Sunday Reading

by zunguzungu


Times Square

Occupy Madrid

Occupy Manila

Do we really need another ‘Gandhi’?:

Waiting for the next “savior” is an easy excuse that lets too many people off the hook, delaying the pain that all revolutions require from each of us. History has demonstrated repeatedly that personality “cults” are dangerous. The Barak Obama campaign is a very recent, clear case in point. So much adulation was directed his way by progressives and moderates alike — desperate for deliverance from the Bush years — that anyone sounding a note of caution or reservation was virtually shunned. I had just that experience during a book discussion group centered on Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope.” I sensed throughout the pages a lack of backbone, an unwillingness to take a stand and stick to it. But when I tried to express that concern, I was almost railroaded out of the house. That desperate hope for a “prince in shining armor” swept him into office. Many in the progressive movement disengaged, sitting back with a sigh of relief now that a new messiah had been found.

Now look where we are today. Obama has disappointed many, and the progressive movement is only now beginning to regain its former strength, through the “Occupy” movement. Rather, in my opinion, we all must look for, support and celebrate the Gandhian potential within us, and within others. As Clay Sharkey observed in his book, “Here Comes Everybody,” “many jobs that we regard as the province of a single mind actually require a crowd.”

Occupy Sydney

Occupy Phoenix

Occupy Seoul

Occupy Rome

Occupy Frankfurt (Germany)

Occupy LA

From Gerry Canavan, who got them from longreads:

Occupy Santiago (Chile)

From Greg Mitchell’s OccupyUSA Liveblog:

Eighteen arrested at OccupyRaleigh… tents set up in Minneapolis, may or may not remain… More than 1,000 reportedly in Phoenix… and about 1,000 in Denver… police arresting Occupy Denver protesters sitting in at Civic Center park…big crowd in not-big Santa Rosa, CA, they claim 2,500… nice turnout in Milwaukee, despite baseball fever… claim of more than 500 in Little Rock… NYT on protests “sweeping the globe”

Occupy Brussels