I took a walk to Wall Street Friday to check out the occupation. Plenty of tourists did the same. The encampment is small. I'd say a couple of hundred people at most. At the West entrance to the park, I encountered the inevitable drum circle. Same thing as the Sunday afternoon session on the Green in Woodstock.
Like everybody else, I'm trying to figure out what the occupation is about. I encountered the sign below just behind the drum circle.
I'm not aware of any government assaults on unions, or racist attacks on Muslim, immigrants and people of color, but maybe I missed them. The United National Antiwar Coalition's website features a live webcam of the occupation.
The kitchen was a little bare when I passed by. Note the U.S. flag shoved upside down in the pumpkin in the foreground. In the background, you can see volunteer food preparers wearing plastic gloves.
Occupation is hard work. The occupiers have to get their rest somehow. The kids (and most of them look to be college kids) sprawled on sleeping bags all over the park. From the scent wafting through the breeze, I'd say some very high quality weed was being smoked. In fact, I saw a couple of joints being passed.
The above picture has everything! These young people are reading about themselves in the New York Post. Note the guitar. One of the young men has covered up his face with a bandanna, emulating a Latin style revolutionary. And, of course, in the background you can see a banner featuring Che Guevara, Fidel Castro's executioner. That romantic fantasy seems to always appeal to the young.
I'd heard that student loan debt was one of the major complaints of the occupiers. So, I was glad that I ran into this young man. He wants justice! He doesn't want to pay his student loans! As I walked through the crowd, I encountered a bewildering mess of causes.
This guy seems a little out of date with his (her?) obsession with nuclear war. And, what an outfit! He's put together elements of the Grim Reaper and Darth Vader. I don't know how he stands to wear this outfit all day, but occupation demands sacrifice.
The media was out in force. Multiple interviews were in progress all over the park. TV reporters interviewed occupiers. Occupiers interviewed other occupiers. Tourists took pictures and shot video. I listened to the O'Reilly show on Fox tonight, and Geraldo Rivera discussed his brief appearance at the occupation. Trucks and vans with satellite dishes on their roofs ringed the site.
Of course, at any lefty event, the great villains must be cursed. So, I wasn't surprised to encounter this poster denouncing Fox News and the Tea Party. Earlier in the day, the demonstrators marched to Rupert Murdoch's mansion to curse him. Murdoch owns Fox News.
Don't ask me what it's all about. Looks a lot like the antiwar demonstrations of the late sixties. The causes haven't changed much. The demonstrators, then and now, are mostly kids.
Back at the office, my co-workers were betting that winter will chase the occupiers out of the park, and send them packing home. We'll see.
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