they're gaining strength in numbers this as occupy wall street teams up with some major unions turning the movement into labor. so can main street pave the road for some real change as they fight against corruption however a poor from the heart of the new york city reality. i'm not a man of the people. i'm not mad at them for being so loud. we haven't been told what the ground. up to what is but it's time to break the silence from protests in wisconsin to occupy wall street average americans are being quiet no

more so as progressive groups of leaders try to take back the american dream oh another new party emerged in the us. and it's not just wall street that's fallen victim to business influence it infects all aspects of life from the food you eat to the medicine you take so is there and here health ranger mike adams diagnoses the ills of corporate greed. it's wednesday october fifth seven pm in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl you're watching our t.v. from boston to new york chicago and l.a. occupy wall street protests continue to grow and numbers across the nation and today a grassroots movement is expected to grow exponentially with key unions joining the

rally in the big apple some of those joining and the united federation of teachers workers united and transport workers union local one hundred these organizations have already indorsed occupy wall street but their presence and physical support today is making the vote. the protests louder and stronger and while the mainstream media has mocked the protesters for being scatterbrained hippies they may now be forced to take note of some of the biggest players in organized labor that are now joining the cause artes and the church and i was at the union march in new york city and brings us the story from the heart of the rally. inspired by the arab spring the on my wall street movement has finally gathered full force three weeks into the demonstrations the crowds are dancing than they ever before attracting thousands of americans of all walks of life these protestors say meet me in business and stay here until the summer several big well established new york

unions have joined the tests demonstrations are symbol of momentum gathered as thousands of people fill up the financial district in new york city calling for change financial and economic system of the united states unions having joined it does not only mean a dramatic increase in numbers but also a better organization they're going to provide supplies support am people syrians fighting for the rights of the common working americans. is gathering to be one of its way to becoming prime minister wisconsin this winter when up to seventy thousand working americans since we scored the state capitol building because their voices also not being heard by politicians the anti wall street movement is not only growing in the big apple similar gatherings have been taking place in over a dozen cities across the u.s. a big success is expected to take place in washington d.c. on thursday if the crowds gather in the political elites backyard it's going to be very hard for politicians to turn a blind eye. meanwhile american politicians don't seem to be joining

a direct link between the fact that one of the matters are we living in poverty and these clowns are coming onto the streets to raise their outrage as a people are eager for change that they're willing to stay until that happens in mainstream media has also margins are going to ignoring these protestors they have made fun of them seeing their anarchist the trip but our team has been here since day one useable to demand zero teacher and some other bring our child in hope of building a better future for several high profile that citizen scholars have also voiced their support for by wall street this peaceful movement has. pretty face police brutality trying to get its way several women were surrounded by police met at least in the fifty's were sprayed over eighty people arrested on the first. six. hundred people arrested last week and this was the protesters or united many. others moments of time. standard. we shouldn't.

be rude to politicians recounting. the way. they're in. the city. so i want to talk about whether this is the beginning of summer real change well the protesters come from all walks of life was seems to unite them is the outrage over the big banks and corporations that they say are running the show when profiting at the expense of ninety nine percent of the nation's population now some say that this outrage over the system is similar it's uprisings we saw in the middle east so like the arab spring could we see an american fall well to shed some light on all this i spoke to no my friends author of this book black friday so as unions join the ranks of the occupy wall street protests i asked her to give me some of her some of her take on how this shake up might affect the movement take

a listen. i think the movement by becoming bigger as it becomes bigger will catalyze more people to join it's sort of a self-fulfilling thing and having the unions involved having the other organizations come on board as well just expands not just the voice but also the magnitude of the protest and who's there and who has been affected by the grossly unfair system that we have that benefit the bank in the benefits wall street at the expense of the rest of the population and i think that's going to be an important step towards increasing awareness also in the media the more groups that are involved in more awareness and that will again bring about increased focus and so forth do you think that the of protests can be compared to the protests we saw that swept the middle east. you know when we talked about this this here and i've written about what happened in the middle east as well and there was an extent of protest in those protests that were based in the desire for

a different political ideology on the ground but also and more so as i and others wrote at the time they were about economic depression economic devastation and despair in those nations and wittekind look at cairo there was twenty five percent or more youth unemployment a lot of the youth was in the streets if they were secure financially and economically there would have been less of a catalyst to go and demonstrate as they did if it were just a political demonstration so there was all there was there were those two things going on but it was the economics that basically catalyzed i believe what went on there and also what we've seen across europe and what we are now seeing in the united states that if people don't have the idea that somehow things are going to be fairer that things are going to be more financially secure that they matter and going to the streets and making their voices heard is the next step and i think that's what we're seeing here in that respect there's definitely a likeness between what happened in the middle east and what's happening in europe

to what's happening here in the united states that's going along with that comparison do you think that this could be the beginning of something much more profound people are organizing but do you think that this could be the beginning of some real change the real revolution is kind of an extreme word but i mean what good does that work and this case. it is a revolution and it is small at the moment but but again with groups coming in and with more media focus and more people getting a sense for what the protests are really about and what they are about again it is creating a more fairer economy for the majority the population and i think everyone can relate to that no matter what political spectrum there from no matter how old they are no matter what job they might or may not have and i think in that respect it remains to be seen whether the momentum can continue whether more people can find their own voices in this movement and join. and feel an empathy or

get more understanding what the issues are that are causing a lot of the economic depression that most people are feeling so i think it's still it's still early but it's encouraging that this awareness and the growth of the number of people and groups that are involved is continuing now we are seeing the mainstream media denigrate and downplay this movement i want to play this clip for you there's no political movement there is no search for any kind of political movement there they wouldn't have to bashing the american public. he says they won't they wouldn't have the backing of the american public what do you what do you think about that. well you know there's been polls just just today that show there is there is an increasing backing from the american public and i think. to view the protesters by the mainstream media sort of some fringe group of people that are affected is is not a true portrayal of what's going on here in america and throughout the world which

is that the majority of people have been disenfranchised and exploited by the policies by the corporations by wall street by the relationships between wall street and washington and how policy has been firm so it isn't necessary that every single person in the street any given moment to articulate a political platform what's important is that they're there aggregating together there have been demands in a certain platform that has been coming forth from some of the organizers behind the movement that are going to grow and change because the people that are most frustrated most angered and most disgusted by how this country is operating all have a slightly different reason for being involved in the protests or watching them or supporting them or whatever level they're engaged in so the fact that the mainstream media is sort of denigrating this is truly not understanding in a lot of people in mainstream media you know also have been compromised by the type of political infrastructure and wall street supremacy that we have so they're

really kind of shooting themselves in the foot or least not understanding the roots of why people are out there and what can be done now beyond the mainstream media we heard from a reaction from a presidential candidate mitt romney called these protests dangerous class warfare what is your reaction to these movements getting these kinds of levels. well you know there's a tea party movement didn't get that sort of class warfare type of label and frankly it's there's nothing wrong with class work well if the majority of the people have been disenfranchised and have been had their own personal economy is depressed and in a global situation where words jobs in employment is sixteen seventeen percent in general and in a lot of the cities where use in employment is twenty five percent where we're health care is prohibited where education is impossible to to achieve without supreme debt i mean you know this is something that is that is rampant and for the presidential candidates to not understand that even conservatives even republicans

who are facing financial distress in these times and under these policies is to really not understand many of their constituents now do you think politicians will be listening or are they listening to these protests and if not who are they listening to. but so far that they're listening to the company is a little obvious from the banks that support them that are you know critical at this particular particular juncture to campaigns you know president obama has significant campaign contributions already flowing in for example from the financial community from wall street as he did in the last election is there too many of the top g.o.p. candidates so they're currently listening to where their money is flowing from and there's been less money flow coming from the individual populations with you know compared to last election because people are just disgusted and don't want to pay for policies that are helping them so that is another reason why they're still focused the politicians on their core constituency which is the gore campaign

contributors which are the corporations but i think the bigger it if this movement grows bigger and if it continues and grows into the election season then they will start to listen a little more so again it really has a lot to do with how how much momentum has been created and how much can continue because the issues that are behind this protest have been real and have been what has not been addressed so far well me thank you so much for joining us that was no reprints author black bag now the last time we saw a massive protest a new party emerged there the tea party so-called the occupy wall street protest the beginning of the progressive getting a few party of their own leaders of the progressive movement are hoping so leaders like van jones a former obama administration official who just launched a group called to rebuild the dream and is hoping to tap into the energy taking

shape across the country are as he correspondent christine for example of tended to take back the american dream conference and spoke to van jones to learn more about it. you could say this is where it all started. the fight for labor rights in wisconsin today it continues with god as a nationwide protest against the power of the wall street and is evolving into what some are now calling a revolution. on the streets and off the street. hoping to add fuel to this grassroots fire hundreds of progressive groups and leaders are launching on including van jones in a campaign to take back the american dream at a conference of the same name we went from hopi to mopey and forgot to build a movement in the middle this movement is now being built according to lawmakers

and labor leaders alike i think america knows who's responsible and they're upset by it and they're upset that these folks are still living as if they hadn't destroyed millions of lives and i think that's going to spread across the country and i think it's spreading because those with all the wealth are hoarding it and people that need jobs aren't getting them it's time they say to fight the echo chamber of corporate and right wing interests if you stated over and over and over again on fox news on radical yellow radio rush limbaugh if you stated over and over again on the editorial pages of the wall street journal stated over and over again people start believing it because they say to themselves a wife i keep hearing that we are on call when oh well the tea party managed to tap into that. capturing the airwaves and pushing policy the worst people in america with the worst ideas have dominated the discussion and i'm not mad at them

i'm not mad at the tea party. i'm not mad at them for being so loud i'm mad at us for having been so quiet those here say they will be quiet no more especially when it comes to communicating a stronger more unified message we'll begin the tea party because our values are more separate by more americans and people do you want to have good jobs for your family if you want to have good health care you want to have strong strong healthy communities you want to have educations not castles that are crumbling others argue for different reasons this is nothing like the tea party here's tea party co-founder mark meckler these people are not like tea partiers they're not law abiding citizens they're camping in a park where camping isn't allowed they're breaking the laws on the brooklyn bridge that's not tea party behavior that's not america lobbying behavior here they say it's about how to reclaim the american dream make rich people pay their fair share make corporations pay their fair share and if he's had stolen the american dream so many people were here to take it back i see this democracy in

a form rarely seen in this country so that's got to get bad enough to get better and i think people with maybe some false hope that without work if you are oh paul would just solve every problem for us we could all be happy about reality the reality is if you don't buy what you want you deserve what you get progressive leader than protestors alike praise most of the blame here i pay three where they say lobbyist work hard funneling corporate money into the hands of lawmakers maintaining a system that benefits corporations and the wealthy and not the majority of american people a system they say change in washington christine for the hour our team. and for more and as our earlier i spoke to our own christine friends our i asked her to expand on her apart and after this a new take back the dream movement fits in at all with the occupy wall street movement that's currently spreading nationwide here's her take. there's a lot of things going on here and a lot of people that i spoke to this take back the american dream conference look

at the office i lost they look at wisconsin and they say you know this is our american autumn they look they compare it to what's happened in egypt in tunisia in terms of rising up against their government but they do also to an extent like to compare themselves to the two parties thing finally an answer because basically since the election of president obama in two thousand and eight there hasn't been sort of a lot of mass liberal movement progressive movement and the loudest voices according to them in many ways they say have been from the tea party so they're comparing themselves to the tea party but not necessarily very different ideologies and their organization you know than those who saw him in the package one of the things that he said is you know he before he he and a lot of others didn't want to make that comparison but he said it's time to actually take some lessons from them and here's one thing that they did good the tea party people that identify themselves with the tea party talk about rugged

individual ism however they work collectively they know what their messages they have two or three talking points and they stick to them the problem he says with the progressive movement is that you have so many different groups of people you know for people in the labor movement people fighting for labor people fighting for racial justice women's rights l.g.b. to you right the environment you have all these different groups of people and they talk about working together and once for the benefit of the ninety nine percent of america however that's not what you see you see somebody with this sign somebody with the signs that there's not a unified message he said that needs to change we need to all be on the same page fighting for the same thing now do you get a sense that it's possible for the progressives so pool their voices and research resources and eventually launch launch their own parties and that's what it's about i mean it is hard and that has been one of the challenges is that you have people with so many different desires. that identify themselves you know either as progressives or liberals or on the left and they want their cause to be given the

most attention so i think that's where the biggest challenge is i think that it's been made aware that that has been an obstacle to getting things done you've heard for the last couple of years you know the economic crisis is hurting people we see this income and inequality gap continue to grow let's fight for that and by the way let's save the environment by the way l.g. writes you know gay marriage so not that they should put those issues that they care about aside but that they should sort of work together especially in the next year or so to try to find common ground to stick to a message that resonates with people that's not long or complicated you know that they can speak in sound bites and get it across and this movement kind of resonates with you know when president obama when he was campaigning he was on his rhetoric with hope and change and of course van jones he used to work for president obama is is there any sign that the way president obama is or is reacting to this or is

there any communication between the two of them you know their president obama hasn't spoken so much about it we did hear from vice president biden who was a little bit confused about who van jones even was van jones the green energy czar for the white house for about six months resigned in a scandal that had to do with glenn beck and all this other stuff but i think that . everything that i heard van jones they is something that i'm pretty sure the white house would be on board with are we from the surface i think they're still waiting to see sort of how the occupy wall street protests take shape before they sort of comment or react so i haven't seen much although there's a chance he have all right and the part of the party that we're comparing this to that they're comparing it to is the tea party and the idea what this party would be called if it were to emerge that's a good question i don't know that that's probably a good idea about debate if they're going to come up with a unified message they should come up with

a unified. voice. and that was our correspondent christine as out now occupy wall street is venting their anger at the corporate elite that they say is staring our economy into a depression they say corporations have infiltrated our politics resulting in a nation that is not so democratic and you more beyond the economy what other ways can corporations be running the lives of the masses some say their power is so vast that they dictate not just the economy but the types of medicines we take even the foods we eat earlier i spoke to mike adams also known as the health ranger about the surprising way as corporations influence everyday lives of average people i asked him why profits is driving the field and not public health this is response. well i think it's the same reason we're not talking about let's say an honest money supply why are the bankers in charge of the economy why is the federal reserve

printing shiite currency and not turning over control of the money supply for the people it's really all about consolidating power into the hands of the few who are working in conjunction with government often through a corruption kind of avenue rather than allowing the power to go back to the people and this is why we're seeing occupy wall street this is why people are taking to the streets because they're stead up with being dictated to having their wealth and their health stolen away people want their power back and they have every right to demand it so i support all the public protests that we're seeing today in america and that was the next question i was going to ask you were seeing the occupy wall street protests gaining momentum do you see this as a hope for some real change in the system a system that you say is designed to benefit from to benefit the preparations yet clearly the system that we have today the status quo is new sign to benefit the few at the cost of the many and i do have hope because for

a long time i wondered would people get off their couches and get out into the streets and make their voices heard and demand their power back and demand control over their money supply and control over their own health destiny and we're starting to see some early signs of success today occupy wall street whether or not people agree with a particular message is being said there i agree with the principle of people getting out making their voice voices heard to sing their first amendment rights and letting let their voices be heard on wall street and washington and all around the country when i didn't report i'm sorry i don't mean to jump in there but i want to play a sound bite for you from ron paul where he is referring to this uprising. the fed was involved with probably about fifteen trillion dollars with the transactions and a third of it was there to serve foreign banks and when the american people hear this

no wonder they're up on wall street raising cain because they know that the system is biased against the average person so mike what do you think is the system biased against the average person absolutely and ron paul is exactly on point with that quote as he has been consistently year after year the global banking cartel as you might call them really do operate for their own selfish benefit at the expense of the american people and one of the things that ron paul has called for which we have supported that natural news is to audit the fed let's have some transparency in what's happening with the money supply but also why we happen to support ron paul as a presidential candidate he's the one person up there who wants to tell the truth and have some real transparency so that the american people can see what's happening to their future now as mike adams the health ranger are still ahead here on our team from wall street to athens where a big fat greek revolve is under way that's where protesters are battling for tear

gas and all sarah the measures to get their message heard already some of the sights and sounds of a country falling into ruins next. clashes between protesters and police forces have asked late in front of the parliament building in greece thousands of people have flooded the streets of athens during a twenty four hour public sector strike shutting down schools and courts and causing all flights to be grounded artsy correspondent sara firth is in athens and she set the scene for us. we saw the things on the streets. in taipei square outside the main parliament building really escalated the tensions

boiled a few with the angry protesters and the riot police clashing we saw a gas being fired we also saw some people needing medical attention rightly so moving on to syntagma square and trying to clear the protesters out of that area and really sent very aggressive scenes of the clashes between the two sides that we saw the police moving into the metro station chasing some of the protesters here in syntagma the metro you were on strike actually intervening to push back the riot police certainly a very very tense situation we've seen more of these a sturdy measures being passed not really raise the level of public anger head out at the beginning of the day the main labor party is in the country has led thousands of work is public sector workers on to the streets to protest against these measures and again like we said we saw those things that escalating quite dramatically throughout the day people are really losing trust in the eurozone leaders of military to take the country out of this crisis into third measures in

place that are actually realistic and can be met now what we've seen over the last couple of weeks is the government passing more and more these are starting measures to try and keep the international lenders on side to try and prove to them that they're able to take these steps to try and plug the deficit in their budget but the property tax that we saw passed last week and the announcement of possible job losses on top of people already in the country having had the salaries cut dramatically most people to about thirty percent of the salaries who are being cut then to have these extra taxes this is really raise the level of anger amongst the public here he said they simply can't manage that now we've seen a school say quite disconcertingly spreading throughout the usa and from the sovereign debt crisis needing now into the banking sector. there is well and there are fears of a repeat of what we saw a couple of years back and you know once again we're hearing what people are saying is the steps in the measures that were put in place at that time after we saw the

collapse of lehman brothers you know really what was a key for that because we find ourselves back in the same situation certainly here in greece we've already seen it's really being downgraded by midis and this data from media that that happened as a result of a lack of trust in the year you think governments really does sentiment could not be echoed any more clearly by the public here is what is exactly how they feel they just lost trust in the usa leaders ability to get them out of the situation and is now really that we're going to see this meeting for the financial crisis into a very severe economic recession possibly not just because the rest of the year is a countries as well and i was r.t. correspondent sara firth with the latest on the turmoil in greece allowed doesn't for now for more on the stories we covered go to our slash usa and check out our you tube page ads you tube dot com slash our america thanks for watching and was while.