Guest Post: Occupied

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The following is a guest post written by DC's Nicole Franklin of Becoming, who traveled to New York City for the Occupy Wall Street actions:

Well-organized, peaceful and crawling with media. Occupy Wall Street has come under scrutiny from multiple sources for lacking a cohesive message and a failure to issue demands. Though things are changing rapidly, when I left DC a few days ago OccupyKSt had not coalesced for example, here is a walking tour of what I heard and saw at Liberty Plaza.

Information booths are posted at the entrances to the park. I picked up a flyer welcoming us to the event  that contained guidelines on how to behave during the important general assembly meetings, what to expect and what to bring. As we entered the park the first thing that struck me was the large presence of both the media and the police. As I learned later in a peaceful protest workshop, the police can arrest you at anytime, for any reason and the recent violence and mass arrests probably contributed to the welcoming but tense atmosphere. I made way to the media umbrella located about half way through the park where I conducted a quick interview with one of the media representatives. Though informed and friendly, for technical reasons I will not publish the audio file here. Because the use of bullhorns is illegal the residents use the “human mic.”, cell phones and text messaging to communicate inside the park.

Liberty Plaza is flanked by mosaics of hand made signsthat range in tone, but the overall message is the now familiar rally cry ,“We Are the 99%”.  Sounds of live music drift through the park – drums, guitar, voices, a few people dancing. At one point a man walked through with a large sign reading “Nazi Bankers” and shouting inflammatory remarks. Residents quickly held up signs next to his letting the crowd know that his remarks were not associated with the official Occupy movement.

As I was leaving the park this young man caught my eye. His simple statement of fear and determination captures what I believe a lot of those who have been watching this movement unfold may wrestle with. We hesitate, we question, we fear for security but we do have an opinion, even if it must be expressed silently. Still, regardless of personal and political views, standing up for what you believe is worthy of note, respectable and patriotic. I applaud those who have taken up residency in Libery Plaza and those around the country who are risking their security to speak out at other demonstrations.