An OWS-Inspired Gazette Elizabeth Gumport
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Astra Taylor MARK RUDD Sarah Leonard Dear OWSers page 7 Scenes from an Park to Park Occupation page 2 page 18 MIKE KONCZAL IED IED Beka Economopolous P LE, LE, Nikil Saval Parsing the Data and PP CCU O Ideology of the We Are F Occupy RABA Internal 99% Tumblr C O S page 23 page 28 page 35 philadelphia OLLY Memos M “Face Wall Street” OCCUPY! An OWS-Inspired Gazette Elizabeth Gumport KI Back at Zucotti S page 8 Marina Sitrin OGOU Park R page 4 BY STANLEY S One No! PHOTO Many Yeses MARCO ROTH Letters of Resignation from the American Dream page 26 Onnesha Roychoudhuri Night Falls on Amy C. Offner Occupied New page 19 KI S York OGOU What Can R Jeremy Kessler The Police and You Do PHOTO BY STANLEY the 99 Percent When You page 25 Benjamin Kunkel Can t Shut Twilight of COMPLETE TABLE OF CONTENTS ’ page 5 the fossils: an INSIDE THE BACK COVER It Down? overview page 32 ON THE GROUND some provisions/supplies with the protest- which is something. And they really I made it to the General Assembly DAY 1 ers. About the same number in the square, appreciated the zucchini bread and the tonight. Weird for me, after so much bedding down for a second night, and the mango juice, so thanks for the donations. suspicion in universities and professional SEPTEMBER 17 scene was more raucous than yesterday, I’d love it if a fraction of my friends groups, all my life, of order and parlia- the occupiers more confident. “They read who have presented sensible intellectual mentary procedure and quick-running some books in college and now they think critiques of the action, or who have said, meetings, laughed away by saying, “Oh, they know how to fix the world,” one tired “They have a good message but they are since the Sixties we’ve forgotten all that cop told some tourists as I walked by. A the wrong people to spread it,” showed up stuff!”—to see an efficient assembly man- Mark Greif and Astra Taylor good many were assembling again as dusk to Wall Street, since the implication is you aged by kids, democratically, inclusively, fell, looking fervent, almost pious (“We want to see more people like yourselves and good-humoredly. I wish n+1 meetings need to talk about why we are here!”), down there. ran like this. The left knows more than we Scenes from an while others basically partied around think it does, as always. Noam Chomsky them. Sunday, September 25 had sent a personal message by email. It Occupation was predictably long-winded; I wished Wednesday, September 21 Mark: Nine days is nothing to sneeze people would make the “get to your point” Saturday, September 17 at. I know people keep complaining that sign. I was sitting close to the aisle of Astra: All these people complaining the the occupiers don’t have a platform, but waiting speakers and I was surprised to Astra: The first day I arrived and, occupiers don’t have a clear agenda, a crit- any real deliberative convention takes watch participants whom I assumed knew surveying the scene, was totally dispirited: icism that goes back to the Seattle WTO time, and these folks were strangers nine each other well—since they were working same old same old, and not very substan- protest (and maybe beyond). Economic days ago. The idea of the occupation, together smoothly—whisper to ask each tial. Because the authorities had locked justice is the point. Doesn’t their being on to me, is to remind everyone that Wall other’s names. They’re the most easygo- down the area in anticipation of the day’s Wall Street say that? There is plenty of Tax Street belongs to the City of New York, ing bunch I’ve seen at a protest, and the events, demonstrators were dispersed the Rich and get corporate money out of the banks’ money belongs to the Ameri- most calmly confident. Very gentle and and outnumbered by police. But then I politics messaging going on. It’s annoying can citizens and people worldwide who not rattled by disruptors. Presumably followed an impromptu procession into that one topless lady can distract so many have temporarily parked some of it with that’s the confidence of nine days. Also the park where they are now encamped. I reporters, and also that 400 other people them (hoping they’ll do some good with the multiple confrontations that they’ve hooked up with a group of friends and we can’t or won’t just tell her to put a shirt on. it), and the rules they play by ultimately won nonviolently. The arrestees—includ- had an “assembly” with a bunch of strang- come from us. I wish the NYPD didn’t feel ing the man thrown to the ground and ers and talked economics for two or three Friday, September 23 obliged to pen the protesters in away from jailed for stopping to address a Chase hours. It was kind of nice to be at a protest Wall Street, though, and I hope Burger Bank branch about its foreclosure on his and, instead of marching and shouting, to Astra: It’s a very youthful event, and per- King on the northwest corner continues to parents’ house—came back and described be talking about ideas. It felt like the script haps naive in a lot of ways, but I’m happy be generous with its bathroom. the holding cells. had changed. As 7 PM approached, my they’re doing it. That said, I’m always a bit friends and I left thinking the cops would irritated by the incessant emphasis on the clear everyone out in no time. When they youthfulness of the demonstrators, which made it through the night I began to give is a way of infantilizing and dismissing them more credit. them (silly kids, they’ll grow up and get Mark: It was a nice day. I came to meet a over this dumb protesting stuff!), and also couple of friends, and we ran into people lets older people off the hook. Shouldn’t we knew through n+1, met up with Astra we all be out there, railing against the and her friends, and then ran into people vampire squid? The fact is there are plenty from Dissent and from The New Inquiry. of older people at “Liberty Plaza,” a good We joined up, sat down, and did what the number of retirees mingling with the organizers asked, which was to discuss recent graduates. Our society, and the left which proposals or demands were most especially, has this strange idea that young important to us, for this collective gather- people are the revolutionary vanguard (In ing. These would be put to the General his famous “Letter to the New Left” C. Assembly for public discussion, so this Wright Mills made the case that youth had large group of strangers could figure out replaced the working class as the “historic what its purpose was. Our circle attracted agency”; Theodore Roszak calls this shift more visitors and strangers. After a series the “adolescentization of dissent”) but of of votes and debates, the desire that course, being young, they don’t have all brought most people in our group together the answers (not that old people do either, was this: to restore government to citizen obviously). Related to this, I find the lack control, regulate finance for the common of historical knowledge (about past move- good, and get banks out of the business ments and effective strategies and tactics) of buying legislators or influencing law. and institutions to pass such wisdom We talked about debt and mortgage relief down so depressing—each wave of kids and the destruction of Glass-Steagall and reinvents the wheel, believes they’ve McCain-Feingold, and what it would take fashioned it for the first time, and then to save their purpose. We’d need the coun- there it goes, off the rails. I hope a fraction try’s agreement that freedom of speech of them go on to dig in for the long haul belongs only to living citizens, not corpora- and build some sort of infrastructure so tions—to overcome the Citizens United the next generation isn’t left repeating this ruling—probably by a movement for a pattern . constitutional amendment. That was our proposal! We shared email addresses and Saturday, September 24 resolved to learn how to start. It wasn’t till later that I realized it was Constitution Day, Astra: After dinner I meandered down the 224th anniversary of the signing, before to Wall Street. There were maybe 400 or it went to the States for ratification. 500 people occupying the park and tons of cops. Turns out that a good number of Sunday, September 18 demonstrators had been arrested ear- lier today when they marched to Union Astra: I had a Zipcar tonight and was Square. Even though they had lost eighty going into Manhattan, so I dropped off people to the arrests and the police were in full intimidation mode, the square felt 2 vital. They’ve managed to stay a week, MOLLY CRABAPPle. “FaceS OF OCCUPied Wall Street” spontaneous. Speakers took turns sharing their thoughts and sugges- tions: how we should be respectful to Eli Schmitt the police (“fuck the police, love the wanting police officer”), how croneyism was destroying our democracy. People— something some compelling, others less so— urged one another to storm Wall When I got off the train in the Finan- Street, shared information about cial District last Saturday, the first where to find food and blankets, and thing I did was accidentally walk into decried the Obama Administration.