Conversations with Great Minds - Naomi Klein Occupy Wall Street. P1

[smellyfooty]

canada is NO saint

[smellyfooty]

there is universal healthcare for people who make less than 20,000 a year in canada. that is good. but that is also people who are more likely to get sick because there is very little affordable housing which raises another issue altogether.... there are very few social safety nets that would keep people healthy. there is a HUGE class system in canada that quite predictably keeps people from getting work. how do you maintain a job without access to a shower or a good nights rest?

[genghisdon1]

bless Naomi Klein

[Travelwise65]

OWS is NOT "anti-business" or "anti corporation"; they're anti corruption, which is a huge problem within both corporations and the politicians they control. That doesn't mean that ALL corporations are corrupt or that ALL politicians have sold out and no longer serve their human constituents-but a lot of them are and have.

[stochasticmonk]

Co-opting and astroturfing are just pejoratives for sponsorship, remixing, and finance. Wall street (and even many protesters) dont understand that the OWS movement is not its enemy, but rather competition. Tea Party and OWS are both in their own way businesses(!) but not in the old style. They are activist marketplaces, post-corporations, networks made of cells of economic and social activity. even naomi klein has her brand (ironically)

[evanlongaccount]

@stochasticmonk OWS is a protest movement; they are not engaged in commerce. Co-opting and astroturfing are not just pejoratives for sponsorship, remixing and financing. Co-opting is when an individual or group falsely takes credit for and control of a movement or expression, often for the purposes of disarming it; it's a kind of plagiarism and warfare. Astroturfing is when powerful movements disguise themselves as grassroots in order to gain popular support; its key ingredient is deception.

[stochasticmonk]

@stochasticmonk well they do have over $500,000 in the bank... there is a lot of 'business' going on despite being a social movement. Instead of acting like it doesnt exist I think people should look carefully at how it is done and see if there are opportunities to do it better.

[evanlongaccount]

@stochasticmonk Accepting donations or gifts does not make you a business.

[stochasticmonk]

I hope that the movement stays as positive as she portrays it and avoids dangerous factionalism, outdated dogmas, and violence at all costs. There are factions even now encouraging people to be violent and not just 'thugs' in disguise. the stakes are too high to burn out before accomplishing anything. stay positive, alert, and critical everyone, be open to experimentation, new paths and possibilities

[PurpleHoneyBear]

Indeed, Naomi Klein speaks the truth. So many have lapsed into cynicism and nihilism. But there is hope yet.