they're gaining strength in numbers this as occupy wall street teams up with some major unions turning the movement and so a labor of love so can main street pave the road for some real changes as they fight against corruption we'll have a report from the heart of the new york say of the new york city rallies. are not made of the cheap or. i'm not mad at them for being so loud are mad at us for having been so quiet the past two years but no one here. but it's time to break the silence from protest in wisconsin is occupying wall street average americans are

being quiet no more so as progressive groups and leaders try to take back the american dream will another new party emerge in the us. and it's not just wall street that's fallen victim to big business and fluids it impacts all aspects of life from the flu to the medicine you take so is there a cure all the ranger mike adams diagnoses the ills of corporate greed. it's wednesday october fifth eight pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching our t.v. . from new york to boston chicago and l.a. occupy wall street protests continue to grow in numbers across the nation and say the grassroots movement is expected to grow. so exponentially with key unions

joining the rally in the big apple some of those joining in 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 supports a day as making the voice the protest louder and stronger and while the mainstream media efforts mocked the protesters for being scatterbrained hippies they may now be forced to take note as some of the biggest players in organized labor going the cause our correspondent on the stasi a church has more from the heart of the new york city rally. inspired by the arab spring the occupy wall street movement has finally gathered full force three weeks into the demonstrations the crowds are tense and make ever before attracting thousands of americans of all walks of life these protesters say meet me in business and stay here until the sun several being well established new york unions

have joined the tests demonstrations are simple meant to gather 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 can be experienced fighting for the rights of the common working american. is gathering could be well on its way to becoming prime minister response in a switcher went up to seventy thousand during americans since we stored the state capitol building because their voices were also not being heard by politicians the anti wall street movement is not only growing in the big apple similar gathering seven taking place in over a dozen cities across the u.s. the big contest is expected to take place in washington d.c. on thursday it is out to gather in the political elites backyard it's going to be very hard for politicians to turn a blind eye. meanwhile american politicians still seem to be drawing

a direct link between the fact that what it is now is are we living in poverty that these clowns are going on to business to their outrageous people are eager for change that they're willing to state until that happens the mainstream media has also margins are going to bring these protesters they have made fun of them saying they're anarchists to me trip but our team has been here since day one we've spoken to the ninety year old teacher and this is mother bringing out her child in hopes of building a better future for several high profile that the scholars have also voiced their support for by wall street this peaceful movement has. really face police brutality trying to get in its way several women are surrounded by will be smashed and missed and the police were sprayed over eighty people arrested on the first. interesting eight hundred people were arrested last week and this was me the protesters were united many ways on the prime gathers momentum of public interest is no standard.

was cheered on but are similar we should. be applauded. if politicians recounting them away. here in. mississippi. and joining me now for more from new york city r.t. correspondent ana stasi churkin up on a stasi with the unions joining the protests how has that affected the mood there on the ground well let's i have to see the mood is definitely getting very fiery people are energized excited even though this is the third week into the protests the fact that the big new york unions are finally joins in the crowds is really getting the people very excited and they are hoping that because the numbers of protesters have now skyrocketed their message is going to get loud enough to be heard in washington d.c. as well as on wall street and so are you really getting the feel that this really is escalating or does it visibly look like there is a lot more

a lot more people coming out. definitely liz absolutely the first day several a couple of weeks ago when we were there on wall street on the first day of protests we saw our several hundred people come out mostly sort of the younger students now what's interesting is that we're seeing a faeces of this occupy wall street movement change we're definitely seeing a lot of sort of more mature knowledgeable crowd coming out teachers firemen and so on we saw marines join so definitely the movement has grown of course we're seeing numbers go from hundreds to thousands and the protest believe that this number will still keep growing in the months and weeks to come and so far we've seen these protests ask les we've seen massive rads protesters being made anything stand out today or has it been mostly peaceful. today from what we know is that mostly those march this protest has been peaceful we know that thousands and thousands as

you just saw in that report of people were out on the street the occupied a square in downtown manhattan and later proceeded to march all the way to the park where the occupy wall street encampment currently is and certainly it was quite a sight to see especially with some of the aerial shots seeing really this entire wave of people walking in the lower part of manhattan definitely an interesting sight definitely a powerful beginning of something and we have to see that politicians have to be on the lookout this is turning really into a very very large movement and from what i'm from what you're seeing there do you think this is going to ask late do you think we're going to see even bigger demonstrations in the coming days and in the end the coming weeks. well you know initially when these occupy wall street up plans were being made especially through social networking sites organizers were saying they're counting on as many as twenty thousand people to come out on the on the streets and we have to say that in the first couple of weeks people were sort of losing hope that this would happen

but with what we certainly are today certainly when thousands and thousands of people were ready to join in and really have their voice heard it definitely seems like this is going to keep growing and as we said in this report the occupy wall street movement plans to stay there until december so they're hoping that certainly they will have even more crowds joining in so it doesn't sound like they're giving up anytime soon you know one of the criticisms that is that of this protest of this movement is that they lack the organization. did you see that maybe with these new with the labor unions coming out and with more people joining this that there could be some more some more organization maybe a more unified clear voice to this movement certainly that's something that we're hearing on the ground is that unions because they have a tradition and really experience of leading such movements and protests and really fighting for the rights of the workers working americans many are hoping that the

really this movement will be more organized but we have to say we're going to organization our criticism have been kind of shot at the protesters but it's certainly something we haven't been seeing ourselves because we do know that the movement doesn't have any specific sort of leader is spearheading the operation but we do know that basically with throughout these entire couple of weeks they had camps spread out there's a media center there's a food area there's even a library on the ground so we would really see that it's been very disorganized people have been seeing peaceful and really respectful towards each other and the rest of the community around them except for the wall street bankers of course. you know i'm a saucy i'm getting word just now that there's fights that are breaking out in manhattan and i think this is a a very new development you do you know anything about this. right now from this evening we have not been hearing anything of fights breaking out you know this is a greek news world and certainly worth what we saw last weekend with as many as

almost eight hundred people getting arrested over the weekend and the weekend before that over eighty people and some people being maced i'm sort of pepper sprayed certainly not surprising if this happens we know that if if again the protests try to kind of go across the brooklyn bridge or make any sort of big march like that the police have been getting involved before and if this happens to be the case again and again i think the protesters are ready for the anasazi i thank you very much for keeping us updated that was our correspondent on the stasi a church but the latest from occupy wall street. now some say that there's outrage over the system is similar to uprisings that we saw in the middle east so like the arab spring could we see an american fall and for more on this earlier i spoke to labor journalist mike being an expert on labor i asked him for his take on this latest additions of the occupy wall street movement and how it might shake things up take a listen. well it certainly helps grow the movement having

a number of bodies in the streets give it a certain voice more of a structure and also provide for a lot of dialogue between the movement that's out in the streets and what's going on for the next labor organized labor right now is the crisis we represent six point nine percent of workers in the private sector so it's going to create a lot of linkages it's going to swell the numbers and you can intensify it's going to make occupy wall street more of. driven from from labor leadership in some way and this can also be a problem i mean you have to worry about whether or not labor leadership is going to co-opt the message of the people in the streets and whether this is going to be a challenge because this does not always happen in organized labor and does an area what is your production i don't know i think it's a thing we have to wait and see surely i was surprised when rich trumka came out and endorsed occupy wall street i was surprised when jay magen to the head of bash me which is a large public employees union in the country into a shocking story because typically labor leaders don't do things that they can't control. but i think it's a wait and see kind of thing now what do you think that these protests can become

part of the protests that we've bought that slap across the limits on you drawing a comparison between the two i mean certainly i think there's a number of comparisons between the two and the protests in the middle east you had people protesting for a number of reasons what happened in those protests was they were driven largely by social media and by organizers involved three years which is what has happened here so they're driven largely by social media and then institutional actors like. you know unions and other groups start joining in so we're seeing that but you not see what really broke the camel's back in this situation which was unions going on strike and right now you know these protests are certainly paying the changing public image but they're not creating much leverage and certainly chip in the public dialogue the next meeting leverage that really puts corporations in a crisis where they feel like they have to set how do they create that leverage but i think what's happening you see completely new bottom line which is working with national people's action sci you a number of other unions. we're starting to move people back into foreclosed homes

where you know you're seeing you need you seem workers for instance team up of teams to workers that are locked out so that these auction house so that we create leverage we use the power of the people in the streets of a specific instances or not just as much that i mean there's been a lot of criticism because what i was for doesn't happen. but i mean we did meet here simply to be treated like a human and it's a rallying call to training school for a lot of people so as to see what kind of other actions come from this but it's certainly a rallying crimes inspiring. now do you think this could be we saw the you. revolution sweep across the middle east could this be this movement here. on wall street occupy wall street could this be the beginning of some real change it could be the beginning of real change it could also just be a false start. the key is i think in a lot of ways is is this just going to be

a public statement for we're going to really start taking power in specific ways or you know i want to play the mainstream media has been denigrating and downplaying the movement and i want to play a clip for you which kind of exemplifies that there's no political movement there is no thirst for any kind of political movement there they wouldn't have the backing of the american public. you know what do you think about that man is that do you think that's true there's no thirst first change or they wouldn't have the backing of the american people what do you think i think this is really in the bag in the american people i talked to workers over this country and i go to kentucky i go to minnesota i go to all kind of places and we're going to really want to see changes simply because real wages have been declining so i certainly think they do have the backing the american people and i don't think you've ever seen the tea party any other groups like that occupy whole squares for weeks at a time occupied it was conscious they kept it so it was showing here that people in the streets community change things and this is the beginning of i think

a much larger movement it's the question of whether or not we can turn this round steam meat into leverage you know president obama has been an outspoken critic of corporate corporate greed. some of the corruption on wall street do you think that president obama will come out and that of this movement now lie about this and what he does i mean you know where was president obama during the rise in straight where was president obama doing half a dozen labor dispute where was you know bomb of the wisconsin but he was you know he was campaigning for hope and change isn't some people demanding some change sure but i mean this guy's terms in office i mean i mean this is ministration such a joke you have seal jep in the c.e.o. of g.e. is the head of the jobs tradition if you factories overseas and we're going to come into office so you have been much change in the white house you know and we also we heard the reaction from the presidential candidates mitt romney called these protests dangerous class warfare what's your reaction to these movements getting

bigger signs of labor. well i mean it is possible or. perhaps it is dangerous i hope hope that she will see visions during her since not clear certainly we haven't seen anything this sustained against wall street since the thirty's we've had people camped out for weeks and the question is how much does it broken in the thirty's we have the bonus armies we have to rebuild some of kind of encampments so does this go on for months at a time and if so how is it going to change the public narrative and how is it how are they going to reach out to other groups to create change of specific factions and that's the real issue right you know and ultimately ultimately do you think all attention is what will listen to the me to the demands of these protesters are i mean if not who are they listening to and you know it's not i think losing the people who give the money so i mean i think with this kind of congress i think we have two tracks right now people focus heavily in part ex but i think we can be crucially cooperation parisian judge so much of how our lives are you know kind of

benefits they are kind of leaders we get excited and sort of like thank you so much for joining us about was labor journalist mike allen. now the last time we saw massive protests a new party emerged there the tea party so could the occupy wall street protest be the beginning of the progressives getting a party of their own leaders of the progressive movement are hoping cell leaders like van jones a former all bomb administration official who just launched a group called rebuild the dream and is hoping to tap into the energy taking shape across the country r.t. correspondent christine did the 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 that was 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 latching on including van jones and the campaign to take back the american dream at a conference of the same name we went from hopi to mopey and they got to build a group 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 in spreading because those with all the wealth are hoarding it and people need jobs are getting them it's time they say to find 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 over life 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 fired no more especially when it comes to communicating a stronger more unified message we're big in the tea party because our values are more subdued by more americans do you want to have good jobs for your family do you want to have good health care or do you want to have strong strong healthy communities you want to have education is not because schools around probably 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 the party yours they're not law abiding citizens that happen in a park work helping isn't allowed they're breaking the laws on the brooklyn bridge that's not tea party behavior that's not america loving 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 it is he's had stolen the american dream so many people were here to take it back i. democracy in a form rarely seen in this country got to got to get better for you to get better at the people with maybe some false hope that without working through our own bottle with the salt of the crop force we could all be happy about reality the reality is if you don't buy what you want you deserve was a good progressive leader them protesters alike place much of the blame here i k. street 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 out are three. and for more on those earlier i spoke to our own christine friends our i asked her to expand a little on her report and if this new take back the dream movement fits in at all but the occupy wall street movement that's currently spreading nationwide here's her thing. there's a lot of things going on here and a lot of people that i spoke to this to back the american dream conference look at the occupy wall street 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 their self to the tea party saying finally an answer because basically since the election of president obama in two thousand and eight there hasn't been sort of the last mass liberal movement progressive movement and the loudest voices

according to them in many ways they say have been from the tea party but they're comparing themselves to the tea party but not necessarily very different ideologies and their organization getting the banjo song 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 that tea party people that identify themselves with the tea party talk about rugged individual ism how lover they work collectively they know what their message is 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 from 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 what's 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 so 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 party 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 cars 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 any inequality gap continue to grow let's fight for them by the way let's save the environment by the way l.g.b. few rights 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 soundbites 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 death or is there any communication between the two of them you know that 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 going back and all this other stuff but i think that . everything that i heard van jones say is something that i'm pretty sure the white

house would be on board with a lease on the surface i think they're still waiting to see sort of how the occupy wall street protests take shape before is a sort of comment or react so i haven't seen much although there's a chance yes all right and the part of the party that we're comparing this to that they're comparing it to with 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 they that's probably a good idea that they if they're going to come up with a unified message they should come up with a unified name or voice that was our t. correspondent christine. now occupy wall street is venting their anger at the corporate elite that they say is steering our economy into a depression they say corporations have infiltrated our politics resulting in a nation that is not so democratic anymore well beyond the economy a lot of other way is 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 food that we eat earlier i spoke to mike adams also known as the health ranger about the surprising ways corporations influence everyday lives of average people i asked him why profit is driving the field and not public health versus response. one thing it's the same reason we're not talking about let's say an honest money supply or 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 to 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 fed up with being dictated to with 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 i hope for some real change in the system a system that you say is designed to benefit from the benefit the proper ations yeah clearly the system that we have today the status quo is nine 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 of their houses 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 the particular message is being said there i agree with the principle of people getting out making their voices voices heard practicing their

first amendment rights and letting let their voices be heard on wall street in washington and all around the country and i mean porter 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 for this uprising. if it 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 that's also why we happen to support ron paul as a presidential candidate he's the one person out 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 that was mike adams the health arranger well that does it for now come on the stories we covered go to artsy dot com slash usa and check out our you tube page at youtube dot com slash artsy america the big picture is coming up in a half hour thanks for watching i'm not a great night. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcomes a big picture.