Tag: Unions

Who Are My Brothers And Sisters In The Struggle For Justice?

by Big Noise (A.K.A. Cilla Sluga)

It is impossible for me to express the degradation I feel. A progressive group put on a one-day workshop this past Sunday. I was not allowed to go. My friends went; my husband went; but not me. I wasn’t excluded because my big mouth got me in trouble again; not this time. I could not attend because a left-leaning group of people made a decision to have the training in a three story building with no elevator. No way to get in; no way to participate.

We with mobility disabilities know better than to show up to an unfamiliar location and expect to get in; we who are deaf or hard of hearing know better than to show up at a meeting and assume an interpreter to be there; we who are blind know better than to show up and expect to receive materials in alternate formats.

A week and a half ago my husband and I learned about the training; we signed up and worked on carpool details. We were excited about heading out of town for the event. I was positive it was not going to be a problem; this was – after all, put on by a group of freedom fighters. But caution and experience made me ask about accessibility. The organizers assured me, that accessibility was a grave concern to them; they discussed it at length. But in the end they decided to have the training in an inaccessible location. They thought the fact that they struggled over the issue should make me feel all better. I should understand that they are trying to do a good thing. I should quiet myself, settle down, and stay home. Maybe next year…

Being quiet is not my long suit. In the next set of exchanges, I suggested that they could have postponed the training until they found an accessible site. From the tone of their electronic communications, they felt irritated or frustrated by my insistence that an injustice anywhere (by anyone) is an injustice everywhere. Their response was that the event was too close to postpone. I, in no way, was suggesting they cancel the event now; but that they should have postponed it in the planning phases until they could access a suitable inclusionary location.

They told me if they HAD TO accommodate people with disabilities they would HAVE HAD TO cancel the event altogether. I was outraged that they would be willing to blame people with disabilities, (well, not all of them, just me) for preventing the event by my insistence that they do a bit of self criticism about their discrimination. Is that not blaming the victim? I was the one facing discrimination; yet, if I kept telling them that they were wrong to exclude people, they would have to cancel and it would be my fault.

One person told me I should stop picking on the organizers who are just trying to make the world a better place. For whom? Everyone– or just those people who were most like them? It was a petty bourgeois excuse. I told them that I too, was trying to make the world a better place. It was my wish to join others who were trying to do the same. Was providing free meals more important than full inclusion? It is too ludicrous to even consider.

They assured me that they had no money and had tried as hard as they could to find a free and accessible location, but could not. I asked them if they had contacted the Centers for Independent Living in the area: LINK in Belleville; IMPACT in Alton, or; Paraquad in St. Louis to help them find a location. There is also ADAPT St. Louis. They had not contacted any disability related organizations. Only one person acknowledged that I did have a point there. That particular planner gave me what seemed to be a sincere apology, but still many excuses. I thanked him for at least listening.

Watching my husband and our friends leave our house for the event early that morning filled me with emotions ranging from deep sadness to humiliation. I spent the day, locked away from the information, from the camaraderie of like-minded people, from the synergy that can only happen when people are together attempting to solve society’s serious inequities.

Now, I know that I should not feel degraded or humiliated; I know the problem is not a personal failure on my part. But, that is how it feels on the receiving end of bigotry. Marginalization gets internalized; no matter how well-intentioned the perpetrators may be. A worker feels a personal sense of failure if employers won’t hire her because she has been under or unemployed for too long. African-Americans feel it when they walk through a jewelry store. Women feel it when no man volunteers to take notes at a meeting.

What the disability and other civil rights movements did in helping me understand this, the Occupy Movement is doing for the 99% today. The fact we face systemic problems does not relieve individuals of privilege from their responsibility to fight their own privilege, whether based on race, sexual orientation, education, or disability. And, we must never let the oppressors control our sense of self.

My husband reported that at the meeting summation the organizers still did not get it. One of the organizers told him, “The complainant was happy with resolution”.

Mike responded, “The complainant is my wife… and she is NOT happy.”

The organizer flippantly tried to end the dialogue by saying, “That sounds like something you have to take care of when you get home.”

Seriously? Was he saying all I needed was a good “poke” and this would go away?

That is when young man in the back of the room criticized the organizers for not taking the issue seriously, as did our friends who attended. They were all met with boos from the organizers supporters.

They never criticized themselves for making their exclusionary decision. Rather, people defended the organizers for their hard work. The lack of accessibility was excused because of the lack of funds; more bourgeois blather. This was a conference for the predominately white, middle class radicals. Organizers believed they would only support their efforts if it were free.

I have been a member of small organizations that operated on left-over grocery money most of my adult life. We always had and have inclusive meetings. Their inaccessible meeting happened, not for the lack of funds, but for the lack of will.

Inclusion is just one, but an important reason I joined the Occupy Springfield Movement. To a person these young enthusiastic people, relatively new to progressive politics, (when compared to those of us who have been around since the ‘60s) inherently knew that it was wrong to exclude anyone and found accessible meeting locations to hold our General Assemblies. I should not have to feel grateful for that; but, I am. They are a microcosm of the new socialist women and men developing… And I love them.

Let’s hope that the training organizers can learn a thing or two from the people they attempt to teach.

Why I Occupy | Shaun Bailey

by Shaun Bailey
edited by Christopher Woo
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“Why I Occupy” Segments are brought to you by individual members of Occupy Springfield, IL. They reflect the feelings an opinions of these individuals, and do not necessarily speak for OSI, or the greater Occupy movement.
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From October 15th.

I was tired, emotional, and windy… but I don’t think I have the energy to muster it up again, so I’m just reusing it.

The further this movement pushes, the more I come to realize the masterful brilliance behind it. The message of the group is simple, “No one has a voice because the corporations easily push their agenda by funding politicians to win elections based on the amount of coverage by the obviously crooked media.” So, among several other atrocities these corporations get away with in the name of profit, we want their profit out of our politicians pockets so that WE can come back to the table and talk again.

The success of the plan is simple. Just a few people SLEEPING in front of the NYSE is going to garner attention, on WHATEVER level. By just capturing a few eyes, it will certainly make it in a newspaper, or, at the very least, the Internet. From there is bound to be another set of eyes willing to catch the message in it’s entirety and pass it on, and so forth. Then, with a simple push from an already established, surprisingly organized group of 100% anonymous, randomly EDUCATED (not indoctrinated) characters comes a surprising push from obscurity to “viral.” And, yeah, that is usually accurate in most Internet “viral” situations, in case you weren’t aware.

The reason that this message is so easy to take off, is that it comes with knowledge that you won’t find on Fox News, or MSNBC. Your politics are paid for. The lawmakers do not work for you. You simply present yourself at the ballot box and expect that a representative that went to great lengths to establish his over indulgent lifestyle WON’T succumb to the obvious bribery that will take place. Thus, the corporations run the government as well as the media, so they have effectively convinced half of the population we should hate each other by misleading and confusing them. Luckily, we know better. Why? Because the Internet, unlike the TV, is neutral. Why? Because TV is privatized, and so people will use you to get to the cash.

What inevitably happens in this case is that the RICH GET RICHER and the POOR GET POORER. MANY, MANY people have always known this, but have been led to believe that it is simply useless to fight it. And it has been. Because the facts just weren’t there… They are now. We know things we shouldn’t know, and that applies critical friction to the machine. People will question it. Fear it. Loathe it. But it is inevitable, like Facebook, that they’ll sign up.

I’ve come to understand that the message has caught on in detail when I shook hands with a lot of former members of the Tea Party today. I was concerned that the media would retain their hold, until this moment. Those Tea Party members have come to realize that being lead around by social issues makes EVERYONE miss our NUMBER ONE problem, so neither of us judged each other for social views. What a concept… They didn’t seem to notice or care that the liberal media tries to claim this for their own, while Fox News makes every attempt to dismiss the idea as bullshit… even though it’s THEIR (The Tea Parties) idea, FUNDAMENTALLY. The mediators between us and the decisions are paid for, and so we now understand we have no voice. Time to go back to basics.

This should lead to a sincere optimism, because once we have a voice, we will understand, at least for a generation, that the FACTS are absolutely REQUIRED. What we realize in a very, very diverse direct DEMOCRACY is that a CONSENSUS is easily obtained with absolute FACT on that particular issue. At least 320 people showed up in SPRINGFIELD ILLINOIS today to support the movement, and MANY COULDN’T COME. That means that ALL of you now know one of us, and it will only be a matter of time before this idea that TRUTH needs to reign is our absolute number one priority. We can’t make decisions we know nothing of. We have been. Now we must stop. It’s so simple, a child can get it. I promise you, they truly, truly understand. You just have to present them with facts. If we were to actually make JOURNALISTS out of our media again, and take the opinion and spin out of the process, we will all end up dismissing a lot of unnecessary divides, because we will know the truth about each other – we’re all going the exact same direction. I believe it’s because we have to in the matter of evolution, but you can call it “God” if you’d like! (Spirituality is always up for debate, because the facts will never be in. You can’t disprove a religion, and it’s not Science’s job to disprove anything anyway – they just tell you that so some believers continue to hate it, that way we all “disagree” on it.)

Really, facts cause understanding. Understanding IS empathy. This is happening around the entire world in solidarity because these people are educated enough to know they’ve been taken, so they all move unilaterally to accomplish our next step. It might take a while, but judging from the amount of support I saw today, it won’t belong before our local radio “brothers” have a close family member that is one of our own. It won’t be long before the Police on JP Morgan’s payroll have sons that belong to the movement. It won’t belong before the FOX News advocate is turned off of the propaganda by attending a General Assembly of an Occupation. Then it won’t be long before we outnumber them. They that are so greedy they’d see the world starve before letting THEIRS fall from their clenched fists. Because the message is universal… We want our voice back, and, like it or not, as a species we exist on the same path.

But here’s the thing… it’s so crystal clear, and while I certainly don’t believe it’s been some masterfully crafted conspiracy by a new power like I’m sure someone will eventually claim, I do have to wonder if the original architect didn’t see the entire fucking process when it was suggested that someone sleep in front of Wall St. On my Facebook, I quoted inspiration for the rally this morning. Henry David Thoreau said, “I know this well, that if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name — if ten honest men only — ay, if one honest man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this co-partnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America. For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever.” With a worldwide, free press… You can see how quickly you get results. I’m not saying that you or I will see even a “better” world, but it certainly won’t be any worse (you have to stop ignoring problems when you become educated to a certain point). EDUCATE YOURSELF, if it has Ads, it’s able to be persuaded financially. The print that started this effort was “AdBusters,” and you have to wonder if someone along the way didn’t see the whole thing play out, as Thoreau did the abolition of slavery. This is the logical “hope” that brings me to these events, and I hope you’ll follow me.

How To Effect Change

by Christopher Woo

After our event on November 9th we were invited to speak before the Illinois Senate Committee presiding over SB397. It seems we made a greater impact than we expected, but we NEED YOUR HELP to make an even greater impact. When this vote comes up again on November 29th, we need to fill the statehouse to the point of overflowing. Stand with us on solidarity at the Illinois State Capitol Building at 3pm on November 29th.

After finding out this updated information one of our members did some video editing on our footage from the 9th, please check it out.

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To The Mainstream Media, From The Corporate Masters Of The World

by Jordan C. Humphrey

An intercepted letter from the 1% to the Mainstream media.

To The Mainstream Media,

Our valued servants, it has come to our attention that a movement to depose our rightful rule of this Earth, called “the 99%”, has become quite popular among our previously obedient subjects. Over a thousand cities have witnessed these inconvenient and disruptive “Occupations”, and the infection has even begun to spread to our agents within the world governments. Our wealth and substantial resources have previously allowed us protection from the wrath of intolerable rabble, and it was with great pride that we led them towards a greater, more profitable future. It is shocking, and abhorrent, that this so-called social revolution has sprung from our own Fortress of Prosperity, Wall Street. These pathetic vagrants dare to camp outside our mighty cathedrals and monuments, demanding a share of the wealth and luxury that we have worked tirelessly to sequester. Worse yet, they have managed to convince many of our servants, both in the paid servants of the political Left, and in the propaganda-distributing apparatus, “The Internet”, to betray us. This cannot, and will not, be tolerated.

We, the Corporate Masters of the World, request that you disregard our previous prerogative. We repeat, IGNORE OUR PREVIOUS ORDERS TO IGNORE THE OCCUPIERS.  Ignoring this populist threat has proved insufficient in maintaining our grip on the Status Quo. They have created their own forms of Media, which run counter to everything we glorify and applaud in the Mainstream. This media, using the Traitor Companies of Facebook and Twitter, has spread like wildfire, and even now defies all attempts at manipulation. Our greatest agents, members of the underclass that we specifically groomed and indoctrinated for the purposes of subjugation by distraction, and whom we carefully placed within the confines of their trivial “Blogs” and “Forums”, have been discovered time and time again, and labelled as “Trolls” of the Hopeful Elite. Therefore, we implore you, our eternally faithful servants, to promote our purpose, and fulfil your duty to the Corporations which employ you. You must act swiftly, if we are to maintain our hold on this Earth. Your new orders are as follows:

Label those amassed against us as anything but justified. You must be merciless, and brutal, and unbearably thorough. The path to your success will rely on your ability to consistently BE INCONSISTENT. Identify these ‘protesters’ as Anarchists, and Hippies, and Vandals, and Criminals. Portray them as anti-capitalist, anti-American, and ignore any suggestions to the contrary. Do not hesitate to label the movement as one proposed by our servants in the American White House, while also suggesting they are ‘anti-Democracy’. With the upcoming elections next year, their usefulness will be coming to an end, to be replaced by other, more willing pawns. By promoting contradicting statements, you can better indoctrinate more portions of the populace against them. Portray them as merely homeless sociopaths, while also claiming they are bored, wealthy individuals. Claim they are remnants from that deplorable insurrection, the Civil Rights Movement, which we previously failed to undermine, while also claiming they are indignant members of the world’s youth, and not to be taken seriously. Claim that they serve Socialism, a trivial scapegoat that has served us well in our eastern kingdoms, but which incites hatred and anger in the people of the West. This will enable you to alienate our servants from the insurrection, while allowing us to further reconstruct the truth.

Glorify our experimental takeover of the so called “Tea Party”, which we successfully reconditioned away from insurrection and towards strict obedience. Compare the two movements, and portray the Tea Party as the true purveyors of ‘progress’. We have proved that, through co-option, even those members of the slave class that harbor resentment of “Bank Bailouts” and “Big Government” can be sufficiently realigned so as to serve our purposes. Although it may seem ridiculous, suggest that we, the Corporations of the World, already have complete control of their actions. That way, those blasphemous few that betray us, and support this “Occupation” will present clear, albeit false, proof of their hypocrisy.  If, Profits forbid, a rogue element of the 99% commits a crime, IDENTIFY THOSE FEW RESPONSIBLE AS THE NORM. We are hard at work inserting agents within their encampments, who will willingly commit acts of vandalism and anti-Semitism, which are proven to discourage public support. We have instructed our subjects within the Law Enforcement community to subjugate them at any cost, and to portray any resistance to this discrimination as unlawful. However, the 99% will attempt to remain peaceful, which you must portray as unsuccessful.

As we have learned many times in the past, merely portraying the failure of a movement is enough to cause it to decline. Suggest that the weather, and sanitation, and lack of motivation, will cause great strain on the movement. Label any assistance by the evil Unions as proof of our “manipulation”, since there are members of the political Right who frequently associate the profit-destroying Unions with our own agendas. Make frequently the claim that the movement was funded by George Soros, a trivial individual who seeks similar glory to our own. You must do everything possible, everything plausible, to undermine the genuine message of the 99% movement. You must convince the people of this Earth that their class warfare is unacceptable, and that our class warfare is merely a sign of society’s desire for economic freedom. The more free society believes itself to be, the easier it will be to enslave it.

Above all, DO NOT DO YOUR JOB AS A MEMBER OF THE MEDIA. Do not go into their masses and report the truth. Do not interview outstanding members of their encampments, or, if you are forced to do so, only interview those who have been planted by our agents to fragment and distract the populace. If or when they achieve any remarkable success, criticize it as trivial. Give no credit where any credit is due, and do not represent any viewpoint other than those that undermine their ability to make changes to the established world order. Whether you are a talk-radio host or a member of the associated press, your job is to serve our interests. We need not remind you that, in these trying times for you, our subjects, we can easily and effectively terminate your positions of usefulness within the Status Quo. Through you, we control the masses, but YOU ARE STILL OUR SERVANTS. If, and only if, we succeed in crushing this revolution of ideas, we will allow you to enter our Divine ranks. Remain obedient, remain loyal, and you will be rewarded when we have regained control over this Earth.

We, the 1%, have spoken.

GO FORTH, AND DESTROY THE 99%. DESTROY THE OCCUPATION. PROTECT YOUR MASTERS.

For The Greater Profit,

The Corporate Masters of the World

Late In The Game

Josie Lowder reading the Declaration Of The Occupation at our Oct. 15th rally.

Josie Lowder reading the Declaration Of The Occupation at our Oct. 15th rally.

by Christopher Woo

Occupy Springfield, IL is the Springfield, IL branch of the Occupy Together Movement. While we do have a news section on our site, we wanted to have a blog specifically for disseminating information more related to our day to day activities and opinions. What we mean by this is that while news is factual and gets briefly to the point, we wanted a place to spell out all of the finer details and thoughts about happenings.

Occupy Springfield, IL. has been around for over a month now. We have had two rallies/peace walks at the Illinois State Capitol, and currently have an ongoing occupation of the Old State Capitol Plaza. So, in many ways, it is “about time” we started this weblog. After all, before the Illinois Times ran with an article about our run-in with the police, we could have brought you this information first-hand, and shared with you our emotional take on the situation. We could have told you all about the Eviction Notice we delivered to lobbyists and legislators at the State Capitol, and given to you a personal accounting of the days activities. We have also received some backing from the AFL-CIO and from AFSCME, and have the potential to have an article written here directly from our staunchest AFSCME member.

So many great steps forward we could have shared in a more inter-personal level and in an interactive way with you. Now, here we are! Please stay tuned for developments as they happen. We already have a few major initiative actions planned and will be sharing them with you!

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