#OccupyWallStreet is underway and we're liveblogging it in solidarity. Tay's diary is a great resource for learning about the origins of this protest.
See a timeline of events leading to the first night of sleeping on Wall Street in TBug's diary.
My stepson came back to Boston yesterday. He's planning to return to NYC after he takes care of some things here. Meanwhile, my stepdaughter is still there and it was quite a thrill to see her on Livestream, speaking to the protesters as a representative of the Legal Team. Watching the protest unfold and the protesters work through processes to gel as a community and organize as a movement has been very rewarding.
Watching the arrests for frivolous things such as sidewalk chalk, masks and tarps has been infuriating. So, Egyptians under Mubarak could put up tents and create a small village, but in NYC under Mayor Bloomberg you get arrested for protecting your equipment with a tarp or that oh so dangerous activity of drawing with chalk. I hope that the New York authorities realize that all they did was stoke support for the protesters. (Maybe that was their subversive goal. My ex and I are so angry that, even with my disability, we're thinking of heading down there for a few days. (I wrote a diary seeking a quiet place where I might sleep when needed.)
More below the fold, including a list of recent #occupywallstreet diaries at the bottom:
This series is being produced within the Eyes on Egypt and the Region group, as part of our Witnessing Revolution project. The technical logistics of DailyKos make it impractical to change the name of the group. However, once protests broke out in Libya and beyond, we became acutely aware that we may be watching a geopolitical shift wherein the immediacy of communications is allowing populist uprisings to be empowered globally. Whether ousting a dictator or breaking systems of profound inequity, there is a common thread: people around the world are feeling connected. They are sharing ideas and bypassing major media to hear about each other's experiences and affirm each other's inalienable rights as human beings. So, our series became Witnessing Revolution to eliminate geographic or ethnic limitations. The organizers of OccupyWallStreet have explicitly stated that they are modeling their action after the Egyptian and Spanish protests and so, the revolution grows.
Calls for Support
:
"Come Join Us On Wall Street"
call/write Mayor Bloomberg's office and tell him you want the City to back down and leave the peaceful protesters to protest in peace.
Walktoitaca 10:07am via TweetDeck
RT @YourAnonNews: NYC Mayor: 212-639-9675 FAX: (212) 312-0700 E-MAIL: ww.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html NYPD: (646) 610-5000 #occupywallstreet
Police-related
:
I hope this is not true:
Rummyy 10:07am via Twitter for iPhone
RT @wagenonviolence: Woman arrested yestrdy at #ourwallstreet: Mariel Moshiri, held at Bellvue overnight cuffed to chair. Pls rt. #occupywallstreet
latinorebels 10:08am via TweetDeck
RT @numberV1: #occupywallstreet #ourwallstreet #generalstrike #Anonymous #usdor #globalrevolution #Libertypark 50TH STREET PED FREEZE LIFTED
A Letter to a Police Officer Protecting the Interests of Rich Bankers:
Dear Police Officer:
Why are you doing this? Why are you protecting a class of individuals that has put both your children and our children into massive debts? Why are you sacrificing your consciousness to those bankers that stole trillions from the people with a straight face? Why are you protecting a system which will continue to exploit you and your children?
...
Do tell me, if you default on your home, do the bankers come and say ‘oh don’t worry, we’ll bail you out!’ Never, they’ll come and they’ll brutally force you out of your home as they have done with 11 millions other families.
It is time for you to join us, the people, because you are one of the people. You are not an elitist, a rich banker, who lives off the handwork of others.
Enforcing Laws When It's Convenient
You can’t wear masks in New York City.
http://nymag.com/...
Now, do they enforce this year round, do you think? Do they enforce this on Halloween? I wonder if they arrest children. No, they enforce this law only when it is convenient, which is unfortunate. They use it to suppress the voice of the people when it is raised up in protest. I understand the police’s position on masks as being used by those “up to no good,” however, when they are not communicating effectively what they want to the people in question and not reading them their rights, the police in question are behaving in a terrorizing manner. They are encouraged to be thugs for the establishment instead of peace-keepers.
Media-related
:
There is a very detailed piece, which really gives you a sense of being there, about the arrests and the resilience of the protesters by
Waging NonViolence:
While few were yet awake, a motorcycle police officer could be heard saying on his cell phone, “That’s my plan. To have them down as soon as possible.” On the north side of the plaza, where the morning before there had been three TV news trucks, there was now an NYPD Communications Division Command Post truck. In it was at least one officer with “COUNTERTERRORISM” on the back of his uniform.
At 6:58, an officer wearing a suit and tie began walking through the plaza, peering through the mesh into tents where protesters were sleeping, demanding that “tents have to come down.”
...
An hour later, in time for the planned General Assembly, the whole place felt different. The rain had stopped, and there were perhaps three times as many people, with new faces as well as familiar ones who had just arrived for the day. The sidewalk of Broadway was full of people holding signs again, and the General Assembly was gearing up. I talked with a man from Washington Heights—on the opposite end of Manhattan—who was coming for the first time after learning about this on the internet. People seemed happy, and eager, and curious.
Not many of them had been around to hear the words of Jason Ahmadi in a speech soon before his arrest, or to see their meaning in his actions and those of others. “The power of nonviolence,” he said through the people’s microphone, “rests in one thing: courage, courage, courage.”
Amy Goodman at The Guardian (they'll have a better sense of what this is all about in England, than we will here because our media isn't giving this action its due):
If 2,000 Tea Party activists descended on Wall Street, you would probably have an equal number of reporters there covering them. Yet 2,000 people did occupy Wall Street last Saturday.
...
One of New York's better-known billionaires, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, commented on the protests: "You have a lot of kids graduating college, can't find jobs. That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here."
Riots? Is that really what the Arab Spring and the European protests are about?
Moments and Messages
:
degamuna 10:08am via web
RT @spacefroot: there are literally vans + buses coming from all over the country . carpools to #occupywallstreet . momentum is building . dont be fooled
itsjenncakes 10:52am via HootSuite
RT @CornelWest: I stand w/ those courageous brothers & sisters of all colors protesting the greed of Wall Street. #OccupyWallStreet http://t.co/...
A poignant message
Recent DKos Diaries
:
(
note: the search function here is awful. Some of these, which I knew about did not show up in search. If you know of other diaries, please post the tile and the full link detached from the title in a comment and I'll add it. Thank you!)
Saturday 9/17/11:
Updates: occupywallstreet Protesters are going to camp overnightby TBug
#OccupyWallstreet #takewallstreet #yeswecamp #USDaysofRage #IwillOccupy #Sept17 by Tay
Sunday 9/18/11:
Witnessing #OccupyWallStreet #3: Cheer Them On! by UnaSpenser
Occupywallstreet Protest update 9/18. by TBug
Monday 9/19/11:
I love the smell of revolution in the morning! by mdmslle
Witnessing #OccupyWallStreet #4: Send blankets, Updated #2 by UnaSpenser
#OCCUPYWALLST -- FINAL UPDATE -- This is What YOU Can Do Right Now! -MEDIA FUND Established! -Upd x7 by HankNYNY (who is participating in the protests).
OccupyWallStreet Protest 9/19 by TBug
Occupy Wall Street protest, in photos and video by Chris Bowers
Trouble Across The River: "Occupy Wall Street" Protests Launched in NYC by DSWright
Tuesday 9/20/11:
Zucotti Park: Live Streaming Arrests Now! by War on Error
#Occupywallst: Updates from Liberty Plaza by AoT
Our Visit to Support #OccupyWallStreet Protesters *UPDATE3: Arrests and Yahoo Stopped Blocking by Joanneleon
Waging non-violence~Swaraj
Resources
Watch
live streaming video from
globalrevolution at livestream.com
Occupy Wall Street facebook page
OccupyWallStreet.org
Us Days of Rage
AnonOps Communications
Adbusters.org
On Reddit
police scanner for Manhattan Precincts 1-23
Donate money to feed the protesters!