Marching to Wall Street

Arrests at Wall St. October 5,2011 from Leith McMenamin on Vimeo.
The night of October 5 Occupy Wall Street protesters attempted to take Wall Street. The day started peacefully with union and student marches to Foley Square and then down to Zuccotti park, but ended in a rush of police brutality, mace, and Fox News reporters getting beaten with night sticks. I would have gotten more video but my phone died while filming the arrests (hence why the video ends with people shouting "JERRY!")

New School student, Muggs Fogarty, marching to Foley Square

Many parents brought their children, whether in strollers or on their shoulders

New School Students congregated at Foley Square...

With a banner that read "Arab Spring, European Summer, American Fall"

This man let students borrow his flags, he brought a bag of flags with various peace symbols on them to the march.

Trying to leave Foley Square was worse than driving in LA.

Cops keeping protestors off the street near Wall St.

Organized Occupation?

Many of the protestors at Occupy Wall Street are working to appear focused and organized but the group’s general appearance says otherwise.

Zuccotti Park looks like a mess. The center of the park is littered with sleeping bags, tarps, and duffel bags and backpacks. Above that there are booths and tables spread about, filled in with a few dozen people. Police officers stand in pairs surrounding the protestors.

And yet some structure can be found amongst the seeming chaos that is Zuccotti Park. Signs point out key gathering points for those eager to assist. Protestors are collected around tables distributing the “Occupied Wall Street Journal”, gathering stacks and taking them throughout the park to hand out to anyone around. Others have gathered around a woman being interviewed by a network television news station. At the top of the park a large group had collected around a set of drummers, holding signs and posing for pictures.

But nowhere can be found a central leader. The gatherings are arbitrary, one passionate young woman being interviewed has garnered quite a crowd around her as she yells about debt relief and student loans, yet no one around seemed to know why she in particular had been singled out.

When asked if they had seen any signs of central organization, two police officers standing nearby said there was none. “It’s a shanty town” one of the officers said, both of whom wished to remain unnamed, “do you see anything that looks like order?”

Finding The Center of Protest (Team North)

Wednesday, October 5th--Zuccotti Park, spoken of as “Liberty Square” by protesters was last wednesday around 1pm an organized mess of mingling bodies: protesters and members of the media packed the small square situated on Broadway and Liberty Street a few blocks away from New York’s famous Wall Street.

Troy Gregory, 21, from the Bronx said that one of the major difficulties the protest faces is that everyone comes protesting something a little bit different.

“They feel like they’ve come to protest capitalism which in turn they feel like it’s the banking system” Gregory says, “But there is more to capitalism than just banks.” When asked what he himself has at stake Gregory names “separation through the social classes, people’s freedom” and what he feels is a “crime against humanity”

A walk from one end of the square to the other one can’t go with out noticing the sheer amount of things there are to step over: blankets, bodies, backpacks, cardboard signs, food , a couple of small dogs. Among these things there are a few organized stations a “medic” area ,an area where you can grab free food , an info table, and a place to create signs .

While the grounds of the protest themselves look a little chaotic the New York protest does have a good deal of organization, it’s website occupywallstreet.org gives an updated schedule that shows the daily happenings and general assembly meetings; the website and protest are ran on what the website has termed “open source” participation, meaning anyone can contribute, you just have to show up to the meeting.

October 5th, Working Groups in Zuccotti Park

October 5- Zuccotti Park is a maze, first entering, it is difficult to tell where to go first, TV cameras are everywhere. People are discussing, wearing signs or meditating. But the protestors have made sure that it is not as disorganized as it may seem. In Zuccotti Park, where protestors are occupying Wall Street, signs hover overhead notifying visitors on where to find information or help. The signs advertise ‘legal,’ ‘media’ and ‘general information’ among others. Beneath each sign is a group of a few people manning desks. A person with a red cross on their arm will every once in a while wind through the crowds. Towering above will come voices that say ‘mic check!’ a call for the people surrounding to repeat their announcement. Occupy Wall Street Journal Newspapers are being handed out.

Each station or person with a red cross refers to a different working group. Working Groups are a phenomenon of the protest in an attempt to organize the event and meet the needs of the protestors. At 7pm every night The General Assembly, a gathering led by a chosen group of people called 'facilitators,' meets and those who feel the need for an organized program in the confines of the park can bring it up and have it be accepted as a Working Group or rejected.

“We have between 10 and 20 Working Groups, but it’s hard to know exactly.” Said Cara Hartley a Brooklyn resident working with the Community Outreach group. According to the General Assembly website there are 20 groups, but the numbers are predicted to grow “everyday, we are getting constant submissions for working groups.” Hartley said. Some are more utilitarian than others including the food, health and media groups. Others include arts and culture and the Info Desk Working Group. There is a subset called Thematic Groups which deal with discussion of a topic.

Anyone can join a Working Group and many have difficulties keeping up with those who are more experienced. Alex Nathanson, a photographer and protestor on Wall Street is working for the Internet Working Group. “I know some coding.” He said, “but I think they’re all really good hackers or something, I learned so much from them.” He added. Some working groups get more aid than others. Workers from the Nurse’s Union comes to train the medical team on EMT and how to be safe from the cold. The General Assembly website shows posts of professionals who offer to help in the training or the working groups including medics and social workers. “There is so much skill sharing in the working groups.” Said Nathanson.

The working groups act as structure. There is one for each of the basic needs of the people. The goal is to create horizontal government where each individual can do any job, according to Evan Wagner, a Brooklyn resident. “We’re trying not to create a hierarchy but it's beginning to happen.” Said Wagner. “An example of this hierarchy,” he added “is that one side of the park gets Internet access while the other side doesn’t. The technology group is working on that now." This means that there is not an equal access to information.

Though this form of social organization cannot be taken so easily out of the park, and it is difficult to imagine it in an outside setting. “I just hope that this reaffirms the importance of the Unions.” Said Nathanson, “Because it’s about the workers.” Wagner referred to the park as a laboratory, “It’s a space where we can practice these ideas.” He said.