Praise for the Occupation movement

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 pm, November 7th, 2011 - 15 comments
Categories: class war, newspapers - Tags: ,

Amazing!

“Protests voice of wider unease”

In an Editorial that would not have been out of place as a post on ‘The Standard’ The Herald praises the Occupiers of city squares around the country, (and around the world). The Herald in defending the Occupiers, takes apart the critics specious argument that for wearing modern clothes and using modern services, in particular for using the latest communications devices to get their message across, the Occupiers are hypocrites.

The Herald mocks those who have made this attack on the Occupiers saying: “….to suggest that the way we organise the creation and distribution of wealth is both corrupt and unjust does not carry with it an obligation to abjure frozen vegetables and health care.”

Some criticism has concentrated on protesters’ perceived double standards, charging them with enjoying the fruits of capitalism (because they wear clothes and shoes and eat food manufactured by global corporations) while presuming to deride it as unsustainable and corrupt.
“We all know now that no self-respecting Occupy Wall St protester would be caught dead without his or her hand-held device, preferably an Apple iPhone or iPad,” wrote William Cohen, a former investment banker, and the author of Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World.

The profound cynicism that underlies that observation probably reveals more about the writer than the subject, but public opinion is more sympathetic. Surveys by major publications have shown support for the protests running at 2 to 1 in the US……

……..It’s an idea that would have many New Zealanders nodding sagely. Deeply embedded in our national discourse is the idea that it is illegitimate to criticise without offering an alternative.

Yet it is not incumbent upon the protesters to redesign the world’s economy and social organisation on the fly and while sitting in public parks. Indeed, the very idea that there can be a quick fix to the economic problems that beset the world should be vigorously resisted.

Presuming to suggest that the way we organise the creation and distribution of wealth is both corrupt and unjust does not carry with it an obligation to abjure frozen vegetables and health care.

The groundswell of opinion that is shaking the entire planet is not against the existence of capitalism but against the greed of those who pull its levers. In America, the after-tax income for the top one per cent of households has almost tripled since 1980.

New Zealand Herald Editiorial Sunday Nov 6, 2011

The Herald also attacks those who try and put conditions on the Occupiers.

The greater danger that those clamouring for change face comes from powerful public figures who profess support but then make it heavily conditional.

To my mind this is a warning to the likes of Dunedin Council who are trying to move the Occupiers to some other less central place and/or demanding that their occupation is not a 24 hour one. ie not an occupation.

Jenny

15 comments on “Praise for the Occupation movement ”

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  1. mickysavage 1
    7 November 2011 at 10:25 pm

    Yep great editorial.  I wonder if Brian Rudman had a hand in it …

    And good on the occupation movement.  Reminding us that Merchant Wankers are the scum of the earth is doing all of us a major community service … 

  2. queenstfarmer 2
    8 November 2011 at 12:15 am

    The Herald is clearly outdated on this comment: Surveys by major publications have shown support for the protests running at 2 to 1 in the US.

    New polls are showing the tide has turned on any initial public support, for example:

    The Occupy Wall Street movement may be starting to lose its luster with the American public, with four in ten now saying they have an unfavorable view of the protests, a new nationwide UMass Lowell/Boston Herald poll shows. The online poll of 1,005 American adults reveals that 35 percent still have a positive impression of the Occupy movement, but 40 percent now say they have an unfavorable opinion… Just 13 percent have a “strongly favorable” impression of the Occupy movement, while 21 percent had a “strongly unfavorable” view. Surprisingly, lower-income voters have the least favorable opinion of the Occupy movement, while those making more than $100,000 are more supportive.

    Which was entirely predictable ever since the movement was hijacked by extremists. Like the handful of variegated protesters at Aotea Square (are they still even there?) the movement will continue to fade into the background noise. But as long as they don’t create a sanitation/safety risk to non-Occupiers, the authorities should just let them be.

    • Colonial Viper 2.1
      8 November 2011 at 12:27 am

      Which was entirely predictable ever since the movement was hijacked by extremists.

      Bullshit

      What a surprise that those who are the most poor and the least educated in the US don’t understand what OWS is all about. TPTB have conspired to keep these poor Americans stupid and distracted.

      And the extremists are the ones who have taken over the global financial system. They are the Global Bankster Occupation.

      In NZ, banks made almost $2.8B of profits last year, most of which was shipped straight off overseas.

    • Jenny 2.2
      8 November 2011 at 6:32 am

      Tear down this wall (street) Mr Gorbachov!

  3. fender 3
    8 November 2011 at 1:12 am

    Any sane person can see the OWS are raising issues concerning every single 1 of us 7 billion. To dismiss them must put you in the 1% boat who think they can be immune to the very issues raised.
    Those idiots who think occupiers shouldnt be using gadgets and wearing clothes are beyond help and would prefer protesters were more freakish so they can label them fringe and irrelevant.Same with the exremist label. It must piss detractors off that these are ordinary people from the whole spectrum.
    The mentality of the banks regarding their profits is such that they argue their 2.8 billion u quote CV is tiny compared to their 500 billion investment. I’m sue the 1% won’t be happy till they own 99.9 % of the mess this system is destined to leave behind.

  4. BLiP 4
    8 November 2011 at 1:12 am

    The more I read the New Zealand Fox News Herald the more I am convinced that its editorial policy is dictated by focus groups and polls. In its quest to forever please as many people as possible to ensure a more compliant response to its advertisers, truth is largely ignored. At least on this occasion it has got something right, but don’t be fooled: its about placated eyeballs rather than showing support for a just cause.

  5. travellerev 5
    8 November 2011 at 8:39 am

    Great now all we have to do is connect the fact that John Key was an integral and fully participating part of the scam and then maybe we can get rid of him and his buddies once and for all

    • Colonial Viper 5.1
      8 November 2011 at 8:44 am

      Great now all we have to do is connect the fact that John Key IS an integral and fully participating part of the scam

      • Jenny 5.1.1
        9 November 2011 at 1:59 am

        Release Bernie Madoff

        Jail the rest

        • Jenny 5.1.1.1
          9 November 2011 at 2:02 am

          Bernie Madoff stole from the rich, and got 130 years.

          His mates stole from the rest of us, and got record bonuses.

          Release Bernie Madoff.

          Jail the rest.

  7. dave brown 7
    8 November 2011 at 11:09 am

    The NZH hopes that its about greed and not revolution. Well I think we will soon start reading editorials that revert to the default hate and hysteria about social change.

    • Bill 7.1
      9 November 2011 at 10:52 am

      That was a brilliant link dave. Thanks. Danny hit a fair number of nails on the head there. I agree that the ‘praise’ coming from mainstream sources is disingenuous and patronising at best. And that it will become vitriolic if and when ‘Occupies’ develop into ‘Movements’ and start acting from an empowering democratic premise rather than merely talking from that premise. And I see some signs in the global context that such a shift, from thinking and debating to acting, is occurring.

  8. JonL 8
    8 November 2011 at 10:33 pm

    “the American public, with four in ten now saying they have an unfavorable view of the protests” – or 40%, – 60% in favour, whereas the Harold article says 2 out of 3 in favour – 66%. QSF – a 6% rough guess is an indication the tide is turning……clutching at straws, perchance!

  9. fender 9
    9 November 2011 at 9:28 pm

    Big ups to the Dunedin Police who so far refuse to remove protesters