I don’t think this was planned, certainly not by the #occupywallstreet folks, but a
big
civilian protest on Wall Street mimicking
social-media-fueled protests in Egypt and Iran and other Arabic countries
(the “Arab Spring“) AND the Obama administration are both
working to make the richest 1% of the country contribute more to society
this weekend.
Quote of the day:
Actually, this is an even better "Quote of the day":
You have to love this repeatedly retweeted statement by Anonymous (anonops) from yesterday: “The police ask to speak to the leader. We told them that there is no leader. They didn’t understand. ~#TakeWallStreet#OccupyWallStreet#Sep17”
The beauty of social media and social media activism is that the leader is the cause. Or, one could argue, the leader is social media, which has made it so much easier for like-minded people to communicate, plan, and act. One person builds off of another, and other one builds off of them, and the momentum grows (if the cause taps a nerve in the collective consciousness). This issue clearly has tapped that nerve.
DEMOCRACY IN ACTIONS: After speakers with a
bullhorn rallied the crowd, the people broke into groups to discuss the event’s goals.
Some participants circulated trays of sliced white and wheat bread while others
passed out jars of creamy Skippy peanut butter, and distributed apples, bananas
and oranges from shopping carts.
Others donned white, mustachioed masks of the anti-authoritarian
protagonist from the film “V for Vendetta.” A few people
played instruments, including guitars, ukuleles and maracas. Chants and
applause periodically erupted around the plaza.
WALL STREET PROTEST BEGINS, WITH DEMONSTRATORS BLOCKED
September 17, 2011
Wall Street has turned into a campground, according to
eye witness reports, people have gathered to peacefully protest the
double tax standard, hedge fund bonuses and the $300 million underwater cable
being laid between London and New York to speed up financial transactions by 6
milliseconds, among other things.
.
.
.
Not widely reported in the news, for fear of a larger gathering,
the milling protesters say they may camp out on Wall Street, “for up to a
month.”
Protesters have gone as far as to place a small stuffed
bunny rabbit on the hood of a police car.
(ED: How terribly violent!)
The protestors gathered in Lower Manhattan for what they called a
Day of Action Against Global Capital. Robert Stolarik for The New York Times Protestors
gathered in lower Manhattan for what they called a Day of Action Against Global
Capital.
For months the protesters had planned to descend on Wall Street on a Saturday and occupy parts of it as an expression of anger over a financial system that they said favors the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary citizens.,
For months the protesters had planned to descend on Wall Street on a Saturday and occupy parts of it as an expression of anger over a financial system that they said favors the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary citizens.,
The organizers planned the rally on Wall Street for months to
express anger over the rule of the “capitalist
political system” and the rule of the rich. Some referred to the
movement simply as September 17, after the date of the rally.
.
.
The “Occupy Wall St.” movement had stated beforehand that its mission was to bring 20,000 people
“to flood into Lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.”
The idea, according to organizers, was to camp out on or near Wall
Street for weeks or even months and was inspired by the massive protests that
took place in Egypt, Israel, Greece, Spain and Iceland. An “Occupy Wall St.”
group on Facebook calls on followers to replicate the kind, if not the scale,
of protests that erupted earlier this year in these places.
deploy this emerging stratagem against the greatest corrupter of our democracy: Wall Street, the financial Gomorrah of America.”
The protesters claim that they are
“the 99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent.”
As it turned out, the demonstrators found much of their target off
limits on Saturday as the city shut down sections of Wall Street near the New
York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall well before their arrival.
By 10:00 a.m., metal barricades manned by uniformed police officers
ringed the blocks of Wall Street between Broadway and William Street to the
east.
Bill Steyert, 68, who lives in Forest Hills, Queens, stood near the
barricades at Wall Street and Broadway and shouted, “Shut down Wall Street,
twelve noon, you’re all invited,” as tourists gazed quizzically at him.
.
.
Talking to a reporter, Mr. Steyert elaborated:
“You need a scorecard to keep track of all the things that corporations have done that are bad for this country.”
Nearby, Micah Chamberlain, a 23-year-old line cook from Columbus,
Ohio, held up a sign reading
“End the Oligarchy” and said he had hitchhiked to New York to participate in the protest.“There are millions of people in this county without jobs,” he said.
“And 1 percent of the people have 99 percent of the money.”
Throughout the afternoon hundreds of demonstrators gathered in
parks and plazas in Lower Manhattan. They milled, held teach-ins, engaged in
discussion and debate and in some instances embarked on marches through the streets
and sidewalks, brandishing signs with messages like “Democracy Not
Corporatization” or “Revoke Corporate Personhood.”
Organizers said the rally was meant to be diverse,and not all of the participants were on the left.
Followers of the right-wing figure Lyndon LaRouche formed a choir
near Bowling Green and sang “The Star Spangled Banner” and “The Battle Hymn of
the Republic.” Nearby, anarchists holding a red and black flag carried
knapsacks, sleeping bags and tents.
.
At one point in the early afternoon, dozens of protesters marched in a circle around the famous bronze sculpture of a bull on lower Broadway. Among them was Dave Woessner, 31, a student at the Harvard Divinity School, who had traveled to New York with several fellow students.
“When you idealize financial markets as salvific you embrace the idea that profit is all that matters,” he said. “You start thinking only as yourself.”
A few minutes later about 15 people briefly sat down on a sidewalk
on Broadway, leaning against a metal barricade that blocked access to Wall
Street. For a moment things grew tense as officers converged and a police chief
shoved a newspaper photographer from behind.
.
After a police lieutenant used a megaphone to tell those sitting on
the sidewalk that they were subject to arrest the protesters got up and marched
south..
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said no
permits had been sought for the demonstration but plans for it “were well known
publicly.”
Some slogans include:”feed the poor, eat the rich”. Also; “The
system is going to collapse,” a voice blasted through megaphone, “we are here
to make it collapse faster.”
“The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99 Percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the one percent,” said a statement on the website Occupy Wall Street. The movement was launched by the online magazine Adbusters in July.
MEANWHILE
BACK IN WASHINGTON:
CHUTZPAH AT ITS WORST:
Republican leaders are calling Obama’s proposal to tax millionaires and billionaires at least the same as common citizens are taxed “class warfare” ~ way to protect multi-million-dollar estates built on the backs of underpaid workers!
For sure, rich Republicans owned by richer businessmen will do all
they can to fight Obama’s proposal, which would help bring the U.S. out of
debt, create jobs, and balance societal wealth and power. But hopefully it can get pushed
through.
Meanwhile, Obama, whose highly successful presidential campaign
used social media better than any other, is also frustrated with the inequality
in the country (or at least in the tax code), or is just listening and
responding to the growing discontent in the country.
He will have to do more than try to close tax loopholes for the
rich, though, to satisfy this growing civilian movement. The goal of the Occupy Wall Street crowd is reportedly “to get President
Barack Obama to establish a commission to end ‘the influence money has over our
representatives in Washington.’”
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There is an Al Jazeera stream of the mellow protest available here. According to Twitter, the riot police are closing in. Remember, with Al Jazeera, watch the stream, but don't believe a word they say.
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PROTESTS ARE GLOBAL
Occupy Wall Street is actually just one part of the story, though a
leading part of it. Coordinated protests were planned around the world. Here’s a
list from Wikipedia:
#OCCUPYFDSF in San Francisco, USA
#ANTIBANKS in Amsterdam, Netherlands
No small deal, eh?
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