Posts tagged activism

Link
Posted 4 months ago

Stitching Together Solidarity, Creating A Community

…Because the world is broken. Because shit’s fucked up. Because shit’s fucked up and bullshit. Because things have been so fucked up for so long, so many of us don’t even know where to start to fix it. Because we shouldn’t ignore the fact that the things we’re shopping for while bombs are dropping are made by slave labor. We should do something about the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of people in prisons across the planet who might never see the sunlight again. Because it’s more than an outrage that while a nation can afford to spend 8 billion dollars on an aircraft carrier, it can’t afford to help the sick, the hungry, or the mentally ill. But it’s no one specific person’s fault, no one political party or group of people can be blamed for generations of problems. No one issue can simply be fixed to solve it all.

(Source: diatribemedia.com)

Video
Posted 4 months ago

Yesterday more than 200 people rallied and marched along the Magnificent Mile in Chicago to demand a higher minimum wage. They sung revised Christmas carols at a few locations in one of the city’s busiest shopping districts and walked the sidewalks chanting “we can’t survive on $8.25.” The day culminated in a sit-in at the intersection of Michigan Ave and Pearson where more than 20 were arrested and issued citations for blocking traffic.

Video 2
Notes
Posted 7 months ago

On October 15, 2011, hundreds of activists were arrested in Chicago’s Grant Park after attempting to set up an Occupy encampment. Last month, a judge dismissed charges against 90 activists who filed suit that the charges were unconstitutional. On October 15, 2012, members of Occupy Chicago and a coalition of other activist groups, joined by the Overpass Light Brigade, marched through the loop and held a “free speech festival” on the site of the original arrests in order to mark the anniversary as well as highlight an anti-eviction campaign.

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Notes
Posted 11 months ago

Camaraderie in the streets; Tenderness in between struggles

Jail solidarity means waiting outside the holding area or prison with hot coffee, cheers, hugs and warm bodies for fellow protesters locked away. Jail support means bandaging our friends who were smashed to the concrete by the state with words and kindness, ministering the sunset-colored bruises, massaging away the aches from unnecessary and excessive uses of force. Jail solidarity means writing letters featuring silly stories and cartoons, sending reading material like science fiction, nonfiction, and art supplies like colored pencils and paper.

(Source: diatribemedia.com)

Video 20
Notes
Posted 11 months ago

Several of the folks in this video are people I’ve met, whom I consider friends, comrades, colleagues, etc. Journalism isn’t simply a job or a career or something to do. At its core, it is an action, one that has the power to move the mountain that is the public consciousness by way of showing exactly what is happening on the ground, in real time, to real people viewing who are no different than the person in the streets. Corporate, mainstream media as an entity is not beholden to the public, but rather to its investors and other financial backers. This makes it our job as citizens, writers, activists, and humans interested in the truth to flood the streets with our cameras, cell phones, zines, pens, papers, and any other method we have of documenting events in order to combat the mainstream narrative that corporate media pushes.

As you can see in this video, it’s becoming a dangerous activity. However, no matter how hard the ubiquitous and seemingly omnipotent “They” try - you can’t stop the signal.

Photo 2
Notes
Posted 11 months ago
I took this photo back in October of 2011, at one of the first attempts Occupy Chicago made to create an encampment in Grant Park. That attempt (and another) failed and resulted in hundreds of arrests. This photo though, taken during the march to the park, has always been one of my favorites - simply because the message is so simple, clear, and in stark contrast to the repression activists in Chicago and across the globe have faced in attempting to create a better world. Zoom

I took this photo back in October of 2011, at one of the first attempts Occupy Chicago made to create an encampment in Grant Park. That attempt (and another) failed and resulted in hundreds of arrests. This photo though, taken during the march to the park, has always been one of my favorites - simply because the message is so simple, clear, and in stark contrast to the repression activists in Chicago and across the globe have faced in attempting to create a better world.

Text 8
Notes
Posted 11 months ago

It’s time to give the “is occupy dead” or “the movement is losing momentum” business a rest. The reality is, social change doesn’t happen overnight, or in a year, or sometimes in a decade, or longer. Major changes to any system or social order can take lifetimes, because those orders have been in place for generations or longer.

Analysis of tactics or direction, planning, and setting goals should always be a part of movements for social change. But defeatist statements which discount efforts past, present, and future do no good. They’re merely sensationalist banter. Is it time for occupy to evolve? Sure. All movements, tactics, people and ideologies should evolve. But that’s no reason to simply take the wind out of the sails, shrug and go home.