Occupy Wall Street: Egyptian Activist Goes 'From Liberation Square To Washington Square' (VIDEO)

Thousands of Occupy Wall Street supporters gathered in Washington Square Park on Saturday afternoon for a General Assembly intended to spread the movement's message. After several introductory speakers, the crowd lit up when an Egyptian activist named Mohammed Ezzeldin explained what he saw was the connection between Occupy Wall Street and the protests against Hosni Mubarak.

"I am coming from there -- from the Arab Spring. From the Arab Spring to the fall of Wall Street," Ezzeldin said, his voice echoed by the crowd of thousands. "From Liberation Square to Washington Square, to the fall of Wall Street and market domination, and capitalist domination."

His passionate speech, which even included a reference to Karl Marx, made a startling comparison between what happened in Egypt earlier this year and what is now happening in the United States.

"Many things separate us," he said. "National borders. Homeland insecurities. Armies, corporations and police. They have their laws. They have their debts. And we have our revolution. We are the 99 percent."

Ezzeldin, a 28-year-old self-described "leftist activist" who is currently living in Jackson Heights and studying at the City University of New York's Graduate Center, told HuffPost he was camped out in Tahrir Square just a few months ago and is now spending days in Zuccotti Park.

"There are some differences," he said, but he believes "any success for the struggle in the United States is helpful for the rest of the world."

Ezzeldin argued that making the protests more confrontational and bringing in labor unions will be critical for the success of the movement in the United States.

"There is an illusion about freedom -- about freedom of speech and freedom of organization in this country," he observed, pointing to New York's laws against tents and megaphones. "What I thought the image exported to the rest of the world... Well, it's not completely false but there are many obstacles."

As for the NYPD's response to demonstrations so far, Ezzeldin was philosophical. "Police is the police, in Egypt, in the United States. Police is the police. There is no good cops and bad cops, they are all cops," he said.

Relations between police and demonstrators at Saturday afternoon's gathering were cordial.

 

Comments

[Promano]

01:33 PM on 10/19/2011

There must be some serious ch*T in that Kool- aide- Jim Jones would be proud

[CrawfishFestival]

05:04 AM on 10/15/2011

OWS protestors should view - what "Robert Spencer" posted:

http://www­.opensecre­ts.org/pol­iticians/c­ontrib.php­?cycle=Car­eer&cid=N0­0009638&ty­pe=I

http://www­.opensecre­ts.org/pol­iticians/p­acs.php?cy­cle=Career­&cid=N0000­9638&type=­I

http://www­.opensecre­ts.org/pol­iticians/i­ndustries.­php?cycle=­Career&cid­=N00009638­&type=I

http://www­.opensecre­ts.org/pre­s12/bundle­rs.php?id=­N00009638

http://www­.opensecre­ts.org/oba­ma/ambassa­dors.php

http://www­.opensecre­ts.org/oba­ma/inaug.p­hp#donors

http://www­.opensecre­ts.org/oba­ma/rev.php

http://www­.opensecre­ts.org/oba­ma/transit­ion.php

Tells you everything­!

[CrawfishFestival]

12:25 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street - by John Hawkins

10) As Herman Cain said, "You can demonstrate all you want on Wall Street. The problem is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!" The solutions to America's problems aren't going to be found in punishing corporations, the rich, or the successful. They'll be found in shrinking the government, giving more power to the people, and getting more Americans to form corporations, become rich, and become successful.

[CrawfishFestival]

12:25 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street - by John Hawkins

9) Nobody, not even the Occupy Wall Street protesters, knows exactly why they're protesting or what they're trying to accomplish, but the general idea seems to be that the people who aren't paying income taxes are complaining that the people who are paying taxes aren't handing over enough of their money. Apparently, the phrase, "The world doesn't owe you a living" needs to make a comeback in homes across America.

[JudgeMoonbox]

08:48 PM on 10/11/2011

"but the general idea seems to be that the people who aren't paying income taxes are complainin­g that the people who are paying taxes aren't handing over enough of their money."

Did it ever occur to you why those who aren't paying income taxes don't do it? They're unemployed, and they don't have any income to be taxed. Duh!

You're taking a symptom of how sick the economy is, and using it to censor those who don't go along with your prescription.

[CrawfishFestival]

05:02 AM on 10/15/2011

That is interesting, "Judge".

However, because there are obvious abuses within the generational welfare culture, some states are starting to place a time limit on the length of time for government assistance.

Housing was initially set up for members of our military - to have ONE Year to get on their feet - with an extension in some case.

But the LIBERALS changed it into a welfare culture - for votes.

[CrawfishFestival]

12:23 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street - by John Hawkins

8) As more Democrats like Nancy Pelosi start to associate themselves with Occupy Wall Street, it seems fair to ask these politicians to answer two basic questions. Will they give back the campaign contributions they've already received from Wall Street? Will they continue to take campaign contributions from Wall Street?

[CrawfishFestival]

12:22 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street - by John Hawkins:

7) There are a lot of college students protesting that they have huge student loans to pay off, but they can't find a job that pays enough to do it. For some people, this may be a short term problem. Know where my first post-college job was in a crummy economy? Wal-Mart Portrait Studios. What a wonderful use of my four year degree that was. That being said, if you ran up $60,000 in debt so you could get a degree in philosophy or lesbian studies at a private school, whose fault is that? Certainly not Wall Street. If you rack up huge amounts of debt so you can get a degree that qualifies you to spend the next 30 years as a convenience store clerk, that was YOUR dumb decision and how you take care of it should be YOUR problem.

[CrawfishFestival]

12:21 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street - John Hawkins:

6) The word "astroturf" keeps falsely being applied to Tea Party protests by liberals. Meanwhile, there are actually ads on Craigslist offering to pay people to go out and protest at Occupy Wall Street.

[CrawfishFestival]

12:20 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street:

5) Although the reasons behind the Occupy Wall Street protests are extremely fuzzy, which is pretty weird if you think about it, the most common theme that has come up is a complaint about the bank bailouts. First of all, it's worth noting that unlike many of the Republicans in D.C., much of the conservative base was opposed to the bank bailouts right from the start. In fact, back in September of 2008, 71% of conservative bloggers were opposed to the bailout. Additionally, the economic collapse that led to the bailout was caused by the government, not the banks. The government bent the banks over a barrel, forced them to make risky loans, and then when those loans eventually went bad, the same people who created the problem pretended they had nothing to do with it. So, you can protest Wall Street all day long, but the real culprits are in D.C.

[CrawfishFestival]

12:19 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street - John Hawkins

4) Liberals have claimed that Tea Parties are violent mobs, but there have been more arrests, violence, and attacks on police in just the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City than in every Tea Party combined nationwide. Also, if reports are to be believed, I'm pretty sure there have been more people relieving themselves in alleyways and on police cars, too.

[CrawfishFestival]

12:17 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street - John Hawkins:

3) If you "occupy a job," you don't have time to spend weeks "Occupying Wall Street." If you don't "occupy a job," it would make more sense to put in resumes with Wall Street firms than protest them. If you don't have the skills to get a job on Wall Street or anywhere else, you should "occupy" a university or a training class to build some marketable skills, rather than sleeping in the park like a hobo and blocking the Brooklyn Bridge so that working people can't get home.

[CrawfishFestival]

12:16 PM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts About Occupy Wall Street - John Hawkins:

2) The Tea Partiers have been called racist because there aren't a lot of minorities who show up at the protests. Yet, judging by the pictures, there aren’t any more minorities at Occupy Wall Street. Does that mean they're racist? In fact, given that black Americans vote Democratic 9-to-1 and Hispanic Americans vote Democratic 2-to-1, shouldn't there be a lot more minorities at Occupy Wall Street than at a Tea Party?

[CrawfishFestival]

10:57 AM on 10/11/2011

Obama's protestors are occupying Wall Street, while he is occupying America.

David Limbaugh

[HarmonTerr]

09:34 AM on 10/11/2011

Todays OWS Egyptiam Lesson in the Park, how to reduce the Christian population in a politically correct crushing manner.

[CrawfishFestival]

07:34 AM on 10/11/2011

Ten Thoughts About Occupy Wall Street - by John Hawkins:

1) If you're serious about going after Wall Street, it's hard to see how you could vote for Barack Obama who ladled out billions in taxpayer dollars to Wall Street corporations. "Wall Street (also) donated twice as much money to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 as it did to John McCain’s." How much sense does it make to protest Wall Street and then vote for the guy who is doing more to help Wall Street at America's expense than anyone else in the country?

[HarmonTerr]

09:29 AM on 10/11/2011

They should understand that Obama has accepted more Wall Street donations than any other politician in 20 years.

[CrawfishFestival]

12:13 PM on 10/11/2011

Very good information, HarmonTerr!

[Bill Roth]

10:52 AM on 10/12/2011

OWS is about failed branches of Government . The countless letters and E-mails sent to our representatives about how the Government is pandering big banks and corporations at the expense of a middle class society; that is left with no other recourse but to get out to the streets and assemble in protest. Vote as we will. That seems to not make a difference as the two party system has gelled into one. Wall Street is the biggest benefactor in this crisis along with the multi-national community. The globalization movement has been very lucrative to the egregiously greedy multi-nationlist. Our Lawmakers bought and paid for changed regulation for this merge into the EU. Essentially selling out best interest to the world markets. OWS is there because our elected and appointed civil servants no longer represent us,only their best interest and those around them. Through these assemblies a far better Republic will emerge. The only resistance will be that of who really is in charge. Arrest the embezzlers and fraudsters not the people of the general assembly.

[CrawfishFestival]

07:32 AM on 10/11/2011

"....Egyptian activist named Mohammed Ezzeldin explained what he saw was the connection between Occupy Wall Street and the protests against Hosni Mubarak."

****

What are Egyptian activist Mohammed Ezzeldin's connections to The Muslim Brotherhood?

That is the REAL question.