OCUPE A PIEDADE

Occupy the Vote A new student initiative, "Occupy the Facts," should also emphasize political engagement By THE CRIMSON STAFF Published: Thursday, November 10, 2011 0 8 COMMENT EMAIL PRINT In Nov. 2010, days before the Republicans' midterm triumph, at the crest of the Tea Party wave, The Guardian's Gary Lounge wrote that the movement "…does not exist. It has no members, leaders, office bearers, headquarters, policies, participatory structures, budget or representatives." One year later, the Tea Party' fortunes have ebbed somewhat, and it has been largely supplanted by Occupy Wall Street as the epicenter of American populism. And yet, Lounge's words are perhaps even more pertinent now than they were then, as they also aptly encapsulate the gravest deficiencies of this latest protest movement. Like its rightwing predecessor, Occupy Wall Street has been criticized-by The Crimson, no less-for its permeating incoherence and debilitating disorganization. Enter "Occupy the Facts," a new, Harvard-grown student group dedicated to providing an intellectual foundation and policy platform for the headless movement. "Occupy the Facts" appears to be a direct response to these allegations of incoherence; its goal, according to co-founder Peter D. Davis '12, "is calling those peoples' bluffs." His colleague, Talia B. Lavin '12, likewise said that "I've noticed this persistent criticism that the demands of the movement aren't specific enough. The goal is to reach out to people who have heard a lot about Occupy but aren't sure what Occupy is trying to achieve." Our democracy is ill-served by blind, amorphous rage, and so we are heartened to see some effort to channel this populist energy into constructive issue advocacy. We are living today with the consequences of the Tea Party's failure to provide intelligible solutions to our most pressing national problems, and the effort to better inform and orient this new upsurge of popu

Occupy Protest Shuts Down Harvard Yard By JOSE A. DELREAL Published: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 4 158 COMMENT EMAIL PRINT DANIEL M. LYNCH GSAS student Marissa M. Egertsrom teaches the basics of "General Assemblies" while facilitating a conversation Wednesday night on the Law School campus. UPDATED 4:34 a.m. 11/10/11 A tent city was hastily constructed in front of University Hall Wednesday night during a tense dialogue between "Occupy Harvard" protesters and Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson. The occupation followed a protest on campus involving more than roughly 350 participants sympathetic to the Occupy movement, during which Harvard Yard was shut down by Harvard University Police officers and Securitas guards. The protest was intended to convey disapproval of the University's perceived complicity in growing income inequality across the country. Participants included students, staff, faculty, and community members. Around 7 p.m., protesters were met with increased security that would prevent Boston residents who were not Harvard affiliates from entering the Yard. Multimedia GALLERY OCCUPY HARVARD BEGINS PHOTO "I think it's absurd. Do we really need eight guards per gate?" said Nicandro G. L. Iannacci '13, who has participated in other Occupy events. "The idea that the only people allowed here to have this conversation are members of the Harvard community, specifically, is wrong. Why not welcome more people in?" In response to the limited access to the Yard, demonstrators relocated to the Harvard Law School campus. As they marched past freshman dorms, they chanted, "Out of your rooms and into the Yard," rallying the students in the dorms to join. After a general assembly, protesters left the Law School campus and tried to re-enter the Yard to set up a tent city, but Securitas guards prevented demonstrators from entering by locking the gates. In a tense exchange, students tried to push their way into the Yard-some holding up

Students Launch 'Occupy the Facts' By JOSE A. DELREAL, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER Published: Monday, November 07, 2011 6 16 COMMENT EMAIL PRINT About 20 students Sunday night launched "Occupy the Facts," a nascent student organization hoping to combat charges that protestors in the Occupy movement are uninformed about public policy issues. The organization seeks to conduct important policy research and make their findings accessible to Occupy protesters and the public. The group will spend the next three weeks developing information packages. "I want to see if we [can] create something that could research public policy surrounding the occupiers' demands," said Peter D. Davis '12, one of the project facilitators. "We want to be able to create fact sheets." One of the projects' goals is to eventually transform their policy findings into various formats, including educational YouTube videos and info-graphics. Davis said that the inspiration for "Occupy the Facts" is the potential for Occupy to affect social change. "I see the Occupy movement as a platform that might just have a chance at making the kind of change that a lot of people in our generation have been dreaming of," Davis said. Talia B. Lavin '12, another active student participant, protested the criticism levied against the movement. "I've noticed this persistent criticism that the demands of the movement aren't specific enough," Talia B. Lavin '12 said. "The goal is to reach out to people who have heard a lot about Occupy but aren't sure what Occupy is trying to achieve." Davis believes the charges that Occupy participants are uninformed are distracting from the movement's potential. "This group is calling those peoples' bluffs," Davis said. Davis met with a small group last week to determine how they could help the Occupy movement. They came to the conclusion that they could leverage Harvard's research resources to make policy information more acces

eoclassical economics is the idiom of most economic discoursetoday. It is the paradigm that bends the twigs of young minds. Thenit confines the florescence of older ones, like chicken-wire shapinga topiary. It took form about a hundred years ago, when Henry George and his reform proposals were a clear and present political danger and challenge to the landed and intellectual establishments of the world. Few people realize to what degree the founders ofNeo-classical economics changed the discipline for the express purpose of deflecting George and frustrating future students seeking to follow his arguments. The strategem was semantic: to destroy the very words in which he expressed himself. SimonPatten expounded it succinctly. "Nothing pleases a ...single taxer better than ... to use the well-known economic theories ...[therefore] economic doctrine must be recast" (Patten, 1908: 219; Collier, 1979: 270).

Campus - November 2, 2011 2:23 amAn Open Letter to Greg MankiwBy Harvard Talks Politics The following letter was sent to Greg Mankiw by the organizers of today's Economics 10 walkout. Wednesday November 2, 2011 Dear Professor Mankiw- Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society. As Harvard undergraduates, we enrolled in Economics 10 hoping to gain a broad and introductory foundation of economic theory that would assist us in our various intellectual pursuits and diverse disciplines, which range from Economics, to Government, to Environmental Sciences and Public Policy, and beyond. Instead, we found a course that espouses a specific-and limited-view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today. A legitimate academic study of economics must include a critical discussion of both the benefits and flaws of different economic simplifying models. As your class does not include primary sources and rarely features articles from academic journals, we have very little access to alternative approaches to economics. There is no justification for presenting Adam Smith's economic theories as more fundamental or basic than, for example, Keynesian theory. Care in presenting an unbiased perspective on economics is particularly important for an introductory course of 700 students that nominally provides a sound foundation for further study in economics. Many Harvard students do not have the ability to opt out of Economics 10. This class is required for Economics and Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrators, while Social Studies concentrators must take an introductory economics course-and the only other eligible class, Professor Steven Margolin's class Critical Perspec

CONTRA OS TABÚS  INDISCUTÍVEIS MAURICE ALLAIS, PRIX NOBEL de Economia, 5  Dezembro de  2009O ponto de vista que exprimo é o do teórico  ao mesmo tempo liberal e socialista. As duas noções são inseparáveis no meu espírito, porque a sua oposição aparece-me como sendo  falsa, como  sendo artificial. O ideal socialista consiste em interessarmo-nos pela  equidade da redistribuição das riquezas, enquanto os liberais verdadeiros preocupam-se com a eficácia da produção desta mesma riqueza. Constituem aos meus olhos dois aspectos complementares de uma mesma doutrina. E é precisamente a esse título de liberal que me  autorizo  a criticar as posições repetidas das grandes instâncias internacionais em favor da livree-troca  aplicada cegamente.

REFLEXIÓN SOBRE LAS VERDADES ESTABLECIDAS *  REFLECTING ON ESTABLISHED TRUTHS* Maurice Allais

Maurice AllaisLa crise mondiale d'aujourd'hui(pour de profondes reformes desinstitutions financières et monétaires)

Alternative Energy News News » Energy | Biofuels | Environment | Hydrogen | Solar | Transportation | Wind Latest News: 11/10 Despite Solyndra's Death, the Future of Solar Energy is Sunny 11/10 Harnessing the Power of the Sun for Oil Production 11/10 New reports urges more detailed utility metering to improve building efficiency 11/09 Obama Administration Steps on the CO2 Regulations Pedal 11/09 Climate Bill Now Law in Australia 11/09 It's not easy going green 11/09 Americans using more fossil fuels 11/09 How Shale Gas Is Like Walmart

Radical Thinking To Recreate And Reimagine Our Cities By Anthony Cuthbertson on Sep 4, 2011 Does this look like your average mayor? It is estimated that by the year 2050, eighty percent of the world's population will be living in cities. Unfortunately, modern-day cities are often crime-ridden, chaotic, and in some form of decay. The Torre de David, the world's tallest squat, which has emerged in Caracas, could be a precursor of things to come if something isn't done about expanding urban populations. One answer is to build brand new cities, such as Iskandar in Malaysia, soon to be home to 3 million people. However, if governments don't have a few trillion dollars to spare, there is a slightly cheaper solution. Follow in the footsteps of others. A series of films commissioned by the Danish Film Institute and national broadcaster DR, focusing on four mega-cities that faced extreme problems, sought out and gave recognition to inspired visions for an urban future. Of the four cities dealt with in Cities on Speed, the most incredible story of transformation comes from Colombia. Bogotà Change tells the tale of two unorthodox politicians, Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa, whose successive mayoralties transformed the Colombian capital from a city plagued by crime, poverty and corruption to one of social equality and relative harmony. The political metamorphosis in the place once dubbed 'the worst city on the planet' was, bizarrely enough, when Mockus pulled down his trousers and mooned 2000 students who were booing and insulting him. He was chancellor of the university at the time and was soon forced to resign-though remarkably this action became a symbol of his candor, which was seen as part and parcel of a larger integrity. Within a few months he was running to become the first independent mayor in Bogotà's history. Campaigning in spandex 'super-citizen' suits, he won. Immediately, he put into action a behavioral philosophy that turned Bogot

The JED Collective The Justice, Ecology and Democracy Collective (JED) is home to a community of organizers, parents, cultural workers, farmers and healers who share a commitment to living in mutually-supportive community, building self-reliance and cooperation, and working in diverse ways toward social and economic justice, ecological health, and a culture of solidarity and care.  Since 2001, we have been sinking our roots into the land, working toward our long-term vision of a cooperative community, an organic farm and orchard, and an education, retreat and resource center to support work for social change in Maine and beyond.

The Community Economies Collective is an ongoing collaboration between academic and community researchers and activists in Australia, North America, Europe and South East Asia. The goal of the Collective is to theorize, discuss, represent and ultimately enact new visions of economy. By making multiple forms of economic life viable options for action, the Collective aims to open the economy to ethical debate and provide a space within which to explore different economic practices and pathways. The project grew out of J.K. Gibson-Graham's feminist critique of political economy that focused upon the limiting effects of representing economies as dominantly capitalist. Central to the project is the idea that economies are always diverse and always in the process of becoming. This project developed as a way of documenting the multiple ways in which people are making economies of difference and in the process realizing their interdependence with others. Our work aims to produce a more inclusive understanding of economy highlight the extent and contribution of hidden and alternative economies theorize economy and community as sites of becoming build sustainable non-capitalist economic alternatives foster ethical economic experimentation engender collaborations between activists, academics and communities This website includes information on who we are, how we are rethinking the economy outside of a capitalocentric discourse, and on our research projects that are enacting diverse and ethical economies. The website also includes resources for academic and community researchers and activists involved in revisioning economic futures, including academic papers and stories of practical interventions in particular places. The Community Economies website is our contribution to an ongoing conversation about economic futures that put justice and sustainability first.   "This could be what a conversation is-simply the outline of a becoming." (Deleuze, Dialogues, p.2)

Um Nobel de Economia explica Occupy Wall StreetBY ADMIN - 08/11/2011POSTED IN: DESTAQUES Para Joseph Stiglitz, movimento quer pouco, em termos econômicos. Mas reivindica democracia não-controlada pelo dinheiro - por isso é revolucionário Por Joseph Stiglitz | Tradução: Antonio Martins O movimento de protesto que começou na Tunísia em janeiro e se espalhou em seguida para o Egito e a Espanha tornou-se agora global. Os protestos abraçaram Wall Street e dezenas de cidades nos Estados Unidos. A globalização e as novas tecnologias permitem aos movimentos sociais vencer fronteiras tão rapidamente quanto as ideias. E os protestos sociais encontraram terreno fértil em toda a parte. Um sentimento de que "o sistema" faliu, e a convicção de que, mesmo nas democracias, o processo eleitoral não é suficiente - ao menos, sem forte pressão das ruas. Em maio, estive no local onde se deram protestos, na Tunísia. Em julho, falei para os indignados da Espanha. De lá, fou ao Cairo, encontrar os jovens revolucionários na Praça Tahrir. Há algumas semanas, falei com o pessoal do Occupy Wall Street, em Nova York [foto]. Uma frase simples, criada por eles, expressa um pensamento comum: "Somos 99%". O slogan ecoa no título de um artigo que recentemente publiquei: "Do 1%, para o 1% e pelo 1%". Ele descreve o enorme aumento de desigualdade nos Estados Unidos, onde 1% da população controla mais de 40% da riqueza e recebe mais de 20% da renda. E os que pertencem a este grupo rarefeito são frequentemente remunerados, de forma extravagante, não por terem contribuído para a sociedade, mas porque são, para dizer de forma franca, bem-sucedidos (e às vezes corruptos) caçadores de rendas alheias. Esta afirmação não nega que alguns entre o 1% tenha feito contribuições importantes à sociedade. Na verdade, os benefícios sociais de algumas inovações reais (ao contrário dos "produtos" financeiros que acabaram desencadeando destruição na econo

The Occupy Movement vs. The Tea Party Posted on October 19th, 2011 by The Public Professor Why is it that the Tea Party, an American movement founded nearly three years ago, seems completely incapable of reaching beyond U.S. borders, while Occupy Wall Street is an American movement that transformed into a genuine international phenomenon within just a matter of weeks? If we can manage to avoid partisan accusations and snide quips, an honest assessment reveals core similarities between the Tea Party and Occupy.  Both have emerged as genuine social protest movements.  Both are concerned with the current economic malaise.  Both vent their anger at powerful institutions.  And both became tremendously successful, garnering millions of supporters in a relatively brief period of time.  Yet one has remained an exclusively American movement, while the other is quickly spreading around the entire world. One obvious explanation is the symbols and framing devices adopted by the Tea Party movement, beginning with its very name.  The Tea Party has proudly draped itself in American symbolism, which of course limits its appeal elsewhere.  But that cannot explain it completely. Symbols are flexible.  People can adapt.  A genuine anti-government movement will hop borders.  Just look at the Arab Spring. What's more, the Tea Party's initial focus had the potential to be an international draw.  Indeed, some of the issues driving the Tea Party are quite similar to the ones fueling the Occupy movement, particularly rage against the economic mess.  People elsewhere in the world could have adopted the Tea Party movement and refashioned it with their own national or even international symbolism.  Greece in particular is a nation where citizens have very real reasons to be outraged at their government's irresponsible economic policies. But unlike the Arab Spring, the Tea Party anti-government movement has not crossed any national borders, and it almost certainly never will.

THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT AND THE NATURE OF COMMUNITY by Akim Reinhardt I'm currently at work on a book about the decline of community in America.  I won't go into much detail here, but the basic premise is that, barring a few possible exceptions, there are no longer any actual communities in the United States.  At least, not the kinds that humans have lived in for thousands of years, which are small enough for everyone to more or less know everyone else, where members have very real mutual obligations and responsibilities to each other, and people are expected to follow rules or face the consequences. One of the fun things about the project has been that people tend to have a strong reaction to my claim that most Americans don't live in real communities anymore.  Typically they either agree knowingly or strongly deny it, and I've been fortunate to have many wonderful conversations as a result.  But for argument's sake, let's just accept the premise for a moment. Because if we do, it can offer some very interesting insights into the nature of the Occupy movement that is currently sweeping across America and indeed much of the world. One of the critiques that has been made of the Occupy movement, sometimes genuinely and thoughtfully but sometimes with mocking enmity, is that it still hasn't put forth a clear set of demands.  It's the notion that this movement doesn't have a strong leadership and/or is unfocused, and because of that it stands more as a generalized complaint than a productive program.  That while it might be cathartic and sympathetic amid the current economic crisis, the Occupy movement doesn't have a plan of attack for actually changing anything. While I disagree with that accusation for the most part, there is an element of truth in it.  However, to the extent that it holds water, the issue isn't that the people involved don't know what they want to do.  Rather, many of them know exactly what they want.  But they ar

#OccupyWallStreet has cracked open a little hole in history, creating a moment where some of the very core institutions of our economy are called into question. Along with indignation and outrage, there is a certain excitement in the air. Things that have been terrifyingly stuck seem to be moving. Something seems possible today that wasn't just a month ago. In this space, our conversations and our imaginations are buzzing. What are we doing? What should we do? What's coming next? In particular: as we condemn this economy built for the benefit of the 1%, what do we want in its place, and how will we build it?This text, grounded in several years of collective thinking and writing, is meant to be a contribution to this vibrant conversation. My basic premise is this: if we want to effectively envision and create alternatives to the economy of Wall Street, we need to re-think the very concept of "the economy" itself. We have inherited an economics that stifles our imaginations and dampens our collective sense of power and possibility. Only by telling new stories about what economies are (and might yet be) can we most effectively kindle the fires of our creative, transformative work to build new forms of livelihood

Occupy Wall Streeters are right about skewed economic rewards in the United States By Josh Bivens and Lawrence Mishel | October 26, 2011 The Occupy Wall Street movement has captured much the nation's attention with a clear message: A U.S. economy driven by the interests of business and the wealthy has generated increasingly unequal economic outcomes where the top 1 percent did exceptionally well but the vast majority did not do well at all. According to the data, they're fundamentally right. This paper presents 12 figures that demonstrate how skewed economic rewards (in income, wages, capital income, and wealth) have become in the United States. These figures, most of which cover 1979 through 2007 (prior to the recession) generally break out trends for the top 1 percent, the next richest 9 percent, and then the bottom 90 percent of households or earners. While income growth at the very top-the richest 1 percent and above-has been truly staggering, incomes at roughly the 90th percentile and above (the richest 10 percent) have generally at least matched the rate of economy-wide productivity. It is below the 90th percentile where one really sees the potential fruits of economic growth (as measured by economy-wide productivity) failing to reach American households. An economy that fails to cut in 90 percent of American households on a fair share of economic growth is one that needs serious reform. As the figures show: The top 1 percent of households have secured a very large share of all of the gains in income-59.9 percent of the gains from 1979-2007, while the top 0.1 percent seized an even more disproportionate share-36 percent. In comparison, only 8.6 percent of income gains have gone to the bottom 90 percent. The patterns are similar for wages and capital income. As they have accrued a large share of income gains, the incomes of the top 1 percent of households have pulled far away from the incomes of typical Americans. In 2007, average annual i

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O objetivo desta tese é desvelar a corrente da filosofia política normativa que fundamentaa economia solidária e os significados da centralidade atribuída ao Direito do Estado,pois com ambas informações é possível realizar um exercício analítico sobre a suacapacidade transformadora ou sua subsunção colonial. A análise toma como núcleode análise a obra de Paul Singer, compreendida pelos livros "A economia solidária noBrasil: autogestão como resposta ao desemprego" e "Introdução à economia solidária",além de artigos e textos publicados em periódicos e livros sob sua organização ou deoutrem. Nesses estudos, encontram-se enunciados pelo autor três grandes partes,blocos ou momentos que conformariam a economia solidária e que permitem arealização de um exercício analítico sobre o tema. O primeiro é para expor as origenshistóricas da economia solidária e demonstrar a sua fonte teórica e prática. O segundoé para aclarar como a economia solidária é (no tempo presente), pelo esmiuçar dassuas particularidades. O terceiro momento é para delinear como a economia solidáriadeveria ser (no futuro), para conformar o caminho que conduz à justiça. Para esteestudo, essas articulações analíticas acabaram por constituir o conjunto de problemasteóricos que, entrecruzados, permitiram formular a tese de que a economia solidáriase fundamenta na concepção política liberal-igualitária e que sua institucionalizaçãoestá voltada a confortar com políticas assistenciais os indivíduos desempregadoscircunstanciais e autônomos permanentes, que estão sob os efeitos da colonialidade,em especial, da colonialidade do pode