Guardian UK: You can't evict an idea whose time has come

[marmar]

Occupy Wall Street: you can't evict an idea whose time has come
The police may arrest us, force us from Liberty Plaza, but the movement of the 99% cannot be suppressed

JM Smucker, Rebecca Manski, Karanja Gaçuça, Linnea M Palmer Paton, Kanene Holder and William Jesse
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 November 2011


Two months ago, just 200 of us set up an encampment at Wall Street's doorstep. Since then, Occupy Wall Street has become a national and even international symbol – with similarly styled occupations popping up in cities and towns across America and around the world. A growing popular movement has significantly altered the national narrative about our economy, our democracy, and our future.

Late into last night, we on the Occupy Wall Street PR team were reflecting on the successes, challenges and the aims of our movement up to this point. Over the weekend, some 20 writers sent us their thoughts on their experience with direct democracy and the evolution of the movement. We sat in awe for a moment at the various perspectives, backgrounds and motives of each OWS contributor and their journey through this burgeoning movement.

At exactly 12.54am – as the PR working group was culling final articles for this very editorial page, the Outreach team nearby was developing orientation materials for the new initiative "Occupy Your Block", and the Movement Building working group engaged in a conference call about national plans for the Day of Action on 17 November – an alert rippled room to room. At 1.20am, our phones started buzzing off the tables, overloaded with text messages. Three blocks away, and within seconds, we knew that hundreds of riot police were arriving, dump-trucks rolling in, subway stops shutting down, and the Brooklyn bridge had been closed. Via Twitter we knew our fellow Occupiers were chanting, "This is what a police state looks like." Half the people in the off-site office space ran to Liberty Square, leaving their laptops, their wallets, their phones even, behind.

PR working group member Jason Ahmadi texted the team from a police van full of 13 arrestees, and we soon discovered that NYC council member Ydanis Rodríguez had been arrested and was bleeding from the head. One after another text message alerted us to the effect that those not yet arrested at Liberty Square were being chased up Broadway, towards Chinatown. Some of our people headed to Foley Square by City Hall, some to Washington Square, and others to Judson Memorial Church, where so many of our meetings have been held these past weeks. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/15/occupy-wall-street-you-cant-evict

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

great line
You can't evict an idea whose time has come

[Spazito]

2. Thanks for posting this...

it is much appreciated!

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