This blog is the reviews and comments of the various articles and items I have discovered. There is a distinctive theme of PoliticalandSocial Economy in my writing that I hope will give you a better insight into who I am and what I think that might not be conveyed in a display of images.
THIS DOCUMENT WAS ACCEPTED BY THE NYC GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 TRANSLATIONS: FRENCH, SLOVAK, SPANISH, GERMAN, ITALIAN As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
Update 10/1/11 – Minor updates to some wording in the facts.
Cambodia has become nation mired in corruption that stiffens growth and tarnishes success as being bought not earned: The other side of U.S. withdrawal from Indochina.
The end of the Vietnam War, devastating Pol Pot regime, and Vietnam intervention has left a country without the human resources necessary to build a country capable of building a self sustaining economy.
The government is populated by former Vietnam straw men and Khmer Rouge officials. Kick backs and skimming are the expected way of conducting all life. Extending to grade school children expected to bribe teachers for good grades or not attending since they cannot afford the bribes. Government officials have established rules to take action against any teacher taking bribes with little result. This system of pay for grades has made any graduate suspect as to their actual abilities.
Land for development can be had for the right price. The agency empowered to establish property rights will create a land deed that allows the new owner to have the legal owners, sometimes entire streets, evicted by force and relocated to become the tenant problem of another persons land. This problem has been address by yet another commission to adjudicate complaints only to have the resolutions lost and left unenforceable.
Ministers and members of the parliament live a lavish existence conspicuously above the means of their state salaries. Lives behind walls and with private golf courses are not unusual. NGO’s have implemented accounting measure to address this type of patronage but the bribes and pilfering continues at a lowered level.
A grass roots organization has petitioned the government for a new anticorruption law but action is not expected. This organization has also created a program to identify corruption only to be used by the government to be show cased as addressing the problem when funding time comes around.
The entire budget of the government is provided by foreign grants and little is expected to change. The situation is so dire Gap could ruin the nation by closing down and leaving. Life is cheapen to a new level when relatives of officials are coddled by police forces when they hit pedestrian and the victims are left to bleed to death at the accident scene . Murder for hire is they other way to make a living while quieting the opposition.
The death of many educated professionals during the Pol Pot regime has left the country unable to produce future leaders that will build a nation with accomplishments rather then hand outs. The lose of Cambodia to a Communist system was honorific and now life under an unregulated capitalist system will have the opportunity to show case its strength as market forces efficiently distribute resources via scarcity.
