The #OccupyMelbourne Digest
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Robert Frisky: Why don’t more people… get involved? A discussion paper.
Modern People are consumed by their own lives. They have needs which must be satisfied. They are busy with family, work, pursuits, and leisure activities. Their priorities and interests are urgent and seemingly separate from larger global pressures which concern the world they live in. Is this about to change anytime soon? In the modern … Continue reading
Featured Posts
“Amazing day of #tentmonsters today, highlights: mini TM (7 years old!) and mic checking Westfield and bemused xmas shoppers. #osyd #omel” @Iamversmart The Digest is looking for contributors: fiction, news, poetry, drawings, photography; you name it, we’ll probably take it. Email questions@wgwallace.id.au Good morning, hope you slept well. Some of you may have noticed that … Continue reading
It’s a hot, humid, Saturday afternoon, and I’m trying to keep a professional, critical first-aid eye on the crowd but I can’t stop laughing. The fantastic absurdity of trying to keep a flock of Tentmonsters within the lines of the tram tracks in the middle of the road, while they sing, dance and spin about, … Continue reading
Who Is Occupy Melbourne? We are a group of individuals who no longer accept the concentration of power and control of resources in the hands of a few. We are developing a conversation with the broader public about what we can do about this. Our actions embody the changes we wish to make. Who do … Continue reading
“Mic check! Mic check! My name is Erin. I’m from First Aid and Care. I want to talk to you today about institutionalised misogyny and rape culture. What happened to our sister Sara didn’t happen in a vacuum. It is symptomatic of the sexism enshrined in our police, military and government. It is symptomatic of … Continue reading
Recently, Occupiers at Flagstaff Gardens have had to deal with far from ideal conditions. Chief Commissioner Ken Lay admitted that Victoria Police is now acting with a view to shut down Occupy Melbourne and so has authorised a 24/7 police presence at our Occupation. After the Baron was arrested for wearing a Tent Monster costume, … Continue reading
Last night, as I began to write this article, news had just come through that the Big 4 banks had all agreed to pass on the rate cut announced by the RBA (0.25%). Up until about two years ago, announcements that banks were acting according to the advice of the RBA were not all that … Continue reading
Strategies for avoiding burn-out (and things that will help you if you are feeling burnt-out or very-nearly-burnt-out): Practical tips: « Be honest with yourself and the group about what you can and cannot do. If you sign up for something, but feel you can no longer do it- be sure to say so (it’s actually … Continue reading
The Occupy movement thrives from individual and collective energy, passion and commitment. This is its strength, however if we don’t take care of ourselves and others in this process, people can end up feeling burn out, overwhelmed and exhausted. Looking after yourself and each other is important in sustaining the movement. Self care is also … Continue reading
Dear Australians, I do not Occupy but I support Occupy Melbourne. I am a hard working “Middle Australian”. I cannot attend protests that extend for weeks on end. That is not to say I do not respect the right to protest. In fact, a protest that draws attention to corporate greed and the failure of … Continue reading
Robert Doyle is currently an Ambassador for the White Ribbon Day. The White Ribbon Day is the largest day in the year to publicise Australia’s campaign to stop men’s violence against women. He is the current mayor of the Melbourne, Australia, who with the support of the Victoria Police has been ordering Council staff to … Continue reading
One of the most powerful weapons that can be used against Occupy Melbourne is silence and our enemies know it. Since January we have seen fleeting snippets of news in the Australian media about protests in the Maghreb, America and Europe, several of which formed the inspiration for the global Occupy Movement. It says something … Continue reading
In the face of their humiliation, the Council’s lawyers got together and combed through the dusty tomes of old laws to find something to pin on our Tent Monsters and believed they found a winner with two by-laws that prevent people from even bringing tents to public parks in Melbourne. When the Council attended Flagstaff … Continue reading
Castlemaine may be a name that is familiar to only a few Victorians and that would probably be entirely unfamiliar to those from outside the state. It is a small town about two-thirds of the way between Ballarat and Bendigo where employment is centred around KR Castlemaine’s bacon factory and the Victoria Carpets spinning factory. … Continue reading
I smiled. I was about to instinctively reply but the passer-by turned his back to me and continued walking. Ahh, that feeling of frustration when you cannot have a decent and fair discussion. I took a deeper than usual breath and assured myself the commenter was probably under the pump, in a rush, deadlines/kpi’s to … Continue reading
![Sam Castro: A Police Officer Assaulted Me (White Ribbon Day) [Video]](http://web.archive.org./web/20111228123840im_/http://omdigest.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/samcastroprotest.png?w=65&h=65&crop=1 "Sam Castro: A Police Officer Assaulted Me (White Ribbon Day) [Video]")
Here is the first Digest video, made with film and photos contributed by occupiers as well as audio from Faine vs. Doyle. (No copyright infringement intended, published as personal use/research)
Also Of Interest
- What Kate Did Next: Welcome to Melbourne and Welcome to Occupy "Since joining the Occupy Movement I’ve witnessed enormous courage and resilience. Members relentlessly meet the needs of other occupiers day and night, whether it is with food, first aid or friendship. This all happens in makeshift conditions, which frequently get dismantled and are under threat of removal. Not to mention the arrests. People come and offer their time, their money, their knowledge, and their skills. Everybody’s contribution is welcome and appreciated. It’s not without friction, compounded by lack of sleep, ongoing police harassment. We’re all inclusive and that comes with difficulties"
- Fat and Sassy: Institutionalised Sexual Assault: "Institutionalised sexism and misogyny is nothing new. I should be surprised, but I am not. The scales fell from my eyes long ago, and, as they say, what has been seen can never be unseen. I know that our police and military are inherently sexist organisations, which is why I don’t feel surprised or shocked by the women who took part in this assault against one of their sisters."
- An Open Letter to Emma West, the Racist on the Tram: "Dear Emma, you don’t know me. You’re not even aware of my existence, and you’ll never meet me. However, thanks to the power of the internet and the quick thinking of a young woman with a smartphone on the Croydon Tramlink last Sunday, I know of you. I’ve watched you repeatedly as you spat your racist venom all over a tram carriage full of non-whites, while your child sat on your lap. We’re both 34, Emma. We both grew up in Britain and are both British. That’s where our common ground ends. You wouldn’t be able to tell what my background is from my face or accent, but I am one of the myriad people to whom you object so revoltingly strongly."
- Mayor Bloomber'g Army: "Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his own army! No, it’s not a private security firm, like Blackwater. It’s actually, according to the mayor, the New York City Police Department. Bloomberg, again threatening vaguely to make that presidential run that the American people are decidedly not calling for, told MIT last night that he doesn’t even need to be president, because all of his autocratic desires are fulfilled by running America’s most populous city as his private fiefdom."
- Camps Are Cleared, but ‘99 Percent’ Still Occupies the Lexicon: "Whatever the long-term effects of the Occupy movement, protesters have succeeded in implanting “We are the 99 percent,” referring to the vast majority of Americans (and its implied opposite, “You are the one percent” referring to the tiny proportion of Americans with a vastly disproportionate share of wealth), into the cultural and political lexicon. First chanted and blogged about in mid-September in New York, the slogan become a national shorthand for the income disparity. Easily grasped in its simplicity and Twitter-friendly in its brevity, the slogan has practically dared listeners to pick a side."
- NAB and Westpac's Secret Bailout Revealed: "Instead the apology needs to come from the Australian mainstream financial press. The same financial press that told you Australia’s banks were strong. That Australia had the best prudential regulation in the world. That Australian banks were different to all those dirty foreign banks. But an apology also needs to come from the banks who themselves claimed things were different here. And that Australia’s banks didn’t have the same solvency problems as US and European banks. Why do they need to apologise? Well, two years after the global financial markets collapsed, a secret bailout of two of Australia’s biggest banks has been revealed." Read more here.
- The Myth of Posse Comitatus: "The Posse Comitatus Act has traditionally been viewed as a major barrier to the use of U.S. military forces in planning for homeland defense. In fact, many in uniform believe that the act precludes the use of U.S. military assets in domestic security operations in any but the most extraordinary situations. As is often the case, reality bears little resemblance to the myth for homeland defense planners. Through a gradual erosion of the act’s prohibitions over the past 20 years, posse comitatus today is more of a procedural formality than an actual impediment to the use of U.S. military forces in homeland defense." Read more here.
- Occupy language: the struggle over meaning: "The Occupy Wall Street movement has challenged the standard narrative of recent times. Contrary to the world view they've been promoting for so long, politicians and traditional media organisations are beginning to grasp the existence of a compelling alternative: that democracy cannot endure in a society designed by and operated almost solely for the benefit of the rich and powerful."
- Intellectual Roots of Wall St. Protest Lie in Academe: "Famous scholars like Cornel West, Slavoj Zizek, and Frances Fox Piven have spoken to the crowd, with their remarks dispersed, word-for-word, from one cluster of people to the next through a "human megaphone." Many others, such as Lawrence Lessig, have lent their support from farther away, as the demonstrations have spread to cities and college campuses nationwide. ...But Occupy Wall Street's most defining characteristics—its decentralized nature and its intensive process of participatory, consensus-based decision-making—are rooted in other precincts of academe and activism: in the scholarship of anarchism and, specifically, in an ethnography of central Madagascar." Read more here.
- The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy: "...But just when Americans thought we had the picture – was this crazy police and mayoral overkill, on a municipal level, in many different cities? – the picture darkened. The National Union of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a Freedom of Information Act request to investigate possible federal involvement with law enforcement practices that appeared to target journalists."
- "Shame On Me": The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei speaks about the changes in his life since the end of his detention in June and shows himself moved and surprised by a new culture of protest in his country.
- South Africa: New law harks back to bad old days: There has been justified anger against the law in South Africa and among busybodies who care for such old-fashioned liberal causes as freedom of expression. But South Africa has always been special — when the largely black (but, it must be said, multi-ethnic) African National Congress (ANC) took on the National Party during the apartheid years, the question of which side to back was a no-brainer.
- Opening Day for Shoppers Shows Divide: As the busiest retail weekend of the year begins late Thursday night, the differences between how affluent and more ordinary Americans shop in the uncertain economy will be on unusually vivid display.
- rboiATS: "...you can take away our tents, you can take away 'things’ but you cannot take away our hearts or our voice."
- AdBusters: "The tantalizing idea of turning bank-owned, dormant buildings into radical housing, squats and community spaces floated amongst the encampment. That night, a small group of occupiers took the initiative and reclaimed a nearby building that was once the Traveler's Aid Society, a non-profit that aided the homeless but had closed after cuts to government funding."
- Very Vexable: "The German critical theorist and philosopher Habermas tells us that a genuinely participatory public sphere - the kind required for a healthy democracy - must guarantee universal access."
- Finally, we managed to find a recording of Faine vs. Doyle, the epic showdown that happened on ABC 774 morning radio (8/11/11). This was obtained from the 774 website and we are very grateful for their help. (If we need to take this down and instead link to 774, please let us know) Download Once you’ve had a listen, check out Peter Campbell’s response and get in on the discussion.
- Video: A Beginner's Guide to 'Occupy' (Occupy Bristol, UK): "If you think what’s been achieved from 50 people in Wall Street on the 17th of September to 1500+ cities worldwide – every continent but Antarctica – this is a global social movement which will go down in history."
- ABC Radio AM: Occupy Melbourne challenges eviction in court
- Eudemoniatic: "Our cause is just: it is Democracy. Our principles are inclusion, respect and build towards consensus. Our tool is moral reason. You cannot kill this; it is the bedrock of our civil society."
- Vanity Fair: "In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran."
- Uniting Church in Australia shows support and sympathy for Occupy Melbourne: "We all noted that the peaceful Occupy Melbourne protesters were simply doing that in a different way to us but that we shared a core message."
- University of Sydney academics challenge media view of Occupy: "There's a concern that money politics and the impact of large multinationals have reduced the effectiveness of Australian democracy."
