The “Occupied Wall Street Journal”

The Occupy Wall Street protest group recently published the first edition of its newspaper, a four-page broadsheet called The Occupied Wall Street Journal. Didn’t manage to snag your own copy? No problem. Here’s a PDF file where you can take a look at it.

Update, 10/25/11: There’s now an official website where you can read The Occupied Wall Street Journal: occupiedmedia.org.

Update, 10/21/11: The Occupied Wall Street Journal issue 3 is now out.

Update, 10/9/11: The Occupied Wall Street Journal issue 2 is now out. You can still read issue 1 here on this page.

Update, 10/7/11: Previously I had posted a low-quality PDF made from photographing the paper. There’s now a cleaner, easier-to-read version available, so I updated this post to feature that document instead. You can see it below or download it from Scribd.

Another update: Just to be clear, I didn’t create this newspaper or have any involvement in the project.

Caveat: This is not a production-quality file. I made it by photographing a copy of the paper I picked up myself on October 1 (the day the paper came out). I wanted to share it with people, and was disappointed I couldn’t find it online. I realize some of the seams don’t line up, but everything in the paper should be legible enough to read.

My interest in this protest is simple. I live and work in Lower Manhattan, and I feel like it’s important to follow community events in my own neighborhood. Every day, I walk past the protest encampment at Zuccotti Park (a private park which locals and protestors generally call by its old name, Liberty Plaza). The demonstrators first appeared Saturday, September 17, and are still there as of this writing. Sometimes I take photos or videos of what I see and share them online. I am not part of the protest, but I think this is a legitimate group that deserves to be heard. I also keep wondering how it will end.

* * * *

The Occupied Wall Street Journal newspaper was funded by donations collected through Kickstarter. Since this is a writing blog, we have to ask if this paper is any good. My answer is yes. It looks professional enough to pass for a real community newspaper, which of course it is. I gave it a quick read and didn’t see any serious typos.

The quality of the content isn’t uniformly excellent, but some of the articles are well argued and enjoyable to read. The best written piece is under the front-page headline: “The Revolution Begins at Home.” It’s signed by Arun Gupta. There’s also an excellent introduction to the protest by Nathan Schneider called “Occupation for Dummies,” a version of which was originally published by The Nation. If you wonder what the protest is all about, these two stories will explain it to you in clear, persuasive language.

The passages in the newspaper that make the least sense to me are several comparisons to the Arab Spring protests. Some of those protests ended with the overthrow of governments. (If you need a primer on Arab Spring, the best source I’ve seen is this interactive timeline from The Guardian.) I don’t get a sense that Occupy Wall Street is about overthrowing the American government at all. And if it is, the General Assembly leadership needs to say so, so everybody’s clear what they’re signing up for when they unroll their sleeping bags.

* * * *

Also: The New York Times says the two main organizers of the Occupied Wall Street Journal newspaper are Arun Gupta and Jed Brandt, who also work on The Indypendent.

* * * *

Another update: Here’s a photo I shot of someone handing out copies of this newspaper on October 5 in Zuccotti Park/Liberty Plaza.

* * * *

Read more: The Occupied Wall Street Journal, Issue 2.

— By Daryl Lang. Filed under News & Journalism, Politics

Ideas From the 99 Percent for Ending Corporate Personhood

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

IDEAS FROM THE 99 PERCENT. At the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement is an understanding that our political system has failed to address the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. Where our politicians and pundits have failed, Occupy Wall Street has succeeded in bringing issues like inequality, corporate ownership of politics and prolonged joblessness to the forefront of public debate. Yet, some still trivialize, criticize or attack the Occupy movement for lacking specific demands. They clearly miss the point of its message. And they aren’t paying attention.

To be sure, there’s no shortage of smart policy proposals to address the crises that beset us. As I’ve argued before, sane and humane policy solutions exist, such as those in the Congressional Progressive Caucus People’s Budget.

Our special forum in this week’s issue takes stock of some of those proposals. In “Ideas From the 99 Percent,” diverse voices, including William Grieder, Rinku Sen, Tamara Draut and Sarah Anderson offer concrete policy solutions—debt relief for struggling homeowners and students , fairer taxation policy and corporate governance rules, reducing interest rates on federal student loans, and instituting a financial transactions tax on Wall Street speculation. Be sure to read more about these and other ideas here.

WE THE PEOPLE. One very specific and concrete proposal that has caught on in Occupy encampments across the country: to introduce an amendment to the Constitution that would reverse the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United and limit the pernicious influence of corporate money in our political system. This is the central goal of the We the People Campaign launched this week with colleagues Jim Hightower and Jay Harris.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United opened the flood gates to corporate spending in elections. But it has inspired progressive groups to resist, organize and regain control of our democracy. For more, be sure to read the Huffington Post’s report on our efforts here. I also joined Jay Harris on Thom Hartmann’s The Big Picture this week to talk about the influence of corporations on current US politics. Ending corporate personhood—along with “clean money” reform featuring small donations and public funding—will help us liberate government from the grip of corporate power. Watch that here. And be sure to watch the campaign launch video below.

PAUL RYAN: CLASS WARRIOR FOR THE WEALTHY. As colleague Ari Berman notes this week, Congressman Paul Ryan revealed himself to be a first-rate demagogue and a class warrior for the wealthy when he declared during a speech at the Heritage Foundation that President Obama is “sowing social unrest and class resentment.”

In our cover story last week, Berman explained how Ryan—the architect of a draconian budget roadmap that would enact tax cuts for the wealthiest and at the same time increase the deficit—owes his rise to the so-called centrist deficit hawks in DC, who’ve helped validate his radical policy positions. I joined MSNBC’s The ED Show Thursday night at its new primetime slot at 8 pm to condemn Ryan’s inflammatory comments on Obama and his pandering to Washington’s “austerity class.”

AMERICA’S WILDEST SCHOOL BOARD RACE. “Big Money, Bad Media, Secret Agendas” sums up what DC correspondent John Nichols describes as America’s wildest school board race. On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell earlier this week, Denver school board candidate Emily Sirota argued that special-interest groups are taking advantage of loopholes in Colorado election law to funnel massive amounts of campaign cash to her opponent, and stack the Denver school board with pro-voucher, pro-privatization candidates.

THE OCCUPIED WALL STREET JOURNAL. If you’ve been to Zuccotti Park, you would have seen a broadsheet in circulation among occupiers and onlookers. The Occupied Wall Street Journal is no pamphlet or scrappy samizdat. It’s the official, professionally produced four-page newspaper of the occupation. And it’s now available online. The paper captures the beauty and power of Occupy Wall Street. And this piece by Jennifer Sacks offers an on-the-ground look at the indispensable People’s Library—a one-stop shop of literature for and about the occupation.

NATION CONVERSATIONS. Every week, The Nation brings you exclusive audio of Nation forums, events, seminars and salons with Nation writers and editors with in-depth discussions on hot button issues of the day. Whether you’re on-the-go or just lounging around at home, Nation Conversations is available as a podcast through iTunes or as a stand-alone MP3. Become a subscriber here or through the iTunes app store.

As always, thanks for reading. I’m on Twitter—@KatrinaNation.

White House Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline Planned for Sunday

By: Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers

Friday, Nov. 4, 2011--Washington--Thousands of people are expected to mass at the White House on Sunday to send an environmental message to President Barack Obama: Say no to a proposed pipeline that would import highly polluting oil from Canada.

It's likely to be the biggest environmental protest in Washington in a long time. Protests organizers, speaking at a press conference Friday, said the event is meant to show the president that they're passionate about cleaner energy and want Obama to take their side in the controversy over the pipeline and the source of the heavy crude oil, the tar sands of Alberta, Canada.

"We really, really believe in him," Maura Cowley, a leader of the Energy Action Coalition, a youth environmental movement, said of Obama. "But we're watching this very carefully because it's a symbol of President Obama's commitment to clean energy."

The environmentalists warn that they won't be able to turn out large numbers of voters for Obama in 2012 if he grants the pipeline permit.

"You win elections not because your hardcore supporters turn out, but because they get excited about what you're doing and they bring all their friends with them," said author Bill McKibben, who helped organize civil disobedience against the pipeline this summer. "In a sense, that's what's on offer here."

Obama should simply deny the permit, McKibben said, or at least order a fresh environmental review and delay a decision.

The proposed 1,661 mile-long pipeline from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast requires a presidential permit because it crosses the U.S.-Canada border.

TransCanada Corp., the company that wants to build the pipeline, has argued that its construction has economic and energy-security benefits. A study written for the company said that 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs would be created for two years.

Opponents want the president to stop the pipeline because of the risks of spills and of impact on global warming from tapping Canada's vast oil sands. The thick crude from the oil sands produces more heat-trapping carbon-dioxide emissions than regular oil because of the extra energy required in extracting and processing it.

The extra emissions from burning the oil would be the equivalent of the pollutants from 5 million cars or seven coal-fired power plants, according to the Sierra Club.

In addition, the pipeline would cross many rivers, including the Yellowstone in Montana, and the Ogallala aquifer and the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills in Nebraska. The Nebraska legislature is in a special session focused on concerns about the pipeline's route through that state.

TransCanada expects a decision on the permit by the end of the year, company spokesman Terry Cunha said Friday.

"But if there were a delay, the impact would be quite large. We're looking at a million-dollar-a-day impact," he said. Those costs would include the costs of warehousing equipment and paying for materials that wouldn't be used.

TransCanada has contracts with companies that produce the oil in Alberta and from the Bakken oilfield in the Dakotas, Montana and Saskatchewan. The contracts call for shipping the oil to the Texas refineries beginning in 2013. "If there's a delay, it could have an impact on our contracts," Cunha said.

Another argument by supporters is that the Keystone XL pipeline would increase the supply of oil from Canada, potentially reducing imports from less friendly oil-producing countries.

An environmental impact statement about the pipeline concluded that there would be no major environmental impact or effect on climate change. The study argued that the oil sands would be developed whether or not the pipeline is built, because other ways would be found to get the oil to market.

Building or expanding other pipelines, however, could be years off, according to pipeline opponents.

Two proposed pipelines to Canada's west coast and one to Maine face strong opposition in Canada, said Michael Marx, the director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Oil campaign.

Today nearly all of Canada's exports from its oil sands go to the United States, mostly through an existing Keystone pipeline system to the Midwest.

© 2011 McClatchy-Tribune Information Services 

 

Tell Republicans to Stop Subsidizing Big Oil

Big Oil companies have once again reported billions in profits while Republican lawmakers continue to demand $21 billion in tax breaks. Meanwhile, Big Oil contributes millions to Republican Senate candidates.

They stand up for each others’ interests while the rest of us suffer at the pump. Tell Republicans: Stop sending our money to oil corporations in the form of huge tax breaks.