Occupy Wall Street: ‘We are the 99 percent’

UAW Local 2110 Vice President Booker Washington shows Solidarity with the Occupy movement | Photo courtesy of Region 9A

Dave Elsila is a retired UAW Local 1981 (National Writers Union) member who is part of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement.

Elsila was assistant director and Solidarity magazine editor in the UAW Public Relations Department from 1976 until he retired in 1998.

We’ll reprint his future reports on the Occupy Wall Street section of uaw.org.

Here are Elsila’s first three installments detailing his experiences on the ground amid the OWS rallies:

Oct. 12, 2011
Report #1 from New York City

Dear Friends,

Energizing and inspirational are words that describe the scene at Occupy Wall Street.
I was there last night along with 1,000 or more others who are speaking out, displaying signs, performing music, painting posters, silk screening T-shirts, sending out electronic updates, serving donated food and keeping NYC’s Zuccotti Park [in lower Manhattan] clean with a volunteer sanitation crew.  Participants are going out of their way to deny police any excuse to crack down, and the atmosphere is festive yet peaceful. I was also there Wednesday when 30,000 people from unions, environmental, faith-based, community and other groups marched from Foley Square to Zuccotti Park.  I plan to go back later today.

The participants have published two issues of a broadsheet “Occupied Wall Street Journal” and distributed them throughout the city.  There’s a big mix of people: You see everything from IWW signs to people wearing Ron Paul T-shirts. A double-decker Grey Line tour bus went by while I was there; the tourists sitting on the open-air top deck cheered and applauded the occupiers.

It seems that participants perceive that the building of a large popular opposition movement of resistance is the best way to effect change and make politicians of all stripes sit up and take notice.  Perhaps Todd Gitlin said it best in Sunday’s New York Times when he quoted a historian as saying: “This is the Obama generation declaring their independence from the administration.”  Gitlin went on to write, “By allying itself with the protest, the left at large is telling the president that a campaign slogan that essentially says ‘We’re better than Eric Cantor’ won’t cut it in 2012.  ‘We are the 99 percent’ would be more like it.  If President Obama takes this direction, the movement’s energy may be able to power a motor of significant reform.”

Unfortunately, my vintage Macbook laptop doesn’t want to recognize my little iPhone camera, so I can’t send you any photos. (Go to Democracynow.org for good photo and video coverage.)  However, here are some of the signs I saw that give a flavor of the scene:

• “I can’t find a job, but I found an Occupation.”
• “99:1 – consider the odds.”
• “Fox News: Don’t worry; I don’t take you seriously either.”
• “Wall Street needs an enema: It’s full of crap.”
• “Jesus is with the 99%. You cannot serve God and wealth (Matthew 6:24),” carried by a man in a clerical collar.
• “I’ve been in two wars; in this one I know who my enemy is” (carried by a man in military fatigues).
• And “The working class is waking up.”

I hope you have a chance to participate in this new movement wherever you are. There are Occupy Wall Street spinoffs in several hundred areas around the United States. Look for one in your community.
Perhaps the “Arab Spring” that we all cheered has now given rise to the “American Autumn.”

Dave

Oct. 14, 2011
Report #2 from New York City

Photo courtesy of Region 9A

Dear Friends,

Occupy Wall Street participants beat Mayor Bloomberg to the punch Thursday (Oct. 13).  After Bloomberg announced that city workers would begin evacuating protesters in order to “clean” the park, dozens of volunteers started scrubbing down the area with soap and water and scrub brushes, eliminating any excuse that the city had for its “cleanup” scheme.

“Today we clean up our community, tomorrow we clean up Wall Street” read several signs that I saw.  We saw volunteers with scrapers cleaning up chewing gum from the pavement, polishing brass plaques and making the park cleaner than many of the surrounding streets or, as several members of the city council noted, cleaner than a lot of other parks in the city.

The occupiers also mobilized supporters, who came together by the thousands at 6 a.m. to show solidarity.  In particular, New York unions were a strong presence. When I went to the park, the first sign I saw, held by an Ironworker, read: “I’m union, I vote, I’m pissed, so I’m here.”  Other union signs bore the logos of the AFT, AFSCME, IATSE, UAW, Public Employees Federation (PEF) and more.  And the AFL-CIO sent out an emergency message on the Internet yesterday asking people to sign a petition or to telephone or e-mail Bloomberg to stop the evictions.

The result of all this activity led to a big victory this morning.  As you’ve probably heard by now, the city backed down and the owners of this “public-private” park have, for the time being, withdrawn their request for the cleaning.  Had the city gone through with its plan, protesters would have been allowed back but without sleeping bags, tarps, tents and other supplies they needed to keep up the round-the-clock protests.  People are jubilant.

Tomorrow they are planning a 3 p.m. march across town to Tompkins Square Park. In the meantime, it’s been announced that there are more than 1,100 occupations taking place in cities and towns across the United States. The protests are getting more and more media attention and this morning were the lead stories on many TV news shows.

The protests seem to be spawning a good deal of creativity: In Chicago the other day, 40 people dressed as Robin Hood took to kayaks on the Chicago River, with supporters lining the banks. If there’s a protest where you are, take some time this weekend to get involved.
For Detroit friends, don't forget to show up at 4 p.m. today at the Spirit of Detroit statue downtown. We’ll be going to Philadelphia tomorrow to visit our son and his family, and we plan to be part of “Occupation Philadelphia” on Sunday. 

Dave

Oct. 17, 2011
Report #3 from Philadelphia

Photo courtesy of Region 9A

Dear Friends,

Sunday morning (Oct. 16) when I went down to visit Occupy Philadelphia with my grandsons, a sea of colorful tents ranging in size from small pop-ups to full-size camping models filled the plaza in front of City Hall and an area halfway around the side. Today’s edition of Metro, the free Philadelphia daily, made the Occupation its lead story and reported that the number of tents had exploded during this second weekend to 322.  That’s a remarkable and impressive number.

Also impressive was seeing a large number of people of color and people who appeared to be homeless becoming part of the Occupation – an indication that this movement is growing not only in numbers but in breadth. Several people were distributing copies of “One Step Away,” a newspaper “produced by those without homes for those with homes.”

Many of the signs were handmade and bore slogans similar to those seen at Occupy Wall Street.  One new sign declared, “I want bread and roses, just like my grandmother did.”

At a round-circle meeting of about 30 participants in the lower courtyard, a woman described two favorite slogans: “Our politicians are the best that money can buy,” and “Occupy your mind.”

There are tents for food and beverage distribution, for medical care, for media and outreach, and even for a book exchange.  Signs reflect the presence of several unions and faith-based community groups. A Jewish group has erected a sukka, a structure for observing the Jewish holiday of succot, and there is an area identified as “Evangelicals for justice.” 

There is also a family area and an “Idea Wall” where children have written such slogans as “fair,” “love for everyone” and “food for everyone.”  Like other Occupations, this one seemed to have no political “demands” but rather a list of concerns: “Nothing indicates change; we still have the same problems; we’re still trying to be heard,” one occupier said.

“I care about local issues. How are my kids going to be educated in Philadelphia? How are jobs going to be created in Philadelphia?” they added.
Some political groups are suggesting answers to these questions through literature distribution, information tables and teach-ins, but, as in New York and elsewhere, no one group seems to be dominating the discussion or controlling the movement.

The Metro reporter quotes another occupier: “In order to peacefully change the status quo, you have to celebrate while you’re doing it.  Revolutions have to be celebratory. They can’t solve things with simple anger.”

It’s encouraging to read that the Occupation movement has spread to so many places.  Back here in New York, I’ve heard from friends in Durango, Colo., in San Mateo, Calif., in St. Clair Shores, Mich., and, of course, in Detroit, that Occupations are under way in all those towns plus hundreds more.

I hope you’re participating wherever you are.

Dave