OCCUPY WALL STREET

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Nat

I identify with and agree with the protesters on pretty much all I've heard, though I haven't followed the protests closely enough to offer any insights here that haven't already been offered.

I think the term "Occupy" wasn't the best term due to US history and present of occupation.

It doesn't surprise me that some groups are more organized than others. Protests often inconvenience people - but I don't think I'd mind much if I were inconvenienced. (Not a single Occupy Temple protestor, I'm afraid).

I've been to protests that last an evening - maybe a late-afternoon til midnight. In those cases, all I had to do was show up (in Sacramento, protesting Prop 8 just after it was passed). These were not super-planned, but they weren't forever-protests. We went home, went to bed, and went about our business the next day. I'm impressed people are able to hold out so long. These sort of protests taking place require a support network - not just people who show up. My impression is the original protest was extremely well-planned, and probably has the most *professional* protestors. (I have a few friends who - though neither would claim the title - would qualify as professional. They are a bit snotty when regular folks attempt to protest - with no experience, no direction, etc. Anyway, they know the drill, they know what they'll need, they know to pick up after themselves, they are super-trained for dealing with cops, they understand the resources for support, the network of couches to surf, lawyers willing to support them if needed. They are well-practiced and well-trained). Anyway, I think regular folks just show up and there is no training and no preparation - and that's okay if you're talking about an afternoon or evening of protest. If protestors need more support in some areas, then they need more support.

I hope I'm making sense - I just woke up. I wanted to write last night, but ended up reading and watching the youtubes posted here. It was nice to hear Naomi Wolf talk - haven't heard her in a while.

I took a sociology class in college - "the sociology of deviance." I thought it was going to be nice and juicy, but instead the entire class focused on corporate deviance with an eye to Enron. I found the reading extreeeeemely tedious. But, I'm glad now I took the class. I wish I'd retained more of what I read. I am glad so many people can be so motivated for such a long period of time to protest what has been a long history of corporate crime, violation and injury at the expense of those who can least recover from it.

I hear alarm bells with people switching their banks on November 5th. When I think of masses of people withdrawing money from a bank, when you know they don't have the cash at hand to pay for it, it just reminds me of that Mary Poppins scene about the run on the bank. I am somewhat concerned that certain actions could plunge us into a (worse) depression and there might be a certain element of cutting-off-our-noses-to-spite-our-faces going on. The banks deserve it, but I do wonder what the long-term ramifications will be for people.

I think it's shitty anywhere it's illegal to be homeless.

I feel like you might be jumping to a negative conclusion about what I was trying to get across about how there needs to be responsibility taken for "occupying" any public space and respect for what we all do in these spaces. I really appreciated the NYC groups recognizing that when we band together and exercise our right to protest, we do need to consider how our actions could impact public health & safety. Plus, how do we make the protest space safe and healthy for all of us protesting? There are ways to do this and continue to put OWS front and center so that our grievances are addressed.

I don't like police using tear gas, bean bag "bullets" on citizens that are airing their grievances peacefully. And what I was saying had to do with how these conflicts can be better addressed.

I have worked with homeless programs in the past and it is a huge social problem with many of these people not getting medical (and mental health care) care along with decent nutrition and the ability to stay warm in winter or cool in heat waves. I spent quite a few years in public service as a social worker. Personally, I feel we all are responsible for challenging the reasons for homelessness and have no problem with tax dollars being spent on homeless programs. In fact, I would like to see more spent on dealing with the challenges of homelessness.

There needs to be a balance between not infringing on the rights of others (the very 99% that uses these public areas- rich people go to private gyms, for examples and bring their kids to private day care, not the city parks) and having a consistent protest movement. Public parks, especially in large cities, offer people many forms of relaxation and exercise areas that are inexpensive and are at the heart of where we can congregate and do need to be kept clean and sanitary for public health reasons.

At the center of this is how to groom good relations that help bring people into this movement and begin to take action against the entities that the protests are pointing out. Getting to the goals of prosecution of Wall Street predatory lenders and actually seeing our government utilize the new regulatory legislation that was passed by Congress. Getting results.

As much as I hate to say this, I did see public urination in SF during a protest I went to there. Now my guess is that the guy that did it does all of the time, yet, this is what will be first on the news stations owned by Faux News to incite negative feelings about the entire OWS movement. Wouldn't it be better to have organized measures to have porta-potties in place? He also needs help.

I also believe that it might be more effective to have well planned, major events country-wide on specified dates. That way, the numbers of people protesting would be much larger and numbers in these things do matter in terms of impact. This could be a very influential movement in the coming general elections across the US if large protests are in place during the Summer and fall before the election. In fact, getting the OWS agendas to be part of the presidential debates during the general election campaign season is imperative for action. Including actions that might stop the number of people that will be tossed out of their homes.

This movement needs to grow and befriend a multitude of people in order to bring about the changes needed to protect the 99% just as the anti-Vietnam War protests did. With good organization and communication, that protest movement influenced congressional leaders to look at what we were doing in Vietnam and get us the hell out of there. This took quite a bit of time, but finally broke through a diversity of people in the US from liberals to conservatives. Which is needed here. Standing as one no matter if you vote Democrat, Republican or Independent is essential to get the changes we need and be heard.

I don’t like what is going on in Oakland because I am afraid that people will get hurt and that doesn’t have to happen. There are members of the Oakland City Council that support these protests but they also have duties to the entire city and are responsible for public health and welfare. Let's make it easier for them to back the protests. Although, the Oakland PD has a long history with unjust treatment of citizens and the chief just resigned due to the lack of support of city officials that were promised. There is some tension there that is not related to OWS.

Of course homelessness should not be viewed as illegal.