Thanks for the report! I look forward to more posts from you about the doings in Chicago over the next few days. (You’re there participating, right? I haven’t kept up on FDL lately…)

Katherine

There is no such thing as “minor” act of violence at a protest that organizers had agreed beforehand to be non-violent.

Adam, I’m curious to know how your group addresses and defines nonviolence prior to an action. Has there been any discussion of what constitutes violence? Is property destruction included as violence or is that limited [...]

They have consistently shouted people down and, in one case, banned other longtime members of the group who disagreed with them publicly. So they can disagree with what Hedges is saying about violence and non-violence, but that core group of anarchists seem to be employing the exact tactics that Hedges suggests.

As Tarheel (I think) pointed [...]

What significance do you attach to this? If a group of citizens forms a movement that puts the GA process at its core, do they retain “ownership” such that they can ignore the will of the majority?

Of course not. They don’t “own” it and if they had that mentality they wouldn’t have instituted the General [...]

Chris Hedges is claiming the privilege of fame to speak to essentially a diverse movement

Tarheel, this is what I found deeply troubling in the video. He has a platform, he’s invited to conferences to speak, he regularly gets his point-of-view published on Truthdig and elsewhere, and he has years of experience writing and speaking – [...]

If anarchists want to use violence as a tactic, they should leave the Occupy movement.

According to David Graeber, the anarchists involved in planning the original occupation of Zuccotti intentionally chose nonviolence at the start. There are a couple of points I’m trying to make and apparently failing: 1) Anarchists, including some who have previously engaged [...]

What I want to know is when Catholics will stop handing over cash in the collection plates. I was raised Catholic; I am related to and know many practicing Catholics, all of whom use birth control. But do they ever stop attending church, register dismay with their parish priest or bishop, stop handing over cash [...]

In other words, Obama is the more effective evil, not the lesser evil

Thanks for that link – the Black Agenda Report is becoming one of my favorite sites! Loved the post about how Angela Davis has lost her mind over Obama. Grieved me, too – I always admired her.

Katherine

On the topic of Up In the Air, the description of Clooney’s character’s job made me unable to even consider seeing it

Yeah, the subject matter seems depressing, but it is a great, thoughtful film. See it if you get the chance.

Katherine

A 6 month campaign of this means it will be a very close election.

I agree; I believe it will be close. I almost put something in the post about that. A close election is easier to manipulate; think Bush/Gore 2000 in Florida; the Ohio mess with Kerry in 2004. It’s easier for elites to put [...]

IMHO, masks and shields are not in themselves violent, but they communicate that the situation is violent and when people see coverage of masks and shields they can’t determine where the violence is coming from.

So, wearing anything that communicates violence may occur, even if it’s defensive, such as a shield, comes under the rubric of [...]

Why are masks and shields violent?

David, How do you define “nonviolence”? Is carrying shields “violent”? Is wearing a bandana over one’s face “violent”? Is swarming to protect fellow protesters “violent”? Is self-defense “violent”? Also, did Rahm Emmanuel push through the ordinance he wanted that would count going limp when arrested as resisting arrest, and if yes, do you define nonviolence [...]