidarity for the hotel workers at the Bel Air Hotel. The motion was blocked.

There's something wrong with Occupy. They only want the celebrity blacks. They only want the new agers. What about regular people who have to work shitty jobs for a living and fight for their rights as workers?

In Atlanta, Occupy refused to let John Lewis, former leader of SNCC, speak. They had a 6 minute discussion about it, and then basically insulted him by tagging him as a politician. Sure, he is a politician, but he was also a Freedom Rider and a leader in SNCC.

Something is wrong with the GA.

The problem with Cornel and Tavis are that they're on a big self-promotion tour. They rail against the powers, which is great, but they aren't going to criticize when stupid shit happens, like John Lewis getting refused, or a solidarity action for low-wage workers is blocked.

now that all these people are in the streets, where is this going?
How about a action menu?
Like demanding that the criminals in the banking trusts be arrested? March on the attorney's office and/or the LAPD.
Or you can blow away this opportunity to do something about it.

Glad that Dr. West is telling the people's side of the story, while others are hard at work blaming the people for these economic problems.

Just wanted to mention that when Republicans like Herman Cain say it is "our fault" and we the people should "blame ourselves" for the poor economy it makes them look extremely ignorant.

WE the people NEVER voted in support of ANY bailouts of billionaire corporate bankers.

FIRST; GW "Da Decider" Bush made the bailout of banks and mortgage/securities corporations,

THEN; Barak "Hoping 4 Change" Obama got elected because he said he was different from the last Pres.,

Yet once in office Mr. "Change Hoper" Obama performed the SECOND bailout of billionaire banks, citing the same "Too big to fail" rhetoric voiced by the prior admin he expressed verbal disagreement with during the pre-election debates.

NEITHER bailout of billionaire banks recieved support from the public, though the corporate media trumpeted the need for bailouts and said we would all die slow and horrible deaths if our benevolent government did not intervene and hand the fat cat corporate bankers a nice juicy check at taxpayer expense.

The combination of WTO/NAFTA free trade agreements and repeated attempts to prop up corporate banks that are in reality "to big to function" without flattening people under the treads of their economy crushing tanks is resulting in the "third world-ization" of the U.S. as the middle class slowly disappears from existence. Having an educated middle class enabled people of the U.S. to hang on to the last shreads of democracy remaining after WW2. Now the middle class joins the poor and education is becoming less affordable and avialable as all taxpayer money is transferred to the military as overseas occupations cost taxpayers a bundle. Wall Street also supports the continued feeding at the public trough by military weapons contracters (Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, etc...)

Any thoughts on Ron Paul's ideas of "Let us stop being the world's police!" ?

Contrast Herman Cain's rhetoric of blaming the little person for the economy (sorry we cannot all become Godfathers!) with Ron Paul's message of support for the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Dr. Paul understands the decades of corruption that plagued Wall Street and was also oppossed to BOTH bailouts of the "too big to fail" billionaire bankers.

Notice the polls shifted with Herman Cain losing points for blaming working people for Wall Street's failings while Ron Paul shot up to the top of the polls for voicing his support and expressing empathy for the protesters.

Another hope is for the libertarians and the socialists to put aside their differences and support the Occupy Wall Street movement together as the status quo of neoconservatives and neoliberals are also working hard to keep people distracted from the growing realization that we the people are being screwed over by BOTH Republicans AND Democrats in the Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum systejm of two party politics.

2012 Prediction;

For 2012 the third parties will gain increasing public support and popularity beyond the traditional "lunatic fringe" of the core. As people wake up to the hopelessness of corporate lobbyists controlling both parties simultaneously, a third party revolution needs to take place in order for the truth to get heard.

The Green Party, Libertarian, Peace and Freedom and several other third parties all bring a breath of refreshing truth to the dual party debates normally devoid of truth and filled with plenty deception. The third parties can be honest because they do not take money from corporate lobbyists. Yet for this very reason third party voices are stifled by corporate media. Sounds less like democracy and more like covert facism.

Best wishes to Occupy Wall Street!!

Please keep up the Occupation for as long as possible!!

Please vote third party in 2012! Enough lies already!!

Ron Paul Talks About the Occupy Wall Street Protests and the "militarization of our police force"

Michael Tracey | October 1, 2011


"On Friday, after Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) concluded a town hall-style meeting at an old folks' home in Concord, New Hampshire, I asked him what he made of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests, which have included a noticeable contingency of Paul supporters. On Thursday night, for example, a group of young men assembled at Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan were wielding anti-Federal Reserve placards and promoting Paul's presidential campaign.

"If they were demonstrating peacefully," Paul told me, "and making a point, and arguing our case, and drawing attention to the Fed–I would say, good!"

I asked Paul if he was aware of the much-publicized incident from last weekend in which Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, a high-ranking official in the New York Police Department, was captured on video pepper-spraying nonviolent protesters without provocation.

"I hadn't heard that, since I have to admit I didn't keep up on all the details of it," Paul said, sounding concerned. "I didn't read the stories about it. But that means government doesn't like to be receiving any criticism at all. And my argument is, government should be in the open–the people's privacy ought to be protected. So I don't like it."

On a related note, during the town hall meeting, Paul was asked to react to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly's recent assertion that his department has the ability to shoot down aircraft. "Yeah, I have concern about that," Paul said. "That's not exactly your friendly policeman on the block to go to when you're in trouble. The militarization of our police force–the SWAT teams and all–I think it's a bad sign."

"I do think that when the federal government gets involved," Paul continued, "and Homeland Security provides a lot of these weapons, and gives the weapons to them–I think it's all a dangerous trend."

"One thing though, that I also don't like, is if there's a drug bust, or the police come and they confiscate a boat or a plane–guess what? The police get to keep it. I mean, that is outrageous! What, do you think there would be a motivation then, for them to crack down and get a truck or a boat or a car? And then they get to use it?"

"So whether it's the Department of Homeland security subsidizing– the local police force should be local. It should not be federal. That's why I complained about the federal bureacracy of a hundred thousand carrying guns to enforce laws on us. So no. Too much militarism. Policing is fine and dandy, but we should try to maintain that in our community. Besides, the police, many of them are very very good–there's some corruption in the police forces–but you know, we're not safe because there's a policeman out here every night patrolling. That's not why you're safe here. You're usually safe, especially in New Hampshire, because people, no matter how rural and remote you are, they're going to think 'Huh, he might have a gun in there! I'm not going in there.' It's the Second Amendment and that perception that makes us safe."

"So we don't need the militiarization of our police forces. And when they talk about the ability to shoot down aircraft, it's pretty bad."

article here;
http://reason.com/blog/2011/10/01/ron-paul-talks-about-the-occup

BTW - This article links in text ("much-publicized incident") to the NYPD white shirt Officer Anthony Bologna who sprayed the young women protesters for no apparent reason (psycho sadist perhaps?)