Kalle Lasn and Adbusters
>" The individual most responsible for launching OWS was Kalle Lasn, a longtime documentary producer, radical environmentalist, and, by his own telling, lifelong “student of revolution.” Denouncing American consumerism as an “ecologically unsustainable” and “psychologically corrosive” phenomenon, Lasn has long derided “the dog-eat-dog world of capitalism” as “a destructive system” that has caused “a terrible degradation of our mental environment.” He especially detests capitalism's handmaiden, consumerism, which he blames for having spawned many disastrous “environmental, psychological, and political consequences.” In an effort to “wreck this world” of consumerism, Lasn in 1989 co-founded the Adbusters Media Foundation.
Lasn reports that in mid-2011 he and his fellow Adbusters staffers, “inspired” by the events of the Arab Spring, “thought that America” was likewise “ripe for this type of [mass] rage.” “Deep in recession and with scary ecological scenarios looming,” said Adbusters, “now may be the ripest moment we’ll ever have to power-shift global capitalism onto a new sustainable path.”
Further, Lasn was confident that young Americans' “despondency” over such concerns as “climate change,” “corruption in Washington,” and the “decline” of their country, would significantly increase the likelihood that the U.S. might experience “a Tahrir moment” of sorts—i.e., an opportunity for revolutionary change. (The reference was to Tahrir Square, a Cairo plaza that was a key site during the dramatic events of the Egyptian Revolution in early 2011.) Emboldened also by “that sort of anarchy cred” which the civil disobedience/“hacktivism” group Anonymous had been demonstrating in recent times, Lasn and his Adbusters associates brainstormed ideas for effecting “some kind of a soft regime change” that would diminish the political influence of “finances,” “lobbyists,” and “corporations.” On June 9, 2011, Lasn registered the domain name “OccupyWallStreet.org” and thus gave birth to the movement which he hoped would help “pull the current monster down”*—i.e., the two-headed serpent of capitalism and consumerism..."<
ALLIES OF OWS :
Take The Square
A notable ally of OWS is an organization called Take The Square (TTS), which aims “to change an unfair system”—i.e., free-market capitalism and its “corporate rule of our lives”—by implementing “specific and feasible alternatives” that will “improve life on this planet for all its inhabitants,” particularly “the 99%” who “demand [their] share.” In Marxist tradition, TTS proposes “global ... solutions” that emphasize “solidarity” among “human beings fighting and acting together regardless of [geographic] borders.”
ACORN and its Reincarnations
Operatives of the now-defunct community organization ACORN, which reconstituted itself into numerous state and regional groups bearing a variety of different names, have played a major role in organizing the OWS protests nationwide. For instance, the Working Families Party (WFP), a longtime ACORN front, helped mobilize the demonstrations in New York City. WFP organizer Nelini Stamp boasts of her organization's effort to bring “revolutionary change” to “the capitalist system” that is “not working for any of us.”
Newer ACORN offshoots are likewise deeply involved with OWS...
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) has also been involved in OWS's formation and early growth...
Labor Unions
OWS has enjoyed strong support from many labor unions and federations representing millions of public-sector workers, such as the AFL-CIO, the AFSCME, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the United Federation of Teachers. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who helped rescind a founding AFL-CIO rule which banned Communist Party members and loyalists from leadership positions within the Federation,...
Bill Ayers
Actively supporting OWS is the infamous Bill Ayers, the unrepentant former Weather Underground terrorist...
MoveOn.org
In October 2011, the left-wing activist group MoveOn.org announced its plan to launch a protest movement of its own to complement “the amazing work being done by brave Occupy Wall Street protesters,
Democratic Party Supporters of OWS:
A number of left-wing Democratic political figures have voiced praise for OWS. To cite just a few:
President Barack Obama, who had articulated a host of disparaging public references to such villains as the “millionaires and billionaires,” the “corporate jet owners,” and the “fat cat bankers on Wall Street” who allegedly were not paying their “fair share” in taxes, stated that he “understand
the frustrations that are being expressed” by OWS.
United States Senate candidate and former Obama appointee Elizabeth Warren expressed her fervent “support” for OWS and boasted, “I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they [the protesters] do.”
“God bless them,” former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said of OWS's “young,” “spontaneous,” and “focused” foot soldiers.
Former President Bill Clinton called OWS “on balance … a positive thing.”
Former Vermont governor and DNC chairman Howard Dean said, “I've been waiting for something like this to happen.... I'm glad to see all these young people on Wall Street.”
Praising OWS as “the first step in the right direction,” former vice president Al Gore said enthusiastically: “Count me among those supporting and cheering on the Occupy Wall Street movement.”
Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison asserted that “Occupy Wall Street's anger is justified” and its message “is being spread using the best tradition of American populist movements.”
Onetime senator Russ Feingold lauded OWS for mounting a “long overdue” assault on “corporate power and corporate greed.”
Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Raul Grijalva was “inspired by growing grassroots movements on Wall Street and across the country.”
Illinois congresswoman Jan Schakowsky cast OWS as an “unstoppable” movement that “has made a real difference” in focusing Americans' attention on the problem of “inequality.”
New York city councilman (and former Black Panther) Charles Barron was “very impressed” with OWS, predicting that the movement would “catch on like wildfire” because “conditions are ripe for revolution, for radical change.”
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) - Discover the Networks