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, April 29, 2012

Banks cooperate to track Occupy protesters

Click here to access article by Max Abelson from San Francisco Chronicle.

So, what else is new? Banks and other industries have a long and infamous history of collaborating with public and private police agencies to intimidate workers. The Pinkerton company, a prime example of the latter, has the longest history of all, and is still at it. (See this, this, and this.)
After evictions and arrests from Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to London that began last year, the movement against income inequality and corporate abuse will regain strength, said Brian McNary, director of global risk at Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations.
He works with international financial firms to "identify, map and track" protesters across social media and at their assemblies, he said. The companies gather data "carefully and methodically" to prevent business disruptions.
Intimidation hasn't worked in the past and I don't think it will be successful this May Day. People all over the world are seeing through the lies of mainstream media, are becoming aware of the theft of the wealth they create, the social havoc and environmental disasters that capitalism causes, and are tired of the never-ending wars. Workers are increasingly aware of the illegitimacy of rule by, and for, the One Percent. They are fighting back everywhere in the world.