Think there's not A LOT of money behind #Occupy? THINK AGAIN.
Think the Unions aren't heavily involved? THINK AGAIN.
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◼ http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21505345
(Tim:) Alright - I'm here with Van Jones of Rebuild The Dream, so, I just wanted to ask you, uh what's your perspective on the Occupy Movement
(Van Jones:) Sure, well, Occupy Movement pretty much saved the entire country from destruction. I mean, both political parties were barreling towards more austerity, more cutbacks, more pain, uh, you know, for the people, and you know, basically, both political parties had managed to converge on this idea of basically no rules for the rich, no rights for the poor, no middle class to speak of, that was basically the agenda.. the question was just how much pain how fast... Occupy Wall St. came along and just completely disrupted the narrative, all the austerity, austerity, cut, cut, cut stuff went away and suddenly even Republicans had to talk about uh, income inequality and that whole feat, so, you know Occupy Wall St. really kind of like helped us to hit reset in the country, now obviously, the 1% and the worst of the 1% still have all the money, they still have so much of the initiative, and they also still have this, um, uh, you know this court ruling on their side, that says that corporation can basically just buy elections and it's supposed to be cool. So we have a long way to go - the opening act, you know Occupy Wall St. to me is like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, snick, back in the 1960s they were the young ones, they were the most aggressive, they were the most passionate, they were the most idealistic they occupied - lunch counters, the occupied the buses on the freedom rallies, they occupied the ballot box, they did everything they did and then the rest of society was able to come behind them... and pass laws and do other kinds of things, and so, you know those of us who are not occupiers, still owe occupy this huge debt, and we also need to be able to do the things that we can do uh, to deliver on the change...
(Tim:) Right on, so what's going on right now here?
(Van Jones:) Yeah well what's going on right here, this big conversion's happening, it's called I'm All In For The 99% - uh, the idea is that you know here in LA that'd be the actual physical occupation, uh, is no longer a gathering spot, we can always create these gathering spots, and we can bring artists, we can bring musicians we can bring uh uh political leaders, we can bring activists, we can bring young people together and and and and create this kind of space whenever we want to, and so that's a big part of it. its also a big part of what's called occupy spring no, 99 spring, so a number of grassroots organizations that have national networks have come together to say listen, we're gonna have to get even better, at non violence civil disobedience and direct actions, back in the 60s before they would do any kind of massive civil disobedience, they would go through a training process, they would learn the history of non-violent protest, they would learn the history of what the issues were so they could move out and and be massively effective... and so this spring, uh, starting April 9 through the 15th there's gonna be training... we're gonna train, my organization, Rebuild The Dream, along with many, many other organizations...uh, SEIU. uh, MoveOn.org, the Domestic Workers Alliance, New Bottom Line, a lot of grassroots groups, are coming together, we're gonna train 100 thousand people, in a week, in non-violent civil disobedience, we'll have this standing non-violent, you know, contingent of people, who want real change who understand the issues, that is kind of next week's big deal, um, the other thing that's going on, so we have this, all in for 99%, and, um, anyway, so a lot of stuff's going on, I gotta go give a speech, thank you very much...
(Tim:) It's a pleasure meeting you, thank you for your time... That was Van Jones of Rebuild The Dream, now heading off to give a speech... we're here at the All In For The 99% Artists Reception in the, one of the only well lit areas that is here, so thank you everyone who jumped in, I'm gonna archive this uh, so its gonna be readily available for many other people uh, again thank you so much find me on twitter for more updates at timcast t-i-m-c-a-s-t, and later in the day I'm going to do a lot more interviews with a lot more of the guests who are down here, and just see how they feel about everything and why they're willing to speak up and make a change, so again, thank you everyone...
◼ VAN JONES: ‘OCCUPY…SAVED THE ENTIRE COUNTRY FROM DESTRUCTION’ - The Blaze
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Pay attention - All in - where have you heard that phrase before? Oh yes, All of Obama's ads ask, "Are you in?"
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Related: ◼ Big SEIU Party to keep the kids happy - The face behind #Occupy
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