“We Are Not Aimless”: Reflections on OWS, the Profits System, and Wisconsin Paul Street October 18, 2011, published on ZNet on October 19, 2011 and at Occpy Magazine (October 2011). We are not aimless; we simply speak a different language – a language of mutual respect, participation, self-management, and action. We make our demands in this language [...]
Iowa City, IA, October 14, 2011. The formerly left Christopher Hitchens once usefully described “the essence of American politics” as “the manipulation of populism by elitism.” The manipulation of populism by elitism – the cloaking of plutocratic agendas, of service to the rich and powerful, in the false rebels’ clothing of popular rebellion; the hidden [...]
Iowa City, IA, October 11, 2011. Originally posted at ZNet. The mostly youthful Occupy Wall Street (OWS) activists camped out in Zucotti Park in New York City’s financial district (and in other key locations across the United States) to protest the undue wealth and power of “the top 1 percent” have put their sleeping bags [...]
Z Magazine, October 2011 . By Paul Street A recent broadcast on the “Public” Broadcasting System’s “News Hour” reported some chilling news on American life. The top 20 percent of Americans, it turns out, owns 84 percent of the nation’s wealth. That leaves 4 out of 5 Americans to fight it out for little more [...]
Paul Street, Iowa City, IA, October 8, 2011. Read this essay at ZNet The young people camped out near Wall Street in lower Manhattan to protest the power of the financial elite are an easy target for cynical and know-it-all types of various ideological persuasions. The kids are “dirty” and “disorganized.” They lack a “clear [...]
Bloomington, IN, September 28, 2011. First published at ZNet What a difference four years have made in Iowa. Around this time in 2007, the state’s Democratic base was all abuzz. With the long Cheney-Bush 43 nightmare drawing to a close, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were crisscrossing the state, posing before giant star-struck crowds as [...]
Notes for Paul Street and Anthony DiMaggio’s new book CRASHING THE TEA PARTY: MASS MEDIA AND THE CAMPAIGN TO REMAKE AMERICAN POLITICS Contact: paulstreet99@yahoo.com 773-653-0941 Brief Description Crashing the Tea Party challenges conventional dogmas related to the most recent “movement” of choice of right wing America and the mass media. Street and DiMaggio uncover details [...]
Notes for Paul Street and Anthony DiMaggio’s new book CRASHING THE TEA PARTY: MASS MEDIA AND THE CAMPAIGN TO REMAKE AMERICAN POLITICS Contact: paulstreet99@yahoo.com 773-653-0941 Brief Description Crashing the Tea Party challenges conventional dogmas related to the most recent “movement” of choice of right wing America and the mass media. Street and DiMaggio uncover details [...]
CounterPunch, Weekend Edition, September 24-25, 2011 The End of the Road Obama Should Quit by PAUL STREET On March 31, 1968, United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson told a national television audience that he would not seek and would not accept the nomination of the Democratic Party for another term in the White House. “When the [...]
By Paul Street, Iowa City, IA, September 22, 2011, published at ZNet: www.zcommunications.org Ever since my latest book Crashing the Tea Party: Mass Media and the Campaign to Remake American Politics (Paradigm, 2011, co-authored with Anthony DiMaggio) came out I’ve been wondering how much more shelf-life the Tea Party brand would have. We may be starting [...]