"Occupy Wall Street shifts from
protest to policy phase," wrote Michael Hilzik in the Los Angeles Times on October 12, 2011. This was certainly the case the last few
weeks with the Occupy Wall Street Movement (OWS), as it lurched from street
protest to policy proposals and back again, with street theatrics, parties and
debates propelling media coverage escalating like the tents now filling the
city in Zuccotti Park. The movement established a critique while policy makers
drafted alternatives, and regular people pushed back on anti-worker, union
busting, bank favoring, predatory lending policies from Ohio to New York. The inside outside strategy looked more and
more effective. And the scary monsters organizing their tea parties started
to look less and less relevant.
The last few weeks have moved faster
than I can imagine or write about the ins and outs of OWS. As protest
nears its two month anniversary, the following are a few highlights from a
weekly journal of the occupation.
 |
| Great picture of an OWS protester who has chosen to stop being obedient by Sharon Rosenzwieg. |
October 24
I joined hundreds of homeless advocates
speaking out at Union Square about the conditions of the shelters and the unmet
needs of homeless street youth, forty percent of whom are lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and queer. As
the winter approaches and the streets get colder, the difficulties faced by
street youth only become more pronounced.
Yet, the city continues to push these youth to the periphery of the city
and the already dwindling social safety net.
If one wonders why so many social outsiders meander to Zuccotti Park,
they would be well advised to recognize that service cuts have real
consequences, starting first with their impact on fragile bodies, left to cope
as best they can on the cold, harsh concrete streets. The structural violence of the city takes
many forms. This includes physical and psychological attacks as well as neglect
and deprivation. Those in Zuccotti Park are struggling to cope with
these forces as best they can. The issue of safety would only become more
pronounced as winter neared.
 |
| Join us at Bartini this Tuesday to help. |
For those with the time or inclination,
the group I support for New Alternatives for
LGBT Youth is having a fundraiser this Tuesday at Bartini. Please join us!
October 25
October 26
 |
| The people's hero by Peter S. |
Sylvia Rivera Law Project met at
Zuccotti Park on Wednesday night Zuccotti Park to hold a training on creating a safe space for trans folks and
social outsiders. As the teach in was
taking shape, a group of healthcare activists from the OWS working group
Healthcare for the 99% left for a rally in midtown. Organizing by Healthcare Now, the group marched past
health insurance providers, including Wellpoint, moving north toward the West
Village, where they met neighborhood activists from ACT UP at the now defunct St Vincent’s Hospital, put
out of business by skyrocketing healthcare costs, mismanagement, and an
untenable for profit healthcare system. Just
feet from the meeting space where ACT UP first organized around the health care
crisis, people talked about the dangers of the loss of a neighborhood emergency
room. The crsisis exposed so many of the cavernous gaps in our healthcare
system. Katie Robins, of Health Care Now, called St. Vincent’s
a casualty of a for-profit health care system. A press release for the action declared:
 |
| Another example of Quinn's lack of leadership. by Peter S. |
Wall
Street’s control of health care is exposed in a march/speak-out today that
starts at the offices of Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a subsidiary of
WellPoint, the largest publicly-traded health insurance company. We are
gathering at Liberty Square at 3pm and marching at 4:30pm!
Empire
is housed across the street from the OWS encampment in the same building as
Brookfield Properties, the multinational that owns Liberty Square (formerly
Zuccotti Park). WellPoint’s CEO, Angela Braley, was compensated $13.1 million
dollars last year.
Other
targets include WellCare, the for-profit company that administers Medicaid and
Medicare Advantage programs in New York and other states, currently being
investigated for illegally siphoning $400-$600 million from programs like
Medicare and Medicaid.
The
march will end at St Vincent’s Hospital in the West Village, closed earlier
this year due to bankruptcy, and seen as a casualty of profit-driven insurers.
There are now no hospitals on the West side below 57th St.
“We
need a healthcare system that meets human needs, not the insurance company’s
bottom line,” said Dr. Elizabeth Rosenthal of Physicians for a National Health
Program. “People can’t get care they need because of unaffordable co-pays and
deductibles that line the pockets of insurance CEOs and shareholders.”
“I
have a health insurance plan with a $15,000 deductible, so our family has to
ration healthcare,” said Katie Robbins of Healthcare-NOW! NYC. “We have to get
Wall Street out of our healthcare system.”
The
march was initiated by an OWS Working Group called Healthcare for the 99%,
which is composed of healthcare workers and people who seek to end inequality
in our healthcare system and our society.
October
27th
Later that day, the whole delegate
assembly of the PSC passed the following resolution:
RESOLUTION:
PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS/CUNY
SUPPORTS OCCUPY WALL STREET
Whereas: The Professional Staff
Congress/CUNY, the union representing 25,000 faculty and staff at the City
University of New York, strongly opposes the imposition of further economic
austerity on our university and the working-class and middle-class populations
it serves, and continues to campaign for equitable distribution of wealth and
progressive taxation.
Occupy Wall Street has
brilliantly focused national and world attention on these issues by naming Wall
Street as the source of the economic injustice and by challenging limits on the
use of public space through an occupation.
Occupy Wall Street—organized at
a moment at which income inequality in the U.S. is greater than at any time
since the eve of the Depression, in the state with the greatest income
inequality in the country and the city with the greatest income inequality in
the state—has dared to question the primacy of the finance industry in American
political and economic life. In doing so, OWS has shown how the political imagination
can be expanded and social vision renewed.
And in little more than a month,
OWS has changed public discourse and may be beginning to change public policy.
Largely because of OWS, political officials, the corporate median and the class
whose interests they represent have been forced to address the radical
inequality in this country, creating an opening for unions, community groups
and others to press with new urgency for long-standing economic justice
demands.
By claiming public space for a
public purpose, OWS has increased the freedom for all of us to take political
action. Remaining confrontational but non-violent, OWS has exposed the
criminalization of peaceful protest in this city and created a space for all of
us to exercise our right to speak up and act up.
And by reimagining the public
square, OWS has also highlighted the importance of education. Education is
everywhere at Zuccotti Park, with protesters educating each other, creating a
free lending-library, developing working-groups to examine political questions,
and initiating a free “nomadic university” to bring college to the people of
New York, in the boroughs and streets where they live.
While it is too soon to know
what political movements will grow from OWS, it is already clear that OWS has
changed the political landscape, not least because of its ability to find
common cause between progressive activists and organized labor and to recognize
contributions of students as essential to political change. CUNY students were
among the original OWS group and have continued to take important roles in its
development, always pressing for more public funding for CUNY.
And whereas:
The PSC was among the first
labor unions to show support for OWS, with our members volunteering their time,
and the union offering support through organizing members at demonstrations,
providing space for meetings and other assistance.
Be it resolved:
That the PSC commends Occupy
Wall Street for its nerve and imagination, for its refusal to accept the
unacceptable and its willingness to explore new forms of political organization
and protest. The PSC will continue to work with OWS—organizing members, as
appropriate, in support; helping wherever appropriate to develop its “nomadic
university”; and offering material and financial support as determined by the
PSC executive council.
PSC
would move support the November 17th, 2011.
October 28
I
started getting texts Thursday night about the banking action scheduled for the
next day.
#OWS action alert!
Join thousands of 99%ers to hand
deliver 6000 angry letters to evil bank CEOs at their HQ’s.
Meet at Bryant Park at
12:30.
Close to midnight, I got a text from a friend making pirate boats on bikes who
planned for the pirates to join the action the next day. All week long I had heard about the plans by
a coalition ranging from Jobs for Justice to the Yes Men, VOCAL to New York
Coalition for Change organizing to target the banks. The moral heart of the movement is grievance
that the banks ruined this economy with wreckless speculation. While regular people were hustling to pay
rents, the bankers created derivative swops which ignited the foreclosure
crisis robbing people of their homes.
Yet, the bankers were bailed out, “socializing losses and privatizing
gains.”
Friday, Robin hoods and a band of Merry Men and women from National
People's Action will demand Wall Street pay their fair share of taxes and get
our money back from the 1%. The group is calling for the implementation of a
Financial Speculation Tax and the extension of New York's Millionaire's Tax.
A Robin Hood tax is a tax on financial speculation that would generate
$1.3 trillion dollars across the world to reinvested in people, job creation,
greening and rebuilding our roads and bridges, and lifting millions out of
poverty and hunger. It is a small tax, less that one quarter of one percent
would generate enough money to fund every social and environmental program in
the world. At home, a Financial Speculation Tax – an even more modest version
of the Robin Hood Tax - would generate more than $170 billion annually and
could have the added benefit of cutting down on the speculative activity on
Wall Street. While in New York, allowing the Millionaire's Tax to expire will
cost New York State an estimated $5 billion needed to protect schools,
healthcare services and get New Yorkers back to work
On October 29th, people across the world will take
action and demand that our leaders immediately impose a 1% #ROBINHOOD tax on all financial transactions and
currency trades.
Here at home, the group of 30 Robin Hoods will start their day at noon
by leading training on the Robin Hood Tax at Occupy Wall Street in Liberty
Square at Zucotti Park. From there they will make their way to three locations
in the financial district.
11:30am – Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square at
Zucotti Park – Robin Hoods will gather a Band of Merry Women and Men through
training on the Financial Speculation Tax
12:30pm - A Big Bank Branch where they will ask them to
pay their fair share and get our money back
1:00pm – New York Stock Exchange; Robin Hood and the
Band of Merry Women and Men will direct the ire of the 99% at this major
financial institution.
The next day, the pirates would meet at
11 AM the next morning at ABC No Rio, a squat turned community arts center in
the Lower East Side. Arriving, my friend
was mounting a wood cardboard bound frame to his bicycle. Decorated like a boat, these bike structures
would serve as boat bikes, we’d ride up the “boat lanes” to the Bryant
Park. With few talking points in mind
but a pirate accents, eye patches, and plastic swords, we screamed “Bankers
walk the plank” with our pirate accents, visited a few banks, including Chase,
Bank of American and Citibank, the notorious institution which set off the 1975
fiscal crisis in the city in the first place when the stopped selling NYC bonds
and the city unable to pay its bills. Recall,
those heady days back in 1975:
“
While pensions, substantive municipal wages, unions,
and social diversity were not unusual, “among American cities, only New York
was broke,” notes Robert Fitch. “As the recession gathered pace, the gap
between and outlays in the New York City budget increased” (Harvey 2005, 45).
Banks initially planned to honor New York’s debt, but Harvey notes, “in 1975 a
powerful cabal of investment bankers (led by Walter Wriston at Citibank)
refused to roll over the debt and pushed the city into technical bankruptcy.” (Three and a half decades later, Citigroup was
more than willing to take in over fifty billion dollars from the Troubled Asset
Relief Program when banks faced their own fiscal crisis. “\
 |
| Photo by AP |
In many areas of the city, the fiscal crisis and
subsequent austerity era never really ended. This seemed to be on many people’s
minds on October 28
th.
Throughout the actions, regular people spoke about the burdens
placed upon them by foreclosures, speculative lending, and banking fees. Few of the banks would show any interest in
listening to the grievances of the activists.
In response, the activists spoke through media, sharing their stories
with the Keith Olberman show, as well as the business press. Others folded letters into paper airplanes
and flew them directly into the buildings where the bankers met. While we received almost fifty press hits for
the action, I was particularly proud of the headline in Business Week: “We’ve seen a lot of protests, But Occupy Wall Street’s
March on Bank of American was by far the most hilarious.” More than
merely getting media, the actions have also taken to pushing for creative
reactions by banks feeling the heat. For
example, shortly after the action, Bank of America announced it was dropping its
unpopular plan to charge debit card fees for customers.
Later that night, many of us who had
been taking part of the action on the banks reconverged at C-Squat, a squat in
the Lower East Side to celebrate Halloween with Times Up! Punk bands played on one side of the space
while dance music pumped out of the other side, creating a topsy-turvy carnival
like vibe all evening long.
 |
| The author Peter s. and Caroline S. at the super fun XUP Halloween Party at C Squat. Photo by Brennan Cavanaugh. |
October 29th
The next morning I dragged myself up and
out into the streets to teach an early morning organizing class. OWS has been the source of any number of
opportunities of engage, ask questions, and connect historic and current
struggles for a public commons for everyone. In a workshop on organizing
targets, I reviewed some of the photos from the action the day before. Half way through the class, I noticed snow
flakes filling the sky of Brooklyn.
Snowflakes in October? All
Saturday long it would snow and rain I
wondered how everyone was fairing in Zuccotti Park.
As it turns out, the structural violence of the street was
actually finding its way into the park along with the elements. Early that morning rape occur in the park. Police would later scold her for staying in
the park, noting she had it coming to her.
The debate about safety in the space would rightfully continue for much
of the next week, as other allegations increased, along with the tents and
hoards of crowds to the space. If the
movement could not take care of its own, it was hard to imagine it creating a better
world for anyone else.
I did not hear about the event for
another week. But over time, more and
more of those in the space would become preoccupied with discussions of safety,
security, crime and surveillance.
October 30
The following day, I rode down to the
square and heard the drums once again. The sun was out and space felt alive with
energy. The snow storm felt like an anomaly. Members of Times UP! were out with their bikes
using peddle power to charge the generators, used to replace the gas powered
generators confiscated by the police the previous Friday.
 |
| Great picture of an OWS activist by Sharon Rosenzwieg. |
In the meantime, those in the
sustainability committee transported waste by bike up to the Lower East Side to
be composted in a community gardens.
While some have described this space as an image of a post-apocalyptic
city, others imaged it as a vast generator of ideas. The dynamic element of the movement is that
it is an experiment in democracy and ideas, thinking, creating, trial and
error. This feeling of trying to create
something from new is both fascinating and vexing; it can be completely
encouraging and frustrating, simultaneously.
But this spirit of innovation is part of what is charging the movement. It
is the light pushing this forward.
Church toward Broadway, a group of
fifteen singers sang along to some of the Civil Rights freedom songs, which
charged and helped a one of our most dynamic movements cope with the
difficulties of the struggle against segregation. As the group finished “We
Shall Overcome” I asked if we could sing, “This Little Light.” And sang we did. “This little 99, I’m gonna let it shine,” I
called out, as we echoed in a call and response just as we had done with Pete
Seeger and Arlo Guthrie a few weeks earlier.
“Right here in this par,” we called.
“I’m gonna let it shine.”
Traditional verses, “All around the world” mixed with new variations,
“Here in New York City. I’m gonna let it shine.” As more and more sang along. Rather than museum pieces, the freedom songs
as living entities capable of powering movement after movement.
October 31
Monday morning, I had heard about a
street performance scheduled between: “Superhero’s vs. Wall Showdown.”
SUPERHEROES vs. WALL ST SHOWDOWN!
Calling all superheroes! It's time to join the fight against
corporatesupervillainy!
Monday, October 31, 10am
A team of down-but-not-out Superheroes will be confronting a legion ofcorporate
supervillains!
Pick a side, come in costume, and join the battle!
The Master of Degrees battles the Student Loan Ranger!
Unemployed Man fights off The Outsourcerer!
Wondermother combats The Pink Slip!
Get into the action!
INFO:
Date: Monday, October 31
Time: ~10AM
Location: It's a secret. You'll have to get involved beforehand to find
out.
Note: We will also be having a Working Class Superheroes march as part of theparade.
Contact us to get involved.
GET INVOLVED!
Send us an email at occupyheroes@gmail.comto get complete information.
EVENT GUIDELINES:
This is a chance to have fun, but most importantly a chance to communicate
ourmessage to the public and media, so..
Come up with an original, clever, clear concept for your hero or
villaincostume.
Make sure it speaks to the issues of our movement, around economic justice
orinjustice.
Arm yourself with 1-2 talking points, factoids or snappy lines ready for
themedia.
We will help you through it!
WE ARE THE HEROES WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!
WE ARE THE 99%.
 |
| This author as supervillain thumbing off OWS superheros. Photo by Huey P. Long |
I arrived around 9:15 AM and walked
around the space, stumbling into some friends dressed as Billionaires and superheroes
at the corner of Church and Liberty. Mike, who was pulling everyone together, had
helped organize similar street theatrics during the WTO
meetings in Cancun in 2003. Many have argued this movement is an extension of this
politics, connected by history, as well as the shadow of ground zero.
I asked Mike what characters they still
needed filled and, of course, they needed more villains. So I put on my suit, some eye gear, a
billionaire top hat, and was directed over to the “Slot Exchange.” This was a giant sixteen
foot high cardboard box with giant hands lurching out to gulp up all the people
and assets it could find. Styled like
Vegas slot machine, in the shape of the NY Stock Exchange, the contraption was emblazed
with the words “WE BET YOUR LIFE.” My job would hold up one of the arms as “Slot’
machine like “Exchange” while Unemployed Man and his friends raged
against him. That morning we brought our
cast of comic characters down to the Stock Exchange where we battle with the super villains of Wall Street.
 |
| Photo E. Dunand |
 |
| Photo by B. Derballa, wired magazine |
November 2
A rally was scheduled in solidarity
with Scott Olsen, the Iraq War veteran wounded in police fire in Oakland. Veterans converged with OWS at 5 PM at
Zuccotti Park. Many had been supporting the movement for weeks.
With little to come home to and a VA
system crumbling, homelessness among veterans has only become more of an
issue. The recent HBO documentary Wartorn
has struck a powerful chord in its depiction of the struggle of veterans who come
home to find little support. Many are unable
to cope. Others do the best they
can. And today some have joined a
movement to create something better. This is part of why the attack on Scott Olsen
is so devastating.
November 2, the movement moved forward,
as an amoeba of thousands moved up Broadway out of the park, chanting all the
way:
One,
I still can’t hear you.
Two,
a little bit louder.
Three,
we want justice for Scott Olsen
We
are unstoppable
Another
world is possible.
From
Oakland to NYC
No
police brutality
The Rude Mechanical Orchestra played
“We Shall Overcome.” And we moved past
city hall East to One Police Plaza. The
only other times I have ever been in One Police Plaza was to pick up
confiscated materials from the Republican National Convention back in 2004. I remember walking around the space with the
sun shining in my face after my first night in the tombs in 1998, after another
police crackdown on a protest. Those
trips to get my stuff at there back in 2004 left a complete feeling of
isolation. This time, I was with a huge
crowd of activists, challenging the system which supports the freedom for
police to move without impunity.
 |
| OWS at one police plaza by Brennan Cavanaugh |
With the human mic echoing in three waves,
we repeated:
“We
are the 99%.
The
1% is watching
We
are here because the police attacked us.
To
them, this is a building.
To
people of color, this is a tomb.
Here
lies Patrick Dorismond, Sean Bell, Anthony Baez…
This
has been a tomb for hundreds.
The speak out finished with a call for
solidarity among all people attacked by the police.
Leaving
the event, I rode West to the West Village where
Greg
Smithsimon, McKenzie Wark, and myself had arranged for a reading at the Brecht
Forum called: The Beaches Beneath the Streets: The Situationists, Street
Activism, and Public Space.
This year, two books were
published under the name. The Beach Beneath the Street or Streets. Both owe a
great dept to the history of Situationism. The authors of these two works will
discuss the legacy of both historic and current efforts to reclaim streets for
affect and care, rather than simple means of necessity. Focusing on the
liberating promise of public space, The Beach Beneath the Street[s]: The
Situationists, Street Activism, and Public Space examines the activist
struggles of New York communities – queer youth of color, gardeners, cyclists,
and anti-gentrification activists – as they transform streets, piers, and
vacant lots into everyday sites for autonomy and imagination. Join McKenzie, Shepard and Smithsonian as they
bring to light contests over urban space, public spaces which demonstrate the
tension between resistance, repression, and shifting control of public space.
 |
| Fantastic art work and comics of the Situationists in the streets of Paris by from Wark's Beach Beneath the Streets. |
Throughout the evening, we talked about
the links between the politics of urban space, social movements and the links between Situationism and OWS. When one thinks of the Situationist tactice
of detournement, the reordering of urban space, the occupation is an ideal
example. Here, regular people took the once bland space at Zuccotti Park and
turned it into the small city. McKenzie
talked about the street ethnography of the Situationists, the spaces they loved
in Paris, the ways the group found places to create, hang out, and even have
sex all in public. Here, the
labyrinthian streets of Paris became the stuff of art. Before reading about Situationism, I never
thought about cities as mutable, or of public space as something which we could
all influence. Yet, with Situationism
those views changed. Throughout the
event, several participants talked about the idea of using other bonus plazas in town for alternative
purposes, all while expanding the movement.
Activists from Times Up! who helped us reclaim so many public spaces
were on hand for the reading, as well as supporters from the Rude Mechanical
Orchestra, ACT UP, and OWS itself.
Through my interactions with them through the years, I’ve been able to
create my own life and world in the public spaces, caverns, pubs, gardens, bike
lanes, and streets of New York City. Social movements, after all, are fundamentally about public space.
From Zuccotti Square to People’s Park to the community gardens, movements find
inspiration in a place to meet, organize, share stories, break isolation,
dance, plan, build mutual aid, and create a bit of care and civil society in an
otherwise tough alienating world.
As our conversations
continued, I thought about the Diggers, a group of landless commoners, who claimed
St. George’s Hill, outside of London, as their own in 1649. “The
symbolism of taking back as common land what had been enclosed (i.e.,
privatized) overshadowed the negligible material value of planting corn in
barren soil,” notes Steve Duncombe, one of the founders of New York’s chapter
of Reclaim the Streets, which was heavily influenced by the Situationists.
“But what these outcasts of Cromwell’s New Model Army did hold dear was the
community created in their act of resistance; it was a scale model of the
universal brotherhood they demanded in the future.” Simultaneously
building community and rejecting the status of wealth and consumption, the
Diggers, “conjured up a new universe.”
In occupying a space downtown, OWS has helped us
reimagine what the space can be – our own public commons, our own Tarir
Square. Comrades from Cairo wrote an open letter of support to those in
the OWS movement in which they commented on the possibilities of transforming
space and by extension social relations. “Discover new ways to use these
spaces, discover new ways to hold on to them and never give them up again.
Resist fiercely when you are under attack, but otherwise take pleasure in what
you are doing, let it be easy, fun even. We are all watching one another now,
and from Cairo we want to say that we are in solidarity with you, and we love
you all for what you are doing.”
November 3
Activists arrested on September 24th
had their first court date. Arriving at
court for these moments is always inspiring.
It is a reminder of how many people are willing to put their bodies on
the line for the movement and for social justice every day. To review, the movement had appeared quiet
but the pepper spray of
activists changed the
dynamic. After a march up Broadway up to Union Square the march started to
slow and my friend Brennan Cavanaugh was arrested for
photographing the event. I joined
Brennan at court that morning, watching my former attorney legal hero Martin
Stolar, David Rankin, and Wylie M. Stecklow handle the cases. His arrest was Cavanaugh’s first day at
OWS. He later explained to me how he
joined the movement. He’d heard about
the call on Adbusters and witnessed the first general assemblies in Tompkins
Square park. “35 people standing around
the park. I was told that was the Occupy
Group,” recalled Cavanaugh. In the early
weeks of the movement, OWS was taking twice daily marches to and from the Stock
Exchange. “I thought that was interesting,” recalled Cavanaugh. Not usually a protest person Cavanaugh was photographing
the action as hundreds marched north to Union Square and back to the Square,
shouting “All Day, All Week, Occupy Wall Street.” Marching on 12th and University, he
saw orange netting and heard it slap down on the sidewalk. And the arrests started by plain clothes
officers, including the young OWS activist who was pepper sprayed. “They were grabbing people like fish,”
recalled another friend. The afternoon
ordeal would include sitting in a bus for three hours before they were
eventually brought to One Police Plaza, where they were released early the next
morning. Cavanaugh got to know more and
more people from the movement. Sitting
at the Tombs, Cavanaugh noticed a 1999 sticker declaring “Reclaim the Streets,
Critical Mass Rocks” Times Up! New York sticker, still there from 1999. “I was let out with three people from my
arresting group. After that I was down
with the movement. I was arrested with
the grannies.” One of the grannies was
also in court last week.
 |
| Brennan and Catherine both became active with the sustainability committee. |
Cavanaugh pointed out the police have
helped do favors for the movement in several ways. First, they pushed activists out of the city
park they could control at Bowling Green into the publically owned private
space known as Zuccotti Park whey they stay overnight starting September 17;
they pepper sprayed a Caucasian woman
creating a Bull Conner image of police brutality on September 24th;
and they took out the gas powered generators on the park on October 28th,
inspiring Times Up! to bring in the peddle powered generators. The resilience of the movement to come up
with innovative solutions to these threats is an ongoing source of creativity.
Back in court, Stolar addressed the
arrestees noting that they had been charged with disorderly conduct, which is a
violation, like a parking ticket. They had two options, to take an adjournment in
contemplation of dismissal which is an accommodation. The other alternative would be to take a take
cases to trial by filing a “motion to dismiss in the interest of justice. Those are your options,” Stolar explained,
adding. “Oh and the third option is to plead guilty, which I do not recommend.” He laughed along with everyone else in the
room. A master of this process, Stolar
would motion to have all the charges dropped against the 91 people on the
grounds that the complaint was “insufficient.”
It charged arrestees with “blocking vehicular traffic on the
sidewalk.” I would have thought the city
would drop the cases at that ridiculous point, as they have many times in the
past. But the judge was not budging, instead
giving court dates for those who wanted them on December 1, regardless of
whether there was evidence to change anyone for “blocking vehicular traffic” on
the sidewalk. Walking out of court
Cavanaugh and I talked about the ongoing case.
The process is the punishment when dealing with the NYPD. So, even if they do not have a case against
you, those who want justice have to be ready to go and go and go to court.
Arriving home after the action,
I received the following rather post from the OWS list serve.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
**
Friends, allies, and troublemakers,
I heard through a back-channel (which I did not seek nor cultivate) from a
very highly-placed person in the Mayor's office that they are losing
patience with the status quo VERY quickly. This person was rather blunt and
without giving me any sort of firm timeline nonetheless made it clear that
the city has a plan, the resources, and will likely mobilize very soon
(tonight? early next week? I don't exactly know) to either clear the
occupation entirely, or remove 99% of the infrastructure currently in the
park (all the tents, sleeping bags, etc.—the plan 3 weeks ago for
Brookfield's 'cleaning').
This communication from the Mayor's office has gone to other power brokers
I'm in touch with and is being echoed and affirmed by various local elected
officials, as well as the Public Advocate's office. Press are starting to
hear ruminations too. It seems the letter
<http://empire.wnyc.org/2011/11/speaker-silver-sends-letter-to-bloomberg-re-occupy-wall-street/>from
Assembly speaker Silver and colleagues may have brought the (political)
situation to a tipping point.
At this point, the combination of various implicit and damn-near-explicit
warnings has me so I wouldn't be surprised if they came in 4am tomorrow
morning. I believe we should be prepared for that.
I haven't been well plugged into contingency planning for this nor has
there been much discussion amongst this group with reports from DA affinity
groups and whoever is lately working on tactical contingency planning for a
raid. I would like to suggest that the discussion be brought to the fore
rather urgently.
Parallel to this, I have been given the suggestion that the only way to
delay the seemingly inevitable is visible, highly-touted progress on some
of the basic things that have consumed too much of my and many others'
time, including:
- locating bathrooms for use by occupiers overnight and spreading the
word that any public urination or defecation will risk police action
- curbing the drumming (yes, really, the additional 2
afternoonhours
beyond what the community board's resolution called for remains a
significant sticking point, despite the drummers' effective
self-regulation)
- highlighting and touting our security and community watch system
Beyond that, we gotta just figure out how to pivot—and fast—to whatever's
next in the wake of a Liberty Square raid.
It is never
easy holding together an occupation.
While the Beach discussion at the Brecht forum provided a bit of a high
about the movement. The prospect that we
were about to be kicked out, only added to the almost daily ebb and flow of the
movement and occupation. Without a
space, the movement would surely fade, many would conclude. It is vital that OWS be able to occupy this
particular space-- within the Financial District, in close proximity to Wall
Street. In doing so, the movement is insisting that Wall Street itself is
_public_space_ -- that we have as right to walk down it, and walk past the
Stock Exchange as we protest, as any banker or broker does. With this in mind, those in the movement would plan to defy the city, dig in, erect tents, bring in bike powered generators and plan
to stay for a while, even if that meant coping with another confrontation with
the city. In the meantime, another round
of actions was planned.
November 5
Saturday was national bank transfer
day. Times Up! members had spent the
previous Tuesday making bull heads and other props to plant on our bikes for
our “Running of the Bills ride” scheduled to start at Noon. We’d all meet at the Astor Place Cube at
Astor and Lafayette. The facebook
invitation for the ride stated:
Saturday, Nov. 5th is Bank
Transfer Day when thousands of people will withdraw their money and be
freed from corrupt big banks and leave unsustainable, risky investments
and horrible environmental policies behind them.
When Reagan "turned the bull loose", he sentenced Americans
to
an economy run amok by corporate greed.
Now, we are waking up and getting the banks' dirty hands out of our
pockets.
We want to help get the word out.
With bikes transformed into golden Wall St Bulls, we're gonna turn
the tables and run the bulls out of this town, pass out flyers with info
about friendly non-profit credit unions, etc. and
meet up with another exciting bank action!
Ride will meet at Astor Place cube
leaves 12pm sharp
It's great if half the riders don't have bulls on their bicycles so
you can chase the Wall St bulls.
Wear white with red sash and red bandana
Arriving at Astor Place for a Times Up!
ride is always one of the happy moments of my day and week. Hugs and greetings abound as we surround ourselves
and our bikes with props, colors, and the sounds of dance music. Our ride would have to be fast and effective,
as it was to join Reverend Billy’s bank exorcism planned at Bank of America at
Union Square at 1 PM. Dressed in red and white, with capes galore and bull
heads adorning our bikes, we headed down town to run the bull out of town. Passing out flyers imploring people to move
their money out of the big banks into community based credit unions, we zigged
and zagged downtown, talking with people, dancing and taking in the scene. Passing Zuccootti Park, we zoomed down to the
bull. I jumped over the barricades to
wave him away with my red cape. Monica
gave him a good spanking, before the police jumped in and told us we had to
leave. “I just had to give that bull a good
spanking,” she would note. We zipped back up town. While some of us were with
the bull, Peter stopped at Wall Street to take in an add scene at Wall Street of a riot
seemingly unfolding in front of our eyes as police clashed with demonstrators
running forward and police high fiving each other. The image of
police and protesters clashing on Wall Street resembled the scene from October
14th in the same space. Only later would be find out the day’s conflict
was a staged scene from a movie
shoot. We all know art imitates life,
but sometimes, actually a lot these days, it is hard to tell the
difference. More and more, we live in a
city of film sets, where Technicolor blurs today’s reality with magic
reality. The line between the two feels
less and less secure.
 |
| XUP running the bull out of town by Erik M. |
 |
| The rev making a run on the bank by Kate C! |
All week, activists would target the
bull on Wall Street. By Wednesday, a
group of clowns was arrested taking similar action on the Wall Street Bull. A
press statement from the Yes Lab explained:
 |
| Photo by Yes Lab! |
Within seconds, police officers
grabbed both clowns by their colorful shirts and wrestled one of them (Jargow)
to the ground. The other (Morgan)
continued to play the harmonica until
an officer removed it from her mouth.
With the officers thus occupied, a
matador in full traje de luces leapt
onto the hood of the patrol vehicle parked in front of the bull and boldly
presented his blood-red cape to the beast.
"I wondered whether I,
neophyte matador, could bring down this behemoth, world-famous for charging
towards profit while trampling underfoot the average worker," said the OWS
activist/torero whose
first fight this was. "Come what may, I knew I must try."
Police officers took no notice of
the matador, occupied as they were with the clowns.
"This bull has ruined
millions of lives!" wailed clown Jargow as he lay on the ground face-down.
"Yet he and his accomplices have been rewarded with billions of our tax
dollars—and we, here to put a stop to it all, are thrown to the ground. ¡Un escándalo!"
Both clowns were charged with
disorderly conduct and released an hour later; they returned to Zuccotti Park
to great fanfare. The Wall Street bull continues to rage.
 |
| Clown arrest by the Yes Lab! |
I loved the Quixote quality struggle
against the elusive windmills taking place against the bulls. Creative
responses would proliferate from the movement throughout the week. So would discussion as to where this whole
thing was going.
November 8, 9, 10 and 11
 |
| General assembly. It is important to note that those at OWS have endured great hardship just to maintain the space. This part of their civil disobedience. Photo by Brennan Cavanaugh. |
Tuesday, the Clarion, our union newspaper released its November edition, with
several articles on OWS, including one by this writer. The ever prescient, labor icon Stanley
Aronowitz published a
small article in the paper praising the movement and quietly pointing out if
OWS wanted to be more than a glorious memory, it would be well served to
consider ways to engage with Unions, working people who cannot take part in the
general assemblies, and even political processes. Movements, afterall, benefit
from long and short term goals. In other words, is this a movement or a
moment? Much of the question was taken
up by the general assembly as well as throughout the park.
Many would ask:
Where
do you see the #Occupy movement going?
What
do you think will come next?
or
What
is the purpose for occupying public space (parks, plazas, etc.)?
Is
there a strategic role for creating public encampment(s) in our struggle?
or
How
do we build the bridges between our community and the world as it is? How are
we going to engage with the old system?
I
rode over to take in the GA on Tuesday night.
Walking around the space and listening to the conversations, I was
inspired again. On other recent visits,
I had been acutely aware of the challenges of organizing a movement and
occupation. Tent space
was becoming real estate. The line
for food was daunting. And sadly, the
drums were not playing on Sunday and I missed the celebratory quality which had
been there on other days. Tuesday, the magic
felt back in the air as people talked and shared ideas. OWS is a space which is
building on previous occupations, such as those by squatters, trans activists, global justice veterans, trade
unionists, environmentalists and the list goes on. Talking
with friends about safety, security, and how this movement can connect with
labor I felt more inspired we could make inroads. Already my union, the PSC, is supporting OWS,
yet for some the question is how much?
Environmental movements, which have jumped into the fold with the
sustainability and media committees, feel more simpatico with the
movement.
Walking
home with a friend from garden and direct action circles, we circled the park,
taking in the intense security and police surrounding the space. Overlooking Ground Zero, my friend pointed
out that things had rarely stayed this hot during the Global Justice years a
decade prior. Convergences would end and we would go back to everyday life left
unchanged by the weekend’s protest, which might as well have been a trip to
Burning Man. They released a lot of
steam, but the system stayed in the same.
Still, battles for living wages and global AIDS drugs were on the ascent.
“We lost a lot of ground after 9/11…” my friend
pointed out. “We’re making up for it
now….”
Few
have an answer to the lingering question: Is it a movement of a moment? Regardless
of what it is, OWS is growing and taking on more and more targets, bridging a praxis divide rarely engaged by
the global justice movement. From zaps
at Board of Education meetings to solidarity with foreclosure actions, OWS is
both a local and a global movement simultaneously.
My friend Ken pointed out a sign from OWS the
other day. “This is fucked up bullshit,”
it declared. “That’s all the movement
has to say,” he noted. “Let the policy
people build the policy proposals from there.
They love that.” While it sounds
vague, it is a sentiment with a strong degree of resonance. My students are in my policy and organizing
classes are talking about this, calling for laws to overturn “corporate
greed.”
Others,
such as Occupy
Brooklyn are calling for a Sunday rally and March to Evict Corporate Greed! , Community
Actions in local neighborhoods, and a General Assembly at Metrotech. “Occupy Brooklyn
is a movement of Brooklynites organizing in
solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.From Canarsie
to Cobble Hill, Bay Ridge to Brownsville, the 99% are uniting
against greed and corruption in our nation and neighborhoods. We're dismantling social barriers that have turned
neighbors into strangers.
We're rethinking how we live, learn, and work
together, and building
communities that are fairer and more just.”
In
the meanwhile, victories were stacking up.
Voters in Ohio rejected a Wisconsin style assault on collective
bargaining and workers. And
environmentalists have engaged in weeks of direct action, could celebrate a near
victory with the Keystonexl Tarsands pipeline postponed. And president calling for a thorough review of
the whole project. Direct action gets
the goods. As for now the national
conversation has shifted. And those who
support the needs of the 1% over those of the 99 have been put on notice. As Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party
puts it:
What a difference 60 days can make.
On September 17, a few dozen protesters set up
camp at a park in Lower Manhattan. Despite being pepper sprayed, threatened,
arrested and snowed on, the group keeps growing. Hundreds of similar groups
have sprung up in cities across the nation.
The impact they’re having on the national dialogue
is spectacular. A few months ago, politicians and pundits seemed dead-set on leaving the 99% to silently suffer the
impact of the worst recession of our lives, while the 1% skipped away with
impunity. The growing movement has focused attention on the Wall Street banks
and their enablers who caused the meltdown in the first place.
The protest remains under threat of eviction. To
celebrate the two month birthday of Occupy Wall Street, thousands of supporters
will gather on November 17th (a week from today) in New York City’s Foley
Square to demand that the bankers who crashed the global economy in 2008 be
held accountable.
Since the economic collapse, Americans have wanted
answers. How were the big banks allowed to get away with such risky behavior?
Did Wall Street traders and hedge fund managers break the law? When will these
people be held accountable?
Next Thursday, the movement will celebrate its two
year anniversary with direct action folks collaborating with unions putting out
a call of action.
Next Thursday, thousands of ordinary people will
converge on Foley Square to stand with Occupy Wall Street and demand answers. A
massive rally in New York -- just blocks from the financial centers where the
economic collapse happened -- will send a strong message to government and
industry that we want answers.
On November 17th, Join the 99%
Resist austerity.
Reclaim the economy. Recreate our democracy.
Wall Street- 7:00 am: RESIST austerity! SHUT DOWN
WALL STREET
Enough of this economy that divides us - it's time
for an economy that works for all. We will gather at 7:00 a.m., before the ring
of the Trading Floor Bell, to confront Wall Street with the stories of people
on the frontlines of economic injustice. There, before the Stock Exchange, we
will exchange stories rather than stocks.
All Five Boroughs- 2:30 pm: RECLAIM our democracy!
OCCUPY THE SUBWAYS
Throughout the boroughs, we will gather at 7
central subway hubs, to listen to a singular story from one of our hardest-hit
and most inspirational neighbors.
Bronx: Fordham Rd, and 3rd Ave/138th
Brooklyn: Broadway Junction, and Borough Hall
Queens: Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Ave, and Jamaica
Center Parsons Archer
Manhattan: 125th st, and Union Square
Staten Island: St George/Staten Island Ferry
Then we will take our own stories to the trains,
using the "People's Mic". We will rise up from the underground to
join thousands of others gathered in the light of day, at Foley Square.
Foley square- 5 pm-: RECREATE our economy! TAKE THE
SQUARE
Across the country, our infrastructure is falling
apart; our bridges, our roads, our public transit systems are in a state of
disrepair. Enough! It's time to revitalize our economy with the creation of
local jobs which serve our country as a whole! At 4:00 pm, we celebrate with
tens of thousands of people as we gather at Foley square, march to our bridges
and demand that we get back to work! The celebration will culminate in a festival
of light as we mark the two-month anniversary of the #occupy movement!
Take a sick day, come out from the darkness
surrounding Wall Street and into the light!
Resist austerity. Rebuild the economy. Reclaim our
democracy
November 17th, join the 99%!
Happy two month anniversary OWS. Thank you for reminding us, we don’t have to
wait for heros. We can be them
ourselves. We can take action and create
solutions ourselves. See you on the
streets.
