“Most of us believe that what is most important is to open space for conversations - for democracy - real, direct and participatory democracy. Our only demand then would be to be left alone in our plazas, parks, schools, workplaces and neighborhoods so as to meet one another, reflect together, and in assembly forms decide what our alternatives are. From there … we can discuss what sort of demands we might have and who might be able to meet these demands. Or, perhaps … the issues of demands upon others will become mute. If there are enough of us, we may one day only make demands of ourselves.” — Marina Sitrin, writing in “Occupy! Scenes from Occupied America” compiled by the editors of n+1.

“Most of us believe that what is most important is to open space for conversations - for democracy - real, direct and participatory democracy. Our only demand then would be to be left alone in our plazas, parks, schools, workplaces and neighborhoods so as to meet one another, reflect together, and in assembly forms decide what our alternatives are. From there … we can discuss what sort of demands we might have and who might be able to meet these demands. Or, perhaps … the issues of demands upon others will become mute. If there are enough of us, we may one day only make demands of ourselves.” — Marina Sitrin, writing in “Occupy! Scenes from Occupied America” compiled by the editors of n+1.

filed under: occupy, OWS, n+1,

+ permalink

"Occupy Wall Street exists in a First Amendment space all its own. The protestors do not, in an important sense, occupy the spaces in which they exist to the exclusion of other uses, like a rally or a parade. They depend for their rhetorical force not on a temporary massing of thousands, but on the persistent presence, day in and day out, of a committed core of demonstrators, whose ongoing presence extends the teachable moment of their message into a perpetual, if not permanent, opportunity for dialogue. The Occupy movement, in that sense, is a sort of national sit-in, whose continuing presence forces us to confront those questions we would otherwise more easily avoid. The essential moral challenge is the same as that posed by the lunch-counter demonstrators of the civil rights era: We are here, we politely dissent, and we defy you to move us along for your own convenience."

– “Occupying the First Amendment” by Raymond Vasavari | SLATE

filed under: OWS, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy, Zuccotti Park, NYC, First Amendment, Constitution,

+ permalink

Did Bloomberg do Occupy Wall Street a favor? ⇒

Ezra Klein says Occupy Wall Street was going to have a hard time making it through the winter. As cold set in, he writes, all but the die-hards and the homeless would leave, prompting a media exodus. If someone died of hypothermia, the public opinion tide could turn. But …

Bloomberg spared them that fate. Zucotti Park wasn’t cleared by weather, or the insufficient commitment of protesters. It was cleared by pepper spray and tear gas. It was cleared by police and authority. It was cleared by a mayor who comes from Wall Street and a request made by one of America’s largest commercial real estate developers. It was cleared, in other words, in a way that will temporarily reinvigorate the protesters and give Occupy Wall Street the best possible chance to become whatever it will become next.

Click the link. Ezra Klein, as always, is a good read.

filed under: OWS, Occupy Wall Street, NYC, Washington Post, Ezra Klein, protest,

+ permalink