Leslie Marshall/Mark Taylor-Canfield - UN Letter Criticizing Crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street

Leslie Marshall/Mark Taylor-Canfield - UN Letter Criticizing Crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street

BBC - Mark Taylor-Canfield Russian Anti-Putin Protests Part 2

Video: BBC - Mark Taylor-Canfield Russian Anti-Putin Protests Part 2

Declaration of Independence From Wall Street

By Mark Taylor-Canfield

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for people to dissolve the economic and political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature entitle them, a decent respect for the opinions of the world community requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, institutions are established among the people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of economic policy becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish these policies, and to create new systems, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that economic systems long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly experience has shown that people are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute corporate despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such institutions, and to provide new guards for their future security.

--Such has been the patient sufferance of the people of the world; and such is now the necessity which inspires them to alter their former financial systems and economic policies. The history of the present corporate global empire is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over the people and their governments.

To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

Multinational corporations and Wall Street financiers have:

Falsely claimed to have the same rights as individual human beings

Accepted public bailouts and subsequently refused to establish necessary reforms

Invested trillions of dollars in high risk derivatives and speculative finance and trading schemes, putting the US and entire world economy at risk

Protected the interests of the wealthiest members of our society while enforcing austerity measures on the poor and middle class, including cuts to funding for vital social services, public healthcare, education and transportation

Supported and promoted destructive international trade agreements which undermine democracy and violate the sovereignty of the people

Taken away our homes

Devalued our pension funds

Contributed to the writing of federal and local government regulations in a manner which favors corporate profit and endangers the health, safety and welfare of the people

Controlled our electoral system through unlimited funding of political campaigns

Dominated our financial system and economic policies, resulting in the outsourcing of jobs, high unemployment, lower wages, cuts to health, dental and pension benefits for workers and widespread suffering and impoverishment for the people

Conspired with the Federal Reserve to print and distribute currency without public oversight

Conducted secret meetings with government officials to draft legislation and regulatory statutes

Attacked the rights of labor to organize and form unions

Benefited financially from one trillion dollars in government-backed student loans, while contributing to the privatization of our schools and lobbying for cuts in funding for public education, resulting in increased tuition

Ruined locally owned businesses by monopolizing the marketplace

Produced and marketed unhealthy food and forced genetically modified organisms upon an unsuspecting public

Used their influence on local and federal governments to avoid paying their fair share of the national tax burden and debt relief

Falsified records and committed securities fraud

Attempted to privatize and monopolize our public healthcare systems and our public airwaves

Allowed the degradation of the national industrial and transportation infrastructure

Polluted, degraded and devastated the natural environment motivated solely by irresponsible greed

Condoned and facilitated violations of the US Constitution by cooperating with government agencies who were seeking access to private communications and personal information

Profited financially from the establishment of police state policies and violations of the Bill of Rights' protections on freedom of speech, privacy, and due process of law including extra-judicial drone assassinations of US citizens under the provisions of the "War on Terror" regime, mass covert surveillance of the population, mandatory airport body searches, suppression of alternative media sources, and militarization of local law enforcement agencies resulting in mass arrests, the use of so-called "less-lethal" weaponry by police during protests, and the systematic harassment and intimidation of activists

Weakened the Fourth Estate through mass commercialization and corporate consolidation of the media, resulting in a loss of press freedom

Encouraged and financed the military/industrial/prison complex by by financing, promoting and profiting from foreign military interventions which have resulted in massive death and destruction, and by lobbying for increased jail sentences for drug offenders while financing, constructing and managing private prisons

We, therefore, the people, do solemnly publish and declare, that we are, and of right ought to be free and independent from corporate domination and control of our economy, our government and our electoral system; that we are absolved from all allegiance to the corrupt bankers on Wall Street, and that all political connection between them and the government of the United States of America, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that we as free and independent states, have full power to protect the rights of the people, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish trade, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do without influence, intervention or interference from corporate interests.

And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on our solidarity with people all around the world who are struggling against tyranny to establish peace and freedom, we pledge to each other our mutual aid, assistance and support.

Occupy Wall Street: Events Planned Nationally For Anniversary

Occupy Wall Street Activists Prepare For Demonstrations on One Year Anniversary

By Mark Taylor-Canfield

Originally Published @ Huffington Post

As the anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement approaches on September 17th, occupy groups across the country are planning solidarity events.

To commemorate the birth of OWS in New York City, activists in Seattle plan to stage a march and vigil at the original site of their encampment at Westlake Park. Occupy Seattle participants say they will cover their mouths with dollars bills and carry signs saying, "Money is not free speech!", referring to the US Supreme Court decision allowing corporations unlimited contributions to political candidates.

In New York City, OWS organizers are preparing for a mass act of civil disobedience called "The People's Wall". Demonstrators will converge at seven different street intersections in Manhattan on the morning of Sept. 17th. The activists know that a security zone will be established around the stock market, denying protesters access to the building. In response, the occupiers say they will sit down and refuse to move when they are barred from entering the area by the New York City Police Department.

A legal team has been assembled, and OWS NYC is asking everyone who participates in the protests to register with a legal observer. There will be intensive legal training available for all of the demonstrators visiting New York City. In this way, the organizers hope to track and assist anyone who may be arrested while practicing civil disobedience.

But the OWS folks in NYC want everyone to know that this mass act of protest is just one small part of the week's activities. Most of the the time, organizers will be concentrating on training activists who will be gathering from around the nation. They want to provide a two day training camp so that occupiers can go back to their own communities and stage effective protests.

Recently a judge upheld an injunction which will allow occupiers to enter Zucotti Park on the OWS anniversary, presumably without fear of being arrested by the NYPD. A legal precedent may also allow protesters to stay in the park for an extended period of time as a demonstration against homelessness. They are organizing a "Sleepless Protest" to occupy the park. A similar court ruling in Seattle allowed activists to occupy Westlake Park for 24 hours.

During the three days of events marking the one year anniversary of the movement, there will be a music concert in NYC, workshops and several general assemblies. One of the goals of the NYC OWS group is to help facilitate an exchange of ideas and tactics between occupiers from different parts of the country.
Over the winter, there have been dozens of conference calls and webinars, facilitated by the InterOccupy.net website which serves as a central hub for the local Occupy organizations. There have even been international calls and meetings with activists like Hordor Torfason, who almost single-handedly created a peaceful revolution in Iceland. OWS NYC is hoping that even more of this dialogue and networking will take place after September 17th.

It is clear that US law enforcement and government authorities would like to stop the Occupy Wall Street movement in it's tracks. A letter written by two United Nations envoys to the US Secretary of State in December was critical of the violent dismantling of US occupy encampments and the violations of people's Constitutional right to assemble peacefully. The UN envoys maintain that international treaties also outlaw this kind of behavior by governments against their people.

Currently, a federal grand jury is convening in Seattle to investigate activists in Oregon and Washington State. As part of the investigation, police and FBI teams have raided the homes of activists in Seattle and Portland looking for political literature and Anarchist material. The National Lawyers Guild claims that these raids and the grand jury are being used to intimidate and suppress the Occupy Wall Street movement. Neil Fox of the Seattle NLG points out that the possession of political literature is protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Although the protests against the Democratic and Republican conventions did not turn out to be the major uprisings that the Department of Homeland Security had predicted, the Occupy Wall Street movement is still alive and well in America. In big cities and small towns activists have been addressing issues on the local level including: home foreclosures, the Citizens United case, cuts in social services and education, corruption on Wall Street, the Keystone Pipeline, anti-labor union legislation, the dominance of the two national political parties, unfair tax policies, etc.

In Seattle there are weekly food distribution programs, regular marches against student debt, an Occupy film series, a free library, cash mobs, protests against Wall Street banks and, more recently, demonstrations against the federal grand jury at the federal courthouse.

Des Moines, Iowa occupiers will be hosting a major international conference on world food prices in October. Asheville, North Carolina, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Gainesville, Florida all have small but active groups associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

On September 17th, occupiers in the US expect to see a resurgence of OWS. All across the nation folks are looking forward to that same altruistic spirit and sense of grassroots community that inspired  everyone last year. The Occupy Wall Street activists in NYC hope that they can help make that happen again.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-taylorcanfield/occupy-wall-street-anniversary_b_1884356.html


http://inlocalneworleans.com/index.php/politics/56700-mark-taylor-canfield-occupy-predicts-anniversary-resurgence

Breaking News!

The World Cricket Federation has just overturned the outcome of the monumental match between Pakistan and India; a new free energy invention has just solved all of the world's energy needs; innovative global economic and political reforms have eliminated all poverty; all wars have ceased and peace and freedom have been declared all over the planet! Good News!!!

Egyptian Uprising - What's Next?

The current Egyptian uprising is now in full swing after Mubarak's speech today. The dictator showed the usual tyrranical contempt for the people of his country by refusing to aquiesce to the number one major demand of the demonstrators - his abdication.

Before the speech was even half completed, the protesters in "Liberty" Square began demanding his resignation. Loud chants were heard as the crowds grew more and more angry.

One thing is for certain, Mubarak's speech is guaranteed to keep the protests in the streets happening. He could not have done more to promote revolution except for maybe ordering the army to fire on protesters.

And where is the army in all of this? A major Egyptian military leader had told the revolutionaries earlier in the day that all of thier demands would be met today. So what happened? The global media was taken completely by surprise. Looking foolish for predicting Mubarak's exit today, the BBC, NPR and other news networks were caught off guard and have spent most of the day trying to figure out how they had been duped.

Perhaps it would have been beneficial for them to have included a few more Egyptian voices in their media discussions, instead of spending most of thier time interviewing American US and UK journalists, university professors and political pundits.

It seems pretty clear that the demonstrators are even more inspired than ever to stay in the streets and fight for their rights. At some point, they may choose to march on the presidential palace, which could cause a serious dilemna for the military. The army has stated through several of their spokespersons that they are in support of the people in the streets. So how will the army react if the mobs march on Mubarak's palace?

The word on the streets of Cairo is that the soldiers will not fire on thier own people. Will they simply standby and protect Mubarak without attacking or arresting the demonstrators?

This is definitely a stand-off for the moment. I predict many pro-democracy soldarity rallies will take place around the world tomorrow to show support for the people of Egypt. This social and economic revolution is bound to be successful if the protesters remain non-violent because most of the rest of the planet is in support of their struggle.

The present situation in Egypt has put the US in a difficult diplomatic position. Having supported Mubarak for years with military and political assistance, Obama's statements of support for the demonstrators now sound a bit hollow and very much politically motivated. Mubarak is reacting as the consumate tyrant, refusing to face reality at his own risk. He continues to be arrogant and greedy for power even while his nation is falling apart before his eyes. Meanwhile, Obama, the consumate politician, speaks out of both sides of his mouth. Yes, he says, we are with you, but our support only goes so far...

The truth is, most of the peple on the streets in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria have made it abundantly clear that they do not care at all what US diplomats or President Obama is saying about the future of their nation. After 7,000 years of civilization, Egyptians are more than ready to make those decisions for themselves, without foreign support or interference.

So far, this has been a populist middle class movement. Now workers are striking and the Egyptian press is begininning to open up and allow more freedom of speech. Mubarak's days as a despot are obviously numbered...

My Impressions From Covering the Democratic National Convention

Democratic National Convention - Denver, Colorado 2008

My impressions of the DNC August 25th – 28th

Long security lines at the airport. Sleep depravation. Too many parties. Million dollar handshakes. Free drinks at the McCain bar for Hillary Clinton delegates. Feeling light-headed. Chasing down Congressman Jim McDermott. Where’s the next event? What’s your name? Where are you from? Obama or Clinton, where do you stand?

Where’s my luggage? Where is my digital recorder? Do they really need to search me again? You can keep my fingernail clippers if you like. My press credential aren’t enough? Yes, I’m a reporter for KBCS and Pacifica. No, I don’t have any weapons. Yes, I’m going to stay for the convention. Yes, I have a place to stay, thank you very much. Why is this line so long? I’ve been here for hours. How long have you been standing here? I’m going to miss that speech. My editors will be pissed!

Meanwhile, outside on the streets, Iraq Veterans Against the War were marching to the Pepsi Center facing threats of tear gas. One hundred thirty-five arrests. Code Pink women singing anti-war somgs – “We Shall Overcome”. Rage Against The Machine throwing a free concert at the coliseum. Pepper spray, unwarranted detainment, dispersal orders, an officially designated “protest-zone” (Where are my First Amendment Rights?). Denver police in riot gear wearing no name tags for indentification, Hmmm…kind of reminds me of Seattle during the WTO protests. What’s that smell? Call over the legal observers. Quick, someone get a photo of this!

Folks from the 911 truth movement are there to hand out DVD’s. Someone mentions that Alex Jones is here. Hey, what does Ralph Nader have to say about 911? Anythng?

American Indian Movement representatives were dismissing the entire political spectacle as just another hoodwink. “Where are the representatives of the indigenous people inside that convention?” “There are oppressed people all over the world that they just walk on like they are garbage…”

An Obama delegate says to me, “I’m really concerned about what happened on 911.
I was talking to some people outside who gave me a DVD. Do you think they’re crazy?”

Security checks, background checks, being elbowed in the back by the Fox camerman.
Why are the corporate reporters always so crass? I’m exhausted after traveling and staying up all night. I admit I lost my temper. I said,

“Did you get your little five second sound bite? Oh, isn’t that cute. He’s leaving now.
Don’t stay too long, you might miss something.”

“No, I’m not drunk. Why don’t you go home now and let us cover this event? You’ll just use your footage for more propaganda.”

“What’s that? What about my long hair? No, I don’t need a haircut. This isn’t 1950. Why don’t you take your Brooks Brother’s jacket and hit the road and stop acting like a punk. What did you say?”

The Fox guy looks like he’d like to do something he’d probably regret. Fortunately, cooler heads prevail.

Where’s the food? Where’s the lounge? Who’s that coming out of that hotel? Is that Jimmy Carter? No, it’s Bill Clinton!

I see many diverse faces among the Obama delegates on the floor of the convention center. Cold icy stares from the Clinton supporters. Who’s going to get control of that huge money-making machine? Shouldn’t the Clintons and Obama just arm wrestle for it?

I see another sign at the protest – “911 – Ask Questions!”

A woman from Brazil, a photographer asks me, “Do you think any of these politicians will ever tell the truth about the trade towers? Do they even want to know? Where is Bin Laden and why hasn’t he been held to justice by your country?”

Finally he speaks. It’s the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The crowd is exuberant. They are witnessing history right before their eyes. Women begin to cry. Grown men shout like excited children. People hug each other and kiss total strangers. Is this the moment we’ve all been waiting for? Will it really matter? Will the United States finally enter the 21st century?

I see a beautiful family up on the stage. Fireworks are shooting over our heads. Tons of confetti come down from above. Streamers are flying, the crowd is elated. The media is amazed. The neo-cons frown. They ask themselves, “How did this happen?” The Democratic party leaders are asking themselves, “Why didn’t we see didn’t see this coming?!” Party hacks are getting drunk off the realization that something new is being born. They don’t know quite what to do with it. Surely they can turn this into just another mad dash for money, can’t they?

Meanwhile, out on the streets, police are lining up to block another group of demonstrators who are trying to get close to the delegates. A police captain picks up his megaphone and declares, “Anyone in this vicinity will be arrested unless you disperse.
We will use pepper spray and tear gas to clear the area. Leave immediately or you will be arrested!”

A quick response by the Obama team avoids another riot. But on Monday 91 people were arrested. Tonight a rep from his campaign meets with the veterans and they deliver their letter. “Leave Iraq immediately, give aid to the returning veterans, and make reparations to the Iraqi people.”

Barack Obama’s assistant on veterans affairs meets with the IVAW, takes the letter and goes back inside the ivory tower of officialdom. Delegates are still arguing over Hillary versus Barack and corporate logos cover everything. I follow the protesters home as they celebrate their small victory and this democracy on parade. But deep inside, I wonder if it will amount to anything at all…