h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No, that's Naomi Klein. Wolf is a third wave feminist and writer, who first came to prominence with The Beauty Myth. She's written about liberty in the US context. That article demonstrates some of the particular issues that the US is facing, which makes this about more than just the bankers. She got arrested because she wouldn't do what a policeman illegally told her to do.

Why is America getting talked about so much?

Nobody here is caring about them.

Seriously hell is coming. That's why I got so uppity earlier in this thread. People seemed to be making a joke out of 'occupy' and still some are.

I would say all of the old people in my street wouldn't have a clue what 'occupy' referred to on someone's post. 90% of immigrants in the street wouldn't.

In fact tomorrow I may go out and ask people at random if they would understand what 'Occupy' meant when added to a post on the internet...just to check that I'm not a total dinosaur.and the vast majority of my fellow citizens understand by I don't.

Talk for yourself, Effers. I care about what happens in America. Not least because I have lots of good friends there. And people there aren't as well off as we are. They are right to complain.

This post has been removed.

Restoring thread title.

Can I go waaay back and answer the original post? I've not just been following the movement in the news, but I've been joining in with the Chicago chapter during my lunch breaks at work (and doing so as peacefully as possible so as not to end up in the pokey- I'm not helping anyone, leastwise myself, if I wind up unemployed because I got pinched).

It's not the same as camping out for several days or weeks at a stretch, but when solidarity is needed I think every little bit helps, and a small or intermittent voice carries a lot when it's in unison with such a strong one.

I simply don't understand the comments and placards by people who think it's OK to work their asses off off, even having to do loads of overtime or take on additional jobs, just to "get by"... and not having affordable healthcare or having to choose between food, rent or medicine is not IMO "getting by". I don't see how anyone could think it's OK to come out of school with loads of student debt (when I graduated I owed $78K- I attended a state university and not a private school, private schools can cost that much for one year- and I only just paid the last of it off a couple years ago), perhaps even with a graduate degree, and have to work for minimum wage, if they can find work at all, and spend much of their adult life paying for it. And all that so that CEOs who do little else besides play golf and show up for photo opportunities can earn more in annual bonuses than people who actually work, and make the money for the company, do in a our entire working lives. When I see someone say "I work two jobs, I don't have health insurance, and I'm OK with that", I want to throttle them a little bit and tell them "but I'm not happy that you have to live like that, and neither should you be".

I think some of the joke-iness in this thread highlights something important- that's it isn't unreasonable to want, expect or even demand that your life have the occasional slight pleasure. People shouldn't have to live in squalor, sickness and abject misery for no crime other than not having been born a trust-fund baby.

Occupy has been on the news consistantly for the last couple of weeks, has been in the newpapers of all hues in one way or another, and has been explained here and it is all over the scial media

If people do not know what Occupy is, then they have chosen not to watch the news, not to read the papers, online or from the newagents and if they have been on this thread not to listen to what people have been saying

Occupy is an grassroots action that is occuring in many countries, on the whole it is a form of non-violent direct action, there is no one answer to what people are specifically aiming for because the action is local and national as such the specifics are different in Greece, Britain and the US (for example) are different kettle of fish. Their economies are different, culture is different the political strucure is different. It has just spread internationally

Broadly though we can say, there has been a global economic crisis and people are paying for this, in cuts to services, to pensions, to benefits, with their homes and jobs, we are bailing our economies and instuitions in a way that will leave generations in hock for decades and are seeing precious little in return for that

and we are spissed off it and want to do something to register that deep disatisfaction and dare I say it discontent with the way in which this is being managed and questioning whose interests are being protected and advanced here because it is not looking like 'ours'

Occupy h2g2

This post has been removed.

We the 99% are all in this together.

occupyh2g2

shoulder to shoulder

occupyh2g2

This post has been removed.

There was a little Occupy attempt here (Edmonton, Canada) and maybe there are a few stalwarts still camping in that park downtown (outnumbered by regular street people, no doubt), but there really isn't much interest and the local news pretty much ignored them after the second day. It didn't help that they started their action on the same day that both our pro football team and pro hockey team had big home games.

The fact is that Canada weathered the global financial situation very well because our governments, past and (less so) present had sensible regulations in place and the banks stuck to the sensible rules and remain strong. Certainly, there are disreputable fat cats and there is corruption, and the 1% has inordinate control over everything, but, we are most certainly not in the ridiculous situation of `places like the U.S. or Greece. We have universal health care, social safety nets hanging from every tree, a remarkably healthy economy, an ever dropping crime rate, accessible elected officials . . .

I don't feel any need to 'occupy' Canada -- I already do.


Now, if I were living almost anywhere else in the world, I might feel differently . . .

And, I should add, that when I talk to people in my daily real life most of them, if they mention 'Occupy' at all, say something like 'what's that all about, anyway?' These are educated, informed and engaged individuals. Yes, it's all over the news and it's all over social media, etc., but so is the latest situation of Ashton Kuchner, but I haven't got a clue about Aston's situation because it really has no interest or relevance for me. Many people in the world are not particularly interested in the plight of a dozen people in a Citibank in Manhattan, and, to tell the truth, there's no particular reason very many people outside the U.S. *should* be interested.

My interest in the whole occupy thing is analogous to most people's interest in spectator sports. Politics happens to be my game but 'Occupy' is being played in a foreign league. Most of my neighbours follow hockey or football. They only bother with politics when the home team is playing.

The top 1% of the world's wealthiest citizens have gamed the world's economy with artificial financial instruments. They have been using these artificial financial instruments to enrich themselves further and destabilize the global economy.

Canada won't remain insulated from the effects of a destabilized global economy forever.

#occupyh2g2

'Canada won't remain insulated from the effects of a destabilized global economy forever.'

Certainly.

But how exactly does Occupying Churchill Square in Edmonton affect the political/economic situation of the U.S., or UK, or China? I'm not in a position to Occupy Wall Street or Trafalgar Square or Tienanmen Square. Occupying Churchill Square seems rather silly, really.

To me, a much more sensible and effective course *in my national context* is to continue to phone my MP, Government Ministers, and the Prime Minister with my concerns. Here, as I've mentioned before, these people remain accessible and to some degree responsive to the constituents and their concerns. For goodness sake, I've stood beside my MP in my MLA's (Provincial Representative) kitchen while she (my MLA) made hot chocolate for my daughter. The only reason I've met these people is *because* they are my elected representatives.

The fact that Canada has weathered things fairly well because of good management means that our government and our private financial managers can go to international counterparts and say 'Look how we managed things. Maybe you should try it.' (as they have been doing). I will happily continue to encourage them to do so, but shouting in Churchill Square is nothing other than yelling at the people who did things right.

And, as I said before, if I lived anywhere else in the world . . .

Anhaga, could you send in food and comfort then

with giftwrap

Certainly. If were allowed.






I hope my point is visible: while I support the spirit of the movement, and while I very much agree that the world economic/political system is busted in exactly the ways the movement indicates, the economic/political system *here* isn't broken in exactly the same ways it's broken in the rest of the world.

Yelling at our government about the situation in the U.S. is sort of like yelling at our government because the wrong party won the last Mexican presidential election.

I'll yell at my government (and my bank) for what it does wrong, not for what some other government (or bank) does wrong, thank you.

But, good luck with your own occupation.

*looks at the *

Anhaga, your point is visable and I really like your wrapping paper

Yabbut, yah, but, it's a global economy now innit. Look at the collateral damage -- Iceland, Ireland. Not exactly economic behemoths, but they were taken down by the investment/hedge fund antics of the big players.

Yahbut, that's because their governments got taken in by it all.