Tagged: #occupy

Ljubljana’s ‘Boj Za’ Camp, Day 7 (LJ Pics of the Day)

Here are a few shots taken about an hour ago of the gradually growing camp of demonstrators in the plaza in front of Ljubljana’s Stock Exchange. The three large army tents firmly in place likens the area to a small, but growing refugee camp.

General assemblies continue daily at 6 pm along with a full slate of workshops. A few more details and contact info here.

Ljubljana’s ‘Boj Za’ Camp, Day 5 + Occupy Tibdits

Quick update on the Boj Za occupation of the plaza in front of Ljubljana’s Stock Exchange:

Demonstrators spent a fourth straight night camped out on Tuesday. Despite the onset of crappy weather –rain today, and snow on the way–  the numbers attending the daily workshops and those spending the night are actually steadily growing. PopTV reports that Prime Minister Borut Pahor visited the protesters on Monday night. Kids from a nearby elementary school stopped by this morning. I don’t ever recall field trips of those kinds.

Some links, most in Slovene: website, schedule/workshops/activities, and a webstream. Twitter feed is here. And here’s a brief video I shot on Sunday.

Background on the name: Borza is Slovenian for bourse, or stock exchange. At Saturday’s demonstration, the R was knocked off the archway and on Sunday replaced with a J. Boj za translates to, “Fight For”.

** **

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi had a great time discussing why talk radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh is freaking out about OWS after accusing journalists of leading and advising the movement:

Dylan Ratigan didn’t invent four million people in foreclosure, he didn’t invent ten trillion dollars in bailouts, and he didn’t invent Wall Street’s $160 billion bonus pool the year after the crash of its own creation.

People out there do not need media figures to tell them how fucked things are, or how pissed they should be that the same bankers who caused the crash are now enjoying state-supported bonuses in the billions, while everyone else gets squeezed.  As someone who has been covering this stuff for three years, I can say with confidence that people across the country don’t need a push to be angry. They’re already there, and have been there for years. Rush should go hang out outside a foreclosure court in his home state of Florida for a few hours, if he wants to see where the rising heat under these protests is coming from.

Anyway, the hysterical responses from the Rushes of the world are just more signs that these protests are working. I never thought I’d see it, but some of the dukes and earls high up in America’s Great Tower of Bullshit are starting to blink a little bit. They seem genuinely freaked out that OWS doesn’t have leaders or a single set of demands, which in addition to being very encouraging is quite funny.

And finally, the first (that I’m aware off) OWS marriage proposal via human microphone: “Will you occupy my life?”

Life’s Rich Soundtrack – REM Retrospective Trailer

It’s called Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, will include 40 songs, and I’ll be buying it. The least I can do for a band whose music formed a large part of my life’s soundtrack. Great trailer, too.

It was a shame I didn’t see them live here in Slovenia, but I enjoyed them plenty of times back in the U.S. Here’s a snap I took during a show at the Cleveland Music Hall on 12-Aug-1985. The ticket was $12.50 and I still have the stub. I hid the zoom lens in my pants.


And while I’m at it, here’s a 1986 release that was part of the soundtrack during organizing days back in the mid-1980s. I haven’t felt the kind of energy that’s now spreading across the world in those 25 years since. The message is as resounding now as it was then. Yes, I’m excited.

Life’s rich demand creates supply in the hand
Of the powers, the only vote that matters
Silence means security silence means approval

Let’s begin again.

Occupy camp at Ljubljana’s Stock Exchange

One last bit from the weekend before my mind will have to be occupied elsewhere. Here’s a quick video to give you an idea of what the Occupy Camp at the Ljubljana Stock Exchange looked like late Sunday afternoon. Several demonstrators spent the night last night, and some 50 are there now.

BORZA is Slovenian for bourse, or stock exchange. At yesterday’s demonstration, the R was knocked off the archway. Today it was replaced with a J. BOJ ZA translates to, “Fight For”.

At an afternoon meeting, demonstrators declared the square/plaza in front of the stock exchange a public area, and are setting up a full schedule of daily afternoon workshops to make use of that public space. I have no idea what the morning will bring.

***
Previously from this weekend:
- OccupyLjubljana vidblog
- OccupyLjubljana notebook and pics

#OccupyLjubljana today

Ljubljana’s Congress Square, or Kongresni Trg, beginning at 15:00 local. If you can’t come out on this absolutely lovely fall day, there will be a livestream here: http://www.livestream.com/prisotnoststeje .

‘Are we all in the same boat?’ – #occupyLjubljana update

That was the title of a talk given last night by Slovenian philosopher and sociologist Igor Pribac, who clearly believes that we’re not.

Speaking before a group of some 80 people at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Philosophy ahead of Saturday’s #OccupyLjubljana gathering in the Slovenian capital’s Kongresni Trg, Pribac noted how the metaphor, once widely used by ‘everyday people‘ and politicians alike, simply isn’t uttered nearly as much as it used to be. The feeling of being in the “same community of destiny”, he argued, is falling apart with alarming consequences. Pushing the metaphor further, Pribac maintains that people feel that they’re not even being given elbow room in that metaphorical boat.

That was Pribac’s working thesis to show his support for Saturday’s global actions, set for upwards of 1500 cities, and counting. And Slovenian media (read, mainstream media), at least going by a quick cursory survey this morning, are giving the Ljubljana gathering –along with those planned in the northeastern city of Maribor, the port city Koper, and Nova Gorica in the west– some decent pre-demo promotion.

Today’s edition of the daily Delo features a front page pic of #OccupyWallStreet protesters in New York City, with a local story on page 3, entitled, 15 October – day for ‘world revolution‘. There’s a nice graphic showing the spots around the world where demonstrations are being organized. And 24ur.com, the country’s most visited news portal, includes a story with a strong local angle, and a few video news spots. All links in Slovene.

#occupyLjubljana – 15 October (LJ Pics of the Day)

These are a couple shots of Ljubljana’s Kongresni Trg, or Congress Square, reopened after a v e r y long renovation in late June. On Saturday 15 October it will host the #occupyLjubljana gathering, one of dozens, if not hundreds planned around the globe that day.

What’s it all about? Despite the recent inability of media pundits in the US to figure out what the message behind the OccupyWallStreet demonstrations is, the answer is really quite simple: people everywhere are tired of paying the increasingly brutal costs for the massive economic and ecological crises that financial institutions, and the governments they essentially own, have created. The situations and specifics may vary country-to-country, but the underlying problem is the same: the unrelenting idolatry of the market has only left those without a voice accountable.

If you’re in or near Ljubljana that day, bring the whole family! And invite your friends and neighbors, too. 15:00 to 20:00.

Local organizers’ Facebook event page is here: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=232811496770347; and their twitter feed is here: http://twitter.com/#!/OccupyLjubljana

UPDATE: Someone wiped out the FB event page, but the gathering is still happening. Here’s the new FB event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168667253220790

 

#occupywallstreet – Please stop circulating bogus demonstration photos

Friends, I’m with you. And so are lots and lots of others. So please stop circulating bogus photoshopped pics, like the one below, that are spreading around facebook and other corners of the internets faster than an Indian summer wildfire. This really does do more harm than good. Thanks.

Thanks, Matthew for the graphic (which I grabbed without your permission but I figured you wouldn’t mind)