Occupy Wall Street 3: Now What?

hunnerts arrested

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/11/473874785/hundreds-protest-gerrymandering-campaign-finance-laws-on-capitols-steps

this was fun

and granted i've been backstroking in the kool-aid for a while now, but i think i've bought into our long term strategy that we can actually get the reform agenda we want passed in 5 years

Riding by the park in DC where all the camps were yesterday - I've done it a hundred times, if not more - and the cabbie asked "when was it they had all those people camping out here?" and realized yup, five years ago, not that long after my daughter was born. And right about the same time Qaddafi died, too.

wall street occupied, osama and Qaddafi died, tombots little baby cried, WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE

5 indeed.

Freddie deBoer:

I’m regularly accused of believing things that I’ve never said and don’t believe. That’s largely a facet of the fact that, on the internet today, arguing with people is really a matter of misrepresenting what they’re saying and then attacking the misrepresentation. One of the most constant of these is that I say “both parties are the same.” I’ve never said that. Ever. In my life. But over time, the claims of friends who do say that have been vindicated over and over again.

By that I mean something very simple: my communist friends who really do say that the two parties are the same make predictions about politics. My Democrat friends do the same. Looking back at the times when the two groups have clashed, the commies have been right literally 100% of the time....

If you’re a young person looking to actually make change in the world, I’m not quite sure what to tell you. I think you need to build something entirely new. Because Lucy will never let you kick that football. I am not ready to write off partisan politics entirely. I still don’t say both parties are the same. I think that a socialist movement should use a concert of tactics — in the labor movement, in street-level protests, in grassroots organizing, and in partisan politics — to try and effect change. But I know by now to expect less than nothing from the Democrats, and they never, ever let me down. Young radicals, you should utilize the Democratic party if you find it useful in the short term, but you have to understand: the Democrats hate you, and they will always hate you. There is no tangible evidence whatsoever to suggest that’s going to change.

http://fredrikdeboer.com/2016/02/29/democrats-always-prove-the-commies-right/

*One of the most constant of these is that I say “both parties are the same.” I’ve never said that. Ever. In my life. But over time, the claims of friends who do say that have been vindicated over and over again.*

Lol

Kinda just started skimming after "Freddie deBoer"

"Her campaign has also worked tirelessly to drive a wedge between the traditional constituencies of the left, engaging in vicious smear tactics against Sanders and his supporters, playing feminism against the campaign for economic justice and treating any concern for class as ipso facto racist and sexist.."

Fuck this guy

He's talking about you.

^^^^^^^^

i kind of agree w/ freddie there, but most of all b/c hillary clinton is a politician and that's what most politicians do, they drive wedges to win. clinton has been nastier than some, less nasty than others.

the idea that this should translate to my not voting for HC -- as deboer has argued elsewhere -- doesn't follow.

By that I mean something very simple: my communist friends who really do say that the two parties are the same make predictions about politics. My Democrat friends do the same. Looking back at the times when the two groups have clashed, the commies have been right literally 100% of the time....

literally 100%. he's done a study!

I am not ready to write off partisan politics entirely

sez, portentously, a guy who blogs and does nothing else. (wait, he teaches rhetoric.)

good ol freddie.

what do freddie's worthless pontifications on politics have to do w occupy wall st?

actually, this--

treating any concern for class as ipso facto racist and sexist

is ridiculously hyperbolic

what's with freddie and the "any" "all" "100%"

the guy doesn't know how to modulate

makes for lousy arguments

posts

beats me, mordy