Occupy Europe: How a generation went from indifferent to indignant The most significant current youth movement in Europe started with a tweet on Justin Bieber, the boyish Canadian crooner. On May 15, following a rally against education cuts at Madrid's main square, a cluster of 40 students stayed on, talking into the night. Spain, like Greece and Italy, faces huge public deficits. The government has been cutting outlays for basic services like schools, health care, and social welfare. While college attendance in Spain is a success story, youth unemployment has risen to a horrific 44 percent.
Globalizing Dissent, From Tahrir Square to Liberty Plaza The winds of change are blowing across the globe. What triggers such change, and when it will strike, is something that no one can predict. Last Jan. 18, a courageous young woman in Egypt took a dangerous step. Occupy protests around the world: full list visualised "951 cities in 82 countries" has become the standard definition of the scale of the Occupy protests around the world this weekend, following on from the Occupy Wall Street and Madrid demonstrations that have shaped public debate in the past month. We wanted to list exactly where protests have taken place as part of the Occupy movement - and see exactly what is happening where around the globe. With your help, adding events in our form below, we've been able to show 750 Occupy events world wide. As we wrote this week:
Food prices 'will double by 2030', Oxfam warns 31 May 2011Last updated at 11:07 The price of key crops could rise by up to 180%, Oxfam says Rising food prices are tightening the squeeze on populations already struggling to buy adequate food, demanding radical reform of the global food system, Oxfam has warned. Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now Published in The Nation. I was honored to be invited to speak at Occupy Wall Street on Thursday night. Since amplification is (disgracefully) banned, and everything I said had to be repeated by hundreds of people so others could hear (a.k.a. “the human microphone”), what I actually said at Liberty Plaza had to be very short. With that in mind, here is the longer, uncut version of the speech.
Protesters take to the streets of 100+ European cities From Athens to Paris, tens of thousands of Europeans heed the online call for a #europeanrevolution. An online call for a European Revolution was heeded en masse today as over 100 cities throughout the continent witnessed tens (if not hundreds) of thousands ‘indignants‘ mobilizing to demand real democracy now. Thousands gathered in Madrid for a peaceful assembly on the 15th straight day of protests and occupations there, belying the false idea of skeptics that the Spanish protest movement would fizzle out in due course.
What do we want again? Occupy Wall St takes hold of Australia "Tens of thousands" expected soon "It's not radicals - just ordinary people" Australians prepare own occupations IT'S the protest movement that may not exactly know what it's protesting about - and may not have much chance of achieving it. Demontrators enraged by "corporate greed" plan to spread their message in capital cities across Australia tomorrow as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Map: Occupy Wall Street Spreads Worldwide, Arrests on the Rise The loose-knit protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street has stirred action from New York City to LA and spread overseas. Here we present an expanding map of protest hot spots and reported arrests, and track the movement's growth. Check back often for updates—and check out all the rest of MoJo's #OWS coverage here. Protests taking place beyond Manhattan: What began as a call for Americans to gather in New York's Financial District has given rise to like-minded actions nationwide and far beyond. Click on the dots for details from more than 462 locations and over 3,200 arrests (last updated: November 20, 9:30 p.m.
Protests in Turkey Part of Growing Cycle of Discontent (Source: Protests in Turkey entered their fifth day today, with demonstrators heading into the streets in cities across the country. The protests, which were initially aimed at protesting the demolition of Istanbul’s Gezi park, have transformed, because of police aggression, to include more general grievances with the Turkish government. Mashallah News provides a good recap of the demonstrations’ development, thus far:
Anonymous declares ‘cyberwar’ on the IMF The vigilante hacktivists of Anonymous have announced an online attack on the IMF for its treatment of the Greek people. The struggle of the of the Greek people against the IMF has taken a new turn recently, as Anonymous declared its intention to launch a series of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on the Fund in retaliation for the IMF’s treatment of the Greek people. Ever since the Greek crisis began, the EU and IMF have together forced Greece to accept draconian austerity measures and a fire-sale of state assets to enable it to continue servicing its major debts to large European banks like Kommerzbank and Société Générale, which greedily brought up Greek bonds in the lead-up to the crisis. As a result, wages in Greece have fallen some 20-30 percent, while unemployment has soared to 15 percent.
How to Occupy the Noosphere – TedX IAN’S NOTE: This talk represents my own personal synthesis from artists, activists, Occupiers, rabble rousers, revolutionaries and evolutionaries that I’ve had the privilege to meet during my short time on this planet. A sincere bow as well to my friends, supporters, and teachers – which I am forever indebted. I had a lot of fun with this talk. Thanks to the TedX organizers and volunteers, fellow speakers, and all the lovely people of Victoria who made this an amazing event. Please SHARE this video if you’re inspired.