We are experiencing the deepest crisis of capitalism since the great depression of the 30s – and the European governments continue to pour oil on the fires! From the very beginning, some governments have prevented a solidarity-based solution to the crisis in Europe and are significantly responsible for its exacerbation. This refers particularly to the German government, which, in August 2008, blocked a substantial economic stimulus package for Europe. Hardly had the recession reached its lowest point in Germany in 2009, when the German government preached the necessity for hard austerity policies. The “debt brake” was anchored in the constitution: politics disempowered itself, shaped by neo-liberal ideology. The austerity measures taken in various EU states affected above all wage-earners, pensioners, the unemployed and the self-employed, while the wealthy, the banks and the corporations were spared. In spring 2010 the German government blocked aid for Greece, causing a steep rise in the yields of Greek government bonds and thus an increase in national debt and making a solution of the crisis more difficult and expensive. The loan agreements with Greece and other countries in crisis and their ridiculous austerity demands only made the crisis worse. For example, the reduction in the Greek minimum wage does not contribute to an increase in “competitiveness”, as the country’s current account deficit is as much due to the mercantilistic policies of the core eurozone countries, as to the role of deregulated finance. Instead, the reduction of the minimum wage has destroyed the internal market further. This example makes clear that the current crisis politics redistributes wealth from wage-earners to those who possess the capital, regardless of the macro-economic and societal consequences. Greek salaries have already dropped by 20-30%, hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs, over 10,000 schools are closed, hospitals are running out of medication, children are starving. Similar developments are also looming in Portugal and in other European countries.
Neo-liberal politics, whose failure has become obvious in this crisis, is being radicalised once more. The aim of the “fiscal pact”, for example, which was agreed by the heads of state and heads of government of 24 EU states on 2nd March 2012, is to make neo-liberal austerity policies legally binding for all time. A “debt brake” in line with the German model should be anchored across the whole of Europe. National budget deficits should, in future, be capped at 0.5% of GDP. This plan overlooks the fact that already in the 1990s the “Stability and Growth Pact” agreed by the European Economic and Currency Union, which had allowed a budget deficit of 3% of GDP, could not withstand the reality of a capitalist society dogged by crises. The 3% deficit was frequently exceeded. The “Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union”, as the Fiscal Pact is officially called, is more than the result of unrealistic plotting by neo-liberal economists and politicians. Further waves of privatisation, destruction of jobs, restriction of public services, social degradation, and wage reduction, are pre-programmed across the whole of Europe; and all to protect the profits of a small group of rich capitalists. The destructive policies which have been pushed ahead mainly by the German and French governments have been accepted and put into practice by nearly all EU governments, because in every state there is a dominant wealthy clique who profits from the increasing pressure on the wage-earning population.
The European crisis policies lead to an increased undermining and devaluing of democracy. Not least through international pressure were the governments in Greece and Italy removed from office and replaced by a government of “technocrats” in order to calm “the markets”. These governments make far-reaching decisions without having the legitimacy of being elected. A proposed referendum on the austerity measures in Greece was quickly quashed after pressure from the ruling powers. Elections become meaningless when the large parties represent more or less the same policies, as recently in Portugal and Spain. Responsibilities are moved from the national level to the EU-level without an adequate democratic control of the activities of the EU institutions such as the European Commissions, the European Central Bank, or the European Court of Justice. We note with great concern the increased nationalist, racist and fascist movements in various European countries.
And yet the prevailing policies are not without an alternative. A significant alternative, however, is only possible when the roots of the crisis are correctly identified. National debt crises form only one aspect of the current European crisis, in which the tensions of European integration (unequal development, common financial policies without common policies on wages, taxation and industry) collide with a structural over-accumulation of capital. There is too much capital, measured by the possibilities which remain to exploit work and the environment.
An alternative strategy for attacking the crisis needs to include the following elements:
No ratification of the Fiscal Pact
The Fiscal Pact means further loss of democracy, commits nations to neo-liberal policies, and increases the crisis.
Cancellation of national debts
A public debt audit must clarify how the debts were incurred and who is in possession of the government bonds. One person’s debts are another person’s wealth. The savings and pension entitlements of the broad mass of the population must be secured, while the interest and repayment entitlements of the wealthy, the banks, the hedge funds and the corporations must be cancelled.
Nationalisation of the banks
Banks which have been saved by public funds must be nationalised. Banks which are “too big to fail” must be divided up.
Radical redistribution of income and wealth
We need a tax on financial transactions, an increase in taxation on capital returns, a re-introduction of wealth tax and a much stronger progression in income tax, in order to achieve a lasting financing of state spending and increase in benefits, and to enable social and environmentally necessary investments, as well as to combat world poverty.
Overcoming of mass unemployment
Mass unemployment, low wages and wage reduction are important reasons for decreasing wage rates and the creation of surplus capital which inflates the financial sector. There must be an end to the manipulation of unemployment statistics. Mass unemployment can only be overcome by a radical reduction in working hours.
Democratising democracy
Democracy must be strengthened at all levels, especially at the European level, and must also include the economic sector. It cannot be possible that democracy comes to a stop at the gates of the factories and the banks, and that a small group has the means of production at its disposal, when human survival depends on it.
The “Arab Spring”, the movement of the “indignant ones” in Spain, the numerous strikes and demonstrations in Greece and the worldwide “Occupy” movement which started in the USA, are all a source of encouragement. It is high time to strengthen the protests and to take them to the place where the European crisis policies are apparently decided. This is why we are announcing the world-wide decentralised protest demonstrations on 12th May as well as the European protest demonstrations which will take place in Frankfurt am Main on 17th-19th May 2012.
1pm: via @OccupyChicago: Attend tonight's #NATO Action Spokes Council Meeting to get updated on all ACTIONS planned this week! 630PM at 615 W Wellington Ave #OChi
12:30pm ET: On livestream now: Immigrants rights march. Occupy El Barrio is marching to the ICE building:
We denounce the unjust and inhumane decisions that immigration judges are making towards the lives of our immigrant communities.
They have failed to follow prosecutorial discretion and consequently are destroying thousands of families every single day.
Denunciamos las injustas e inhumanas que los jueces de inmigración hacen en contra de nuestras familias inmigrantes.
Posted 1 day ago on May 15, 2012, 6 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
On Tuesday May 15th, Governor Corbett is coming to Prince Theater in Philadelphia to address the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. During his time as Governor, Corbett has made massive cuts to education, medical assistance, and social services while he is spending $685 million on new prison construction. His recent budget alone proposes $264 million in cuts to higher education, $319 million in cuts to general assistance, and a funding change that cuts another $21.6 million from Philly's public schools. More recently the School Reform Commission, an entity created by Harrisburg when the state took control over Philadelphia's School District in 2001, has put forward a plan to close 64 public schools.
Governor Corbett has made his priorities very clear: Corporate tax breaks, mass incarceration and environmental devastation.
Join Decarcerate PA, the Teacher Action Group, the Coalition Advocating for Public Schools, ACT UP, Occupy Philadelphia, Fight for Philly, and many others as we demand a different set of priorities for Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania needs quality public schools, stable housing, jobs and job training programs, health care and food access, drug and alcohol treatment programs, community-based reentry services, and non-punitive programs that address the root causes of violence in our communities. Instead of building more prisons we need policy changes that reduce the prison population and reinvest resources in our schools and communities.
Join us to demand that PA build communities, not prisons!
Tuesday, May 15th, 4-7 pm
Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut Street
Posted 1 day ago on May 15, 2012, 4:52 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
October 15, 2011: The movement goes global.
Today is the one year anniversary of the 15-M movement in Spain, which continues to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people and inspire the world. The following text is an excerpt from 15-M: What Is The Plan? orginally published on TakeTheSquare.net in March. It is republished in part to give our readers a better understanding of the 15-M movement, who we are, what our goals and tactics are, and what we are fighting for.
The Arab Spring was sparked by the first protests that occurred in Tunisia on 18 December 2010 following Mohamed Bouazizi‘s self-immolation in protest of police corruption and ill treatment. With the success of the protests in Tunisia, a wave of unrest sparked by the Tunisian “Burning Man” struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Yemen, then spread to other Arab countries. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on 14 January following the Tunisian revolution protests. In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak resigned on 11 February 2011 after 18 days of massive protests, ending his 30-year presidency.
A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world has been “ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam” (“the people want to bring down the regime”) and they did it in Tunisia and Egypt with a sustained campaign of “non-stop protest” involving strikes, demonstrations, marches, occupations…
Posted 1 day ago on May 15, 2012, 1:47 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Blockupy Frankfurt, a coalition of social movements including Occupy, trade unionists, and the ATTAC network organizing for the #GlobalSpring in solidarity with the 15-M movement, plans to occupy downtown Frankfurt and shut down the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB). Beginning tomorrow, people from across Germany and the rest of Europe will take the squares and parks across Frankfurt and create new spaces for discussion and organizing. On Friday, May 18th, they will nonviolently swarm entrances to banks and disrupt traffic. In the evening, events including music concerts, assemblies, vigils, rallies, workshops, readings, exhibitions, and a youth-organized ¨rave against the troika¨ are scheduled. The Days of Resistance conclude Saturday, May 19th with a mass demonstration.
Last week, the government banned Blockupy and all related events in Frankfurt (protesters pledged to demonstrate anyway). The incident caused an uproar among those who saw it as a blatant attack on social and political rights of people to gather and demonstrate peacefully. The Blockupy Alliance won a partial victory in court, which lifted the ban on the Blockupy demonstration on Saturday and some other (but not all) scheduled events. The court also upheld the city's decision to evict the Occupy camp during the Days of Resistance. In response, the Blockupy Alliance has called on all who are able to gather and defend their freedom of assembly.
Frankfurt is widely considered the financial capital of the European Union. It is the headquarters of the Troika -- the EU, the ECB, and the International Monetary Fund. Germany itself is a leading power behind the authoritarian ¨crisis management¨ of the EU and a key architect of the technocratic austerity regimes currently producing mass poverty and disfranchisement in countries such as Greece, Spain, Ireland, and Italy. Across Europe, people are rising up against the self-appointed technocrats to demand economic policies which place human needs before corporate profits. Even in countries like France and the Netherlands, which so far have escaped the worst effects of the banker-manufactured financial crisis, pro-austerity governments have fallen. And in Germany itself, the center-right party of Angela Merkel -- the German Chancellor notorious for pushing austerity and demanding unconditional subjection of the rest of Europe to the financial markets -- lost massively in local elections last Sunday. Austerity is dying -- time to drive a dagger through its heart! Blockupy Frankfurt!
Posted 2 days ago on May 14, 2012, 10:58 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Occupy The Farm has held an encampment on prime urban agricultural land that is slated for re-development by the owners the property, University of California-Berkeley. For over three weeks, community activists have weeded, planted, hauled, and tended to land. After repeated harassment by police, the UC regents filed a civil lawsuit last Wednesday accusing 13 activists of trespassing. Afterward, they built a fence around the land, known as the Gill Tract.
Occupy The Farm declined an invitation from the university to discuss what to do with the land. Instead, they built a ladder to scale the fence and promised to continue tending to the vegetables, fruit trees, and other plants on 2 acres of the land.
They noted that community members, local residents, activists, and university faculty and students had worked toward a compromise with the university for 15 years. Despite widespread support for their cause, the university has always betrayed them. Community members have tried for years -- including six previous months of deliberation -- to encourage the university to use the land for urban agriculture, and it was never even considered until people took direct action and started planting it themselves.
Now, they have been evicted by riot police and bulldozers and are calling for support. Via OccupyTheFarm.org:
Albany, CA - Well over 100 UCPD and Alameda County Sherriffs officers, armed with less-than-lethal impact-force projectiles, 36" batons, and pepper-ball guns, arrested nine people at the Gill Tract Farm near 7 AM on Monday morning. Of the nine that were arrested, two were watering plants on the agricultural land and seven were watching the police from San Pablo Avenue.
The Gill Tract Farmers Collective has called for a reconvergence at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave., at 5 PM tomorrow.
Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of people in Spain took the streets and camped in public squares in defiance of a curfew on protesters. The government swept in late at night as riot police evicted the peaceful protesters. Across the world, people in over 50 countries demonstrated in solidarity. (See here for more on what happened.) Now, the indignad@s in Spain are returning to the plazas for assemblies, discussions, and festivities. Follow live: #AlasPlazas13M, @takethesquare, @acampadabcn_int, or @democraciareal.
Outside Spain, indignad@s and Occupiers are also still holding encampments in London, Rome, Frankfurt, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and many other cities. Get ready to JOIN US on Tuesday May 15th for the next Global Day of Action. In New York, we will be gathering at Times Square at 6pm for a mass assembly. See here for more.
Join Occupy Wall St & a broad affiliation of local Economic & Social Justice Organizations as we answer the call sent out from the Indignados for a Global Spring. This will be a Mass Rally in Solidarity with the Global Movement Against Austerity & for Economic Justice World Wide.
This action will focus on the Banks and their role in the Global Economic Crisis.
This will be the culmination of a week of action encompassing many issues facing people in the world, from Health Care, Environment, Food Justice, Education, War, Police Brutality, Immigration Rights, Mass Incarceration, Debt, Jobs & Housing, it's time to stand up and show our solidarity with people across the Globe, the country and our own City.
Come to Bryant Park at 4pm where we will be leading Financial Crimes Walking Tours, where groups of people will be brought to some of the worst offenders doorsteps for teach-ins about their misdeeds & how they have contributed to the current global crisis.
We will then converge at 6pm at Times Square, the capital of capitalism and consumerism for a sit down strike & People's Assembly.
2am (5/13): After a quick march by Liberty Square, around 50 Occupiers in NYC have established a #sleepfulprotest in front of City Hall in solidarity with the indignadxs. Reports that police raided the Occupy San Francisco occupation at 101 Market, 2 arrests, blankets and sleeping bags taken. Also, check out this video of the Yes Men disrupting the TPP gala in Dallas earlier!
12midnight: Police are harassing Occupiers at the Northwest clinic occupation in Chicago; took tables, food, and water. Police in Kuala Lumpur have also raided #OccupyDataran. Protesters promise to stay despite tents being taken.
11pm: Between 3-5am, as most of Europe slept, police throughout Spain raided squares and evicted the indignadxs. Around 8 arrests reported at Puerta del Sol, but protesters remained peaceful and have vowed to return to plazas across the country at 5pm (local time) tomorrow. In Madrid, after police brutally evicted the square and began writing down IDs, the protesters peacefully took to the streets, singing, dancing, and chanting: ¨!No Nos Representan!¨ (They don´t represent us!) You cannot evict an idea. #volvemosalas5 #wecomebackat5
6pm: Minute of silence as tens of thousands mark midnight at Puerta del Sol in Madrid. The silence is broken with chants of "Sí se puede." and ¨"el pueblo unido jamas sera vincido.¨ #12Mnonosvamos
5:40pm: Final plenary is starting at the Chicago Peoples Summit. Watch here.
Solidarity protesters in Portland now gathering at Colonel Sumners Park, SE 20th / Belmon. Police moved in on the Occupy LA Assembly, tried to take a banner, but then left. Police have also left Occupy London to jubilant cheers, stopping before arresting all Occupiers. via @OccupyLondon: The police have left the scene. Section 14 has been lifted. There is still a presence at the Royal Exchange. #12mlondon #OCCUPY #OWS
5:00pm: It is now one hour past the governments deadline and hundreds of thousands are still assembled in squares across Spain. Assemblies in Barcelona, Valencia, and elsewhere have announced plans to hold the square through the night, in violation of the ban on camping in effect. Police are nearby but have so far not attacked. See Madrid from a helicopter. Occupiers in London are also staying put.
4:25pm: 20 people still occupying steps in London, encircled by riot cops. Most of the 40 arrestees taken to Bishops Gate police station. For background, see here. In Addison, Texas, large crowds are gathering to protest around the hotel where delegates for the Trans-Pacific Partnership meeting are staying. The march just surged over the barricades onto hotel property. Now being held back by cop line. (via @OccupyAustin).
4:15pm: Anti-capitalist Assembly and Really, Really Free Market begin in Los Angeles at Pershing Square. Watch on livestream here. NYPD harassing peaceful demo including doctors, children, etc at Wyckoff Hospital. More workshops have started at the Chicago Peoples Summit. Reports of at least 10 arrests in Tel Aviv as police attack march; protesters are now blocking intersections.
4:00pm: - Crowds continue to swell as night falls across Europe. 10pm protest curfew passes, indignad@s stand their ground. via @acampadasol: ¨Son más de las 22h, ya estamos desobedeciendo oficialmente.¨ (It is after 10pm, we are officially disobedient.)
3:45pm: - Barcelona police confirm crowd of 245,000. Assembly reading Manifestos. 25-50,000 in Valencia. Madrid still too large to count.
3pm: In NYC, march to save Wyckoff Hospital from austerity leaving now. Watch on livestream here. Assembly beginning in Barcelona. Police still trying to clear Occupy London.
2:30pm: 12-3 arrests at Occupy London; 19 people sitting at the Royal Exchange refusing to move. via @OccupyLondon: Report from the scene: "We've formed a chain. Police are punching people." We have observers there, could do with more.
2:15pm: Organizers estimate Barcelona crowds at 250,000+ and growing. 75,000 reporterd in Zaragoza. Outside Spain, thousands also gathered in Moscow, London, Brussels, Rome, Athens, and in hundreds of other cities.
Read More...
Posted 4 days ago on May 12, 2012, 1:17 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
#OccupyDataran has occupied Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia since the summer of 2011, before the occupation of Liberty Square in New York. Like many other movements across the world, their occupation of public space was inspired in part by the indignad@s in Spain who took over plazas to protest austerity, government corruption, and economic injustice one year ago today. In recent weeks, the occupiers in Kuala Lumpur have been harassed, raided, and arrested by police. Now, still united in our call for Real Democracy NOW!, #OccupyDataran joins #OccupyWallStreet and occupiers on five continents to take back the square.
For more on the #12M Global Day of Action, see here. To watch actions across the world live, see here.
Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.
This #ows movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up. We want to see a general assembly in every backyard, on every street corner because we don't need Wall Street and we don't need politicians to build a better society.
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the only solution is WorldRevolution
Click here for a list of actions, meetings, assemblies in New York.
