OCCUPY PROTESTERS TAKE BACK THE PARK

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 2^nd-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.