With more and more activists finding themselves detained or arrested by democracy-crushing law enforcement, it’s worth spending a few minutes with fast-talking and highly entertaining former Defense Attorney and current Law Professor James Duane, offering us some fine advice on surviving interrogations with police personnel.
In short, Duane’s words of wisdom are:
Never, ever talk to police. No matter what. It will never help you.
Wow! Did you see the footage coming out of Montreal this week? Hundreds of thousands of protesters came out against proposed tuition hikes, flooding the streets and bringing the city to a standstill.
Amazing. Apparently Canadians can be mobilized to march. All it takes is the right catalyst, like a tax hike or a Tim Hortons coffee shortage.
I’m truly inspired to know that a whole new generation are experiencing firsthand how to exercise their political voice, and just how incredible it feels to do so.
Occupy is back! Not that it really went away… t’was just a mild hibernation over winter. Now, with Mother Nature being a little more hospitable, the uprising can switch back into high gear, louder and stronger than ever before!
To kick off this season’s social uprising, scores of protesters retook the famed Zuccotti park, aka Liberty Square, after which dozens were arrested. During the march up to the square, NYPD callously smashed a medics head into reinforced glass, breaking the glass and probably the medic’s skull (video above).
Navigating between extinction and enslavement, brave humankind could very well avoid both to reach compelling new heights.
Neils Bohr once said that prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future. Despite the words of caution from the pioneering quantum physicist, I’d like to offer you my take on the three potential futures that we, as a species, are facing.
The first is extinction. This is where the human race is no more because we’ve wiped ourselves out in some foolish conflict or scientific mishap. Either that, or the universe conspires to eliminate us using it’s vast arsenal. There’s not a lot we can do to avoid this, apart from building peace instead of war.
The good news, despite what the mainstream media may want us to believe, is that humankind is actually the most peaceful we’ve ever been. (more…)
Former VP Al Gore and online entrepreneur Sean Parker spoke this week at the SXSW conference in a riveting tete-a-tete which left the audience clamoring for more.
“Our democracy has been hacked!” says Gore, comparing the special interests in the political spectrum to malicious users in the cyber-realm.
It is time, Gore believes, to form a “Wiki-democracy” of “digital flash mobs calling out the truth” and “a government square that holds people accountable.” And the best way to do that is to leverage the online realm and social media in ways that will “change the democratic conversation.” (more…)
There’s a standard business negotiation tactic which has been brought into the realm of politics, used most effectively by right wing conservatives: ask for the stars and settle with the moon. So effective has this strategy been that the entire political spectrum has consistently shifted to the right over the past few decades.
Anonymous & Wikileaks have unveiled yet another tasty morsel from the treasure trove of confidential goodies known as the Global Intelligence Files. This one: a Homeland Security analysis of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, circa Oct 2011.
The 5 page document details the rise and proliferation of the Occupy uprising, noting how the movement “has drawn inspiration from recent protests in Europe and the Middle East, specifically citing the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprising and recent demonstrations in Spain. ”
More telling is a point made in the summary, (more…)
The world is different now. The rules have changed, and methods like petitions and mass demonstrations are proving themselves invaluable tools for reform. (more…)