Open Invitation to the public to discuss the No To CETA campaign

Over the summer a few of us from the Occupy Movement decided to start up a No To CETA campaign.  We prepared a video, gave ourselves a name  (Citizens Against CETA), set up a blog page and formed a partnership with the Council of Canadians.  Read more in this article published by The Independent. 

On October 3rd, at 7:30 in the Oak room at the Lantern, we, along with the local chapter of the Council of Canadians, are holding a meeting for their members and any concerned citizens wishing to get involved or learn more.  The purpose is to look at strategies to get the message out, both to the public and the politicians.

Watch the informational video HERE.

Read more about the problematic implication of Investors Rights (and the precedents that have been set under NAFTA) for CETA.

The federal government is hoping to have the deal signed by the end of the year so there is a real sense of urgency. We hope to see you at the meeting. Your expertise and ideas are needed. 

Local group 'Citizens Against CETA' speak out about secretive Canadian-European trade deal

There's a reason most people have never heard about the Canadian European Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (or CETA): it trades us away for the sake of bigger profits for multinational corporations. A local group calling themselves 'Citizens Against CETA' have put together an informational video (along with other great resources from the Council of Canadians and CUPE) to help get information out about this secretive trade agreement, which is in its final stages of negotiations and could be signed as early as the end of 2012.

Read more in a recent article in The Independent about how globalisation is set to make further inroads in Newfoundland and Labrador under CETA.

#S17 #OccupyWallStreet Anniversary

Today is the 1-year anniversary of #OccupyWallStreet. You can catch up on all the happenings in New York City here and watch livestreams from #OWS here (or the videos below).

For the Canadian celebrations, check out this Facebook page. And for the livestream of Parliament Hill, click here.

Make your way to Harbourside Park at 4 PM today to show some solidarity from St. John's!


Streaming live video by Ustream

occupywallstnyc on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Are we all livestock owned by the 1%?

For your consideration, Stefan Molyneux's take on the role of governments and ideological systems as "livestock management strategies."



For those interested, you can find more of Molyneux's videos and writings on his website, Freedomain Radio.

Protesters speak up against Muskrat Falls

A group called the Friends of Grand River has staged a protest against the Muskrat Falls development.


You can read more about the group Friends of the Grand River here. And check out these images taken of the development already happening, before the project has even been sanctioned. It makes a farce out of the upcoming debate in the House of Assembly.

 Read the CBC article here.

An Open Letter to Occupy NL

Dear Occupy NL,

I would like to help implement a think tank model for OccupyNL or an affiliated group. I believe there is a gaping hole downtown in this city for intellectual and theoretical applications of common good. OccupyNL has the capacity to render high political thought in text, image and action in this city and say goodbye to the failed Arts Faculty at Memorial, whom I’ve been waiting for to take the lead. I have waited for 25 years for Newfoundland culture, heritage and tourism to benefit more people economically than it currently does; that this has not happened, especially in the outports, means it is time for a change.

The oil industry has done more harm to Memorial culture than any other single event or leanings; it has rendered the Arts at Memorial at the St. John’s campus completely moot philosophically or as a body in relation to city culture, impact or social progression. Occupy NL can fill this gap as a body with some specific strategies. Occupy NL has the knowledge base and the writing skills to do this.

In the early 1990s I worked for the U.S. National Park Service to collect folklife and lore regarding the railroad, steel and coal heritage in the devastated, post-industrial American wasteland of southwestern Pennsylvania.

The project’s mandate was to document occupationally-based folklife in the region and then use the data to create tourism products filtered through an actively de-politicized

government commission. Folklorists were very naive when we began working with public money in the 1980s in the US.

Newfoundland provincial policy has caught up, so to speak, with very bad tourism sector models from elsewhere. The trickle down economic model local governments use rarely trickles down to those who most need it. There are alternative models available to us, some that can be customized for Newfoundland and other, original models will undoubtedly be created.

If anyone would like to join me in this I would love to hear from you. Send me an email. The group could meet at my house. I’m looking to gather people who 1) want to explore government policy in tourism, economics and heritage as it stands, for its impact on everyday life in contemporary Newfoundland; and 2) provide independent, non-governmental, meaningful alternatives for communities or individuals. If there was someone or two in Labrador who wanted to participate via computer, on behalf of Big Land cultures, he or she would be very welcome. I think these sessions could act like internal sit-ins.

~Kathryn Foley

How and Why Occupy Died

Some of you may have looked at the title of this post and thought, “What do you mean Occupy died? People are still calling themselves Occupiers.” Yes, it may be true that people are still calling themselves occupiers, but here’s the thing:

1. What are they occupying?
2. What actions have been taken lately?
3. What kind of numbers and support do they actually have?

To answer the first question, nine times out of ten they are not occupying anything. Do you see any encampments in public parks in major metropolitan areas in Canaduh? NO, you don’t, because everyone is too damn scared of the cops. It’s civil disobedience; you are going to HAVE to deal with the cops, and if you are just going to go along with what the cops say, WHY ARE YOU EVEN COMMITTING THE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!?!?

For the second question: What actions have been taken lately? As far as I can tell there has not been anything done in Canaduh under Occupy’s name for at least a few months. Everything that has happened in Canaduh has been done either under the Quebec student movement’s name, or in solidarity with the students in Quebec.

As for what kind of support and/or numbers do they actually have, not much at all.

Why is this?

This is because people have become disillusioned with how things turned out with Occupy. How so? It’s simple. People wanted to SEE ACTIONS HAPPENING, NOT JUST A BUNCH OF PAPERWORK. Which has driven me to create a new portmanteau: “activistocrat”—Activist and Bureaucrat—the definition being someone who thinks of themselves as an activist but doesn’t actually suggest any actions, just bitches about the lack of action while creating a bureaucratic nightmare for those people who actually want to get something done.

For example, at Occupy Newfoundland the activistocrats wanted to formalize the process of how we did GAs and came about to a decision (known further as the “code of conduct”). Sure it sounds good when stated like that, but what it actually entailed was writing a 3-page long document describing how our general assembly process worked. It was written with every detail accounted for and about 20-30 different articles (within 4 main sections) with EACH & EVERY ONE having to be passed by the GA. This process started about the middle of November and still wasn’t done by the time people were starting to stop going to the GAs in May. Almost every GA, some part or another of the code of conduct was brought up. With that one topic, “Code of Conduct,” almost the entire GA was taken up by a 2-hour discussion going in circles on some stupid little semantic detail with nothing else being talked about the rest of the night.

That meant for the ENTIRE winter we were dealing with this one document, which took energy away from other actions or protests that could have happened.

So how did Occupy die? ACTIVISTOCRATS.

Ken 

Part 2: Saving the Revolution: What can be done?

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Read Ken's previous blogpost: Why Occupy Used the Tactics It Did

General Assembly Tues August 14, Harbourside Park @7 PM

Join us back at Harbourside Park for a General Assembly (Tuesday) starting at 7 PM.
Professor of History at MUN, Robert Sweeney, (who researches Inequality trends in Canada and the history of capitalism, among other things) will be leading a Q&A on the financial crisis.

Soundtrack for a Revolution - #6 - Pussy Riot: Holy Shit

Formed in Russia in 2011, Pussy Riot is an anonymous, punk-rock, feminist collective that engages in impromptu performances that discuss gender equality, freedom of expression, human rights, and politics.

On February 21st, 2012, as part of a protest against the re-election of Vladimir Putin as President of the Russian Federation, Pussy Riot performed their song "Holy Shit" (a punk rock prayer) in a 'priests only' section of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Less than one minute into the song, Pussy Riot was escorted outside by guards.

On March 4th, two members of Pussy Riot were arrested and a third member was arrested on March 15th. While Pussy Riot says the performance was about highlighting the special relationship between Putin and the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, they have been charged with 'hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility' and they face a potential 7-years in jail. (Update: On Aug 17th members of Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison).

Pussy Riot has received a lot of international support from artists and politicians, which you can read about here. There has also been some criticism of Pussy Riot, with claims that their actions were blasphemous and that maybe they should be forced to do community service.

According to the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners and Amnesty International, this is much more serious than something community service could address as these women are political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.

The court is slated to make its decision on August 17th. If you're interested in following the trial, you can do so at Freepussyriot.org. 

Education and Inequality in Canada

I recently finished reading an economic history of the US education system, The Race Between Education and Technology by Goldin and Katz.  The main message of the book can be summarized in three points:

1) The US was the world leader in education for over a hundred years (e.g. the High School Movement and the GI Bill).  This played a major role in making the US the leading economy of the 20th century.

2) Progress in education has stagnated in the US over the last 35 years and they have now fallen behind other advanced countries.

3) The modern economy increasingly demands more highly educated workers.  Combined with 2), this has led to greater income inequality in the US, as people without advanced education have fallen behind.

This made me curious about how the Canadian situation compares to the US.  I'm happy to say that the news is mostly pretty good.  We continue to make great strides in education in Canada and especially in Newfoundland.