Protesters of the Occupy Wall Street: Public Space movement had hoped to take command of Wall Street on September 17, 2011, but the New York Police Department quickly showed them who was in charge, by barricading all entrances to the heart of America's financial institutions. Police began locking arms in front of the barricades and street lifts about 1:00 p.m. ET -- two hours before the General Assembly of the protest was scheduled to begin at Chase Manhattan Plaza. (The boys in blue obviously have a Twitter presence, too...)
The "Day of Rage" turned out mostly to be a day of peace. Only two arrests were made.
Media reports have called this movement "Marxist," "Guerrilla" and have claimed that the protestors are inspired by the Arab Spring. However, anyone moving through the crowd and listening to their conversations wouldn't come to that conclusion. While the word has spread through the best viral mediums available, including Facebook and Twitter, the theme is one that attracts people from all stripes of life -- Vietnam Veterans, moms, families with children, young professionals (in sunglasses, hoodies and/or masks) and students. The crowd was predominantly 20-ish, with a majority of males, however, many were educated, and quite a few of the "speakers" spoke with an economist vernacular that suggests some may even have jobs on the street they are united against. You can't even assume these are young Democrats; I saw more than one picture of President Obama with a Hitler mustache.
As Barbara Ross, the press coordinator of Time's Up (an environmental group) and a participant in Occupy Wall Street, told me, "Corporations are too powerful in this country. They control the media and are more powerful than the politicians. This is a way to say that we want to have a voice again." Some people brought flowers with them. Others brought handmade signs and billowing billboards. Barbara's bike sported the only professionally made sign I saw, with the slogan, "Bicycling Against Oil Wars."
None of the flyers or the speeches that I witnessed suggested that Marxism, Anarchy or Violence is the answer. Most people sat peacefully and quietly in makeshift circles and took turns sharing what they thought should be the next step in this nascent movement. In fact, one young woman who posited that perhaps it was time for "Grass Roots Capitalism," was quickly corrected by another protestor, who suggested that Capitalism works -- when there is adequate regulation.
Indeed, it is quite apparent, that these protestors love their country and stand united against one enemy only. That enemy is not capitalism or free markets. That enemy is quite simply, cronyism economics. It is clear that everyone was there as part of a movement that is simply You Vs. Wall Street. Chants of "Occupy Wall Street," and "Banks get bailed out, we get sold out" were chanted as hundreds of people paraded by the NYPD -- on the opposite side of Wall Street, in order to avoid any possible confrontation -- on their way to destination #2 on the protest flyer, Zucotti Park.
One speaker, who looked too young to own a home or have a job (who was probably a student), complained that "Corporations can kill us. They can steal from us. They can systematically take people out of their homes. And they can do all of this because the laws are way too complicated, and they are all on their side and I'm really sick of that."
Another speaker worried that the protest wasn't sustainable. He suggested that the movement needed greater infrastructure and asked everyone to return to their communities to build the team there. "It seems like what we need are councils, local credit unions and schools for popular education. There are a lot of things that we can do that is not asking other people to solve our problems." This suggestion generated a lot of whoops from the crowd. And then the megaphone was passed to the next person in the circle.
On the evening of the 17th, protesters spent the night in the park, surrounded by police who made no attempt to break things up. Some people in the movement Occupy Wall Street slept on cardboard, others in sleeping bags and some locals went home to freshen up and return in the morning. They are cleaning up their trash and staying quiet. So far no violence or confrontation has erupted, though the police have erected a portable surveillance camera on the crowd.
On Day Two of the protest, Sunday, September 18th, 2011, a self-proclaimed war veteran stood out in front of Wall Street (by the barricades and between police officers), yelling, "Join us here tomorrow. Occupy Wall Street!" The park was filled with people eating bagels, apples and peanut butter. Some were folding up sleeping bags. Others gave an impromptu social media class. Plans are being made on what to do on Monday and how to make the movement stronger.
The police are staying quiet, but have a clear plan. A spokesperson for the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information wouldn't comment on how many officers had been deployed or what the plan is. However, for now, it's clear that the strategy is to keep everyone, except residents and workers, off of Wall Street.
Is this the beginning of a Main Street versus Wall Street movement across America? Yesterday, Day of Rage was #9 on Google's hottest searches.
Stay tuned in. I plan to report again on Monday.
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Richard (RJ) Eskow: Wages of Fear: Lockdowns and the IMF on Occupied Wall Street
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/scott-olsen-occupy-oakland-condition-improving_n_1062698.html
Former West Virginia state senator Charlotte Pritt has some compelling words to say about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here's a link to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtZr5lcIk14
I'll let you come to your own conclusions about the peaceful protests, the police attempts to keep the protesters off the streets and on the sidewalks and what appears to be excessive force (slugging and kicking) to arrest one protester. What I find very compelling about this video, other than the obvious, is the emotion on some of the police officer's faces. There have been widespread reports that the police officers are more in solidarity with the protesters than the "white shirts" know, and it does seem that going to work and doing this job is getting tougher and tougher for some of the officers caught on this video.
If you were at Occupy NYC or Occupy Oakland this week, during these confrontations between protesters and police (and yes, "confrontation" is far too mild of a depiction of the riot force used in Oakland), we'd love to here from you -- whether you were on the police side or the protester side... Please enlighten us with your firsthand account. (There are far too many people who are not on the ground and not in touch commenting loudly about the movement and the police.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQlU8ra_8OE
What I find very compelling about this video footage, other than the obvious, is the emotion in so many of the police officer's faces. There have been a lot of reports of solidarity between the police officers and the protesters and it's looking like going to work each day and doing what these officers have been tasked to do is getting harder and harder.
I will report more on this as it comes in. and if you were on the ground during the protests in NYC or Oakland, please feel free to share your firsthand comments in this thread.
http://www.occupytheboardroom.org/
http://occupywallst.org/
You can see Rachel Maddow's tweets beginning about 6:00 a.m. on the scene at Zuccotti Park here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/14/rachel-maddow-occupy-wall-street_n_1010622.html#s408452&title=Rachel_Maddow_MSNBC
Fox News is reporting that Bloomberg's office received lots of calls from elected officials siding with the protesters and that it was Brookfield Properties decision to "postpone" the cleanup (not Mayor Bloomberg's). You can read Fox News coverage at this link:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/14/wall-street-protesters-clash-with-police-in-new-york-denver/
"Over 3,000 people gathered at Liberty Plaza in the pre-dawn hours this morning to defend the peaceful Occupation near Wall Street. The crowd cheered at the news that multinational real estate firm Brookfield Properties will postpone its so-called “cleanup” of the park and that Mayor Bloomberg has told the NYPD to stand down on orders to remove protesters."
OWS claims that over 300,000 Americans signed petitions to stop the eviction and flooded the 311 network in NYC. OWS also reports that 3000 "New Yorkers, unions, students, and others" joined them in solidarity beginning at 6:00 a.m. this morning. These numbers have not been confirmed. If you have pictures or video from Zuccotti Park, please let us know.
Mayor Bloomberg is bed partners with the owners -- quite literally. His domestic partner, Diana Taylor, is on the board of Brookfield Properties, the owners of Zuccotti Park (named after Brookfield chairman John Zuccotti).
I will report again tonight and tomorrow morning early with additional information.
"I have just finished my review of the Occupy Wall Street movement. This is the stupidest idea collection I have ever seen. These are uneducated, lazy leftists wanting to ruin the place that handles the life savings of most hard working Americans. Most of the people who work on wall street are honest, hardworking, family centered individuals. All industries have a few bad eggs, but what these crazies want is dangerous to all mankind. I cannot believe that you would associate with these people. Get away from them now, get some focus, and repudiate all of their confused, inconsistent and dangerous ideas now.
I would love to know what currency speculators are backing them and how much they have already made from the instability caused by these crackpots."
How would you respond?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/opinion/panic-of-the-plutocrats.html?smid=fb-share
Getting conscious about what you are creating in our world with your "retirement" dollars (your 401K, annuity, pension, IRAs, et al.) is the next great Spiritual Evolution. Begin this new journey now into wisdom and co-creation. Learn more on Oct. 13 at 9:00 a.m. PT. Link for the call-in radio show is below.
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