Cornel West, Philosopher and Activist, to Speak at Occupy Wall Street Tonight

Occupy Wall Street is pleased to announce that noted philosopher and social justice advocate Cornell West, author of the book “Race Matters” among many others, will be speaking at tonight’s General Assembly, scheduled for 7 p.m. at Liberty Square at the intersection of Broadway and Liberty Street. He will be speaking about the circumstances that ultimately led thousands activists to occupy Wall Street, as well as the importance of people power in addressing them.

West has just wrapped up a nation-wide speaking tour talking about generational poverty. We at Occupy Wall Street are grateful to have him here addressing our group.

This is the tenth communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street.

On September 27th, 2011, we marched on the Financial District's Luxury Night Out, where couples wore outfits that cost more than we will ever make in a month and looked at cars that cost more than we will ever make in a year, afterward, they went back to one of their many houses that cost more than we will make in our lifetime.

Occupied Boston doesn't need a bullhorn to have their voices heard. They have the people's microphone.

So does Michael Moore, who addressed us tonight.

Occupied San Francisco grows larger every day.

Occupied Chicago was dispersed but not defeated. They will regroup and reoccupy.

So far at least 52 cities in America are occupied or organizing. We span at least three continents.

Add your home. Make your voice heard.

We are growing. Block by block – city by city. We will see change in this country, in this world.

It will happen sooner than you can imagine.

Anyone with eyes open knows that the gangsterism of Wall Street -- financial institutions generally -- has caused severe damage to the people of the United States (and the world). And should also know that it has been doing so increasingly for over 30 years, as their power in the economy has radically increased, and with it their political power. That has set in motion a vicious cycle that has concentrated immense wealth, and with it political power, in a tiny sector of the population, a fraction of 1%, while the rest increasingly become what is sometimes called "a precariat" -- seeking to survive in a precarious existence. They also carry out these ugly activities with almost complete impunity -- not only too big to fail, but also "too big to jail."

The courageous and honorable protests underway in Wall Street should serve to bring this calamity to public attention, and to lead to dedicated efforts to overcome it and set the society on a more healthy course.

Noam Chomsky

Late last night we found out which white collar officer had maced our innocent protesters. We did not release this information as we had not yet come to a consensus on how to approach the situation. Earlier today we discovered that this information had already been released.

Yesterday, an NYPD spokesperson implied that we had edited the video to remove incriminating actions on the part of our peaceful protesters. Here are a few different angles and cuts of the event that we had not previously released:

As you can tell, we did not need to edit the video to implicate this officer in a gross and unconscionable crime.

This is the man who maced these young women without provocation.

His name is Anthony Bologna. We demand that he is charged for his crimes. We demand that he receives jail time.

We demand that Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly resigns. Not only can he not control his most senior officers, he is involved in actively sheltering them from receiving any punishment.

We demand that Mayor Michael Bloomberg address our General Assembly and apologize for the police brutality and the cover-up that followed.

This was an attempt to make us weak, this was an attempt to destroy or derail our message, our conversation. It has not succeeded. We have grown, we will grow. Today we received unconfirmed reports that over one hundred blue collar police refused to come into work in solidarity with our movement. These numbers will grow. We are the 99 percent. You will not silence us.

Please call:
Mayor Bloomberg: +1 (212) 639-9675 or +1 (212) 788-2958
Deputy Commissioner of Public Information: +1 (646) 610-6700
NYPD Switchboard: +1 (646) 610-5000
First precinct: +1 (212) 334-0611

Make our voice heard. Make sure that the world knows that everyone deserves equal protection, service, and punishment.

Remain true to our principles of non-violence.

UPDATE: 4:51 PM EST Two more videos of Officer Bologna senselessly attacking peaceful protesters.

Boston Review reports on being maced by Anthony Bologna