Inside the occupation - Page 4

With its general assemblies, People's Mic, and chants of 'We are the 99 percent,' OccupySF gains momentum despite a police crackdown

10.11.11 - 5:27 pm | Yael Chanoff |

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Occupy SF marches through the Financial District on Oct. 5 chanting "Make banks pay" and "We are the 99 percent."

GUARDIAN PHOTO BY LUCY SCHILLER

That the movement has no "one message" has in many ways worked to their advantage. It seems hundreds of thousands of people with varying issues and concerns can all agree that an elite class, embodied by Wall Street, has far too much power and money, and that the people must unite against the sorry state of this system. As I looked in the officers' eyes, I wondered how long even their disconnect from the protesters will last. Most are, after all, the 99 percent too.

After the General Assembly held the street for an hour, police requested that they please move to the sidewalk. A consensus vote decided to oblige. An assembly member proclaimed, words booming with the roar of the People's Mic, "Let us remember that we took this street, and we could have held it if we wanted to."

This is the kind of power many haven't felt in a long time. And I get the feeling that no one intends to relinquish it any time soon.

Comments

All this attention and it's only 100 people?

I've seen bigger crowds at my neighborhood bar.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 7:20 am

it's okay to lie to yourself

to avoid wetting your pants. But you can't fool other people. Your lying to them on the internet, which readily proves you are a liar.

Posted by meatlock on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 7:38 am

The "100 people" count is from the article

Are you saying that SFBG is lying to us?

FYI, the stock market is up 10% since this started. Looks like us one-percenters are doing just fine.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 7:54 am

A group of nearly 200 protesters

8:27 PDT SAN FRANCISCO - A group of nearly 200 protesters is blocking the front door of Wells Fargo Bank's corporate headquarters, slowing downtown traffic and forcing workers to use a side entrance.

Posted by meatlock on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 7:47 am

Wow, now it's 200 people?

Hmm, let's see, Bay Area population is about 5 million, so that's 00.02% of us taking part.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 7:56 am

Multiplier. & The Wolf Of Democracy

'Guest' this is simply because out of the hundreds of thousands of people in any given city, only a handful will risk arrest in a civil disobedience action.

But just as even a mere letter sent to an elected official represents hundreds of people, and every person actually meeting with that elected official represents thousands; every person taking the personal risk to engage in civil disobedience also represents thousands of people who feel the same way about the issue, but are too busy, personally vulnerable, or timid, to show up themselves.

Again, you are whistling in the dark. And the wolf of democracy is creeping up on you. Prepare to be brought down...

Posted by Eric Brooks on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 8:58 am

Eric, you couldn't "take down" some drapes,

let alone global capitalism.

The stock market is up 10% since this started, and the markets rarely get these things wrong. This will fizzle out as soon as it gets cold and wet.

200 people? Subtract the "usual suspevcts" who show up for all these events, and it's trivial. A few weeks ago it was BART, today it's this, next it will be something else. People like to whine but, in the end, they also like to eat.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 9:14 am

As I Recall The BART Protests Worked

Did not BART immediately reverse it cellphone signal policy?

Is not BART sweating bullets over its police violence problem.

And the modern stock market is simply a farcical measure of totally overblown artificial debt accumulation. Fake money as illusory bytes on computer hard drives, absurdly and exponentially inflating with no real world justification for that expansion. The 'stock market' has become meaningless to how the economy is actually behaving and whether or not it is succeeding or failing.

Your arguments are weak.

And your resort to petty ridicule shows that your protestations are based in fear.

Posted by Eric Brooks on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 9:30 am

Nope, everyone's forgotten the BART issue and

I doubt that in practice any of their management will change anything. A few conciliatory words they didn't mean bought you off.

And the stock market anticipates event better than polls or anything else. If the Dow is up 10% that means the smart money is betting against you. So do I.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 2:13 pm

Your hero Linton Johnson seems to have lost his job, PaulT.

So you're wrong again.
BART will never shut down cell phone service again, after the world wide condemnation of their embarrassing and UnAmerican act.

"Linton Johnson, the spokesman — who has been on leave from BART since Anonymous publicized partially nude photos of him in mid-August — suggested the shutdown."
"Johnson did not return a call seeking comment. Allison, the spokesman, said he didn’t know whether Johnson would be returning."
Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/13uz5)

This article, published this morning demonstrates that you are also lying when you say everyone's forgotten the BART issue.
What's it like to be on the wrong side of the truth nearly 100% of the time?
Does it pleasure you somehow?

Posted by Meatlock on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 2:37 pm

Ha. And you believe that?

They can say anything and still do anything.

You've been played.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 3:25 pm

It must suck to be on the wrong side of history, one percenter.

Desperately trying to cling to any vile argument you can to invalidate what is now a global movement encompassing hundreds of thousands of active protestors, and likely millions who silently support.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 16, 2011 @ 2:17 pm

The one percent is the percent that are protesting

99% are getting on with their lives with no delusion that they are going to overthrow capitalism.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 16, 2011 @ 4:59 pm

"overthrow capitalism" ?

That's not what this world wide movement is about.
Thanks for playing, though.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 16, 2011 @ 5:22 pm

Poll: New Yorkers support Occupy 3 to 1

Really 'Guest'?

This poll says otherwise; that New Yorkers support the Occupy protests 3 to 1.

Looks like you are the fool, on the wrong side of history.

Take a look:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-17/wall-street-protesters-backed-3...

Posted by 'anonymous' on Oct. 18, 2011 @ 9:09 am

BART Cut Cell Service on Spur of the Moment, Emails Show

Deputy police chief: "I like this idea. Can anyone think of a downside?"
Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/13uz5)

http://www.baycitizen.org/bart-protests/story/bart-cut-cell-service-spur...

Posted by Meatlock on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 10:13 am

Overabundance of food donations

Instead of turning away food donations from the public, try contacting the SF Food bank to see if there is any way they could help you deal with the excess.

And if the SF Food Bank, can help.. please encourage people to donate even MORE food. http://www.sffoodbank.org

Posted by Guest on Oct. 12, 2011 @ 12:00 pm

wow

"Many participants are determined to stay put. Jreds, a protester who had come from Chico, looked me in the eye and promised, "I'm staying as long as it takes.""

This is some of the most earnestly horrible writing. I know one of the "demands" is free college education. If the end result is even more Sac State journalism majors on the loose, I think I'll count myself as one of the 1%.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 13, 2011 @ 5:13 am

Support occupy SF! Support

Support occupy SF! Support law and order and jail the Wall street gangsters and all the corrupt democrat and republican politicians who aided and abetted the looting of America!

Posted by GuestSf T Party on Oct. 19, 2011 @ 10:17 am

People's Mic

Thanks for this piece and the inside look at our local efforts. A minor FYI: People's Mic has been used since before Occupy Wall Street. I remember using it during anti-war protests in 2003, and I'll bet it goes back at least 10-20 years before that. Anyone have background info on this?

I think it's important to acknowledge that while the surge in support is new, effective organizing and some of the more targeted lock-down actions would not have been possible without the years of grueling work carried out by organizers in previous decades, when the economy was booming and fewer people cared about others in the worst situations. Consensus process, people's mic, facilitation skills, and other tools have been handed down to us by our predecessors.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 24, 2011 @ 12:42 pm