The occupation continues:
- Americans like Occupy Wall Street. Two new polls, one from PPP for Daily Kos /SEIU and the other from Reuters/Ipsos, both show that almost all Americans have heard of Occupy Wall Street and that a plurality view it in a favorable light.
Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos & SEIU. 10/6-9. Registered voters. MoE 3.1% (no trendlines):
Q: Do you have a favorable, unfavorable, or neutral opinion of the Occupy Wall Street movement, or have you not heard of it?
Favorable: 35
Unfavorable: 31
Neutral: 19
Haven't heard of it: 14
Rueters/Ipsos. 10/6-10/10. Adults. MoE 3.0%
Favorable: 38
Unfavorable: 24
Undecided: 35
- Life in Zuccotti Park/Liberty Plaza. Kristen Gwynne has a first-hand report of life in the main Occupy Wall Street encampment in lower Manhattan. An excerpt:
Hundreds of characters buzz through the Liberty Plaza, weaving through makeshift campsites of tarps and sleeping bags, park tables, meetings, and circles of music or chatting. There are arts and crafts, guitar groups, meditation circles, nap time, and hang-outs. At the back of the park, the west end, a loud drum group beats the pulse of the movement, playing late into the night. But stitched throughout the fun is serious hard work. All through the day and into the night, working groups (and there are dozens) hold meetings to carve out their responsibilities in the movement. In the center of the park is the media center, the nucleus of the whole operation, where tech-friendly activists edit video, update the Web site, and manage social networking 24/7. A generator's hum blends with the helicopters buzzing overhead.
John Carney submits a remarkably similar report for CNBC. It includes this notable passage:
Things are so well organized in the park that it is easy to imagine—if they are able to figure out a way to tough out the cold and snow of the coming winter—that Occupy Wall Street might last indefinitely.
- Goldman Sachs employees warned not to Occupy Wall Street. Gawker:
Supervisors and co-workers [at Goldman Sachs] have said that they should stay out of the park. The reasons vary. Some say it is unsafe - although there are plenty of people who look like they work in Wall Street jobs around the protest every day. Others say that it could "endanger your career."
- Occupy Wall Street hooking up with Move Your Money. The Labor Committee at Occupy Wall Street has endorsed the Move Your Money Project, with a big rally planned for Saturday:
Following L.A. resident Kristen Christian's designation of November 5 as "Bank Transfer Day," a day in which she hopes big bank customers will transfer their funds to credit unions, there's a march sponsored by the Occupy Wall Street Labor Committee planned for October 15 at Liberty Plaza. The Facebook event page asks people to "Come Support Chase customers CLOSING their Accounts. Join the Occupy Wall Street Labor Committee MARCH to Chase Bank." The group is assembling at Liberty Plaza at 11 a.m. on Saturday, then marching to a Chase bank, where they will rally.
Move Your Money is an effort to get bank customers to move their accounts out of "too big to fail" financial institutions and into credit unions and community banks.
- Legal observer in Boston arrested, says police used unnecessary force. Via DCBlue in the diaries, in turns out that Urszula Masny-Latos, the National Lawyers Guild's executive director for the northeast regional office, was among the over 100 people arrested at Occupy Boston on Monday night. From Boston.com:
“They really attacked,’’ Masny-Latos said of police. “They used force that was completely unnecessary. … It was just brutal. I have no idea why they arrested us with such force.’’
To her shock, Masny-Latos herself was among those arrested. She said Boston police usually respect the legal observers the guild routinely dispatches to public protests.
However, even though she was wearing a green hat with the words, “legal observer’’ clearly visible, Masny-Latos said, she was the second person arrested by police.
“It was very surprising,’’ she said of being arrested. “Boston police usually respect our legal observers. And they usually leave us alone. … I was legal observing. I wasn’t even chanting anything.’’
“Four officers grabbed me and dragged me,’’ she said. “I begged them to stop, [told them that that] they were hurting me. I have no idea why they arrested us with such force.’’
- Van Jones speaks at Occupy Wall Street. Van Jones turns the table on those asking what Occupy Wall Street wants, and instead argues that the new movement is here to give:
- The Onion on Occupy Wall Street: The Onion satirizes the call for Occupy Wall Street to make clear demands:
Nation Waiting For Protesters To Clearly Articulate Demands Before Ignoring Them
- Al Gore helps fundraise for Occupy Wall Street. Going a step beyond most other politicians, in his endorsement of Occupy Wall Street today, Al Gore included a donation link:
From the economy, to the climate crisis our leaders have pursued solutions that are not solving our problems, instead they propose policies that accomplish little. With democracy in crisis a true grassroots movement pointing out the flaws in our system, is the first step in the right direction. Count me among those supporting and cheering on the Occupy Wall Street movement.
You can support the protests by clicking here.
- Ben & Jerry's distributes free ice cream to Occupy Wall Street. Now openly supportive of the nascent movement, Ben & Jerry's distributed ice cream to occupiers in New York. The result was full stomachs and mixed feelings:
Ben & Jerry's fed 600 protesters ice cream at Occupy Wall Street's home base in New York's Zuccotti Park on Tuesday. The Vermont-based ice cream vendor is the first large company to have declared public support of the movement, expressing its "deepest admiration" for the protesters in a statement released last weekend via the company's website.
At the protest's Food Committee headquarters in the center of Zuccotti park, hungry protesters line up to be served by volunteers in aprons, who rush around to keep donated food plentifully stocked on long buffet tables. On Tuesday afternoon, the free ice cream--served with little fanfare and no corporate logos-- was devoured within hours.
But that evening, protesters expressed mixed feelings about corporations latching onto their cause. Some, like Jules Caldarera, a 20-year-old student from New Mexico, were excited to see support from a high-profile company like Ben & Jerry's. Many didn't realize that the ice cream was from Ben & Jerry's. Others found it strange that any company would support an anti-corporate protest.
- Stop using hashtags when you are not on Twitter. Pilkington writes something that needed to be written: stop using hashtags when discussing Occupy Wall Street outside of Twitter. In addition to confusing the vast majority of the country that still does not use Twitter, the use of the hashtags renders whatever content you wrote far more difficult to be found on search engines. As such, the use of hashtags ends up deflecting potentially interested and sympathetic members of the 99% from finding information on Occupy Wall Street. So if you want to reach more people, stop using the hashtags.
Make sure to join an Occupy Wall Street group near you.