Vlad Teichberg Live Q&A: Meet A Member Of Occupy Wall Street's Media Team

Vlad Teichberg occupied Wall Street for years, working as a derivatives trader up until 2008. These days, however, the 39-year-old spends his time assisting the Occupy Wall Street movement currently rallying against his former employers.

Vital to the quickly spreading movement has been the constant flow of social media out of the events.
Teichberg is a founding member of Global Revolution TV, a live streaming website working day and night to disseminate videos about what's happening on the streets to the general public. They stream videos on GlobalRevolution.tv and upload videos to YouTube.

After a solidarity march with the Oakland protesters in New York City, for example, Global Revolution rapidly worked to put out a video showing police clashing with protesters.

The New Yorker writes, "Global Revolution brands itself as non-hierarchical, but if anyone is in charge it is Vlad Teichberg, a thirty-nine-year-old former derivatives trader." Teichberg insists that no one is in charge.

Born in Moscow, Teichberg's family moved to New York when he was 10 years old. His family was forced to leave the Soviet Union after his father leaked details about Jewish students receiving harder collegiate entrance examinations than other students to the press.

In New York, he attended the Bronx High School of Science and then Princeton University, where he majored in math. He briefly left school to work on Wall Street, returned to school, graduated, and then again found himself on Wall Street.

Disturbed by the Patriot Act and political environment following 9/11, Vlad co-founded the Glass Bead Collective while working on Wall Street, a self-described "multi-disciplinary non-profit art collective" that has produced several films that focused on what he calls the "suppression of dissent in United States."

Following the Arab Spring, Vlad Teichberg traveled to Spain in May of this year. Initially, he expected to train people to work on revolutions in Africa, but he found himself amidst the AcampadaSol uprising in Spain. There, he co-founded the AcampadaSol media collective and helped operate their global live stream.

Now, he works on Occupy Wall Street as a member of the media collective.

Today, The Huffington Post is hosting a live video chat with Vlad Teichberg, who will answer any questions about Occupy Wall Street. Enter our Vokle chat below and ask away:

 

 

Comments

[rdk70816]

09:10 AM on 10/30/2011

These Occupiers have been rejected by society and are disappointed by the performance of the Federal Government and believe the class rhetoric of the divisive president. They are budding Marxists who vote the Democrat slate no matter the competence of the candidate. The only hope for them is that they improve their education and find a job.

[Rational Thought Plz]

09:27 AM on 10/30/2011

Yet they have higher approval ratings than the Tea party. How bout that.

[lackofoversight]

10:39 AM on 10/30/2011

Since you have all the conservative Republican talking points down, even to calling it a "Democrat" not Democratic slate, I'll bet that you're merrily typing away this weekend in an undisclosed basement somewhere and working for a Republican sponsored boiler room operation.

[BeautifulOnDaOutside]

05:27 PM on 10/29/2011

If this guy is typical of the Occupy movement, it's not going very far.

[BeautifulOnDaOutside]

05:20 PM on 10/29/2011

Here's some more about Mr Teichberg from a 2010 NY Times article:

"No such requirements exist at 13 Thames, the dilapidated building next door. “There’s no
structure here, it’s completely chaotic in the way it operates,” said a black-clad resident
named Vladimir Teichberg. As he spoke and chain-smoked, shirtless men with
dreadlocks painted over crude graffiti, carefully avoiding an upside-down American flag.

Mr. Teichberg is a founder of the Glass Bead Collective, a group that specializes in viral
videos and uses the space as a part-time headquarters. He and about 12 other occupants
— all of them male — pay the landlord about half what the residents next door pay, given
the space’s run-down condition.

Both 13 and 15 Thames have lately attracted police attention — the latter for a “3D 13:
Dimensional Dance Party” (Trance! Hookahs! Tarot card readings!) during which nine
arrests were made for assault, disorderly conduct and selling alcohol without a license,
among other charges."

[Lady Saera]

03:04 PM on 10/29/2011

Well, patiently watching, I find Vlad on fire, Jake is sleepy or something, Vlad reminds me of someone very alert and bright, it's good to know:) Im impressed, thats the attitude and energy that gets things done. He is fighting an uphill battle and doing a great job!

[TheCycad]

11:18 AM on 10/29/2011

When looking at this whole situation with an attempt at historical objectivity... it is painfully obvious how oblivious these "53%ers" and those who "don't get it" truly are... this is a major fight about inequality and how "wealth" does not mean "hard work"... those who oppose reform will go down in history as obstructionist and backward. Like the last few slave-holders in the south shaking their fists as history moved forward toward a more just and equitable system.

[shewolf2002]

09:01 AM on 10/29/2011

So sad that most Americans are too snowed by the "patriot" propaganda machine to see what this country has truly become. It takes an outsider, whose family has survived a totalitarianism system, to see through the programming.

[Chase Chevalier]

07:50 AM on 10/29/2011

Leave it to Mr. George Soros to exploit these misguided people.

[Rick4646]

08:23 AM on 10/29/2011

I'm sure you meant the illegal Iranian traders of the Koch Brothers; Soros never went out to screw working-class families by funneling money to politicians for political benefits.

[mdsman]

10:51 AM on 10/31/2011

Actually, Soros is a pretty brutal cat who almost single handedly destroyed the Puond
And this did hurt many, many working class familes
I don't know nor do I care of he has anything to do with OWS but, you should not lionize him.
he carres first and last about Soros
Any help given other sis only becasue he can and will profit by that help

[Andman0121]

08:48 AM on 10/29/2011

Unnecessary Soros references!

DRINK!

[TheCycad]

11:13 AM on 10/29/2011

haha

[ibsteve2u]

06:53 AM on 10/29/2011

"Teichberg insists that no one is in charge. Born in Moscow [...] His family was forced to leave the Soviet Union after his father leaked..."

I hate to have to say it for it is an admission of how far down the United States of America has fallen, but he is in a position to intimately understand why it is eminently reasonable to claim that no one runs a democracy-oriented information source when totalitarianism is sniffing for a way in. There isn't much difference between the way communism was practiced by the Soviet Union and the way government "of business, by business, and for business" would function.

They certainly wouldn't be - they certainly aren't, that is - any fonder of those who leak information about their (mal)practices, for example, than the Soviet Union was.

[Erdgeist]

12:29 AM on 10/29/2011

The American 'plutocracy' beginning with the gilded age has almost effectively destroyed the democratic republican of the U.S. I think were Vlad and others are coming from is as far as the hierarchy of OWS is concerned, it is not an external hierarchy but one that is inward and interdependent. It is somewhat like a benevolent Star Trek "Borg" society where all are connected by a huge, extensive Internet system. In a way, the Borg episodes portend the collapse of the gilded age plutocracy.

[Peter Combs]

01:18 AM on 10/29/2011

So....following the Gilded Age America has been spiraling downward? No improvements for Americans? I would suggest you drop the rhetoric..and read a history book...

[JannielB]

10:45 AM on 10/29/2011

Yes, the rules and regulations that were put in place because of Gilded Age plutocracy, corporate greed and corruption have been steadily dismantled by the far-right. Hence, America, and the middle class have been spiraling downward.

It would be nice if you would follow your own advice concerning history books, and also stop with the snarky insults. You may be amused by purporting to be the arbitrar of what is, and is not logical. But really, in so doing, you come across as an insufferable bore. Surely you could put your obvious intelligence to better use than to use it to pick apart comments in an attempt to make yourself look 'logical'.

[Erdgeist]

10:07 PM on 10/30/2011

The Gilded Age had nothing to do with inventions by a telegraph operator and two bicycle mechanics. J.P. Morgan did everything in his power to stop Tesla from providing low cost electricity without wires. Morgan wanted a turnstile on electricity - he wanted monopolism. Looks like you need to read a history book or two.

[Chase Chevalier]

07:52 AM on 10/29/2011

No actually this is a group funded by and for the Liberal elite. Hate to break the news but there is proof. Just thank George Soros. He sure loves this country doesn't he?

[Margaret Cadogan]

09:58 AM on 10/29/2011

He must. koch brothers etc... use their money to manipulate policy so that it increases their personal profit, anyone giving to this group whether it's money, socks or a bag of apples does so without expectation of personal gain.

[jimmyjones22]

11:15 AM on 10/29/2011

Yes, which is why they have no coherent message?

Formed by the cabal that is the "liberal elite" to sit in tents on wall street and smoke pot. Devious indeed. Oh dear what shall we do?

[Amber Berglund]

10:31 PM on 10/28/2011

This interview is so wonderfully awkward...

[Amber Berglund]

10:29 PM on 10/28/2011

I love Jake Bialer's reactions. "...ok..." he's so low key in relation to Vlad Teichberg.
I do want to say "GO VLAD!" that guy is on fire!