The day began with me heading to the table Hank and I had bought, only to find that it had been co-opted by another protestor, a sick 9/11 First responder who was furious that the insurance industry has made it impossible to get health care that is easy to access and affordable. He is sick. His medical bills are literally killing him. I had a good talk with him about single payer health care and all kinds of other things, finding yet another amazing person I have met in the last few days who knows that they are getting screwed by a corrupt industry.
Here is our map of places that are holding or will hold #OccupyNation events. 60+ cities and running. Expect us.
I tried to contact Hank but got no response, so I wandered around for a moment when someone asked me if I could help them go to UPS to pickup some packages. Four of us walked over a few blocks away to discover a delivery to #OccupyWallStreet from around the country that filled up the whole UPS store. It was unreal.
We felt like heroes walking the supplies back to the camp through thick downtown street traffic, a regular supply chain to reinforce an occupation that looked like it was going in for the long haul.
(p.s. ~ Who ever sent the coffee, thank you, it is so necessary.)
Walking around, I said hello to other protestors while taking pics and enjoying an unexpectedly great cup of coffee.
Soon after, Hank appeared. He had been busy picking things up, and as soon as our presentation was set up we were able to sit back and enjoy the view for a moment.
Once the media event commenced, it was the Hank show, where Hank speaks calmly and sharply while he smashes right wing talking points with these things called facts.
Now check out this guy in the glasses who Hank is talking to. He insists that he doesn't have to pay one damn cent more in taxes, that their are jobs out there and people should just work at McDonald's. Facts are useless on this guy, and talking to him is the intellectual equivalent of slamming your hand in a car door. Hank does his best, but the stupid is strong in this one. Hank might as well be talking to a tv set to Fox News.
In steps OllieGarchy, our fellow Kossack, who is quite adept at dealing with people, as Hank continued the conversation elsewhere.
Now mind you, I speak the way I write, so when the Foxbot Hank was dealing with before gets to me, we talk calmly, I reason with him, I give him facts, he misdirects questions he can't answer and then makes shit up. It's frustrating, and eventually I tell him that we can't have an honest conversation because he lies at math. Tax cuts do NOT create job, the Bush Presidency proved it. I carry on my conversation with someone else. Then the Foxbot calls me lazy.
I snapped back. The Foxbot insisted there were jobs. A tv camera was there, the IDP, something like that, I can't recall, an independent carrier, and as I was speaking the guy takes out a twenty and offers to give it to me, and then I blew up, I told him conservatives wouldn't spend a cent on you unless it was to spite you, he offered me a job and turned it down and told him he would be a horrible boss. He told me there are plenty of jobs, and that is when our friend the Union 9/11 first responder stepped in. Our big union friend wasn't hearing this shit anymore, and he stepped up and told the guy he was out of his mind. Other people agreed, and then when others started asking him questions, the Foxbot slowly slithered away, melting under more scrutiny.
After putting away our equipment and sitting down to access the tubes, we headed back into the occupied territory, and I tried to soak in the buzz, the vibe, the music and images of a generation ready to erupt with brass music and drums drifting in the air.
A fake camera and mic for a fake news channel. Priceless.
And as the night wore on, I wondered in awe at the naked humanity on display, it's like a big town hall where we didn't invite our politicians, we invited each other. You see people working together, being responsible, talking, listening, and it is amazing to witness. I realize that the new technology that we still haven't integrated into our culture is on fire among the youth, and where you see protests around the world it is a tech savvy youth that is leading it, followed by the rest of society, because the youth see a larger world through mass communication and the elderly part of society hasn't quite caught up to the intertubes yet. When we get our message out, we win, slowly, until it grows and shifts the entire motion of society as it has countless times before. In this unjust day and age, we are ready.
Lights were being set up nearby, and a camera crew was going to work. The drum and brass players trumpeted the night while people danced, and then we heard Michael Moore was coming back with an MSNBC crew to tape an interview with The Lawrence O'Donnell show.
Please watch this scalding commentary by Lawrence O'Donnell as he interviews Michael Moore live from #OccupyWallStreet. An outstanding segment. I apologize for the lack of transcript, but I am exhausted and ready to pass out. If I can find it in the morning when I publish I will post it up.
I love the part where the whole crowd laughs with Michael Moore about Ron Paul supporters, especially since there was a troll Paul supporter standing right behind me who kept making noise and getting hushed by the crowd.
O'Donnell castigates Wall Street greed, rightly saying that the richest 1% are being coddled by Washington, and Micheal Moore joined us for a second time now at #OccupyWallStreet to explain why we are protesting in a way that is more concise then any other explanation I have heard as of yet. Mike really gets it.
Here's the finale.
And that's my report from a long day. An hour or so after the interview with Michael Moore had ended I stuck around to listen to music and talk with Hank and others as we felt the rain start to drop lightly and everyone who had one pulled their umbrellas out. The rain may come down, it may not, the police may hassle us, or not, but we will stay in defiance, united in the idea that compassion is and always has been a revolutionary idea.
If you'd like to help out the protests directly . . .
1. Get this message out there. Can we do it? YES WE CAN!
2. Use the twitter hashtags #OccupyWallStreet and follow on facebook and twitter accounts related to the ongoing protests. Help put this video on your facebook pageand any other social media that you use. Make it viral.
3. Make a donation to WeAreTheOther99%'s media fund. They need funding to stay active, and without huge corporate interests backing us up like the Teabaggers have, the only way this works is with your small donations.
4. Go to OccupyWallSt.org and make a donation to our General Fund to support the ongoing protests.
5. Get the word out about these protests of Wall Street's greed to everyone you know. Raise awareness, even if it is via word of mouth, every little bit helps.
This is Jesse LaGreca, reporting on Day 12 from the frontlines of the class warzone, wishing you good health and prosperity to you and yours, and reminding you that they only call it class war when the working class fights back.
You can follow me on the Twitter Machines @JesseLaGreca
12:53 PM PT: The rain just came down something awful, media team is covering up equipment as people rush for umbrellas and cover. Governor Patterson just showed up and Dr. Cornel West made a second appearance, this time with a large media presence. I have pics for later. Thunder crashes overhead. More updates as soon as I can.
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