The Daily Caller & Occupy Wall Street – 2011-09-21 00:41:01
http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/31/anti-corporatists-to-occupy-wall-street-for-tahrir-moment/
“Yes We Camp!”
A Nonviolent Protest Attempts to Occupy Wall Street
Anonymous
All of us have a reason to go to New York City on September 17 — to occupy Wall Street. More than two million quality US jobs were outsourced between 2004 and October 2008. Racial economic disparities are mirrored in policing disparities. As of 2001, we have a 700-plus strong (and expensive) network of military bases and a Global War on Terror. Pollution has firmly established itself as a cause of disease among poor communities.
This one action will not resolve all of these problems at once. Yet, like Egypt, it will be a political breakthrough moment where tens of thousands of citizens began a direct-democratic process to build a new movement for social justice. We will pick up the slack where the earlier alter-globalization (a.k.a. anti-globalization) movement left off.
The demands are numerous. Activists and disenfranchised people are having a virtual assembly 24-hours a day to cite each abuse of this economic system. In this conversation, every progressive measure that is necessary to fix our county and our world is on the table — ending corporate personhood, community control of localized economies, collecting corporate back taxes, community banking, progressive taxation, and a New Deal-style stimulus plan.
Activists Calling for a ‘Tahrir Moment’ Attempt to Occupy Wall Street
The Daily Caller
(August 31, 2011) — Promising a “Tahrir Moment,” anti-corporate activists plan to invade and occupy Wall Street in protest against the “financial Gomorrah of America” on September 17.
The initial call to action came from the Canadian anti-consumerist publication AdBusters. Since then other groups have given their endorsements and are rallying members via social media to join in the protest.
“On September 17, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months,” AdBusters proclaimed. “Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices.”
In an eerie video released Tuesday by the hacker group “Anonymous,” one of the effort’s endorsers, the organization warns Wall Street to prepare for them.
“The abuse and corruption of corporations, banks, and governments ends here,” a voice in the video says. “Join us, we are ‘Anonymous,’ we are legion. We do not forgive, we do not forget. Wall Street, expect us.”
The protesters claim corporate influence has corrupted the country, and that their occupation of Wall Street and smaller demonstrations in other financial centers on Sept. 17 will get the message out.
“[O]ur representatives are bought by hard and soft dollars and we’ve created a system essentially, within our institutions, where disloyal, incompetent, and wasteful special interests can basically usurp and have our nation’s civil and military power,” Alexa O’Brian, founder of US Day of Rage, one of the organizing groups, told The Daily Caller.
According to another coordinating group, Occupy Wall Street, the plan is to use the Arab Spring as a model for change.
“When our leaders can no longer be trusted, it becomes the duty of the people to fight for social justice,” Occupy Wall Street explains on its website. “The Arab Spring tactic has proven itself effective in forcing governments to bow to the will of the people. We believe this tactic can also work in America.”
Leaders of Occupy Wall Street demand that Obama set up a presidential commission to end to corporate influence in Washington, and will stay in the streets, “20,000-strong, week after week against every police and National Guard effort to expel us from Wall Street,” until they reach that end.
Businessmen expecting the protesters to clear out by Monday morning may be disappointed: The group is planning to bring their own shelter, and sustenance to last them weeks.
O’Brian explained that participants are encouraged to bring a tent for shelter and as a symbol. “Basically, if you read the original call, it calls for people to be down there as long as possible, and also the symbol of a tent is really powerful, it isn’t tearing something down, it’s really building something — a kind of community,” she said.
Bill Csapo, one of the self-described citizen organizers of Occupy Wall Street and a former labor union organizer, told The Daily Caller that thousands of people are likely to descend on Wall Street.
“If you counted up the members of people on each site who have committed to coming, I’d say easily several thousand,” he noted, adding that social media has allowed them to organize what in the past would have taken years to create.
Day 4:
At Least Five Arrested,
One May Be In Critical Condition
Occupy Wall Street
“>
WALL STREET, NY (September 20, 2011) — Early this morning at least five protesters were arrested by NYPD. The first arrest was a protester who objected to the police removing a tarp that was protecting our media equipment from the rain. The police said that the tarp constituted a tent, in spite of it not being a habitat in any way.
Police continued pressuring protesters with extralegal tactics, saying that a protester on a bullhorn was breaking a law. The protester refused to cease exercising his first amendment rights and was also arrested. Then the police began to indiscriminately attempt to arrest protesters, many of them unsheathed their batons, in spite of the fact that the protest remained peaceful.
One of the protesters received a large gash on their leg, another lost a tooth. Multiple police tackled a protester and sat on him as he continually warned them that he was experiencing an asthma attack.
One of the medics on site informed the police that they needed to call an ambulance because this was a potentially fatal circumstance. They ignored him. We have no current information on this protester, but we hope that he hasn’t been murdered by the police.
We are determined to remain a peaceful protest, in spite of the brutality we have witnessed.
Updates will be posted as we receive them.
Update #1 One of the altercations involved a Police Lieutenant pushing a protester without cause. When the protester objected, the Lieutenant pointed at him and three police officers tackled the man.
First Communiqué: We Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
WALL STREET, NY (September 20, 2011) — This is the first communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street.
On September 17, 2011, approximately 2,000 of us marched on the Financial District. At twelve noon, a detachment of us marched on the head of Wall Street and formed a spontaneous blockade, prompting the New York Police Department to threaten arrest. Speakers including the Reverend Billy Talen of the Church of Stop Shopping, and actress Rosanne Barr spoke on the steps of the American Indian Smithsonian Museum to the crowd, which included conscious rappers Lupe Fiasco and Immortal Technique.
Over 1,000 of us marched from Bowling Green Park amid heavy police presence, across the Financial District and chanting “Wall Street is our street†and “power to the people, not to the banks.†Many stayed at One Liberty Plaza, where later in the evening a meal was served and water was distributed. Song, dance, puppetry, and other art added cheer across the plaza.
Two thousand strong, we held a general assembly, based upon a consensus-driven decision-making process. Decisions were made for the group to occupy One Liberty Plaza in the Wall Street corridor through the evening, bedding down in sleeping bags and donated blankets. By 7 AM ET Sunday morning, we still held the plaza under constant police presence. Another assembly is scheduled for 10 AM ET today.
We speak as one. All of our decisions, from our choices to march on Wall Street to our decision to camp at One Liberty Plaza were decided through a consensus process by the group, for the group.
Second Communique:
A Message from Occupied Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
WALL STREET, NY (September 20, 2011) — This is the second communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street.
On September 18th, 2011, about 400 of us woke up in the Financial District amidst heavy police presence. After an impromptu dance party, we resumed our General Assembly in One Liberty Plaza around ten in the morning. We made our demands heard, which are many but revolve around a common point: our voice will no longer be ignored.
At noon a large group of us marched through the Financial District and Battery Park chanting “this is what democracy looks like.†During our march many onlookers joined our ranks, while many more expressed solidarity with our cause. By the time the detachment returned to One Liberty Plaza over 100 sympathizers had joined us. Our efforts were bolstered by generous donations of food and water from across the country and the world. As the day progressed our numbers continued to grow, and by three in the afternoon we were more than a thousand strong.
Before sunset 500 of us marched on the Financial District, where hundreds of onlookers joined us. After we reconvened the General Assembly the police demanded we remove our signs, but they did it for us instead. Later, they threatened to arrest us for using a bullhorn, so we spoke together in one voice, louder than any amplifier.
We speak as one. All of our decisions, from our choice to march on Wall Street to our decision to continue occupying One Liberty Plaza, were decided through a consensus process by the group, for the group.
Third Communique:
A Message from Occupied Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
WALL STREET, NY (September 20, 2011) — We’re still here. We intend to stay until we see movements toward real change in our country and the world. This is the third communiqué from the 99 percent.
Today, we occupied Wall Street from the heart of the Financial District. Starting at 8:00 AM, we began a march through the Wall Street area, rolling through the blocks around the New York Stock Exchange.
At 9:30 AM, we rang our own “morning bell” to start a “people’s exchange,” which we brought back to Liberty Plaza. Two more marches occurred during the day around the Wall Street district, each drawing more supporters to us.
Hundreds of us have been occupying One Liberty Plaza, a park in the heart of the Wall Street district, since Saturday afternoon. We have marched on the Financial District, held a candlelight vigil to honor the fallen victims of Wall Street, and filled the plaza with song, dance, and spontaneous acts of liberation.
Food has been donated to the plaza from supporters all over the world. Online donations for pizza, falafels, and other food are coming in from supporters in Omaha, Madrid, Montreal, and other cities, and have exceeded $8,660 [admin: now $10,000]. (Link to donate: www.wepay.com/donate/99275)
On Saturday we held a general assembly, two thousand strong, based on a consensus-driven decision-making process. Decisions were made for the group to occupy Liberty Plaza in the Wall Street corridor, bedding down in sleeping bags and donated blankets. By 8:00 PM on Monday we still held the plaza, despite constant police presence.
We speak as one. All of our decisions, from our choices to march on Wall Street to our decision to camp at Liberty Plaza were decided through a consensus process by the group, for the group. We are building the world that we want to see, based on human need and sustainability, not corporate greed.
Planned and spontaneous actions will continue throughout the coming days. Expect us.
Police Arrest Occupy Wall Street
Alastair Stevenson / Anonymous Media
WALL STREET, NY (September 20, 2011) — Following earlier reports that as many as seven Occupy Wall Street protesters had been arrested, Anonymous has issued a series of statements alleging police have increased their presence arresting members of the media team recording the event.
The reports came from Anonymous’ AnonOps Twitterfeed. The first report emerged at around 14:32 on Tuesday, alleging police had arrested two members of the media team and one other unnamed individual.
“2 members of #OccupyWallStreet media team & another person arrested for trying to use a tarp to protect communications equipment from rain,” read the AnonOps tweet.
The group soon followed up the initial tweet alleging the police had confiscated some of the media team’s equipment. The two tweets also included a link to a video allegedly showing the media team members’ arrest.
“#OccupyWallStreet – They have the TV, now they have some of our computers – Watch arrest of the media team member >> goo.gl/aj94g” 15:16 AnonOps,” read AnonOps second tweet. “#OccupyWallStreet & #TakeWallStreet — Watch Violent #NYPD arresting us >> goo.gl/aj94g.”
The reported arrests come alongside numerous reports on Twitter from individuals claiming to be a part of the protest suggesting an increased police presence on Wall Street.
“Need someone checking #NYPD scanner immediately plz. Increased police presence. Something doesn’t feel right. #LibertyPlaza #ourwallstreet,” tweeted one protester just after Anonymous’ initial tweet.
The new batch of protesters were all arrested while taking part in Adbusters’ Occupy Wall Street campaign. The campaign began Saturday with around 1,000 individuals rallying in Manhattan’s Financial District. The initial call-to-arms asked for 20,000.
Reports now generally estimate the number of protesters at around 200, though it is worth noting a number of claims sent to the IBTimes have since disputed this, claiming the actual number is far higher.
The campaign is reportedly being enacted to protest Wall Street’s current influence on American policy. Since being announced it has garnered widespread support from numerous groups, including the infamous hacktivist collective Anonymous.
