The Democratic Party: Graveyard Of Movements

Alright, US Left, time for a little history lesson – and a cautionary tale. Can any of you out there name a single popular democratic people's movement for peace, liberty or social/economic justice which wasn't finally at some point infiltrated, co-opted and bled to death by the Democratic Party? Anybody?

Bueller?

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...and for context, here's some more Democratic Party movement co-opting tomfoolery:  
It's Going To Be A New Day, November 2006
Wisconsin – Look Out Behind You, February 2011
"Occupy" Movement: Beware the Vampire, October 2011
We Are The 1%, October 2011
Infiltrator, October 2011
Occupy DC Visits Democratic Party Fundraiser, December 2011
"99% Spring": 100% Bullshit, April 2012
Obama's March On Washington Anniversary Speech, Condensed, August 2013

Umbrella Revolution

Ever notice how the "Occupy Central" protests in Hong Kong are getting so much positive coverage in the US Media? It's no wonder, when you consider how much funding and training their "leaders" have gotten from US State Department front groups like the NED and USAID.

If your revolution has its own color or a cute nickname, then you just might be in a co-opted, stage-managed, NED-funded fake "revolution".

The (NED Financed) Hong Kong Riots, Moon Of Alabama, 09.29.14
On Occupy Central's Ties With The NED, CommonDreams, 10.02.14
US State Dept Funding And Occupy Central, The Ties That Bind, Revolution News 10.01.14

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Angry Birds

Last week JPMorgan Chase, world-renowned den of thieves, decided to try and buff up their PR by staging an event on Twitter, a question-and-answer event under the hashtag #AskJPM. Needless to say, hilarity ensued. 

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Suppression of the Left: Union Made

As most of you know, the recent West Coast port shutdowns were a butt-kicking success, especially in Oakland. The minor downside was that it was carried out over the objections of the longshoremen’s union “leadership”. Yeah, that’s right, a labor union got its panties in a twist over a militant mass action on behalf of the rights of workers. In fact, this cartoon was inspired in large part by the craven tap-dancing of the “leadership” of the ILWU. Here’s their poobah, Bob McEllrath:

“The ILWU has a long history of democracy, Part of that historic democracy is the hard-won right to chart our own course to victory.”

What victory, Bob? The only course I see modern union “leadership” charting these days is straight down the goddamn’ toilet.

But let’s move on, now, to our so-called comrades at the AFSCME, who recently endorsed Barack “Drone Strike” Obama for another term as El Presidente. AFSCME plans to scarf workers’ dues to the tune of $100 million to help re-”elect” a bloody-handed Wall Street stooge who plans to sign legislation giving the military the right to snatch and detain indefinitely anybody they damn’ well feel like. Here’s what their honcho, Gerald McEntee, has to say for himself:

“President Obama is the only choice for the 99 percent.”

He’s pulling our leg, right? Barack “Bailout” Obama, water boy for bankers, is the only choice for the underpaid, unemployed and foreclosed? Excuse me while I have myself a nice big Technicolor Yawn…

…ahh, that was satisfying. Now, let’s check out the NEA, representing our nation’s teachers, the men and women who bring out the spirit of curiosity, creativity and wonder in our children and crush it to death. They’ve also recently endorsed Obummer, in spite of the rank and file’s dissatisfaction with his cheerleading for charter schools and the corporatization of public education. Here’s the spin from their “leader”, Dennis Van Roekel:

“He (Obama) has never wavered from talking about the importance of education or his dedication to a vibrant middle class…”

…yeah, except when he’s sitting on his ass allowing the middle class to be thrown out of work and thrown out of their homes.

But, wait; it gets worse. The SEIU also recently declared its endorsement for Barack “The Assassin” Obama without even allowing its members to vote — and, adding insult to injury, the “leadership” of the SEIU co-opted the language of the Occupy Movement with this steaming heap of smarm:

“We need a leader willing to fight for the needs of the 99 percent … Our economy and democracy have been taken over by the wealthiest one percent.”

Yeah, and that leader isn’t going to be Barack “Sparkle Pony” Obama, a guy whose nose is so far up Wall Street’s ass that it’s a wonder he can even breathe. You’ll pardon my laughing until I piss myself.

Saving the worst for last, we finish up with the venerable AFL-CIO. As anyone with a long-term memory longer than that of a housefly will recall, the AFL-CIO was pretty much caught red-handed funneling cash — via the ironically-named National Endowment for Democracy and equally-ironically-named Solidarity Center — to Venezuelan rightists plotting a coup against President Hugo Chavez back in 2002. In addition, the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center (spit) is still active in efforts to destabilize popular, democratically-elected leaders in Venezuela and Colombia, using money from Federal grants via the State Department, USAID, and the NED. No wonder so many people call them the AFL-CIA.

So, given that the “leadership” of the ILWU, AFSCME, NEA, SEIU and AFL-CIO are endorsing Barack Obama despite his cozy relationship with Wall Street, corporate and banking interests, despite his obstruction of efforts to bring the Bush Mob to justice for their crimes, despite his warmongering in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, despite his horrendous civili liberties record, and despite his disregard for working people, am I still the only one here who thinks that the biggest obstacle to the struggle for workers’ rights is the goddamn’ unions — or, more accurately, the craven, hidebound union “leaders” who are in perpetual retreat and who identify more with the needs of corporations and political parties than with the needs of workers?

I’m no expert, but I think that any successful workers’ struggle in this country is going to be won in spite of the mainstream unions, not because of them.

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He Sees You When You're Sleeping...!

Occupy is coming to town!

Join OccupyDC as they visit the US Chamber Of Commerce with caroling and holiday cheer on the occasion of the Chamber's annual Christmas party for the Republican National Committee.

04 min. 18 sec.

OccupyDC Visits the US Chamber of Commerce, 12.15.11 from Mike Flugennock on Vimeo.

Housing For All!

Not a whole lot to say about this one — just a solidarity shout-out to all my comrades down at Occupy DC, a salute to their efforts to build a General Assembly hall at the McPherson Square camp for use as an assembly hall and as a symbol of the need for affordable housing in the midst of rampant foreclosures and escalating homelessness.

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Images via OccupyDC streaming video feed.

“A Day In The Life Of The People’s Pentagon”, at OccupyDC.org. (Skip the comments; it’s the usual right-wing trollage and attendant flamefest)

#OccupyDC Visits Democratic Party Fundraiser

Dough Nation

Last night's fundraising dinner for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, held at the offices of the investment firm of Folger, Nolan, Fleming and Douglas, had a minimum contribution of $5000, and a maximum of $75,000. Make no mistake -- the Democrats are One Percenters all the way. So, Occupy DC decided to pay them a visit for a little Mic Check action. Let's join the fun...�

Obama "Supports" #OWS

If the news of Wall Street stooge Barack Obama voicing his mealy-mouthed, tepid “support” for Occupy Wall Street wasn’t enough to make you blow your lunch, perhaps the news that the nationwide raids on Occupy Movement encampments were coordinated by the Feds and Obama’s DHS might induce a Technicolor Yawn.

So, next time you’re at an Occupy protest and the pigs get squirrely and start pepper-spraying and clubbing people, just remember that these police riots were coordinated by Federal authorities under the administration of Barack Obama, and that it’s just as if President Sparkle Pony himself were spraying and clubbing you.

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Support OUR Troops!

Well, at long frickin’ last, the media have finally gotten around to realizing that there’s a class war on, and have finally gotten up the cajones to actually use the term “class war”. What’s even more heartening to me is that at last our side has finally gotten off the deck and is fighting back.

So, gang, seeing as how we’re in a class war, that can mean only one thing: it’s time to Support Our Troops!

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Solidarity, from McPherson to Tahrir

Still walking like an Egyptian!



OccupyDC, the Freedom Plaza Occupiers, and local Egyptian-American activists joined up today to march in solidarity with the revolutionaries at Tahrir Square, Cairo, visiting the downtown HQ of the Egyptian Defense Office. Marchers demanded the release of 12,000 citizens and activists held by the Egyptian SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) junta, an end to military trials for civilians, and a proper trial for ex-dictator Mubarak as opposed to “a theatrical irony”.

Nonviolence...?

After a decade of observing police thuggery against protests in Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City along with the recent police attacks on unarmed protesters at Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Oakland, and comparing it against similar scenes I witnessed in video from Athens, Bahrain and Cairo, I can’t help but conclude that Nonviolence™ is an ideological luxury affordable only to the cushy-living white middle-class activists of the United States.

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For your further enjoyment:
Ward Churchill’s Pacifism As Pathology (pdf).
Review of Ward Churchill’s Pacifism As Pathology.
Review of Peter Gelderloos’ How Nonviolence Protects The State.

Oakland police raid Occupy Oakland, 10.25.11, 5am:

Oakland riot police turn Occupy Oakland scene into war zone:

More video of Oakland police attack on Occupy Oakland here.

Infiltrator!

The consensus over here on the Left is that there is a danger to the Occupy Movement far greater than any amount of pepper spray, mace, tear gas or blunt force trauma that could be dished out by various metropolitan police departments, or any amount of buffoonish insults crapped out by Fox News — and that is the danger of being co-opted by the Democratic Party in the form of its various front groups. On the upside, though, this generation of dissidents seems less likely to fall for Democratic Party snake oil, unlike their older comrades who came out of Seattle/WTO, “A16″, and the early ’00s peace movement.

The Democrats’ co-optation attempts are especially galling in the context of the latest news of the Obama re-election campaign fundraising efforts. They’re continuing the pace set during the ‘08 campaign, when the Democrats first surged ahead of the GOP in the amount of campaign cash coming from Wall Street and the banksters.

Not only that, but it’s right out in the open, butt-assed naked, reported on the front page of this past Thursday’s Washington Post. The real “money shot” comes eight paragraphs deep:

Obama’s ties to Wall Street donors could complicate Democratic plans to paint Republicans as puppets of the financial industry, particularly in light of the Occupy Wall Street protests that have gone global over the past week.

“Could complicate Democratic plans”? No shit, Sherlock.

Of course, this inconvenient truth won’t stop the likes of Michael Moore, the AFL-CIO, MoveOn and the Progressive Democrats Of America from trying to weasel their way in and divert the movement’s energy down the Democratic Electoral Black Hole anyway, because that’s just the way they are — exploitive, manipulative, parasitic, amoral.

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We Are The 1%

As if the celebrities and Liberal politicians barging in on the Occupy Movement aren’t bad enough, now the movement’s having to contend with Mr. Wall Street Water Boy himself, President Barack Sparkle Pony Obama, claiming support for the protests, although in classic Obama fashion, he waters it down by pleading with them to not “demonize” the banksters and brokers. Yes, the man who pushed the Democrats ahead of the GOP in the Wall Street Campaign Donations Department in 2008, whose Treasury Department maintains a revolving door with Goldman Sachs and who, in this year’s Presidential campaign, has already set a record at shuffling for investment bankers and stock brokerages, has sent a shout-out to Occupy Wall Street. What’s worse is that despite Obama’s obvious, shallow election-cycle pandering to the Left and his ongoing brown-nosing of Wall Street and the bankster scum, the Tea Party crowd still insists on claiming that he sincerely supports the Occupiers — and, of course, that he’s a Marxist.

With that in mind, here’s a little bit of ammo for you to use on those Teabagger nutcakes who try to connect President Sparkle Pony to the Occupy Movement, even though anyone who didn’t ride the short bus to school knows he’s been Wall Street’s boy for years, and is simply trying to pander to the movement and exploit it in classic Democratic Party fashion.

Americans for Campaign Reform: Both parties profit from Wall Street
Sourcewatch: 2008 Obama campaign financing: more donations from investment banks, hedge funds, and Wall Street
Obama Taps Wall Street for Dollars, Washington Post 07.16.07

Just a little reminder that the Democratic Party is no more a friend of the workers than the GOP. Black Agenda Report’s Margaret Kimberly had it totally nailed down when she tweeted a warning to the Occupy Movement to “don’t let the Dems in”.

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Occupy DC: Spank Of America!

Dupont Circle branch of Bank Of America wussies out, closes ahead of protest visit “due to circumstances beyond our control”

"Occupy" Movement: Beware the Vampire!

Oh, hot damn! Here's the Democratic Party back again, to suck all the oxygen out of the room!

So, a couple of weeks into the Wall Street occupation, I read that Michael Moore and Roseanne Barr had stopped by, and immediately I thought oh, great, here come the goddamn’ celebrities to glom onto the movement. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a little while after that, I read where MoveOn and the Working Families Party had both glommed on at the same time, and my first thought was holy shit, here comes real trouble!

For those of you who’ve been living in a cave for the past decade or so, MoveOn is the liberal astroturf outfit formed in 1999 to shill for Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial for personal malfeasance, under the banal slogan “Censure, And Move On”. Since then, they’ve been responsible for the co-opting, bloodsucking and destruction of more popular peoples’ movements in this country than you can shake a stick at — such as the antiglobalization movement and the peace movement, just to name a couple. Now these vampires have set their sights on the “Occupy” Movement, no doubt claiming all up and down that they’re there to “support” them.

Luckily, most of the folks in the movement are hip to MoveOn’s bullshit, as we can see in the vast majority of comments in this discussion on Facebook:

The other evening, I stuck my head into the bedroom — where my wife was camped in front of the TV, as usual — for a moment, just in time to hear Chris Matthews (aka The Baby Eater) asking if the Occupy Movement could be “harnessed” to help Obama win re-election? Luckily, I hadn’t eaten yet, or else I’d have been projectile vomiting all over the carpet. Seriously, these TV howlers just kill my ass dead. I swear, they couldn’t find a clue with a goddamn’ map. Sometimes I think the news networks could just bring in an ape and let it howl and fling its own shit around the studio for an hour, and it would still be better-informed commentary than that of Baby Eater Matthews.

The Occupy Movement isn’t here to be “harnessed”, it’s here to give a voice to the 99% of the people in this country who’ve lost their homes and jobs, who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and feed their families if they do have jobs, and pay most of the taxes while the 1% doesn’t contribute jack shit and gets away with thievery and murder. The Occupy Movement is about social and economic justice and freedom — not about helping to prop up the Democratic Party and re-elect Barack Fucking Obama.

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DC Is Occupied, At Last!

The "Occupy" Movement: now with 95% more "nyan"!

It was mostly the usual suspects, for sure, but it was still great to see Our Side finally get off its ass and into the streets again. Despite all the talk about Teabaggers beginning to get involved, I only saw the usual smattering of LaRouchies and Paultards, who were largely ignored except by those in need of cheap laffs. Also, much to my delight, I spotted one — count ‘em, one — 9/11 Tr00th freak in the crowd, his sign still demanding that someone “Investigate WTC 7".

#OccupyTheUSA

While scrolling through my Twitter feed this week, I came upon the latest reports of vicious and abusive police behavior at the Occupy Wall Street protest camp in NYC. A crowd of about 80 marchers were surrounded by police and “kettled” with a bunch of dayglow orange plastic netting and kept corralled while being maced and pepper-sprayed prior to their arrest.

About the same time, though, I caught the heartening news that the Occupy Wall Street protests had expanded to Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Dallas (there may have been more since this cartoon was done, but I haven’t heard yet).

So, here’s one in solidarity with the gang at Occupy Wall Street in NYC and elsewhere!

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Follow Occupy Wall Street on Twitter here, and on the Web here.