Occupy Wall Street: Take the Bull by the Horns
Occupy Wall Street: Take the Bull by the Horns
24 September 11
Inside Occupy Wall Street
25 September 11
Before you read on, watch the video below. It's a video from the base camp of the #OccupyWallStreet protest that is now in its seventh day. It's called "Nobody Can Predict the Moment of Revolution." (The video was produced by Martyna Starosta and her friend Iva.)
These are the faces of a wannabe revolution, more than a protest but not yet quite a major Movement. The spirit is infectious, perhaps because of the sincerity of the participants and their obvious commitment to their ideals. READ MORE
Nobody Can Predict the Moment of Revolution
The Demand Is a Process
UPDATE: Day of Community Building
25 September 11
Today was a quiet but productive day in Liberty Plaza. There was not a major march planned. The 2pm General Assembly meeting was the big event of the day. The meeting is still going and it sounds like spirits are high. After yesterday's crackdown during the march a day of planning and building community makes sense. The crowd in the park appears to be growing. We will keep you up to date on further developments from "Liberty Plaza."
09/23/11; Day before Mass-Arrests from JRL on Vimeo.
Police Crack Down on 'Occupy Wall Street' Protests
25 September 11
The anti-capitalist protests that have become something of a fixture in Lower Manhattan over the past week or so have taken on a distinctly ugly turn.
Police have been accused of heavy-handed tactics after making 80 arrests on Saturday when protesters marched uptown from their makeshift camp in a private park in the financial district.
Footage has emerged on YouTube showing stocky police officers coralling a group of young female protesters and then spraying them with mace, despite being surrounded and apparently posing threats of only the verbal kind. READ MORE
Burger King Denies Occupy Wall Street Participant Coffee
The 99 Percent Call for NYPD Police Chief to Resign, White Collar Cops to be Prosecuted
25 September 11
This is the eighth communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street. On September 24th, 2011, the lie revealed itself. We live in a world where only 1 percent of us are protected and served. We demand that Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly resigns.
A message to blue-collar police: Do not do what you are told. We are peaceful and you know this. We offer you coffee in the morning and water in the day. You always refuse and we know that's because they told you to. Speak of the crimes of your supervisors. We will help you. We are expressing the same frustration that you feel. You are the 99 percent. Join us. Join our conversation. READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street Saturday: Tasers and Mass Arrests
24 September 11
Occupywallstreet.org is reporting at least 80 arrests during today's community march. While the live feeds were up I witnessed a very powerful arrest of a law student whose parents were recently evicted from their home. He dropped to his knees and gave an impassioned plea for the American people to wake up! There are reports of police kettling protesters with a big orange net, at least five maced, and police using tasers."
UPDATE: We are now receiving reports that at least 80 protesters have been arrested. The National Lawyers Guild puts the number at around one hundred. Liberty Square is currently full with an ongoing discussion on how to respond to this unprecedented level of police aggression. Police are currently surrounding the square. There is nearly one police officer for every two protesters.
Arrest of Member of Media Team
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Police Use Pepper Spray on Peaceful Protesters
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One of the Arrests
What If the Tea Party Occupied Wall Street?
24 September 11
In an action called Occupy Wall Street, thousands of activists took to the streets of Lower Manhattan on September 17.
The protests are continuing, with demonstrators camped out on the Financial District's Liberty Street in support of US democratization and against corporate domination of politics (Adbusters, 9/19/11).
But you wouldn't know much about any of this from the corporate media - outlets that seem much more interested in protests of the Tea Party variety. READ MORE
Broadway and Cortland Street During Today's March
Thousands Now Marching on Wall Street
24 September 11
A very loud spirited march thousands strong is marching on Wall Street. It is hard to get an accurate read on the crowd size but there are clearly thousands. Chants of "Whose Street! ... Our Street" are echoing through the narrow Manhattan streets. Their chants include "All day, all week occupy Wall Street."
Occupation Put On Notice?
24 September 11
Men in suits escorted by the NYPD entered the park at 11:30 am to handout "notices." The notices according to those present spelled out the rules for the park, which is owned by Brookfield Associates. The notice was not on letterhead and was not signed. The NYPD filmed the issuing of the notice. Some of the rules in the notice included no sleeping, no skateboards, and no riding bicycles.
The Whole World Is Watching: Nonviolence at Liberty Plaza
24 September 11
There have been several arrests each day among those occupying Liberty Plaza/Zuccotti Park in New York’s Financial District, and a certain ritual has developed for when it happens.
At the first sign that police officers are moving in - usually a pack of dark-blue shirts led by one or two in white with a bullhorn - the shouting begins. “Cameras up!” (Everything must be recorded. Among the officers, too, is someone from TARU with a video camera.) Protesters start variously calling out insults at the police and pleas for them to stand down, sending a schizophrenic, even panicked message. But soon, they coalesce into unity with chants, some holding up their fingers in a peace sign. The NYPD motto: “Courtesy! Professionalism! Respect!” A reminder of the cameras: “The Whole World Is Watching!” And, if necessary, simply, “Shame!” Repeat. They remain peaceful to a fault, but loudly and combustibly so. READ MORE
New York Times Article Pokes Fun at Occupy Wall Street
24 September 11
An article appeared sometime late yesterday (Sept 23) in the New York Times titled “Gunning for Wall Street with Faulty Aim”. It pokes fun at the protesters depicting them as silly misguided adolescents that the cops, the private equity and hedge fund traders (yes the same ones who are dismantling our economy) are benignly tolerating like friendly uncles patting children on their heads. They can afford to benignly tolerate these youth. Many of the protesters, ironically, are likely children and grandchildren of people like Henry Kravis who has earned his current net worth of $3.9 billion by purchasing companies all over the USA, running them into debt, firing the employees, and then finally selling off all their assets–in short, dismantling Main Street. The article mockingly downplays the number of participants for Occupy Wall Street by trying to leave the false impression that there are only a 100 or so participants. READ MORE
Food Fund Will Be Used As a General Fund
24 September 11
Occupy Wall Street is elated to announce that, through the efforts of our brothers and sisters in the upcoming October 6th occupation of DC (october2011.org), we have today acquired fiscal sponsorship through the Alliance for Global Justice, a registered 501C3 non-profit (afgj.org). Over the past month and a half, occupywallst.org has been assisting with the collection of monetary donations for food purchases, spearheaded by the Food Committee. These funds have been collected through wepay.com and to this point have remained inaccessible due to bureaucratic difficulties. Through the generosity of The Alliance for Global Justice and October 2011 we have expedited the process for accessing the funds that we desperately need.
We, the Occupation are touched and eternally grateful for mass outpouring of prepared food donations that we receive daily. Despite our bureaucratic challenges, we have been able to feed our numbers comfortably with what we have on-site. Consequently, it was put forth by this afternoon’s General Assembly, that what is currently the online Food Fund be re-purposed as the General Infrastructure Fund, by which working groups may request funding from the G.A. To oversee these funds and prevent any misappropriation the G.A. supported the formation of a Finance Committee with independent auditors.
It is the utmost importance to this occupation that we remain completely transparent and accountable for our actions, both on location and off-site. We would like to provide anyone who has donated to the Food Fund 36 hours to determine whether they would like to continue to support us, or whether they would prefer to withdraw their donations as is possible via wepay.com. READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street: Why Are Students Flocking to Protest?
23 September 11
The Occupy Wall Street movement, now in its sixth day, is largely comprised of college students. Why is this demographic so attracted to this protest? Metro spent a night with protesters in Zuccotti park and spoke to college students about what brings them there. READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street: The Protesters Speak
22 September 11
Casey O'Neill had no regrets. He had travelled thousands of miles across the country – and gave up a well-paying job as a data manager in California - to sleep rough in a downtown Manhattan public square, enduring rain and increasingly chilly nights. Police keep a close eye on him every day.
But O'Neill was happy to be part of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests that have transformed New York's Zuccotti Park from a spot where Wall Streeters grab a lunchtime sandwich into an informal camp of revolutionaries, socialists, anarchists and quite a lot of the just-plain-annoyed.READ MORE
Protesters Speak
A Message From Occupied Wall Street
22 September 11
This is the fifth communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street. On September 21st, 2011, Troy Davis, an innocent man, was murdered by the state of Georgia. Troy Davis was one of the 99 percent. Ending capital punishment is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, the richest 400 Americans owned more wealth than half of the country's population. Ending wealth inequality is our one demand.READ MORE
A Look at Day 5 in Liberty Plaza
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wall Street Protesters Go Topless
Are You Being Censored?
22 September 11
As the Technical Lead at RSN it has been my responsibility to make sure your newsletters arrive, Facebook "share" buttons are working, send to friend emails go through, etc, etc. Since the story about Yahoo blocking emails with links to occupywallstreet.org broke, we've seen a major upsurge in the number of emails from our readers regarding censorship. It seems an important time to take a serious look at the potential for Internet censorship, what it means for Progressives, and what we can do about it.
As a native South African born a month after the Soweto uprising, I have grown up with the idea of censorship. My father produced a television show for the South African Broadcasting Corporation from 1979-1981. Under the Apartheid government, censorship was not a secret. READ MORE
Big Media Blacks-Out Wall Street Protests
21 September 11
hat do you think was running in the pro-government, pro-Mubarek newspapers in Egypt back in February, when crowds of unhappy and often un- or under-employed citizens began crowding into Tahrir Square? I don't know the answer to that, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say there probably wasn't a lot of coverage of what was happening in Tahrir Square, at least at first. They were probably running cute feature stories about an old-time falafel stand in a changing Cairo neighborhood, or maybe articles on parking problems at the Great Pyramids. They certainly weren't going to call attention to the elephant in the room that was about to knock over a corrupt and decadent society.
I was thinking about that this week, during the extra time I had on my hands because I wasn't reading in the pages of the New York Times or the Washington Post about the Wall Street protests that have been going on now for four days, with hundreds of disenchanted and disaffected youth camping out nightly in a lower Manhattan park, marching on the financial district by day, getting arrested and provoking a large police presence including a phalanx of NYPD cops guarding the notorious Merrill Lynch bronze idol of greed. READ MORE
Keith Olbermann | Mainstream Media's Failure to Cover Wall Street Protests
Protesters Vow to Camp Near Wall St. Indefinitely
21 September 11
In a small granite plaza a block from the New York Stock Exchange, a group of 20-somethings in flannel pajama pants and tie-dyed T-shirts are plotting the demise of Wall Street as we know it.
Welcome to the headquarters of "Occupy Wall Street," a place where topless women stood Wednesday morning on the corner shouting "I can't afford a shirt!" while construction workers eagerly snapped photos on their phones. A small group of the protesters wound their way through the streets of lower Manhattan escorted by police officers, blaring bullhorns and chanting "Resist! Stand Up! There comes a time when the people rise up!"READ MORE
99 Percenters Occupy Wall Street
21 September 11
If 2,000 Tea Party activists descended on Wall Street, you would probably have an equal number of reporters there covering them. Yet 2,000 people did occupy Wall Street on Saturday. They weren't carrying the banner of the Tea Party, the Gadsden flag with its coiled snake and the threat "Don't Tread on Me." Yet their message was clear: "We are the 99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent." They were there, mostly young, protesting the virtually unregulated speculation of Wall Street that caused the global financial meltdown.
Outside in the cold Tuesday morning, the demonstrators continued their fourth day of the protest with a march amidst a heavy police presence and the ringing of an opening bell at 9:30 a.m. for a "people's exchange," just as the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange is rung. While the bankers remained secure in their bailed-out banks, outside, the police began arresting protesters. In a just world, with a just economy, we have to wonder, who would be out in the cold? Who would be getting arrested?READ MORE
Wall Street protesters: over-educated, under-employed and angry
21 September 11
In the heart of New York's financial district, the marble and concrete floor of lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park was strewn with untidy clumps of people, gathered in small groups amid a jumble of sleeping bags, mattresses and home-made banners, protesting against the banks and institutions that towered over them.
Some sat in circles, talking earnestly, others hugged, while at one side of the park, a small gaggle of "facilitators" took it in turns to address the crowd in chants. Mostly under 30, they are the self-proclaimed "over-educated and under-employed", protesters left over from the 5,000-strong demonstration to "Occupy Wall Street" that took place on Saturday. On the third day of the protest, a hard core, including students, artists, performers and writers who have since slept out in the park, said they planned to occupy the square for the forseeable future.” READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street: Just the Beginning?
Yahoo Admits to Blocking Wall Street Protest Emails
20 September 11
Thinking about e-mailing your friends and neighbors about the protests against Wall Street happening right now? If you have a Yahoo e-mail account, think again. ThinkProgress has reviewed claims that Yahoo is censoring e-mails relating to the protest and found that after several attempts on multiple accounts, we too were prevented from sending messages about the "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations.
Over the weekend, thousands gathered for a "Tahrir Square"-style protest of Wall Street's domination of American politics. The protesters, organized online and by organizations like Adbusters, have called their effort "Occupy Wall Street" and have set up the website: www.OccupyWallSt.org. However, several YouTube users posted videos of themselves trying to email a message inviting their friends to visit the Occupy Wall St campaign website, only to be blocked repeatedly by Yahoo. View a video of ThinkProgress making the attempt with the same blocked message experienced by others: READ MORE
Cate Woodruff Reporting From Wall Street Occupation
20 September 11
Yesterday, I spent part of the afternoon in Liberty Park at the "Occupy Wall Street" protest.
What I did not find was an indignant, screaming, angry or self-absorbed mob. However, what I did find was a group of extraordinarily caring, very peaceful, deeply concerned and educated people who have come together with the determination to help Americans take a realistic look at the destructive direction of this failing financial system.
Most important, they want Americans to demand change. And the positive energy was palpable. Passersby often stopped on the Broadway sidewalk at Liberty Street to engage in lively political discussion with a group of sign-holding protesters. READ MORE
Michael Moore on the MainStream Media's Silence
NYPD Not Allowing Tarps in Camp
20 September 11
With reports of rain heading towards the encampment in "Liberty Plaza" protesters began to prepare for the weather. The NYPD however moved in and prevented them from putting up tarps or erecting tents. At least two protesters were arrested for setting up a tent. Overnight some food deliveries were turned away by the NYPD and the gas for the generator that has been powering the live feed was seized by the police. Live feeds are back up so it seems the folks in "Liberty Square" have overcome the obstacles that have been presented to them.
Video of Arrests On Tuesday Morning
Wall Street Protesters Building Community
How a Pizza Joint Became the Official Caterer of the Revolution
19 September 11
The employees of Liberatos sounded overwhelmed when I called this afternoon - "We're so busy!" exclaimed one before accidentally hanging up on me. Not a surprise, since they've been tasked with feeding the hundreds of anticorporate protestors camped out in Zucotti Park near Wall Street for the last three days. Last night Liberatos made over 200 pies for hungry radicals before running out of dough. Today they churned out 350 at the lunchtime rush, and Liberatos' owner, Telly Liberatos, told us he expects even more for dinner.
Organizers have been passing around Liberatos' phone number over Twitter and in Google documents and the pizzas, $2,800-worth according to one estimate, started flowing. They were donated by sympathizers to express their solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protestors, who descended on Lower Manhattan on Friday and promise to remain for "a few months."
"We're getting phone calls from all over the world about buying pies for the protestors - they're really passionate about it," Liberatos told us. READ MORE
A Sleep-In Protest in the Shadow of Power
19 September 11
Surrounded by the headquarters of some of the world's most powerful financial players, over two thousand protesters converged on Wall Street this Saturday. By the end of the second day, those occupying Liberty Park, formerly known as Zuccotti Park on Broadway and Liberty Street, had settled in, partially helped by pizza, hot chocolate and blankets paid for and delivered by their supporters in New York City and across the country.
While Saturday saw the most activity in terms of rallies, assemblies and marches, Sunday became a day of support for the occupation. Thousands of New Yorkers stopped in to either see or support the growing city of sleeping bags, signs and popular assemblies. The highlight of the day was when over $2,000 in pizza was ordered in less than an hour by supporters from around the world for the protesters in Zuccotti Plaza. By the second evening, the call went out for blankets as temperatures dipped into the 50’s.
And in fact, those occupying Wall Street were not alone. News flooded in throughout the weekend of sister-rallies across the United States, including Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The international presence was heavy at the rally itself. Not only had protesters driven in from across the country, but activists we spoke to also arrived from as far as Mexico and Tunisia. READ MORE
America's Own Arab Spring?
Wall Street Protesters Say They're Settled In
18 September 11
Organizers of the protest told ABC station WABC-TV in New York that they are hoping the crowd will grow as the work week begins Monday. Like the protests that inspired this one, the demonstration is being fueled by social media, with supporters using the Twitter hashtag #takewallstreet to organize meetings of the so-called "General Assembly" and to advertise the effort. The event is also streaming live online.
According to a statement on the Occupy Wall Street website, supporters of the movement are angered by what they call the principle of "profit over and above all else."
"The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%," the statement said. Demonstrators at the event echoed that sentiment. READ MORE
Wall Street Protests Continue, At Least 6 Arrested
19 September 11
In a continuation of the demonstrations that began on Saturday, nearly 200 protesters marched along Wall Street and other parts of the financial district Monday morning, brandishing American flags and signs denouncing the economic system. At least six of them were arrested.
It was the third day of anticorporate protests that were promoted by a range of groups including AdbustersMedia Foundation, an advocacy group based in Canada, as well as a New York City group that called itself the General Assembly. Participants said that the demonstrations were meant to criticize a financial system that unfairly benefits corporations and the rich and undermines democracy.
For two nights, protesters have used Zuccotti Park, near Broadway and Maiden Lane, as a staging ground. Hundreds of people gathered there for mass meetings to discuss and plan their actions. They used granite benches inside the park as pantry shelves, piling jars of peanut butter, and bags of apples there along with jumbo-size cardboard containers of coffee. READ MORE
Faceoff at 55 Wall Street
The Call to Occupy Wall Street Resonates Around the World
19 September 11
On Saturday 17 September, many of us watched in awe as 5,000 Americans descended on to the financial district of lower Manhattan, waved signs, unfurled banners, beat drums, chanted slogans and proceeded to walk towards the "financial Gomorrah" of the nation. They vowed to "occupy Wall Street" and to "bring justice to the bankers", but the New York police thwarted their efforts temporarily, locking down the symbolic street with barricades and checkpoints.
Undeterred, protesters walked laps around the area before holding a people's assembly and setting up a semi-permanent protest encampment in a park on Liberty Street, a stone's throw from Wall Street and a block from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. READ MORE
Democracy Now! Report From Wall Street
Hundreds Marching on Wall Street, 4 Arrested
19 September 11
Several hundred protesters left the newly named "Liberation Square" in Manhattan and marched towards Wall Street. Protesters have advanced to within one block on Monday morning, with reports of four arrests.
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Five Minutes of Slow Motion
Protesters Gearing Up for Monday Morning
FOCUS: Protest: Wall Street Impoverished
More Than 60 Million People
18 September 11
Today, over a thousand demonstrators began protests as a part of a campaign they are calling "Occupy Wall Street." The protesters intend to engage in long-term civil disobedience to draw attention to Wall Street's misdeeds and call for structural economic reforms. RT America covered the start of the campaign.
As demonstrators converged on Wall Street - with police blocking them from reaching the New York Stock Exchange - much of the news media paid little attention to the protests. Meanwhile, much of the conservative punditry has taken to mocking the demonstrations, with conservative Twitter users lambasting the "hippies" in New York City. CNN contributor and RedState blogger Erick Erickson labeled the protesters as "profoundly dumb."
Certainly, debates about the tactics and strategy behind an anti-Wall Street campaign are warranted. But in a country where much of the populist energy has been absorbed by a movement that compared expanding access to private insurance to "death panels," it's worth reviewing why Americans and others should be protesting against Wall Street. READ MORE
Media Blackout Ignores Thousands of US Day of Rage Protesters
18 September 11
Most Americans are being kept in the dark about the US Day of Rage by the corporate cable news giants at CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC who have imposed a de facto blackout on the protest.
Even though estimates have varied from hundreds to as many as 50,000 protesters flooded into Manhattan and others cities to take part in events around the country to, "nonviolently disrupt the disloyal, incompetent, and corrupt special interests which have usurped our nation's civil and military power, spawning a host of threats to our liberty, lives and national security," the three cable news networks have devoted no airtime to the story.
This is becoming an all too familiar scene. In Wisconsin hundreds of thousands of regular people took to the streets each weekend to protest the theft of their rights, and were completely ignored by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. READ MORE
Occupy Wall Street: Day One
18 September 11
The day has arrived when #occupywallstreet became a manifestation of reality rather than a meme circulating around the interwebz today. After rigorous organization among Presstorm staff, we came to conclude that there would be little to no mainstream media coverage of this event. As it seems, we were in fact one of few media outlets covering this event and are proud to say that day 1 of this event was peaceful and full of lively passion....
The day began with protesters gathering in New York City near Wall Street only to find that it had been blocked off proactively by authorities causing protesters to (instead of joining each other in solidarity) gather in small groups in various places. It seemed to have continued on this way throughout the day as some groups marched and paraded while others gathered in clusters listening to each other chant and shout. Other smaller groups played music and mingled cheerfully among each other showing support for each of their individual reasons for being at this event. Although this issue is a bit unclear (reading from the live blog tweets versus our journalists on the ground) - either way - Wall Street was in fact blocked off. READ MORE
Wall Street Protesters Inspired by Arab Spring Movement
17 September 11
It worked in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Now, taking their cue from social-media fueled uprisings in places like Egypt and Iran, a band of online activists hopes it will work on Wall Street.
Kalle Lasn, co-founder of the counterculture magazine AdBusters, has taken to Twitter and other websites to help organize a campaign encouraging tens of thousands of Americans to hold a nonviolent sit-in Saturday in Lower Manhattan, the heart of the US financial district.
This past spring and summer saw a massive groundswell of populist demonstrations against authoritarian regimes in North Africa and the Middle East - the Arab Spring of 2011. READ MORE
Sept. 24, 2011
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