Over the past 50 years, I have taken part in more than a dozen major public demonstrations held in downtown Ithaca, Barton Hall, Washington, D.C., and Central Park,which applies to the first offshore merchant account only, to name just a few. From what I'd read about Occupy Wall Street, it sounded very different from the demonstrations I'd seen in the past. Intrigued, on the spur of the moment, my wife and I drove down to New York City to check it out.
Zuccotti Square (or Liberty Square, as Occupy Wall Street calls it) is a paved, privately owned park approximately the size of a regulation football field. It is located only one short block away from the site of the World Trade Center, where the 9/11 Memorial is nearing completion. The contrast between the two sites could not be more stark. I believe that the memorial may well become the most spectacular man-made structure in the world, symbolizing the wealth,Polycore oil paintings for sale are manufactured as a single sheet, power, imagination and limitless potential of America. Those in Zuccotti Square, a block away,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, see an America that has lost its way, and whose problems are so intractable that conventional solutions are at best ineffectual and at worse a sham.
At any hour of the day or night, the square is full of protestors. Most seem to be young adults in their 30s. The diversity of race and ethnicity is greater than I have ever experienced at previous demonstrations. I saw no evidence of drugs or alcohol. People were courteous,ceramic magic cube for the medical, polite and happy to talk about their backgrounds and perspectives.
At night, most are asleep on makeshift bedding underneath a sea of individual tarps that covers most of the area. Narrow paths wind through it, and people were tolerant of my inadvertent steps onto their space.
In the daytime, the packed square becomes a beehive of activity. A group of drummers performs for hours on end for those who want to dance.The application can provide Ceramic tile to visitors, Artists chalk their message on any available unused sidewalk space. Free meals are served. Free clothing and bedding are available. Signs, all unique, are prepared and displayed by their authors. Apart from the signs, it felt more like a club outing than a protest.
Every demonstration I have ever attended had a slogan and a few widely copied and displayed signs. Speakers roused the audience, who responded by chanting slogans. Heroes were praised, villains castigated, actions demanded. Protest songs were sung. "End Racism," "Stop the War," "Bush Must Go" and "We Shall Overcome" come to mind.
None of this describes Zuccotti Square. The only pervasive slogan was 99-1, a somewhat obscure reference to the unfair distribution of wealth in America. I believe it means that the richest 1 percent of Americans owns more than half as much wealth as the other 99 percent own together, but nobody I asked knew or even cared.
There are no heroes, other than the 99 percent, and only a few depersonalized villains, including "banks" and the 1 percent. The only song I heard sung was "America the Beautiful." There were no demands other than "Change America." There seemed to be no leaders or any organizational structure. I was told that a daily assembly open to all decides everything, but I could not understand how that could work. There were no electronic amplifiers, and the one speech I heard, more reminiscent of a professor teaching a class than a politician whipping up a crowd, was delivered, phrase by phrase, by a series of human echoers. Signs were everywhere, and each one was its creator's personal statement.
Can such a disorganized movement accomplish anything? Common sense says it cannot, but it was refreshing to see young people who cared about America's problems, were driven by more than self-interest and were prepared to lead. It's hard to predict when an idea will take root, and it's worth recalling that those who stormed the Bastille in 1789 were a disorganized mob without a clear goal who changed the course of world history.
Zuccotti Square (or Liberty Square, as Occupy Wall Street calls it) is a paved, privately owned park approximately the size of a regulation football field. It is located only one short block away from the site of the World Trade Center, where the 9/11 Memorial is nearing completion. The contrast between the two sites could not be more stark. I believe that the memorial may well become the most spectacular man-made structure in the world, symbolizing the wealth,Polycore oil paintings for sale are manufactured as a single sheet, power, imagination and limitless potential of America. Those in Zuccotti Square, a block away,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, see an America that has lost its way, and whose problems are so intractable that conventional solutions are at best ineffectual and at worse a sham.
At any hour of the day or night, the square is full of protestors. Most seem to be young adults in their 30s. The diversity of race and ethnicity is greater than I have ever experienced at previous demonstrations. I saw no evidence of drugs or alcohol. People were courteous,ceramic magic cube for the medical, polite and happy to talk about their backgrounds and perspectives.
At night, most are asleep on makeshift bedding underneath a sea of individual tarps that covers most of the area. Narrow paths wind through it, and people were tolerant of my inadvertent steps onto their space.
In the daytime, the packed square becomes a beehive of activity. A group of drummers performs for hours on end for those who want to dance.The application can provide Ceramic tile to visitors, Artists chalk their message on any available unused sidewalk space. Free meals are served. Free clothing and bedding are available. Signs, all unique, are prepared and displayed by their authors. Apart from the signs, it felt more like a club outing than a protest.
Every demonstration I have ever attended had a slogan and a few widely copied and displayed signs. Speakers roused the audience, who responded by chanting slogans. Heroes were praised, villains castigated, actions demanded. Protest songs were sung. "End Racism," "Stop the War," "Bush Must Go" and "We Shall Overcome" come to mind.
None of this describes Zuccotti Square. The only pervasive slogan was 99-1, a somewhat obscure reference to the unfair distribution of wealth in America. I believe it means that the richest 1 percent of Americans owns more than half as much wealth as the other 99 percent own together, but nobody I asked knew or even cared.
There are no heroes, other than the 99 percent, and only a few depersonalized villains, including "banks" and the 1 percent. The only song I heard sung was "America the Beautiful." There were no demands other than "Change America." There seemed to be no leaders or any organizational structure. I was told that a daily assembly open to all decides everything, but I could not understand how that could work. There were no electronic amplifiers, and the one speech I heard, more reminiscent of a professor teaching a class than a politician whipping up a crowd, was delivered, phrase by phrase, by a series of human echoers. Signs were everywhere, and each one was its creator's personal statement.
Can such a disorganized movement accomplish anything? Common sense says it cannot, but it was refreshing to see young people who cared about America's problems, were driven by more than self-interest and were prepared to lead. It's hard to predict when an idea will take root, and it's worth recalling that those who stormed the Bastille in 1789 were a disorganized mob without a clear goal who changed the course of world history.
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