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The Revolution: She Is Here! (The skinny on Occupy Wall Street, Adbusters and communists)
The New American ^ | October 23, 2011 | Sam Blumenfeld

Posted on 10/23/2011 7:00:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Time magazine is working hard to make sure that Barack Obama is reelected. That is why it is the perfect place to see how liberals think. Its October 24 issue contains a report on the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, which I consider to be part and parcel of the Obama reelection campaign.

Time’s reporter writes of the movement:

It all started in Canada, of all places. The editors of the Vancouver-based anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters called for a Tahrir Square "moment" on Sept. 17 in lower Manhattan to protest what they called the disproportionate power of the U.S. corporate elite.

That’s the only mention of Adbusters in the article. But what kind of power does an obscure magazine in Vancouver have to be able to mobilize the entire left in the United States into a revolutionary force? It doesn’t take much sleuthing to find out. As every reader knows, everything is now on the Internet, including Adbusters.

It turns out that the Adbusters Media Foundation, which publishes Adbusters, was founded in 1989 by two radicals, Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz. Lasn, the intellectual driving force behind the magazine, was born in Estonia in 1942. He spent his childhood in a German refugee camp and in Australia. In the 1960s, he founded a market research company in Toyko, and in 1970, moved to Vancouver. For 20 years, he produced documentaries for PBS and Canada’s National Film Board.

But then, somewhere along the line he developed an intense hatred of the American consumer economy and became an anti-capitalist revolutionary. The magazine has fostered the development of an international anti-consumerist movement described in this way:

We are a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century.

In his first book, Culture Jam, Lasn argues that consumerism is the fundamental evil of the modern era. He calls the "meme war" a battle of ideas to shift Western society away from consumer capitalism toward eco-communalism.

His second book, Design Anarchy, calls on graphic designers, illustrators, and other creative professionals to turn from working in service to corporate and political pollution of both the planet and "the mental environment," and instead embrace a radical new aesthetic devoted to social and environmental responsibility.

Lasn has been accused of anti-Semitism by members of the media for his self-published 2004 article, "Why won't anyone admit they're Jewish?" establishing a link between Jewish groups who do not explicitly announce their religion and ultimate control of the U.S. financial community. In 2010, Lasn's magazine published a photo montage featuring spurious comparisons of the WWII Warsaw ghetto to the current day Gaza Strip. This has drawn the ire of historians and Holocaust survivors. It may also explain why some of the OWS participants have made anti-Semitic remarks,and are pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel.

So far Adbusters has successfully launched numerous international campaigns, including Buy Nothing Day, TV Turnoff Week, and Occupy Wall Street. The magazine is also known for its "subvertisements" that spoof popular advertisements. In English, Adbusters has bi-monthly American, Canadian, Australian, UK, and international editions of each issue. The sister organizations of Adbusters include Résistance à l'Aggression Publicitaire and Casseurs de Pub in France, Adbusters Norge in Norway, Adbusters Sverige in Sweden, and Culture Jammers in Japan.

Lawrence Morley writes in Adbusters:

Revolt, if it is to be successful, must come from the mind; a growing unease and dissatisfaction with things as they are. Revolt may be leaderless, but it cannot be idea-less. ... It could be said that any society has vested interests in the status quo which could not be unseated by argument. I disagree. For any revolution to succeed, even those interests must be shown to gain, or to lose less by cooperation than they would otherwise.

I, as a Progressive Anarchist, want the complete overthrow of present societies, but not now, not immediately, not violently, but gradually and peacefully as ideas gradually seep through one’s mind. The intention of this revolutionary is to assault your mind and destroy your beliefs.

So this is a revolution but, so far, a non-violent one. Morley continues,

The beauty of this new formula, and what makes this novel tactic exciting, is its pragmatic simplicity: we talk to each other in various physical gatherings and virtual people's assemblies … we zero in on what our one demand will be, a demand that awakens the imagination and, if achieved, would propel us toward the radical democracy of the future … and then we go out and seize a square of singular symbolic significance and put our asses on the line to make it happen.

The time has come to deploy this emerging stratagem against the greatest corrupter of our democracy: Wall Street, the financial Gomorrah of America.

It is obvious that the OWS movement was inspired by the success of the Tea Party movement. Time writes,

Like the Tea Party, however, their unifying idea is simple enough. The anger they express has a clear target: not the government but the wealthy. Talk has already turned to launching a consumer boycott of the big banks in favor of credit unions. On e-mail listservs and in person to person meetings, more weekend protests are being planned, and Nov. 17 has been chosen by a coalition of progressive groups for a major show of force in city squares around the country.

“Politically it looks like we are heading into a very different reality,” says Justin Ruben, executive director of MoveOn.org, which has been supporting the Occupy effort. “Inequality is suddenly a topic of conversation in politics.”

MoveOn.org is one of the organizations of leftist billionaire George Soros. Does Soros also support the Adbusters Media Foundation?

The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who writes for Adbusters, turned up at Zuccotti Park to address the Occupy Wall Street demonstration on Sunday, offering up a seminar on Radicalism 101 for an appreciative crowd.

Noting that he supports George Soros, he compared him to a chocolate laxative. Since chocolate is said to be constipating, he explained — a controversial point — Soros is similarly exhibiting an internal contradiction. “First they take billions from you, then they give back half,” he said. “And that makes them the world’s greatest humanitarians.” Take the money, sure, he advised, but don’t stop fighting to overturn a system that makes it necessary.

Another writer for Adbusters is Michael Hardt. He is an American literary theorist and post-Marxist philosopher perhaps best known for the book Empire, written with Antonio Negri and published in 2000. It has been called the Communist Manifesto of the 21st century.

Meanwhile, the White House went out of its way to praise the protesters and present them as mainstream. Vice President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have all offered words of sympathy, as have the heads of the nation’s labor unions. Time notes,

Behind the scenes, the embrace has been even more dramatic. Former Obama official Van Jones has been organizing established liberal interest groups into a protest network called Rebuild the Dream, which he hopes will dovetail with the Occupy demonstrations.

No mention by Time that former Obama administration czar Van Jones is an avowed communist. According to Kevin “Coach” Collins on the Internet, Jones became a communist while in jail. Collins writes,

The East Bay Express, an Oakland area Black on line magazine reported Comrade Czar Jones, the man who will put the final nail in our coffin, became a communist when he became enchanted with “these young radical people of color — I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, … I need to be a part of[them].” He met them in jail, how inspiring!

Jones proudly says he spent the next ten years working with the people he met in jail in April, and “by August I was a Communist.” His website “Green for all” carries this telling quote from Comrade Jones on his new position, “… [W]e’re going to be in an economic slowdown for a couple of years. So to take three months, four months, six months to spend this money the right way — we’re not going to get a chance to spend a trillion dollars again! Ever. So let’s do it the right way!”

Obviously, Van Jones feels very much at home with the socialists, communists, and anarchists among the Occupy Wall Streeters. They speak the same language.


TOPICS: Canada; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: adbusters; canada; communists; obama; occupy; occupywallstreet; ows
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Comments?
1 posted on 10/23/2011 7:00:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

ping


2 posted on 10/23/2011 7:05:58 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

WHAT OCCUPY WALL STREET IS REALLY ALL ABOUR

3 posted on 10/23/2011 7:10:11 PM PDT by Jeff Head (Liberty is not free. Never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

What I fear most from them is their mysterious connection with this movement “WE ARE LEGION (ANONYMOUS)” You see them wearing their mask from the movie V for Vendetta in almost every news footage. The protestors have a message of rebellion against big government, big corporations and the rich in general. They’re being coordinated by straight up anarchists and socialists, but this Anonymous connection is bizarre and maybe demonic. Google “We Are Legion” and see what I’m taking about. Also watch out for NOV 5th the date used in the movie - the day all hell will break loose. There is stiring among the protestors that something Big is going to happen on that day.


4 posted on 10/23/2011 7:10:36 PM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: FReepers; everyone; All
marine-corps-di


PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO FREE REPUBLIC TODAY OR BECOMING A MONTHLY DONOR


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5 posted on 10/23/2011 7:17:31 PM PDT by onyx (You're here on FR, so support it! Compiling New Sarah Ping List. Let me know if you want on it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

6 posted on 10/23/2011 7:21:02 PM PDT by South40 (Heartless since 1957)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Comments?"

If OWS represents the "REVOLUTION" then the "REVOLUTION" is even more pathetic than I thought.

7 posted on 10/23/2011 7:23:48 PM PDT by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Ecocommunalism.

Its been done.

That would be the original agrarian utopia ideology...
of the Khmer Rouge.

This never ends well.

8 posted on 10/23/2011 7:37:46 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Jeff Head

Maybe tea partiers should camp out on George Soros’s lawn until he stops funding these groups.


9 posted on 10/23/2011 7:44:16 PM PDT by rzman21
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To: MrEdd

Also Cuba and China during the cultural revolution.


10 posted on 10/23/2011 7:49:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can't invade the US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.~Admiral Yamamoto)
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To: YHAOS
Tonights chat thread from occupy Boston

22:33:13 occupy_53124 No...I think that collapse is necessary in order to rise up stronger.

22:33:22 lovecrime|home occupy_49018: I believe that there are ideas worth striving for even if they are hopelessly difficult to acheive. that being said, I'm a bigger fan of krepotkin than marx.

22:33:34 inner_vacations enjoy your evening, everyone! Catch ya another time.....ciao

22:33:46 bostongeorge and hopefully able to make it a better place for ourselves and generations to come? 22:34:03 <-- inner_vacations has quit (Quit: http://KiwiIRC.com/ - The web-based IRC client)

22:34:15 fellacious depends on what kind of socialism

22:34:29 occupy_53124 good like children I do hope you accomplish something.

22:34:33 occupy_49018 love: is Kropotkin the opposite of Marx?

22:34:48 lovecrime|home no, he disagreed pretty passionately with him

22:34:55 lovecrime|home and some would say they were opposites

22:35:07 lovecrime|home but I think anarcho-socialism blends the two nicely

22:35:32 fellacious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68Cy_f3nBRY

22:35:45 lovecrime|home Krepotkin was just another thinker. wrote widely on the topic of mutual aid and working together. he had a rosier view of humanity than marx.

22:35:49 occupy_49018 does that include nationalized industries?

22:36:24 lovecrime|home depends who you ask. Some people would say it precludes nations altogether

11 posted on 10/23/2011 7:49:11 PM PDT by JIM O
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To: rzman21

But we have jobs that we need to continue having to support our famillies, soooooo - not gonna happen.


12 posted on 10/23/2011 8:04:44 PM PDT by L,TOWM (Once you see that it is all Kabuki Theater, you are free to quit wasting your time on politics.)
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To: JIM O

Oh....like, wow man...that’s heavy...


13 posted on 10/23/2011 8:09:16 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: NavyCanDo
"There is stirring among the protesters that something Big is going to happen on that day."

I wonder what percentage of them feel this and are ready for the backlash that may result.

14 posted on 10/23/2011 8:23:01 PM PDT by Baynative (The penalty for not participating in politics is you will be governed by your inferiors.)
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To: L,TOWM

Send your kids then.


15 posted on 10/23/2011 8:33:53 PM PDT by rzman21
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To: NavyCanDo

By Nov. 5 they are all going to have disentery,a cholera edpidemic or hepatitus running rampant. One can only live in festering putrid poop and filth for so long. Hell..with the rats running around, they may even get a black plague going.


16 posted on 10/23/2011 8:37:27 PM PDT by penelopesire (TIME FOR A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR!)
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To: YHAOS

If OWS represents the “REVOLUTION” then the “REVOLUTION” is even more pathetic than I thought.

Don’t underestimate them and don’t let them confuse you, they are beeing manipulated to confuse the msm and are succeding, this is only the beginning, and when the majority grupthink is mainstream, as it is among most Europeans and the liberal part of the Democratic party controled by Obama and Pelosy. just wait and see, if obama get another term, it will take a shooting revolution to fix things again, so keep up the good work and be sure not to underestimate the enemy, because they are at work all the time


17 posted on 10/23/2011 8:42:22 PM PDT by munin (s)
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To: penelopesire

When the American Indian Movement, AIM, took over the church at Wounded Knee and barricaded themselves in someone in the crowd had the clap. Before it was over they all had it


18 posted on 10/23/2011 9:02:32 PM PDT by South Dakota (shut up and drill)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m glad that the retarded lefties are helping us to prevent their communist desires from being put into practice.

Anti-consumerism + environmentalism = no revenues or manufacturing to support big/communist government. We win. And no, worthless, hugely inflated revenues won’t support big government, either. Default. We still win.


19 posted on 10/23/2011 10:12:38 PM PDT by familyop ("Dry land is not just our destination, it is our destiny!" --Deacon character, "Waterworld")
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To: MrEdd
"That would be the original agrarian utopia ideology... of the Khmer Rouge.

This never ends well.
"

Oh, I don't know. Our American global manufacturers are chattering about heading to Cambodia, so it must be another great bastion of freedom preferable to our USA.


20 posted on 10/23/2011 10:19:24 PM PDT by familyop ("Dry land is not just our destination, it is our destiny!" --Deacon character, "Waterworld")
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