UPDATE: Occupy Wall St. [10/14/11]

¡Hola! Everybody…
I stayed late into the night over at the #OccupyWallStreet protest (OWS). For one, everybody felt today would be a huge challenge/ hurdle for the movement. Essentially, using the false pretext of cleaning the park, the Bloomberg administration was looking to evict the protestors from the site…

The place was crowded last night and people were prepared to do whatever they could -- nonviolently -- to protect the infant movement. There was a large teach-in facilitated by legal experts and veteran activists on the nuances of civil disobedience. Varying degrees of “arrestibility” were discussed and when the call went out for those willing to be arrested for the cause, literally scores of hands were raised. It was a powerful moment…

Everything was well-organized, strategically thought-out. This isn’t just a bunch of kids going out there going wild (as even the business community has recognized, even while so-called progressives scratch and sniff); everything you see is planned beforehand, with all scenarios considered. For example, members of the National Lawyers Guild advised participants of the possible consequences of arrests, spoke about who shouldn’t volunteer (for example, people like me), contingency plans were discussed -- in short, the actions here are the result of committed, intelligent (mostly young) people.

By 12AM last night, the City already knew that the “clean-up/ eviction” had been postponed by the “owners” of the property. I believe this wasn’t the result of the powers-that-be all of sudden getting down with the cause. I think the public call for OWS support by large unions put the scare into these bitches.

Still, Bloomberg at no time decided it was a good idea to relay that information to the protestors. In the meantime, the group at OWS was getting fired up, anxiously preparing for what they felt would be a violent assault on their community. This is just another example, among many, that the Bloomberg administration is looking to provoke the protest in an effort to discredit the protestors. This morning, after news had filtered out that the clean-up/ eviction had faltered, protestors marched and were immediately confronted with violence, with at least one officer punching a peaceful participant in the face. Legal observers posted at various locations of the marches, back up the protestors claims of unprovoked violence by the NYPD. This video clearly shows this is true:

Tomorrow is a big day for the nascent movement (click here) with a coordinated global action scheduled to take place. Today, families are participating by joining a child-friendly camp out at Liberty Square. Parents are bringing their sons and daughters to Occupy Wall Street to educate them about our broken economic system, and alternatives that could help save the planet and provide a future for the next generation.

As the movement grows, so do its structure and organization, and the message -- restoring democracy in America by ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington -- is and has always been clear.

Better put:

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments.

¡Pa’lante!