With the world watching, and over 300,000 names on a petition to stop it, the planned 'cleanup' of Zuccotti Park, formerly called Liberty Plaza Park, has been halted. The cleanup, which had been ordered by Mayor Bloomberg and was to have involved the 'muscle' of the NYPD, was to have taken place at 7 this morning; In a a pretty transparent attempt to end the occupation, the protestors had been told that after the cleanup, they would not be allowed to bring back sleeping bags, tents, etc.
As reported by occupywallstreet.org, more than 3,000 people gathered at Liberty Plaza in the pre-dawn hours this morning to defend the peaceful Occupation near Wall Street. The crowd cheered at the news that multinational real estate firm Brookfield Properties will postpone its so-called “cleanup” of the park and that Mayor Bloomberg has told the NYPD to stand down on orders to remove protesters. On the eve of the October 15 global day of action against Wall Street greed, this development has emboldened the movement and sent a clear message that the power of the people has prevailed against Wall Street.
The world continues to watch.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
What the Occupy Movement Means for Canada
There is a surprisingly good article (but only online, I think) in the Globe and Mail by an economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Armine Yalnizyan, who offers an interesting assessment of the Occupation Movement.
These are a few of the facts the article brings forth:
Raise the top tax rate by 3 per cent on those making over $250,000 -- a round number which marks the entry gate for the fabled 1 per cent - - and, at 32 per cent, you’d still pay less than the 33 per cent rate in the U.S. at that income level. It would raise about $2-billion, the federal share of, say, a national child-care program.
A 35 per cent tax bracket for Canadians whose income is higher than $750,000 -- the U.S. top rate, except there it’s applied on incomes above $373,650 -- would yield $1.2-billion. Over a decade, that could pay for the federal share of fixing drinking-water and waste-water infrastructure across Canada.
Realistically, however, such is not going to happen in the near future. As Yalnizan points out:
But governments are increasingly tangled up in elite interests. The latest example is Finance Minister Jim Flaherty‘s drive to marshall support to scuttle a proposed financial transactions tax, a mechanism that could help slow down the wild gyrations of the stock market we’ve witnessed of late. Flaherty and other G20 finance ministers will be meeting in Paris just as thousands of Canadians gather to Occupy Toronto on Bay Street. He will be protecting certain interests, just not those of the majority of Canadians.
And that will likely remain the status quo, unless and until enough of us join the movement to make both our voices, and our outrage, heard.
These are a few of the facts the article brings forth:
Raise the top tax rate by 3 per cent on those making over $250,000 -- a round number which marks the entry gate for the fabled 1 per cent - - and, at 32 per cent, you’d still pay less than the 33 per cent rate in the U.S. at that income level. It would raise about $2-billion, the federal share of, say, a national child-care program.
A 35 per cent tax bracket for Canadians whose income is higher than $750,000 -- the U.S. top rate, except there it’s applied on incomes above $373,650 -- would yield $1.2-billion. Over a decade, that could pay for the federal share of fixing drinking-water and waste-water infrastructure across Canada.
Realistically, however, such is not going to happen in the near future. As Yalnizan points out:
But governments are increasingly tangled up in elite interests. The latest example is Finance Minister Jim Flaherty‘s drive to marshall support to scuttle a proposed financial transactions tax, a mechanism that could help slow down the wild gyrations of the stock market we’ve witnessed of late. Flaherty and other G20 finance ministers will be meeting in Paris just as thousands of Canadians gather to Occupy Toronto on Bay Street. He will be protecting certain interests, just not those of the majority of Canadians.
And that will likely remain the status quo, unless and until enough of us join the movement to make both our voices, and our outrage, heard.
Mississauga Bans Shark Fin Products
Say what you will about Mississauga and their errant mayor, but on Wednesday its municipal council did the right thing. Despite those who urged caution, the council voted to implement a ban on the possession and sale of shark fin products, now joining the Canadian cities of Brantford and Oakville, and the State of California, in taking a stand against this barbaric practice. As well, Toronto will soon be considering implementing the same measure.
Meanwhile, my letter to the Hamilton City Council of August 23 requesting such a ban continues to go unanswered. Hardly surprising, in that it is not one of the more progressive municipalities in Ontario.
Meanwhile, my letter to the Hamilton City Council of August 23 requesting such a ban continues to go unanswered. Hardly surprising, in that it is not one of the more progressive municipalities in Ontario.
The Truth About The Garda Screeners' Dispute At Pearson Airport
While the mainstream media has uniformly reported that the job action delaying so many passengers recently at Pearson International is over scheduling conflicts, to my knowledge only one source has actually reported the nature of that conflict.
The Toronto Star's Thomas Walkom yesterday reported the following:
A few months ago [Garda, the screeners' employer] tried to cut costs by replacing better-paid full-time workers with part-timers.
Garda now wants its workers to bid against each in order to keep down the wage differentials it pays those who do the worst shifts.
Shift-bidding, as it is called, strikes directly at the heart of unions. It allows the employer to pit one worker against another in a search for the most desperate.
So in other words, to increase its profits, Garda, in an apparent violation of the collective agreement it has with its workers, is trying to get those workers to offer their security services cheaper than their fellow workers.
Why has the MSM withheld this information from the public?
Do we really want to entrust our flying security to a company that shows such contempt for its employees?
The Toronto Star's Thomas Walkom yesterday reported the following:
A few months ago [Garda, the screeners' employer] tried to cut costs by replacing better-paid full-time workers with part-timers.
Garda now wants its workers to bid against each in order to keep down the wage differentials it pays those who do the worst shifts.
Shift-bidding, as it is called, strikes directly at the heart of unions. It allows the employer to pit one worker against another in a search for the most desperate.
So in other words, to increase its profits, Garda, in an apparent violation of the collective agreement it has with its workers, is trying to get those workers to offer their security services cheaper than their fellow workers.
Why has the MSM withheld this information from the public?
Do we really want to entrust our flying security to a company that shows such contempt for its employees?
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Gerald Caplan Writes on The Occupy Wall Street Movement
In an online article entitled This is what democracy looks like: Occupying Wall Street and Bay Street, Gerald Caplan and Amanda Gryzyb discuss why the occupation movement is a healthy expression of the people, and address some of the inequities that will surely help focus its Canadian incarnation beginning on October 15: vast social inequities, climate change, rising unemployment, precarious jobs, the lack of upward social mobility and the egregious corporate influence over government.
More specifically in Canada, some dismaying facts about life here are as follows:
The youth unemployment rate is 17.2 per cent. An increasing number of Canadians – young and old – are precariously employed or underemployed, without benefits and without job security.
The poverty rate in Canada is over 10 per cent, and one in seven children live in poverty.
Our homeless shelters are over capacity and our food banks face constant shortages.
Tuitions at Canadian universities are rising, and graduating students are debilitated by student loan debt.
A nation of such wealth simply should not have such glaring social inequities.
Let's hope for a good turnout on Saturday.
More specifically in Canada, some dismaying facts about life here are as follows:
The youth unemployment rate is 17.2 per cent. An increasing number of Canadians – young and old – are precariously employed or underemployed, without benefits and without job security.
The poverty rate in Canada is over 10 per cent, and one in seven children live in poverty.
Our homeless shelters are over capacity and our food banks face constant shortages.
Tuitions at Canadian universities are rising, and graduating students are debilitated by student loan debt.
A nation of such wealth simply should not have such glaring social inequities.
Let's hope for a good turnout on Saturday.
Peel Police: Where Racial Profiling Goes By Another Name.
And that name appears to be 'rookie mistake.' At least that is what the force is claiming in its 'apology' to Isaac Williams, a 60-year-old who emigrated from Jamaica in 1972 and who, despite having received a heart transplant, is apparently youthful enough to pass for the 20-year-old black suspect wanted for a break-and-enter. That suspect was also described as being 6 inches shorter than Williams. Despite those facts, the Peel Police, in a typical cover-its-ass institutional response, deny that any racial profiling was involved.
The full story and a video with the wronged man is available here.
The full story and a video with the wronged man is available here.
My CBC Letter of Complaint About Kevin O'Leary
For anyone who might be interested, here is the letter of complaint I sent off by snail-mail (not as easily ignored as email, at least that's my thinking) yesterday to the CBC about Kevin O'Leary and his disgraceful treatment of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Chris Hedges:
To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing to express my strong disapproval of Kevin O'Leary's insulting 'interview' with the well-respected writer and journalist Chris Hedges on a recent Lang and O'Leary Exchange. In referring to Mr. Hedges as a 'nutbar' and employing a general tone of sarcasm throughout the segment, O'Leary not only disgraced himself but seriously tarnished the reputation of the CBC, which at one time enjoyed world-wide acclaim for the quality of its programming. To allow one of your employees to resort to ad hominems as a substitute for reasoned discussion is inexcusable, and is a sad extension of the Corporation's unwillingness to demand an apology from O'Leary for his racist statement earlier this year about “Indian givers.”
I suspect the ongoing decline of the CBC's journalistic integrity stems from your desire to placate the Harper government and its right-wing adherents. History teaches us that such efforts at appeasement rarely yield the results intended, but rather exacerbate and accelerate the deterioration of the placating body. I also suspect you will find declining support for organizations such as Friends of the CBC, since the distinctive role the Corporation once played in Canada is quickly becoming just a memory.
It is perhaps ironic that in substituting invective for reasoned discussion in his Hedges' 'interview,' O'Leary was exemplifying the thesis of Hedges' book, The Death of the Liberal Class, which posits that the traditional challenges to the power elite's excesses no longer exist, as unions, the church, educational institutions, the media, etc. have abdicated that role in favour of ensconcing themselves within the power structure.
As a long-time supporter of the CBC, it is a harsh truth that I wish our national broadcaster had proven the exception to.
Sincerely,
Lorne Warwick
For those interesting in registering a complaint, both the snail-mail and website contact information is listed below:
Audience Relations, CBC
P.O. Box 500 Station A
Toronto, ON
Canada, M5W 1E6
http://www.cbc.ca/contact/
To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing to express my strong disapproval of Kevin O'Leary's insulting 'interview' with the well-respected writer and journalist Chris Hedges on a recent Lang and O'Leary Exchange. In referring to Mr. Hedges as a 'nutbar' and employing a general tone of sarcasm throughout the segment, O'Leary not only disgraced himself but seriously tarnished the reputation of the CBC, which at one time enjoyed world-wide acclaim for the quality of its programming. To allow one of your employees to resort to ad hominems as a substitute for reasoned discussion is inexcusable, and is a sad extension of the Corporation's unwillingness to demand an apology from O'Leary for his racist statement earlier this year about “Indian givers.”
I suspect the ongoing decline of the CBC's journalistic integrity stems from your desire to placate the Harper government and its right-wing adherents. History teaches us that such efforts at appeasement rarely yield the results intended, but rather exacerbate and accelerate the deterioration of the placating body. I also suspect you will find declining support for organizations such as Friends of the CBC, since the distinctive role the Corporation once played in Canada is quickly becoming just a memory.
It is perhaps ironic that in substituting invective for reasoned discussion in his Hedges' 'interview,' O'Leary was exemplifying the thesis of Hedges' book, The Death of the Liberal Class, which posits that the traditional challenges to the power elite's excesses no longer exist, as unions, the church, educational institutions, the media, etc. have abdicated that role in favour of ensconcing themselves within the power structure.
As a long-time supporter of the CBC, it is a harsh truth that I wish our national broadcaster had proven the exception to.
Sincerely,
Lorne Warwick
For those interesting in registering a complaint, both the snail-mail and website contact information is listed below:
Audience Relations, CBC
P.O. Box 500 Station A
Toronto, ON
Canada, M5W 1E6
http://www.cbc.ca/contact/
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