Time’s 2011 ‘Person’ of the Year was ‘The Protester’ as embodied by the protesters fueling the Arab Spring and Occupy . Writing from his new perch at The Atlantic, Robert Wright takes issue with Time’s choice: I wish that three weeks ago Time magazine hadn’t named ‘The Protestor’ the person of the year for 2011. It […]
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Occupy successfully disrupted operations at the Port of this week, but their actions further alienate the movement from average American workers. Occupy may be facing evictions and other trip-ups across the nation, but in the movement is taking matters into its own hands. For the second time in as many months, Occupy protesters have disrupted […]
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Occupy was evicted recently, but it didn’t end in blood and tears. No pepper-spray was deployed. No protesters found themselves on the other end of a baton. In fact, if reports are accurate, police in decided to opt for wits over brute strength, and common sense over riot gear. Via Radley Balko, Brad Hicks describes […]
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Reporting for the Times, Erik Lacitis observes protesters at a Walmart Occupy Black Friday event: A 23-year-old protester, who goes by “Brit” and says she works as a barista, explains, “If we all chose to pay a little more, we could shop locally,” meaning not buying the cheaper, imported products. This may sound true enough […]
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The police violence on display at UC Davis this Friday is not the first of its kind in response to the Occupy movement. As I wrote yesterday, a similar incident involving police beating protesters at UC Berkeley happened this past Tuesday. There have been numerous other incidents as well, from to to to City and […]
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When the first major evacuation of Occupy was ordered, and police responded in full riot gear, I wrote at the time: A little friendly advice for the police: if you want a protest or a rally to dissipate, ignore it. Until it turns into a violent riot, ignore it. Even if it goes on for […]
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Police at UC Davis maced a group of peaceful Occupy protesters in a gross display of excessive force Friday. The video, which I posted earlier today, has since gone viral. Police are not backing down from the action despite the police actions being widely criticized. “If you look at the video you are going to […]
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Events like the one in the above video have been far too common in the police response to Occupy protests across the country. I do believe that Occupy is at a tipping point, and that it must grow beyond and evolve away from the tent city occupations, but this police response is absurd and excessive. […]
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Occupy Wall Street has been described in various circles as ‘anti-corporate’ or ‘anti-capitalist.’ Andrew Sullivan noted recently that his “impression of the OWS crowds is that they express an almost fanatical hatred of anything called a ‘corporation.’” This may be true of many of the protesters, but it’s hardly universally true. I’ve written before that […]
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Business leaders and entrepreneurs surveying the growing Occupy Wall Street movement might be tempted to dismiss it as so much youthful angst. This would be a mistake. The anger and backlash at growing economic inequality, persistently high unemployment in the wake of the 2008 recession, and a sense that the system is rigged against ordinary […]
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