Occupy Zurich (English)

We are moving slowly out of winter hibernation and started with an event which changed the course of nuclear power usage of the world: Fukushima nuclear disaster after the tsunami in 3/11/2011. We had 3 prominent speakers: Cederic Wermuth (SP), Geri Müller (Green Party) and Franz Hohler (Author), along with musicians, about 200 people attended.

Reverend Billy is excorcising the devil out of UBS at the Zurich main place the Paradeplatz.

What started first as a joke and comedy by Reverend Billy, turned quickly more serious when he started to listed all the deaths at a mining facility, where UBS was investing. Further seriousness was introduced when the spectators started to join him and put their hands on the secured entry of the UBS – praying the devil to release UBS.

In the light of the US is threatening swiss banks to help US citizens to aid in tax evasion, the oldest bank of Switzerland “Wegelin & Co” didn’t survive this indictment. Other swiss banks are now targetted as well. It is alike ghostly and unreal, US government and an US comedian address the same: the unethical and illegal activities of swiss banks.

Photos

Cleaning of Credit Suisse and UBS (3/2/2012)

Cleaning up the ethical mess within the Credit Suisse and UBS at the Paradeplatz, main banking place in Zurich.

WTF!? Living Mobs Clean UBS and Credit Suisse by Christopher Kriese (Neue Dringlichkeit)

We start now to publish the news about OccupyWEF (World Economic Forum) in Davos, Switzerland:

Saturday 1/28/2012: Pepperspray Meme

At the last OccupyWEF action pepper spray was used by the security forces . . reminding me of the incident last year at UC Davis:

Occupy Meme

OccupyWEF: Press Release ”Occupy greets WEF participants” 1/24/2012

To accompany the kickoff of the World Economic Forum (WEF), OccupyWEF hung a banner 8 meters high in the center of Davos, with the message “Welcome to the WEF – Where the 0.00001% destroy our future.” With this message the movement wishes to emphasize that social, economic, political, and environmental issues and the rights of the individual have taken the back seat to the profit motive in recent years.

Open Letter from Occupy Zurich to the WEF 1/20/2012

Greetings WEF-Members, Greetings Mr. Schwab
We are activists from Occupy Zurich; we followed the press conference on January 18, 2012, via Internet Livestream.  Mr. Klaus Schwab was asked, “Why isn’t Occupy taking part in the WEF?”  He replied he does not know who exactly represents the Occupy movement.

Press Release January 29th 2012

Pepper spray used against Occupy WEF activists
Police reacted with unreasonable measures against peaceful protestors

Pepper spray was used against Occupy WEF activist at a peaceful and authorized rally in Davos. A Video clearly shows, that at no point or time there were any provocations from the Occupy WEF movement.  The police used unreasonable measures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?fv=uYv7ErDIKVI After years of violent protest at the WEF, this year was the year of creative and peaceful protest. No violence or damage to property took place; expect the violence from the police, who sprayed peaceful activist from Occupy WEF at an authorized rally.

At least five people were attacked by the police with pepper spray or tear gas spray. OccupyWEF released a video where the direct attack on the person behind the camera can be clearly seen. The riot police attacked the activists after he spoke the words “this is about protecting the people” With those words the activist with the camera tried to calm down the situation. The second activist stuck Post-It notes with the message love and peace against the steel fence, which was put between riot police and the protestors. Previously, the police had cordoned off the towns hall square, where the approved rally took place. In response to this first provocation by the police, the activists started to build small snow OccupyWEF demonstrators. The snow men and women wore little slips of paper with messages like: “Melt down the WEF”, or “Where are the other 6.999 billion leaders.”

Unreasonable attack
OccupyWEF condemns the attacks by the police as disproportionate. The police maced the protestors through a sturdy steel fence. Occupy WEF didn’t committed any acts of provocation. There was no need or urgency that could justify the use of pepper spray against non-violent protestors. The disproportion between the protection of the WEF and the repression of Occupy WEF activists shows that the public security forces are abused not only to protect the elite private meeting of the WEF, but are also forced to criminalize protest in general.

Occupy draws parallels
This attack  is reminiscent of the pepper-spray attack on the Wall Street Occupy movement on 21 November 2011, at the UC Davis site in California, where police forces sprayed seated protesters with pepper spray. The at the time involved police officer were suspended after a public outcry. Just as in California, now also in Davos the inhibition threshold for violence is lowered. OccupyWEF concludes that the proportionality had not been communicated well to the forces involved. Else the movement cannot explain why such violent measures have been used against peaceful activists.

Media Group OccupyWEF
medien@occupyzuerich.ch
www.occupyzuerich.ch www.occupywef.ch
twitter: @occupyparadepl @occupyzurich @occupywef @occupy_wef

Press release 26 January 2012

OccupyWEF takes part in Open Forum

Today in a General Assembly, OccupyWEF decided by basic-democratic consensus that an activist from the movement will take part in tomorrow’s OpenForum panel (Friday, January 27th at 7:00 p.m.). OccupyWEF is irritated with Klaus Schwab for having stated in the media that the movement has also been invited to the World Economic Forum (WEF) itself. The movement has not been directly contacted in any form, much less been invited to the WEF, by WEF officials.

The movement is frustrated that the invitation to the OpenForum came only very recently and over indirect, poorly organized channels while other participants have already been known months in advance. This invitation appears to OccupyWEF to have been simply another step in the WEF’s disingenuous media dance, and is not to be appraised as genuine interest in OccupyWEF’s input at the OpenForum. The movement also doubts that the WEF is open to any solutions formulated in a basic-democratic way. This is clearly demonstrated by the breakdown of the WEF’s list of participants: Out of 2600 participants only roughly 20 Social Entrepreneurs have been invited, this despite Klaus Schwab’s having gushed that Social Entrepreneurs are the heroes of the 21st century.

The OpenForum Panel will take place on Friday, January 27th at 7:00 p.m. at the Schweizerische Alpine Mittelschule Davos, Aula, Guggerbachstrasse 3, Davos Platz.

Media Group OccupyWEF
medien@occupyzuerich.ch
www.occupyzuerich.ch www.occupywef.ch
twitter: @occupyparadepl @occupyzuerich @occupywef @occupy_wef

Press Release 26 January 2012

OccupyWEF receives director of Greenpeace International in Igloo Camp in Davos

OccupyWEF will host a prominent visitor. Kumi Naidoo, the director of Greenpeace International, will join the Igloo Camp in Davos for dinner and conversation, followed by a cozy night’s sleep in an igloo. With this event, the Occupy Movement and Kumi Naidoo wish to draw attention to the fact that 6.9999 billion people have no voice at the World Economic Forum (WEF). Naidoo is hoping to bring at least one of these voices to the WEF. OccupyWEF does not recognize the WEF as representative of the 99% and looks forward to this chance for a face-to-face conversation.

Continue Reading →

Press release from 24 January 2012

Occupy greets WEF participants
WEF’s own greeting “occupied”

To accompany the kickoff of the World Economic Forum (WEF), OccupyWEF hung a banner 8 meters high in the center of Davos, with the message “Welcome to the WEF – Where the 0.00001% destroy our future.” With this message the movement wishes to emphasize that social, economic, political, and environmental issues and the rights of the individual have taken the back seat to the profit motive in recent years.

The invited guests of the WEF represent the 1% which controls 50% of global wealth. They represent first and foremost multinational corporations and in the context of today’s prevailing profit-maximization dogma insist on constant economic growth. The movement sees this as incompatible with the WEF slogan “Improving the State of the World” because the profit- and growth- motive, along with its inevitably accompanying debt pressure, is the cause of many of the urgent problems in today’s global society.

OccupyWEF wants inclusion of the 99%
The guests of the WEF drive today’s global economic politics and have to a great extent helped to cause today’s global problems. The movement wishes to point out that it is exactly these people, who claim to be developing new solutions to be carried out worldwide—under the motto “the Great Transformation: Shaping New Models”–really only serve the interests of the 1%. The movement demands that these very real problems be taken seriously and without excluding the 99%, and that criticism of the WEF not be criminalized. OccupyWEF is of the opinion that a global economic system based solely on competition, growth and profit only gets in the way of solving global problems.

No reply to open letter
WEF organizers have not reacted to OccupyWEF’s open letter, published on January 20th. They have offered neither a chance at participation at the WEF nor a seat at the OpenForum session “Remodeling Capitalism”, a discussion which will directly address the worldwide Occupy Movement. This brings the movement to the conclusion that the WEF is considering sweeping global ideas, strategies and solutions without including or listening to the people who these strategies and solutions directly affect.

Occupy WEF Media Group
medien@occupyzuerich.ch
www.occupyzuerich.ch www.occupywef.ch
twitter: @occupyparadepl @occupyzurich

January 20, 2012
Open Letter from Occupy Zurich to the WEF (World Economic Forum) 

Greetings WEF-Members, Greetings Mr. Schwab

We are activists from Occupy Zurich; we followed the press conference on January 18, 2012, via Internet Livestream.  Mr. Klaus Schwab was asked, “Why isn’t Occupy taking part in the WEF?”  He replied he does not know who exactly represents the Occupy movement.

Yes, this could be seen as problematic – but at issue is not Occupy’s representatives or seeming lack thereof.  The problem is about representation as such in our current political systems worldwide. Despite these systems’ claims of being democratic, they do not act democratically; this is demonstrated clearly by the WEF itself.  Here is the 1% which controls 50% of all wealth and uses it to buy political influence among democratically elected representatives to further its own agenda. This view of current power structures is widely held, and has been given urgent expression by the Occupy movement. Continue Reading →

Occupy Stockholm – A Small Report

by Corin (Occupy Zurich, January 2nd, 2012)

10th December 2011 I visited our fellow comrades in Stockholm. This is a small report, as the video, which I recorded, are rather add-ons, as substantial ingredients of the report. Failed, but something learned.

The occupiers pitched their tents at the Brunkebergtorget, a small green space between the swedisch banks. They were not evicted, quite the contrary, the police offered security to them. Their main objectives reside in the improvement of the democracy and in the higher state of the human rights related to the financial system. Continue Reading →