It's hard to say. I've heard individuals try to rip apart capitalism from pretty much any kind of group you can think of except for people well-versed in Austrian Economics. 100% of them are behind it. Even a decent amount of Libertarians don't seem to like it. I still think the majority of people associate it with communism unknowingly. And the other people who don't can't wrap their government-conditioned mind around the idea of capitalism.
It now appears that the movement has officially been initiated all around the world (or at least now the media is recognizing it). http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/15/world/occupy-goes-global/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Oh, I guess its just my upbringing and common sense, but I always saw capitalism and communism as opposites. Capitalism is the only thing that makes sense to me really. BTW I'll get to ur post in the Obama thread when I'm back to my dorm, I don't have a computer now.
It's a spectrum, really. I for one am a fan of social democracy: it's capitalism with a nice, wide safety net but only as needed.
I never said it was. I would love it if we did. What I described more closely describes the Netherlands and a buncha Baltic/Dutch states.
I wish I could of gone to occupy denver. Though it got violent and arrests were made and I didn't want to lose my new job (the one that took 6 months to get.)
"Occupy" protests get violent http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/us/occupy-wall-steet/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 What do you guys think. I believe they should be left alone
Police on fuckin' horses violently stopped the Occupy Melbourne thing. Mayor went on to say it was justified because the protestors had bricks, fuel, knives, typical camping gear etc.
Oh, I saw that yesterday and thought it was Oakland, Michigan. Anyway, shit is going to get real ugly from here.
If they are armed and are leaving a disgusting mess on public property, then no, they should not be left alone. Protesting against "the man" is one thing but to take a crap in a public park is disrespectful at the very least. Let the people who's job it is to clean up those places do their damn job and then get back to protesting. And, dont hurl paint and bricks or bottles at the police because then you just ask for the police to act.
No matter what they were doing to justify being "kicked out" of a public space, using tear gas and flash bangs is absolutely the wrong way to go about it. I know Jon Stewart isn't exactly CNN or Fox News, but the footage he showed last night looked like a video from Iraq or something. It's terrifying and the definition of excessive force. It's quite disgusting and I don't know how you can justify that type of behavior. In my neck of the woods, the Nashville PD has given the protesters here until 8PM to leave or face being arrested. No one plans to leave, as far as I'm aware, and there will be a new group of protesters coming down to protest the arrests. Shit is getting real.
They shot someone point blank in the face with rubber bullets yesterday, fracturing his skill. The pics were brutal. The dude was mid to late 20's and served in Iraq. I don't want to get into how horrible a government monopoly on power is (the police), because it would turn into a whole nother thread. But these protesters will be victims of illegal police brutality. The majority of officers that are involved in such acts just get a few weeks paid vacation instead of real consequences. If things get really hairy, I'm sure stuff like this will be happening every day.
Then again, hey, it's the police in California. It's business as usual for them. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten that violent in New York, honestly.
I find a problem with the fact that I still don't know what they're protesting, not being sarcastic or whatever. I've watched some videos, but seriously, what is the point.
It started out as a protest against corporatism basically. Now it's mostly people just going out there protesting against things they have no knowledge of. I've seen many videos of people protesting against what they think is capitalism (but in reality is socialism and corporatism), and are fighting for socialism. So at the same time they are fighting for and against socialism. I've seen other videos of people wanting a redistribution of wealth. It's just a total mess now. But at least people are out there taking a stand for what they think they believe in, even if they don't know the specifics. These are a couple good videos. They are non-confrontational ways of trying to get people to really think about their views. [youtube]EDMwVPtvp94[/youtube] [youtube]5fyP_wKRIAg[/youtube]
You're still equating socialism with corporatism and you're still using "socialism" as a synonym for "not 100% capitalism". And you think they're misinformed. I give up.
Some people at these protests are in fact idiots. However, there are plenty of things that they are advocating that I fully agree with. Taxing the rich more and dealing with corporate greed being a few examples. It'll be interesting to see "what happens now." In order for this to be sustainable, it will have to keep growing until downtown areas of cities are literally occupied. Or something.
They have a plan to form a type of Congress, with delegates and representives and whatnot from each occupied city.