- Rhiannon Fionn
- A list of picketing regulations was circulated. (More photos: http://bit.ly/qHgOu4)
Bank of America has a target on it, thanks to its involvement in the economic collapse and its ongoing reign as the largest bank in the U.S. That’s why BofA has become Public Enemy No. 1 to the newly formed Occupy Charlotte.
The local protest group is in the spirit of, and in solidarity with, Occupy Wall Street, the many-week protest in New York City that you’ve probably heard of by now. This past Saturday, Occupy Charlotte‘s 100-plus malcontents gathered at Uptown’s Marshall Park to begin organizing. While together, the group decided to conduct an impromptu march, first to the Old City Hall on Trade Street and then to Bank of America’s headquarters.
The organization’s next protest is planned for Sat., Oct. 8. Protesters will meet at 3 p.m. at the Old City Hall and again march to BofA’s headquarters.
There’s been some debate (O.K., confusion) about what Occupy Wall Street and its splinter protests are all about. Over the weekend, The Daily Kos published the group’s first official statement. Let me sum it up for you: The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer … and the poor aren’t interested in taking the rich’s abuse anymore.
There’s also been some rumbling about this group being made up of a bunch of hippies. I hear otherwise, and I saw otherwise at the Charlotte rally. The group comes in all flavors: Socialist, Tea Party, Liberal, young, old, brown, yellow, white.
So, alright: the message is getting clearer. But what the mainstream media — and the people it’s reporting to — don’t seem to get is why it takes a minute for the group to decide what it’s about and in which direction it will aim its energy. Are you ready for this? The reason is because everything is done democratically. That means the group takes time to talk to those who are involved — and to actually listen, create leadership groups, and vote.
Watching the Occupy Charlotte group begin the organization process this past Saturday was fascinating. First of all, there was no leader, and there will be no leader. There is now an 11-member General Assembly, though.
To get everyone’s attention, a speaker — and that could be anyone in the crowd — simply yells, “Mic check!,” to which the crowd responds, “Mic check!” From that point on, everything the speaker says is repeated. That way everyone should be able to hear.
When it came to choosing the General Assembly’s membership, the group decided that anyone interested in a leadership role should write her or his name on a piece of paper and put it in a hat, and members would be drawn randomly.
Originally, the group decided the council would consist of nine members, but after the random drawing resulted in a male-only council, the group decided to add two female members, who were chosen at random in the same manner.
Of course, the mainstream media missed all of this.
A couple of small camera crews — from channels 36 and 9 — stopped by early on for some soundbites, then jetted. They missed the election, the march and the news of the next protest. I don’t watch the local news, so I’m not sure if any of the footage was aired, but I can tell you that it didn’t make much of a showing online. In fact, this is all I could find: 92 words under the heading “Protestors claim to stand up to corporate greed.”
So, gee, I dunno why the Operation Wall Street folks have been complaining about a media blackout. You? We’ll see what happens next Saturday, if anything. (This is where I’ll remind readers that when Tea Party events of any size hang out in Uptown, the mainstream media creams themselves repeatedly.)
But, don’t despair, Creative Loafing was there, live — Tweeting with the protestors the entire time, and we’ll be there this Saturday, too. You can follow the action on Twitter, even if you don’t have an account, by following this link #OccupyCharlotte or via our Twitter stream @cl_charlotte.
Besides the news that the group has formed and will likely become a fixture in Uptown, all we’ve got for you is the promise of another protest this weekend, which means you need to stay tuned.
UPDATE: Notes from Monday night’s council meeting
Video: “There are no women on the council.” (So, the group made room and added two women.)
This article appears in Dec 27, 2011 – Jan 2, 2012.
Losers.
Good that someone is doing something, anything, since the Justice Department is apparently not going to bring a soul to trial for the biggest theft in the history of the World.
What’s really funny, if New Yorkers sit in planes on runways, it’s national news. But somehow, thousands of people protesting on Wall Street, including over 700 Airline Pilots dressed in full flight uniforms does not merit ANY coverage at all. Yes indeed if people can drag themselves away from Dancing with the Idiots, American Idol and football, oh wait….forget about those fools.
Yes indeed there are some people in America who get it, just like the 5% that launched the American Revolution against the Crown. The answer to 1984 is 1776.
Malcontents?
Your bias is showing.
These Banksters have no shame, and what gall. Since they’re stock is tanking and their mortgaged (get it) to the hilt, the BOA banksters are now going to charge people $60 per year, to use their debit card. They buy a pos company like Countrywide, make really bad business decisions, we bail them out, they still are broke. Capitalism is not supposed to work this way, but Crony Capitalism does.
Take your bonus’s, your garbage stock shares and just fold up. Like any other business that can’t make it.
It is GREAT to see the People organizing themselves. This IS our nations and We will have to take it back. THEY wont give it back. body
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdn3O6aaMNc
Somebody needs to remove that Giant Flag that adorns the NY Sack (as in sacking America) Exchange. These people aren’t concerned with America, they’re Globalists. And Globalism is about shifting jobs around the globe, looking for the cheapest slave labor a company can find.
They care not, who in America they fire, layoff, lose their houses, their cars, even their lives. As we know the sweat shops they’ve opened in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and other 3rd world places have no environmental regulations, no safety regulations, no child labor laws, no nothing.
These slimebags on Wall Street are not Americans at all, in fact would ANY decent country want to lay claim to these overly greedy, government corrupting, would sell their mother for a profit, pack of traitors.
Quit hiding behind that Giant Flag, and pretending you actually believe in it. Well I believe at one time even Benedict Arnold pretended he believed in it too.
Yes we have had many traitors in America throughout our history such as Benedict Arnold. By what I observe happening around me most traitors have not been discovered and prosecuted.
Malcontents. Adjective. 1) not satisfied or content with currently prevailing conditions or circumstances. 2) dissatisfied with the existing government, administration, system, etc.
That’s the perfect word and not biased at all.
Love the guys who said “it should be proportional. 9 to 2 is still off.”
Can someone tell these bozos that thought is performed by the brain, not the vagina?
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/09/1…
Can someone ask John Doe how it feels to be an ill-informed corporate stooge? Guy would’ve made a great slave back in the day. Yes, Massa, you wreckin’ that economy just fine. You know best, Massa, since you got all the money.
Right John Doe, just remember it was *men* that got us into this mess.
John Grooms, why don’t you do it yourself big boy? Fucking coward.
PS: The company I work for is smaller and less “corporate” than the one you work for. It’s never filed for bankruptcy like CL has. And it’s not owned by a capital management (i.e. investment banking) firm like CL is. So STFU and sit down.
It would be awesome if Dicque Whad would come to the protest Saturday and blow a banker for us.
John Grooms and Rhiannon Fionn are both independent journalists. They are self-employed, though I understand Rhi gets a lot of job offers. I don’t know about John, but Rhi is a friend and fiercely independent. There goes another of John Doe’s “facts”.
Name calling is truly an action of a fearful individual. Fear is your enemy, not the people that refuse to let it control them. He that angers you, controls you. Think, then…wait for it…..speak. I am blessed to be an American citizen. Poor or not.
Doesn’t take much to get little Dicque here all fired up does it?
Stupid people are always so quick to anger.
OCCUPY THE FED in Charlotte, Bank of America is 1% of the REAL problem in this country. There is a location in Charlotte we need to protest. We have to fight the real power, if you are angry with Bank of America, it is easy to fix, JUST TAKE OUT ALL YOUR MONEY! Refuse to pay their bullshit 5$ a month debit charge. That part isn’t hard. The hard part is to defeat the Fed which is the MAIN cause of the inflation and devaluation of the dollar! Lets march on the FED!
OK, John Doe/Little Dicque/Whoever, I’ll do it myself: How does it feel to be a corporate stooge? You don’t have to work for a corporation to make excuses for them and their abuses, Mr. Doe/Dicque. That’s been libertarians’ specialty: Talk about freedom but cozy up to big business. ‘Oooh, don’t mess with “free enterprise,”‘ like big corporations are even close to being free enterprise, rather than the publicly subsidized destroyers of local businesses and the rulers of America they’ve become. Pathetic tea partyin’ morons can’t even discern who their real enemy is (here’s a hint: it’s giant fucking multinational corporations, i.e., this era’s Big Brothers), but they act like they actually know something. Call ’em on it and they revert to their infantile instincts.
End the Fed. Shut down Wall Street. Boycott big banks. Join a credit union.
The irony of protesting financial irresponsibility in every city except the source (DC) is overwhelming.
Where do you think the regulations for banks to make subprime loans came from?
Jacob, you’re such a know it all (and apologist for banking criminals) I would’ve thought you knew about the Occupy DC march. Guess not.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/…
I see the ranks of the protestors being infiltrated by what ‘I’ consider their enemy the ‘public service union[s].’ Unlike private unions the public service unions depend on the exertion of the States ability to levy a tax, and then appropriate that tax via the use of the States Police Powers to collect their wages.
Grooms, you should read your own article chief. They are not protesting financial irresponsibility. They are marching for jobs.
I’m against banking criminals the same as you are. The difference is I’m also against the criminals in DC, while you are their lapdog (as long as they have a D next to their name).
I see some suggestion of wanting a “Direct Democracy’. This system of government was tried in the 4th Century BC and failed. The Founders of the American States were well informed of this. Indirect Representative Democracies did not arise until the early 16th Century. Again the Founders were aware of this system of governance and choice to not adopt that system here. They Created a ‘New form of Government’ by blending the concepts of both forms of Democracy in which the Law governed which was applicable at any given time.
America is a Constitutional Republic governed by LAW not any majority. If it were a mob ruled society any majority could choose to enslave any minority and that would be the law. Be VERY careful what you ask for. You might just get it.
Grooms the #1 supporter of “publicly subsidized” corporations in the US is Barack Obama. Barack Obama voted for the TARP bailouts. Barack Obama took $1 million from Goldman Sachs, the most corrupt corporation in the country. Barack Obama took millions more from other banks such as Citi, JPM, MS, BofA and Wells. Barack Obama has been reported as identifying BofA’s Brian Moynihan as his “favorite banker”. Barack Obama has funneled countless billions of US tax dollars to his corporate backers. Barack Obama’s campaign “bundlers” are corporation hacks whose companies received stimulus money and whose executives litter his appointments and hires.
If you want to earn ANY credibility on this issue – from the left or the right, from libertarians or socialists – you’ll spend an ENTIRE column ripping the President Of The United States a new asshole for his role as the most corporate-controlled and corporate-subsidizing politician in the history of the world. Until then, shut the fuck up and go the hell away.
‘creams themselves’
Seriously? You want to protest against people that actually serve a function when they go to work everyday and, in your job, you are so professional, you use the words ‘creams themselves’? And they are the problem?
The enemy of the People protesting for GREAT causes (many different ones) want nothing more than to reduce their (protestors) act[s] to the typical pissing contests between individuals that are most common. This IS how they (the enemy) have maintained control over the masses for several generations, and will continue to control the masses using the same tactics, unless the masses get wise to them.
Angela, what “function” do bankers perform?
FOX NEWS MUST BE ON BANK OF AMERICAS PAYROLL. FOX NEWS NEEDS TO HIRE REAL REPORTERS, THOSE THAT CAN ACTUALLY TYPE A SENTENCE WITHOUT THE… REALLY? YOU? OH AND BY THE WAY… IT’S A GREAT THING FOR CHARLOTTE THAT NO ONE WATCHES OR READS FOX NEWS. I SUPPORT OCCUPY CHARLOTTE!!! I SUPPORT OCCUPY WALL STREET!!!
I like how you make a bunch of baseless claims, fail to provide any sources and then say this John
“If you want to earn ANY credibility on this issue”
Stay classy.
Herpes – Everything I wrote about Obama can be found on either the official website of Congress (TARP vote), OpenSecrets.org (campaign contributions from Goldman et al, appointments being made based on contributions – sample: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/05/big-donors-bundlers-among-obam.html), and Google (“Moynihan Obama favorite banker”).
What if we all agreed to pick one month for the American people to give ourselves a bailout? What if we all chose one month and declared a debtor’s strike? If we all skipped a month of our mortgage, credit cards and student loans–what would happen to the banks? What if we took all of our deposits out of the bank and held on to cash for a month?
This is the idea–what if we moved beyond occupying Wall St. and instead took a coordinated direct action against the banks? What do you think we could accomplish if we all pulled together?
Isn’t it time for the other 99% to get a bailout?
Please pass this along to your friends and colleagues–Let’s try to make this viral.
The several news Medias are more or less controlled by their sponsors (Those placing the advertisements that bombard people.). This is the source of the bulk to their revenue. It is pretty well documented that the main stream media was seized and taken control of as far back as 1915 (See Congressman Oscar Callaway David Rockefeller at CFR meeting references) by a small group of men and their conglomerates with special interests. These same groups have heavy ties to banking (both foreign and domestic), manufacturing (both foreign and domestic), the service sector ((both foreign and domestic), and Government (both foreign and domestic. Office holders: Foreign Federal State County City). Their influence is felt globally with the application of their affluence ($$$).
It seems I see the typical political posturing in a few of these comments. Somewhere I saw someone mention elect a President not a Party. The first President of the United States of America stayed a second term in Office because he saw the development of party Politics emerging and the riff between the People it would cause. In his farewell address to the People he warned the People about the formation of parties and allowing the Parties to dominate the election process as they do today.
The Parties control the primaries which leaves many without equal suffrage. Personally I would never vote straight Party lines, but in the Primaries that IS MY ONLY OPTION other than NOT participate in them. I feel this is an issue which needs to be addressed for the good of the whole number of Americans.
More on Obama’s corporate appointments. Enjoy your Roundup-drenched corn and soybeans.
President Obama has stacked his administration with people who are tied to multinationals like Monsanto (of Agent Orange infamy) and Dupont (the company that earned the largest civil administrative penalty ever for concealing the cancer risks of one of its products), to push expensive inputs that threaten family farmers’ access to clean water, arable land and the biodiversity cultivated by previous generations.
* Michael Taylor, former Monsanto Vice President, is in charge of food safety. Taylor is responsible for the decision to treat GMOs as “substantially equivalent” to the natural plants they are derived from. This removed the government’s responsibility to determine whether GMOs were safe for human consumption.
* Roger Beachy, director of the Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, is in charge of USDA research.
* Islam Siddiqui, Vice President of the Monsanto and Dupont-funded pesticide-promoting lobbying group, CropLife, is the Agriculture Negotiator for the US Trade Representative. (Opposition to Siddiqui’s nomination, including a New York Times editorial, forced Obama to use a recess appointment to block a Senate vote. Senate confirmation was not required for the posts Taylor and Beachy fill.)
* Rajiv Shah leads USAID and also served as Obama’s USDA Under Secretary for Research Education and Economics and Chief Scientist.
Shah, a 37-year-old medical doctor with a business degree and no previous government experience, was the agricultural programs director for the explicitly pro-biotech Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is on the board of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). AGRA and the Gates Foundation have been criticized for working closely with Monsanto and its non-profit research arm, the Danforth Center, and promoting GMOs. Links and collaborations include project partnerships, hiring one another’s employees and making donations to one another’s projects. At the Gates Foundation, Shah supervised Lawrence Kent, who had been the director of international programs at the Danforth Center, and Monsanto vice president Robert Horsch, a scientist who led genetic engineering of plants at the seed giant.
If we’re going to have a respectable Occupy Charlotte event we need to get some spokespersons that are little more articulate and knowledgeable, those guys are an embarrassment.
So you’re drinking the GMO koolaid now too John?
What other little pet causes do you have?
NOTICE TO ANY WHO PLAN TO ATTEND OR VISIT IN SUPPORT:
Please bring 2 trash bags to help collect garbage and separate recyclables. Please carry the refuse home with you. Too many are calling the OWS movement participants “a bunch of dirty hippies wallowing in their own filth”.
Let us show that we are not.