Am I the only one to notice the change?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

Look at Turkey. Look at here.

This is the 21st century and young people are sick of entrenched conservative rule.

I'm optimistic that the old order is done.

[DavidDvorkin]

1. I remember thinking exactly the same thing back in the 1960s

when I was young.

Oops.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. I have all respect for the 60s movements, be it the war resisters or the Civil Rights Movement.

Massive change WAS accomplished, even if it does not appear so at the surface level. It gave "permission" to later protesters to take it to those levels and to expect ever greater positive results.

This is not finished. This is the dream, continued.

[DavidDvorkin]

13. That's what my son keeps telling me

in a "There, there" sort of tone.

But you do have a point.

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. It would be far less likely to happen today if it weren't for those who stood up in the 60s.

The dream of freedom, of self-determination and democracy (the voice and will of the people) cannot be allowed to die!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. This is different...

Maybe because it's more global thanks to the internet.

The people in power only hold it by permission.

[DavidDvorkin]

14. The Internet has made a huge difference

I wish it had existed back then.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Part of what kept the hippie movement down was the propaganda...

They tried to do the same thing with Occupy.

Claiming the people are "dirty" and "have sex in tents".

This time people noticed the ones making that claim look like they use Ajax on their face..

[kelly1mm]

2. Yeah and that worked out SO WELL in Egypt! Oh wait ..... nevermind. nt

[MineralMan]

4. Well, they got the government thrown out, didn't they.

Oh...wait...they got one just like the old one to replace the one they threw out. Never mind.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. The young people who started the movement didn't want that....

The ONLY reason the religious types got into power is because the vote for a better life was split.

That is NOT going to happen again. They will rally around ONE person instead of fifty.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. Last year is quite telling.

Look at Walmart workers. In early 2012, Southern California Occupy shut down a distribution hub for a day in support of warehouse workers calling out against unsafe conditions. Walmart workers would be fired if they dared to even discuss unionization or rights or unsafe conditions. By October, a single strike occurred, and were met with militarized riot police.

Then, something spread and by Black Friday in November, workers across the nation were marching in protest. These protests continue and information is spreading regarding their working conditions as well as how Walmart subsidize themselves through forcing workers to take food stamps. And comparisons how companies such as CostCo, IIRC, pay a living wage ($45K) to similar workers, and somehow make a profit.

With the Arab Spring and Western Fall (Occupy), the times they are indeed changin', in one form or another.

As I write this, riot police continue to attempt to re-take Taksim Square/Gezi Park in Turkey. Protesters nation-wide are calling for PM Erdogan to step down. Two or more protesters have been murdered by riot police since protests began.

We are indeed witnessing a Trend. May it prevail, and soon.

Hi Agent Mike, please add this to my file, and understand which way the wind blows!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. Seems systemic on all levels.

[DCKit]

9. Agent Mike doesn't read history. No prior knowledge of the....

"I was only following orders" defense.

That's what "education reform" is all about.

[Laelth]

10. The internet has changed a lot of things.

We can barely begin to grasp how rapidly it has done so. When the internet goes down ... if it does ... that will be the last, dying gasp of the global oligarchy, and they are so dependent on it now that I don't think they can live without it.

-Laelth

[el_bryanto]

11. Yes - you and you alone have noticed this. Congratulations. nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. .....heh....

[bvar22]

16. The reforms that have swept across Latin America over the last 10 years...

...give me hope for the World.

In many Latin American countries, they have taken their government BACK from their 1% in near bloodless Ballot Box revolutions.

THEY have given US a successful Blue Print for "CHANGE".
When the Working Class & The Poor realize WE have more in common with each other
than we have in common with the Ruling Elite 1% and their paid employees in Washington,
THEN we can have "CHANGE" too!

[font size=3]"The worst enemy of humanity is U.S. capitalism. That is what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion against a system, against a neoliberal model, which is the representation of a savage capitalism. If the entire world doesn't acknowledge this reality, that nation states are not providing even minimally for health, education and nourishment, then each day the most fundamental human rights are being violated."[/font]
----Bolivian Reform President Evo Morales

The above sounds pretty radical, but it isn't.
FDR said much the same thing in 1944 with his Economic Bill of Rights.
At one time, voting FOR The Democrat
was voting FOR those values.
Sadly, this is no longer true.

But those values resonated with most of America not so long ago,
and if you talk to individuals about the particular issues,
most American agree with the values as expressed by FDR in his Economic Bill of Rights.
Those values CAN resonate again with the right leadership.


VIVA Democracy!
I pray we get some here soon!



"If ye love wealth better than liberty,
the tranquility of servitude
better than the animating contest of freedom,
go home from us in peace.
We ask not your counsels or your arms.
Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
May your chains set lightly upon you,
and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."

-Sam Adams

[mick063]

18. The NSA and Dept of Homeland Security

Will shit on your delusional fantasy and force you to eat it for breakfast.

You live in a fascist police state my friend.

A world where 93 year old women are pepper sprayed for peacefully assembling against corporatism. A world where war veterans are hospitalized from projectiles lobbed aimlessly in to crowds. A world where thousands gather in statehouses from North Carolina to Wisconsin, are not given audience, and are summarily dismissed as mere nuisance. A world where corporate owned media depicts heroes as criminals, criminals as heroes, and the American Idol zombies lap it all up.


Sorry to rain on your parade. It will take decades to reverse the damage. It won't happen in your lifetime.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. I don't buy that. People want better and they'll get it.

[Boomerproud]

20. I'm sorry to say that you have checked into Hotel Reality.

I do think that the Department of Homeland Security is easier to defeat than the bankster/oligarchy.