Pull Off 2nd-year Anniversary Action
by Nicholas Patti
(New York, 9/18/2013) Do you commute
to Lower Manhattan to work in the office buildings, retail, or food service?
How about
midtown?
The news you
need to know is that Occupy—Occupy Wall Street to the general public—is back.
Back, even, right in Zuccotti Park, right off-Broadway, two blocks from the New
York Stock Exchange and Wall Street itself. September 17 marked the 2-year
anniversary protest and re-occupation of Zuccotti Park by the Occupy movement.
Earlier in the
day, in the early evening, marchers took arrests blocking the street on First
Avenue near the United Nations in mid-town, according to a protester in
Zuccotti Park later. Peter Tyrrell, Court Clerk in Charge at 100 Centre Street,
the criminal court in Manhattan, reported 8 – 10 people inside jail overnight,
awaiting arraignment in the morning. More desk appearance tickets (DATs) may
have been issued in further arrests.
A few hours
later, after a short rally and music around both sides of the barricades at
Zuccotti Park, another march branched off heading North on Broadway.
A short time
later, around 8:30 pm, you could see the full moon shining in the night sky
over those still in the park. The moon appeared between the One Chase Manhattan
Plaza office tower and the neo-classical building that houses the upscale
clothier, The Men’s Wearhouse, across the street, off-Broadway.
The Occupy
food line was hopping, down below.
The police
pens for the protesters surrounded the park, but were left open for entry and
exit at a single point. A standoff was brewing during another early night-time
rally in the park. Some 200 people filled the park and surrounding sidewalk.
Occupy demonstrators attempted to render the police pens meaningless, if
possible. Tensions eased after the rally ended.
One large sign near the front of the park, just
behind a band playing music, read “Happy Birthday Occupy.” Another sign, held
by a protester, read, “Occupy Everywhere,” and featured small flags on the sides
from the Arab World and Europe.
“The Arab Spring
invented the idea of occupying public space in the modern era,” said Adam
Farooqui, 26, of Queens, who held the “Occupy Everywhere” sign. “So we borrowed
that concept of occupying public space until somebody kicks us out.”
Farooqui
pointed out that the Arab Spring began in Tunisia in December, 2010, and spread
widely there in the Spring of 2011. Pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain
occupied Pearl Square there, also, in 2011. He described Tunisia as
“successful,” while Bahrain was “unsuccessful,” because in the first case the
dictator was toppled, and in the second, the protest was crushed. Occupy Wall
Street began in the Fall of 2011.
Farooqui
linked the riots in London in 2011 in response to police brutality there, and
the protests against austerity in Greece and Italy, also to the Occupy movement
and Arab Spring uprisings.
Finally,
Farooqui spoke to the domestic issues in the United States, as well. “We’re
still here because all the things we came out for are still valid; that
includes the corporate influence on politics, and no regulations on banks.”
Another
protester, Jose LaSalle, 43, of the Bronx, addressed issues close to home,
directly relevant to the community in New York City. “We spoke about police
brutality, we spoke about homelessness. We really were the 99% today.”
LaSalle’s
friend, Justin Samuels, 37, also of the Bronx, looked to the future. “Today’s 2nd-year
anniversary was a good kick-off for other things to come,” he said. A third
friend agreed. “We’re planting the seeds,” said Gilbert Rosa, 24, of the Bronx,
“and the flowers are yet to bloom.”
By just past
midnight, the protests and occupation were over. Only a small encampment
remained, and the police pens were gone.
The Occupy
Wall Street movement has grown into a loosely-organized convergence of
activists in New York City, all unified by the outrage at the injustice of the
continuing concentration of wealth in the hands of the top 1%, at the expense
of stagnant and declining wealth among the other 99% of our society.
The Occupy
movement struggles for freedom in diverse ways for the 99%, also, including
free love and free speech. The emphasis on free speech and inclusivity makes it
difficult, sometimes, for one unified voice to emerge on different issues.
Bankers and
the banks take the brunt of the criticism from this protest movement, however.
That fact held true in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2011, also. In that
instance, Occupy Charlotte targeted Bank of America, a Charlotte-based bank,
for protest in that second-largest banking hub in the United States. This
reporter was present and involved on-the-scene in Charlotte, NC, at that time.
This reporter
is an activist and supporter of Occupy Wall Street, also, and has been an
activist and writer from Brooklyn, as well, time and again for the past two
decades.
So if you are
commuting to work in Manhattan, or one of the innumerable activists from
Brooklyn who participate in the larger protests of Manhattan, you should know:
for better or worse, Occupy Wall Street is back in play in New York City today,
in 2013.
