Creative Activism - The Art of the Prank

November 3, 2011December 15, 2023

OWS Launches Newsletter

From the OWS News Team: Introducing OWSnews.org – News of, by and for the 99%

OWSnews.org is being launched by journalists and organizers at New York”s Liberty Park occupation and over 20 other occupied locations throughout the US. This service is specifically dedicated to aggregating and producing news reports on the OWS 99% Movement. Our website also features many social networking capabilities which allow registered users to create their own profile, share ideas and easily communicate with many other journalists and OWS activists. You can be one of the first people to join this network by creating your own profile and contributing to the site by registering here: OWSnews.org/register.

Before jumping into our first newsletter, we would like to bring your attention to a voting feature that is present on all of our news reports. It is a Reddit-style function which allows people to vote reports up or down. Moving forward, we will use this voting process as an online General Assembly editor to determine which news reports will get featured on the homepage. Once you are registered for the site, please vote up the reports that you like.

As we are currently coordinating and developing an editorial process with over 1000 occupations throughout the US and internationally, we thought it would be appropriate to launch by honoring and featuring some of the journalists that have spent years dedicated to investigating and exposing the crimes of Wall Street. We have an amazing list of contributors, including Amy Goodman, Eugene Jarecki, Glen Ford, Bill Black, Dylan Ratigan, David DeGraw, Kevin Zeese, Adbusters, Nomi Prins, Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Matt Taibbi, Mark Ruffalo, Cornel West, Naomi Wolf and more…

November 3, 2011December 15, 2023

Artist Stephen Barnwell Designs Official OWS Protest Currency

Submitted by artist Stephen Barnwell who just won a design competition to make the official Protest Currency for the Occupy Wall St. Movement.

Occupy Wall Street Official Protest Currency

On October 22, 2011, Stephen won a design competition to create the official protest currency of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Immediate plans for the design are for currency notes and tee shirts, but it may be used for a variety of materials.

The reverse of the note is ghosted out to allow for people to sign the notes, so that each note will be a unique and personalized document. The vignette is of the NY Stock Exchange building grafted onto the US Capitol building.

For details of Stephen’s design process, check out the artasmoney.com blog.

October 31, 2011December 15, 2023

Anonymous Threatens to Expose Drug Cartel

Hackers Threaten Zetas Drug Cartel
Huffington Post
October 31, 2011

Veracruz, Mexico — An Internet video is threatening Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel with exposure of its allies in the local police and news media this week unless the gang frees a kidnapped member of the international hacker movement known as “Anonymous.”

The YouTube message, which claims to be from Anonymous “Veracruz, Mexico and the world,” says it is “tired of the criminal group the Zetas, which is dedicated to kidnapping, stealing and extortion,” and threatens to fight back with information instead of weapons.

It said it knows of police officers, journalists, taxi drivers and others working with the Zetas.

The video refers to an unidentified person kidnapped in the coastal city of Veracruz, and says: “You have made a great mistake by taking one of us. Free him.”

English version of the video (Original Spanish version here):

Continue reading “Anonymous Threatens to Expose Drug Cartel”

October 30, 2011December 15, 2023

Protest as Carnival: Using Humor to Confound Authoritarianism

Gandhi Meets Monty Python at Occupy Wall Street: The Comedic Turn in Nonviolent Tactics
by Wayne Grytting
Truth-out.org
28 October 2011

On October 3rd, protesters at Occupy Wall Street failed to march. Instead they clumsily lurched. With white painted faces, glazed looks and dollar bills hanging out of some mouths, protesters chanted “I smell money, I smell money”¦” It was Corporate Zombie Day. Scenes like this and the sight of Guy Fawkes masks, clown suits, drumming circles and surrealistic posters all over the country have left many commentators scratching their heads. Is this protest or carnival? Maybe we should tell them. There”s been a sea change in the protest industry.

“A worldwide shift in revolutionary tactics is underway right now that bodes well for the future,” proclaims Adbusters, the initiators of Occupy Wall Street. A key part of this re-channeling of tactics has been a move away from both angry protests or passive waiting-to-be-clubbed-by-police-batons to age old carnival-style antics. A festive atmosphere has reigned supreme in all of the successful pro-democracy uprisings of the past two decades. In Poland, Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, Tunisia and Egypt, music and humor were everywhere. Why? Continue reading “Protest as Carnival: Using Humor to Confound Authoritarianism”

September 27, 2011December 15, 2023

Fox News Bit by Street Etiquette Artist

Submitted by David Strom:

Animal New York, September 15, 2011:

Jay Shells Promotes his New Signs on Fox News, Then Punks Them

As we mentioned, artist Jay Shells is attracting lots of media attention with his most recent etiquette campaign and this afternoon he was asked to appear on Fox News” “Happening Now” program to which he happily agreed.

Before he wrapped up the live segment though, he used the opportunity to take a jab at the network (1:36) and explained how he planned on doing a “Fox Lies” sign, but settled for the horseshit one instead. He tells us that the crew on set laughed. The same can”t be said for the correspondent interviewing him. UPDATE: Vimeo removed the clip, so now we”re rolling the dice with YouTube (Should that get removed, News Corpse also captured it.).

images: Trendhunter: