3:46 AM, November 15--
As Sebastian told me from the Zuccotti Park Kitchen about 2:30 this morning, "Well, we didn't really expect the military-industrial complex to just go home, you know."
And they didn't. After holding off for nearly two months -- the anniversary is day after tomorrow -- the "free speech Mayor" of New York City became yet another conventional politician, using the military force of the NYPD to shut down the healthiest expression of American democracy any of us have seen in decades.
I'm watching the live stream feed from the park, and the NYPD has now teargassed occupiers in the kitchen, wrestled them to the ground, and has begun dragging them out of the park, arresting them individually. Press are being kept far away from the military action.
Millions of us have found our spirits lifted and conversations changed by the courage of the Occupier. Knowing that they were there has been a spiritual and political touchstone as the movement has grown across the country. Now that the minions of the 1% are closing down this vibrant democratic engine, it's time for the 99% to show New York City and the world that the movement lives. The Mayor has made a mistake, but it's up to the rest of us to show him -- and the world -- that democracy is stronger than the tin soldiers of the NYPD. My livestream has gone dead. The movement hasn't.
Gotta get some sleep. Work to do tomorrow. God bless you, occupiers!