[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.04,0:00:25.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Musical intro]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.61,0:00:35.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm Paul Levinson, and welcome to Light On Light Through, episode 87, Occupy Wall Street Chronicles, Part 1.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.28,0:00:44.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, it's Thanksgiving Day in America, that's November 24th 2011.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.67,0:00:51.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I thought this would be a good time to\Nshare with you some of the 15 blog posts
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.55,0:01:00.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I've been writing about Occupy Wall Street since the end of September and up until a few days ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.32,0:01:07.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And because I expect Occupy Wall Street in the United States and all over the world to continue,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.18,0:01:12.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's why I'm calling these chronicles Part One.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.27,0:01:20.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But to give you just a tiny bit of background:\Nit was back in February of this year 2011 that I first made the point
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.69,0:01:30.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Arab Spring was really a fulfillment of Marshall McLuhan's idea that we are living in a global village.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.49,0:01:37.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,McLuhan made that point back in 1962 in the Gutenberg Galaxy, but back then,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.12,0:01:45.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was more of a prediction, a projection, a metaphor, than a description of an actual reality.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.20,0:01:53.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it seemed clear to me, in the Arab spring,\Nthat the use of mobile phones
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.70,0:02:00.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the various Facebook, Twitter and YouTube connections and apps
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.89,0:02:07.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,allowed people in Cairo and other places in the Middle East
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.42,0:02:12.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to not only help organize their events out in the street,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.57,0:02:22.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but to send videos, YouTube videos of various things that were actually happening at these events,,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.54,0:02:29.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including some of the brutality of the government responses to these gatherings.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.47,0:02:35.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, with that in mind, I wasn't surprised at all to see the same sort of thing begin
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.94,0:02:40.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to happen here in the United States and elsewhere in the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.45,0:02:48.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Actualy, I was in Barcelona in May of this\Nyear and I saw, out on the Rambla, demonstrators
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.33,0:02:53.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- they called themselves then the May 15th\Nmovement - and it was interesting to me,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.36,0:02:59.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because Spain is a democracy. Egypt was not, still is not as a matter of fact,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.41,0:03:04.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it was much the same as the Arab Spring.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.76,0:03:12.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, I decided to take a careful look at\Nwhat was happening in the Occupy Wall Street movements
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.60,0:03:17.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,here, in the United States, when they began to emerge in September.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.22,0:03:22.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what I am going to read to you are a series of 15 or so blog posts.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.03,0:03:29.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'll mention the date that each of the post was first made, and then I'll read the post to you.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.68,0:03:39.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Each post has a headline, and that, I hope, will give you an idea of some of the perspectives
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.19,0:03:47.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that apply to Occupy Wall Street, or at least, some of my perspectives.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.29,0:03:49.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we'll begin.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.62,0:03:52.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tuesday, September 27, 2011.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.06,0:04:00.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"New York City Police disgraced themselves in brutal treatment of Wall Street protesters."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.44,0:04:08.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've lived in New York City all of my life, and I've never been a big fan of our police.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.30,0:04:13.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As a teenager, I was roughed up by cops in their search for firecrackers.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.73,0:04:19.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I saw them point blank attack protesters in the Vietnam War era.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.43,0:04:27.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I 've heard first hand, from friends I believe, about NYPD double-standard treatment of African-Americans.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.20,0:04:35.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And their shooting to death of Amadou Diallo who was unarmed, and their sodomizing of Abner Louima
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.69,0:04:40.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(two separate incidents), were beyond horrendous.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.78,0:04:47.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the NYPD have reached a new low in mass,\Ncontinuing violation of human beings and human rights
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.66,0:04:50.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in their response to the Occupy Wall\NStreet protesters.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.100,0:04:55.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are not isolated cases of cops gone crazy.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.60,0:05:04.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The tear-gassing of people behind barricades, the throwing to the ground of protesters who have no weapons and pose no threat,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.05,0:05:13.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a systematic, widespread attack on human decency, the First Amendment and its guarantee of peaceful assembly,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.74,0:05:20.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as well as on the bodies and spirits of protesters\Nexpressing their non-violent opinion.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.91,0:05:32.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Police Commissioner Kelly, in New York City, justifiably takes pride in how well the NYPD have defended New Yorkers from terrorist attacks.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:32.54,0:05:42.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He should also take pride in, or at very least insist upon, the NYPD defending and protecting the rights of New Yorkers
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.75,0:05:48.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and any one who visits our city to express his or her opinion.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.96,0:05:56.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Based on what has happened so far, Police Commissioner Kelly obviously does not.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.98,0:06:05.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mayor Bloomberg should replace him with someone who can grasp the difference between a criminal and a peaceful protester,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.09,0:06:16.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between throwing a protester violently to the ground versus firmly escorting the protester off any unlawfully occupied premises.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.40,0:06:27.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Social media - or, what I call new new media - are empowering people not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including here in America.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:28.20,0:06:33.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have a right to express our critique of Wall Street and the sad pass in the economy
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.92,0:06:38.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- the financial disaster - Wall Street moguls have brought us to.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:39.44,0:06:49.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mayors would be wise to respect this and restrain out-of-control police, lest the voters boot them out of office in the next election.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.79,0:06:53.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the Federal government would be wise to do something constructive,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.73,0:07:01.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and bring any police officer who violates the rights of protesters up on charges.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.72,0:07:11.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And mainstream news media - I'm talking to you, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC
Dialogue: 0,0:07:12.11,0:07:16.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- what is taking you so long to catch up with the sustained coverage
Dialogue: 0,0:07:16.55,0:07:25.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Keith Olbermann has been giving this spectacle of police misconduct on his Countdown show on Current TV?