Is Van Jones Trying to Co-Opt the Occupy Movement?

[squidb8]

New society huh? Probably one of those society there is no longer an incentive to start a new business to bring new ideas to the industry; because the more you make the bigger slice of your income will go to the Government to pay for new social products. Less innovation, less new businesses, less New Jobs.

Sounds like a great idea.

[Physcojoe]

One thing that bothers me about this video is... when you say we want to build a new society, not reform the old one... I don't see why you wouldn't do that by electing a candidate who then said "I'm going to dismantle the things that are unjust and together - with the people - I will restructure our society." I don't necessarily support Van Jones, I just don't like the outright rejection of any ideas except "form a new society".

[conguera]

The real question is, are the truthers trying to co-opt the Occupy movement?

[conguera]

"Protesters in democracies should create email lists locally, sync the email lists nationally and start registering voters. They need to email their representatives the list of Occupy-registered voters in each district and commit to getting out the vote in congressional or parliamentary elections for Occupy-supporting candidates – while working to defeat Occupy-bashing candidates." -- Naomi Wolf

[92680BOYD]

this guy is only interested in profiting from this protest.

[JimW925]

'Creating a new society' = eventual martial law, dictatorship and prison camps... It happens everytime... Read history...

[braithmorgan]

Hope the Occupy movement can put something together for a new society before the 2012 elections, if not we will have to contend with the current broken system that we have. So if Obama has been a disappointment, % the whole GOP field is both as ridicules and disgusting as they seem, then the Occupy movement with all its weight offers up nothing & perhaps that is a good thing...

[lanscot]

This video & the attitude behind it is very disappointing. Sometimes it seems as if the people claiming to speak for the 99% are really just 1% suspicious of the other 98%. Instead of building bridges to allies, their fear of "co-optation" causes them to build walls instead. Not helpful.

[Z200a]

Build a new society outside the political process? That sounds like something a 3rd grader would say.

[PeaceProfit]

Power & Control is NOT about making things happen, it's all about ALLOWING that which benefits you to occur, as shit will always happen, therefore those willing to manage the RISK, prosper from the adverse outcome that is allowed to damage others for the gain of those in power. This is the paradigm under which The-Machine operates. It allows events to unfold, spins them into FEAR, all the while placing blame on the opposition.

[PeaceProfit]

Unfortunately OWS fails to comprehend many of those who control The-Machine, will be perfectly happy with shutting it down and have in fact been working very hard to make that happen, After all they broke it for a reason, to consolidate power and wealth to their benefit. Unless this movement takes a unified action toward empowering The*People it will simply play out into the plans of those who are at the very depth & core of the corruption and greed it's fighting. One*Demand + My*1040 + N.O.W.

[tarfpir]

Hmm. . just a passionate internet onlooker, who hasn't really participated much in Occupy, but am soooo damn happy they've sprung up.

Why don't we just push for a constitutional amendment - I think there's one proposed by a rep in Florida (sorry, I don't have the URL. . his name is Ted) - to remove money from politics, period. If it doesn't pass, then the system is broke, done, bring on the revolution.

[sattanhellsing]

Rebuild the Dream is like ......going back to sleep ? Well if is to rebuild the same piece of crap and keep the same mother fucktard warmongering politician .... have a nice and very long night sleep because that Dream is going to be everlasting lol

[kazooga1234]

i say do whatever it takes to get money out of politics and this is a ha bisky upload

[russkeller]

I wish I had more money to donate

[ZoneofA]

Nice way of making sure occupy movement achieves absolutely nothing – arrange it so it has neither leadership nor program. Working just as intended.

[nekopheliac]

I want to hug this woman so frikken bad. Thanks so much for posting this.

peace,

[WhatDeFrock]

Oh. You want to rebuild the entire society. I didn't realise it was going to be THAT easy.

Rubbish.

[bamboo4tameshigiri]

@ReignbowSmite I think 6 months would be too little. It would take most people ~3 months just to acclimate to the job. A year would be appropriate. 2 years would even be fine. The concept itself would make it nearly impossible for all of this lobbying bullshit to take place and we would never have a career politician ever again. It is also retarded beyond insane to have supreme court judges to have lifetime appointments.

[bamboo4tameshigiri]

@ReignbowSmite "Lottery Democracy has no central leader and is made up by citizens through a voluntary lottery." THAT would be better than what we have. The founding fathers warned us about concentrated power (why we have a bill of rights and separation of church and state) and they never dreamed that we would have career politicians in the way that we do. That is why we were supposed to have a government of the people, by the people and FOR the people. Right now, we have the opposite of that.

[DangerousTalk]

I don't have a problem with Occupy running for office. It seems like a good first step. It isn't the goal of the movement, but I don't see it as anti-occupy as long as those running are against getting the money out of politics and being vocal about that issue in particular there is no contradiction. No one owns the movement, we are all part of the 99% and we all fight in different ways.

[KidOmniMan]

Couldn't disagree with what this woman said more and quite honestly shit like this makes Occupy look pretty stupid. If you want EVERYONE to agree with you and actually accomplish something focus on Money in politics and the corruption and cronyism that it causes, 99% of people will agree that corruption is bad, money causes corruption and the system is corrupt. Remove the corruption and there is a viable system in place, Democracy. For fuck's sake choose someone to run in 2012 as an independent

[bamboo4tameshigiri]

@ReignbowSmite "Representative Democracy" is NOT democracy. It is plutocratic oligarchy and EASILY corruptible. That is the entire point.

[alexn159]

the losers in washington just say whatever they think people want to hear anyways - why do you think Ron Paul has been so influential - you gotta change the minds of the people!

What is it that you have brainstormed specifically to do? do you just want a society where everyone shares? and how is that enforced without the use of force? I say lets take a step back and agree on the easy topics brothers and sisters - a voluntary society, end the fed, end the wars.

[longslidenyc]

I agree that we need a whole new societal structure. The Zeitgeist Movement and the folks at The Venus Project have been working on this for years and I believe have many real answers . I would really like to see Dennis interview Peter Joseph. I like Van Jones' idea, if it's legit, and can stay legit (i don't think so...) and I think that atmosphere would move us closer to our destination than just trying to convince the massive herds of sheep that we're going to have a whole different "ism".

[YourBrainOnReligion]

Oh come the hell on Dennis. Don't be dissin Van Jones man. He isn't trying to co-opt shit.

[KhamusSolo]

I think it would be better to fix what we have, or at least attempt it. If you dont try it will never happen. This is a complex machine that turned against us, I dont want to throw something away that has functioned properly in the past. If we can get the corporations out of our government, we stand a chance of fixing the rest. Its a realistic plan of action.

[ipeemilk2011]

The new illuminati everything needs a leader or it will fall apart

[whatisahumans]

I'm pretty sure Rebuild the Dream was created before Occupy Wall Street even began.

If you keep accusing everyone who tries to fix the country of "co-opting OWS" you aren't going to have any support left.

If you actually visit the website for Rebuild the Dream and read their platform, it's very consistent with OWS goals:

contract . rebuildthedream . com/?rc=rtd_about

[logtype47]

@whatisahumans In addition to reading the platform for Rebuild the Dream, we must also look at how this organization is funded, as well as their strategic alliances.

Van Jones is a fellow at the Center for American Progress. Both MoveOn.org and CFAP are democratic establishment organizations who are interested in maintaining the status quo.

OWS is not interested in faux grassroots movements.

[jw12yrsctch]

If the occupy movement keeps rejecting people from involvement and segregating themselves, they can hardly claim to be the 99%. That would imply they are an inclusive movement, yet by their rhetoric toward any figure that is well know or has some political strength they have shown the opposite. And how many of those people out there have co-opted the movement to suit their desires?

[Boomer1949]

If the Occupy movement is about forming a new society and form of government, then it needs to outline what that would look like. I can understand the "green" part and the "no intervention" part and I'm all for that but that's where my understanding ends. If anyone can outline what this new society and it's form of governing, please enlighten me. Keep in mind we are global and what this country creates will need to be globally accepted.

[way2jaded1]

Well that all went a little bit weird in the middle. I guess it is kind of hard to interview a movement based on the fact that a lot of things are unacceptable and we are going to make it known.

[tenagliac]

Reminds me of puritans versus separatists. Puritans wanted to reform their church and system. Separatists wanted to be completely separate from it and different. Searching for a new world, new society. Beware the "order".

[TiradeFaction]

@tenagliac Erm, the puritans *were* a separatist group. They left Great Britain to form their own society.

[tenagliac]

@TiradeFaction But now there is no New World to escape to. We only have HERE. If we can't change HERE, it ushers in a new dark ages...

[TiradeFaction]

@tenagliac Ok...fine, but your analogy is still flawed. 

[glurp1er]

We don't need a brand new way of life, we only need to stop corruption!

[sdfkjllshadflhadfshl]

Wait till you see what the SEIU does to occupy DC.

[AllOtherNamesTaken2]

How the fuck are you going to get anything done without a leader? Every single person can't vote on every issue. This was established in ancient Athens for God's sake.

As far as I'm concerned, any political movement not interested in political power is a waste of time.

[bamboo4tameshigiri]

@AllOtherNamesTaken2 In case you haven't noticed, this isn't the ancient fucking world. Representative democracy is NOT democracy. It's Plutocratic Oligarchy and always destined to fail due to corruption. This is the modern world. Every single person can have a vote. We don't need ~300 people telling the millions of the rest of us what we can or cannot do because they are all bought and sold and don't ever really represent US anyway.

[Physcojoe]

@bamboo4tameshigiri I agree, but the only thing to be careful of is that you don't promote the tyranny of the majority. Having a solid constitution is important to prevent the "majority" from doing shit like voting on things like gay marriage. I'm not saying I believe you think that, I just wanted to reply and point that out to differentiate the people supporting an actual representative constitutional democracy, and the people just saying "let’s vote on shit!" Well said though.

[Boomer1949]

@AllOtherNamesTaken2 I don't think Occupy is a political movement. I haven't seen any evidence of this at all.

[allgoo19]

@Boomer1949 "I don't think Occupy is a political movement. I haven't seen any evidence of this at all."

Demand to take money out of politics is not an evidence of political movement?

[Boomer1949]

@allgoo19 I agree, that taking money out of politics is a political issue and there are other issues that pertain to our current economic imbalance, health care, environment, energy and the list goes on and on. I feel it's more about empowerment of the people to make changes to benefit the whole, rather than the few. There are other methods that can be used, other than politics, to bring about those changes if we all work together.

[allgoo19]

@Boomer1949 " There are other methods that can be used, other than politics,.."

Like what?

[Boomer1949]

@allgoo19 Are you paying attention to what is happening around the country within the occupy movement or are you just hear to say shit off the top of your head you have very little understanding off? Have you heard of "move your money" or "buy nothing day?" Have you seen any of the videos where there have been "mic checks" that confront those who are responsible for the crash? Pay attention, then maybe you will see that the people can make a huge difference when they work together in large #

[allgoo19]

@Boomer1949 "Have you heard of "move your money.."

How effective has it been? Any proof?

[conguera]

@allgoo19 According to a press release from the Credit Union National Association, “at least 650,000 consumers across the nation have joined credit unions in the past four weeks [Oct.].” CUNA estimates that credit unions have added $4.5 billion in new savings accounts. In all of 2010, credit unions added only 600,000 new customers.

[allgoo19]

@conguera "at least 650,000 consumers across the nation have joined credit unions in the past four weeks.."

Out of 300 Million people?

How's that effecting the economy?

[conguera]

@allgoo19 You're not thinking about in the right way. The point is that more consumers were motivated to move their money from banks and into credit unions in the span of 1 month than in all of 2010. This is a repudiation of the greed and tactics of the big banks, which have been targeted by the Occupy movement. No one claims that big changes can happen overnight, but small victories are worth celebrating. $4.5 billion is nothing to sneeze at. It has to make the banks sit up and take notice.

[allgoo19]

@conguera "You're not thinking about in the right way..'

Ha! Who's not?

Why chasing small flies each time they appear? Movement against $5.- charge? Another movement for another charge? How effective is that for fighting against predatory lending or risky investment that cost tax payers hundreds of billions?

Did $5.- charge for ATM hurt the economy in anyway?

Show me if you have any proof.

You have no idea the problem is in the system, do you?

[conguera]

@allgoo19 "You have no idea the problem is in the system, do you?"

Of course it's in the system! What do you think the Occupy movement is about?

[allgoo19]

@conguera "Of course it's in the system!"

What "move your money" got to do with the fixing the "system"?

[conguera]

@allgoo19 That's only one little tactic to worry the banks. No one is suggesting that "move your money" was supposed to turn everything around. Do you seriously think that's all the Occupy movement is about? What are your ideas for fixing the system, other than things like reinstating Glass-Steagall, getting rid of corporate lobbyists, and many other issues that concern OWS?

[allgoo19]

@conguera " That's only one little tactic to worry the banks.."

What else do you have?

quote, "Do you seriously think that's all the Occupy movement is about?"

You said that, I didn't.

Quote, " your ideas for fixing the system"

Financial mess we have is relatively new. We didn't have it before, did we?

At least you started thinking. Good for you.

Now, one more push. Think why it was working before.

[conguera]

@allgoo19

1.Read my post more carefully for the "what else do you have?". 2.No, I didn't make that claim. I asked you a question, which you seem reluctant to answer. 3.You're more interested in assuming a superior position than in sharing ideas (i.e. not answering questions and suggesting that you "started me thinking", as though that's a phenomenon for me). As Barney Frank told a Tea Party member, talking to you is like talking to a dining room table. Have fun contributing to the problem.

[allgoo19]

@Boomer1949 "Have you heard of "move your money"

Hello? No reply?

When do you think economy's going to start recovering because of "move your money" thing?

Dropping $5,- charge going to help anything?

You must be pretty stupid thinking "move your money" is going to turn around everything.

What other methods you have?

[Boomer1949]

@allgoo19 For a movement only a couple of months old I think there has been proof that people are paying attention and the more that do, the move effective other acts will be. All ready we are seeing more and more "mic checks" at meeting and conferences around the nation. Even the press is starting to ask tough questions to elected officials. If your dream is a quick turn around, you're going to be disappointed.

[allgoo19]

@Boomer1949 "For a movement only a couple of months old.."

Are you talking about "move your money" movement?

Where it it now? Any new article and videos?

OWS is older than MYM and still going. I don't have to show you the proof of that.

Where is the recent MYM movement article?

[captainpeabody]

@AllOtherNamesTaken2 Actually in this day of the internet, why can't we all vote? It would be simple enough to set up and to monitor. I know of no credible reason why we can not all vote on every single issue. A couple of minor changes to the Constitution and we are all Congresspersons, by birth right.

[1140Cecile]

@captainpeabody There's a Facebook page called Internetocracy that you might want to check out.