antiwar, Holiday, Music, Nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, Peace, Royal Song of The Day, Social Justice, Video

Imagine an Occupy New Years Eve 2012

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On New Years Eve in Times Square they will probably play John Lennon’s  Imagine.  It has also resonated with folks from the Occupy Wall Street movement. “Imagine” was one of the tunes sung by the small group of stalwarts who gathered at Liberty Square/Zuccotti Park for Christmas. [See story at DNA Info: here]

Below the first video are links to lots and lot of videos of Occupiers singing Imagine.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5F5SK63voxE]

If you want to spend New Years Eve with Occupy:

http://www.nycga.net/events/occupy-new-years-eve-smash-the-baricades/

Date/Time: Mon. Dec 31, 2012 until Jan 1 2013, 9:00 PM – 6:00 AM

Location: Liberty Plaza (aka Zuccotti Park), New York, NY

A time to ring in the New Years with family and friends, this event is dedicated to the brave souls who last year took done the barricades in the park and danced in the New Years, come one and all and ring in 2013 in style and meet new friends old friends and map out the coming year.  Starts at 9:00pm to 12midnite and beyond. As always no drama, we are one! We will try to have small toy barricades for everyone to have at midnite and smash as a symbol of our right to protest any public space.

Contact: Apollo OWS Special Projects Affinity Group and OWS Outreach Working Group.

Email: owsspawg@Gmail.com or Phone: 917-225-3704 or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/146642922152523/

 

Continue reading Imagine an Occupy New Years Eve 2012 →

antiwar, Holiday, Music, Nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, Royal Song of The Day, Video

Progressive Holiday Music Mix

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Happy Holidays 2015. Here is a post from the Peace Couple Archives:

from 99 Silver Bells and other Occupy Christmas Carols ………(was our Peace Song of the Day for 12/13/11)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FyroWM65rF4]

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMdo6l5x_7k]

from Happy Xmas (War Is Over): Peace Song for 12/12/2011  Continue reading Progressive Holiday Music Mix →

antiwar, Holiday, Music, Occupy Wall Street, Peace, Royal Song of The Day, Shopping, Social Justice, Video

Occupy Holiday Gifts

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Occupy This AlbumIt’s the eternal question for a gift-giving activist:

How do I give a good present and at the same time do good?

There is always fair trade, organic, vegan chocolates or non-toxic toys.

This year we added a musical choice.  Occupy This Album: a compilation of music by, for and inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and the 99%.  Lots of good stuff here.  The album artists include: Ani DiFranco, Aeroplane Pageant, Crosby and Nash, Devo, Immortal Technique, Jackson Browne, Joseph Arthur, Lloyd Cole, Loudon Wainwright III, Lucinda Williams, Patti Smith, Stephan Said, Tao Rodriguez Seeger, The Guthrie Family, Third Eye Blind, Thievery Corporation, Tom Morello, Toots And The Maytals, Warren Haynes, Willie Nelson, Yoko Ono, Yo La Tengo & more.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws7zy5y1vN0]   Continue reading Occupy Holiday Gifts →

antiwar, Holiday, Music, Nonviolence, Nonviolent Communication, Peace, Royal Song of The Day

The Genius of “Alice’s Restaurant”

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I realized a little after 12 noon this Thanksgiving that Arlo Guthrie has had a much broader cultural impact in terms of bringing a progressive message to the general population than his father, Woody Guthrie.   As a reader of this post is probably aware, across the radio dial across the United States, it is a tradition to play Arlo Guthrie’s song, Alice’s Restaurant at 12 noon on Thanksgiving.  This tradition has been going on for four decades.  We are not just talking about the anti-war song being played on granola-crunchy college radio stations.  I listened to Alice’s Restaurant on a Clear Channel owned classic rock station that won’t even play Imagine most of the year.  The DJ announced and dedicated the song as a favorite Thanksgiving tradition of a recently deceased listener.  No mention was made of the song’s lengthy anti-war message.  The song had transcended into a widely-celebrated annual tradition for the general population who never expresses a sentiment about war for the rest of the year.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8DtpdXZi0M]

Continue reading The Genius of “Alice’s Restaurant” →

Fashion, Shopping, Social Justice

On Tuesday 11/27/12, Americans should have a day of reflection, in sympathy with clothing factory workers in Bangladesh

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Shopping makes us part of a circle with the people who make our goods, and with the system that profits from our money.

In Bangladesh, over 100 factory workers died in an unsafe clothing factory over the weekend. On Monday, there was another apparel factory fire, thankfully, with no deaths.

These factories exist to make the clothes that we purchase here in America. One of the factories made clothes which were ultimately sold to Walmart (through a complicated supply chain)[ADN]. Other factories in Bangladesh make clothing for brands such as Tesco, JC Penney, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Kohl’s and Carrefour [CNN]. Many of these factories have unsafe conditions. We should support reforms for the workers in Bangladesh, and try to purchase clothing that is Fair Trade or union made.

We can also add our concern, thoughts, and prayers to the people of Bangladesh tomorrow, Tuesday, 27th, when there will be a national day of mourning. CNN notes: Continue reading On Tuesday 11/27/12, Americans should have a day of reflection, in sympathy with clothing factory workers in Bangladesh →

Fashion, Holiday, Nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, Peace, Shopping, Social Justice, Video

Black Friday: Buy Nothing! Demand Peace! Support striking Wal-Mart workers!

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Occupy Long Island: Buy Nothing Day sign
Occupy Black Friday

Black Friday for some people means lining up for bargains at the doors of big corporations. Though, people who want our country to be more sustainable, and less dependent on war money,  have often asked people to “Buy Nothing” on the day after Thanksgiving.

This year, there are several ways to celebrate the empowerment that is Buy-Nothing-Day:

-Make sure you do not buy anything on Friday, November 23, 2012

-On all the other shopping days leading to Christmas and Chanukah…shop local, union, Fair Trade, organic, natural, and/or sustainably when possible. [See our Peace Couple website for Kind Shopping ideas.]

-Join Occupy Wall Street in your area, as they protest at Walmart, in support of striking Walmart workers.

An anti-Black Friday shopping video at Youtube: here and below.

An excellent (archival) speech by Reverend Billy about Black Friday, Consumerism, and Buy Nothing Day: here.

An example of a local  Occupy  Black Friday Demo at Walmart:   Continue reading Black Friday: Buy Nothing! Demand Peace! Support striking Wal-Mart workers! →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Peace, Royal Book of the Week, Social Justice

Oliver Stone discusses Pacifist Presidential Candidate Henry Wallace on DN!

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Oliver Stone's Secret History of AmericaDemocracy Now! aired a  report on how “Academy Award-winning Oliver Stone has teamed up with historian Peter Kuznick to produce a 10-part Showtime series called “Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States.'”  They have also produced a book of the same name.

The series centers on the effect that the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan had on the history of the US.  In questioning whether it was necessary to drop the A-bomb, Stone and Kuznick explore the different path the United States almost took if the pacifist Henry Wallace had remained as  Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s Vice President and had won 1944 Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party.  In the interview, Stone discusses the success of the progressive policies of Wallace as FDR’s Secretary of Agriculture prior to becoming his second Vice President:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO-Y8wNwbuA&t=8m13s]   Continue reading Oliver Stone discusses Pacifist Presidential Candidate Henry Wallace on DN! →