October 31, 2011

Bidder Number 70

Bidder 70 from Gage & Gage Productions on Vimeo.

THE MOST DAMING FOOTAGE YOU WILL SEE of OPD



I have no words to express how I feel.

This is something you would expect to see in some backwards police state like Yugoslavia, China, or Israel.

Why is it that places like Tennessee are letting the protesters occupy, but Oakland California are shooting people in the face with teargas canisters, and lobbing flashbang grenades at medics?

I heard today from "Mommy" from Occupy Boston, that people were having their wrists broken by the police, were held in custody without charge for 24 hours while that wrist was broken, denied medical attention, and then released with a broken wrist. They also arrested medics who were treating people injured by the police.

This use of violence against nonviolent protesters only makes it more clear how illegitimate the state is.

If the government of Oakland, and Boston want to redeem themselves, the officers involved in this brutality must be tried as criminals for assault and battery, or where the use of weapons is clearly intended to maim and injure, as they did Scott Olsen, they should be charged with attempted murder.

Whose Orange Net? OUR ORANGE NET!

I was on this Oakland Solidarity march here at OWS, but the section that I was on was rather uneventful. There were times where I saw some of these conflicts, but from almost a block away. The march also broke into several sub-marches, and it was impossible to know where things were happening, or indeed WHAT was happening.

Here is a jaw-dropping highlights reel of both police brutality, as well as peaceful uprising.



While this paints a dirty picture of how the NYPD reacted, there were also times where they pretty much just gave up, and stopped trying to arrest people.

There was one point where people who were about to be arrested locked arms, and then the NYPD who were trying to arrest them just gave up in the middle of it, and decided, "ah, fuck it" and let them go.

And there was much dancing in celebration of that.

My favourite part of the video above is at 8:02 when the OWS marchers take the police net. The next day, people were wearing strips of that net as arm bands.

Fuck yes.

From the air:

October 26, 2011

The connection between 9/11 and the occupy movement

I've been traveling around the country and interviewing people in the movement about what brings them out of their home, and camping in public space.

The economic issues come up. The political issues come up. But something else also comes up surprisingly often - September 11th, 2001.

I'm not talking about "truthers" who are convinced that 9-11 was an inside job, though there are some who are in the movement.

I'm talking about the fact that 9-11 keeps coming up tangentially in conversations.

"Since 9-11..."
"Ever since the WTC attacks..."
"After 9-11 happened..."

What follows is also similar.

Everybody has noticed that since 9-11 there has been narrowing of political discourse until we are left with nothing but a fear-mongering, crony capitalist middle.

There is a willful ignorance of "radical" ideas such as alternate modes of economy, and the rich and diverse political history of socialism and labor in the USA is all but forgotten entirely.

The fact that our country used the death of their loved ones as an pretext to invade another nation that had nothing to do with the attacks, murdering millions in our name, and all of it, just to line the pockets of the 1% with our tax dollars.

After 9/11 the world really did change, and it changed for the worse. The world became black and white. It became polarized. Things were defined as "with us or with the terrorists."

We became afraid of everything and everyone that was different, who looked different, who acted different, who thought different thoughts. We put trust and faith in a government that then proceeded to rob us blind-- stealing from the taxpayers for war. Stealing from the taxpayers for weapons. Stealing from the taxpayers to bail out the banks. At every turn, they capitalized on our fear to steal even more from us. They passed the USAPATRIOT act and stole our rights from us. They passed bills that made it impossible to declare bankruptcy, unless you're a corporation. They used fear as a cover to restructure our entire legal framework to allow the 1% to steal every last penny in our pockets.

They used fear, racism, xenophobia, classism, and used it to deflect our attention away from the crime that was happening in broad daylight, right in front of us.

It is a coincidence that the occupation in Zucotti Park is directly across the street from the 9/11 memorial, but it's a cosmic coincidence. The fact that this reclamation of humanity exists here is a powerful and poetic symbol of what this movement is.

We are healing the psychic wound that was cut into our collective consciousness ten years ago.

We are human beings who are capable of loving our neighbors again.

[video] Oakland Police raid #OccupyOakland

Look at these Black Block Anarchists fucking up the #OccupyOakland camp. Throwing trash cans into the street, firing grenades, and acting like they're so badass.

Oh wait. That's the Oakland Police department.


When at least 12 people were maced at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum in DC on Oct 8th, the Smithsonian said only one person was maced. Which was bullshit. I was there. I filmed it. I coughed the rest of the day from the lingering cloud of mace I was exposed to. But the story that only one person was maced was reported by corporate owned media.

The Oakland Police say that the explosions you see here weren't flashbang grenades, a military tool for dispersal and disorientation, we saw employed in Minneapolis during the RNC convention. And it looks like it's being used in Oakland.

But the Police are blaming this on the protesters, saying that they were firing off fireworks. Riiiiiight. I don't buy that for a fucking second.


An Independent response to the letter to #occupyOakland from the City of Oakland

October 19, 2011

"Occupy Everywhere" by Banjo and Friends at #occupyDC



Like/ FAV/ Share – make this go viral! Occupy Everywhere! (Performed by Banjo & Friends of OccupyDC)

Video shot by Dennis Trainor Jr, Kevin Egan and Asher platts. Additional footage sourced from occupations everywhere.

cut by dennis trainor jr and asher platts.


From Nothing Nice To Say Comics

October 15, 2011

Music:: When Will The Revolution Come?

OCCUPY DC - MUSIC

NYPD continues to use violence against #OWS

The Corporate Elite are Standing Dead Wood



I don't know if you've ever been in an area of old growth forest, but often you'll come across a stand of trees that look like they are solid, but they are totally dead and rotten. They are filled with termite poop and dust, and even though they may be 6 feet around, a gentle nudge is enough to send them crumbling into piles of dust.

STOP THE MACHINE- We shut down the Hart Senate Offices



Having actually been there on the ground for these events, and then reading about them in the news, I'm pretty sure that the news media attended different events. For profit journalism is just PATHETICALLY BAD



October 13, 2011

This is more relevant today than ever



This is exactly what the Occupy movement is about.

Why Americans Pay So Much For Drugs - Infographic

High Cost of Rx
Created by: Medical Billing and Coding

Peter Kim has been doing a kickass job with these infographics.

7 Arrested today at the Armed Services Committee Meeting



There is a media blackout on this. Please spread this as far and wide as possible.

They're scared shitless of us.

The Freedom Plaza Protests so far:

We marched to the Chamber of Commerce with banners, and they freaked out and shut the building down.

We went to protest the drones being celebrated at the Smithsonian Air & Space, and they freaked out, maced us, and shut the building down. 

We chanted and held banners at the Hart Senate Offices, and they freaked out and shut the building down.

We put up our hands as peace signs while veterans held up banners decrying the horrors of war during the Armed Services Committee meeting, and they freaked out, arrested people, falsely charged a 22 year old girl with "assault" and shut most of the building down.

We joined a pastor as he tried to close out his Wells Fargo bank account at a DC Wells Fargo location, and they freaked out and shut the building down.

We are nonviolent. All we do is tell the truth, and they're scared shitless of us. We are winning.

Dr Margaret Flowers confronts the Wall Street Death Panels



This is awesome.

Adara's Story - Stop The Machine

Watch this twice, and make sure it really sinks in. Then share it everywhere.




Adara came from Denver, CO, to stand with us against corporate greed. Her father committed suicide to prevent his daughters from having to go into debt to pay for his medical expenses.

Meanwhile, Wall Street was meeting inside the Marriott Hotel, pretending that they are health police experts, when in reality, they profit from killing people.

October 12, 2011

Stop The Machine- Day 7 - It's Raining



go to October2011.org and help us get tents and ground mats and stuff!

Occupy Wall Street - How it started



DemocracyNow! Does something different than just wondering aloud on air what the fuck is going on, and engages in good-old-fashioned journalism.

Which is actually surprisingly easy to do. It involves going down to the place where something happened and then asking the people who were there.

STOP THE MACHINE- Day 6



Get your ass down here!

October 11, 2011

Occupy Boston- Mass arrests and property destruction by Boston Police

Well, This is certainly going to blow up in the police's face



As you can see from the video a group of Veterans For Peace were standing at attention using their bodies to block the police, using vets for peace, and American flags to help take up more space. Apparently, during the arrests, veterans were thrown to the ground, and the American flag was literally trampled underfoot by police.

What I'm hearing from Lance Matos, who I understand has been at Occupy Boston, the police, about 200 of them, made mass arrests this morning at 2am:

" People's property is being put into dump trucks and destroyed. Tarps, tents, chairs, and who knows what other equipment. Cameras and phone as well no doubt."


The AP reports:

"The protesters, part of the national Occupy Wall Street movement, had tried to expand from their original site in Dewey Square to a second site across the street, along the Rose Kennedy Greenway. A local conservancy group recently planted $150,000 worth of shrubs along the greenway and officials said they were concerned about damage."


Apparently shrubbery is more important than 1st amendment rights.

Kevin Gozstola on Democracy Now



Kevin Gozstola was my roommate at Netroots Nation. Congratulations to him for getting on Democracy Now!

Taking Freedom Plaza - Day 8

A lot happened today.

Keith Olbermann used footage that I shot of the pepper spraying incident at the Smithsonian museum on Countdown:



Just to be clear though, the footage shows my boss, Dennis Trainor Jr, not David Swanson-- though they do look similar enough to be cousins, or maybe brothers.

The provocateur that Olbermann and David Swanson discuss in the above video has been at Freedom Plaza since day one. On the first day, he was very divisive, trying to stir up animosity in our first general assembly. Whatever, we just assumed he was overzealous.

Then there was the incident at the Smithsonian, in which my boss, Dennis Trainor was standing nearby, and saw this same guy, (in the black shirt) shove a guard and pin him to a wall-- which is when the pepper spray came out. He got a faceful of pepperspray for his efforts.

We confronted him after that incident, and tried to make it clear that this movement was committed to the principals of nonviolence. He said that he was nonviolent, and that the guard at the Smithsonian shoved him first.

What Dennis Trainor saw, was that he rushed the guards like a linebacker. So either Dennis is lying, or this guy is lying.

Sunday, before the permit ran out, we deliberated over how to deal with the possibility that we would be cleared out by police. We decided that some of us would risk arrest to hold the plaza, and the rest would form a support circle surrounding the plaza, singing, chanting, and most importantly, tweeting, facebooking, photographing, livestreaming, and taking video. We also had a nonviolence training, discussing what the laws were in regards to what assault on a police officer entailed, and what resisting arrest entailed. It was made very clear that so long as we did not make any motion towards police whatsoever, that they would have no excuse to make a demand to disperse, as it's public property and we all have a right to be there. It was also made clear that the best way to deal with a mass arrest would be to make things difficult for the police by going limp.

Most of all, we made it clear that we would, above all, remain nonviolent.

Later that night, we found out that this same Provocateur was trying to organize people at the back of the plaza to fight the police if they tried to clear the plaza.

We confronted him, and asked him about it. He said, "Hey man, whatever happens."
We said, "no, not whatever happens, you're going to fuck everything up if you go through with this plan to fight the police."

He and his friend Chris looked at one another and said, "okay, so Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King right?" and smirked and laughed. I should mention that at this point he was wearing a white t-shirt and a red bandana. That becomes important in a little bit.

Ward, a Vietnam veteran and peace activist talked to him about the incident at the Smithsonian (Ward received a face full of pepper spray as a result of his actions)tried to level with him about what the movement was about, and how if he was not willing to abide by our principals of nonviolence, he was not welcome here. We asked him his name, he said it was Hamsey, but would not give his last name.

Everybody who was willing to risk arrest to hold the plaza went to the legal support tent to give the National Lawyers Guild folks their contact information. According to a person who was at the tent, it took Hamsey 30 minutes to remember his name, his phone number, his address, and a person to contact. Despite the fact that he has an iphone. He claimed to be homeless and unemployed from New York. I don't know of any unemployed homeless people with iphones, at least not aside from this guy.



Hamsey disappeared for a bit, and during the dance party, reappeared wearing a long sleeve, black, button down shirt, and sunglasses. At night. It was 11pm. Weird.

Today, during our general assembly, we let him know that he was no longer welcome here. Later, when he was still here, we confronted him directly and let him know that we were asking him to leave, as he was clearly not adhering to our principals of nonviolence and cooperation. He didn't even put up a fight. Kevin, the other cameraman who is working on this documentary, followed him to the end of the plaza, where he disappeared, either into a car, or into one of the extremely expensive hotels adjacent to the plaza. He was no longer anywhere to be seen on the sidewalk.

Very strange. Very strange indeed. I think he was an agent provocateur, and I think he knew he was outed. Who did he work for? I have no clue.

Later today, the Federal Parks Police came to talk with organizers of the Stop The Machine / October 2011 protest at Freedom Plaza.



They wanted to speak with them in private. We demanded that they speak with all of us publicly. They left. We then held a General Assembly, and deliberated on what to do. We decided to send a delegation from the plaza to meet with the Parks Police, with the conditions that a) they would request to record the meeting and b) that the delegation was not there to make a decision, but would simply collect information which the folks on the plaza would deliberate in a general assembly.

The report back from the meeting with police was mindblowing: the Federal Parks police have decided to let us stay on the plaza! For FOUR MORE MONTHS. Not only that, but the Federal Parks Police Dept actually called other organizations that had requested permits for the plaza during that time- such as a fundraiser for Leukemia research, the MLK Jr monument dedication, and a Yoga Conference- to ask if they were okay with us remaining there. Our good behavior, our message, and willingness to cooperate with the police has really paid off.

After that, Taste of DC was done with their event, and we learned that many restaurant owners who had been listening to our speakers and general assemblies the past three days, decided that they would donate food to us in solidarity!

We were completely overwhelmed with food! The Food Not Bombs tent was just completely overstocked with bread, fried rice, pad thai, empenadas, ice cream, soup, stew, pasta, and ice! We actually had so much food that we sent the rest over to the kids at Occupy DC in McPherson Park.

As soon as I find out what the names of these businesses are, I will be sure to thank them!

We are winning!

Footage from the past few days

Just some brief moments in time:
Marching to the MLK Jr memorial:


The MLK jr Memorial:


Two protesters who were maced at the Smithsonian talking about recovering:


Dance Party at Freedom Plaza: this is a revolution with dancing!



October 9, 2011

The Smithsonian pepperspray incident



Here is footage of the spraying as it happened from OpEdNews.com

h/t @CodePinkAlert

And here are a few mainstream media stories that need correction:

Fox News reports that "At least one" person was pepper sprayed. Not the case. 12-15 people were sprayed.

This article from the Washington Post takes the Smithsonian at their word that protesters were told that they could not enter carrying banners. That is false.

The protesters were not told anything. I was inside the museum when this happened. After the first three people entered the vestibule, the security guards rushed the doors, started shoving people, and the use of pepper spray was almost immediate. The protesters were told NOTHING. They were simply met with force, and sprayed with mace.

I also recieved word that the New York Times article on this story first took the Smithsonian's word that "only one" protester was sprayed. We talked with them, and it was later changed to "12-15". Since last night, they've dropped any mention of pepperspray from the article altogether. The New York Times is doing a lot of story changing-- about the kettling on the Brooklyn Bridge, and now about this incident with the pepper spray at the smithsonian air and space museum.

Stop The Machine- Day 3



So we went to the Air and Space museum to do a silly little demonstration. We were going to do a banner drop at the drone exhibit, a display of military fetishism that our tax dolars pay for.

I had gotten ahead of the march with my camera to video tape us entering the lobby. What happened instead was just insane.

The security guards rushed the entrance like linebackers, shoving people out the doors, flailing their arsm, pushing people in the face, and then pepper-sprayed the crowd, including women like Linda Wiener, 54, of Portland Oregon, from no more than a few inches away from their faces. In the ensuing chaos, the guards sprayed a few of their own. One security guard, seen in the video above, was choking on the pepper spray, and remarked, "God, that stuff is nasty."

Yeah, no shit.

I was pushed out of the lobby into the still-hanging cloud of pepper spray. The air was impossible to breathe. If you've ever put a 9volt battery to your tongue, that's what it felt like, but in your eyes, your nose, and your mouth and lungs. I ran outside of the cloud of spray, took a deep breath of air, and ran back into the crowd of people being flushed and treated by our first aid team.

I had no idea things were going to go like this. I figured we might be denied entry, but to be maced? Really? They shut down the museum for the rest of the day. That wasn't our intent. Our intent was to do a silly little banner drop and die-in. Pure theater.

Instead, our theatrical demonstration against unlawful use of force, was met by an unlawful use of force. Ironic.

October 7, 2011

Stop The Machine! Day 2

I have a little bit of down time, logging and capturing footage. It takes a while, so I guess I'll write a blog entry.

One question that is coming up over and over again is this: How far are we willing to go?

It's almost entirely without question that we all agree that we will remain nonviolent, but in order to separate this occupation of Washington DC from every other rally-- how far are we willing to go?

Also, the Food and Water committee needs to get their shit together. Right now Food Not Bombs is serving food, but that can only last for so long. I went to their committee meeting for a little bit (filming, as a journalist) and they were talking about food sovereignty, High Fructose Corn Syrup, GMOS and Monsanto.

That's not the point of the food and water committee. THe point is to get fucking FOOD, and fucking WATER to the plaza so we don't die. There were only five of them.

I think as soon as Food Not Bombs runs out of food, people might pay a little more attention to this rather pressing issue.

October 6, 2011

REVOLT! Dennis Trainor Jr of NoCureForThat and ACRONYM, LIVE at Freedom Plaza



Just got done editing and uploading this for No Cure For That.

TODAY IS THE BEGINNING

Things I've learned today:

1) Apparently my mobile uploading thing for this page doesn't work. In the middle of uploading video from today. Going to edit Dennis Trainor Jr's speech from Occupy Wall Street today.

2) P2 cards are incredibly expensive. We've only got 4 of them for two cameras. The reason for that is they are about $500/ea. If you want to help the No Cure For That documentary team out, please go to http://nocureforthat.org/ and click that donate button.

Why help us buy more p2 cards? Well, they take a long time to upload footage, and if we currently only have enough space for 2 hours per camera. Our HQ is about 20 min away from the plaza, and the occupation of Freedom Plaza is going on 24/7, and we're trying to capture as much as possible for this documentary.

I'm in the middle of logging four 64gig p2 video cards, and it's taking me about an hour per card. Oi. Then backing them up... If we had four more, that would give us the flexibility to send a member of our team back to log footage on our external HD, and then wipe the cards and bring back fresh recording media so we can keep shooting.

3) DC is a sweet city. I really really like it here. I've visited many times, but I've never lived here before.

4) Lee Camp is taller in person than I thought.

5) Medea Benjamin is shorter in person than I thought.

6) DC cops will clear the streets for you if you have a spontaneous march.

7) Junkyard Empire kicks ass live.

October 2, 2011

Photo Update from Free Change Collective




HAHAHAHA
Hell yes.

Brooklyn Bridge Arrests as they happen

From The Free Change Collective:

Click the spotlight in the video immediately below to subscribe.








The Brooklyn Bridge Arrests














They just told us to hold hands and walk off the bridge




The Police forcing the Media To Leave so that they don't report on the arrests:


Video update from Free Change Collective

These are from back on September 19th, two days into the protest.

White shirt NYPD aggressively shoves peaceful protester for no reason:




Police leave after being confronted with... peace signs:





The guy in the blue poncho encouraging people to "Get Y' Peace Signs UP!" is from the Free Change collective. He was arrested yesterday on the Brooklyn bridge, and may not be released until his scheduled court appearance, months from now.

Sept 26th, day 9

Police try to block the sidewalk, but then relent





You can view all of the Free Change Collective's videos here: http://www.youtube.com/freechangecollective

Are Wall Street banks buying NYPD loyalty?

via TheAnonPress


You can check out this webpage for yourself.

October 1, 2011

Was sending #occupywallst protesters onto the bridge an NYPD arrest tactic?

What I'm hearing from people on the ground, is that police were actually directing the Occupy Wall Street protesters onto the traffic lanes, where they were corralled with orange netting, detained, and placed onto buses.

I don't know if this is true, or just a rumor that is circulating and a large contingent of protesters actually intended to shut down Brooklyn-bound traffic.

However...

This photo comparing the New York Times coverage of the arrests spanning 20 minutes, show two very different versions of what happened.


UPDATE 11:59PM Oct 1

From The New York Times:
“Protesters who used the Brooklyn Bridge walkway were not arrested,” said the head police spokesman, Paul J. Browne. “Those who took over the Brooklyn-bound roadway, and impeded vehicle traffic, were arrested.”

But many protesters said that they thought the police had tricked and trapped them, allowing them onto the bridge and even escorting them across, only to surround them in orange netting after hundreds of them had entered.

“The cops watched and did nothing, indeed, seemed to guide us onto the roadway,” said Jesse A. Myerson, a media coordinator for Occupy Wall Street who was in the march but was not arrested.

[...]

There were no physical barriers, though, and at one point, the marchers began walking up the roadway with the police commanders in front of them – seeming, from a distance, as if they were leading the way. The Chief of Department Joseph J. Esposito, and a horde of other white-shirted commanders, were among them.

[...]

After allowing the protesters to walk about a third of the way to Brooklyn, the police then cut the marchers off and surrounded them with orange nets on both sides, trapping hundreds of people, said Mr. Dunn. As protesters at times chanted “white shirts, white shirts,” officers began making arrests, at one point plunging briefly into the crowd to grab a man.

The police said that those arrested were taken to several police stations and were being charged with disorderly conduct, at a minimum.

[...]

Etan Ben-Ami, 56, a psychotherapist from Brooklyn who was up on the walkway, said that the police seemed to make a conscious decision to allow the protesters to claim the road. “They weren’t pushed back,” he said. “It seemed that they moved at the same time.”

Mr. Ben-Ami said he left the walkway and joined the crowd on the road. “It seemed completely permitted,” he said. “There wasn’t a single policeman saying ‘don’t do this’.”

He added: “We thought they were escorting us because they wanted us to be safe.” He left the bridge when he saw officers unrolling the nets as they prepared to make arrests.


It seems to me like protesters were in fact told by the NYPD to use the roadway, or at least led to believe that it was okay.



UPDATE 12:19PM Oct 2nd

This eyewitness account of the arrests provides more mounting evidence that the police premeditatedly allowed the protesters onto the bridge, with the intent to trap and detain them.

"It seemed to me that the police did nothing to stop the protesters and it would have been very easy for them to guide all of us onto the walkway. As it was, they were guiding the march and traffic and I neither saw nor heard any resistance from the cops on the scene.

And there were a LOT of them. More than enough to have kept us off the road."


[snip]

Photographic evidence of a shitload of cops waiting on the sidewalk, doing nothing to stop people from entering the roadway



Police waiting on the sidelines to arrest a large number of protesters

[snip]

"And then we all stopped. The people on the walkway stopped to watch the people on the road. Those on the road looked like they had been stopped by a whole lot of cops and those, now infamous, orange cordons. At no point did I hear anyone talk about not crossing the bridge. Also, the fact that no one was directing us to stay on the road (or off it, for that matter) suggests to me that the point was to cross, not stop, and the police interfered."




UPDATE: 12:33PM Oct 2nd

I just found this eyewitness report from AlterNet reporters Kristen Gwynne and Sarah Seltzer:

"At the time of this posting, hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters, members of the press and bystanders are being penned by the police on the Brooklyn Bridge, waiting to get arrested one by one. (The livestream is in the previous post.) According to eyewitnesses, the NYPD closed the bridge to traffic as the surge of protesters arrived, but then used the crowd's presence on the roadway to corral them in on both sides, so that no exit is possible."


[snip]

"They're arresting us one by one. I just asked a cop and they said they're going to arrest all of us. There are hundreds of people who dont have room to sit down. We're just clammed in."





UPDATE FROM THE FREE CHANGE COLLECTIVE


A member of Free Change Collective has been arrested twice, the first time he was arrested for no reason, the second time for being in the traffic lane of the Brooklyn bridge. He may be detained until his scheduled court hearing, which is months from now.



VIDEO of the Brooklyn Bridge Arrests From The Free Change Collective:

Click the spotlight in the video immediately below to subscribe to their channel





The Brooklyn Bridge Arrests AS THEY HAPPEN










They just told us to hold hands and walk off the bridge




The Police releasing the "fancy" Media:




And now some more pics of the event on the Brooklyn Bridge:


via Gothamist.com






More photos and context after the jump

ON THE ROAD TO DC

A going away present from a friend of mine:



Oh yes.

Occupy Maine Rally

As the blog post this was originally from became increasingly about underhanded police tactics at the Brooklyn Bridge, this section of the article became less and less relevant. So I've clipped it and moved it to it's own entry.


The Occupy Maine Rally


Started today, and was featured on national television on the nightly news, along with other cities that are holding solidarity rallies. It was drizzling steadily all day, and the crowd remained about 150 people, petering out towards 3pm when the general assembly started.



During my time there I went to subsidized housing areas to put up posters. I ran into lots of people who were either homeless, or living in shelters, who had not heard about the Occupy Wall Street protests. They saw this poster, asked what it was about, and after I explained, they would smile and then list off a really reasonable and intelligent list of complaints of their own-- talking about the military industrial complex, about how the wealth of the elite is derived from the debt of the poor, and how we are willing to spend millions to kill people, but we don't have a dime to give anybody healthcare or housing. This happened over and over again and was really quite heartening.




Another group of people outside a homeless shelter initially yelled at me for putting up flyers, and one came over to tear it down. First he read it, then he yelled back to his friends, "Naw, it's cool."