David Bowie, in his Aladdin Sane guise, is featured on the new local currency you can only use in the Brixton district of South London. Known as the Brixton Pound, or the B£, the first round of the notes in 2009 featured Olive Morris, the radical political activist who founded the Brixton Black Women’s Group and played a pivotal role in the squatters’ rights campaigns of the 1970s; scientist James Lovelock who developed the ‘Gaia’ theory; C L R James, Trinidadian journalist, historian and socialist; and painter Vincent Van Gogh.

This new series of B£ notes pays tribute to Bowie; Black Cultural Archives founder Len Garrison; Chicago Bull Luol Deng and brave WWII spy Violette Szabo.

I appreciate that the folks behind the B£ (Transition Town Brixton) designed the money to call attention to luminaries who were either born in, raised or lived in Brixton. It draws people in emotionally and it’s a great way to start a conversation among residents of the district about what alternate currencies are, helping support local businesses and encouraging trade to stay in the local area, things most people would never even consider or think about these days. As a former Brixton resident myself (not that I’m hinting about anything!), I’m wondering when Nick Cave, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon from The Clash, and Linton Kwesi Johnson will receive the honors.

If you’re curious about how an alternate currency works in a fully urban setting, check out this video, it’s worth your time:
 

 
Below, the B£1 pound note that pays tribute to Olive Morris, political activist, pioneering black feminist and squatters rights champion who died at the age of 27 from cancer in 1979:
 

 
Via Nerdcore

 
Apparently, Anonymous have released a video promising they’ll “erase” the New York Stock Exchange from the Internet next week at 3:30 p.m. on October 10th. The proposed mass DDOS attack refers to itself as being part of a “new civil rights movement”:

Citizens of the World,

We are Anonymous.
For too long, the crimes of Wall Street bankers, CEOs, and a corrupt political system have created economic injustices that has gone unchallenged. A new civil rights movement has begun.
Today, the brave citizens of New York are standing up to these atrocities, a voice of reason in an ever-failing society. Over the past few days, thousands of people have chosen to take a stand against these injustices. The 1% has abused the freedom they have been given. We are taking to the streets to show the wealthy elite that we, the 99%, are no longer going to grease the gears of this abhorrent system.

The lifeblood of the country is the working class, without it our people and our economy will crumble. Those who sustain present-day colonialism are the enablers of modern-day fascism. Our government has granted hefty tax exemptions to the rich at the cost of our social services. We as taxpayers have served as the multi-billion dollar credit line to the companies and banks that continue to systematically abuse us.

We are here to say that we do matter. We will not be manipulated, threatened, or toyed with by the wealthy. No longer can you acquire profit and political power to our detriment.
These few people are running the world, and they are running it into the ground.
Political power cannot be traded or bought; it must be earned and agreed upon by the governed. This is our chance to show them that the people will not allow this to continue.

We are forced out of our homes. We are denied medical care. We suffer from poverty and pollution. We work long hours just to stay afloat, while the 1% reap benefits we can only imagine. Our sworn enemy is the corrupted corporation. –We are the 99%.

You have complained that something needs to be done. You now have an opportunity to make a difference.
Join the protests. Organize your own. Watch online. Be a part of the movement.

This is our movement. This is your moment.
Together, make history.

Vox Populi, Vox Anon.
The Voice of The People is the Voice of Anonymous.
The voice of the weak that are unable to speak. The voice of those strong who are enslaved.
We are your voice. We are the 99%.
We do not forgive corruption. We do not forget mistreatment.
Wall Street, Expect us.

The video contains instructions of how to join in on the mass DDOS attack on the NYSE website and URLs where certain software required to participate can be obtained

I think this sounds cool and all, but all things in cyberspace being equal, and with Anonymous being, um, anonymous, how would or could the public ever know that this is really a message from Anonymous. Right? Right (That’s sort of the point, I suppose).

This message was posted on Pastebin soon after the tape was released and went viral:

Citizens of the world

We are Anonymous! Recently something very disturbing has come to our attention. You must take all notices and information claiming to be ‘Anonymous’ with a grain of salt. Consider EVERYTHING.

Operation Invade Wall Street is bullshit! It is a fake planted operation by law enforcement and cyber crime agencies in order to get you to undermine the Occupy Wall Street movement. It proposes you use depreciated tools that have known flaws such as LOIC.

Anonymous would never tell you to use LOIC - Not after the arrests and failures of Operation Payback.

Anonymous wouldn’t attack NYSE on a HOLIDAY - It is debatable if Anonymous would ever even attack NYSE.

Be wary friends!

Keep your wits about you. If you’re a computer whiz, don’t let your “revolutionary” enthusiasm or a hot head get you into deep trouble. Make sure you know WHAT you are doing and WHO you are doing it WITH. As we saw with last week’s “Radiohead are coming!” rumor, there’s going to be quite a bit of disinformation being spread by both sides and for various reasons. The idea that this could be a law enforcement scheme to snare “anti-social” hackers should give pause to anyone considering taking part. To be clear, I’m not saying that I have any inside information, because I don’t. Certainly not trying to be a party pooper, either. However, I do feel that something rings true in the supposed Anonymous disavowal.

But what do I know?
 

Via BetaBeat

 
You won’t know whether you want to cry or to break some heads…

Via Redditor timothyjwood. The image is his, too

 
The Occupy Wall Street protests seem set to get much bigger in the coming days. Yesterday, 1199SEIU, the health-care workers’ union with over 200,000 members in New York/Long Island, volunteered to help feed the protesters in Zuccotti Park and to send nurses for first aid needs. The Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing the 38,000 MTA workers have also pledged their support, including marching with the protesters on Wednesday.

With union support comes $$$, some ancillary organizational structure the leaderless movement may come to really need, and perhaps most importantly, more bodies.

My sense of it is that the movement is now past the tipping point and will rapidly start to gain critical mass. One of the main reasons, as we all know, that the mainstream media was so slow to cover the OWS protests is because it was “just a bunch of hippies.” There could have been half a million of them and it would have merited the same response: dismissal. With the union support, the nascent movement is starting to look much more ready for prime time, as the Wall Street Journal reports:

“The premise of the protest, we’re in complete agreement with,” said TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen. “It’s about fair share and it’s about the claim that everybody needs to share a bit of the burden of this terrible economy.”

The transport workers, 1199 and other labor groups plan to join the protesters for a Wednesday march from City Hall to Zuccotti Park, where the protesters have camped since Sept. 17.

Also Monday, lawyers for TWU Local 100 sought a temporary restraining order in federal court to prevent the police from commandeering buses operated by its members to ferry protesters who had been arrested.

Police took over at least three buses Saturday to transport some of the 700 people who were arrested after a march veered onto the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge, according to the union and the MTA.

“Our bus operators are working-class people who are raising children in New York City and by and large they support the protest,” said Mr. Samuelsen, the TWU president. “They’re not going to press our members into service and thrust them onto the wrong side of this protest without a fight from our union.”

Read that last paragraph again and ponder the implications.

The genius of this particular movement, I think, more than any other element was the “we’re not leaving, come and join us if you feel the same way we do” factor. Had the Occupy Wall Street protests been set for a single day and if attendance was underwhelming, that would have been that. When the union members begin to noticeably show up, the composition of the movement is going to change, and the media coverage will inevitably change also, sending a primarily visual message that will show more people of color, the participation of Americans who are past the age of 30, and more sorts of “regular” people in the images they transmit. When the pilots union members showed up in their uniforms, that was such a powerful message I thought. (I mean no disrespect for “hippies” btw. The young people in Zuccotti Park are heroes to me).

From that same article from the Wall Street Journal, we’re introduced to Tom Dematteis, a 39-year-old Watertown, CT-based pizzeria owner, a Navy veteran and a single father of three children, who visited the protest on Monday morning.

“America has been silenced for too long,” he said. “This is becoming a melting pot for all issues. I don’t protest very often, this is big enough.”

Joining Mr. Dematteis on Monday was a Connecticut teacher named Jim who said he wouldn’t give his last name because he was skipping work to be there. He, too, didn’t plan to camp out because he had to be back at school on Tuesday.

But he said he has watched several family members lose their homes to foreclosure and felt a need to show up in person after following the protest movement in the media.

“These are real-life things that happen to people I know,” he said. “We have to do something. I think the whole country is feeling helpless right now. You don’t have to necessarily stay in the park to show your solidarity.”

Now, that’s true, but if you CAN show up, you should show up. If a single dad with three kids and a business to run can drive a couple of hours to be there, if you work in Manhattan, at the very least go to Zucotti Park to eat your lunch! And maybe take some food for the troops if you can afford to.

And to all of the assholes on Facebook whining about how the streets in lower Manhattan are all clogged up with “hippies,”—go fuck yourselves. That is some of the lamest nonsense I’ve ever heard and yes I am talking to YOU, Mr. and Mrs. Old Skool Punk Rockers turned griping, bitter Tribeca loft-dwelling jerk-offs…

 
The New York Observer posted this FANTASTIC clip of a Fox News personality (I can’t recall this guy’s name and I’m too lazy to check) getting his ass schooled by a (super) articulate Occupy Wall Street protester named Jesse LaGreca, a man born with a rare gift for gab (and blogging, he’s known as “Ministry of Truth” when he blogs at Daily Kos).

I just can’t imagine how this conversation landed on the cutting room floor, can you? This footage is going to be all over MSNBC, CNN and Current later today.

Fox: Jesse, so Ray, your partner here, your ..

Ray: comrade.

Fox: Your colleague, she’d seen the protests in Greece and Europe and elsewhere. Did you guys take your cue from that? Are you hoping to cite certainly what was a lot of the tension, if not police activity. I know over the weekend there were over 100 arrests and you guys got things fired up. Are you taking your cues from the international movement and how do you want to see this? If you could have it in a perfect way, how would it be?

Jesse: Well I don’t know, its really difficult to answer questions leading to those conclusions. I’d say that we didn’t take our cue leading off of anybody really. It became a more spontaneous movement. As far as seeing this end, I wouldn’t like to see this end. I would like to see the conversation continue. This is what we should have been talking about in 2008 when the economy collapsed. We basically patched a hole on the tire and said let the car keep rolling. Unfortunately it’s fun to talk to the propaganda machine and the media especially conservative media networks such as yourself, because we find that we cant get conversations for the department of Justice’s ongoing investigation of News Corporation, for which you are an employee. But we can certainly ask questions like you know, why are the poor engaging in class warfare? After 30 years of having our living standards decrease while the wealthiest 1% have had it better than ever, I think it’s time for some maybe, I don’t know, participation in our democracy that isn’t funded by news cameras and gentlemen such as yourself.

Fox: But, uh, yeah well, let me give you this challenge Jesse.

Jesse: Sure.

Fox: We’re here giving you an opportunity on the record […] to put any
message you want out there, to give you fair coverage and I’m not
going to in any way

Jesse: That’s awesome!

Fox:…give you advice about it. So, there is an exception in the case, because you wouldn’t be able to get your message out there without us.

Jesse: No, surely, I mean, take for instance when Glenn Beck was doing his protest and he called the President, uh, a person who hates white people and white culture. That was a low moment in Americans’ history and you guys kinda had a big part in it. So, I’m glad to see you coming around and kind of paying attention to what the other 99 percent of Americans are paying attention to, as opposed to the far-right fringe, who who would just love to destroy the middle class entirely.

Fox: Alright, fair enough. You have a voice, an important reason to criticize myself, my company and anyone else. But, let me ask you that, in fairness, does this administration, President Obama, have any criticism as to the the financial situation the country’s in…?

Jesse: I think, myself, uh, as well as many other people, would like to see a little but more economic justice or social justice—Jesus stuff—as far as feeding the poor, healthcare for the sick. You know, I find it really entertaining that people like to hold the Bill of Rights up while they’re screaming at gay soldiers, but they just can’t wrap their heads around the idea that a for-profit healthcare system doesn’t work. So, let’s just look at it like this, if we want the President to do more, let’s talk to him on a level that actually reaches people, instead of asking for his birth certificate and wasting time with total nonsense like Solyndra.

GENIUS!!!! I wanted to cheer when I watched this clip. Someone needs to start an effort to draft Jesse LaGreca for Congress, if not a higher office! 

This video was shot by Kyle Christopher from the Occupy Wall Street media team.

More at the New York Observer.
 

 
Via Glenn E. Friedman

 
So I’ve been trying to sum up how I feel about Occupy Wall Street and the media coverage (or non-coverage) of the demonstrations the last few days, when I found this clip and realised that one of the most brilliant poets of the last hundred years had already summed it up perfectly. Of course.

I was gonna say that the oldstream media has been over for me since 2000, when I saw some peaceful protests badly misreported on TV and in the papers. I wanted to mention how my obsession with this summer’s “Murdochgate” sprang from a desire to see the established news channels I detest so much crumble, to lose all respect with their audience through their refusal to cover a story with such huge significance. I’ve been struggling to express how we don’t need validation through a mainstream that has always ignored us or deliberately misrepresented us, that people shouldn’t worry too much, the message is getting out there loud and clear.

But fuck it. Gil Scott Heron beat me to the punch (hard) thirty years ago. 

This incredible recording of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” (as a spoken monologue with no music and some ad libs) is from 1982. It was performed at the Black Wax Club in Washington DC, as part of a documentary film on Scott Heron called Black Wax. His voice is a thing of rich, easy-going beauty but his words are like dynamite. Yeah, the times and technology may have changed, but this is still so prescient and just so damn relevant it’s amazing.

Gil Scott Heron died only four short months ago, and it’s a real pity he can’t be around now to see the people of his home town out on their streets and taking direct action, how he can’t be there himself to rally the crowds with this incredible monologue and share his no doubt sharp-as-a-pin insights into politics and society. It’s true - sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone. But we DO still have this recording, and I hope that everyone, including all the people involved with the protests in New York, gets to hear it.

Because the revolution will NOT be televised.

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE LIVE.
 

You see, a lot of time people see battles and skirmishes on TV and they say
“aha the revolution is being televised”. Nah.
The results of the revolution are being televised.

The first revolution is when you change your mind about how you look at things, and see there might be another way to look at it that you have not been shown.
What you see later on is the results of that, but that revolution, that change that takes place will not be televised.

After the jump “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” (Black Wax monologue) transcribed, plus footage from the fantastic Gil Scott Heron “Black Wax” documentary/live film.

 
Fascinating short film about the Wall Street occupation movement.

And if you haven’t read David Graber’s Guardian article, “Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination,” then you probably should:

Is it really surprising they would like to have a word with the financial magnates who stole their future?

Just as in Europe, we are seeing the results of colossal social failure. The occupiers are the very sort of people, brimming with ideas, whose energies a healthy society would be marshaling to improve life for everyone. Instead, they are using it to envision ways to bring the whole system down.

But the ultimate failure here is of imagination. What we are witnessing can also be seen as a demand to finally have a conversation we were all supposed to have back in 2008. There was a moment, after the near-collapse of the world’s financial architecture, when anything seemed possible.

Everything we’d been told for the last decade turned out to be a lie. Markets did not run themselves; creators of financial instruments were not infallible geniuses; and debts did not really need to be repaid – in fact, money itself was revealed to be a political instrument, trillions of dollars of which could be whisked in or out of existence overnight if governments or central banks required it. Even the Economist was running headlines like “Capitalism: Was it a Good Idea?”

It seemed the time had come to rethink everything: the very nature of markets, money, debt; to ask what an “economy” is actually for. This lasted perhaps two weeks. Then, in one of the most colossal failures of nerve in history, we all collectively clapped our hands over our ears and tried to put things back as close as possible to the way they’d been before.

Perhaps, it’s not surprising. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the real priority of those running the world for the last few decades has not been creating a viable form of capitalism, but rather, convincing us all that the current form of capitalism is the only conceivable economic system, so its flaws are irrelevant. As a result, we’re all sitting around dumbfounded as the whole apparatus falls apart.

Read more of
Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination (Guardian)
 

 
A progressive Christian group is pressuring U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann to support President Obama’s jobs plan using the story of the loaves and fishes to demand a tax increase on the wealthiest Americans. Although I think this is hilarious and support their efforts, good luck with this line of reasoning and “Crazy Eyes”. Via the Minnesota Independent:

“Jesus would support this bill,” said Brandon Nessen, the group’s spokesperson. “Ask the wealthiest to contribute so that ordinary families can get back on two feet again.”

The group will re-enact the biblical story of Jesus Christ using either five or seven loaves of bread and several small fish, depending on the version of the story, to feed thousands of starving people. The story is seen as a lesson to help the less fortunate.

The event is being organized by members of the “religious left,” according to a press release. “A group of church-going progressives will descend on her Woodbury office to ask her to support President Obama’s jobs bill, which would use revenue from taxes on the wealthiest Americans to pay for infrastructure projects and other bipartisan policies aimed at stimulating job growth,” the group’s statement said. “The group will reenact a version of the biblical story of Loaves and Fishes to demonstrate that Jesus created abundance from apparent scarcity just as Congress could do with the President’s jobs package.”

The group, calling itself the “Spirit of Truth Faith Community” describe themselves as “a faith community from the Christian tradition that strives to put love and justice at the center of everything we do. We are a group of people who realized we wanted to live out our values of love and justice, and that we needed a faith community to do it.”

The cognitive dissonance that this must cause for Bachmann is funny to contemplate…

Revolutions are great places to meet members of the opposite sex… just sayin’

There have been a lot of people wondering why they major media seems to be ignoring the Wall Street demonstrations. Some are calling for the protests to be brought to the media and it seems like a decent tactic would be to take the demonstrations directly to the headquarters of the various networks and news organizations so they simply can’t ignore it. In the meantime, until the networks deign to cover them, you can watch a live feed of the Wall Street protests on the Global Revolution Livestream channel.
 

 
If you’d like to show some support for the brave and persistent protestors who are occupying lower Manhattan to call attention to rapacious finance capitalism run amok, why not consider sending some… pizza?

Some local pizzerias listed by Get Smart News who’ll deliver to the anti-capitalism protestors. Liberatos Pizza & Parmigiana at 17 Cedar Street are offering a “Stand-Up-for-Your-Beliefs” special, “The Occu-Pie,” but you might want to consider ordering some meatless (if not vegan) options for this bunch—call Liberatos at (212) 344-3464

For some healthier options click here; below, some lower Manhattan pizzerias:

Adrienne’s Pizza Bar Restaurant, 54 Stone Street, (212) 248-3838
Harry’s Italian Pizza Bar, 2 Gold Street, (212) 747-0797
Papa John’S Pizza, 21 Maiden Lane # 23, (212) 608-7272
Underground Pizzeria, 3 Hanover Square, (212) 425-4442
Zeytuna, 59 Maiden Lane, (212) 742-2436
Big Al’s Chicago Style Pizza, 9 Thames Street, (212) 964-3269
Caruso’s Pizza & Pasta140 Fulton Street, (212) 267-2927
Cucina Bene Pizza, 41 Exchange Place, (212) 635-0345
Grotto Pizzeria & Restaurant, 69 New Street, (212) 809-6990
Caruso’s Pizza, 42 Broadway (212) 785-7747
Friendly Gourmet Pizza, 59 Nassau Street, (212) 791-180

Some non-pizza local restaurants that will deliver to the protestors:

Lemon Grass Grill, (212) 809-8038
Toloache Taqueria, 212) 809-9800
Alfanoose, (212) 528-4669

Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination (Guardian)