I.M.H.O. (re- OWS & Wikileaks),

. . . Wikileaks has played a key role in drawing the veil from people's eyes around the world about what their governments have been doing to them at the behest of the 1%.

I think a lot of people knew in their hearts that things weren't right; but in country after country, WL disclosed the indisputable proof: what authorities themselves were telling each other about what they were doing.

I believe Assange escalated disclosure at the time and in the manner he did because the 1% is progressing rapidly in their efforts to gain effective control over the internet. If he'd waited much longer, it might have been too late.

(Image upper right from Al Jazeera via worldbank.org, shot in Tahrir Square; image right from OregonLive, shot on N17 in Portland. For more re- Assange's and others' thinking about the infowar, see Ten Things You Need to Know About the Infowar.)

FOIA Request for Info on Nationwide Crackdown on OWS

One observer has suggested that the real reason for the crackdown on the Occupy camps was that "[t]he camps were the beginnings of a community . . . the community needed for a culture of resistance." Highly ironic if, as seems likely (see, e.g., here and here), the Obama's administration was instrumental in coordinating the crackdown.

Civil liberties groups have filed a FOIA request for info: "'The severe crackdown on the occupation movement appears to be part of a national strategy to crush the movement,' said Mara Veheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice and the co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild’s National Mass Defense Committee. 'This multi-jurisdictional coordination shows that the crackdown is supremely political.'" More at Common Dreams.

What Happened to the OWS-er's Property

When the NYPD evicted the OWS-er's camp from Liberty Square (f.k.a. Zuccotti Park), the property was reportedly tossed into garbage trucks and dump trucks; but the reality may be worse. Motherboard suggests the laptops look like they were attacked with a baseball bat (but not, one imagines, before their contents had been downloaded; note the label scrawled on the blue laptop). (More info and pics at Motherboard.)

(Yes, any deliberate destruction of property or unreasonable search of the laptops would be, like the NYPD's defiance of the court order to allow the OWS-er's back into the park, against the law.)

Fairey's ReMixed "Hope"; Occuprint

Click on the image for a larger version, or go to Fairey's site.

In related news, here's a site for posters re- the OWS movement.

"Pepper Spray" Video

I usually avoid re-blogging what's been on other popular sites, but this remarkable document is not to be missed (by terrydatiger) – it's worth watching the whole thing, though events unfold gradually. The incident occurred in connection with the eviction of OWS campers at UC Davis.

One of the students sprayed was still coughing up blood 45 min. later (see Bicycle Barricade). It's been speculated that the unnecessary spraying was done in an effort to incite a riot.

UPDATE: Excellent interview with one of the pepper-sprayed students on BoingBoing.

FURTHER UPDATE: Peter Kim has created an excellent graphic showing just how dangerous pepperspray is, here.

Learning Curve (Egyptians Respond to OWS Offer of Election Monitors)

"Why . . . should our elections be any cause for celebration, when even in the best of all possible worlds they will be just another supposedly 'representative' body ruling in the interest of the 1% over the remaining 99% of us? This new Egyptian parliament will have effectively no powers whatsoever, and—as many of us see it—its election is just a means of legitimating the ruling junta’s seizure of the revolutionary process. Is this something you wish to monitor?

"We have, all of us around the world, been learning new ways to represent ourselves, to speak, to live our politics directly and immediately, and in Egypt we did not set out to the streets in revolution simply to gain a parliament. Our struggle—which we think we share with you—is greater and grander than a neatly functioning parliamentary democracy; we demanded the fall of the regime, we demanded dignity, freedom and social justice, and we are still fighting for these goals. We do not see elections of a puppet parliament as the means to achieve them.

"But even though the idea of election monitoring doesn’t really do it for us, we want your solidarity, we want your support and your visits. We want to know you, talk with you, learn one another’s lessons, compare strategies and share plans for the future. . . . "

More at jadaliyya.com (thanks, Noah!)

And now for something really important:

Now I know where Minnie Mouse got her fashion sense.

Occupy London Takes Over Empty Bank; Occupy Dallas Evicted

Per their website:

Occupy London has taken over a huge abandoned office block in the borough of Hackney belonging to the investment bank UBS, in a move it describes as a "public repossession."

* * * * *
The multimillion pound complex, which has been empty for several years, is the group’s third space and its first building, adding to its two camps at St Paul’s Courtyard – near the London Stock Exchange in the heart of the City – and at Finsbury Square . . . .

The group say the space will be reopened on Saturday morning as the "Bank of Ideas." . . . An events programme is being lined up, including talks from Palestinian activists, comedy from Josie Long and a session led by trader Alessio Rastani, who sent shockwaves through the media following a provocative interview on the Eurozone crisis. . . .

Sarah Layler of Occupy London added: "The Bank of Ideas will host a full events programme where people will be able to trade in creativity rather than cash. We will also make space available for those that have lost their nurseries, community centres and youth clubs to savage Government spending cuts."

More at the link; see also The Guardian.

Meanwhile, notwithstanding that Dallas Occupiers had allegedly reached an agreement with City officials that their camp could remain behind City Hall until mid-December, a force including a SWAT team and mounted police evicted them at 11:45PM Wed. night on 15 minutes' notice, apparently on orders by the City Manager. (Photo by Justin Terveen, from The Dallas Observer.)

The eviction was allegedly based on escalating problems in the camp; but I visited the camp twice and found it clean and orderly, and no actual crime has been cited other than an assault that took place during a scuffle between two camp members at another location, the perpetrator of which vanished some time ago. More here.