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The Weekend in Occupy Chicago

By The Beachwood Occupation Affairs Desk

You shoulda been there.
1. Rahmen noodles.
“The 2012 Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) national conference [was] held Jan. 6-8 in Chicago, with an agenda strongly influenced by the American Economic Association (AEA). For decades the AEA has fostered a narrow, free-market orthodoxy in the economics profession.
“Unlike other professional organization, the AEA has no code of ethics and its members no incentive to disclose the source of research funding or other conflicts of interest. Some members presenting at this year’s conference, including John Campbell, chairman of Harvard Economics Department, were featured defending the status quo even as the global economy went into a tailspin in the Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job directed by Charles Ferguson.
“‘Members of the AEA who put their own self-interest and that of the 1% above a functioning economy for all are making the AEA morally, intellectually, and academically bankrupt,’ says David Orlikoff, film critic and Occupy Chicago organizer. ‘Profiteering AEA members of both parties move between academia and government, spinning failed free-market theory, and are essentially subsidized by the 1% and the politicians they fund. This corrupt system leads to failed ideas such as trickle-down theory, austerity and low capital gains tax rates. The data are in, and the results are disastrous for our country.'”




2. Empty Bottle benefit.
“Jamming out at an all-ages benefit show for Occupy Chicago. Other bands appearing: When Flying Feels Like Falling, Cathy Santones, Waste, Bajas, Giveback, Going Backwards, Ephemeral Sunrise with help from the School of Rock.”


3. Mind The Gap.
“Long before it was a rallying cry, Catholic social justice groups were pointing fingers at the 1 percent,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.
“That enthusiasm for the power of the Occupy movement was echoed by Sr. Kathleen Desautels, a member of Chicago’s 8th Day Center for Justice, which was founded in 1974 as a coalition of religious congregations working on social justice issues.
“Desautels said her group has close ties with the Occupy movement in Chicago, joining the group at protests every Tuesday morning, and even serving as the protesters’ fiscal agent until they are able to obtain nonprofit tax status.
“Staff members at the 8th Day Center, Desautels said, decided to provide that support because of the energy of the Occupy movement and ‘its ability to make the connections’ between injustice in a range of economic issues.
“‘To have such a nationwide movement demonstrating in their signs and actions these interconnections is something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime,’ said Desautels, a member of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
“Staff at the social justice center also found ‘refreshing’ the Occupy protesters’ circular organizational structure, which is similar to 8th Day’s, where all major decisions are made with consensus, said Desautels, who has worked at the center since 1986.
“‘I’m sure there are bumps along the way, but they’re making clear that the top-down, hierarchical decision-making process is part of what got us to where we are in the first place.'”

See also:
* Chicago’s Richest 1 Percent.
* Occupy’s Favorite Banker.
* Where’s Team Obama?

And: The item Rahmen Noodles in today’s Papers column.

Comments welcome.

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Posted on January 9, 2012