Ah yes. Video journalism. This particular 5-minute video was recorded between 12pm-2pm. I immediately took it home and started editing. This full version, complete with subtitles and background music, was online by 5pm and featured on the New Haven Independent, a prime source of news, and it received 700 views in a couple days. It got one comment, from none other than Paul Bass, the editor of the NH Independent.
Please comment either here or on the Facebook page. Thanks!
Artist Rob Greenberg decided to do something about Occupy New Haven.
He decided to send the message to the Occupants that they were parked on a burial ground and it's a "lack of respect for the Green."
With special permission from the Grove Street Cemetery, he rubbed about 30 stones. "The stones were originally on the Green and were removed in the 1820's by James Hillhouse and the public (townspeople)."
Come to the green and talk to the artist. He will be on the Green for most of the morning, and part of the afternoon. Here are some scenes from the upcoming documentary about the making of his art project:
Artist Robert Greenberg
Dumbfounded Bystander (Musical Pedestrian)
These guys determined their grandfathers knew eachother.
This guy was drinking booze at 9am. Old Campus in the background.
So, come on down to the New Haven Green today and discover more about the history of the Green! It's a great place to learn about history, and now more than ever it's an even better place for art projects.
Today is Monday. Wednesday, the people on the New Haven Green will be moving out. One group is expected to leave and head out to a reservation in eastern Connecticut, to start something agricultural. Another group sounded like they were headed for some kind of forested area, but the actual location wasn't disclosed.
I'm not really sure what's going to happen to the "Occupy New Haven" movement, but I feel as though it seems destined to be removed. What's discouraging about the political discourse surrounding the "Occupy" movement, as we head into summer, is that it seems to have dissolved into an us-versus-them mentality. One where cooperation between the occupation and City Hall was discouraged, by some, at one point.
Very few of the people in Occupy New Haven, and probably this is true of other camps around the country, will find their way back into the workforce, it seems. Even the ones that are capable, competent and have some degree of training are not willing to become meaningless pieces in any sort of labor force that is not attentive to the social causes that many "Occupiers" have dedicated themselves to, often tying themselves to their tents with that intent.
While it's true that 1% of people have control over 99% of the "wealth" in the world, in financial terms, the people of Occupy don't truly represent 99% of civilization as a whole. Probably most people with steady jobs who have not come down to support any kind of political movement against financial oppression aren't feeling the impact that the people that are actually living on the New Haven Green probably feel. The people on the Green probably feel as though more people will be living in the same conditions that they face, without help, hope or a future to keep them a part of society.
What I noticed, though, is that the Occupation seems to resemble a farm, in many ways. And that there are some people who work and live there that are interested in building their own communities from the ground up. And that's why I'm saying that it's possible for us to bring people back into a workplace environment, if given a chance.
There is a plan to get people back into society again, by helping them develop their own society that will decrease the likelihood that future movements will be more hostile. It looks as though there is a whole bunch of people, not just in New Haven, but a large demographic across the country that have become entirely disenfranchised by the American way, which is such that people like Mitt Romney can openly admit to not being taxed the same (while having much more cash available to him than most of us), and yet still run for President, and still be winning any kind of primary.
There are tons of examples of inequality in America, and that's just one of them. It's the kind of thing that makes people want to protest. And we can't just drop them from society, because they aren't going to disappear. These people are going to end up costing society more, in economic terms, by letting them fall into the void. Either by costing more in welcare, incarceration, or any of the other ways that we handle the disenfranchised members of our society who have lost their will to contribute.
I'm hoping that the City, together with the Office of Sustainability as well as the New Haven Land Trust, can put their heads together and come up with a plan that will boost Greater New Haven's agriculture by trying to get more of these people into jobs like that. It's the only meaningful work that nearly anybody can contribute to, which will benefit all of our society. It would prove to the rest of the country that New Haven stands for a more progressive approach; hopefully one that will yield greater benefits.
While I haven't totally agreed with the approach of the occupiers, where some have interfered with progress by not cooperating with any discussion about relocation and the establishment of their own neo-agricultural society, I do think that these people could probably need a hand, not a handout. We are naive to think that these people created their own problems and they are requesting the rest of the world to solve theirs for them. In some instances you're probably witnessing second or third generation poverty.
Most concerning on the National level were the provisions in the NDAA which seem directed at incarcerating American citizens suspected for terrorism. Assuming that "Occupy" continues to be disruptive, it's possible that the Federal government could group the entire movement as a terrorist group and indefinitely detain anyone protesting on behalf of it. It seems that they might even be organizing a response on a military level, if the reaction seen in the fall continues to gain momentum into the Spring and Summer, although it's uncertain as to whether the National movement will inflate or deflate in the summer months. Some of the more wilder claims have been that Homeland Security, now merged with FEMA, has created camps that were designed for emergency relief which could be used for such indefinite detainment of such a large group. While many of these camps have been maintained but have also remained dormant, some are being reported as having more activity. Some have claimed that hiring for these camps began in February. One such example is this video. The author of this video claims that this "Internment Resettlement Specialist" hiring video was released by the National Guard, suggesting that these kind of workers will be needed in the event that the United States experiences significant trouble with political dissent.
It was also noted that I wouldn't be able to go into people's tents to prove that there were no weapons on the Green, because it was indicated that some people did actually have items that would be considered as such, perhaps for their own safety, but there nonetheless. There's nothing not concerning about any of this. Thoughts like these have and will occupy my time while these tents are on the New Haven Green, and for that reason I suppose they've been successful.
(The following, I didn't write obviously because everything is spelled correctly and it sounds official.)
New Haven, CT – New Haven Farms, whose mission is to promote health and community development through urban agriculture, is pleased to announce that it will hold its first fundraiser. New Haven Farms began as a garden for a small group of Chabaso Bakery employees. After a successful partnership with the Fair Haven Community Health Center, the idea of expanding the garden into an urban farm to provide fresh produce to those at risk for such leading factors as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure gained momentous support across the greater New Haven community.
The Sowing Seeds event will take place Saturday April 14, 2012 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Bentara Restaurant, 76 Orange Street in New Haven. Admission is $20 per person or $30 for two tickets. Tickets can be purchased online at www.newhavenfarms.org prior to the event. Tickets may also be purchased at the door the day of the event on a first come, first served basis. Admission includes light refreshments and live music. A cash bar is available. Funds raised during this event will go directly toward helping New Haven Farms meet its 2012 goal of increasing the number of at-risk families with access to fresh, quality produce.
On the heels two community meetings in January and March, New Haven Farms is seeking support and funding to scale-up its current operations. In 2012, New Haven Farms aims to establish enough credibility and financial security to work with the City of New Haven Parks Commission to farm an unutilized plot of land at Quinnipiac River Park. This area of the park contains ideal soil conditions for growing.
For more information about the event, to make a tax-deductible donation or to volunteer, visit the New Haven Farms website at www.newhavenfarms.org.
Gearing up for tomorrow's big sweep, the people on the New Haven Green who identify as "occupiers" don't necessarily see themselves as "invaders," but they've essentially taken over the New Haven Green with no intent to leave.
Their most recent attempt at putting the law on their side? Challenging the legality of the ownership of the green. Watch the video. Wonder what will happen next.
One of the members of the New Haven Green Committee:
Solicitor General is a position in the US Federal Government that essentially represents the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Good Luck, Occupiers! You're going to have to make one pretty good argument.
Plan between businesses and government seems to be curbing the public drinking. Better for businesses to be in control of the distribution of beer and other drinks to parade goers than leaving it up to lawlessness. That seems to be the message in this next video.
Antistatic reporting from Channel 8 news about the fuzz:
Boring negotiations have gone back and forth go nowhere for 2 months, with no resolve. One lunatic kept hollering about turning Occupy into a community farm.
He kept saying, "we're gonna need food someday!" But nobody would listen to him. Are they just a bunch of lazy complainers? Or will yelling at cops in riot gear solve all the social injustices in the world? Only time will tell.
On account that the occupiers couldn't present the city with its own proposal,
City Hall has decided to provide a proposal of its own.
Here's what negotiations sounded like when they first began officially on Feb. 8 2012 :
At this point, City Hall was "Open to conversation."
Occupiers then ran off a laundry list of every social injustice they could cite. While certain police incidents should be either investigated or handled with more scrutiny (Jewu), most of the ideas the protesters came up with were not related to the "Occupy" movement, any more than they concern everyone when it comes to basic civil and human rights.
That was probably the point where the conversation was the most rational.
I chose to speak with a few assembly members in the food tent while dropping off some fresh greens from a local board meeting for a nonprofit that I volunteer for. Our conversation was about how the movement, at least for the New Havenite crowd, is something of a neo-agrarian movement, without being known. It seems that most of the proactively involved wish to be a part of an organic farm that is self sustaining. Beyond that, the rest wish just to have the essentials of life, which society cannot presently provide. It was also discussed that the local police and authorities had no interest in intimidating or harassing them for their occupation of the old Connecticut Statehouse spot on the New Haven green. They anticipated that the call to action in the spring would result in bigger clashes in major cities. It was then also noted that the previous evictions took place at times that seemed internationally coordinated, particularly one set of evictions in November which occurred on the same day in several countries. That said, their plan is to document with a series of videos how peaceful their movement actually is. According to cointelpro (in their case, anti-cointelpro) the media's strategy for the evictions (and possible Homeland Security involvement) will be to paint a picture of the occupation as a dangerous group. All efforts in media are now presently to reinforce the image of the protests as peaceful in nature, because they are.
An article that recently appeared in the New Haven Independent contained a photo of a determined-looking protestor inside of a tent with a bandana over his face [read NH Independent Article].
The face is none other than Ben Aubin, a North Carolina native who migrated to New Haven by way of Portland, Oregon and began his involvement in New Haven as the self-proclaimed 'founder' of the Freestore, which was supposed to last until at least October but which folded around August.
This is a video that includes Ben Aubin, claiming that the freestore was moving, a promise which ultimately he could not deliver.
Profile of an "Anonymous Protestor" : Ben Aubin's Blog.
Here's Ben Aubin's blog. It's called "Rule By The Rich" and it mentions "The Importance of Affluence" as well as "The Power of Wealth." Here's a sample:
"The only way out now is through an unspoken election. Each member of the collective begins competitively testing presentation methods for gaining the attention and acceptance of the Early Adopters. Whomever achieves success first is the decided leader."
-Ben Aubin Quote
The only problem with such an "unspoken election" is that it's not actually democratic of only those that are "in the know" are able to actually vote, and the system described in that paragraph represents the kind of despotism one might expect from humans in eras predating language. The trouble with anarchy is that it will result in merely a re-shuffling of the same system which many have come to know as the private monopoly of wealth which relates back to individuals who inject wealth into Capital Hill to get what they want. If by co-opting movements first, even if by accurately predicting the occurrences of movements like #OWS, people like Ben are merely interlopers who are out for their own gain, even if it means taking positions of leadership now so they can sell out everybody later and then in all likelihood move to another town. vicinity, so that they can not be held accountable.
The best argument against anarchy is that if we live in a society which has laws, but the laws are either manipulated or not followed, or if money has the ability to influence legislature, then we already live in anarchy and running things further in the ground will not actually help the situation improve.
The best way of accomplishing the unstated goals of #OWS, which seem to be social progress, would be to infiltrate legislature legally with elected leaders who represent the "99%" which demographically would make any #OWS supporter instantly electable, and then once a majority is reached, repeal laws and create new antitrust legislation to shift the balance in favor of individuals, and not corporations.
Here's another quote which relates to what this website advocates, taken from Ben Aubin's blog:
"This kind of competition, however, is a collective of independently acting individuals, working with private information, sharing the results of their actions. "
Another thing about the NH Independent Article, as well as many #Occupy mentions in the news, is the adherence among protestors to hide their identity. As if they're doing something wrong. There's nothing wrong or illegal with protesting. Therefore there should be no reason to conceal ones' identity, unless trying to appeal to appeal to an imaginary audience of impressionable future followers. The most disconcerting part about tents appearing anywhere is that the people living in that town do not know the occupier's identities, weapons permits, criminal records, or psychological status. As with any new residents of any area, all of this information should bear relevance as New Haven, and many other metropolitan centers, welcome their new tent-dwelling neighbors into areas occupied as semi-permanent establishments.
One last quote, to tie everything together:
"For the first time in our history every individual will say with great pride, we are and forever will be ruled by the rich."
What does that mean??!!
Geopolitics on the Horizon The most interesting thing about the global economy is how it's all tied in to crude oil extraction, because without it, everything pretty much comes to a grinding hault. The United States imports 9 to 12 million barrels of oil per day. Most international news trends towards indicating that the future will be more unstable than the present. The #Occupy protests, admittedly in the NH Independent article, were announced by Canadian magazine "Adbusters."
Therefore, all the money in the world won't help anyone if some event disrupts the transport of oil to the United States, even for a period greater than 6 months. The world has only been dependent on fossil fuels since really after World War II, where the automobile allowed society to spread into the suburbs, made it possible to produce hydrocarbon byproducts like plastics which now clutter our landfills and oceans, and now has become our achilles heel. Such an event might include the election of another Republican president who might lead us into battle with Iran, which many have said has been green-lighted since the last Bilderberg conference, as evidenced by the constant flow of mentions in the propagandist corporate news machine of an Iranian clandestine nuclear program's existence, reminiscent of the WMD reports about Iraq which preceded the 2003 Invasion.
Meanwhile, China and Russia both have made it clear that an invasion of Iran would need clearance by all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which includes both nations. It's uncertain why the United States would be so interested in pursuing this avenue, at least evidenced by the mainstream news as a priority threat at the moment, if not to preemptively defend Israel, whose own security has been compromised by the political destabilization of the Middle East, including rising tensions with previously peaceful states like Turkey.
These same saber-rattling "1%ers" welcome the civil unrest, because political instability makes it easier for them to take control of situations while people are pre-occupied with the domestic threat: an huge mass of financially discontented citizens who have only strategized political passive aggression, and make their presence known on the news when abused by law enforcement, which only adds to people's disenfranchisement about society's cohesion.
So, do the Occupy Wall Street protests actually represent a viable political movement with real plans to seek reparations for the years spent by Americans who are indebted to their student loans, the new fast-track paperwork route to indentured servitude? Or is it just a way for people like these to dress up in masks inside of tents and act like they're in charge of something, hiding or changing their names in the hope that they will become "the affluent" someday?
Ben Aubin has already mentioned that he doesn't like to post comments on articles that are written about him, so it's probable that he won't acknowledge this, nor the other efforts that TownOfNewHaven has made to ask him to explain his position of "leadership" in the #OWS movement, and the direction of the #Occupy movement in general.
Comments?
Ah yes. Video journalism. This particular 5-minute video was recorded between 12pm-2pm. I immediately took it home and started editing. This full version, complete with subtitles and background music, was online by 5pm and featured on the New Haven Independent, a prime source of news, and it received 700 views in a couple days. It got one comment, from none other than Paul Bass, the editor of the NH Independent. 
