I hope Occupy is accepting it. I don't think they will allow themselves to be bought. I am glad to see someone stepping up for us.

I don't give a rats arse about fuel for the anti-occupy noise. Ben and Jerry's have always been pro people, pro worker. This, to me is no different than joining with the Unions. It's not like we actually join with the union, we just stand together as part of the 99%. As long as strings not attached and funds are completely transparent, I think it's a win. A big win.

I'm gonna contact Ben & Jerry's and tell them too!

what anti-Occupy noise may or may not come from it. It is long past time for the left to restrict its' actions because of FEAR of the RIGHT's reaction. We now the Right Wing Nutz will lie. They will bark at the moon that what we are doing or advocating will mean the end of Christendom and the raise of the horned one.

Fuck them. Put your money and ass where your priorities are.

It's all in framing, but stipending "core activists" is a back-door way to attempt to choose leadership through the apportionment of funds and subvert the GA. If I were trying to bend Occupy to my agenda, that's how I would do it. MRG chooses who the "core activists" are, you can bet that they're going to choose who they want to be in charge.

By default of having funding and office-space, those people will be latched onto by the media as leadership and spokespeople. It's a poison-pill all over and a coup d'etat. From my POV, OWS GA should tell MRG to f**k off...if they want to donate, they can do it the same as everybody else.

Edit: This all goes back to what LG is saying in the thread on infiltration. This is an infiltration. It's a shiny happy one from people that are well-liked and well-regarded, people who may even think they're doing the right thing...but this is how movements of the people get co-opted by those with means.

Edit 2: I excerpted the portion from Leopold's Ghost's post that I think relevant to the coopt concerns I'm having.

I've read books where they talk about the dangers just of seeking fiscal sponsorship... when an organization that is fiscally sponsored by an existing, larger nonprofit (and these are mostly lefty organizations) gets a substantial cash donation, the "parent" organizaiton will very often engineer it so that they take control of the project and get to say how the money is spent -- and that is in the realm of financial advice for nonprofits, not even taking into account political hostility towards left-libertarians or the left in general. -Leopold's Ghost http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1252&pid=679

I won't go so far as to theorize that there's a nefarious plot to co-opt the movement, but paying stipends to some raises eyebrows. And you bring up a good point about the office space becoming a media magnet.

Any corporate funding would have to be 100% transparent, or else it will perpetuate the right wing media myth that OWS had been a front group all along. I'd rather see an outpouring of small grassroots donations, but thats probably unrealistic, inadequate and unsustainable over a long period of time.

On the other hand, if money is spent on daily necessities for the occupiers, legal fees, fines, and publicity then that is a good thing. Either way the movement will be under constant negative media assault, so perhaps its best to take the money and put it to good use, because its better then being accused of taking the money when you haven't.

...thanks

The next stage which many thought would not happen once the encampments were destroyed.

There are so many abandoned buildings all over the country, and in one case, a building was donated to the Occupiers after they were evicted. That helped them to continue to operate without harassment from the police.

I hope more of them get this kind of help. It is about the people and if the occupiers are being driven away from the public square by the 1% the next step is to occupy a center where they are free from harassment.

Ben and Jerry are good guys and since this a movement, it will evolve as it is doing according to its needs.

Maybe the 1% should have left them in the public squares. At least there they could harass them, claiming they were illegitimate or whatever. This makes them legitimate and far less subject to police action. Not that it won't happen, but it will be far more difficult to excuse it.

They will force us to eat their ice cream while occupying! To spare my brothers and sisters this humiliation, I will take it upon myself to be Ben and Jerrys Occupy poster boy. I will start with a quart of Americone Dream, followed by Karmel Sutra, and then perhaps Cherry Garcia... after this I will switch to their frozen yougurts to promote healthy eating... it's for the cause, ya know...

They should send us a frozen sampler package with the mini sizes of every one of their flavors. I will be more than happy to share with you. Which brings us to the real question - what will be the ingredients in 99% ice cream?

Who said occupiers were against capitalism? So long as it's regulated?

99% ice cream ingredients. Good question, are they going to make a new flavor? And what, if they do, is the 1% ingredient going to be?

Or is it 'ice-cream for the 99%' and none for the 1%'? A complex issue, but what better punishment for the 1% than to deprive them of Ben & Jerry's? Lol!

You and your friends are young, brave and beautiful. I am old, beaten and afraid. I put on a good act. But it wasn't that way always, once upon a time. I tell you truthfullly, much will be asked of you this year. Your future is what's at stake. Another poster was correct when he said the unions have been handcuffed by the Taft act. Taking it to the streets is up to you now. You will have the support you need from those who can't do what you must do. I know it sucks, and I apologize.

Equal parts vanilla, chocolate, yellow caramel, cherry red to represent every color and creed on earth. Walnut crumblies to represent Wall Street. Perhaps the tiniest splash of tabasco sauce for pepper spray. And maybe proportionate malted milk balls to represent the courage of those like you who risk their lives to get up in the face of oppression.

Last edited Wed Feb 29, 2012, 03:53 AM - Edit history (1)

Lol, I like it.

Thank you for your confidence in all of those who have and will be 'on the front lines'. I am in awe of all of them myself. I am in CA temporarily so have not been part of that yet, but hopefully will be returning to NY sometime during the next year.

I remember though in the Fall, being upset that I might not have a chance because who knew in Oct, eg, that it would be so successful that it would still be here, stronger than ever, and looking like it is going nowhere, in the Spring? I am so thrilled about that and hope to participate more on the actual 'front lines' when I do return to NY. No apologies needed from anyone who cannot be out there, everyone has a role, and if everyone was on the streets, who would be doing all the rest that needs to be done? I think for every one on the streets, there must be hundreds at least who are rooting for and supporting them in any way they can.

Santorum. Not sure, but is should definately be chocolate based.

Mixed with pistachios?

Blue and White blueberry and vanilla ice cream with cinnamon red hots mixed in! It comes in a container shaped like a riot helmet with a visor lid you flip up to eat it. O.k., perhaps you can take this too far...

you are very good at this. I think we should contact B&J to see about hiring you as the new flavor maker.

...that some of the food coming from Occupy kitchens was quite delicious.

when times were leaner, was less delicious but greatly appreciated. We left much more in donation then we were able to eat.

We were there right before the eviction. The kitchen seemed to have some trouble getting funds. We had a group of chefs trainees come in to cook for us, and all we had for them to cook was tuna salad. It was probably a little below their ability. lol

The kitchen worked the hardest and should have gotten easier funding. They did well with what they had at the time. It was not easy for them to feed the occupiers as well as all of the homeless.

we saw none of the "gourmet" meals we read about. The gourmet meals were probably food prepared by same chefs but with a wider selection of donated foods and funds.

we really liked the guy that came around late at night with coffee or hot chocolate.

Live on Ustream. I believe the reporter was a woman named "Freedom". One of the few light moments came when, just before the police charged into the camp, a cook handed her something to eat. "Oh, this is delicious"! ...as cops go flying past her, one nearly knocking her over.

Things got tense toward the end, with sheriffs from Riverside and Temecula and officers from another agency getting pretty aggressive (you could see Freedom's camera stream shaking from her hands trembling).

Occupy medics treated some protesters for bruises and contusions from baton strikes, and one or two protesters were arrested. But the protest succeeded in shutting down 2 W-M distribution centers (including the world's largest) for the day.

How about a Sgt. Pepperspray Pez dispenser in the form of the Sgt. Himself? Lift his visor and out pops redhot flavored Pez...

And cinammon in general

That kind of funding goes a long way but only if it is distributed fairly... if this were a disaster relief scenario we'd be right to have similar concerns.

Also, I am wondering what the Wall Street Journal means by a national office in New York for the Occupy movement.

Who determines who is in charge of the "national office"?

At least if we had an online spokescouncil model like the guy (who was at odds with the 99D lawyer) was suggesting,

We might have some way of handling these funds.

On the other hand, a national office would make a tar baby for attracting parasprites. We could set it up as a Potemkin HQ for planning fake actions... Nah, the problem is even if it's the media office you're looking at spending money to create a monitoring point for officials, like in Egypt. Not sure how to resolve this.