We the People are the voice of this nation. Unfortunately, We have relinquished that right gradually over the course of the last forty years. Since the end of the Vietnam Era, Americans have become complacent and mild mannered in their political ideology. The money junkies, prestitutes, and corrupt politicians have taken advantage by collecting as much wealth and power as possible. There were small bursts of political activism by the left during the Bush years, but as soon as the Savior entered the Oval Office everyone went back to sleep.
Gradually since 2008 The People have begun to wake up once again. They are starting to become aware of the cronyism between Wall Street and the District of Criminals. They are starting to learn the truth about 9/11 and other lies this federal government has perpetrated. They are beginning to see that pushing a button every two or four years does absolutely nothing to fix the problems.
The problems are embedded within the system itself - the career politicians who take giant contributions from giant corporations instead of small donations from The People; the CEOs who give themselves a 125% raise while removing all their employees until they agree to having no collective bargaining rights, health care coverage, and other benefits. We can not solve these problems with voting or petitions. More extreme measures are necessary.
Liberty Plaza - September 17, 2011: Groups on the Internet, led by Adbusters and Anonymous, planned to occupy Wall Street and stay until this corruption ends. About 200 people arrived last Saturday and set up a commune right in the middle of New York City (the closest they got was Liberty Plaza about 3 blocks from Wall Street). Donations - clothes, blankets, electronics, even pizzas - came from across the globe. The "Occupy" movement has spread to Chicago, Boston, LA, even Toronto, Manchester, and Brisbane.
It should be stressed that this Movement is peaceful. During tense moments of the march on Saturday, tweets were being sent out by individuals urging participants to turn the other cheek to police violence. Just about every other person who participated in the march had a camera and filmed everything going on. The video and pictorial evidence shows that these protestors did absolutely nothing to harm anyone and, yet, the NYPD resorted to violent tactics.
Police dragging a woman by her hair  |
Even after nearly 100 arrests were made, including these five girls who were maced and a man reported to have received a concussion, peaceful noncompliance was still the message of the day.
There were moments when it seemed like the Movement would come to a disastrous end. Reports were coming in of police reinforcements arriving at Liberty Plaza at 10 PM with police vans ready to arrest everyone still there. I felt obligated to swing by the plaza before leaving the city. The protestors were fine - most were sitting around talking with each other. I heard some singing Bohemian Rhapsody together (haha!). The mood seemed light, but there was still a strong police presence (maybe 1 for every 2 occupiers with police cars and vans parked all around the plaza).
One of the most common criticisms I have heard of the occupiers is that they do not have a clear message. This is true, but it is only because there is so much that needs to be fixed. The group is very diverse in their solutions, but they are all united around their disdain for the corruption in this country. Let's get rid of the money junkies and then we can argue over solutions. We are never going to agree on everything, but that does not mean we should allow this to continue for a single day longer. We need to reclaim the country from those we have virtually handed it over to in the past forty years. It was people like the occupiers who reclaimed the governments of Iceland, Tunisia, Egypt, and Spain. It is now our turn to put our words into actions.
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