FBI has been monitoring the activities of Occupy Wall Street.
This is nothing new for the FBI. They have previously targeted Civil Rights and Ant-War movements.
In the UK, Occupy London Stock Exchange were linked with terrorists.
When people campaign for democracy, a fairer society, they are treated as terrorists.
FBI should target real terrorists, the financial terrorists, the banks, the eco-terrorists, the coal and oil industry, the gun-totting killers, the psychos in the NRA.
As the holiday season fast approaches, it has come to our attention that some of our city officials need some help understanding the concept of “gift.”
On Monday, NYCHA chairman John Rhea visited a public housing complex that had been without power, water, or heat since Hurricane Sandy. He told the residents they would be required to pay full rent despite having no services, but that they’d get a rent credit in January, calling it “a nice little Christmas present.”
It seems that Rhea needs a lesson in what constitutes a present and what doesn’t.
First, what a gift isn’t.
If you give someone something you stole from them, it’s not a gift. If you give someone money you owe them, it’s not a gift. If you wrongfully collect rent, knowing your tenants can legally refuse to pay because you’re not providing basic services, and then you give part of that rent back two months later — that’s certainly not a gift.
Got it? Good. Now, what a gift actually is.
If a city’s administration launches a coordinated attack on your movement, and then you come back to help save that city’s ass when its underfunded agencies find themselves helpless in the face of disaster — that’s a gift. If a city’s police force pepper-spray you, hit you with batons, and arrest you en masse for protesting Wall Street, and then, while that city (physically) bails out Wall Street, you pass out blankets to folks with no heat, develop a network of emergency shelters, and carry water up sixteen flights of stairs to public housing residents — that’s a gift. If a city violently evicts you from a park at which you provide free housing and medical care, and then you help provide it all over again when a storm renders thousands of new folks homeless — that’s a gift. A really, really nice one.
Last fall, the New York City mayor’s office and police department tried to shut down the Occupy Wall Street movement by every means at their disposal. This fall — working alongside many other grassroots groups, churches, and individuals to distribute donations and share resources with communities hit by the storm — Occupy has ended up doing the city’s job for them. While the city devoted huge efforts to making sure Wall Street could get back to work as quickly as possible, folks like these — who have never been given “presents” from the city — have stepped in to fill the void for everyone else.
For these people, such work is not a matter of gift-giving, but an act of common decency. They understand — unlike John Rhea — that food, medical attention, and livable housing are never “presents,” but basic human rights.
Visit interoccupy.net/occupysandy/ to help New York residents still struggling after Hurricane Sandy. The Yes Men’s new movie and platform explore how to take our democracy back.
Published in the Huffington Post.
Mitt Romney saw it as a photo opportunity. Occupy New York, rolled up their sleeves, got their hands dirty, were out on the street helping victims of Hurricane Sandy.
We are seeing a cultural shift taking place. From one direction Occupy, from the other those without work.
Anyone who thinks the occupation outside St Paul’s had no impact should think again. Occupy were morally and intellectually right says Andrew Haldane, a member of the Bank of England financial policy committee.
Capitalism is Crisis
Andrew Haldane, a member of the Bank’s financial policy committee, said the Occupy movement was correct in its attack on the international financial system.
The Occupy movement sprang up last year and staged significant demonstrations in both the City of London and New York, protesting about the unequal distribution of wealth and the influence of the financial services industry. Members of the movement occupied the grounds of St Paul’s and remained camped there for more than three months until police evicted them in February last year.
“Occupy has been successful in its efforts to popularise the problems of the global financial system for one very simple reason; they are right,” Mr Haldane said last night. Mr Haldane, the Bank’s executive director for financial stability, was speaking to Occupy Economics, an offshoot of the Occupy movement, at an event in central London.
In a speech entitled Socially Useful Banking, he said the protesters had helped bring about a “reformation” in financial services and the way they are regulated.
Partly because of the protests, he suggested, both bank executives and policymakers were persuaded that banks must behave in a more moral way, and take greater account of inequality in wider society.
“Occupy’s voice has been both loud and persuasive and policymakers have listened and are acting,” he said. “In fact, I want to argue that we are in the early stages of a reformation of finance, a reformation which Occupy has helped stir.”
The protesters had been right about bankers’ behaviour and the consequences of extremely high salaries and bonuses in the financial sector and other industries, he said.
“I do not just mean right in a moral sense,” he added.
“It is the analytical, every bit as much as the moral, ground that Occupy has taken. For the hard-headed facts suggest that, at the heart of the global financial crisis, were — and are — problems of deep and rising inequality.”
Mr Haldane concluded by telling the activists that they had helped bring about nothing less than a new financial order.
“If I am right and a new leaf is being turned, then Occupy will have played a key role in this fledgling financial reformation,” he said.
“You have put the arguments. You have helped win the debate.”
In the text of his speech distributed by the Bank last night, Mr Haldane made no reference to the techniques employed by the Occupy protesters.
The occupation of St Paul’s last year was controversial, and led to claims that the protesters were despoiling the cathedral’s grounds.
The protest ended after the Corporation of London won a legal order allowing the activists to be evicted.
Earlier this month, members of the group marked the first anniversary of the St Paul’s protest by entering the cathedral during a service and chaining themselves to the pulpit.
First published in The Telegraph.
throw the money changers out of the temple
To mark the first anniversary of Occupy London and the Camp outside St Paul’s, four women chained themselves the altar rail at St Paul’s last night during evensong.
What has the church done in the last year to fight poverty?
From my own observations, nothing.
Bristol Cathedral - Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
The key issue is a theological one … what do we stand for as a Cathedral. Economic justice is the Number One issue in the Bible. — Giles Fraser, former Canon Chancellor St Paul’s Cathedral
One reason many do not like the church in particular and Christianity in general is the appalling cant and hypocrisy. Do as we preach, not as we do.
A religion of the poor and oppressed hijacked by Emperor Constantine to become the official state religion of a military empire. Overnight the oppressed became the oppressors. Religion turned into what it had always been, a tool to control the masses, not a means of liberation and salvation for the masses.
St Paul’s learned the hard way when Occupy London Stock Exchange turned up on their doorstep and St Paul’s decided to close for a week on bogus health and safety grounds. Having learnt the lesson the hard way, the clergy of St Paul’s are now working closely with the camp, having been forced to re-examine the core values of Christianity.
Lessons that have yet to be learnt by the administration at either Bristol Cathedral or Sheffield Cathedral. Both located amidst pockets of acute deprivation.
The Deans of both Cathedrals say they want their grounds back, that it is public space, are threatening eviction.
Are those in occupation not the public? Are they not engaging in wide discourse with the wider public? Have they not shown willingness to engage with the clergy of both cathedrals?
If there is a problem, then why are the clergy not talking to resolve it?
Why is Bristol Cathedral working in lockstep with the local council to mount an eviction? Since when has a local council represented local people, let alone acted for local people?
Sheffield Cathedral, a place for all people, unless you happen to be living in a tent as a protester, then pick up your tent and depart.
It is even claimed the camps are not making a difference. Jeremy Paxman made a similar crass comment on Newsnight two nights ago in his dumb preamble prior to an excellent interview with Giles Fraser, former Canon Chancellor at St Paul’s, when he said nothing has been achieved as it has not changed capitalism.
Nothing has changed?
Would Giles Fraser have been on Newsnight two nights ago? Would David Cameron yesterday have been saying action has to be taken against corporate tax dodgers? Would the issues raised by UK Uncut have been on Newsnight last night?
The entire political landscape has changed. The only reasons these issues of social justice and tax avoidance are being raised at all is thanks to St Paul’s in-the-Camp and the numerous camps across the country including Occupy Bristol and Occupy Sheffield and UK Uncut targeting tax dodgers like Sir Philip Green and Vodafone.
As Giles Fraser said two nights ago on Newsnight, minor issues of inconvenience in the greater realm of things are far less important than the issues being raised, issues which go to the core of Christianity and why churches like St Paul’s and our great cathedrals were built.
Giles Fraser was preceded by an odious woman from the Church of England General Synod, lacking in grace and lacking any understanding of the message of Jesus. People like her give all Christians a bad name.
- College Green update
- Sheffield Cathedral Media Release: Occupy Sheffield 5 January 2012
- Occupy the New year!
- The Occupation Continues
And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. — John 2:15
Oh St Pauls, why?
o cathedral what have u done?
where has ur christianity run?
what would jesus do i ask?
faced with the chapters awkward task.
what to with all those tents?
support them or charge them rent?
who can blame them to be fair,
with so much injustice everywhere.
ppl sleeping in the cold,
while the cathedral resorts to crimes untold,
lying in court,
shaming their kind,
leaving the values of jesus behind.
crucifying jesus with every action,
forgetting that they create such sad reactions,
well with Goldman Sachs on the board of trustees,
and hsbc robbing oaps……
such unethical corps pulling the strings,
makes a sickening situation as the bell rings,
huge wooden doors and hearts much the same,
but if i may ask?who is to blame?
o cathedral what have u done?
why have u allowed such evil to run?
why do you not just do as god says,
and act justly and truthfully in all your ways?
no legal action says ur chapter and staff,
but i heard it in court,don’t make me laugh,
not one kind word for us did i hear,
when the witness you sent spouted crap down my ears,
I couldn’t believe it
that I admit
I sat there and thought
“is this really it
is this religious cathedral this huge house of god,
going to stand their and lie,it was rather odd!
o dear cathedral on the 11th jan,
the violence u didn’t want will happen’
partly at ur hands.
– Tammy Samede
Tammy Samede is the named defendant for Occupy LSX, she is also a mother of four and a christian at heart, recently she has felt dissillusioned and discusted by some of the actions of the church and their activities in the financial industry. The occupy movement has shaken the heart of the church and forced it in to questioning its moral standing. We await to see which side of the line the church will stand when the time for eviction comes.
Originally posted on Farang Rak Thailand.
Contrary to the smears in the media, it is not and never has been the camp v St Paul’s, but for perverse reasons not known the Registrar of St Paul’s decided to give evidence on behalf of the City of London against the camp.
Top story Occupy Global and Local LSE (Saturday 31 December 2011).
Occupy
i buy therefore i am
is the corporate pslam
our democracy – consumerism
we’re caught in a prism
of shiny colours, sparkle
so we can all marvel
at kate middleton’s shoes
pretending we choose
but it leaves you empty
this pursuit of plently
life is more, than more crap
can we all get behind that?
go home and watch telly
have a beer, get lonely
buy something on ebay
thats how u have your say
lets change the set up
from the bottom up
stop messing on the phone
dont be a corporate clone
take control of industry
so its run with empathy
cause its all one globe
so fire up your stove
come pitch ur tent
state ur intent
to change the current system
which stops the world from eating
lets stand in solidarity
strive for equality
there’s an oppertunity
to stop the super rich
dont dig your own ditch
die on your feet or live on ur knees
theres more than 80′s cheese
there’s love and hugs
throw the crutch of drugs
and walk into a freedom
thats of ur own making
– Catherine Brogan
Top story Occupy Global and Local LSE (Saturday 31 December 2011).
St Paul's in-the-camp Time Out picture of the year 2011
here to stay
root out usury
Christmas Bishop of London at St Paul's in-the-Camp
As 2011 draws to a close, Occupy and Arab Spring were the defining moments. Historians will note the date when one world changed to another, no longer were ordinary people prepared to be kicked around by corrupt politicians in the pocket of Big Businesses.
Strictly speaking the Arab Spring started in Tunisia as 2010 drew to a close, but it really took off in Tahrir Square at the beginning of the year. Mubarak has gone but the job is not yet finished, the ruling military elite has yet to be toppled. In Libya a job well done, but unfortunately much blood was shed. In Syria, work in progress, Assad has a simple choice, hand himself over to the ICC or leave with a bullet in the head. In Yemen, unfinished businesses. In Saudi Arabia the corrupt House of Saud has yet to be toppled or the Mullahs and Ayatollahs in Iran.
- Syria troops ‘clash with Damascus activists’
Occupy started in Spain when the young unemployed occupied the centre of Madrid. It quickly spread to New York, then around the world. Brutal crackdowns in the US. In the UK St Paul’s in-the-Camp has spread to an estimated 60 camps around the country. Contrary to the smear stories in the media, it never was the camp v St Paul’s and the clergy are working closely with the camp. St Paul’s in-the-Camp has revitalised the church, made them recognise the core values of Christianity. Contrary to smears in the media, church attendance up not down.
- Freedom to protest
- St Paul’s plans for lasting legacy of Occupy protest
- Archbishop of Wales urges church to ‘get hands dirty’ in the fight against poverty and injustice
- The origins of Christmas
- The Nativity of Our Lord
- Attendances prove Christmas surprise
On Christmas day the Bishop of London delivered a box of chocolates to the camp outside St Paul’s. The year will end with a reading of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at 6pm this evening on the steps of St Paul’s.
- Protesters celebrate Christmas, as judge postpones decision
- An Occupy reading of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’
- Occupy London presents a reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol – 6pm Friday 30 December at the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral
- Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol especially adapted for Occupy London
- New Year’s Eve Weekend at Occupy London – Make it count!
As Dickens’ bicentennial approaches, it seems only fitting for Occupy London to stage a public reading of A Christmas Carol at St Paul’s Cathedral. Dickens was compelled to write A Christmas Carol out of a strong desire to comment on the enormous gap between the rich and poor in Victorian Britain. It is a similar strength of conviction that has motivated the growth of the Occupy movement to work to transform the growing social, economic and political injustices of our time. As Giles Fraser, former Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral said:
Christmas is the most political of the Church’s festivals … all politics is about people, and without a fundamental sympathy for the plight of other human beings, and in particular for the dispossessed, no political movement for social change is ever going to capture the heart. For Dickens, Christmas was the emotional centre of the big society. Peace on earth and goodwill to all.
Arab Spring and Occupy have become key words and phrases of 2011. St Paul’s in-the-Camp picture of the year for Time Out. Time Magazine proclaimed this year’s Person of the Year to be “the Protester”. Five of the Top 10 Most Commented Stories this year in the New York Times were about Occupy wall Street!
- New words: the official* glossary of 2011
- Best of 2011: pictures of the year – Occupy London camp
- The Protester
In Leeds, when the unaccountable town council announced £90 million cuts protesters stormed the council chamber, then Occupy Leeds arrived.
- 2011: when year of global protests became local in Leeds
– Quiet in the August troubles; but Occupy looks here to stay
UK Uncut has forced tax dodging up the political agenda. A damning report on HMRC by a House of Commons Select Committee. The Head of HMRC forced to resign, with effect next year. UK Uncut and Occupy London Stock Exchange have exposed the City of London as one of the few remaining Rotten Boroughs.
- The tax haven in the heart of Britain
Who would have thought Russians would have taken to the streets in their tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands to call for democratic accountability and to call upon Vladimir Putin to go?
Not all good news.
There has been coups in Greece and Italy. Italy no longer has a democratically elected government, it has a government put in place by EU and German bankers. A government to serve the banks and EU not the people of Italy. In Greece the government is acting for the EU and bankers not the Greek people.
Ryanair refused to allow a passenger on his way home for Christmas to board a flight to Malaga. Hints of terrorism. Yet one more reason to boycott Ryanair.
- Occupy protester ‘banned’ from flight home for Christmas
Iraq is descending into Hell.
- The Truth as Iraq descends into Hell
Occupy has inspired poetry.
- Jesus was born in an empty building
- Occupy
- Oh St Pauls, why?
For Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho 2011 was a very good year, his latest book, the biographical Aleph released last year in Brazil, shot straight to No 1 in every country published. The noticeable exception was in the UK thanks to High Street bookshop chain Waterstone’s deliberately choosing not to put Aleph on display.
As 2011 draws to a close there is still much unfinished business. The list is long, libraries closures, cuts in public services, Welfare to Work programmes, privatisation of the health service …
- How to help disabled people fight the welfare reform bill
I will give but one example.
Lincoln City Council has decided to put a heritage site, The Lawn, up for sale. Set in a 8 acre site, this museum complex was a pioneering mental hospital, it now houses the Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory. Sir Joseph Banks was chief scientific officer on the Endeavour, established Kew gardens, President of the Royal Society. The Lawn is the ideal site for Occupy Lincoln.
- Not for Sale! Hands off our Lawn!
As we head into 2012, the fight goes on …
Happy New Year!
icon of Emperor Constantine with Nicene Creed
The Visitation in the Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry; the Magnificat in Latin
Statue of the Visitation at the Ein Karem Church of the Visitation
If you had spoken to early Christians of the celebration of Christmas they would have looked at you perplexed, worse still in horror, the celebration of the birthday of a God was something Pagans did.
There was not even a date in the Christian calendar!
The Gospels are silent on the date of the Birth of Jesus, though there are hints. The shepherds were tending their flocks at night, would place it sometime in the spring.
Christmas was invented by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 312 AD when he converted to Christianity.
Constantine saw a fiery cross in the sky. Were he to convert, it would lead him to military victory.
Constantine adopted an existing Pagan festival, that of the Winter Solstice, which then was 25 December.
It is easier to get people to celebrate an existing festival with a new name, than to create a new festival.
Rome was being torn apart by warring factions. One such faction was Christians.
Christianity was adopted as the official religion of Rome with Constantine as head of the church. Christianity went from being oppressed to being the oppressor. The might of the state which was used against Christians was now deployed against their enemies.
Christianity became the religion of Empire, a military empire.
But that was not all, Constantine reinvented Christianity, the focus changed.
Giles Fraser:
By marginalising Christ’s teachings about poverty, humility, and above all peace, Constantine was able to take a religion founded in pacifism and use it for his military machine in pursuit of a ‘just war’ – something political leaders have been doing ever since.
Christianity under Constantine changed from the religion of the poor and dispossessed to that of the rich and powerful, from the oppressed to the oppressors, it became the religion of the ruling class.
Religion the tool to control the people.
One God, one powerful ruler who represents God on Earth.
During the reign of Constantine Christianity becomes very visible. It emerges from the Catacombs to erect great churches.
Constantine dispatched his mother Helen to locate the place of Birth and Death of Jesus and ordered that churches be built richly decorated to mark the locations.
The First Council of Nicea (325 AD), under the patronage of Constantine, draw up the Nicene Creed. A gathering of Bishops to draw up a declaration they could all sign up to.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;
By whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth;
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man;
He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost.
It was thought the First Council of Nicea had setted matters. It had not.
The First Council of Constantinople 381 AD was called under Emperor Theodosius. It was this Council which defined what we regard as the Nicene Creed today.
The Nicene Creed, official statement of what it is to be a Christian. Still read in Churches today. It was read when I went to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, Canon Andrew White cites it in Faith under Fire.
The Nicene Creed jumps from birth to death, no mention of radical teachings. Christianity adapted to suit Empire.
Contrast with Mary’s Magnificat (Book of Common Prayer):
My soul doth magnify the Lord : and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded : the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth : all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me : and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him : throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm : he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat : and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things : and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel : as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.
Several Councils were held. There were four main centres of Christianity: Rome, Antioch, Alexandria and Constantinople. All vied as centres as power, much blood was shed, as to what form Christianity would take.
Jesus welcomed all: the rich the poor, men and women, Jews and Gentiles, of whatever race and creed. Christians did not serve in the Roman Empire. All changed with the conversion of Constantine.
On Christmas Day, former Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral Giles Fraser presented a very moving documentary on earlier Christianity and the impact of Emperor Constantine. BBC as usual shoots itself in the foot and it is only available on-line for seven days.
- Constantine: The Man Who Invented Christmas
What we think of as the traditional Nativity scene, draws upon but is not of the Gospels, was invented by St Francis of Assisi in 1223, when he created a tableau in a cave of Jesus in a manger, animals looking on. In the Old Testament we can find prophecy of this scene.
As a descendent of the Royal House of David, Jesus could have been born in a royal palace, he was not, he was born in a stable. A man of humble birth, born a stable with the animals looking on.
St Paul’s had a steep learning curve when the camp arrived. St Paul’s was closed for a week under bogus health and safety grounds. The clergy, with the noticeable exception of the Registrar who prefers to act for power, has been forced to re-examine what they are here for. They are now working closely with the camp, to go back to the origins of Christianity, to act on the teachings of Jesus, to act for the poor, the dispossessed.
Those who can, have long fled Iraq. Those left are the poor and dispossessed. When all is lost, faith is all that is left.
Lord Hylton on a visit to Baghdad described St George’s as a church of the future. A church that welcomes everyone and everyone is made welcome, be they Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox, be they Christian or Muslim, where everyone is loved and shares their love. A place where angels appear. A place of peace and tranquillity in a war-torn country.
Top story News For and About Emerging Artists (Monday 26 December 2011)
- Jesus Wars
- The Mary We Never Knew
- Occupy London presents a reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol – 6pm Friday 30 December at the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral
Brilliant poetry reading on the life of Jesus at St Paul’s in-the-Camp.
Jesus was a protester by Catherine Brogan.
For Lina to bring a smile to her face.
Top story SPOT – a poetry paper (Friday 24 December 2011).
