Occupy Wall Street Protesters Set for Showdown with Police
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Anti-Wall Street protesters in New York are preparing for a showdown with police when they attempt to shift them from the site today.

Hundreds of people are camped in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, at the heart of the financial district, in protest at the greed and failures of the industry, as well as the economic difficulties facing the United States.

Around 600 protesters have been ordered to leave the park temporarily so that it can be cleaned.

Michael Bloomberg, the New York Mayor, personally assured the protesters on Wednesday evening that they could return after the clean, which was ordered by the square's private owners.

However, Ray Kelly, the city's police chief, created the spark for a potential conflict when he said camping would be banned.

The organisers of the protest, which has united several discrete groups, urged people to "hold our ground" and "be prepared for possible arrest". » | Andy Bloxham | Friday, October 14, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Protests Come to London

THE GUARDIAN: The Occupy London Stock Exchange collective said a Facebook page on the protest had attracted more than 9,000 followers

Protests against the global financial system which have seen huge demonstrations in New York's Wall Street will spread to the City ofLondon this weekend.

A number of campaign organisations, including direct action group UK Uncut, say they will support an occupation of the heart of the capital's financial centre on Saturday as part of a "global movement for real democracy" to highlight social and economic injustice.

The Occupy London Stock Exchange collective said a Facebook page on the protest had attracted more than 9,000 followers, with more than 3,500 confirmed attendees.

Laura Taylor, a supporter of the so-called OccupyLSX, said: "Why are we paying for a crisis the banks caused? More than a million people have lost their jobs and tens of thousands of homes have been repossessed, while small businesses are struggling to survive.

"Yet bankers continue to make billions in profit and pay themselves enormous bonuses, even after we bailed them out with £850bn." » | Press Association | Wednesday, October 12, 2011

World Intrigued by "Occupy Wall Street" Movement
REUTERS.COM: Tahrir Square in Cairo, Green Square in Tripoli, Syntagma Square in Athens and now Zuccotti Park in New York -- popular anger against entrenching power elites is spreading around the world.

Many have been intrigued by the Occupy Wall Street movement against financial inequality that started in a New York park and expanded across America from Tampa, Florida, to Portland, Oregon, and from Los Angeles to Chicago.

Hundreds of activists gathered a month ago in the Manhattan park two blocks from Wall Street to vent their anger at what they see as the excesses of New York financiers, whom they blame for the economic crisis that has struck countless ordinary Americans and reverberated across the global economy.

In the U.S. movement, Arab nations see echoes of this year's Arab Spring uprisings. Spaniards and Italians see parallels with Indignados (indignant) activists, while voices in Tehran and Beijing with their own anti-American agendas have even said this could portend the meltdown of the United States.

Inspired by the momentum of the U.S. movement, which started small but is now part of U.S. political debate, activists in London will gather to protest outside the London Stock Exchange on October 15 on the same day that Spanish groups will mass on Madrid's Puerta del Sol square in solidarity.

"American people are more and more following the path chosen by people in the Arab world," Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted senior Revolutionary Guards officer Masoud Jazayeri as saying. "America's domineering government will face uprisings similar to those in Tunisia and Egypt."
Chinese newspapers splashed news about Occupy Wall Street with editorials blaming the U.S. political system and denouncing the Western media for playing down the protests.

"The future of America stands at a crossroads. Presuming that effective measures to relieve the social mood and reconstruct justice cannot be found, it is not impossible that the Occupy Wall Street movement might be the final straw under which America collapses," said a commentary in the Global Times.

"This movement has uncovered a scar on American society, an iceberg of accumulated social conflicts has risen to the surface," said the commentary in the tabloid, which is owned by the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily. » | Peter Millership | LONDON | Tuesday October 11, 2011

REUTERS.COM: Analysis: Wall St. action part of global "Arab Spring?" – After the "Arab Spring" and unrest in Europe, New York's "Occupy Wall Street" movement may be the latest sign of a global, popular backlash against elites with increasingly shared rhetoric and tactics. » | Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent | LONDON | Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Herman Cain steps up attacks on Occupy Wall Street protests

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Republican presidential contender Herman Cain amplified his criticism Sunday of the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, calling the protesters “jealous’ Americans who "play the victim card” and want to “take somebody else’s” Cadillac.

Cain’s remarks, on CBS’ "Face the Nation," came amidst an escalating war of words between Republicans and Democrat sover the merits of the movement, which has spread from New York to other cities across the nation, including Washington and Los Angeles.

GOP politicians in recent days have stepped up their criticism of the protesters, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) calling them "mobs" who have pitted “Americans against Americans.”

But Cain, surging in popularity among many conservatives, seems to have had among the most virulent responses to the protests.

On CBS, Cain suggested that the rallies had been organized by labor unions to serve as a “distraction so that many people won’t focus on the failed policies of the Obama administration.”

The banking and financial services industries aren’t responsible for those policies, Cain said. “To protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you’re anti-capitalism,” he said. » | James Oliphant | Washington Bureau | Sunday, October 09, 2011

Herman Cain’s comments on the Wall Street protests show that he has no uderstanding of what the Wall Street protests are about. To dismiss the protests as a manifestation of “jealousy” and the protesters wanting to “take someone else’s” Cadillac is total and utter nonsense. What we have in the States (and elsewhere in the West) today is not capitalism as capitalism is supposed to be practised, but corporatism. We have big business and banks ruling the roost.

In the US today, 40-50% of all wealth is owned by 1% of the population. This is an extremely unhealthy situation. Societies in which there are such disparities of wealth, societies in which we see huge differences between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, are societies which are ripe for social unrest and even revolution. We will never see harmony in society when there are such differences in living standards.

Clearly, Herman Cain has no understanding of economic history. He should get back to what he understands most: making pizzas! – © Mark

Rupert Cornwell: Capitalism's Heart Occupied – Where Will It All Lead?

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Out of America: The anti-corporate demonstrations in New York have struck a chord all over the US. Could they be the Democrat version of the Tea Party?

Back in December a humble fruit vendor in Tunis, scorned and humiliated by those in power, set himself ablaze. With his deed he ignited an Arab revolution. Ten months later and 5,000 miles away, might something comparable just possibly be happening? In other words, could some small, at first apparently inconsequential rallies be the spark that lights the fuse beneath the frustration, anger and confusion of an America beset by economic and financial crisis?

Let it be clear at once, the US is not on the brink of anarchy. Since the "Occupy Wall Street" movement held its first gathering in a lower Manhattan park on 17 September, demonstrations have taken place in at least 16 other big cities across the country. Put every one of them together, and the participants would number only in the tens of thousands at most.

They have no leader, no single specific goal, and no manifesto. In New York, police have used pepper spray, and last weekend arrested hundreds of protesters whom they accused of trying to block the Brooklyn Bridge. But, mostly, the atmosphere has been peaceful and good-natured, with some of the engaging dottiness of fringe meetings at British Liberal Party conferences of yesteryear. A couple of Wall Streeters have even managed to stage a counter-protest, telling demonstrators: "Instead of holding a sign, go to business school."

No one is throwing bricks through the windows of Citibank or Morgan Stanley. There has been none of the violence of the recent riots in London or the Paris banlieues, nothing to resemble the anti-globalisation street warfare during the 1999 World Trade Conference in Seattle, or the angry street marches that turned IMF meetings here into besieged encampments.

Nor do the rallies have the feel of the mass movements of the 1960s, for civil rights and an end to the Vietnam war, when you palpably felt a nation's conscience on the march. Nor, despite some claims, is New York's Zuccotti Park, where the demonstrations began, the American equivalent of Tahrir Square in Cairo. At least, not yet. Continue reading and comment » | Rupert Cornwell | Sunday, October 09, 2011

’Occupy Wall Street’ Protests: Livestream

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

Occupy Wall Street Hits the World Stage

Wall Street Protesters to RT: We Can Take Down US Fat Cats!

Hugo Chavez Condemns ‘Horrible Repression’ of Wall Street Protests

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez condemned on Saturday the “horrible repression” of anti-Wall Street protesters and termed a U.S. Republican presidential candidate “crazy” for his criticism of Cuba and Venezuela.

Although still convalescing from cancer surgery in June followed by four rounds of chemotherapy, the 57-year-old Venezuelan president is quickly returning to the tough rhetoric and strong views that have made him famous worldwide.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Chavez expressed solidarity with American activists who have been staging rallies and marches against what they view as corporate greed by Wall Street. » | ENRIQUE ANDRES PRETEL | REUTERS | Saturday, October 08, 2011

Thousands Join 'Occupy Wall Street' March
Thousands of people joined the 'Occupy Wall Street' march in lower Manhattan Wednesday.
Watch video here | AP video | Thursday, October 06, 2011

Occupy America: Protests against Wall Street and Inequality Hit 70 Cities

THE GUARDIAN: The generation that opposed Vietnam has joined Facebook anarchists amid anger at tax breaks for the rich while ordinary folk tighten their belts

The Wall Street protests against economic inequality and corporate greed that targeted the nerve centre of American capitalism are no longer merely a New York phenomenon. This weekend, from Seattle and Los Angeles on the west coast to Providence, Rhode Island, and Tampa, Florida, on the east, as many as 70 major cities and more than 600 communities have joined the swelling wave of civil dissent. The slogan "Occupy Wall Street" has been suitably abbreviated to a single word: "Occupy"[.]

"This could be the tipping point," said Dick Steinkamp, 63, a retired Silicon Valley executive at the Occupy Seattle protest being held in the heart of the city's shopping and restaurant district . He and his wife had driven two hours from their home in Bellingham, north of Seattle, specifically to join the rally and give it support from more conventional professionals.

"I marched against the Vietnam war before I was drafted into the army and this movement is now getting towards that critical mass," he said.

One of the favourite messages of the protesters is that almost 40% of US wealth is held in the hands of 1% of the population, who are taxed more lightly than the majority of Americans. Steinkamp was holding a sign saying "I am the 99%". And there is widespread anger that ordinary people have born the brunt of the financial crisis with dire job losses and house repossessions. » » | Joanna Walters in Seattle | Saturday, October 08, 2011

Incredible Speech by Wall Street Protester "End the Fed" 2011

Proteste sollen sich nach Europa ausbreiten
WELT ONLINE: Die Anti-Wall-Street-Proteste verbreiten sich von New York aus in viele amerikanische Städte. Auch in Deutschland rufen Aktivisten zu Demonstrationen auf.

Die Anti-Wall-Street-Bewegung breitet sich aus. Nach Protesten in New York versammelten sich auch in Washington und in zahlreichen weiteren US-Städten Demonstranten, um die anhaltend hohe Arbeitslosigkeit und eine ungleiche Verteilung von Wohlstand anzuprangern. In Deutschland riefen Bündnisse für Samstag kommender Woche zu Protesten unter anderem in Frankfurt und Berlin auf.

In der US-Hauptstadt Washington forderten die Demonstranten "Stoppt den Krieg gegen die Arbeiter". Andere verlangten, die Bürger wieder wichtiger zu nehmen als "die Gier der Unternehmen". In Philadelphia versammelten sich bis zu 1000 Menschen. In Los Angeles zogen Demonstranten vor die Filiale der Bank of America . Es wurden elf Personen festgenommen. "Ich glaube, der amerikanische Traum ist mächtig in Gefahr", sagte ein Teilnehmer in Tennesse. "Es gibt so viele Menschen wie mich, die genug haben von den Wall Street-Verbrechern." » | Reuters/smb | Freitag 07. Oktober 2011

US-Gewerkschaften unterstützen Demonstranten

Wall Street Crackdown: Police Beat Back Protesters, Dozens Arrested
Police in the U.S. have been filmed beating back protesters at a mass demonstration in New York, in the biggest event yet in the three-week-long rally called 'Occupy Wall Street'. There are also reports pepper spray's been used, and police have confirmed they've made dozens of arrests at the rally. Thousands have been taking part in sustained protests to demand social and economic change. Activists say they're fed up with breaking their backs at work, while the Wall Street bankers' bonuses keep flowing.

Related videos and articles here, here, here, here, and here

Demonstrationen in New York: Die Besetzung der Wall Street

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Im New Yorker Finanzviertel gibt es seit Wochen Proteste gegen Banken. Die Bewegung scheint an Fahrt zu gewinnen.

An der Wall Street ist es enger als sonst. Angestellte mit Anzug und Schlips drängen sich am späten Nachmittag zwischen Absperrgittern an Touristen vorbei Richtung U-Bahn. Es geht nicht so schnell voran wie an normalen Tagen. Die Gitter halten die Leute auf den Bürgersteigen. Auf der Straße, die dort eine Fußgängerzone ist, läuft niemand. Das Börsengebäude ist weiträumig abgesperrt, und vor dem Eingang stehen keine Händler mit grünen Jacken, sondern New Yorker Polizisten mit blauen Uniformen. "Das ist seit ein paar Wochen so wegen der Proteste", sagt ein junger Wertpapierhändler, der vor dem Eingang eines Hochhauses eine Zigarette raucht. Von Demonstranten ist an diesem Nachmittag dort aber nichts zu sehen.

Nur zwei Straßen weiter, im Zuccotti Park zwischen Broadway und der Baustelle des neuen World Trade Center, ist das anders. Dort campieren und protestieren seit mehr als zwei Wochen Hunderte von Demonstranten gegen die Macht der Finanzbranche. Ihr Motto: "Occupy Wall Street - Besetzt die Wall Street". » | Von NORBERT KULS, NEW YORK | Dienstag 04. Oktober 2011

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Bernanke et Geithner comprennent l'exaspération des anti-Wall Street
LE MONDE: Le président de la banque centrale américaine, Ben Bernanke, et le secrétaire au Trésor des Etats-Unis, Timothy Geithner, ont déclaré mardi 4 octobre qu'ils comprenaient l'exaspération exprimée par nombre d'Américains vis-à-vis de Wall Street. "D'une manière générale, les gens sont assez mécontents de l'état de l'économie et de ce qui se passe", a déclaré M. Bernanke à propos des manifestations qui durent depuis la mi-septembre à New York.

"Ils reprochent, non sans raison, au secteur financier de nous avoir menés à la pagaille dans laquelle nous nous trouvons et sont mécontents de la réponse" des autorités, a ajouté M. Bernanke, qui s'exprimait lors d'une audition devant la Commission économique mixte du Congrès à Washington. "Jusqu'à un certain point, je ne peux pas leur reprocher quoi que ce soit. Il est certain qu'avec un chômage de 9 % et une croissance économique très faible la situation n'est pas très bonne. C'est contre cela qu'ils protestent", a encore indiqué le président de la Réserve fédérale. » | LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Mercredi 05 Octobre 2011

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Wall Street Protest Movement Spreads to Cities across US, Canada and Europe
THE GUARDIAN: Occupy Wall Street protests reach Boston, LA, St Louis and Kansas City, and are planned in cities across US and abroad

It began as the brainchild of activists across the border in Canada when an anti-consumerism magazine put out a call in July for supporters to occupy Wall Street.

Now, three weeks after a few hundred people heeded that initial call and rolled out their sleeping bags in a park in New York's financial district, they are being joined by supporters in cities across the US and beyond.

Armed with Twitter, Facebook and shared Googledocs, protesters against corporate greed, unemployment and the political corruption that they say Wall Street represents have taken to the streets in Boston, Los Angeles, St Louis and Kansas City.

The core group, Occupy Wall Street (OWS), claims people will take part in demonstrations in as many as 147 US cities this month, while the website occupytogether.org lists 47 US states as being involved. Around the world, protests in Canada, the UK, Germany and Sweden are also planned, they say.

The speed of the leaderless movement's growth has taken many by surprise. Occupytogether.org, one of several sites associated with theprotest, has had to be rebuilt to accommodate the traffic. » | Karen McVeigh in New York | Tuesday, October 04, 2011

U.S. Economy Protests Spread
Oct.2 - Protests against mortgage foreclosures, unemployment and corporate bailouts spread beyond New York City. Paul Chapman reports.

Occupy Wall Street: Big Banks Do Nothing But Big Bangs