graeber, david
=<div><p align="left"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p align="left"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the 10th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, we examine the legacy of the historic protests with three veterans of the movement: Nelini Stamp, now the director of strategy and partnerships at the Working Families Party; Jillian Johnson, a key organizer in Occupy Durham who now serves on the Durham City Council and is the city's mayor pro tempore; and writer and filmmaker Astra Tayor, an organizer with the Debt Collective. Occupy Wall Street "broke the spell" protecting the economic status quo and marked a major shift in protests against capitalism, Taylor says. "Occupy kind of inaugurated this social movement renaissance," she tells Democracy Now! "We've been in an age of defiant protest ever since Occupy Wall Street."</font></span></p><p align="left"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...</span><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This is</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><em>Democracy Now!</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, democracynow.org,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><em>The War and Peace Report</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. I'm Amy Goodman.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Congress debates a $3.5 trillion bill to expand the nation's social safety net and to increase taxes on the rich, we look back at Occupy Wall Street, the movement, how it reshaped the national debate on economics and inequality. Yes, it was 10 years ago today, September 17th, 2011, when Occupy began. Democracy Now! was one of the only national outlets to report on the first day of the action. Our producer Sam Alcoff filed this <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/19/occupy_wall_street_thousands_march_in" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">report</a>.</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.531px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>SAM ALCOFF:</strong> On Saturday, thousands of protesters took to the streets of downtown Manhattan for what was described as an action to "Occupy Wall Street." Inspired by the popular uprisings of the Arab Spring and the European anti-austerity movements, Adbusters, a Vancouver-based culture-jamming magazine, put out a call for Saturday's protest on Wall Street in July. The goals were various, from limiting corporate contributions to political campaigns, to auditing the Federal Reserve, to challenging all of global capitalism. Protesters included 71-year-old Mary Ellen Marino of Princeton, New Jersey.
</font></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.531px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>MARY ELLEN MARINO:</strong> I came because I'm upset with the fact that the bailout of Wall Street didn't help any of the people holding mortgages. All of the money went to Wall Street, and none of it went to Main Street. Now, we've just learned that Geithner was actually asked to split up the Citibank, and he didn't do it. And Obama didn't do anything about it.
</font></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.531px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>SAM ALCOFF:</strong> The plan wasn't simply for a one-day protest, but an ongoing and creative occupation of the Financial District itself. Organizer Lorenzo Serna.
</font></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.531px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>LORENZO SERNA:</strong> The idea is to have an encampment. Like, this isn't a one-day event. Like, we're hoping that people come prepared to stay as long as they can and that we're there to support each other.
</font></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.531px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>SAM ALCOFF:</strong> But on Saturday, after hundreds arrived, the NYPD shut Wall Street down itself, barricading activists off of Wall Street and forcing a move to the nearby Zuccotti Park. Despite sometimes tense standoffs with the police, hundreds slept in the park and have maintained that they will stay until their demands are met.
</font></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong> Two days later, Democracy Now! <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/19/occupy_wall_street_thousands_march_in" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">interviewed</a> the activist and anthropologist David Graeber, who's been credited with helping to coin Occupy's defining rallying call, "We are the 99%." He talked about how Occupy had been inspired by earlier protests in Europe.</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.531px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);"><strong style="">DAVID GRAEBER:</strong><b> </b></span><b style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);">Well, what people are doing in Europe is essentially trying to reinvent democracy.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"> The idea is that, you know, all of the<b> political parties have basically bankrupted themselves. They're all essentially bought and sold by the financial elite that's created this crisis.</b> There's no possibility of their actually coming up with a solution. And sometimes you have to start over. People have to, like, go into their public squares, meet each other, start talking to each other, and start brainstorming of ideas. I mean,<b> essentially, the idea is the system is not going to save us; we're going to have to save ourselves. </b>So, we're going to try to get as many people as possible to camp in some public place and start rebuilding society as we'd like to see it.</span>
</font></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.531px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong> How many people turned out?
</font></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.531px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><strong style="">DAVID GRAEBER:</strong> Well, at first, we were a little worried at Bowling Green, but more and more people kept showing up. So I ended up helping to facilitate a meeting which was at least 2,000 people. … <b>It was mostly young people, and most of them were people who had gone through the educational system, who were deeply in debt, and who found it completely impossible to get jobs</b>. I mean, these people have felt — really feel very strongly that they did the right thing. They did exactly what they were supposed to. The system has completely failed them. And they're not going to be saved by the people in charge. You're just going to have — if there's going to be any kind of society like we — worth living in, we're going to have to create it ourselves.
</font></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong> That's David Graeber speaking on <em>Democracy Now!</em> September 19, 2011, two days after the start of Occupy Wall Street encampment. David died last year in Venice, Italy, at the age of 59.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protesters would go on to sleep in Zuccotti Park for nearly two months before the New York police raided the encampment. The Occupy movement spread across the nation and the globe. And the impact of Occupy is still being felt in countless ways.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We spend the rest of the hour hosting a roundtable looking at the legacy of Occupy. Joining us from Philadelphia is Nelini Stamp, the director of strategy and partnership at the Working Families Party. Ten years ago, she was part of Outreach, Labor and Facilitation Working Groups during Occupy Wall Street. She later helped start the Dream Defenders.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Durham, North Carolina, we're joined by Jillian Johnson. Ten years ago, she was a key organizer in Occupy Durham. Today she serves on the Durham City Council and is the Durham's mayor pro tem.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And in Asheville, North Carolina, we are joined by writer and filmmaker Astra Taylor, who was involved in Occupy Wall Street and co-edited the <em>Occupy Gazette</em>, </b>which featured reports from Occupies around the world. She's also an organizer with the Debt Collective, an organization with its roots in the Occupy Wall Street movement. She has just co-authored a <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/09/occupy-wall-street-changed-everything.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">piece</a> in <em>New York</em> magazine headlined "Occupy Wall Street Changed Everything: Ten years later, the legacy of Zuccotti Park has never been clearer."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, Astra, let's begin with you. Talk about how it changed everything, and where — how you see it has affected everything today.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ASTRA TAYLOR:</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Well, to understand how Occupy changed everything, I think we have to remember what it was like before</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. Occupy sort of broke the spell. It was really hard to talk about class, talk about capitalism, talk about inequality. We were in the world of Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, where there was no alternative to the status quo. It was a kind of bipartisan consensus around neoliberal capitalism. So, part of what created the conditions for the banking crisis was the <b>repeal of Glass-Steagall</b>, which was a Depression-era law. And that was repealed under the Clinton administration. Also, there was the <b>period after September 11, 2001. It was very difficult to protest in New York City. Part of what made Occupy seem so improbable was that it was actually illegal to have unpermitted gatherings of more than 20 people. So, there was just this — you know, the left was very demoralized. The left was really fragmented and beaten down</b>.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And something changed in that year. And, you know, your reporter touched on this<b>. People were watching these movements around the world, from the Arab Spring to the movement of the squares,</b> the movement of the <b>indignados in Spain, </b>and elsewhere. And people started to think, you know, "We've got to do something. Maybe we can actually protest and make a difference."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And so, that first day, 10 years ago today, you know, I have to say it was — I went. I went to Zuccotti Park, marched from Bowling Green up to Zuccotti Park. And, you know, it was powerful, but not because there were so many people, not because there were thousands and thousands of people, but because it was a space where those of us who felt that things were wrong could come together and meet each other and talk and decide we had to express our discontent, had to express our outrage. And so it was a major shift.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And so, 10 years later, I think we can see that </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Occupy kind of inaugurated this social movement renaissance.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We've been in an age of defiant protest ever since Occupy Wall Street. The political landscape has really changed. People are now — you know, we have not stopped talking about capitalism. We haven't stopped talking about class. We haven't stopped talking about debt. And, you know, people have figured out how to challenge the political establishment. So I think it's had a tremendous legacy. And its offshoots actually — you know, we've never tallied them up. All over the country, Occupy sprouted different efforts, different initiatives, and changed lives.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong> Let's go to Nelini Stamp in Philadelphia. You were part — you're now with Working Families Party, but, then, you were part of the Outreach, Labor and Facilitation Working Groups during Occupy Wall Street. Much of the power was the community that was created there. Can you talk about the decision-making and why you even chose to go to Occupy Wall Street, and how it has shaped you and this country today?...</font></p><p align="left"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p></div><div>=
<div>BS jobs</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-august-26-2019/">https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-august-26-2019/</a></div><div>
</div><div>40 min: time used to be time it takes to boil water; in roman time you could buy a pot or a potter (slave), slaves rented themselves out and owner got a cut; slave might hire someone to do lower value/skill farm work</div><div>
</div><div>time req uniform measure eg clock; each town had own clock/time --> GMT; punch clock (own watchs forbidden); at work, time BELONGS to boss, a salable commodity (for most of hist anyone who works for $ = slave. </div><div></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?446716-2/bullshit-jobs">https://www.c-span.org/video/?446716-2/bullshit-jobs</a><div>
</div><div><div>Bullshit Jobs</div><div>David Graeber talks about jobs that he says qualify as employment but are pointless and unnecessary.</div><div>
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</div><div><em>The Democracy Project</em></div><div>APRIL 5, 2013</div><div>The Democracy Project</div><div>David Graeber talked about his book, The Democracy Project: A History, A Crisis, A Movement, in which he argues that America’s…</div></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Democracy_Project">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Democracy_Project</a></div><div>
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