55 years of - you decide

By William D. Cohan Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- You’ve got to love the French. The best-selling book on Amazon.com’s French site is “Indignez- vous!,” an exceedingly slim, elegant rumination on the state of the world by Stephane Hessel, a 94-year-old former United Nations diplomat, concentration-camp survivor and hero of the French Resistance. The 32-page book, with about 4 million copies in print in 30 languages-- including a just-published English version titled “Time for Outrage” -- is clearly meant to serve as a timely blueprint for non-violent protest. It could come in handy for the growing Occupy Wall Street movement as it continues to search for its voice and its raison d’etre (as the French would say.) Drawing on his profound experience in the Resistance, Hessel exhorts his readers to remember -- and continue to fight for -- the Four Freedoms outlined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union address: freedom of speech, ...

Software developers sympathetic to Occupy Wall Street are creating mobile apps and websites to help protesters communicate. Some developers work alone, while others joined forces at hackathons in New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. in mid-October.   I’m Getting Arrested By Jason Van Anden After Van Anden’s friend was arrested at a protest, he came up with an alternative to a phone call to spread the news. With one tap, his app blasts custom text messages to an unlimited number of contacts. After sending the messages, the phone vibrates and shows a screen that says: “Be Polite.”   OccupyVotes By Digital Democracy The OWS open-meeting process is egalitarian yet slow, says Mark Belinsky, co-founder of the nonprofit Digital Democracy. OccupyVotes users submit ideas into a digital pool, which are then randomly paired against each other. Users choose between the two, and the best ideas float to the top.   Occupyist By Cameron Cundiff With OWS spreading around the c...

The Government's newly-appointed chair of the NHS Commissioning Board has risked incurring the wrath of critics by admitting he does not use the NHS. Related articles 'Unintelligible' health bill is chance to empower GPs, says new NHS Board Chief Lansley backs university chief to head up NHS Commissioning Board The admission from Professor Malcolm Grant came during a grilling he received at the hands of the House of Commons Health Committee last week. When asked to demonstrate his ‘passion' for the NHS, the Univer­sity College London provost, appointed to the role earlier this month, was forced onto the defensive by MPs. ‘Come on, what do you want me to say?' he asked. ‘I find it difficult to demonstrate because I am not a patient of the NHS.' Professor Grant - a barrister, and former environmental lawyer, was personally endorsed by health secretary Andrew Lansley as his pre...

Hartlake Bridge  In the mid 19th and early 20th centuries For many generations of Hop Pickers, from all walks of life th e H eart of K ent, the garden of England, had been for two months eve ry year another source of income. Hop Picking season was here many family’s from London m ain ly w omen and children would descend apon Kent countryside. With the coming of the railway through Tonbridge in 1842 this m ade travelling to Kent v ery easy and special trains were provided for pickers. On arrival farmers with carts would meet many Family’s and provide travel and accommodation on their land. Accommodation could be as simple tent or old wooden Huts, Many other travelling family’s Gypsies who were use to the hard labour and conditions would also return to farms for the hopping season.     This is the story of the Hartlake Bridge Disaster October 20 th 1853 when 30 Hop-pickers lost their lives,   The below is extracts from London illustrated news London ti...

Description Gary McKinnon (born 10 February 1966) is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who suffers from an autism spectrum disorder compounded by clinical depression. In 2001, he was accused of what one U.S. prosecutor claimed was the "biggest military computer hack of all time", although Gary McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evidence of free energy suppression and a cover-up of UFO activity and other technologies potentially useful to the public. After a series of legal proceedings in Gary McKinnon (born 10 February 1966) is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who suffers from an autism spectrum disorder compounded by clinical depression. In 2001, he was accused of what one U.S. prosecutor claimed was the "biggest military computer hack of all time", although Gary McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evidence of free energy suppression and a cover-up of UFO activity and other technologies potential...

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One of our great myths about men is that lust invariably cancels out empathy. There are few more famous snippets of film dialogue than this exchange from the 1989 Blly Crystal and Meg Ryan classic, When Harry Met Sally : Harry : You realize of course that we could never be friends. Sally : Why not? Harry : What I’m saying is — and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form — is that men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way. Sally : That’s not true. I have a number of men friends and there is no sex involved. Harry : No you don’t. Sally : Yes I do. Harry : No you don’t. Sally : Yes I do. Harry : You only think you do. Sally : You say I’m having sex with these men without my knowledge? Harry : No, what I’m saying is they all want to have sex with you. Sally : They do not. Harry : Do too. Sally : They do not. Harry : Do too. Sally : How do you know? Harry : Because no man can be friends with a wom...

Put on a pair of pink Crocs, Steven Axelrod writes, and people will treat you differently. I wear pink Crocs. My son got them originally, as part of a publicity give-away at party early June three years ago. They were too big for him. He didn’t like the color. I tried them on, just for fun—and scarcely wore any other shoes until the next winter. The Crocs were supernaturally comfortable, easy to slip on and off (excellent for those early morning dog walks); best of all, they were free. But I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It turns out that a man wearing pink Crocs transforms himself into a kind of cultural touchstone, a walking sociological laboratory for the study of gender politics and iconography. No one was neutral about my footwear that summer. Everyone weighed in: women, for the most part, thought they were sexy. I was “secure enough in my sexuality” to flaunt such a provocative wardrobe item. I had clearly “embraced” my “feminine side” and sh...

Statement of African social justice activists on the decision of the British government to “cut aid” to African countries that violate the rights of LGBTI people in Africa by Sokari on October 28, 2011 in Africa Politics , Gay Imperialism , Homonationalism , Queer Politics , Same Sex Marriage British Prime Minister, David Cameron has warned his country would cut aid to countries in the global south that persecute LGBTI persons. Many of us believe this is an inappropriate response as stated in the statement below. …… We, the undersigned African social justice activists, working to advance societies that affirm peoples’ differences, choice and agency throughout Africa, express the following concerns about the use of aid conditionality as an incentive for increasing the protection of the rights of LGBTI people on the continent. It was widely reported, earlier this month, that the British Government has threatened to cut aid to governments of “count...

Four weeks ago,  Nigerian blogger Linda Ikeji reported the gang rape of a young woman by Abia State University students. The blog post was met with outrage on Nigerian Twitter and blog spaces . Over the course of 24 hours, three of the alleged rapists were named on Twitter. Within hours at least one of the names proved to be an error. Thus began retractions, calls for people to be calm and not to commit any more acts of violence and repeated apologies to the misnamed person. A few weeks later the Vanguard newspaper reported the Abia State police had suspended investigations into the gang rape. The police commissioner had decided that the young woman ‘had consented to the rape’ because on watching the video he did ‘not see the young woman resisting’. He went on to justify the rape: ‘ Gang rape is often videoed as a tool by under-graduate boys to rubbish the self esteem of snobbish girls. ’ He said even if the lady had not consented, he figured that she was a girlfriend of a ‘cu...

By UDUMA KALU, With agency report The Abia State Police command has explained why it suspended investigations into the gang rape that happened in its Abia State University. The state police command said the girl-victim consented to the rape. An online website monitoring the case yesterday reported that commenting on a DVD tape sent to his CP to expedite investigations into the activities of the criminal gang, J.G. Micloth, the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Abia  State Police command Criminal Investigation Department said the lady had consented to the gang crime. He was quoted as saying that after watching the DVD, he said he did not see the young lady resist the rape. On Thursday, 300 women from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, were stopped by the Abia State police command from protesting in Umuahia, the state capital, against the cont...

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Since Occupy Wall Street began, a lot of people I know have expressed interest in my involvement.  I’ve been making suggestions about how people can get involved on their own terms, and I thought it seemed time for a public overview. This list includes actions large and small that just about anyone, anywhere, can do to support the movement. I consider this list to be alive, and wide open and available for edits, additions and suggestions.  So comment below, on Facebook, mention @Averse2Ennui on Twitter, or get in touch  if you have ideas for the list. 1. Understand the Movement Chances are, you’ll find yourself in a conversation about Occupy-something sometime soon.  One of the most important things you can do, short of sleeping in a park, is be able to intelligently defend and support the movement in conversation. To begin, make some time to do a bit of preliminary reading.  Here are some articles and videos I recommend  in the short term to ge...

POST DAMTP ANNOUNCEMENT: ON DALE FARM AND OCCUPATION MOVEMENTS Written by DAMTP    Today the activists and residents have been removed by riot police and bailiffs at Dale Farm – the largest travellers site in Europe. This year has seen mass deportations and arrests of travellers across Europe and it is no surprise that the 10 year dispute over Dale Farm was to be resolved by the use of illegal weapons by the police yesterday on the first day of the attack. While the fight over the last 2 days was futile we feel the activists and of course the travellers themselves who have resisted their eviction and oppression by the state have made a heroic stand for workers everywhere. At the same time, Occupation protests continue across Europe, USA and Australia. These began at the weekend in solidarity to the Tahrir Square occupation and Spanish camps earlier this year as well as the ongoing...