Will They Mayday on May Day? Only if we march.

[David Morris]

A rare instance in which I agree with Chomsky:

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/noam_chomsky_where_does_occupy_go_from_here

This is the transcript of a discussion that took place earlier this
year between Noam Chomsky and Occupy supporters Mikal Kamil and Ian
Escuela for InterOccupy, an organisation that provides links between
supporters of the Occupy movement around the world.

MK/IE: Professor Chomsky, the Occupy movement is in its second phase.
Three of our main goals are to: 1) occupy the mainstream and
transition from the tents and into the hearts and the minds of the
masses; 2) block the repression of the movement by protecting the
right of the 99%‘s freedom of assembly and right to speak without
being violently attacked; and 3) end corporate personhood. The three
goals overlap and are interdependent.

We are interested in learning what your position is on mainstream
filtering, the repression of civil liberties, and the role of money
and politics as they relate to Occupy and the future of America.


Noam Chomsky:  Coverage of Occupy has been mixed. At first it was
dismissive, making fun of people involved as if they were just silly
kids playing games and so on. But coverage changed. In fact, one of
the really remarkable and almost spectacular successes of the Occupy
movement is that it has simply changed the entire framework of
discussion of many issues. There were things that were sort of known,
but in the margins, hidden, which are now right up front – such as the
imagery of the 99% and 1%; and the dramatic facts of sharply rising
inequality over the past roughly 30 years, with wealth being
concentrated in actually a small fraction of 1% of the population.

For the majority, real incomes have pretty much stagnated, sometimes
declined. Benefits have also declined and work hours have gone up, and
so on. It’s not third world misery, but it’s not what it ought to be
in a rich society, the richest in the world, in fact, with plenty of
wealth around, which people can see, just not in their pockets.

All of this has now been brought to the fore. You can say that it’s
now almost a standard framework of discussion. Even the terminology is
accepted. That’s a big shift.