Pakistanis stage small 'Occupy' rally

An "Occupy Islamabad" protest is aimed at the World Bank"Down with capitalism, long live socialism," the protesters chantAll the world's problems are "fundamental characteristics of the capital system," one says
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Around 75 people joined in an "Occupy Islamabad" rally Wednesday in the Pakistani capital, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York and has spread internationally.
"We are the 99%. We will drive out the international 1%," said a pamphlet handed out by the protesters.
The group, which was said to include left-wing political workers, intellectuals, students and ordinary citizens, marched up to the building of the World Bank in Islamabad.
"Down with capitalism, long live socialism," the protesters chanted. Other slogans they recited included, "Where should we go, what should we eat, inflation has reached at its peak," and "Should we eat dust or stones?"
"The problems of the world -- including war, literacy, poverty, unemployment, inflation -- all of these problems are fundamental characteristics of the capital system," said Asim Sajad, one of the protesters.
Sajad said the world of 7 billion people will not be at peace until the capitalist system is replaced and overhauled.
"We are protesting against capitalism, so we want an alternative system that is not only for the elite but for the masses," said Amna Mawaz, another protester.
Police didn't let the protesters go inside the World Bank building. The protesters dispersed after delivering some speeches outside.
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Opinion: Occupy Wall St. tests a new way of living

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators at Zuccotti Park in downtown New York City this week.Douglas Rushkoff : Occupy Wall Street not protest as much as protoype for new way of livingHe says Occupy's camps are hardworking congresses with consensus-building approachHe says they can beta test ideas on issues such as a complementary currency Rushkoff: When we begin to considers Occupy's ideas, we become "occupiers" ourselvesEditor's note: Douglas Rushkoff, who writes regularly for CNN.com, is a media theorist and the author of "Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age" and "Life Inc: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How We Can Take it Back."
(CNN) -- The more familiar something looks, the less threatening it seems. This is why images of funny-looking college students marching up Broadway or shirtless boys banging on drums comprise the bulk of the imagery we see of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Stockbrokers look on, police man the barricades and what appears to be a traditional protest movement carries on another day, week or month.
But Occupy is anything but a protest movement. That's why it has been so hard for news agencies to express or even discern the "demands" of the growing legions of Occupy participants around the nation, and even the world. Just like pretty much everyone else on the planet, occupiers may want many things to happen and other things to stop, but the occupation is not about making demands. They don't want anything from you, and there is nothing you can do to make them stop. That's what makes Occupy so very scary and so very promising. It is not a protest, but a prototype for a new way of living.
Now don't get me wrong. The occupiers are not proposing a world in which we all live outside on pavement and sleep under tarps. Most of us do not have the courage, stamina or fortitude to work as hard as these people are working, anyway. (Yes, they work hard.) The urban survival camps they are setting up around the world are a bit more like showpieces, congresses and "beta" tests of ideas and behaviors the rest of us may soon be implementing in our communities, and in our own ways.

The occupiers are actually forging a robust micro-society of working groups, each one developing new approaches -- or reviving old approaches -- to long-running problems. In just one example, Occupy's General Assembly is a new, highly flexible approach to group discussion and consensus building. Unlike parliamentary rules that promote debate, difference and decision, the General Assembly forges consensus by "stacking" ideas and objections much in the fashion that computer programmers "stack" features. The whole thing is orchestrated through simple hand gestures (think commodities exchange). Elements in the stack are prioritized, and everyone gets a chance to speak. Even after votes, exceptions and objections are incorporated as amendments.
This is just one reason why occupiers seem incompatible with current ideas about policy demands or right vs. left. They are not interested in debate (or what Enlightenment philosophers called "dialectic") but consensus. They are working to upgrade that binary, winner-takes-all, 13th century political operating system. And like any software developer, they are learning to "release early and release often."
Likewise, occupiers have embraced the Internet access solutions of the Free Network Foundation, who have erected "Freedom Towers" at the Occupy sites in New York, Austin and elsewhere through which people can access free, uncensored, authenticated Wi-Fi. As this technology scales to our own communities, what happens to corporate Internet service providers is anyone's guess.
The occupiers have formed working groups to take on myriad social and economic issues, and their many occupation sites serve to test the approaches they come up with. One group is developing a complementary currency for use, initially, within the network of Occupy communities. Its efficacy will be tested and strengthened by occupiers providing one another with goods and services before it is rolled out to the world at large. Another working group is pushing to have people withdraw their money from large corporate banks on November 5 and move it instead to local banks or cooperatively owned credit unions.
Whether or not we agree that anything at all in modern society needs to be changed, we must at least come to understand that the occupiers are not just another political movement, nor are they simply lazy kids looking for an excuse not to work. Rather, they see the futility of attempting to use the tools of a competitive, winner-takes-all society for purposes that might better be served through the tools of mutual aid. This is not a game that someone wins, but rather a form of play that is successful the more people get to play, and the longer the game is kept going.
They will succeed to the extent that the various models they are prototyping out on the pavement trickle up to those of us working on solutions from the comfort of our heated homes and offices. For as we come to embrace or even consider options such as local production and commerce, credit unions, unfettered access to communications technology and consensus-based democracy, we become occupiers ourselves.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Douglas Rushkoff.
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Couple tries to trademark Occupy Wall St.

Robert Maresca wants to use the slogan to sell clothes, stickers and accessoriesAn Occupy Wall Street spokesman says the effort misses the point of the movementMaresca says he hopes to transfer ownership of a trademark to Occupy Wall Street membersAn intellectual property lawyer estimates the application will be reviewed in two to three months
New York (CNN) -- A Long Island couple wants to trademark the slogan "Occupy Wall St." with the intent to sell sweatshirts, T-shirts, bumper stickers and hobo bags, among other merchandise.
"I'm no marketing genius, but when you got something that's across 50 states, it's a brand now," said 44-year-old Robert Maresca of West Islip, New York.
Maresca's wife, Diane, filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on October 18 and paid a fee of $975.
The move has some Occupy Wall Street supporters perplexed.
"The goal of OWS is not to become a profitable business," said Tyler Combelic, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman. "Anything that misconstrues it as such, such as trademarking for the sake of profiting, is missing the point of protest."
But Robert Maresca sees things differently.
"I'm the best person they could imagine buying the slogan, because no one has their interest more than myself," he said. "This is an important slogan; somebody else might have gotten a hold of it."
A former union iron worker, Maresca is now a stay-at-home father of three after suffering a stroke and sustaining a work injury nine years ago. He said he became a supporter of Occupy Wall Street once the union began backing the cause.
"I'm also really against corporate money distorting elections," he said.
Maresca, who calls himself a "fiscally conservative but socially liberal" political independent, said his idea stemmed from creating shirts drawn with markers down on Wall Street. But it was his wife -- whom he describes as apolitical -- who filed the application because Maresca does not have a credit card.
But Combelic said Maresca's attempt runs counter to the Occupy Wall Street mission.
"I think they are taking what is meant to represent 99% of America and instead making it represent an individual," he said.
Steve Mancinelli, an intellectual property lawyer in New York, said legally, "you don't get to own words because you think them up."
He said that the Marescas' "intent of use" application would be approved if they have a "bona fide intention" to produce items for commerce. It would take two to three months until the application is reviewed, at which point a separate "use" application will need to be submitted, Mancinelli said.
Trademark privileges would give the Marescas' ownership of "Occupy Wall St." the brand, as well as the use of such text on merchandise labels.
Mancinelli said he, too, was confused that "someone from the OWS gang, which has demonstrated anti-capitalist ideals, would engage in a fundamental capitalist activity, like trademarking."
When asked where proceeds would go, Robert Maresca said, "it's my intent to have them (Occupy Wall Street supporters) get the maximum benefit possible after any expenses."
While Maresca said it was too soon to make any promises, "it is my hope to transfer ownership of the trademark to OWS if it's feasible."
He said he would even sell the trademark to Occupy Wall Street members, if they wanted it, for just $1 -- after they repaid his expenses.
Combelic said he doesn't think fellow Occupy Wall Street protesters will be too eager to don trademarked "Occupy" clothing.
"We already make T-shirts down there for free, screen-printing on site," he said. "We think that organic individual marketing -- making our own buttons or T-shirts -- is more valuable."
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130 Occupy protesters arrested in Chicago

The protesters face a charge of being in Grant Park after hoursPolice say they defied an order to vacate the area
(CNN) -- Chicago police arrested 130 "Occupy Chicago" protesters overnight for allegedly being in the city's Grant Park after hours, authorities said Sunday.
The crowd of protesters was estimated at more than 1,000 before police announced they had to vacate the area, said Officer Robert Perez, spokesman for Chicago police. Most of the protesters left and went across the street into a public area, he said, and the rest were arrested.
Those arrested were taken to police's First District headquarters, he said. The majority were booked for staying at the park after hours and released on their own recognizance, Perez said.
Protesters in a number of cities, especially New York, have rallied against what they describe as corporate greed, arrogance and power, and have asserted that the nation's wealthiest 1% hold inordinate sway over the rest of the population. Other issues have also surfaced, such as disappointment with the political dynamic in Washington and U.S.-led military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The movement has drawn criticism from some politicians who have characterized it as counterproductive, jumbled and misguided. Others, though, have lent their support and said the protesters are voicing legitimate, widespread frustrations regarding the nation's current economic and political situation.
CNN's Darrell Calhoun contributed to this report.
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Occupy Wall St. is consensus-building

By Steve Kastenbaum, CNN Radio National CorrespondentOctober 18, 2011 -- Updated 1904 GMT (0304 HKT)Occupy Wall Street supporters take part in the Park Avenue millionaires protest in New York on October 11. Occupy Wall Street has lasted more than a monthProtesters get organized with daily meetings called their General AssemblyProtesters say this is democracy in action, but the movement's future remains unclearDecision-making process, use of inclusivity can be slow and messy, but movement is growingAre you attending protests? Send us your photos and videos, and follow the worldwide movement on CNN's Open Story.

New York (CNN) -- In Manhattan's protest hub, the big decisions are made by consensus.

Each day in the privately owned Zuccotti Park, where Wall Street protesters have encamped for more than a month, demonstrators engage in a slow, seemingly cumbersome process of making their voices heard.

The group, which calls itself Occupy Wall Street, arranges in a half-circle inside the city's financial district for what demonstrators say is their General Assembly, listening to the concerns of those who decide to participate before voting on issues thought to affect them all.

Police prevent the use of loudspeakers. So the group, undeterred, instead echoes the voice of whomever is speaking, rendering their comments much more audible to the hundreds that gather each day.

And their topics range: From the practical (such as where to march and when) to the mundane (like concerns about trash collection), nothing reaches a conclusion until almost the entire group agrees.

Wall Street demonstrations start second month

The meetings, meanwhile, have cropped up in other cities, while similar demonstrations have taken hold in dozens of cities nationwide and around the world.

The protesters in Zuccotti Park commonly say it's democracy in action, and it works.

"The idea of a General Assembly -- a place where people can air their grievances against the government -- that does not happen anymore in America," said Lorenzo Serna, a protester and camp volunteer.

"We have created that space here, so I already think we are a success."

But the process can be messy.

At a recent General Assembly meeting in New York, a demonstrator -- unhappy with the agreed-to rules banning drugs and alcohol -- decided he would be disruptive, even announcing his intention to the group.

The group, however, permitted his comments, apparently not wanting to alienate anyone.

Earlier this month, Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, showed up at an Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Atlanta and asked if he could address the crowd. The distinguished civil rights leader wanted to speak to the people in his district, and at first, it looked like he had the support of the group.

But then, one man, while acknowledging Lewis' contributions to society, said the Occupy Wall Street movement is a Democratic process, "in which no singular human being is inherently more valuable than any other human being." That led to a 10-minute group discussion before it was decided by consensus that Lewis should not be allowed to speak.

Blog: 'Occupy' movement goes global

Consensus-building through a group process clearly has its shortcomings. But some experts on the democratic process see it as an effective means to an end.

"Setting an effective group process, we think, is really the only way to move things forward," said Maya Lampson, director of the Leadership New York program at the Coro New York Leadership Center. Coro is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that trains people to be effective, ethical leaders in a Democratic system.

"Having a consensus decision-making process allows for inclusivity and also more of a sense of buy-in and ownership," Lampson said, "so when decisions do get made, things can move forward a little more rapidly."

She has high hopes that the Occupy Wall Street movement will effect change in some way. Marty Linsky does not.

"Because they are committed to this process, what they agree on is becoming more and more abstract," the co-founder of Cambridge Leadership Associates said. His company is often called to help organizations turn a bunch of good ideas and recommendations into action with a positive outcome. He doesn't see that happening with Occupy Wall Street.

"I think that's the danger of this kind of process," Linsky said. "If we say we're going to operate by consensus, which is everybody has to agree, well, the only way you can get everybody to agree when people have different agendas is to agree on something that is so ethereal as to be meaningless."

Linsky warns that this addiction to a process in which everybody has a voice could spell the demise for Occupy Wall Street. His advice to people taking part in the demonstrations is to run for office, work for a campaign and learn from the tea party.

"Tea party folks understood that if they were actually going to create change as opposed to just complain ... they had to figure out a way to influence directly the decisions that people made."

One thing Linsky thinks the Occupy Wall Street movement has working in its favor is that it's constantly growing. "These folks -- like the tea party people -- have numbers," he said, "and numbers in a Democratic setting are an incredibly important resource and a powerful counterweight to dollars."

In order for that to be an effective tool in achieving whatever it is the Occupy Wall Street movement eventually decides to do, Linsky said someone is going to have to assume leadership.

"If someone were to actually try to shape and form that movement into something that actually might effect change, that person is going to annoy a lot of those people in Zuccotti Park."

Linsky said anyone in a leadership role within the movement will automatically make enemies because he or she will have to put some people's agendas on hold.

The leadership role is starting to be filled, not by one person but two dozen people. They call themselves the Demands Committee. They're meeting regularly in New York to discuss possible actionable demands: a list they can present to the entire movement.

This being a group process, they say the eventual list will be adopted only if it is approved by more than two-thirds of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators.

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Occupy protests go global; violence flares in Rome

Cars and buildings burn in Rome and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks to crowds in London as the 'Occupy' protests spread to Europe, Asia and Australia.

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Showdown is averted at Occupy Wall Street park

A cleaning planned for a park where "Occupy Wall Street" protesters have camped for weeks is postponed, averting a showdown between demonstrators and police.

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