Video from Al Jazeera about the Oakland Occupation below
NOTE: GJEP stands in solidarity with the Oakland General Strike. Shut it Down. We will provide coverage today, including photos and commentary later in the day from GJEP’s Communication Director, Jeff Conant, who runs GJEP’s Oakland office. Of course that depends on what occurs during the General Strike and Jeff’s access to upload to Climate Connections. Last night GJEP’s Anne Petermann and Orin Langelle did a Non Violent Direct Action training for Occupy Burlington. Occupy Burlington will have a march and rally today in solidarity with the Oakland General Strike. It will be an interesting day. The video below is from Al Jazeera English:
Protesters in Oakland, California are planning to try and shut down the city’s port – the fifth-busiest shipping container port in the United States, in what they are calling a general strike on Wednesday.
The protesters are part of the ‘Occupy’ movement sweeping the world in which people are rallying to stop, amongst other things, corporate greed.
“…OWS is a critique of the system of American democracy and how the engines and devices of American democracy have been perverted for the benefit of the 1 percent and to the disadvantage of the 99 percent.
This critique is clearly about the Constitution. And if we look at the text of the Constitution, we will see why that is so.
The American Constitution is the framework for a democratic republic. A democratic republic, in turn, is system of government that is designed to be responsive to the people of the United States as a whole, and not to the wealthiest 1 percent.
The Constitution says that “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union, a Republican Form of Government.”
A “Republican Form of Government” is not a government controlled by Republicans.
Rather, a Republican Form of Government” is a representative government. It is a responsive government. It is a government, to use Abraham Lincoln’s famous words, “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” A republican form of government is a government that pays attention to the welfare of the vast majority of its citizens, or in the words of OWS, it is a government that cares about and is responsive to the 99 percent, rather than a government that is captured by the 1 percent and made to do that 1 percent’s bidding.
The guarantee of a republican form of government, which I have just quoted, is called the Guarantee Clause of Article IV. The Guarantee Clause, as my colleague Akhil Amar has pointed out, was designed to prevent temporary majorities or even minorities from using the levers of government to entrench themselves in power. It was designed to ensure that a small group of powerful and wealthy individuals could not hijack the government and make it do their bidding to the exclusion of the vast majority of the public– the public for which democratic governments were created to serve. The Guarantee Clause was designed to prevent a small determined faction from seizing the reins of government, and making it a ventriloquist’s dummy, a mere puppet of the powerful.
The second half of the Guarantee Clause speaks of invasion and “domestic violence.” The framers understood that republics are not lost only to conquering armies. They are destroyed by corruption which leads to feckless, unresponsive government, and causes government to lose legitimacy in the eyes of the broad mass of its citizens. The riots and insurrections come later on to deliver the final blow. That is why the Guarantee Clause concerns both the destruction of majority rule and domestic upheaval. The two are opposite sides of the same coin. Caesar seized Rome after the Roman Senate had become deeply corrupt and the Republic could no longer defend itself. When the Senate is for sale, a coup is unnecessary to destroy republican government. The coup has already occurred from within.”
About Us
Climate Connections is a project of Global Justice Ecology Project.
NOTE: GJEP stands in solidarity with the Oakland General Strike. Shut it Down. We will provide coverage today, including photos and commentary later in the day from GJEP’s Communication Director, Jeff Conant, who runs GJEP’s Oakland office. Of course that depends on what occurs during the General Strike and Jeff’s access to upload to Climate Connections. Last night GJEP’s Anne Petermann and Orin Langelle did a Non Violent Direct Action training for Occupy Burlington. Occupy Burlington will have a march and rally today in solidarity with the Oakland General Strike. It will be an interesting day. The video below is from Al Jazeera English:
Pingback: OAKLAND GENERAL STRIKE TODAY | Mobilization for Climate Justice
Pingback: OAKLAND GENERAL STRIKE TODAY | Mobilization for Climate Justice
Let’s take back the Constitution!
from http://balkin.blogspot.com//2011/10/occupy-constitution.html
“…OWS is a critique of the system of American democracy and how the engines and devices of American democracy have been perverted for the benefit of the 1 percent and to the disadvantage of the 99 percent.
This critique is clearly about the Constitution. And if we look at the text of the Constitution, we will see why that is so.
The American Constitution is the framework for a democratic republic. A democratic republic, in turn, is system of government that is designed to be responsive to the people of the United States as a whole, and not to the wealthiest 1 percent.
The Constitution says that “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union, a Republican Form of Government.”
A “Republican Form of Government” is not a government controlled by Republicans.
Rather, a Republican Form of Government” is a representative government. It is a responsive government. It is a government, to use Abraham Lincoln’s famous words, “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” A republican form of government is a government that pays attention to the welfare of the vast majority of its citizens, or in the words of OWS, it is a government that cares about and is responsive to the 99 percent, rather than a government that is captured by the 1 percent and made to do that 1 percent’s bidding.
The guarantee of a republican form of government, which I have just quoted, is called the Guarantee Clause of Article IV. The Guarantee Clause, as my colleague Akhil Amar has pointed out, was designed to prevent temporary majorities or even minorities from using the levers of government to entrench themselves in power. It was designed to ensure that a small group of powerful and wealthy individuals could not hijack the government and make it do their bidding to the exclusion of the vast majority of the public– the public for which democratic governments were created to serve. The Guarantee Clause was designed to prevent a small determined faction from seizing the reins of government, and making it a ventriloquist’s dummy, a mere puppet of the powerful.
The second half of the Guarantee Clause speaks of invasion and “domestic violence.” The framers understood that republics are not lost only to conquering armies. They are destroyed by corruption which leads to feckless, unresponsive government, and causes government to lose legitimacy in the eyes of the broad mass of its citizens. The riots and insurrections come later on to deliver the final blow. That is why the Guarantee Clause concerns both the destruction of majority rule and domestic upheaval. The two are opposite sides of the same coin. Caesar seized Rome after the Roman Senate had become deeply corrupt and the Republic could no longer defend itself. When the Senate is for sale, a coup is unnecessary to destroy republican government. The coup has already occurred from within.”