So there's a HUGE protest going on in New York CIty. DId you know that? It's in it's second week, and has gotten incredibly little to no news coverage on American mainstream news media. I first learned about it through word of mouth, and even then I had to go to a British news site to learn anything about it. Since then a friend of mine also linked me to a Facebook page that is constantly feeding out information and links to small websites and blogs with bits of current information. I have seen videos of violent arrests, and watched live footage where people pleaded for medical care for the violently arrested victims locked up in jail. Right before I started writing this, I joined a surge of people in the protest network spreading phone numbers for major news networks trying to get hem to cover the story. Since then, articles have been released by some of the major news outlets. I watched it happen.

So what is it that all these people are protesting exactly?

It's clear that the people involved are tired of our economic system, that much is obvious without very much digging. But even on the protest's 'official' website (https://occupywallst.org), it's hard to get a bead on what exactly the protestors are trying to make happen. Here's their mission statement:

"Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. 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%.

On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.

Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America. We also encourage the use of nonviolence to achieve our ends and maximize the safety of all participants."

That all sounds well and good, but it's not very concise, is it? What do they actually want? It took a little more digging, but eventually I got to the original "#OccupyWallStreet" Facebook event page (https://www.facebook.com/event.php?ei d=144937025580428), which states:

"The beauty of this new formula, and what makes this novel tactic exciting, is its pragmatic simplicity: we talk to each other in various physical gatherings and virtual people's assemblies ... we zero in on what our one demand will be, a demand that awakens the imagination and, if achieved, would propel us toward the radical democracy of the future ... and then we go out and seize a square of singular symbolic significance and put our asses on the line to make it happen.

... 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. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat our one simple demand until Barack Obama capitulates."

This is still somewhat abstract, but that's the beauty of it. This is real. This is a unified cause. This is a massive gathering of disenfranchised people, and that's what matters first and foremost. A lot of us go about our daily lives and pretend like nothing is wrong, but deep down you all know that we could be doing things better somehow- even if you also acknowledge that the U.S. is better off than most of the rest of the world. Not a single person I have ever meant doesn't have SOME complaint about the ways our society works. The people of Occupy Wall Street feel that a lot of that could be fixed with changes to the corporate system. They didn't gather because they knew what needed to be done- thousands of people have gathered because they knew SOMETHING had to be done. And they picked wall street because they know that the problem has roots planted in the economic system.

There's live music, and people dancing. There's people of all ages, beliefs, and political leanings. They're are mobile bloggers, and speakers on soapboxes. They're all happy to be there with each other to make a voice that could actually DO something. It's a peaceful, it's fun, it's exciting, and it's a celebration of unification among those who believed in this enough to put their personal lives on hold for it.

Yet the city of New York and the corporate media have aggressively made it clear that they do not approve. Mass arrests for everything from photography to wearing masks (even if it wasn't covering their face) have taken place. NYPD has used baton beatings, body slams, mace spray in the face of mothers, and other bullying or manipulative tactics in an attempt to quell the event. The major news networks have NOT been covering the event on television. It's not that they don't cover protest groups- anybody who watches the news these days know they do. So what is it about his one? (I tried to call them and ask. I asked the representatives if they had been given a reason why their network hasn't been covering the issue. CNN, CBS and MSNBC all immediately transferred me to a line where I could record a "question or comment".)

The fact is, the people with the money and the power and the resources to do something about it (read: corporations, politicians, and corporate funded politicians) don't want you to know about the protest. They don't want this to last for months and they don't want any change in their systems affected by the middle and lower class. Ask yourself why corporate networks wouldn't cover a major event like this: thousands of people gathered in New York City in peaceful solidarity, met with aggressive police behavior- that should be the story of the year! Ask yourself why the police would react with hostility in the first place.

Without a doubt, Occupy Wall Street needs to figure out where they actually stand. A gathering of people with no specific purpose, no matter how large, won't get anything accomplished other than getting in the way or raising people's awareness to something broad and intangible. But this is a HUGE step. O.W.S. has actually made their targets nervous enough to make themselves look bad trying to stop it. If they could form a more specific purpose and direction that's not too radical, then the Wall Street protest can actually one day have made a difference.

Get involved. Get online. Tweet, blog, Facebook update, and tell people what's going on right now in Wall Street, and what you think should be changed. If you can and are willing, go to Wall Street! The more people that get involved, the better the chances something good can happen from it.

Phoenix Godwin
9-25-2011

Here are some more useful links for getting involved.

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolu tion
(Live video feed broadcasted from within the protest group, as well as access to live text and twitter chats)

http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/occ upywallstreet
(twitter feed updates on the site that originally called for the gathering)

You can also call the NYC 1st precinct at 1-888-692-7233. (any extension) and request protection for the protestors in the plaza (which are currently surrounded by police), and medical care for the protestors they've violently arrested.

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