Identity Card - Performed by Souhad Zendah

Souhad Zendah is a lecturer at Tufts University where she teaches Arabic language and culture. She has also taught Arabic language and literacy at Harvard where she is currently working on an advanced degree in language education.

Identity Card was written by Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) who was born in Al Birweh, Palestine into a land-owing Sunni Muslim family. During the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, his village was destroyed and his family fled to Lebanon.

Darwish was an editor for a Palestine Liberation Organization monthly journal and the director of the group's research center. He also founded the literary review Al-Karmel and served as the editor-in-chief. Darwish is considered Palestine's most eminent poet. Souhad delivers a moving performance of one of Darwish's most famous poems.

Identity Card

by

Mahmoud Darwish

(performed first in Arabic then in English)



---

Some details about Mahmoud Darwish from: The Academy of American Poets

---

Occupy Everything!



Rob Herron, III

There is nothing like seeing a unified mass of pissed off people overcoming the American traditions of social conditioning and identity illusion to make a statement against oppression. It’s just beautiful and it’s a phenomenon that hasn’t shown itself in this country since maybe the 60’s or 70’s. The “Occupy” movement is truly a rare sight during these days where so many powerful spirits and minds have been suppressed to maintain the status quo. This process is nothing new though, especially recently as we’ve had front row seats to the many revolts that popped up in Middle Eastern and African countries (I’ll come back to these). 

This time in history is clearly indicative of the need for Humanity to rise up and reclaim its authority, and what better platform for this message than America: the self proclaimed world leaders. I think that’s why the “Occupy” protests springing up in every American city have such a massive significance and a purpose that, honestly, could be in danger of being compromised. The protest itself is the movement because it accomplishes the most important thing an oppressed or deceived people must do to kick start change: speaking.

Specifically, purposeful speaking that calls out wrongdoers and helps to clarify the responsibility of the participants moving forward. But as this movement approaches a stage where its growth is exponential and the message can no longer be hidden by media outlets and the overall power structure the territory gets rocky. It’s at this point that unstable movements start to crumble mainly because the opportunists (both within and outside of the protest) start to show up. The things that people need to be most aware of are the always present human instincts to micromanage or provide a comforting distinction to something.

It’s at this point that the demonstrators and organizers whose hearts are immeasurably committed to achieving liberation have to take ownership of the efforts, or someone else less concerned will. There’s an “Occupy Everything” kind of mindset that defines the power structure that we’ve all been forced to adhere to and that attitude comes out particularly when its reign is threatened. It also comes out when it sees the opportunity to corrupt a pure movement of change, they just can’t pass that up.

Now back to the movements in the Middle East and Africa real quick. Many of the corrupt leaders of countries whose people were trying to overthrow them had to have American assistance to get to that oppressive state, but it was the Americans who swooped in to play savior or rather to stake claim in a place and people that are transitioning. The same idea will apply to the “Occupy” movement. There will be an effort to claim our message of freedom.  As a result we need to have an “Occupy Everything” approach too. We have to be of the mindset of reclaiming every right that has been usurped, every promise that has been skipped out on and every speck of truth that has been kept from us. There can’t be an outcome that falls short of that. If this happens we may see a world “Occupied” completely by liberated people. 

---

Rob Herron is a graduate of the journalism school of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He freelances at 'The Call' in Kansas City. Rob is the author of the blog 'Just Thoughts.'

---

Civil Society, Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Assembly

Dear readers,

If you haven't connected with an Occupy movement near you I ask that you watch this video. I can't endorse it as *the best* video on the movement but it certainly captures hypocrisy in the form of U.S. international policy and sentiment.

The issues that negatively affect the lives of people around the globe are much broader (e.g., bank bailouts, limiting access to fresh water in developing countries, forced child labor, inadequate healthcare in the U.S., etc.)  than what is presented here but this is a good place to start.

I share this video because it shows, in high-relief, what happens in the “land of the free” when The People exercise free expression and assemble to support each other in the full expression of those ideas.

I’m not asking you to join the movement, just to be knowledgeable about if from the perspective of the Occupiers (news outlets don’t get it). This is an historic, global movement that will affect the lives of everyone.

~Peace and Blessing, Z.

---

Will You Change the World?

Perhaps a month or two before I began blogging I decided to locate several blogs that I find enjoyable which demonstrate best practices (I've grown so tired of what are too often empty catch phrases), which demonstrate a connection with readers and provide a great example of not just well-written posts but also of interaction with readers in a way that makes the time-consuming practice of thoughtful writing worth the effort. I believe that blogging is about exchange, many bloggers do this very well. For my purposes, I found sever blogs that fit this description, one is The Practical Free Spirit authored by Amy Sundberg. With her permission, I share one of her posts here.

---

Will You Change the World?



High Dy Ran, Toyko

Some people know they can’t change the world. They are beaten and dreary, prone to complaining about things they know they can’t control just for the sake of complaining. The world is a hostile place, and these people are its victims. Nothing will ever be better for them, and nothing will ever change. They live in a haze of “can’t,” and therefore they spend their lives in a prison of impossibilities, devoid of hope.

Some people hope they can change the world. They realize there are a lot of things that could use some changing, and that many of the needed changes are on such a large scale they can’t even begin to fathom how they could make a difference. So instead they focus on what they can change. Sometimes these people start out small, with a smile or a twenty buck donation, or by educating themselves further so they gain a greater understanding of the world around them. These people understand that affecting one other person can have a ripple effect, therefore giving their actions meaning.

Amy Sundberg

Some people think they can change the world. They have big ideas and even bigger dreams, and when they speak about these ideas, a certain brightness creeps over their features, serving as a beacon in the long, cold night of apathy. Not only do they have ideas, but they act upon them. They tend to try many things, and sometimes they fail. We might expect them to slink away after such failure, but inevitably they brush themselves off and either tackle the problem from a new direction or find another problem to address.

Some people are changing the world. Are you one of them? Do you want to be?

---

No doubt, building an audience took a great deal of time for the bloggers that I admire. We write because I must. We blog because I want to discuss. It's in the exchange that growth happens. It is our non-violent way of changing the world.

The Revolution is Not Being Televised! The Occupation of Wall Street

Now in its ninth day, the Occupy Wall Street movement has received minimal coverage by the mainstream press. There's been no break in regularly televised programming, no break in regular radio programming. Yet, there was coverage on a number of issues that could have been postponed for future airing. 

I'm not saying that the six-ton satellite that fell to earth yesterday wasn't news. However, the more than week-long, American occupation of the financial district that controls many of the world's markets and the lives of billions of people should make headlines. Why the silence? Why did major American news outlets provide extended coverage of the recent uprisings in the Middle East and are not providing around-the-clock coverage of this homegrown revolution? 

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

Protestors identify themselves as representing the 99 percent of Americans whose interests are subordinate to those of the wealthy one percent. They are middle-aged, older, and young; they are laborers and highly educated; they are Black, White, Brown, and Red; they are fed up!

The Occupy Wall Street movement has garnered the help of the Alliance for Global Justice to support the participants in terms of food and other necessities. Organizers plan to occcupy Wall Street for a month.  

---

The Occupy Wall Street Website provides the following contact information:
Regarding arrests:
Please call the first precinct, central booking and the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information and urge them to release these peaceful protesters.
First precinct: +1 (212) 334-0611
Central booking: +1 (212) 374-3921
Deputy Commissioner of Public Information: +1 (646) 610-6700
NYPD Switchboard: 1-646-610-5000

Regarding food and other support:
We are now able to receive packages.
The UPS store 118A #205 New York, New York 10038 RE: Occupy Wall Street.
Money orders only please, cannot cash checks yet. Non-perishable goods only.
We can accept packages of any size. We are currently low on food.
Lemon Grass Grill +1 (212) 809-8038
Toloache Taqueria +1 (212) 809-9800
Alfanoose +1 (212) 528-4669

---

Occupy Wall Street Movement Reports 80 Arrested Today in Protests

Sep 24, 2011 7:18pm

ABC News's Olivia Katrandjian reports:

 At least 80 people were arrested on Wall Street today in the eighth day of protests against corporations, according to the group Occupy Wall St, which reported police used tasers and mace to control the crowd today.

The New York Police Department could not confirm how many arrests had been made because they were still being processed, a spokesman said.

A video has circulated of a police officer throwing a protestor to the ground. The reason for the violence is unknown – the video shows the man standing in what seems to be a non-threatening manner before the attack.

Another video shows police officers shoving male and female protestors off the street, and using a large orange net to move the crowd.

The group claimed today on its website that several arrested protestors were locked inside a police van this morning, one with a “possibly life-threatening” concussion.

The website reported at least one protestor was arrested for taking photographs. An NYPD spokesman said police were not targeting those with cameras.

Photographs that did make it into the blogosphere showed signs that read, “A Few Prosper, Billions Suffer,” and “Debt = Slavery.”

The protests began on Sept. 17, when hundreds of protestors gathered at Bowling Green Park in Manhattan, home of the iconic charging bull in New York’s Financial District, as they prepared to “take the bull by the horns,” as a flyer advertising the event said.

“The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%,” said a statement on the website Occupy Wall Street.

According to statements on the website, the movement, an offshoot of online magazine AdBusters, is angered by what it calls the principle of “profit over and above all else,” which it says has dominated not only America’s economic policies, but also the way in which Americans view culture and humanity.

Posts on the website compare the group’s efforts to those used in pro-democracy movements across the Middle East, dubbed the Arab Spring.

“On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months,” one statement says. “Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America. We also encourage the use of nonviolence to achieve our ends and maximize the safety of all participants.”

As has become the norm of such protests, this movement has been fueled by social media fire, with supporters taking to Twitter under the hash tag #occupywallstreet. The major hacking group Anonymous has also thrown in its support, live streaming the day’s events.

“History teaches us that when the rich get too rich and the poor get too poor there is always a revolution. Let’s hope this is the start of change!” wrote a reader with the username “Takebackourgovernment” on the movement’s website today.

ABC News’ Candace Smith contributed to this report.

---

Gil Scott Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

---