Students and Community Protest Columbia Worker Death

Michael Schwartz for New York Daily News

Scene at W. 131st St. construction site where one worker was fatally injured and two were hurt badly on March 22.

THE TRAGIC death of a hardhat who was demolishing a building owned by Columbia University came after the school and its contractors racked up a slew of safety complaints, the Daily News has found.

The Ivy League institution has been hit with 59 code violations and has been forced to shut down work 13 times since launching its controversial campus expansion two years ago, building records show.

The complaints were spread across the 64 properties located on the 17-acre site, which runs from 125th to 133rd Sts., and between 12th Ave. and Broadway.

Workers were flagged for everything from improperly removing fire sprinklers to blocking fire exits and failing to shore up listing walls, the records show.

In fact, as city inspectors picked through the ruins of the warehouse on W. 131st St. where 69-year-old Juan Ruiz was killed Thursday, a tipster warned that a wall on another Columbia-owned building a block away was close to giving way, The News has learned.

Columbia spokeswoman Victoria Benitez declined to discuss the deadly collapse or the prior violations, citing the ongoing Buildings Department probe.

“Their official determination of the facts is an essential step in the process,” she said.

Ruiz — and the two workers who survived the building collapse — were employed by Breeze National, a Brooklyn-based outfit that was headed for years by Luchese crime family associate Toby Romano. Breeze officials say his son now runs the company.

City inspectors suspect the collapse was caused when a worker sliced through a support beam.

Breeze, however, said that horizontal beam was spliced to another beam. And it was the bolts connecting the two pieces that failed.

Ruiz was the second worker to die during construction of Columbia’s new $6.4 billion campus.

Jozef Wilk, a 51-year-old Polish immigrant who also worked for Breeze, fell to his death while demolishing another Columbia-owned building on Broadway.

King Range, 60, and Sakim Kirby, 30, the two workers who survived the collapse that killed Ruiz, were both in stable condition at St. Luke’s Hospital.

Kirby’s dad said his son is in a lot of pain.

“It’s surreal,” he said. “I want to know what happened and who is responsible for what happened to my son.”

With Henrick Karoliszyn

gsmith@nydailynews.com

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From NYDailyNews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/columbia-hit-59-code-violations-campus-expansion-article-1.1050136#ixzz1qBeWAitZ

Prison Protest: Occupy 4 Prisoners

 Photos from the Prison Protest from Marina Ortiz.

Pho

1 Abolish unjust sentences, such as the death penalty, life without the possibility of Parole, three strikes, juvenile life without parole and the practice of trying children as adults.

2. Standing in solidarity with movements initiated by prisoners and to act to support the demands of prisoner, including Georgia prison strike and the hunger strike of prisoners at Pelican Bay of California.
3 Release the political prisoners, such as Oscal Lopes Rivera, Norberto González Claudio and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

4 Demanding an end to the repression of activists, specifically attacks against African-Americans and latinos and those with histories of incarceration, such as Khali in Oakland take who now could face a life sentence for false charges and many other being falsely accused then only exercise their first amendment rights.

OCCUPY HARLEM NEW PERMANANT HOME

TONIGHT: OPEN HOUSE FOR OCCUPY HARLEM
Friday, February 17, 2012 from 5:30 PM to 7 PM.
Mt Calvary United Methodist Church
116 Edgecome Avenue @140th Street

Occupy Harlem, one of the few if not only, Black led occupy movement
in New York City recently finalized arrangements for a permanent
meeting space for Occupy Harlem GA at Mt. Calvary United Methodist
Church in Central Harlem.

We want to share our good news with youand we apologize for the last
minute notice but drop in to see us this evening, Friday, February 17,
2012 from 5:30 PM to 7 PM.

This is not a regular scheduled meeting  but this evening we hope to
solicit from you and others ideas for programs, directions actions,
goals, and strategies.

Direction: Take the C or B train to 135th Street/St. Nicholas Avenue.
Edgecome runs parallel to St. Nicholas at 135th Street (veer right at
Bread and Roses High School). Take 2 or 3 train to 135th Street

SAVE THE DATE: OCCUPY HARLEM NEXT GA
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 6 to 9 PM
*Guest Speakers include Glen Ford, Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report
" Gentrification and Redistricting in Harlem"
"Building the Stop Stop and Frisk Movement Locally/Nationally"

*The chickens have finally come home to roost in Harlem. After decades
of selling out Harlem to New York City's poweful real estate industry
local Black politicans have succeeded in destroying their own
political base. None more than Harlem's famous Black congressional
disrict that sweep Adam Clayton Powell Jr. into national prominence.
In all probability the historic Black seat hasl cease to hold its
Black majority  political base because of  population loss.Don't miss
this powerful analysis that has national implications. Direct Action
proposal for this coming Spring: Anti-gentrification protest rally
across 125th and Occupy New York State Division of Housing and Home
Renewal: a state regulatory agency in the pocket of the real estate
industry.

The Stop Stop and Frisk campaign is building in momentum, particularly
among Black students. Carl Dix will join us to discuss upping the ante
in militancy and strategic objectives.

Nellie Bailey,
646-812-5188
Email:occupyharlemgeneralassembly@gmail.com

Demonstrate on Feb 4 against Racial Hysteria Promoted by Republicans

There will be a demonstration at 122 East 83rd Street, on 4 February 2011 at 1:30pm.  This demonstration will be held because of the consistent appeals to Racial Hysteria made by the leading 2 of the leading candidates for the Republican Nomination, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.  Ron Paul shares in this attempt to fan the flames of racial hatred by his Newsletter, and what may be worse - Mitt Romney has stood on the podium while these comments are made and says nothing, yet he feels he's qualified to lead a nation. This demonstration is being held to show our disgust and rejection of those that would use our election to stigmatize an entire race of people. It is an American demonstration against Hate.  We invite all Americans regardless of party affiliation or racial or ethnic background to participate in this demonstration to show that this is not Nazi Germany or the Old American South, and that we will not let certain Wealthy Elites take what should be an arena to contest opposing political and economic ideas and turn it into a Cockfight based on attempt to arouse hatred.

    The P.O.C for this demonstration is:

        Robert C Gumbs

        Co-Chairman of the Community Church's Anti-Racism Committee

        Chief Executive Officer of the Concerned Forum

        Phone Number: 212-234-2316

        Email:                  oedipus000@yahoo.com

Nellie Hester Bailey Replies to Gloria Dulan Wilson

Greetings all,
It's a shame Gloria shows not a modicum of respect for herself, a supposed journalist no less! Therein lies the problem. Die hard supporters of Obama tolerate no critique, analysis or calls to hold Obama accountable for ANYTHING including his lies and betrayals to the people, most of all to his core Black base! The Prez's message is clear, "Give me your votes but not your pain."

 In fact reactionary cultural Black nationalists like Gloria straddle the fence loving Obama while hating whitey. They want us to believe the US plutocracy (white ruling class) amassed a 1 billion dollars campaign chest to elect Obama so he would serve the interest of Black people, the poor and working class. The delusions of these reactionary Black nationalists range from "Obama gave Black folks a wink and a nod message" to  "Michelle will set him straight" defies reality and indicates a profound psychosis within Obama's Black America. 

Gloria is the perfect dupe! Her hysterical rants and raves tolerate no room for dissent, no room for protest, no room for civil discourse, no room for democratic principles in a supposed democracy and presumably she has no regard for nation states that are victims of US resource wars, occupations and "shock and awe" military aggression. Clearly this woman has no understanding of who is behind  the occupation of Haiti! Does she believe Obama's appointment of Clinton favors the interest of Haitians earning two dollars a day?

 Does Gloria believe Obama's HUD turning over ownership of Grant Public Housing to Citigroups (the third largest bank in the US) favors Black renters in Harlem? Is Gloria so out of touch underneath the rock she lives that Obama's HUD awarding millions in federal funds to Harlem charter school  kingpin Geoffrey Canada to build the Promise Academy charter school on the grounds of St. Nicholas Public Housing Project  is not distressing news? Does she not understand the escalating pace of this administration's privatization of public housing and public education? Gloria apparently has no knowledge of hedge fund millionaire Stanley Druckenmiller's position as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Harlem Children's Zone or that Goldman Sachs on the same board. Harlem now the silicon valley of charter schools is part and parcel of a nationwide movement financed by Wall Street bankers, the same Wall Street that got a whopping 16 trillion dollars bailout courtesy of the Obama administration.

 Instead this so called journalist would have us focus our attention on the powerless Black managerial class of Harlem now stripped of any pretense of influence with the humiliating demotion of Rangel, a faith servant of the white ruling class who forgot his place! Gloria and other dupes of her ilk haven't an inkling of Wall Street's dominance and control over Harlem. Wall Street that now owns Carver Federal Savings Bank, no longer the oldest Black Bank, no longer Black owned having met its fate after being placed in federal receivership. And you who how much Wall Street coughed up, a lousy five million dollars bailout!

For years white media pundits, racists and do good liberals excoriated Black people for their "unfounded"  paranoia: "the government is out to get us",  "they want to put us in concentration camps",  "they are building concentration camps" etc.  But not a peep from these folks after Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.

According to the ACLU, " the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),authorizeS the president to send the military literally anywhere in the world to imprison civilians without charge or trial, based on suspicion alone. The power is so sweeping that the president would be able to direct the military to use its powers within the United States itself, and even lock up American citizens without charge or trial.No corner of the world, not even your own home, would be off-limits to the military. And there is no exception for American citizens. Section 1031 — one of the indefinite detention provisions — of the Senate-approved version of the NDAA has no limitations whatsoever based on geography, duration or citizenship. And the entire Senate bill was drafted in secret, with no hearing, and with committee votes behind closed doors."

And of course the bitter irony for blind Obama supporters is that any sitting President including right wing Republican can now authorize NDAA!! We should all applaud the white man Chris Hedges for suing Obama and Leon Panetta. But leave it to Gloria and company to mound a "racist" attack against Hedges!

In fact, upon reflection, Gloria has effectively destroyed any credentials she held as a journalist. But she is our sister, and we have to struggle through this Obama madness with love and humanity for one another and the world! I know that history will absolve those who took courageous stands of dissent and protest in the path of many who went before us including MLK.  King admonished the nation to judge a man not by the color of his skin but the content of his character, THIS DOES NOT EXCLUDE OBAMA!
Many thanks to those who have supported our work throughout the years!

And finally let us all applaud, as rare as it is, supporters of Obama who do not fear debate and dissent from those who want to suppress healthy public discourse. Much is made of the legitimate fears of Black who see the rise of white fascism in the Republican party, a reality that never abated. It was Ronald Reagan who opened his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi where the murder of three civil rights workers took place. But it was President Bill Clinton who put more Black people in prison than Reagan, the key strategy of the Democratic Party to win back defected "dixiecrats".Essentially, the point being, there is no discernable difference between the Democratic and Republican parties, both owned lock and stock and barrel by Wall Street. I don't presume to tell anyone whom to vote for, but I do encourage political education and awareness through all sources including dissent, protest and critical analysis.


Nellie Bailey, Occupy Harlem

On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 11:45 PM, Makemba X <makemba007@hotmail.com> wrote:

It is ashame that Gloria doesn't show the same respect for people who DO NOT SUPPORT OBAMA, because she sends her unsolicited pro-OBAMA sentiment all over the place and has repeatedly sent that nonsense to me, even though I have asked her not to do so.    It seems that part of the scheme to get Obama is reelected is for Obama-ites to shamelessly spam people!

And gee, instead of Gloria telling you that you need for Obama to back you up, why doesn't she look at who Obama tends to hang with when he does come near Harlem.   I remember when he was campaigning he made a point of visiting Bloomberg.   And then the last time that I heard he was in Harlem was at some so called fund raiser, that cost several thousands of dollars.

I am not going to support some war mongoring, anti reparationist, imperialist invader no matter who that person is, and no matter his color.   And I certainly would have been in Harlem tonight with Nellie, protesting Obama's utter betrayal of the American public via the NDAA, but personal issues did not allow it.

Lisa V. Davis

---

Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:08:02 -0400
From: occupyharlemgeneralassembly@gmail.com
To: gloriadulanwilson@gmail.com
CC: theblacklist-request@lists.riseup.net; theblacklist@lists.riseup.net

Subject: [TheBlackList] Re: Will remove you from email list

Gloria, You are a journalist so I sent you the info. Will remove your name from our email list. Dissent and free speech are cornerstones of US "democracy" a principle often times acknowledged by Obama. In addition Obama has repeatedly admonished his supporters to hold him accountable.  Protest is one venue to do that! Peace.  Nellie

On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Gloria Dulan-Wilson <gloriadulanwilson@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Nettie:

 

You are hereby blocked from sending me any more emails.  As I have warned you and all others in the past, I will not countenance any anti-Obama mail - period.

 

I AM FORWARDING THIS BACK TO THE BLACKLIST AS WELL BECAUSE I AM NOT CIRCULATING ANYTHING THAT ADVOCATES DEMONSTRATING AGAINS PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA.

 

You wanna occupy harlem you need to deal with those individuals within Harlem that have sold Harlem out - long before Obama even considered running for president.

 

You have your sites set in the wrong direction on the wrong target, and while you're doing that, Harlem is being stolen from right under our very noses, and going to hell in a handbasket.

 

You need Obama to back you up; so stop trying to tear him down.  Deal with those characters who are right there within arms reach that you appear to be afraid to confront.  President Obama is a "safe" target and a scapegoat for those who are not willing to really take a stand for the gentrification and ethnic cleansing that is happening in your community.

 

Ask yourself who owns Harlem.  and if cannot see your name on a condo, co-op, brownstone, or house - ask yourself why?

 

Ask yourself what is happening to the BLACK businesses in Harlem? 

 

Get Real -

Get to the heart of the issue

Get off Obama's back and back him up, before all Harlem is back on someone's plantation somewhere, because were too focused on divide and conquer b.s. issues to deal with who's really back of all this crap.

 

Stay Blessed &

ECLECTICALLY BLACK

Gloria Dulan-Wilson

STAY BLESSED

Cynthia Mckinney Reports from Seattle

Most people know about being "Sleepless in Seattle."  Well, I am "snowed in in Seattle!"  But even six inches of snow in Seattle don't keep me from becoming steamed when I read the latest news reports on the activities of the U.S. war machine:

At a time when U.S.-Iran tensions are the highest I have experienced in my lifetime, Danger Room of wired.com breaks a news story on 19 January 2012 that a new United States commando special operations team is operating near Iran.  Meanwhile, a columnist in Lebanon's "The Daily Star" newspaper writes that Syria increasingly looks like Libya.  And at the same time, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta admits in a press conference that he believes that the annual number of sexual assaults in the U.S. military could number as high as 19,000.  This is from the Administration that shamefully accused the Libyan Jahamiriya military of issuing Viagra to its soldiers and using rape as a weapon.  And finally, coming hot on the heels of an Algeria-ISP report that that the Obama Administration offered to reconstitute the Libyan military, forming desert troops, special forces, and a Libyan air force, tunisiefocus.com reports reports that U.S. troops are already in Libya, in Brega, Ras Lanouf, and Sirte, in order to secure Libyan oil for western markets at a very cheap price.  Further, these reports indicate that US troops are at Mitiga Air Base east of Tripoli and that NATO helicopters and war planes fly over Libyan towns, surveilling everything including parties held by Libyans (http://www.algeria-isp.com/videos/politique-libye/201201-V1682/libye-video-voir-helicoptere-otan-janvier-2012.html) and that drones launched from a secret base in the Libyan desert surveille Libya and neighboring countries:  http://www.algeria-isp.com/actualites/politique-libye/201112-A7555/libye-une-base-militaire-secrete-americaine-francaise-libye-katroune-video-voir-decembre-2011.html.

Last week, I reported on numerous reports that I had read indicating that U.S. troops were on the island of Malta waiting for the word to deploy to Libya.  If the above reports are correct, then it would appear that that word has been given.  Interestingly, the reports of U.S. troops were reported in several African, Libyan, and Russian online sites, yet there was no response from either Malta or the U.S.  In fact, the Russian site za-afriku.ru as late as 19 January 2012 wrote, "The administration of the United States still has not refuted a lot of messages in various MEDIA for the transfer of 12000 troops on Malta as a preliminary step to the further redeployment in Libya in order to control the deteriorating situation in the country."
I am pleased to report that both Malta and the U.S. Embassy in Malta,  while neglecting the many reports out there describing U.S. and NATO activities in Libya, felt compelled to respond to my report of this information in apparently coordinated responses.  The government of Malta stated in its one line response, "The allegations are completely false."  The U.S. Embassy in Malta followed suit.  However, I want to stress that while the responses are welcome and appreciated, given events of the recent past, it is U.S. activities in Libya that are are of utmost concern at this moment.  All U.S. troops must be brought home, yet the following video was posted today of the U.S. war machine on the roll, destination unknown:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS-PmhhxPG4.  As you watched that video, I hope you thought about the number of teachers or nurses or solar heating systems could be procured with the money wasted on this massive number of tanks, going where?

Well, right now, the U.S. admittedly has special forces in Uganda, South Sudan, 9,000 troops in Kuwait, radar, and for the first time ever, U.S. troops in Israel.  Drone bases across the African Continent are in Djibouti, Seychelles, Ethiopia, and Kenya.  On drones, Human Rights Watch says, "CIA drone strikes have become an almost daily occurrence around the world, but little is known about who is killed and under what circumstances."  Drone strikes occur in Somalia and bases are expanding to the Arabian Peninsula.  Even worse, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an adjunct to the U.S. war machine, has affiliates all over the world--just ask Nicaragua and Venezuela about their experiences with the NED. 

Nigerian military sources have confirmed for African news outlets that US troops are scheduled to be deployed to Nigeria after AFRICOM's 2008 war game scenario that saw 20,000 U.S. troops maintaining "security" of the Niger Delta oil fields within a dissolved and anarchistic Nigeria.  That war game setting was 2013.  This is Plan Colombia.  Does the Obama Administration plan an African Continent-wide Plan Colombia?  Why such a militarization of U.S. relationships all over the world--and even here at home?  Will chaos and wars (like what is happening in Libya today) be created all over Africa and the rest of Asia?

Last week, I sent a video of Amnesty International admitting that the allegation of "African mercenaries" was a lie; at the time, it was the U.S. and NATO that had employed mercenaries--not only the Qataris, U.S. contractors, Italians, French, and British special forces, but also including the members of the National Transitional Council.  That message also included a video of an African beaten to death by these Libyan U.S./NATO allies.  That message went viral and forced a response from the authorities.  Please circulate this message widely so that maybe we can get some more responses from the Administration about its policy direction.  Contact the White House at www.whitehouse.gov, tell them to bring our young men and women home, keep the tanks home, and don't use them. 

Tell the White House that you will cast your vote for peace--to stop the drones and bring our troops home.

Finally, a sad day in journalism continues.  I just received word that the owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Andrew Adler, apologized for saying that the Israeli government ought to consider killing Barack Obama.  This is outrageous.  I have been "deconstructed" by this very same publication, so I am doubly saddened by this kind of loose talk by someone of authority and responsibility at the Atlanta Jewish Times indicating that assassinating President Obama should be an option that remains on the table for Israel to carry out.  Enuff said.

I tried to send a photo of the Seattle snow, but for some reason, it's not coming through.  I'll send it later if I can!

Nellie Bailey Discusses the Critics of the Obama Demonstration

A few articles on Democratic Party-friendly blog sites. specifically
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/20/1056592/-Occupy-movement-goes-to-Harlem,-screws-up-completel 

and
http://inthesetimes.com/uprising/entry/12594/harlem_gives_occupy_tense_reception

have attempted to discredit Occupy Harlem's January 19th protest against Barack Obama as a tone-deaf invasion of Harlem by white Occupy Wall Street protesters. In fact, the demonstration was called and lead by Occupy Harlem launched on October 22nd in the Central Harlem community, home of the Apollo Theater. (visit @occupyharlemnow twitter site for media coverage). The writers of these stories reveal their ignorance or have selectively ignored a number of relevant facts.

Co-convener of Occupy Harlem Nellie Bailey organized a protest against Obama in March of 2011 when the President appeared at the upscale Red Rooster Restaurant for a $38,000 plate dinner fundraiser. The demonstration was covered by the Amsterdam News, the oldest Black newspaper in the city.  Bailey was also the organizer of “Obama, Race, Class & Politics,” three critical thinking community forums in 2008. The Harlem series were described as: “Obammania: Post Racial America, Neo-liberalism, War and the Democratic Party Candidates Safeguarding the Strategic Interests of a Crumbling and Broken Empire. What are Our Alternative?” These events occurred long before the existence of Occupy Wall Street!

Furthermore, in an interview that appeared in the Huffington Post in November of 2011 Occupy Harlem took on the “divide and conquer” strategy of the establishment to prevent the coalescing of a unified movement. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/occupy-harlem-organizers-_n_1067790.html)

Therefore, we ask, what’s behind these attacks to discredit the January 19th protest by writing it off as an initiative of non-Harlemites? Such accusations are eerily reminiscent of attempts to discredit the 50s and 60s civil rights movement in the south as simply a product of "outside agitators."  The inference that Occupy Harlem and protesting Blacks are misguided dupes of a white OWS smacks of racism! It suggest Blacks are incapable of critical thinking and analysis regarding Obama’s presidency.

Much more diabolical are attempts to suggest protesting Lyndon LaRouche extremists were part of the Occupy Harlem protest. This is a blatant lie!  NYPD herded all protesters into the same pen across the street from the Apollo Theater. In mic check after mic check the LaRouchites were denounced again and again, even derisively called out as “looney tunies!” In particular, the Occupy crowd took on the LaRouchites’ politically inept portrayal of Obama as Hitler. Occupy protesters  in no time physically separated themselves from the LaRouche group, a point conceded in Allison Kilkenny's "In These Times" report (http://inthesetimes.com/uprising/entry/12594/harlem_gives_occupy_tense_reception).

One liberal blog with a history of supporting the Democratic Party selectively ran photos that only included white demonstrators. Apparently rendering people of color invisible and voiceless is okay as long as it looks good for the Democrats.  What really seemed to be bothering the author of this account was a failure to grasp why protesters choose to target Obama instead of Mitt Romney.  Is this really hard to understand?  Occupy is not a branch of the Democratic Party and it is not an electioneering organization.  By protesting Obama, we are not telling people who to vote for or against.  Obama, in case these critics failed to notice, is still the President of the United States.  Obama, not Romney, just eviscerated the most fundamental rights of US citizens by signing NDAA.

If the last four years demonstrate anything, it is the evil of trusting "lesser evils."  Obama, like Clinton before him, has exploited the trust of hopeful liberals to push policies that would have created a firestorm of outrage if initiated by Bush.  Aside from its dedicated core, the anti-war movement almost evaporated after Obama was elected and countless lives were lost as a result.  Do the lives of people bombed by Democrats matter less than the lives of those bombed by Republicans?

The demonstration was called by Occupy Harlem and lead by Occupy Harlem.  Occupy Harlem, as many occupy movements across the country, was inspired by the resonating message of OWS for the 99% to challenge the US plutocracy in complete control of the US political process. We are an autonomous initiative of Harlem residents, initiated by and lead by people of color. We are deeply offended by Obama apologists who seek to belittle and denigrate the Occupy Harlem movement.  Whether Obama or Romney are elected president, we can be sure that the attacks on the poor and working people, on civil liberties and on global human rights will continue and so will our protests.  It is our right and responsibility to hold those in power accountable, not to serve as foot soldiers for the Democratic Party.

As for the white Occupy Wall Street participants in yesterday's demonstration, these attacks leave our allies in a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" dilemma.  If they avoid protesting Obama, they are portrayed as a Democratic Party front group.  If they support Occupy Harlem's protest at Obama's Apollo Fundraiser, they are portrayed as racially insensitive. These bogus accusations will not dampen nor alter the coalescing of solidarity between Occupy Harlem and OWS.  What's really going on here is that Democrats have figured out that the Occupy movement is not for them to manipulate and control!  (see for example
http://www.ology.com/politics/democratic-party-abandons-occupy-wall-street-movement/01182012).

They'll praise Occupy so long as we attack their enemies. But when Occupy says that we will hold ALL corporate shill politicians accountable for selling out the 99%, they start getting nervous.  And when we protest Democratic politicians, they want to discredit us because we challenge the illusion that Democrats are the party of the people.  Obama apologists and strategists can't afford this because the Democratic Party needs the votes of progressives and people of color to keep their elected officials in office, even as those officials betray us in service to corporations at almost every turn -- in service to the 1% that really sets the agenda for both major parties.


Nellie Hester Bailey,
Occupy Harlem