Dr. Cornel West Ignites OWS NYC. Why Establishment Media & the Power Elite Loathe Occupy Wall Street. Over the past ten days, hundreds of people have occupied Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan in New York as part of Occupy Wall Street. Citizens have faced down a city that has fortified Wall Street with blockades so corporate criminals responsible for the economic collapse in 2008 can avoid confrontations with angry, passionate Americans. Citizens have camped out and held daily marches in the face of a massive police presence, which has sometimes been very intimidating as individuals have been arbitrarily picked off and arrested. And last weekend, the police corralled them into an area near Union Square and proceeded to make a number of violent arrests; eighty to one hundred were arrested on Saturday.
The organizers, who pride themselves in being “leaderless,” have sought to bring together a diverse crowd of various political persuasions. They have rallied behind the slogan, “We are the 99%,” to show they will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the top 1% in America. 'Occupy Wall Street': Drawing the Battle Lines | Matt Taibbi. The Revolution Begins at Home: A Clarion Call to Join the Wall Street Protests | Activism & Vision. September 27, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. What is occurring on Wall Street right now is truly remarkable. They have created a unique opportunity to shift the tides of history in the tradition of other great peaceful occupations, from the sit-down strikes of the 1930s to the lunch-counter sit-ins of the 1960s to the democratic uprisings across the Arab world and Europe today. While the Wall Street occupation is growing, it needs an all-out commitment from everyone who cheered the Egyptians in Tahrir Square, said "We are all Wisconsin," and stood in solidarity with the Greeks and the Spaniards.
Our system is broken at every level. At some point the number of people occupying Wall Street -- whether that's 5,000, 10,000 or 50,000 -- will force the powers that be to offer concessions. After all, who would have imagined a year ago that Tunisians and Egyptians would oust their dictators? Even their solutions are cruel jokes. Dr. Cornel West Joins Occupy Wall Street, Will Lead Meeting Tonight. Occupy Together FAQ. 'Occupy Wall Street' Becomes Nationwide Movement. OccupyWallStreet Boosts NYC Postal Demonstration - Video. Behind the scenes of #OccupyWallStreet. Back in the 1960s, a gang of Yippies, a politicised arm of the hippies led by the late Abbie Hoffman, wormed their way into the tour of the New York Stock Exchange.
While up on the visitors' gallery, looking down on the trading floors, they threw US legal tender - coins and bills - at the men below who, when they realised what it was, began diving for dollars. That colourful assault on the money culture took place 40 years ago on August 24, 1967. CNN recently remembered the moment, noting: "Some of the brokers, clerks and stock runners below laughed and waved; others jeered angrily and shook their fists. " The bills barely had time to land on the ground before guards began removing the group from the building, but news photos had been taken and the Stock Exchange "happening" quickly slid into iconic status. Once outside, the activists formed a circle, holding hands and chanting "Free! Democratic movement Decisions are made by a "general assembly" in which everyone can have a say. Occupy Wall Street: help us reconstruct the 'pepper spray' incident | World news. As my colleague Karen McVeigh has reported, internet activists who support the Occupy Wall Street protests identified the New York police officer who used pepper spray on female protesters by studying video and photographs posted online.
A brief glimpse of the incident, which took place on Saturday near Union Square, was caught on video by one eyewitness – although it was difficult to see exactly what happened until an annotated, slow-motion edit of the same clip was posted on YouTube. Another eyewitness, who photographed the protest for his blog, then posted what he said was a close-up image of the officer's badge.
Using that information, the Hacker collective Anonymous correctly deduced that the officer who had used his small gas canister against four female protesters was Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, a veteran commander in Manhattan. The woman who shot that video, Jeanne Mansfield, also wrote an account of what she witnessed for the Boston Review.
Occupy Wall Street: Day 11 -- Susan Sarandon Joins the Protest.