Occupy Wall Street

[PeppyGPhiB]

Occupy Seattle's protest grew to more than 3,000 today, with more than 100 tents currently camping out in a downtown square.

[AOII Angel]

Occupy Phoenix is still hanging out in the deck top park across from my condo, and I can see police arriving to kick them out. A helicopter has come over twice and announced that they need to leave. I just wish the TV station would turn off their big spotlight which is pointed at my window.

[AGDee]

So, while in Chicago Saturday night, we saw the Occupy Chicago folks. They had a march from the front of the Fed to the horse at Grant Park. They had police escorts down Congress and onto Michigan Avenue. I'm not so good at estimating numbers, but they were the entire street wide and it took about a half an hour for the whole procession to pass us. We took some video and some pictures and hypoallergenic kept saying "This is SO cool. This is SO cool." It definitely appealed to her journalistic/political activist side. They were chanting a few different phrases, primarily "We are the 99%" and then, there was one who was kind of singing "Who wants to see what Democracy looks like?" and the crowd would chant back "THIS is what Democracy looks like". They were all very peaceful, many carrying peace signs and the people at the very end had a HUGE American flag which they were carrying, ensuring it didn't touch the ground. People were passing out fliers for all kinds of different agendas. The marchers were young and old, dressed in suits and dressed in sweats. All ages, genders and socio-economic statuses seemed to be present. A lot of people along the streets were joining them.

Apparently, at 11 pm, Grant Park closes and 200 people were arrested for refusing to leave the park. They had tents set up there, etc. Occupy Detroit has avoided that kind of issue by getting a permit to be where they are and ensuring they went somewhere that they could stay. They have a 60 day permit. There have been no arrests in Detroit so far.

I think, for the most part, a lot of people have felt either apathetic or hopeless about the economy. If nothing else, it's good to see people impassioned about the democratic process. I have to admit, it felt exciting to be right there.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by AGDee

All ages, genders and socio-economic statuses seemed to be present.

What about race and ethnicity?

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

What about race and ethnicity?

I know you weren't talking to me, but I can tell you that the Seattle protest has plenty of men, women, white, black, asian, white collar, blue collar, business owners, old, middle aged, yuppies, teens, families, urban dwellers, suburbanites, homeless and every other type of person you could think of. Except Amish...I haven't seen any Amish.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I know you weren't talking to me, but I can tell you that the Seattle protest has plenty of men, women, white, Black, Asian, white collar, blue collar, business owners, old, middle aged, yuppies, teens, families, urban dwellers, suburbanites, homeless and every other type of person you could think of. Except Amish...I haven't seen any Amish.

Thank you but I only asked about race and ethnicity and was specifically curious about Occupy Chicago since she mentioned "ages, genders and socio-economic statuses." Although race and socioeconomic status are highly correlated, race and ethnicity tend to be more physically identifiable than socioeconomic status.

I know you don't mean any harm but there is something embedded when people ask about race and ethnicity and the response is "everyone was there...everyone...and everything...maybe even unicorns pissing rainbows!"

And of course "plenty" is subjective regardless of which group of people. My concept of "plenty" (and diversity, in general) may differ from yours. The diversity of the people at all of these protests will mirror what is going on in these cities. This presumed unity across group status sounds wonderful but it is not happening at the level that people assume that it is. There was thankfully more diversity at today's MLK Dedication than will be found in some cities' protests.

[DrPhil]

Occupy Wall Street Shows Muscle and Raises 300K

Originally Posted by article

The Occupy Wall Street movement has close to $300,000, as well as storage space loaded with donated supplies in lower Manhattan. It stared down city officials to hang on to its makeshift headquarters, showed its muscle Saturday with a big Times Square demonstration and found legions of activists demonstrating in solidarity across the country and around the world.
Could this be the peak for loosely organized protesters, united less by a common cause than by revulsion to what they consider unbridled corporate greed? Or are they just getting started?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44924775/ns/us_news-life/

[PiKA2001]

Has anyone here been to an Occupy whatever rally? I'd totally go but my career and other responsibilities just get in the way.

[DrPhil]

I am protesting our city's protest despite my colleagues' support for it.

[*winter*]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I know you weren't talking to me, but I can tell you that the Seattle protest has plenty of men, women, white, black, asian, white collar, blue collar, business owners, old, middle aged, yuppies, teens, families, urban dwellers, suburbanites, homeless and every other type of person you could think of. Except Amish...I haven't seen any Amish.

I'll be on the lookout for them in "Occupy Smicksburg."

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

Has anyone here been to an Occupy whatever rally? I'd totally go but my career and other responsibilities just get in the way.

Whatever. Occupy Phoenix and many other groups have been on weekends and after hours when many people are not working. I didn't go to Occupy Phoenix since I was already occupied (no pun intended.) I have a co-worker that went. She's awesome. She says she went to mainly irritate her family. I'm on vacation this week so i'll get her take on it when I get back.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

What about race and ethnicity?

There was definitely a mix of African American and Caucasian but I don't know if I saw any Asians. Then again, with 2000 people marching down the street, I'm sure I didn't see everybody. I did take some videos. I can't tell from the videos. People from the street were joining them too.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

Has anyone here been to an Occupy whatever rally? I'd totally go but my career and other responsibilities just get in the way.

I guess technically I was at the one in Chicago. Politicians don't let their career and responsibilities get in the way of campaigning though so... why should the people?

I would rather see people trying to do something about the things they are angry about than just sitting back and being apathetic. These folks seem to believe their actions will effect change. I think, as a society, we tend to let things happen to us and then get angry and complain about it. They are trying to do something. I admire that.

What I find sort of ironic is how similar their start is to the tea party, which originally said it would have no leader or spokesperson. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Will there be Occupy candidates eventually? We'll see.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I know you don't mean any harm but there is something embedded when people ask about race and ethnicity and the response is "everyone was there...everyone...and everything...maybe even unicorns pissing rainbows!"

It's like those chapters where there are green and purple sisters.

[*winter*]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

Has anyone here been to an Occupy whatever rally? I'd totally go but my career and other responsibilities just get in the way.

I know, right? The idea of taking a day off, driving 50 miles into the city and paying to park allllll day to sit on a bench does not sound so appealing.

If they decide to occupy our town, I'd probably go. But for a variety of reasons that will probably never happen.