We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Targeting Journalists Covering OWS Protests

Click here to access article by Stephen Lendman from his blog. 
Department of Defense training manuals call protests "low-level terrorism." An FBI memo says peace protesters are "terrorists." Throughout his tenure, Obama's destroyed [more] human rights and civil liberties than Bush II.

Journalists are singled out and targeted. On January 7, Press TV said nearly 40 journalists have been arrested since September protests began. In early January, technicians working for Global Revolution were arrested for streaming live OWS protest video.

Journalists have been harassed, arrested, handcuffed, and beaten for doing their job. Free Press.net's Journalism and Public Media Campaign Director Josh Stearns reported last November that 10 New York-based journalists were violently arrested in an early morning raid.
The political operatives of the One Percent are intent upon excluding all independent media coverage. That is precisely why the Occupy movement must create and support independent media as much as possible.