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OCCUPY WALL STREET, SPECIAL EDITIONTHE INDYPENDENTIssue #171, November 2 – November 22, 2011A FREE PAPER FOR FREE PEOPLEJACLYN SINQUETTRADICALRUSTBELTp12DEMANDS,WHO NEEDS ’EM?p5INDYPENDENT.ORGLABOR & OWSp8


THE INDYPENDENT2 NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 THE INDYPENDENTTHE INDYPENDENT, INC.666 BROADWAY, SUITE 500NEW YORK, NY 10012PHONE: 212-904-1282BOARD OF DIRECTORS:Ellen Davidson, Anna Gold,John TarletonGENERAL MANAGER:Arun GuptaSENIOR EDITOR/COORDINATOR:Elizabeth HendersonEDITORIAL COORDINATOR:Manny JalonschiILLUSTRATIONS COORDINATOR:Frank ReynosoPHOTO COORDINATOR:Amelia Holowaty KralesDESIGNERS:Steven Arnerich, Anna Gold,Mikael TarkelaGENERAL INQUIRIES:contact@indypendent.orgSUBMISSIONS AND NEWS TIPS:submissions@indypendent.orgSUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS:indypendent.org/donateADVERTISING AND PROMOTION:ads@indypendent.orgREADER COMMENTS:letters@indypendent.orgVOLUNTEER:volunteer@indypendent.orgINDYKIDS:info@indykids.org<strong>The</strong> <strong>Indypendent</strong> is a New York-basedfree newspaper published 16 timesa year on Wednesdays for our printand online readership of more than200,000. It is produced by a networkof volunteers who report, write, edit,draw, design, take photos, distribute,fundraise and provide website management.Since 2000, more than 650 journalists,artists and media activists haveparticipated in this project. Winner ofmore than 50 New York CommunityMedia Alliance awards, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indypendent</strong>is funded by subscriptions, readerdonations, grants, merchandise sales,benefits and advertising. We accept submissionsthat look at news and culturethrough a critical lens, exploring howsystems of power — economic, politicaland social — affect the lives of peoplelocally and globally. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indypendent</strong>reserves the right to edit articles forlength, content and clarity.<strong>The</strong> <strong>Indypendent</strong> is affiliated with theNew York City Independent MediaCenter, which is part of the global Indymediamovement, an internationalnetwork dedicated to fostering grassrootsmedia production, and withIndyKids, a children’s newspaper.NYC IMC is an open publishing website(nyc.indymedia.org).VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTORS: Sam Alcoff,Bennett Baumer, Nikki Saint Bautista,Liz Borda, Ellen Davidson, Renée Feltz,Seth Fisher, Sophie Forbes, SusanneFuchs, Mary Annaïse Heglar, IrinaIvanova, Alex Kane, Rob LaQuinta,Ashley Marinaccio, GB Martin, MikeNewton, Jaisal Noor, Nicholas Powers,Sophie Ragsdale, Ann Schneider, JaclynSinquett, Marlena Buczek Smith, ZacharySmith, John Tarleton, Julie Turkewitz,Steven Wishnia and Amy Wolf.ALISON KALNIK, 20, from WhitePlains, N.Y. is a student at SUNYPurchase. She routinely comesdown to the park to support theprotesters.NOVA RODRIGUEZ, 18, is a junior in high school. He lives in Astoria, Queenswith his mother, who has been laid off several times, forcing him to pick up twojobs. He’s slept in the park since Sept. 17. “I know my mom is proud of me becauseI’m fighting for her,” he says. What three words would he use to describethis movement? “A great start.”ELAN COHEN, 23, of Edgemont, N.Y. isa student at SUNY Purchase. He is anEMT volunteer at Liberty Park.PAUL GRANT, 20, of East Orange, N.J. came to Liberty Park because he isfrustrated with the cycle of crime and incarceration that is paralyzing his community.A week before this picture was taken, he met DI SIERRA (right), 19, ofBrooklyn. “I feel happy because I found someone in my life that I can talk to,” hesays. “In my community I’d like to see a lot of the killing stop, a lot of violenceneeds to stop. If everybody can get together like this, there’s no ‘we can’t’ — it’sjust ‘we can.’”JULIE TURKEWITZ AMELIA HOLOWATY KRALES JULIE TURKEWITZAMELIA HOLOWATY KRALES‘WE CONAs far as I canunderstand itmyself, here’swhy I burstinto tears atthe OccupyWall Streetcamp.AMELIA HOLOWATY KRALESPEARL JIMENEZ, 17, of Queens,has slept at Liberty Park since Sept.17. “I am from Queens, but now I’mfrom here,” Jimenez says.KANASKA CARTER, 26, is a musician from Newfoundland, Canada. She hasrelocated to Liberty Park to be a part of what she sees as the beginning ofa global transformation. One thing that has surprised Carter over the pastmonth is the amount of police brutality. However, she says, “We cannot hatethe cops. <strong>The</strong>y’re part of the 99 percent, too. A lot of them are saying, ‘I’drather just be home with my kids right now.’ <strong>The</strong>re’s going to be some thattry to provoke us, but I think if we want to get anywhere, we have to showthem love.”AMELIA HOLOWATY KRALESDAVID SIROONIAN, 32, of New YorkCity is a teacher at the High Schoolof Economics and Finance, which islocated across the street from LibertyPark. Siroonian visits the parkwhenever he can, including duringhis free periods from teaching.JULIE TURKEWITZ


FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLYTAIN MULTITUDES’I was moved, first of all, by what everyone notices first: the variety of people involved,the range of ages, races, classes, colors, cultures. In other words, the 99percent. I saw conversations taking place between people and groups of peoplewhom I’ve never seen talking with such openness and sympathy in all the years(which is to say, my entire life) I’ve spent in New York: grannies talking to goths, abiker with piercings and tattoos talking to a woman in a Hermes scarf. I was struckby how well-organized everything was, and, despite the charge of “vagueness”one keeps reading in the mainstream media, by the clarity — clarity of purpose,clarity of intention, clarity of method, clarity of understanding of the most basicsocial and economic realities. I kept thinking about how, since this movementstarted, I’ve been waking up in the morning without the dread (or at least withoutthe total dread) with which I’ve woken every morning for so long, the vertiginoussense that we’re all falling off a cliff and no one (or almost no one) is saying anythingabout it. In Zuccotti Park I felt a kind of lightening of a weight, a lessening ofthe awful isolation and powerlessness of knowing we’re being lied to and robbedon a daily basis and that everyone knows it and keeps quiet and endures it; theterror of thinking that my own grandchildren will suffer for whatever has beenparalyzing us until just now. I kept feeling these intense surges of emotion — untilI saw a placard with a quote from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”: “I am large,I contain multitudes.” And that was when I just lost it and stood there and wept.—Francine ProseFrancine Prose is the author of many bestselling works of fiction. Her latestnovel, My American Life, was published in April 2011. This piece originallyappeared on occupywriters.org.Alberto, of Coney Island, Brooklynsays, “I’m part of the 99 percent becauseI guess it just wasn’t meant tobe.”Photos & Captions by Liz Borda, Amelia Holowaty Krales, Ashley Marinaccio and Julie TurkewitzASHLEY MARINACCIORoz McKevitt, 67, of Long Beach, New York, says, “I have work, kids andgrandchildren and I care. I want a future for everyone and what’s fair is fair.We want the American dream back.”ASHLEY MARINACCIOChris Ruiz, 19, had been sleeping inLiberty Park for six days when thisphoto was taken. “I’m here for tworeasons. First, global equality, andsecond, the independence of PuertoRico — because of America andSpain we lost our native heritage.”LIZ BORDAGretchen VanDyck, 23, of New York City says, “I oppose the negative effects ofneoliberal capitalism on everyday life.”ASHLEY MARINACCIOKristen Schall, 27, of New York City says, “I have over $100,000 in studentdebt, I’m underemployed and trying to live like a ‘grown-up.’”ASHLEY MARINACCIONan Terrie, 18, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,came to Liberty Park on Sept. 17 andhelps with the on-site kitchen.AMELIA HOLOWATY KRALESDiego Espitia, 18, of South Jamaica, Queens, says “I used to have a home, girlfriendand job and lost it all. I’m sick of these wars and people getting laid off.”ASHLEY MARINACCIOTHE INDYPENDENT NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 3


REPRESSIONPolicing the 99%6 NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 THE INDYPENDENTMIKAEL TARKELABy Elizabeth Henderson &Manny JalonschiIn New York City, participants in theburgeoning Occupy Wall Street movementhave been confronted with a widearray of police reactions — from mass arrestscurrently numbering over 800 to MayorMichael Bloomberg’s reluctant toleranceof the occupation. As <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indypendent</strong> goesto press, there are more than 400 occupationsacross the United States — from bigurban centers to smaller cities and towns.Below is a sampling of police responses tothese encampments.PORTLAND, ORE. – Since the occupationbegan Oct. 6, protesters have set up twocamps near City Hall, with only one majorstandoff so far, when eight demonstratorswere arrested Oct. 13 for blocking traffic.While the City Council has yet to take an officialposition on the occupations, City CommissionerAmanda Fritz told protesters Oct.18 that “the City Council and I believe…that the U.S. Constitution’s rights of assemblyand free speech trump the anti-campingordinance.” Mayor Sam Adams, who is incharge of the Portland Police Bureau, hasallowed the camp to remain despite citypolicies against camping on public property.OAKLAND, CALIF. – On Oct. 25 policeraided Frank Ogawa Plaza, leading to 85 arrests.Several hundred officers in riot gearswept through the park just before 5 a.m.Police dispersed the crowd with projectiletear gas canisters, including one that crashedinto the skull of 24-year-old Iraq War veteranScott Olsen, who was hospitalizedwith critical injuries that night and placedin a medically-induced coma. City officialscited health and sanitation c<strong>once</strong>rns. Within12 hours of the raid, 500 occupiers and supporterssurrounded the park, challengingwhat they deemed the illegal eviction of afree speech protest. “In the end, I think weallowed people to exercise their rights tofree speech and free assembly,” interim PoliceChief Howard Jordan told reporters at arecent press conference.LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – With approximately700 people camping out each nightoutside of City Hall, Occupy Los Angelesset up an additional encampment in nearbyFletcher Bowron Square on Oct. 19. Los AngelesPolice Commander Blake Chow told theLos Angeles Times that protesters have been“cooperative” and “respectful.” So far therehave been no arrests directly related to theoccupations. <strong>The</strong> Los Angeles City Councileven passed a resolution in support of theoccupation on Oct. 12, which included acall for a “responsible banking” ordinance.PHOENIX, ARIZ. – Forty-six protesterswere arrested by Phoenix riot police afterthe first day of the occupation on Oct. 15.<strong>The</strong> incident occurred when demonstratorsmarched from Cesar Chavez Plaza toMargaret T. Hance Park and refused toleave after the park closed. As of Oct. 19,the city announced protesters would be permittedto spend the night at the plaza, andapproximately 50 to 100 protesters gatherdaily at the encampment, with a contingentof around 20 staying overnight.DENVER, COLO. – Police clashed multipletimes with protesters, and things came toa head the weekend of Oct. 14 when Denverpolice arrested a total of 50 people anddismantled the three-week-old encampmentlocated at Lincoln Park. On Oct. 15 policeused force and pepper spray in response toone protester’s attempt to re-establish thekitchen (known as the “Thunderdome”).<strong>The</strong> protesters have since relocated to CivicCenter Park, with a core group of 80 protesterssleeping outside each night.DES MOINES, IOWA – After almost a weekof camping outside of the State Capitol, protestersagreed to move to a nearby city parkOct. 14. <strong>The</strong> relocation followed an Oct.9 incident in which Iowa State Patrol officersarrested 29 demonstrators on chargesof trespassing. Sally Frank, a lawyer whois assisting those who were arrested, told<strong>The</strong> Iowa Independent that officers showeda “level of brutality … I hadn’t seen in theover 20 years I’d been here.” According toFrank, police used pepper spray, cuffed thedemonstrators too tightly and dragged themaway. As a result, two dozen protesters areseeking a jury trial. A date has yet to be set.CHICAGO – Protesters attempting to relocatetheir encampment near the FederalReserve to Grant Park faced arrests on theevening of Oct. 23 for remaining in the parkpast 11 p.m., in violation of a city ordinance.<strong>The</strong> Chicago Police Department arrested130 people. “Everybody was very peacefuland smiling and there was no violence,though a lot of chanting,” Occupy Chicagospokesperson Joshua Kaunert told NationalPublic Radio.ATLANTA, GA – On Oct. 10, police toldprotesters to leave the park or face arrest.Many of the occupiers decided to stay, lockingarms around the perimeter of WoodruffPark, a six-acre downtown greenspace thatoccupiers renamed “Troy Davis Park.” Laterin the day, dozens of police in riot gear surroundedthe park. Police and protesters werein a tense standoff for several hours until thepolice retreated, allowing the encampmentto continue. On Oct. 25, Atlanta PoliceDepartment officers returned, arresting 53protesters for violating city curfew laws.ALBANY, N.Y. – On Oct. 21 Gov. AndrewCuomo pressured city officials includingMayor Gerald Jennings into using law enforcementto disperse the crowd of morethan 700 people that rallied around the 30tents that formed the center of this upstateoccupation. That night dozens of local policeofficers prepared to move in to arrestthose who were camped past curfew on cityproperty. With the approach of curfew, theoccupation moved across an invisible linefrom state-owned land to city-owned landin the park. With protesters now outside ofthe state’s jurisdiction local police canceledthe raid of the park, defying both GovernorCuomo and Mayor Jennings.WASHINGTON, D.C. – <strong>The</strong> nation’s capitalboasts two occupations, one at McPhersonSquare, which began Oct. 1, and anotherthat started at Freedom Plaza Oct. 6. Asof late October, the National Park ServicePolice, which administers the two parks,was allowing the two encampments to continue,although they both violate regulationsagainst camping and cooking. <strong>The</strong>rehave been no arrests at the occupationsthemselves, although a few dozen peoplehave been arrested during protests at theHart Senate Building, the Supreme Court,a House Armed Services Committee hearingand other sites of direct civil resistanceactions.BOSTON – This occupation, which beganSept. 27, faced mass arrests early on themorning of Oct. 11 after police issued anultimatum demanding protesters vacate thenewly renovated Rose Fitzgerald KennedyGreenway and retreat to their original encampmentin Dewey Square. More than 200Boston and Transit Police officers arrestedapproximately 100 occupiers, including agroup of veterans.


MOVEMENTSA Left-Wing Tea Party?By Arun GuptaOne month into the Occupy WallStreet protest, many are asking ifthis new movement is just a “leftwingTea Party.”Definitely not. This is not a party, like theTea Party, that seeks to directly affect policyand the electoral process. Because it isexplicitly leaderless, it is difficult to imaginea Michelle Bachmann or Eric Cantoremerging as a standard-bearer of the OWSmovement. Given their reliance on WallStreet money, as well as radical demandsfrom many protesters, the Democrats willfind it almost impossible to channel “the 99percent” into an electoral tidal wave nextyear the way the Republicans rode the TeaParty to victory in 2010.But that does not mean comparisons tothe Tea Party should be dismissed. <strong>The</strong>reare striking parallels between the twomovements when viewed through political,social and historical lenses.Some similarities are obvious. <strong>The</strong> TeaParty and OWS alike oppose the bailoutsof the banks orchestrated by both parties inWashington. <strong>The</strong> two movements are thickwith people who feel they have little say inthe political process. And supporters oneach side think the middle-class “AmericanDream” is nearly extinct.When the two movements are viewed asa social force, the resemblance deepens. Ihave interviewed Tea Party members andprotesters at Liberty Park who discuss theirinvolvement in comparable terms. <strong>The</strong>yspeak of a personal “awakening,” of findinginspiration in a gathering of kindred spirits,and of not having been political before.In fact, both thrive on bringing newpeople into politics. As such, they can beconsidered populist movements and shareanother commonality – each creates a newnotion of “the people.”<strong>The</strong> Tea Party’s rallying cries include “wethe people” and “take America back.” Itsvision of the people is one of self-reliant,industrious and frugal Americans whothrough moral example and political forcewould return this country to the greatnesspioneered by the Founding Fathers. <strong>The</strong>Occupy movement is inchoate, but already“the 99 percent” is its version of the people:those whose dreams and aspirations havebeen squashed by the greedy and powerhungry, but who can revive fairness andjustice as national ideals.For both movements, the legitimatepeople is complemented by the illegitimateother. For the Tea Party, this takes the formof liberals, unions, immigrants, Muslims,welfare recipients and Obama. It is anyoneportrayed as unscrupulously profiting, inpower or money, off the American system.For the Occupy movement, it is the 1percent, the catch-all for bankers, corporateexecutives, the super-rich and their politicalallies who have an iron grip on the economyand politics.Another similarity is that the success ofthe Tea Party and OWS is owed to theirvagueness, at least initially. Each has uniteddisparate coalitions under its banner.For example, the Tea Party’s historicreferences appeal to people who feel thatsocial and political changes in the lastfew decades have made their countryunrecognizable. It unites those who opposeunions and immigration, favor smallgovernment (apart from the sprawlingmilitary-security apparatus) and want areturn to the gold standard, cuts in socialspending, unlimited gun rights and lessregulation of business and markets. <strong>The</strong>common theme is that parasitical and selfishgroups have sapped America’s power.Likewise, the Occupy movement has beencriticized for a lack of demands, but whenyou speak to individuals there is no lackof ideas: better-paying jobs, governmentfundedjobs, single-payer healthcare,student-debt forgiveness, a moratoriumon home foreclosures, cutting militaryspending, saving Social Security andMedicare, ending the attacks on unions.One secret of its success, analogous to theTea Party’s obsession with the undeserving,is that it allows many groups and individualsto see their demands as equivalent toeveryone else’s because the opponent is thesame: Wall Street.Most Tea Party and Occupy partisans feelGB MARTINsomething has gone fundamentally wrong inAmerica, and they are united in envisioninga different type of society. It’s a mistake toreduce either movement to politics or policy;each is motivated by values and idealizedways of relating to one another. But this iswhere the differences become stark.<strong>The</strong> Tea Party embraces heroic, ruggedindividualism where freedom and libertyare best secured through the free market.In reality, the Tea Party ideology is reallyabout a suburban-based nostalgia for whitesupremacy. Its disdain for governmentsubsidies does not extend to the interestdeduction for homeowners and othersupports for a suburban lifestyle.On the other hand, OWS believes in acollective economy and decision-making,as seen in the General Assembly decisionmakingand free exchange of goods inLiberty Park. Activists think increasingaccess to public goods, starting with thepublic squares themselves, is the way toachieve social harmony.<strong>The</strong>se radically divergent worldviewsare matched by distinct demographics.<strong>The</strong> average member of the Tea Party isin his or her 50s, whereas the typical WallStreet occupier looks to be a recent collegegraduate. This probably explains why thetwo also have different relations to history.<strong>The</strong> Tea Party romanticizes the AmericanRevolution, while OWS is inspired byuprisings and occupations from the ArabSpring to Europe in which youth say theyare trying to reclaim the future.It would be tempting to define the divideas one between those who support anunfettered free market because governmenthas too much power and those who wanta robust social welfare state, or evensocialism, because corporations have toomuch power. That is just part of it. <strong>The</strong> factthat genuinely popular movements couldblossom so quickly at both political polesindicates how hollow the center has become.<strong>The</strong> OWS and the Tea Party movementsmay have diametrically opposed visions ofsociety and power relations, but they bothappeal to growing ranks of people whobelieve the system no longer works for them.Whatever their differences, they both presentchallenges that will not disappear becauseof some policy reforms or reshuffling of thecast in Washington.WHERE DO I GET MY COPY OF THE INDYPENDENT ?BELOW 14 TH ST.WBAI - 99.5 FM120 Wall St., 10th fl.DC 37 Headquarters125 Barclay St.Bluestockings172 Allen St.Kate’s Joint58 Avenue BHousing Works126 Crosby St.Hudson Park Library66 Leroy St.Seward Park Library192 East Broadway at Jefferson St.Whole Earth Bakery130 St. Mark’s Pl.Mamoun’s Falafel Restaurant22 St. Mark’s Pl.Brecht Forum451 West St.Shakespeare Books716 Broadway at Washington Pl.<strong>The</strong>ater for the New City155 First Ave.14 TH TO 96 TH ST.Epiphany Library228 E. 23rd St.Chelsea Square RestaurantW. 23rd St. & 9th Ave.Manhattan Neighborhood Network537 W. 59th St.Muhlenberg Library209 W. 23rd St.St. Agnes Library444 Amsterdam Ave. (btwn W. 81stand 82nd Sts.)ABOVE 96 TH ST.George Bruce Library518 W. 125th St.Book Culture526 W. 112th St.Morningside Heights Library2900 BroadwayHarlem Library9 W. 124th St.Hamilton Grange Library503 W. 145th St.Uptown Sister’s BooksW. 156th St. & AmsterdamBloomingdale Library150 W. 100th St.BROOKLYNBrooklyn Museum200 Eastern Pkwy.BAM30 Lafayette Ave.Tillie’s of Brooklyn248 DeKalb Ave.Tea LoungeUnion St. & Seventh Ave.Video Gallery310 Seventh Ave.Ozzie’s Coffee Shop249 Fifth Ave.57 Seventh Ave.Verb CaféBedford Ave. & N. 5th St.Pillow Café505 Myrtle Ave.Sisters Community Hardware900 Fulton St.Pacific Street Library25 Fourth Ave.Outpost Café1014 Fulton St.Blackbird Café197 Bedford Ave.’sNice Café315 Fifth Ave.High Bridge Library78 168th St. & Woodcrest Ave.Bedford Library496 Franklin Ave.Parkside Deli203 Parkside Ave.BRONXBrook Park141st St. & Brook Ave.Mott Haven Library321 E. 140th St.High Bridge Library78 W. 168th St.Mi Casa Bakery18 E. Bedford Park Blvd.STATEN ISLANDSt. George Library Center5 Central Ave.Port Richmond Library75 Bennett St.Dot Com Cafe36 Bay St.Everything Goes Book Café208 Bay St.A FREE PAPERFOR FREE PEOPLEPhone: 212-221-0521E-mail: contact@indypendent.orgTHE INDYPENDENT NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 7


LABOROut of the Union Halls and into the Streets:LABOR FINDS A YOUNG SOULMATEBy Ari Paul8 NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 THE INDYPENDENTIn unions all across the United States —with a few exceptions — radical membersand staffers have been waiting forGodot, dreaming of a moment when theirleadership takes the membership away fromthe next contract or organizing battle and toa broader agenda of economic justice. <strong>The</strong>ywondered, for instance, when their presidentswould start mobilizing to push Congressfor universal health care rather thanbargaining with employers for an attractiveinsurance package for their members, astrategy that might boost a union re-electioncampaign but won’t alter the lack of accessto healthcare and the underlying structureof inequality.<strong>The</strong> radicals from the Sixties, formercollege anti-sweatshop activists and selfeducatedrank-and-filers are a minority in asmall club, as just less than 12 percent of thenation’s workforce is unionized. And as theU.S. labor movement’s influence has beenwaning since the 1970s, these radicals havegone to work each day, putting aside theirhopes of mobilizing the working class in ananti-capitalist revolution, and focused onelecting Democrats, easing laws c<strong>once</strong>rningunion elections and defending pensions.But something has happened. With theOccupy Wall Street protests well into theirsecond month and growing in numbers,unions, including the nation’s main laborfederation, the AFL-CIO, have come outstrongly in support. “It’s important torecognize that there’s a long stretch of thehistory of the mainstream labor movementwhere it would be hard to imagine themcoming out in favor of an anti-capitalistdirect action,” said Janice Fine, a professorat the School of Management and LaborRelations at Rutgers University at NewBrunswick.BROAD ALLIANCESIn a sense, the broadening of labor’s agendahas been going on for years as unions havefought to stay relevant in a post-industrialeconomy. <strong>The</strong> nation’s largest union, theService Employees International Union(SEIU) has formed alliances with communitygroups to win organizing campaigns andattack the Republican economic agenda.Unions today often campaign by urging thepublic to support them during workplaceconflicts because labor cutbacks would hurtthe consumers, not because siding withlabor over corporate greed is the moralthing to do.<strong>The</strong> Occupy Wall Street movementrepresents something on a whole new level.Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local100, a 37,000-member union with a radicalhistory, has been at the forefront of laborsupport, going so far as to seek an injunctionto stop the NYPD from forcing its membersto transport arrested OWS protesters. Laborsupport is growing on the institutional level.1199/SEIU sent members to provide medicalassistance. Several big unions including theUnited Federation of Teachers and DistrictCouncil 37 have lent nearby office space toOWS working groups. And email blasts fromthe AFL-CIO and unions urged members tojoin with the protesters in Liberty Park Oct.14 to defend the OWS encampment from aTHE PEOPLE, UNITED: A member of Transit Workers Union Local 100 marches in an Oct. 5 demonstration in Lower Manhattan that drew as many as20,000 people. <strong>The</strong> march was organized by local labor unions in support of Occupy Wall Street.possible eviction.Jackie DiSalvo, a retired member ofthe Professional Staff Congress (CUNYprofessors union) and active member ofthe OWS labor outreach committee, notedthat OWS participants have been constantlymeeting with new union representatives toassist with other labor conflicts around thecity, including organizing against Walmart.OWS protesters marched Oct. 21 with theCommunications Workers of America,which is in a tough bargaining after a briefstrike in August. “We’ve grown a lot,”DiSalvo said. “Even the more conservativeunions are supporting Occupy Wall Street.”<strong>The</strong> most high profile alliance has beenthe sustained OWS presence at Sotheby’s,protesting the auction house’s continuedlockout of 43 Teamster art handlersdespite posting the biggest profits in thecompany’s history. “This is a sophisticatedgroup,” said Jason Ide, Teamster Local 814president. “Nobody needed to tell them thatthis was the kind of fight they’re having.This is where the 1 percent shops. <strong>The</strong>people who own this place are part of theWall Street economy.”Occupy Wall Street protesters have anitch; they want this taken to the next level.“We should have 100,000 people outhere,” TWU Local 100 organizer J.P. Patafiosaid while joining the columns of protestersOct. 14 to resist the eviction in Liberty Park.He noted that nearly 25 percent of NewYork City workers are unionized, “so wegot work to do.”<strong>The</strong>re are opportunities. SEIU Local 32BJrepresents 25,000 commercial buildingcleaners in the city, many of whom servethe FIRE sector (Finance, Insurance andReal Estate), and their contract expires atthe end of December. While bargaininghasn’t started, the union is bracing itselffor draconian giveback demands. “We areworking, visiting buildings, talking to ourmembers, and workers are preparing fora possible strike,” said SEIU Local 32BJorganizer Saul Nieves in Liberty Park.No one should expect the union to prolonga strike just for the sake of OWS, but if thisstrike occurred, it would paint a perfectpicture, and create a new local campaign,for the movement: Wall Street greed against“the help.” And next year, TWU Local100 will probably have a bitter contractfight with the Metropolitan TransportationAuthority, which is expected to demandboth worker c<strong>once</strong>ssions and service cuts tofill its yawning budget gap.EMBRACING THE LEFTThis is where the natural link between thisunion and OWS becomes evident. TWU Local100 President John Samuelsen didn’t runas a radical. In fact, he ran on a platformof fighting for a decent contract for transitworkers. But what the left-wing faction ofthat union has said, and what Samuelsenhas become more vocal about, is that financeand real estate interests have ruinedthe MTA (which operates as much as a privatecorporation as it does an arm of thestate government), not worker pay or thecosts of providing service. This has allowedthe union to build new alliances with rideradvocates and environmental groups, whileusing the contract battle to show how WallStreet bankrupts essential services will providean opportunity for OWS to expand.As Fine points out, beginning theserelationships is the hard part. Unions haverigid leadership structures and bylaws andmust comply with strict federal and localregulations, and the bigger ones work withhigh-priced lobbyists and media consultants.It is hard to fuse that with something asleaderless and nebulous as OWS, but there’sbeen marked progress, she said. And thereis also a faction in any union that believesthe business of the union is settling andadministering contracts, and that any otherendeavor is a just a waste of dues money.In that regard, a better way to think aboutthe role of unions in the Occupy Wall Streetmovement is to ask what OWS can offer thelabor movement. Occupy Wall Street couldinspire what remains of organized labor inthis country to move away from just pushingspecific employers for modest wage gainsand start organizing working-class people inorder to shape not just industry standards,but a new economic order, as its frustratedradical factions have dreamt about.“<strong>The</strong> labor movement has conditioneditself to only think of itself in legal terms.‘What does the NLRB [National LaborRelations Board] say about this or that?’”Fine said. “It has to get beyond that.”To borrow a phrase from free marketfans, OWS is about “creative destruction.”Old models for resisting corporate powerhave failed, and OWS is forming a new one.Maybe it is time for labor to shed its old skinand remake itself. Some of that is happeningat Liberty Park when union members jointhe emerging movement., said OWS activistHarrison Magee. “<strong>The</strong>y sort of drop thatidentity,” he said. “<strong>The</strong>y become OccupyWall Street and they become something new.”Ari Paul has reported for <strong>The</strong> Nation, <strong>The</strong>American Prospect, Al Jazeera English andFree Speech Radio News.ANDREW HINDERAKER


THE ECONOMYWALL STREET’S WEB OF DECEITBy Nicholas PowersOccupy Wall Street protesters insist that the financial industry’s power overour lives must end. Here are a few reasons why.Predatory home lendingand the subsequentforeclosure crisis led tomillions of familieslosing their homesPredatory Home FinanceDuring the past decade, Ameriquest, American Freedom Mortgage andother lenders targeted minorities with sub-prime loans with adjustablerates. After a fixed time, those “adjustable” rates skyrocketed, leavingfamilies unable to pay and they lost their homes. Before the wholething blew up, Wall Street financial firms bought these mortgages andrepackaged them as mortgage-backed securities and ratings agencies likeMoody’s and Standard & Poor’s rubber-stamped them triple “A.” <strong>The</strong>sesecurities were sold like a stack of cards built higher and higher untilthe homeowners, overburdened by debt, failed to make payments andeverything crashed.Tearing Up AppalachiaFor years Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse,JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo financed mountaintop removal. It’s anugly process of scraping off the summit or summit ridge of mountains toclear the way for extracting the black coal in the rock seams. It poisonsthe local water, scatters toxins into the air and kills whole forests. <strong>The</strong>Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 1,200 milesof Appalachian mountain streams have already been severely damagedby the practice. Years of environmental justice campaigns finally forcedfour major banks to cut financing of Massey Energy, oneof the main culprits in mountaintop removal.Financing of destructiveresource extraction projects likemountaintop removal forcoal mining10 NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 THE INDYPENDENTExorbitantcredit cardfeesStudent loandebt hastopped$1 trillionFood prices soararound in the world,causing hunger to spreadto hundreds of millions ofadditional peopleManipulation ofcommodities marketsleads to soaringgas pricesCrushing Student Loan DebtsStudent loan debt surpassed credit card debt this year, topping over $1trillion. American students live with a crushing burden and the rate ofdefault is rising. In 2007 it was 6.7 percent and rose to 8.8 percentin 2009. <strong>The</strong> bulk of these defaults are from private for-profituniversities that serve low-income students. At Occupy WallStreet, one protester wrote, “I have about $75 in studentloans. I will default soon. My co-signer, my father, willbe forced to take my loans. He will default as well.I’ve ruined my family because I tried to rise abovemy class.”Credit Card Interest Rates ofNearly 30%Like to use your credit card? Pay upquick or lose your firstborn child.Since June 25, Bank of America hasresumed charging a 29.99 percentpenalty fee on accounts that are lateon monthly payments. Other big lenderslike Citigroup, Chase, Capital One,American Express also have high penaltyrates. <strong>The</strong> financial industry is also teamingup with airlines to take consumers fora ride. For example, American ExpressDelta SkyMiles has a penalty rate of 27.24percent. It makes perfect sense. If you don’thave enough money to pay your bills, anothercredit card is exactly what you need.Manipulation of Food PricesFollowing the dot-com bust of 2000, WallStreet speculators, led by GoldmanSachs, moved into the then-recentlyderegulated commodity futuresmarket. <strong>The</strong> ensuing food bubblecaused food prices to steadily increasearound the world, along with the profits of speculators.When panicky investors fled to commodity index funds in2007 to 2008, world food prices soared, pushing 250 million peopleinto the ranks of the hungry. Haiti and Indonesia, Bangladesh and Mozambiquewere some of the nations racked by food riots. Other factors atplay were reserving soil for bio-fuel crops and the more grain-intensivemeat diet favored by the rising middle classes in India and China. Butalone they were not enough to cause the crisis.Fluctuating Gas Prices Put Public Over a BarrelIf Wall Street were a vampire, oil would be blood. In 2007 a barrel ofcrude oil cost $50 and in 2008 it soared to $150 before plummeting to$35. In 2011 the price of a barrel of oil has slow-climbed back to $102.In a letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, SenatorCarl Levin (D-Mich.) cited how oil production is more than enough tomeet demand, but the spike and drop and spike again is due to marketmanipulation. In May 2011, federal commodities regulators filed suitagainst two traders in Australia and three American and internationalfirms. <strong>The</strong>y bought up oil, hoarded it to inflate prices then dumped it onthe market and walked away with a pile of money.MARLENA BUCZEK SMITHWrecking Municipal FinancesRemember the old saying, “I’m up Shit’s Creekwithout a paddle.” Well meet the real life example.Wall Street financial firms like Bear Stearns,Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JPMorganChase trapped the people of Birmingham,Ala. in a $5 billion debt hole. As reported byRolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi, the JeffersonCounty sewage system was found leaking intothe local river and c<strong>once</strong>rned citizens sued forthe county to fix it. And fix it they did. Whatbegan as a $250 million project swelledto $3 billion as corrupt local officials andtheir business allies pocketed the money andJPMorgan Chase spread around bribesthat helped coax the president of the countycommission to accept the banks’ tricky mathdebt deal. Now the people of Birmingham arewatching their city die. Similar stories aboundin towns and cities across the country leadingTaibbi to conclude of Wall Street’s behavior,“This isn’t capitalism. It’s nomadic thievery.”Leveraged Buy-Out of thePolitical SystemAfter President Barack Obama saidOccupy Wall Street reflected “broadbasedfrustration” and formerSpeaker of the House Nancy Pelosisupported the occupation,Wall Street executives calledthe Democratic CongressionalCampaign Committee, livid withrage. So now they are pouringtheir cash into Mitt Romney’scampaign. Even as the tide of donationsreverses, the fact remains thatboth parties rely on Wall Street money. In2008, Obama got more Wall Street moneythan McCain. In the second quarter of 2011,Obama raised $86 million — a third of which camefrom the financial industry. What does it buy? No systemiccriminal investigations.<strong>The</strong> Real Bailout<strong>The</strong> $700 billion bank bailout of 2008 still angers the public. Less understoodis that the U.S. government rescued the financial industry witha total of $14.4 trillion in commitments that included direct investments,buying corporate debt and mortgage-backed securities. In a gift from theFederal Reserve, Wall Street banks were allowed to borrow money fromthe Fed at zero percent and then turn around and loan the money back tothe government at a profit.Greed Amidst Mass MiseryBank of America recently posted a third-quarter profit of $6.23 billion.In 2010, Wall Street executives awarded themselves $20 billion in bonuses.It’s a volcano of money erupting in New York flowing into the pocketsof a few men and women. In the background is a nation enduring massivejoblessness as the real unemployment rate hovers around 16 percent.Bribing andswindling local officialsin cities and towns allacross the landBillions of dollarsin campaigncontributions fromthe financial industryActual bailout totals$14.4 trillion — not just the$700 billion in TARP moneyRecord corporateprofits and bonusesamid 16% unemploymentSources: New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Politico, Harper’s, Mother Jones, Detroit Free Press, EUP News, Rolling Stone, foreignpolicy.com.THE INDYPENDENT NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 11


OCCUPIEDALL OCCUPATIONS ARE LOCALMAKE THEM PAY: Occupiers in Youngstown, Ohio rallied in CentralSquare, reminding locals that the country’s richest peopleare still not paying their fair share in taxes.OCCUPYYTOWN.ORGSTRIKE THIS WAY: An Occupy Allentown protester remindsshows passersby that the idea of a general strike is not thatun-American after all.DENISE SANCHEZ, THE MORNING CALLFORECLOSURE IN REVERSE: Participants in Occupy Philadelphiagather in Dilworth Plaza outside of City Hall to challenge corporatismand demand fairer economic alternatives.FLICKR.COM/CAVALIER9212 NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 THE INDYPENDENTBy Arun GuptaAdditional reporting by Michelle Fawcett<strong>The</strong> sure-fire method to find occupationsin small cities is to head for the centerof town. After leaving Philadelphiaon our Occupy America tour, we drive anhour north to Allentown. Pennsylvania’sthird-largest city at 118,000 residents,Allentown has been weathered by yearsof deindustrialization in the steel, cementand textile industries that <strong>once</strong> made it aneconomic powerhouse.In the outlying neighborhoods, tidybut weary row houses line MacArthurBoulevard, one of Allentown’s main drags.Close to Center Square, site of the requisiteCivil War monument, the neighborhoods areheavily Latino, and buildings exhibit signs ofdisrepair.Occupy Allentown has taken up residencein Center Square, inhabiting one of the redbrickplazas on each corner. <strong>The</strong>re are ahandful of tents, a well-supplied kitchenpavilion and an information desk. A largeblue and gray nylon tent, into which 12 peoplecrammed the first night of the occupation,has laundry hanging on a clothesline in backand a cardboard sign on the front that reads“Zuccotti Arms,” a reference to the originalWall Street occupation.We’ve come in search of Adam Santo,said to be the local leader of a leaderlessmovement. But that was not his intention. Ahandsome youth a few years out of college,Santo says he knew about the planning forOccupy Wall Street prior to Sept. 17.“I wanted to go to New York, but I’vebeen unemployed and finances were tight,so I thought wouldn’t it be cool to have anoccupation in the Lehigh Valley” whereAllentown is nestled. Eight months earlierhe and three co-workers were laid off fromtheir jobs at a local bank because of a “lackof work.”Santo says when Occupy Wall Street“really took off I thought, I’m going to makethis take off in the Lehigh Valley, gathersupport, get people into the streets.” Santoset up a Facebook page on Sept. 30, the daybefore the 700 arrests on the Brooklyn Bridgeand “harassed my friends to join.” Next,he designed, photocopied and handed outthousands of flyers to spread the word.I mention Asmaa Mahfouz, the womanwho helped ignite Egypt’s uprising withpowerful video blogs and by handing outthousands of flyers in the Cairene slums. Hewasn’t familiar with her story but he doestake Egypt’s revolution as inspiration.Occupy Allentown is very much definedby the local. According to Davina DeLor, a39-year-old freelance artist who is paintingslogans on her tent when we encounter her,residents initially assumed the occupationwas in protest of a planned hockey arena,which she says “they are using our taxmoney for.”It’s one of those familiar enterprises of ourtime: socialism for the well-to-do. Allentownis using eminent domain to buy up businessesnext to the encampment — including a WellsFargo branch — that will be demolished tobuild an 8,500-seat arena for the Phantoms,a minor-league hockey team. <strong>The</strong> city hasauthorized borrowing up to $175 millionto pay for the multi-use facility, while thePhantoms’ team owners are willing to throwin perhaps 10 percent of the cost.While anger is widespread over what is seenas shady political dealings for a taxpayerfundedstadium that will displace dozens oflocal businesses, many residents are moreconsumed with just trying to survive thegrinding economic crisis. Allentown’s officialpoverty level in 2009 was 24 percent, twicethe state average.In a departure from big-city occupationslike New York City, beat cops are openlysupportive, says Santo. “<strong>The</strong>y drive by, theywave, they honk. <strong>The</strong>y give us handshakesand hugs … because they realize they arepart of the 99 percent.” Local clergy areencouraging their congregations to donategoods and “[supply] us with warm bodies,which we definitely need,” says Santo.At the same time, local conditions havelimited the growth of the occupation. DeLorsays many supporters have to juggle multiplepart-time jobs, which limits the time theycan spend protesting. During the week thenumber of campers and occupiers dwindles.This also may be why the day we werethere, Oct. 18, the occupiers were mostlyunemployed or retired.Although the Latino community makes up41 percent of Allentown residents, few appearto be involved in the occupation. Santospeculates that newer Latino communitiesaren’t as active possibly due to fears aboutimmigration status and cultural divides,while younger Latinos are not involved simplybecause “it’s just not the cool thing to do.”OCCUPATION WITH AN EXPIRATION DATEYoungstown, Ohio, is an elegiac city a fewhundred miles to the west of Allentown.What was <strong>once</strong> the manufacturing districtis a mausoleum of industry. A brick smokestackstands sentinel over acres of cavernousshells that <strong>once</strong> poured out streams ofgoods. Crumbling brick buildings sprouttrees two stories up, while inside, pancakesof concrete dip toward the ground, suspendedprecariously on a bramble of rusted rebar.Demolition is one of the few signs ofeconomic life. Starting in 2006, the citytripled its budget for razing abandonedbuildings. In an open-air yard in the industrialquarter, heavy machines whine and billowexhaust as they pound large concrete slabs,surrounded by small mountains of rubblesorted according to size.With more than 43 percent of the landvacant, Youngstown is slowly being erased.In some neighborhoods, boarded-up housesand empty lots island the remaining inhabitedhomes, which shrink behind spreadingfoliage lest they be next.Since 1950, the population has declinedfrom a high of 218,000 to less than 67,000today. <strong>The</strong> poverty rate is a stratospheric32 percent, and the median value of owneroccupiedhomes is a paltry $52,900.Manufacturing dropped from 50 percent ofthe workforce in 1950 to 16 percent in 2007.This includes a staggering loss of 31 percentof manufacturing jobs in the region from2000 to 2007 — before the economy fell offthe cliff.At the downtown crossroads, OccupyYoungstown has taken up a position in theshadow of three different banks, including aChase branch. <strong>The</strong> occupation is a latecomer,having started on Oct. 15 with a rally morethan 400 strong at its peak, according toChuck Kettering, Jr., an aspiring actor whohas been laid off for a year from his previousposition as a HVAC technician.“We were <strong>once</strong> a huge steel city forAmerica,” says the cherubic, 27-year-oldKettering. “In the 1970s they started closingup all our steel mills, taking all the jobs andshipping them down south and overseaswhere labor is cheaper. Youngstown’sbeen a city that has been going throughthis economic struggle for almost 40 yearsnow, and I think we have a valid voice ofaddressing these issues on a national scale.”His family is living proof of the toll ofdeindustrialization. In a phone interview,Chuck Kettering, Sr., calls himself “theposter boy for the rust belt.” A Youngstownnative, he went to work in 1973 at age 19 andworked at two local U.S. Steel plants thatshuttered: one in 1979, the other in 1982.Next, he landed a position with PackardElectronics in 1985 making electricalcomponents for GM cars. After GM spun offDelphi in 1999, Packard was subsumed bythe auto-parts maker. <strong>The</strong> company startedmoving jobs overseas.“Local operations were pressured bywages and most operations moved south ofthe border” because of NAFTA. FollowingDelphi’s bankruptcy in 2008, Ketteringand some co-workers were given a one-timechance to work for GM itself and keep theirwages, benefits and pensions.“It was a no-brainer,” he says, buttheir seniority did not transfer to plantassignments. Despite nearly 25 years atPackard and Delphi, Kettering says, “Ifound myself at the age of 54 starting atthe bottom, working alongside 21-year-oldstrying to keep up on the line. Many of us whotransferred were not spring chickens, and itwas hard to keep up.”Now Kettering is on disability.His wife, hired by Packard in 1979, workedher way into management and was forced toretire after 30 years with a monthly pensionthat was slashed in half to $1,600 and withexpectations of further cuts.“I’m really proud of our local guys,” hesays. “<strong>The</strong> police and the firefighters reallysupport the Occupy movement. Our mayorsupports it. We have a united front here inOhio.”Unlike the seven other occupations Ihave visited, Occupy Youngstown embraceselectoral issues. Kettering and other occupierswave signs and wear buttons opposing Issue2, which would strip some 350,000 publicsectorworkers of collective bargaining rights.Continued on page 14


Charting OccupationsPRIVATE TO PUBLIC, ECONOMIC TO POLITICALBy Arun Gupta<strong>The</strong> first recorded political occupation, a sit-down strike, occurred nearly 3,200 years ago in Ancient Egyptduring the rule of Ramses III when tomb workers occupied six temples protesting the lack of food and supplies.<strong>The</strong> modern era has seen many types of occupations, such as the Paris Commune in 1871, MohandasGhandi’s sit-in strikes in South Africa a century ago and the Freedom Bus Rides in the early 1960s in the DeepSouth. <strong>The</strong> following graphic charts various occupations along continuums of political and economic motivationsand to what degree the occupied space was public, private or a mix.WISCONSIN STATE CAPITOLIn February 2011, an 18-dayoccupation of the Wisconsinstate Capitol galvanizes a hugemovement opposing Republicanplans to strip public employeesof collective bargainingrights.PUBLICOAXACABeginning as a teachers’ strikeand outdoor encampment inMay 2006, this movement tookover the entire city governmentof Oaxaca before being repressedby 11,000 soldiers andpolice in November.ARGENTINA RECOVEREDFACTORIESAfter Argentina’s economy collapsesin late 2001, workers atsome 200 factories and businessessuccessfully take overtheir shuttered workplaces andrestart them as self-managedcooperatives.SEATTLEActivists, students and union memberspeacefully block delegates frommeeting at the WorldTrade Organization MinisterialConference onNov. 30, 1999.TREE SITS FROM THE 90sStarting in 1985, radical environmentalactivists began “treesits” on public and private forestland mainly in the Pacific Northwestto halt destructive logging.TAHRIR SQUAREInspired by Tunisia’s democraticuprising, Egypt’s ongoingrevolt begins on Jan. 25, 2011,as a protest against police brutality,but transforms into an 18-day occupation of Cairo’s TahrirSquare.ATTICAOn Sept. 8, 1971, more than1,300 prisoners take controlof the Attica CorrectionalFacility demanding an end torampant brutality, better livingconditions and trainingopportunities.ECONOMICLIBERTY PARKInitiated by a call from theculture-jamming magazine Adbusters,about 100 people begina 24-hour occupation of thispublic-private park on Sept. 17.LUNCH COUNTER SIT-INSOn Feb. 1, 1960, in Greensboro,N.C., Black college studentspeacefully sit in at lunch counters,demanding to be served.More than 70,000 participatein the year-long wave of sit-ins,sparking the 1960s Civil Rightsmovement.POLITICALMIKAEL TARKELASIT-DOWN STRIKESOn Dec. 30, 1936, at 10 p.m.,auto workers begin a sit-downstrike at a GM plant in Flint,Mich. It lasts 44 days, spreadsto 17 plants and ends with a payraise and GM recognizing theUnited Auto Workers.TAKE BACK THE LANDTake Back the Land uses housingoccupations to help familiesstay in their homes foreclosedby banks engaged in shadyfinancial practices.PRIVATENEW SCHOOL OCCUPATIONIn December 2009, dozens ofstudents occupy a New Schoolbuilding for three days demandingthe resignation of PresidentBob Kerry and democraticspace and input for students,while opposing the Manhattanuniversity’s profit-makingfocus.THE INDYPENDENT NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 13


All OccupationsContinued from page 12Karen Joseph, a soft-spoken 59-year-oldmother of two whose family spends one-thirdof its household income on health insurance,is by no means the only one who is againstIssue 3, which would exempt Ohio from theincoming national healthcare law.Everyone is against the plan to privatize theOhio Turnpike being pushed by RepublicanGov. John Kasich. All the occupiers wetalk to express dismay at the prospect ofhydrofracking in Mill Creek Park, whichKettering describes as “the jewel of the areawith waterfalls, streams and lots of wildlife.”This occupation comes with an expirationdate. <strong>The</strong> city asked the occupiers to “take downthe tents before business hours on Monday,Oct. 17, when the banks were opening,”according to Chuck Kettering, Jr. He saysthey complied, but Occupy Youngstownstill maintains a 24-hour presence and haspledged to do so until Nov. 8, Election Day.TOLEDO BLUESIn Toledo, Ohio, on the other hand, the occupationis struggling with living outdoorsin a harsh climate because the city is makinglife difficult for them. Christopher Metchis,an energetic 19-year-old student who willbe attending the Musicians Institute in LosAngeles next spring, explains that City Hallhas denied them use of tents and generatorsand dispatched city crews to cut off theiraccess to electricity. He has just spent thelast two nights outdoors in a wind and rainstorm,huddling under tarps with a few hardysouls on a grass plaza in the downtownbusiness district near the baseball stadiumfor the AAA Toledo Mud Hens.While we talk, a few people come byto help with consolidating supplies, foldingtarps, stuffing blankets into a criband kitchen work. A local pastor has alsostopped by with words of support. CandiceMilligan, a 30-year-old trans woman, saysthe living conditions make it “difficult forpeople who aren’t able-bodied.” She alsoadmits that concrete support is not as forthcomingbecause much of the public does notknow what Occupy Toledo is trying to accomplish.And they have to contend with apolice force that is indifferent at best and alocal media that is hostile at times.Awareness of the occupation movementco-exists with despair. During dinner oneevening at an Italian restaurant in Toledo,our waitress, Dawn, tells us she supports itbecause “the people need a voice, not justthe corporations and politicians.” A fewminutes earlier, she lit up in excitementwhen she found out we are from New York,but her face crumpled instantly, exclaimingquizzically, “But now you’re here?!”It has been a common sentiment on thetrip so far. Americans in this part of thecountry are beaten down after decades ofeconomic decline. <strong>The</strong>ir prospects are limited.Civic embarrassment is more prevalentthan pride. <strong>The</strong>y lament the end of the“American Dream,” the notion that hardwork and sacrifice would be rewarded witha comfortable retirement and a better lifefor their children and grandkids. But in thehundreds of occupations around the countrythey have found a space where they canspeak of their struggles, burdens and aspirations.People listen and they hear similarstories, creating a genuine sense of community.<strong>The</strong>y say it is giving them dignity. Andperhaps most important, it is giving themhope.For videos and regular updates fromArun Gupta’s tour of occupations visitoccupyusatoday.com.PEOPLE’S MEDIAWith mainstream media being generallydismissive of the Occupy WallStreet protests, independent mediaoutlets have filled the void with everythingfrom breaking news andinformation on how to get involvedto thoughtful analysis. For more, see:Occupy TogetherLaunched after sister occupationstook hold in cities outside of NewYork, this website connects over 400occupations from across the country.occupytogether.orgOccupy Wall Street<strong>The</strong> original Occupy website, itfeatures video from protests, dailyschedules and news from other occupations.occupywallst.orgAdbustersThis culture-jamming Canadianmagazine initially put out the call tooccupy Wall Street and continues tosupport the occupations.adbusters.orgOccupy Wall Street TumblrThis website features news, photosand more from occupations acrossthe United States.occupywallstreet.tumblr.comWe are the 99 Percent TumblrOver 2,000 stories and pictures areshared here by members of the 99percent.wearethe99percent.tumblr.com<strong>The</strong> <strong>Indypendent</strong>This New York-based newspaperand website has been providing indepthcoverage since the start of theoccupation.indypendent.org<strong>The</strong> Occupy Wall Street Twitter FeedA consistent source for breakingnews related to the occupation.twitter.com/occupywallst<strong>The</strong> Occupied Wall Street JournalFounded by New York journalistsand activists involved in the Occupymovement, the paper hasseen print runs of up to 50,000.occupiedmedia.com—Manny JalonschiIndependent News Hourwith Amy Goodmanand Juan GonzalezTV-Radio-InternetTHE INDYPENDENTJoin me in becoming a regular donor to <strong>The</strong><strong>Indypendent</strong>. 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MEDIATO REPRESS OR CO-OPT?OWS Media Coverage Mirrors Splits Within the 1%By Kevin YoungGandhi is often credited with saying,“First they ignore you, then theylaugh at you, then they fight you,then you win.” In just the past month, it’spossible to discern the first three responsesin the attitudes of U.S. elites toward the OccupyWall Street movement. This should bea source of great encouragement to everyoneinvolved.THE RIGHT-WING RESPONSEMany corporate elites and Republicanleaders have skipped straight to the “fighting,”or at least “worrying,” stage. In lateSeptember, one “clearly c<strong>once</strong>rned” bankCEO telephoned New York Times reporterAndrew Ross Sorkin to ask, “Is this OccupyWall Street thing a big deal?” A fewweeks later, a London banker quoted in theFinancial Times noted with alarm that theprotests “aren’t just about banks. … <strong>The</strong>y’retalking about the number of millionairesin the cabinet and all kinds of things.” Inmid-October, a Wall Street money managerinterviewed in <strong>The</strong> New York Timeslashed out against Democratic politiciansfor failing to defend Wall Street vehementlyenough, saying “<strong>The</strong>y need to understandwho their constituency is.”If a few Democrats occasionally getconfused, Republicans have no doubtsabout who their constituency is. HouseMajority Leader Eric Cantor has denounced“the growing mobs occupying Wall Street.”Mitt Romney has characterized the movementas a “dangerous” expression of “classwarfare.” Congressman Peter King was evenmore candid when speaking on a radio showOct. 7:It’s really important for us not tobe giving any legitimacy to thesepeople in the streets. … I’m takingthis seriously in that I’m old enoughto remember what happened in the1960s when the left wing took tothe streets and somehow the mediaglorified them and it ended upshaping policy. We can’t allow thatto happen.Such responses are one indicator of themovement’s power and mass appeal.THE LIBERAL END OF THECORPORATE MEDIANot all elites have the same way, however.<strong>The</strong> progression of New York Times coverageprovides a different but no less impressivemeasure of the movement’s impact.GB MARTIN<strong>The</strong> first stage, “ignoring” stage lasted alittle over a week, during which the Timesprinted just one short piece (buried onpage 22) about the Wall Street occupation.“Laughing” came next. A Sept. 25 storyin the newspaper by Ginia Bellafante, entitled“Gunning for Wall Street, with FaultyAim,” reproduced all the imagery <strong>once</strong> usedby elite commentators to try to discredit1960s social movements, arguing that OWSprotesters were “clamoring for nothing inparticular” and portraying them as psychologicaldeviants.But Times coverage has become somewhatmore honest in recent weeks. One Oct. 8blog post by Al Baker quoted a black collegeprofessor who noted that “the movementwas gaining in diversity” and who comparedOWS to the U.S. anti-slavery movement.Most surprising was an Oct. 9 editorial thatderided “the chattering classes” who “keepcomplaining that the marchers lack a clearmessage and specific policy prescriptions,”saying that “the message — and the solutions— should be obvious to anyone whohas been paying attention.” <strong>The</strong> editorialwent on to condemn the country’s historiclevels of inequality and noted that government“policy almost invariably reflects theviews of upper-income Americans.”Much press coverage continues to be dismissiveand inaccurate. But there has beena substantial shift, and that shift is anothertestament to the movement’s growing power.THEY CHANNEL YOUShifting Times coverage reflects a broadertrend among the more liberal sectors of theU.S. elite. President Barack Obama has saidpublicly that OWS “expresses the frustrationthe American people feel,” and manycongressional Democrats have made similarstatements. As a number of commentatorshave observed, Obama has tried to “channel”OWS grievances. Doing so may be politicallyrisky, however, given Democrats’allegiance to and dependence on the banksand corporations now under attack. Andmany OWS participants are very wary of theDemocratic Party. One working-class Latinaorganizer in Detroit cautions that “whilesome elites have tried to discredit OWS, wemust also be mindful of co-optation.”<strong>The</strong> classic aphorism seems simplistic:some elites will directly fight you, but otherswill try to co-opt your movement. Doug Mc-Adam, a leading scholar of the civil rightsmovement, observes in his classic bookPolitical Process and the Development ofBlack Insurgency, 1930-1970 that whilemany elites view grassroots movements asthreatening and thus try “to neutralize ordestroy” them, others see them as “an opportunityto advance their interests and thusextend cautious support to insurgents.” <strong>The</strong>Democrats are testing out the latter strategy.Although opportunistic, their responses areyet another sign of the movement’s influence.YOU WIN?<strong>The</strong>re are many additional indications of themovement’s power. Solidarity occupationshave now spread to more than 400 citiesnationwide. And a TIME magazine poll inearly October found that 54 percent of thepublic had a “favorable” view of the movement;only 23 percent had an “unfavorable”view. This sympathy toward OWS reflectswidespread outrage over inequality, corporatepower and the lack of a functioning democracyin the United States. In the samepoll, 86 percent thought that “Wall Streetand its lobbyists have too much influence inWashington,” 79 percent said that “the gapbetween rich and poor in the United Stateshas grown too large,” and 68 percent saidthat “the rich should pay more taxes.”<strong>The</strong>re are also countless personal storiesattesting to the movement’s impact. NewYork organizer Amanda Vodola spent 30hours in jail along with others who weretrying to close their accounts with Citibankduring an Oct. 15 action. Later, she describedunsanitary prison conditions andpolice officers who treated the prisonersmore like cattle than human beings. YetVodola says that the experience “made mestronger and hasn’t stopped me from wantingto continue. Being in there with a groupof powerful people definitely kept me going.It’s what keeps me going on a daily basis.”<strong>The</strong> Occupy movement is still young. <strong>The</strong>deep structural injustices associated withcorporate power won’t be rectified quickly;in this context, the practical meaningof “winning” is still unclear. Occupy WallStreet organizers will continue struggling tobuild a long-term movement that can achieveconcrete policy changes while avoiding factionalism,reformism and absorption intoinstitutionalized politics. Many organizersalso cite the need to continue diversifyingthe movement’s demographics and to “confrontthe hierarchies within the 99 percent”while still maintaining movement unity. Butdespite the challenges ahead, the range ofelite reactions, combined with the enthusiasticpublic response, provide some measureof the movement’s early effectiveness andare encouraging indicators of its potential.Kevin Young is a member of the Organizationfor a Free Society, afreesociety.org, oneof the groups helping to organize the OWSmovement.THE INDYPENDENT NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 15


CULTUREChronicling NYC’s Open Public SpacesOpen to the Public?Directed by Paper Tiger TelevisionDistributed by Paper TigerTelevision, 2011<strong>The</strong> legal reasoning thatallows members of theOccupy Wall Streetmovement to lay claim to LibertyPark (or Liberty Plaza Park, as Iwould prefer to call it) is confusingenough to leave all but the moststudied lawyers scratching theirheads. In a deal with the citydating back to 1968, the park’sbuilders agreed to make theprivately owned and managedplaza open to the public 24 hoursa day, in exchange for a zoningPark in service to crass and emptycommercialism at the expense ofpublic access to the land.)<strong>The</strong> breadth of Open to thePublic? is impressive, and the filmgoes so far as to delve into thepredominating psychogeographytheory of the Prohibition Era thatdrove the design of some of NewYork City’s great parks. While thefilm makes note of Jane Jacobsand Robert Moses, Paper Tigeralso spends time examining theless known urbanist WilliamH. Whyte, the author of City:Rediscovering the Center, whodrew inspiration from Jacobs, buthad a clear paternalistic streakin his desire to rid parks of socalled“undesirables.” By Whyte’sadmittedly lacking oversight thatthe NYPD is subjected to. BIDshave also redesigned public spacesto limit the use of infrastructureby the homeless, for example,altering benches to prevent peoplefrom being able to lie down onthem. <strong>The</strong> French novelist andjournalist Anatole France <strong>once</strong>cynically noted, “<strong>The</strong> law, in itsmajestic equality, forbids all mento sleep under bridges — the richas well as the poor.” But it doesn’ttake a tremendous logical leap tounderstand that bench redesignsand vagrancy laws affect thoseleast able to defend their right topublic space.Having fended off a de factoeviction <strong>once</strong> already, the OWS31 years of celebrating musicof peace and resistance!16 NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 THE INDYPENDENTNov. 5: <strong>The</strong> Mermaids; Chris BrownNov. 12: Cecilia St. King; David MassengillNov. 19: Sharon Katz & Wendy Q uickof <strong>The</strong> Peace Train; TriboroDec. 3: Charlie KingDec. 10: Utah Phillips Tribute C<strong>once</strong>rtSaturdays at 8 p.m.Community Church of New York Unitarian-Universalist40 E. 35th St. (Madison/Park)New York, NY 10016doors open 7:30; wheelchair accessible212-787-3903www.peoplesvoicecafe.orgSuggested Donation: $15 to $18 or TDF; $10 PVC membersMore if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away(doors open at 7:30)UP IN THE AIR: While the High Line aerial park (pictured above) remains in public hands, public spaces in urban settingsare increasingly facing threats of privatization.variance that allowed them toconstruct a building higher thanwas normally allowed. In an ironictwist, the protesters have had a fareasier time occupying a privatelyowned public space than theywould have if they had tried toset up camp in a city-owned parkthat would be subject to the whimsof Mayor Michael Bloomberg’sadministration.Had the OWS movementhappened a few months earlier,it would have made a great casestudy for the activists, organizersand academics interviewed in theshort documentary film Open tothe Public? produced by the PaperTiger Television media collective.<strong>The</strong> continuing encroachment ofprivate interests on public spaces isthoroughly examined in the piece,which illuminates the tangled webof parties, desires and practicesthat define public space and ourexpectations about access to it. (I,for one, burn with quiet rage at thesight of the massive Fashion Weektents erected in Bryant Squareestimation, this demographicconsisted of muggers and othercriminals, but also included thepoor and drug-addicted. But therecurring story of public space isthat of the tension between thepeople exercising their free will indeciding how public spaces willbe used, and the state, which hasoften resorted to violent force topolice the use of parks and othercommon areas.A relatively recent developmentwithin this relationship is the riseof the management of public spaceby private business associations,manifested in New York City asBusiness Improvement Districts,or BIDs. Driven foremost bythe business interests of theirmembers, BIDs’ desire for publicspaces has often proven to beat odds with those of the largerpublic. Especially frightening arethe powers granted to privatesecurity employees hired byBIDs, which at times exceed eventhose of the New York PoliceDepartment, with none of theparticipants will likely bechallenged again by police, whowill either act with or without theblessing of park owner BrookfieldProperties. But there is tremendoushope in the resilience the occupiershave shown, and as the groupevolves, defines and redefinesitself, so too will its relationship toLiberty Plaza Park. As Ethan Kentof the Project for Public Spacessays in the film, “Public spacesshould never be static, shouldnever be finished. <strong>The</strong>y should beplatforms on which communitiescontinually recreate themselvesand define themselves.”—Rahul ChadhaOpen to the Public? is availableto purchase, rent or watchonline at blog.papertiger.org.To schedule a screening of thefilm, contact Paper Tiger TV atinfo@papertiger.org.LILY BERNHEIMER


THE INDYPENDENT NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 17


Books for the 99%Occupiers’ Discount! Enter code OCCUPY and take 30% these titles!Ours to Master and to OwnWorkers’ Control from the Commune to the PresentEdited by Immanuel Ness and Dario AzzelliniZombie CapitalismGlobal Crisis and the Relevance of MarxChris HarmanRevolutionary RehearsalsEdited by Colin Barker<strong>The</strong> DemocratsA Critical History • Lance Selfa<strong>The</strong> Paris CommuneA Revolution in Democracy • Donny GlucksteinSubterranean FireA History of Working-Class Radicalismin the United States • Sharon Smith<strong>The</strong> Case for SocialismAlan Maass, afterword by Howard Zinn<strong>The</strong> Meaning of MarxismPaul D’AmatoBlack Liberation and SocialismAhmed ShawkiWomen and SocialismSharon SmithEcology and SocialismSolutions to Capitalist Ecological CrisisChris WilliamsSexuality and SocialismHistory, Politics, and <strong>The</strong>ory of LGBT LiberationSherry Wolfwww.haymarketbooks.orgKEEP IT IN THE PARKArt Exhibit Strains to Make a Point“No Comment”Loft in the Red ZoneJPMorgan Chase Building,23 Wall StreetOct. 8-9; Oct. 12-13Red and black. And gray.That’s what I think of whenI recall “No Comment,”a hastily-assembled exhibit in theecho-y lobby of the historic JPMorgan building, just a few blocksfrom Liberty Park — the epicenterof the Occupy Wall Street movement.<strong>The</strong> purpose of the exhibitapparently was not to showcasemedia relating to the protests —there will be enough of that in themonths to come. (Over at LibertyPark, it seems, every other personis holding a video camera).“No Comment” was somethingmuch rarer: an art show held intandem with the protests — art aspart of a movement, rather thanart about a movement. Though itwas only up for about a week, theshow seems to have through severaliterations (a new version ofthe exhibition may be coming tocould just as easily been taped toa sign and held aloft at a rally, butthis wasn’t a rally — it was an artexhibition Just a few blocks fromLiberty, removing this stuff fromthe throes of protest turns it intosomething strained and flimsy. Inpaintings and prints: images ofstarving African children, oil derricks,menacing businessmen andriot cops, defaced American flagsand all that red and black; thiswork can feel (I won’t say “oppressive”)dispiritingly similar.At the same time, some of the artfrustrated with its lack of discerniblemessages. Tunji Dada’s 2001sculpture of post-genocidal fashiondummies didn’t know what todo with my attention <strong>once</strong> it hadgrabbed it. Anton Kandinsky’srecent paintings — combininghigh-nationalist iconography withtrompe l’oeil gemstones — sport aLubelski has been criticized for hispractices as an art dealer (the organizersof “No Comment” havecome under similar criticism), buthis bonfire-ready piece really didchannel some of the conflicted,semi-Utopian energy of the protestsoutside. Paintings by ArtemMirolevich and others, in whichmelancholy scrawls and whorls coalesceinto animalistic figurationslack direct polemical symbolism,but feel instead like evocative gestures(little dances, maybe) in theface of a failing world.At a show organized around anactivist happening, it makes sensethat one of the best pieces wouldhave also emerged out of an activisthappening: in Los Angeles severalhuman rights groups occupiedan abandoned house and askedpeople to contribute their thoughtson “home.” <strong>The</strong> simple photosNOCOMMENTART/FLICKR18 NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 THE INDYPENDENTthe Chelsea Art Museum). When Iwent on Oct. 13, I had to pick upa few paintings off the floor, andpeople were still installing theirwork for that night’s closing party.<strong>The</strong> show was being set up to betaken down.<strong>The</strong>re are, of course, reasonsprotest movements don’t usuallyspawn concurrent gallery exhibitions.For people who are big fansof both things — people like me— it always seems that art and activismshould be kindred pursuits.And it’s always vexing when thetwo prove somewhat incompatible.It’s sad, but the slow-burningcontemplation that definesso much good art often doesn’tmesh with the street-level immediacythat is necessary for effectiveprotest. In the case of “No Comment,”there was a lot of work thatwinning pictorial audacity, but thepolitics are muddy.<strong>The</strong> most effective work showeda more subtle solidarity with themovement at large, seeking outthe spiritual and personal territoryamidst the oil fields and brokenbanks. Several works includedlandscapes in disarray; one memorablepainting shows a hellish Boschianorgy — a sort of right-wingfever-dream given strange life.Michael Greathouse’s digital collagesreconfigure American moneyinto Baphomet-like evil oracles —the sinister dimensions of wealth,felt at some level by folks acrossthe political spectrum. AbrahamLubelski’s 250,000 works on paper(1991-ongoing) was presentedhere as a mass of simple, harshlittle abstractions, free for thetaking, packed into a trash can —(cats and kids and pepper plants)and handwritten notes (“whereyou feel safe, snuggle under quiltsreading a book”) highlight whyOccupy Wall Street has generatedso much worldwide support: morethan any one ideology or ideal, theprotesters are struggling for thebasics — a sustainable economy,a chance to live a decent life. Afterall, what happens when therearen’t enough jobs, when peoplecan’t afford their homes, whenpeople don’t have even the basicresources to make art or act up?No comment.—Mike NewtonFor updates on future “NoComment” exhibitions, visitnocommentartshow.com.


community calendarSUBMIT YOUR EVENTS ATINDYEVENTS@GMAIL.COM.THU NOV 35–7pm • FreeDISCUSSION: MALCOLM X IN FRANCE,1964–1965: COLD WAR INTERNATIONAL-ISM AND THE POLITICS OF BORDER CON-TROL. Harvard Professor Moshik Temkin, aspecialist in modern trans-Atlantic history,discusses the global context of Malcolm X’spolitics through the lens of his visit to France.70 Washington Square South, 10th Fl212-998-2630 • library.nyu.edu/tamimentFRI NOV 49am–5:10pm • FreeSYMPOSIUM: JUSTICE IN TRANSITION:SERVING THE TRANSGENDER COMMU-NITY IN LAW AND PRACTICE.NYU OUTLaw invites you to participate inthis all-day event that will explore the legaland social challenges facing transgenderpeople, with a special focus on the intersectionsof transgender identity with race, class,disability and age.Greenberg Lounge, Vanderbilt Hall40 Washington Square Southnyulaw.imodules.com/justiceintransition4-6pm • FreeDISCUSSION: WE ARE AMERICANS:RETHINKING THE ORIGINS OF BLACKPOLITICS IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA.Author and professor Van Gosse discusseshis upcoming book examining the roots ofmodern black politics.758 Schermerhorn Ext120th St & Amsterdam Ave212-854-7080 • iraas.com1-2pm • FreeTEACH-IN: NEITHER REFORM NORREVOLUTION, A NEW STRATEGY FOR THELEFT. Gar Alperovit, the author of AmericaBeyond Capitalism will discuss the emergingresistance movements against austerityand autocracy and how they can transformsociety.Zuccotti Park, Liberty St & Broadwaynycga.netSAT NOV 5All Day • FreePROTEST: NATIONAL BANK TRANSFERDAY. This massive divestment campaigninvites consumers to withdraw their moneyout of commercial banks and place it in nonprofitcredit unions.info@banktransferday.orgfacebook.com/Nov.Fifth10am • $10/$5 sliding scale w/ registrationCONFERENCE: GREATER NEW YORKMARXISM CONFERENCE. Sponsored by theInternational Socialist Organization, this twoday event features lectures on economics,racism, feminism and Marxism.Columbia University, Hamilton Hall116th St & Broadway646-452-8662 • NYCsocialist.org12–4pm • FreeCONFERENCE: PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY,COUNTER G-20 CONFERENCE. While theG-20 summit in France develops new waysto shore up a failing economic system, thiscounter-summit sponsored by the Bail outthe People Movement will examine thestruggle for social and economic justice fromlocal, national and international perspectives.Discussion will also focus on supportingthe Occupy Wall Street movement andfighting police brutality.Hostos Community College, Savoy ManorE 149th St & Walton Ave, Bronx212-633-6646 • bailoutpeople.org8pm • $25/$15 students and seniors w/pre-purchaseCONCERT: NEW YORK CITY LABORCHORUS 20TH ANNIVERSARY. Back fromCuba, the New York City Labor Choruscelebrates 20 years as a fountain of creativeworking-class consciousness.Town Hall, 123 W 43rd St212-929-3232 • nyclc.orgMON NOV 75:30-7:30pm • FreePROTEST: HENRY KISSINGER. Come protestHenry Kissinger’s war crimes and humanrights violations outside of an event sponsoredby <strong>The</strong> New York Historical Society tohonor Kissinger. Organized by War CriminalsWatch and the East Timor and IndonesiaAction Network.<strong>The</strong> Waldorf Astoria, 301 Park Ave866-973-4463 • etan.orgWED NOV 96:30–9pm • Free w/ RSVPTRAINING: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. Practicalinformation and training on your rights whendealing with the police and how to exercisethem safely.105 E 22nd St, Room 4Ainfo@peoplesjustice.org •peoplesjustice.org7–9pm • Free w/ RSVPREADING: WALKING WITH THE COMRADES.Arundhati Roy reads from her new book,a story of Maoist guerillas in India fightingcorporations and the government.Proshansky AuditoriumCUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avegc.cuny.eduFRI NOV 117–10pm • $8READING: “DRINKING AND DRIVING INURUMQI.” In this new essay, Andrew Demetrerecounts a night on the town with Uyghurminority members of the PLA (PeoplesLiberation Army) and the CPC (CommunistParty of China).Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 E 3rd St212-780-9386 • nuyorican.orgSAT NOV 124-7pm • $10-$100FUNDRAISER: SAVE ETHNIC STUDIES. JoinSave Ethnic Studies for a screening of PreciousKnowledge, a documentary chroniclingthe efforts of students and teachers inTucson High School’s Mexican-AmericanStudies Program to keep ethnic studies legalin Arizona. Question and answer session tofollow.Schomburg Center, 515 Malcolm X Blvdsaveethnicstudiesnyc@gmail.com •schomburgcenter.orgSUN NOV 135pm • FreeDISCUSSION: ROBERT SCHEER AND MR.FISH. Editorial cartoonist Mr. Fish and Truthdigeditor Robert Scheer discuss their workand the contemporary state of world politics.Revolution Books, 146 W 26th St212-691-3345 • revolutionbooksnyc.orgNOVEMBERUPCOMING EVENTSWED NOV 2 • 7:30pmPANEL DISCUSSION: THE BEACH BENEATH STREET(S): THESITUATIONISTS, STREET ACTIVISM, AND PUBLIC SPACE.Benjamin Shepard and Gregory Smithsimon, the co-authors of <strong>The</strong>Beach Beneath the Streets: Contesting New York City’s Public Spaces,and McKenzie Wark, the author of <strong>The</strong> Beach Beneath the Street: <strong>The</strong>Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International, willdiscuss the ongoing struggle to transform public space.Sliding Scale: $6/$10/$15WED NOV • 5:30-7:30pmCLASS: ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO THE HOUSING PROBLEM:SOCIALIST, SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC, AND CAPITALIST.This four-session class led by Tom Angotti and Peter Marcusse willexplore different perspectives on the housing problem.Sliding Scale: $45/$65SAT NOV 5 • 4 pmPANEL DISCUSSION: TO THE RIGHT MARCH — THE TEA PARTYIN AMERICA.Chip Berlet, Laura Flanders, Lauren Langman and Michael Thompsonwill examine the roots of the Tea Party as a right-wing “movement.”Sliding Scale: $6/$10/$15BUILDINGA MOVEMENTTHAT MOVES451 West Street(btwn Bank and Bethune)MON NOV 146:30pm • FreeLECTURE: POWER OF PERFORMANCE,THEATER IN WAR ZONES. Combiningfootage of Bond Street <strong>The</strong>ater’s work inwar zones around the world, this discussionfocuses on the use of performing arts,especially theater-based projects, as a toolfor education, healing and humanitarianoutreach.<strong>The</strong> New School, Wollman HallEugene Lang Building, 65 W 11th Stnewschool.edu/tcdsNOV 256pm • $35Pleaseregister online:brechtforum.org212-242-4201SCREENING: OPENING NIGHT AFRICANDIASPORA INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVAL. <strong>The</strong> opening night of this twoweekfestival features two films by directorMenelik Shabazz. Discussion and cateredfood to follow.212-864-1760 • nyadiff.orgSIGN UP TO RECEIVE OUR WEEKLYCALENDAR VIA EMAIL AT INDY-PENDENT.ORGSUBSCRIBE NOWsubscribe online at indypendent.orgor mail us this formNameAddressCityStateEmailPhoneZipU.S. Subscription rate: $29/year (16 issues)Make check or money order payable to “<strong>The</strong> <strong>Indypendent</strong>”and send to: 666 Broadway, Suite 500, New York, NY 10012.FROM TAHRIR SQUARETO ZUCCOTTI PARK,THE INDYPENDENTBRINGS YOU FRESHCOVERAGE ANDANALYSIS OF WHATREALLY MATTERSTHE INDYPENDENT NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 22, 2011 19


THE INDYPENDENTCHANGE ISPOSSIBLE—BUT WE NEEDYOUR HELP NOW!WE HAVE TO RAISE $30,000 BY THE END OF THIS YEAR TO CONTINUEPUBLISHING IN 2012. SO IF YOU WERE CHEERED BY TAHRIR AND HAVE BEENINSPIRED BY UPRISINGS FROM WISCONSIN TO SPAIN TO WALL STREET,PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY AND HELP KEEP THE INDY GOING STRONG. WECAN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!#161, February 16–March 15, 2011THE INDYPENDENTIssueA FREE PAPER FOR FREE PEOPLEEgypt is Reborn.Now What?SPECIAL ISSUE, PAGES 5–13:EGYPT, TUNISIA, YEMEN, ISRAEL, IRANYOUTH IN REVOLT, PAGE 6Issue #165, May 18–June 7THE INDYPENDENT A FREE PAPER FOR FREE PEOPLE4TH & GOLDP4SECRET BLACK-SEXY NOW,JEWISH ALLIANCESEXY LATERP13P15INDYPENDENT.ORGPHOTO: MATTHEW CASSEL/justimage.orgdddddddddNOTORIOUSNETWORKER, DEADp3TAKINGIT TOTHESTREETSby John Tarleton, p4MAHMOOD MAMDANION AFRICA’S NEWEST NATIONp8THE LASTOF THEBOHEMIANSp14ANDREW STERNTO DONATE, go to indypendent.org/donate.Or send a check made out toTHE INDYPENDENT:666 Broadway, Suite 500, New York, NY 10012

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