It was five days from my birthday.  My heart and mind were with you, and I was having trouble sleeping.  There was nothing I could do, nothing I could offer.  I clicked on the video, knowing I would regret it, but needing to hammer this truth home, to offer up my peace of mind as a sacrifice.  It was nothing like a fair exchange for the price you paid.

We only learned about you in bits and pieces, fragments, days after your death.  It was a wildfire in my brain, obliterating all reason.  It roared behind every thought, every second:  the whole world was watching when you were shot, when you lay on the ground, face uncovered to the sky, blood pouring out from behind the hands of the helpful.  The whole world was watching, and nothing was done.  The whole world was watching, and I could not explain to anyone the fury blazing in my heart.

Here, it is not the same.  We are not under the same burdens, but we are still being silenced.  I see the raw energy of my people and I am stalled.  Every day I feel it building, the knowledge that we are paying the price of indifference, the fury and resolve.  I am afraid that we will have our own martyrs, and my heart is breaking.

I will go into the camps, and I will be there for you.  I will march in your memory as I have before, and I dream that it will have more of an effect.  I will carry a picture of you and pray that this is the beginning of a true and lasting change.  I will pray that you do not look down in contempt on a world that appears, superficially, to be the home of a free people.  I will pray that there are no martyrs like you in our midst, and that the appearance of our freedom will remain intact.

These are the nights that I whisper, "the whole world is watching," and remember the lost, and pray that I am not lying to myself.  This is not Iran, and these are not your people, but please know that you are remembered, and your voice is not silenced.  My voice is small, but I raise it for you, despite my terror.  I will not be a coward anymore.

I have stayed out of this conflict for too long, quietly supporting it from the sidelines but never contributing. Now I occupy for the people who inspired these protests.  The Iranians, who still hold my heart.  The Egyptians, whose success encourages us to persevere.  But mostly, I occupy for Neda Agha-Soltan, whose dying face still haunts my dreams and whose memory commands me to fight for the America in which I long to believe.

"Neda, don't be afraid.  Neda, stay with me."

Written by Grace O'Malley. Originally published at The Grace of Pirates on November 14, 2011.

October 15, 2011

I stood on the corner of Cesar Chaves and Lavaca with a handful of other "hippies" chatting about the reasons we were Occupying Austin in the middle of the night. A steady stream of cars whipped around our corner, honking as they sped in and out of our lives. The girl standing next to me mused that it was hard to tell which honks were solidarity and which were mockery. I agreed that it was unnerving.

And then... what happened first? Did the girl grab my arm and yank me toward her as her face blanched at something behind me? Or did the agonized scream of burning rubber drown out the ambiguous honking? 

I looked over my shoulder as I was still in motion from the girl's frantic tug. What did I see first? The great plumes of smoke engulging the width of the five-lane street and the lamps of the streetlights that towered above it? Or what appeared to be two cars having sex and skidding toward us out of that smoke?

I think it took everyone present a few seconds to make sense of what they were seeing. A hush fell over the crowd as we took in a scene that belonged in one of those action movies critics describe as "high-octane thrillers." 

An enormous Dodge Ram 2500 was lodged atop a miniscule Smart Car, spinning one of its giant semi-monster wheels through the roof of the smaller car. Right where the passengers heads ought to be. From our perspective it appeared that the Ram was purposefully attacking the Smart Car and trying to run over it completely. 

There were no screams that I remember. Just a few muffled exhalations of "sweet Jesus" and "holy shit." 

And then then Ram lurched backward and settled on all four wheels like a great cat retreating from a throughly mangled mouse. The Smart Car sat in the middle of the street, its roof and its passenger side obliterated. There could be nothing good inside what was left.

The smoke roiled across the plaza, filling our lungs with the dreadful twin stench of rubber and terror. There was a moment when it seemed no one could move as forty or so brains collectively computed what they had just seen. 

And then the protesters surged into the street. One group surrounded the Smart Car. Another group hemmed in the Ram. Still others took positions on either side of the scene to block and warn oncoming traffic. Dozens of cell phones flashed in the night as people made emergency calls. The plaza was littered with dropped protest signs. 

By the time I reached the scene, a group of protesters was holding the rest of us back to prevent any more accidents. A few people returned from the street, hands over their mouths and shaking their heads. Reports began to trickle in that the Smart Car had ran the light and the boys in the Ram hadn't even seen it coming. They had no idea they were actually stuck on the car when they were spinning out. 

A fire truck arrived and blocked our view. The ambulance came and took the Smart Car driver away. The boys from the Ram were uninjured but horribly shaken up. They were welcome into the camp, offered water and food and kept company until their parents could arrive. 

The next morning, we were joined by over a thousand others in a march from City Hall to Chase Bank and then to the Capital of Texas. People on the sidewalks paused to watch us pass, their arms laden with shopping bags, their bellies full of breakfast. Some of them smiled, some of them scowled, some of them just stared vacantly. 

But two girls - teenagers or undergrads - handed their shopping bags over to their peers and    joined the march. The marches around them cheered and clapped them on their backs. The girls' fists punched the air and they shouted with us, "The People united, Will never be defeated!"

There has been much talk in the mainstream media as of late about the Bystander Effect. A two-year-old girl ran over in China and 17 people walked by before someone stopped to help. The Penn State scandal. And a whole slew of shocking tales the MSM dredges up to prove their point that the world is totally void of compassion and decency. 

Meanwhile, they continue to ignore what is happening every day in every major city across the USA and dozens of minor cities in between and in hundreds of cities all around the globe:

A generation rising up to be bystanders no more. 

A generation full of a compassion so uncontainable that there was nowhere to take it but into the streets. 

A generation who runs to the aid of strangers in needs - be they victims of a car wreck or victims of institutionalized economic injustice. 

President Obama said this week that we must step up when we see anyone being mistreated.

Yet he doesn't. None of them do, these leaders of the world. 

But we do.

And we will.

We continue to Occupy because we cannot stand by. 

Written by Chase Night for #OccupyTheCloud.

*This is a photo of me I found on Flickr. But I have since lost the link to the photographer. If you took this and happen to see this, please let me know so I can credit you.

I never watch the news. Following an earthquake story back when I was in school; I stopped attending to the news business. Because I realised that’s what it is: a business. It sells, makes profit and it puts the stories that will make it the most profit, first.

I hear about world events via twitter, friends, family and blog posts. I choose to pay attention to how people feel and what they think about events; rather than what some corporation, whose only goal is to make money, wants me to know.

Following Occupy Wall Street, Block the Bill and the Dale Farm incidences, I’ve come to see a pattern emerging in how people are treating each other. And I’ve been inspired, by both the peaceful and the violent behaviour, to write about it.

Occupy Brighton (my hometown) began a week ago; during an annual event for the clocks going back. Brighton is open until 3am on this night and everyone is encouraged to go out and enjoy art in the extra hour of the day: This where the protest began. During the week, I’ve been meaning to get down there and get involved. If you’ve seen my twitter feed over the past two months you’ll know it’s a pretty big thing to me and that I’m on a mission to spread the word.

I believe in this cause.

Two years ago, I bought RATM’s single “Killing in the Name of” five times to ensure I did all I could to show that I supported the cause. That I want the people to have their rights back. And we won.

I’ve noticed, however, that I don’t want to go and be a part of this local protest. It’s true that I want to hear their stories and really acknowledge their grief; to find out how people feel; to especially see what has driven people to support America alongside England (there are other protests going on here, as well as the occupy protests).

Emotions

I’ve been so angry over the issues and so inspired by those who are showing compassion and community in this time of need. I’ve started watching the news again.

I’ve been regularly looking at the online papers and checking youtube for American news clips. I discuss it with my two best friends; one in Missouri and one in New York. At University I brought it up with two classmates, who gladly discussed it in an informed manner. There are people who care enough to get their facts straight.

Humans don’t like it when they are screwed over; and they have the determination to continue fighting for change until someone gives slack. And we understand and support you in this cause.

As of this morning, there are protests in Berlin, Brighton (my hometown), London, Alaska and India for goodness sake! The word is spreading and your message is being heard.

And that brings hope.

How much compassion is there for these people; how much love and care and “I wish they all had enough” is floating around this planet?

How many people are sharing resources, giving encouragement, bringing plastic bags, blankets and food to share? How many musicians have come to speak and play at these protests?

It’s the most inspiring thing of all and I feel so blessed to be part of it. Things need to change. And we all know that change rarely happens quietly.

And yet, there is so much violence. I read the comments under online articles, or see the abuse yelled in the street and hear it mentioned in class at university. An American in my class actually asked why I care; stating that she doesn’t because she wasn’t being affected.

How many police have appeared to be abusing their rights?

And for that matter, how many protesters are smashing up windows and destroying public property?

How many humans are ignoring fellow human beings?

How many people are using labels of “lazy”, “ungrateful” and “disruptive” to justify ignoring this?

I’ve had to send money to my friend in America while her mum had surgery and she was the only earner [alongside school and caring for her brothers]. Perhaps some people are “jumping on the bandwagon”. However, a large majority of those people have something real which is endangering their health (or someone they know’s health); be it choosing between rent, food or medicine or eating only one meal a day so their child can eat three.

If your family was about to end up on the streets, wouldn’t you help them? Offer a place to stay if you could? So why aren’t you supporting your friends friends, their families and other humans just like you; kids and elderly who’re suffering and war veterans getting injured or who can’t afford to buy food.

This is Real.

And we could all be supportive.

Maybe you have no time, maybe you can’t afford to protest. You can speak. You can smile at people. You can hold the door open for people and ask how they are.

Maybe you don’t agree with it; that’s fine.

I’m asking you though; please don’t insult or harm those of us who see suffering and feel compassion for these people.

We’re all following our hearts and we just want equality.

I think that’s a valid wish.  Don’t you?

Written by Katy Rose for #occupythecloud who also tweets about the protests.

The unifying idea of the Occupy Wall Street protests is in one, minimalist word: OPEN. In both the literal and figurative sense of the word, OPEN needs to happen to help people help themselves. In recent years, more and more businesses, services and opportunities have closed down, creating a chain reaction of misfortune as a result of unemployment, underemployment, foreclosure, people going hungry, homelessness, bankruptcy, lack of medical care, loss of life savings, loss of educational opportunities, insurmountable debt, and, perhaps as bad as anything, loss of hope. The protesters are demanding the kinds of change that make it possible to reopen opportunities for a better life. Those who see the protesters as whining for entitlements, the “1%” or those sympathetic with that rarified group, have blinded themselves to the very real suffering that is happening, or else have no compassion.

Minimalists are big on reducing needs, winnowing things down to sustainable levels, so that a modest income can cover our basics without resorting to credit card debt or becoming slaves to work we hate. Personal Responsibility means getting real with spending habits, and determining if one really needs those “needs.” And that’s great. Eliminating debt, downsizing to smaller homes, to one or no cars, cooking at home, ditching cable TV, and not falling prey to advertising that says we need new wardrobes, laptops, cellphones, gadgets, etc., are within the grasp of anyone who chooses to put their minds to it. The rewards are immense, on both a financial and personal level. This kind of fiscal mindfulness cannot be compared to the experience of those who are forced into deprivation, but in some lucky cases it was a preemptive strike.

Occupy Wall Street is about a set of problems much greater than consumer debt. It is a common misconception that the economy’s woes are the direct result of credit card debt and people buying more house than they can afford. The credit and mortgage crises are actually a symptom, the result of a lack of regulation and accountability for both financial institutions and corporations. Our own culpability comes in not demanding that our government apply the previously mentioned sense of Personal Responsibility in the form of regulating the flow of our money. Of course, if we aren’t awake enough to apply it to ourselves, we are not likely to be awake enough to force the government to do the same. Nonetheless, capitalism’s drive for profit has been left unchecked by the very institutions that had once been in place to restrain it for the common good.

Let’s consider paying down debt: at the very least, you need a job, one well above minimum wage. At this time there are 4.3 unemployed people for every job available in this country. Most of these jobs, as well as the ones already taken, are minimum wage and have no health insurance. Many are part-time. Paying down credit card debt, let alone paying down a mortgage, is not going to happen for an awful lot of people no matter how badly they want to do it. When the debt is the result of a perfect storm of unregulated finance charges, loss of equity because the housing market crashed, and loss of employment, insurance, and savings, telling these people it’s their own fault is tantamount to telling those who have no bread to eat cake. It’s cruel, it’s wrong, and incredibly insensitive. And it will foment rebellion, if not the guillotine, the historically inevitable end to any 1%.

Nothing is wrong with making lots of money, but something is wrong with stealing it and then tossing it back and forth to each other like ball while the rightful owners are trying to leap up and get it back. The money is recirculating among the people who need it the least; it’s buying political clout, it’s sending good jobs overseas, it’s not paying its fair share of taxes that support collectively-enjoyed benefits such as infrastructure, social security and disability, police and fire departments, and other public safety personnel such as food inspectors, air traffic controllers, the Coast Guard, environmental monitors, etc.

We of the 99% can indeed vote with our dollars and boycott sociopathic companies and financial institutions. But it won’t fix lack of regulations, proper taxation, and accountability, the elements that can affect our whole quality of life. It’s too late for change through boycotts alone, because we were lulled into a stupor by consumerism, believing anything that’s advertised–that’s why companies like BP can have the unmitigated gall to run a commercial saying how nice it is to vacation in the gulf, because test-marketing has shown we’ll buy anything if it’s presented in a “we care” way. The distribution of money is now so skewed that even the elimination of all personal and corporate debt will not change things for the better, if the way it is distributed doesn’t change. This is why it is now necessary for us to take to the streets and to support those who go in any way possible, to demand this fundamental change in the way things work.

So, OPEN the streets to nonviolent protests and demonstrations. OPEN the media to report on things as they really are. OPEN the political process to human voices, not dollar bills. OPEN the factories and local businesses and OPEN their hiring offices. OPEN access to medical care by bringing costs into line. OPEN the spigots of income again by restoring taxes for millionaires. OPEN the dialogue between lenders and homeowners. OPEN the access to affordable education again. OPEN government information about our environment and international affairs. OPEN the path to clean energy and freedom from the oil companies. OPEN the opportunity for a third of our country’s people to get back on their feet. OPEN your minds to educate yourself about the power of money on this scale, and IMAGINE a better quality of life for the average person.

Most of all, OPEN YOUR EYES, and see the corporations and Wall Street for what they really are, see advertising for what it really is, and remember what happens when we don’t exercise our larger Personal Responsibility to speak out, protest, vote with our dollars, and demand accountability from the get-go.

Written by Meg Wolf. Originally published at Minimalist Woman on October 13, 2011.

A word on the premodern mystic understanding of the Cloud

A KABALLIST OR JEWISH MYSTIC would see the Cloud as the symbol of the feminine presence of God called the Shekinah. It was a spiritual kind GPS for a tribe looking for Home:

God went ahead of them in a Pillar of Cloud during the day to guide them on the way (a paraphrase Ex 13:21).

But the Cloud was a "mask of the Ultimate Reality." It was enough presence to guide and direct with half-knowledge of their destiny. It was the comforting, animating force within and beyond the Cloud that they found worthwhile to trust.

Brazilians have an incredible philosophy: abrir mão (open hand). At the root of it is good trust. Many of my local friends have a sense of some benevolent animating force, manifested in a kind of Cloud, and live with receptivity and love. Beggars give to beggars. They do not have reason to trust their currency, government, so they live with a kind of transcendent trust. 

We might say poor Brazilians are "condemned to trust." 

A product of a capitalist/consumerist society, I'm learning abrir mão (the "open hand" philosophy) from my poorer friends. I think this is true of the business world, which seems to have downloaded Trust from Myth.

A word on how a global anti-trust can renew the Cloud

Sociopathic business is making smog in the streets and smog on the computer. The smog rubs itself against the buildings, and creep--as an ethereal demon--down suburban streets; it's almost palpable as the air we breathe. It's in the sociopathtic “data-harvesting” that would make new world controllers of a few techie plutocrats. I don't know how ethical they are, but I know there are terribly smart, and that Eric Schmitt (Google), has been identified as “pathological” by Forbes.

Tough the advertorial web is new and sexy, there team further untangled the web of global ownership, “[a group of complex systems analysts] found much of it tracked back to a 'super-entity' of 147 even more tightly knit companies--all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity-- that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network.

The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group. [Let's not forget that Goldman and Sachs fudged numbers with Greek government to qualify for the Euro. That has not boded well for global economics.]

So less than 1% of the 43,000 powerful transational companies chosen by the study control 40% of the network itself.

This is the 1% of the 1%. Perhaps these are just more numbers to explain numbers, but when you have a cache of tightly knit companies--especially when some have proven undisciplined--this decreases trust in the elite. I don't buy the theory that there the companies have are conspiring to dominate the world, but I wonder how these companies will behave when governments default. Without trust in a system there is more smog. I hope the CEOs, COOs, and CIOs of this network have ethical therapists.

Final world: a micro-network of net-writers can cleanse the cloud

For a while, a number of talented writers joined letter.ly. Then the country-based TLD for Libya (.ly) was compromised. Letter.ly becameletterly.net. A wonderful new way to connect and make income suddenly was as "destabilized" as the Middle East. Gaddafi was killed and the news flooded us with gruesome images of a reckless, cathartic killing. A power vacuum creates a place for crystal “Cloud-clapped towers” (social and cultural renewal) or for new (and often more virulent) smog.

Can we trust something easier and yet more transient than the Cloud?  Swirling refractions of digital pulses? All my money is represented in cyberscript in three different accounts. Little colored glyphs of "value" on a screen. Where's the security in that? No more than resting on the commingling of water on air in a complex pressure system (read: sitting on a cloud). 

I read a post yesterday with the following quote: "the human cache never fails." This is a wonderful idea. But it presupposes there is something infinite, multidimensional about humanity. Is this good trust?  

As Westerners where is our "bad trust"? What/whom can we trust?

Love?

But love is not a commodity. It shape-shifts. It surprises.

Love does not take/grab; Love receives; gives.

It isn't known; it is experienced. 

I cannot control those who have the power to leverage great financial or political oppression for their own gains; I do have the power to be a positive deviant. That is, I can work within my (small) systems, and find ways to refine the cloud. I will not use AdSense to make money; I will “define my enough”; I will use social media to give mindfully to causes that promote renew and cleanse the crowd.

I guess it's kind of like a fiery Cloud over the savanna.

And so I return to the mystic

#occupythecloud

Written by Mark D. Robertson for #OccupyTheCloud.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

~ "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, 1883

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about the purpose of Occupy Wall Street. This is my attempt to dispel some of the most commonly issued rumors regarding the reasons behind these demonstrations and the sincerity of the people involved in them. These are all actual complaints I have seen either on Twitter or on the news.

I will not make it to NYC until next week after my mid-terms are over. (Mustn't let that crushing student debt go to waste on failed classes.) I cannot speak for everyone there. Crowds of this size draw as many different beliefs and ideals as they do people. Everyone who is there is there for their own personal reasons. No two stories are exactly the same. I write this not as an ultimate authority on the movement, but as a soon-to-be active participant who has been waiting many years for a time such as this.

I am proud of my generation and the older generations standing alongside us. I know that not everyone has a way with words, and that many people find themselves tongue-tied when confronted with a news camera. Many intelligent, compassionate people are being labelled as ignorant simply because they lack the words to express how they feel. This is my attempt to help them out with the only tool I have until I can add my body to the march. I sincerely hope this document spreads beyond my usual circle of readers and reaches the hands of those on the ground in New York, L.A., Philadelphia, Seattle, Austin, and more.

Without further ado...

1. OWS is too unorganized to become a true force of social change.

Really?

They conduct General Assemblies each day at appointed times, during which protesters come together to democratically plan their strategy. They spread news to the far edges of the crowd by participating in Human Mic Checks. They have their own Media Team which is streaming the Occupation live twenty-four hours a day. They published their own newspaper last week. (The Occupied Wall Street Journal, of course.) They have stations set up within Liberty Plaza to distribute food, water, and sanitary supplies to protesters. They have a library. They have an area where protesters can charge their electronic devices. Today, they had free hair cuts.

The truth is that OWS is not just an organized, peaceful demonstration. It is an organized, peaceful micro-society taking root in the heart of Manhattan.

Business people love to talk about tribes. They dream of creating an amazing product that a tribe can rally around. Now, it's happening in the streets they walk on every day and they can't even recognize it.

The protesters have formed a tribe. Their "product" is a true democracy where every individual voice is counted regardless of how much money the speaker has in the bank. No offense to the recently departed, but isn't that just a little more exciting than a skinny, white phone?

2. OWS protesters are lazy people looking for government handouts instead of jobs.

This is what Bill O'Reilly told my father (and millions of other viewers) on October 3, 2011.

I didn't take it very well.

I am 28 years old. I am healthy. I am intelligent. I want to work. I want to create. I want to contribute. I want to care for my family. I take pride in a job well done.

There will be freeloaders in any crowd, but I truly believe that the majority of my peers - whether they take part in the protests or not - want to work. They went to college. They harbor dreams of harnessing their passion to make a daily difference in the world. They want to work; as doctors, teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, fire fighters, programmers, scientists, artists, musicians, politicians. They want to earn. They want to give back. They believe in the American Dream as it was originally intended to be lived.

But this has become next to impossible. The jobs have disappeared as smaller companies have been forced out of business by giant corporations that turned around and sent their own job offerings overseas. The ones that remain offer such low wages that we cannot pay for the college degrees we earned to get those jobs.

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Business acumen is a talent just like painting or writing. Not everyone possesses it. Jobs are still a necessity for the people of this nation to survive.

We want them. Where are they?

3. OWS protesters cannot be taken seriously because they look like hippies.

This is probably the most common complaint lodged against OWS.

No, really.

When a journalist or random Twitter troll can't think of any intelligent reasons why OWS should go away, they resort to judging their style. Or their smell.

I can neither confirm nor deny the odor attributed to the protesters who have been camping out for almost three weeks now. But I deny the assertion that citizens must conform to the dress code of the status quo if they want to be treated with respect.

Last week, someone claiming sympathy with the protesters suggested that they should all show up in Polos and Khakis. The logic goes that if you want to represent The Everyman, you need to look like The Everyman.

The trouble with this logic is that the protesters already do.

Have you been to New York City? San Francisco? Portland? Austin? Any college campus in America? Nobody under the age of 30 is wearing Polos and Khakis unless they work for Best Buy or Chile's.

Holy jeans. T-shirts. Hoodies. This is our uniform. You be you. We'll be us.

I agree that some people might be going out of their way to live out their fantasy of the summer of '69, but at least they aren't wearing powdered wigs.

4. OWS is too monochromatic to represent the truly oppressed people of the U.S.

There are too many white people down there! Everyone knows white people can't feel pain!

Listen, this is 2011. Yes, racism exists. Yes, it's terrible. But these arguments only deepen racial divides by implying that white people have no right to voice their dissent against injustice unless non-white people show up to certify that injustice.

This thinking places non-white people in the perpetual role of the oppressed and bars white people entry to the Disenfranchised Club despite legitimate economic hardship caused by corporate greed. I just don't see how that helps any of us face the crisis at hand.

Red and yellow, black and white, we were ripped off in plain sight. Wall Street hates the little children of the world...

Furthermore, the accusations are becoming unfounded. Go to Flickr and search for Occupy Wall Street. Flip through the crowd photos. You'll see all kinds of faces. There was less diversity in the early days, but that has been steadily changing, especially after the solidarity march yesterday with many of the local Unions.

Still not enough to suit you? There's a simple solution: Tell all your non-white friends to get down there!

Blaming the people who have shown up for the people who haven't shown up yet is simply unfair. Commend the people who are doing the work no matter what color their skin is. Encourage more people to join in the work no matter what color their skin is. This is not a game. We don't have time for distractions. Just get down there and get to work.

5. OWS protesters have no right to complain; they're Americans!

This is similar to the racial argument, but on a global scale. It is just as unhelpful.

There are those who wish to remain in their fantasy land where poverty has not yet come to the United States. This is simply untrue. It is here now. It has been here forever. It will remain here if we do not take immediate, decisive measures to put an end to it and create a nation where every person who can and wants to work is able to support their family and where every person who is unable to work through no fault of their own has their basic needs met.

This argument seems to suggest that there is a Cosmic Queue where the downtrodden people of Earth must form a line based on the scale of the injustices they have suffered. Poor starving children of Africa must come first! Unemployed twenty-somethings of America must quietly wait their turn until these bigger problems have been solved.

Really? Who will send aid to other countries if we require it at home? How will we feed the children of Africa if we cannot feed the children of Arkansas?

The protesters of OWS are taking Ghandi's advice to heart. They are ready to be the change they wish to see in the world. Supporting them is supporting oppressed people all over the world because these are the kids who are going to inherit the Earth one way or another. These are the kids who will hold office one day. These are the kids who will make decisions of global importance one day. There is nothing anyone can do to change this fact unless they figure out how to stop time.

I did not ask to be born in the United States. That was beyond my control. I am here. I have rights that people born in other countries do not possess. So I have a responsibility to exercise those rights not just on behalf of myself, but on behalf of the people I share this country with, and on behalf of the people I share this planet with.

But the battle begins at home. We cannot help others if we cannot help ourselves. If we succeed in our quest to end corporate tyranny on our own turf, we will be in a much better position to put an end to other types of tyranny all over the world.

6. OWS protesters are hypocritical for using or consuming any brand name products.

Hold up.

First, we're accused of being unorganized.

Then, we're accused of being hypocrites for using organizational tools like laptops and smart phones.

Here's the deal. I don't think anybody wants Dunkin' Donuts to go out of business. They make damn good donuts. I don't think anybody wants Apple to go out of business. They make damn good computers.

The majority of protesters do not wish for corporations to cease to exist entirely. Rather, we want corporations to be held accountable for what they do with their profits.

We don't want corporations to donate money to political campaigns to effectively bribe candidates into making decisions based on the needs of the corporations rather than the people. We don't want corporations to hire lobbyists to sway Congress in their favor. We don't want corporations to accept bailout money from the government and then put millions of dollars into Christmas packages for their top execs. We don't want corporations to send their jobs overseas while people are starving in America. We don't want corporations to get away with paying no taxes.

Essentially, we do not want corporations to be treated with the same legal status as living, breathing, individual human beings... with more legal status than some living, breathing, individual human beings.

We want to buy their products. But we will not be their slaves. They work for us. They create things for us. They exist for us. They must play by our rules.

No more sweatshops. No more animal torture. No more pollution. No more sexual or racial discrimination. No more million dollar bonuses. No more billion dollar bailouts. No more tax breaks. No more corporate personhood.

7. OWS protesters admire Obama and ignore the role he played in our financial meltdown.

It's probably true that a majority of OWS protesters voted for Barack Obama if they were of age during the 2008 election. It's also true that many of them supported other candidates from across the political spectrum.

And it's probably true that many of them will vote for Obama again for lack of a better option. Many of these people are committed to civil rights causes that conservatives are staunchly against. (Though it appears there are a number of Ron Paul supporters in our midst.)

But we are not blind. We are not ignorant. We understand exactly what happened between the White House and Wall Street. And we are not happy about it.

We feel used. We believed the result of the 2008 election was historic beyond its racial implications. We believed we were voting for someone who was going to end the wars. We believed we were voting for someone who was going to champion human rights.

We took the bait hook, line, and sinker. And we got fried.

None of us expect Obama to ride in on a white horse and save us from the greedy corporate villains who have us tied to the railroad tracks.

We know by now that he has no intention of ever biting the hands that feed him.

We are disillusioned. Not delusional.

We will not place our dreams in sand castles ever again.

8. OWS is anti-American.

Wtf? Seriously?

Read the Constitution.

9. OWS protesters are all Communists who seek to destroy Capitalism and create a totalitarian state.

Say what?

I will affirm the supposition that many - but by no means all - protesters lean hard left. There are many who might identify as socialists. (Myself somewhat included.)

But we are not ignorant children. We know the horrors that have taken place in Communist regimes. We have studied the Soviet Union, North Vietnam, China, and the rest. That is not the future we have in mind.

You see, because we are not ignorant, we understand that there is more than one way to skin a cat and more than two ways to run a country. We do not have to have a two-party political system, and we do not have to have an either/or economic system.

There is a middle ground where the members of a society can enjoy personal freedom and a level economic playing field. It is possible to take the best elements from two systems and create one system that works for everyone.

This middle-ground will never be found while we cling to the dualism of the past. We must cease to label ourselves as Republicans or Democrats, as Socialists of Capitalists, and acknowledge that at the end of the day we are all just people. Nobody's hunger should ever be unsated. Nobody's creativity should ever be restrained. These are not mutually exclusive ideals.

If the corporations would simply choose to regulate the money they earn wisely and with respect for the needs of the people who build and buy their products... then what need would there be for government intervention?

If it comes to the point that the government must force the corporations to manage their money for the benefit of the people they serve, then the corporations will have no one to blame but themselves because they were given plenty of time to voluntarily mend their ways. There is still time.

This planet can provide abundantly for us all as long as nobody takes more than they need. It is not hard to achieve this aim voluntarily. It is not hard to take our faith out of systems and restore it to the people.

It is possible to create the American Dream we were promised. It is possible to create a society where we voluntarily work for the common good because we come to the mutual understanding that we are all connected and what happens to one happens to us all, and it is possible to bring that world into existence without force or government intervention. All it takes is for the people united to choose a new path together.

The One Truth

People keep demanding that we give them one demand.

They seem unaware that there is more than one problem, and thus more than one demand. Again we see how the world has been stripped of nuance...

But the truth is we do have One Demand.

We know exactly what it is.

If we are keeping it to ourselves it is only because we know the world is not ready to hear it yet.

It is so revolutionary that if it is ever put into practice, then everything will change.

Yes, that's how powerful our One Demand is. Everything would change.

The world is not yet ready for it. If we reveal it now, we will be ridiculed even more than we already are. We will be immediately written off as hopeless dreamers. No one will pay attention anymore.

But there is more at stake than our pride here. You see, everyone else throughout history who has made this One Demand has been killed. Assassinated.

Our only defense lies in our numbers. We must grow. We must spread to every city in every country around the world. We must make ourselves visible as the overwhelming majority so that those in power who wish to silence our message will know that it can never be done. If you strike one down, a thousand more will take his place.

This is what the people demanding to know our One Demand do not understand yet. It is not as simple as telling you what we want, accepting a sketchy promise to receive it, and going away. If only it were! If only it were something that could be passed into law, ratified into the Constitution of our land and every other land around the world!

But it cannot. It cannot be forced. It can only be chosen.

This is why we have not spelled it out.

We occupy to let them know we exist. We occupy to let them know we are angry. We occupy to let them know that we aren't going to take it anymore. We occupy so that they might see us every day, so that they might look into the crowd and make eye contact with another human being who deserves to live with dignity, so that having recognized that inherent dignity in their fellow man they might choose to place his needs equal to their own and choose to love modestly so that others do not go hungry while some grow fat.

We occupy so that we might share our stories with one another and with the world because our One Demand is not just directed at the super-rich but at every person who occupies this Earth. And not only that, but we must  abide by our One Demand when face-to-face with those who have oppressed us because there is suffering in the human heart that no amount of money can ever assuage.

Read our stories. But more importantly, look into our eyes. Look into our human eyes made of the exact same material as your own. Do you see the despair? The fear? The exhaustion? The betrayal?

And do you see the timid hope in those eyes? That maybe this might be the start of something new?

Do you see the One Demand now? It is right there in those eyes. It is right there in the eyes of the protesters on the street.  You will find it in the eyes of the old woman in the park. You will find it in the eyes of the man looking for work. You will find it in the eyes of the pregnant woman on the train. It's all around you.

You'll know it if you take the time to truly look.

Actually...

Fuck that. We're running out of time.

I'm just going to tell you what it is.

Two Words.

One Demand.

Have Mercy.

That's all.

It never had to be this hard.

Let's start now.

"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice." ~ Abraham Lincoln.

Written by Chase Night. Originally published at Unbridled Existence on October 7, 2011.