STUDENTS GETTING ORGANIZED

Three of us (Dan Ellis, Ian Magrath, and yours truly) went to University of Maine-Orono today to leaflet students about the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign.

Ilze Petersons (Coordinator of the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor) joined us as well, as did a couple of students from the peace group on campus. With this crew we had a strong presence in the student center. We handed out at least 500 flyers and also attended a lecture by Philosophy professor Doug Allen about U.S. war policy since 9-11.

On the way to Orono we happened to chance upon a radio interview on author Stephen King's progressive radio station in Bangor with Lisa Savage (CodePink Maine) who co-coordinates the Maine Campaign to Bring Our War $$ Home.

In the video above there are some great student voices emerging as the Occupy Wall Street movement grows. Reports from New York City yesterday reveal that cops beat up, with baton and pepper spray, a good number of young activists. It is clear to me that the oligarchy fears this growing movement and they fear even more that the public at large will begin to listen to, and identify with, the demands being made. So I think the cops have been told to selectively start beating some of the young people in hopes of drawing a violent response that could then be splashed across the TV screens in hopes of discrediting the protest. These young people deserve great credit for being smarter than the cops and the oligarchy by not taking the bait.