Occupy Union Square: NYC, Join Us In Protest!
Posted 12 years ago on March 19, 2012, 7:48 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
After the brutal attack on the attempted re-occupation of Liberty Square by NYPD on the 6-month anniversary of #OWS, a number of Occupiers have relocated their base of occupation to Union Square in midtown Manhattan, a point of convergence for several #OWS protests over the past 6 months.
According to reports on the ground, several dozen people slept in the park after the illegal and violent raid on Liberty Square. Over 70 people remain, now on Day 3. Although tents and tables are still banned, Occupiers have brought blankets and sleeping gear. Many are calling it ¨The New Occupation.¨ In addition to holding General Assemblies, Union Square Occupiers are providing vital jail support for those arrested on #M17 as they are released from NYPD custody. So far, the NYPD has made no attempt to remove Occupiers or prevent them from sleeping in the park.
Our ability to occupy the commons in order to voice dissent is a vital political right. We do not need a permit to exist in public space. We call on all those who would stand for equality, justice, and liberation - and against the banks, corporations, wealthy elites, and corrupt politicians who have stolen our democracy and ruined our economy - to join us now. Although our plans are flexible and constantly evolving, we want everyone with an interest in this movement against Wall Street greed to take part in the evolving conversation. Spring is coming. The time to get involved is now!
Union Square is accessible by the 14th St - Union Sq [N, Q, R, L, 4, 5, 6] subway stations. Protesters are Occupying on the south side of the park, on the concrete part by the steps. Check back here at http://occupywallst.org for updates! Of course, not everyone can camp - but please feel free to stop by at any point in the day to say hello and show your much-appreciated solidarity.
As long as there is injustice, as long as the country is divided between rich and poor, and as long as the 1% continues to exert control over our lives, we will not go away. We will continue to use public space to rebuild true democracy, create networks to support one another, provide services to those suffering from the economic crisis, and launch nonviolent disruption of inequality everywhere. We will defend those facing unfair foreclosures and loss of critical social services, and we will continue to call out the Wall Street bankers and corporate executives who are profiting from these atrocious policies!
NYPD: Squash us in one park, we will reappear in another! You cannot evict an idea whose time has come!
Union Square #OCCUPIED on Nov. 17th, 2011
"to rebuild true democracy, create networks to support one another"
Hear, hear!
i love this, there are a shortage of parks in this city and the world. when they steal one from us, lets move to another. and keep going until they take back everything, then the world sees the reality of the militant police state we live in. great idea, ill be there, and at the next park, and the next park. REVOLUJAH BABY!!!!
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The only one stealing a park is you. You make it impossible for the rest of the city to use them.
The people have a Constitutional right to assemble. Where do you suggest that people who wish to protest Wall streets actions assemble?
The thing is that governments have made sure there are no real places let to talk, speak or assemble without break one or many laws.
if the people of the past had social media like facebook we would already be in world peace. We cant get neighborhood peace at the moment because everyone thinks of only their self. We must share and think of our neighbor as we would think of ourselves.
we have no chance at all of not breaking laws. This nation was built because the men who founded it committed treason. And that is the same way Napolean took over France. We are not like them, we actually speak for the people and mean by the people. we are the true uncorruptable, and if this movement isnt, who wants to join me in world peace? The greatest teachings of how we should live is already deep in our people, they are just not following his teachings the way he meant it.
Sure there are. This is one of those places.
Furthermore the constitution was written before The Internet. But I think you forgot your history-lessons. Anyway, I/we can educate you that is why we are here.
But I thought we were talking about non-virtual places such as real parks. I think you have misunderstood.
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For years post world war II people were being brought up to believe in the system. It will take some time to get people out of that system. Assembly the good old way is a thing of the past and even the police have been brain-numbed to think that people must only walk on the pavement/streets. Sad but true. Most are a victim of an era and The Arab spring taught us that it takes 40+ years before people wake up.
History must be rewritten, the elite pushed back. Rockefeller, Rothschild, Kennedy, Bush, Clinton, Sarcozy etc etc. are living their life in an old world of thinking and they still believe in it like one believed one must walk on the pavement.
Once it was normal to have a hat on - not today. Things change. But in this case it has gone really really bad. How bad we know only too well and we now know that the elite are ruling like never before and we also know that kings/queens are a hoax as are presidents and popes. But most people still believe in shit like that.
People can assemble but they still flock to church and elect stupid president.
Watch how 1000+ flock: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/20/world/africa/egypt-coptic-pope/
And here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17444950
People are the same idiots all over. The queen is not really nobody except a human like you and me. That pope is nobody except a human being and still the flock as if they were deities and royals.
Same shit goes for football. Nothing will change.
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You didn't answer the question. Where should the wall street protesters assemble?
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we are the 99% we are the rest of the city and bla bla bla. we are multiply by the masses
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now only 3% who care. at least there are 2 major group of people - youngsters who dont really care about next year, but worry about how to spend next Friday. And other group - oldies - they are full of passion to change anything, but they unable to accomplish. And probably there is third group of intelligent engineers who want separate first two group and won't let them stand together.
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why do we choose a park? So the cops dont beat the shit out of us while you cheer. It is not about the park at all.
This is wonderful. Power to the protester.
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated, and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however,the timid join him, For then it costs nothing to be a Patriot.” ~ Mark Twain
"I can't understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I'm frightened of old ones."
Great quotes! This uprising is as natural as the sunrise as life wants to live to the fullest of its potential. Old, outmoded, repressive systems,tweaked to benefit a few at the consequence of many will be met with a great reality check.
This is why I am so interested in the legal battles. Those people who are naturally obedient get the space to think when they see that what they thought of as an authority figure get spanked by the law.
People are often obedient not because it is natural for them to be so, but rather because they fear the consequences of being disobedient. They fear change. Fear is a powerful motivator. The case could also be made that fear of the progression of the corporatepolitical agenda is exactly what motivates many Occupiers. They fear for their futures. They fear not making change.
If you are a legal assistant or paralegal of some kind then the movement could absolutely use your education and training. I've been doing some basic translating work for my local Occupy, but legal issues are critical. Thank you for your efforts.
Union Square has a long history of social protests, good to see it continuing
Convincing people that money has a corrosive influence on politics, we need to restore the integrity of our financial system, our middle and working classes are under attack, democracy is under attack, etc., is the easy part .... convincing people that they can effect change by getting more involved, seems like the harder part, and keeping the public focused on these issues, is perhaps the hardest of all (in our "immediate gratification" ... attention deficit disorder, culture).
The establishment (and by that I mean both sides of the political aisle, and their corporate patrons) are intent on keeping the status quo in place (or at least, I see little evidence of any real motivation to enact meaningful changes among our political leaders, although there are some exceptions). What happens when there's real improvement in our economy? Does the impetus for change diminish? And, how do we deal with this eventuality?
I think one way to keep focus on these issues is through building a sustainable organization, which OWS (and many of its affiliates, or groups acting under the occupy banner, at least loosely speaking) is doing (or at least trying to do). But organization building, becoming a potent voice for change, etc., takes time and strategic effort. These occupations are a great way to get attention for the issues we care about, but I wonder if eventually the public will become desensitized to this tactic, and it eventually loses its ability to get attention? I think, at minimum, these are possibilities that should be part of our calculus.
http://youtu.be/GpmwMOk628U This is me in front of OWS library Union Square. The NYPD were peaceful and the same for OWS but it is clear OWS will be encouraged to leave. http://youtu.be/tpwgMBhF220
I bought some cigs for OWS. My head phones were stolen? I will take a rest from visiting. Signing off. The NYPD are not the issue Bloomberg, Christine Quinn who has been given over 3 million dollars to replace Bloomberg with Goldman Sachs as her community outreach holed up in 250 Broadway most likely breaking campaign laws working on NYC gov time getting lots of money to get Quinn in office so bloomberg can have a 4 and 5th term.
the NYPD are great for fund raising but if you don't fight to prevent Quinn from winning you will have someone worse than Bloomberg in office as mayor propped up by Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse etc. I know she has been aggressively fund raising from them and seeking out celebrities help including Hillary Clinton's daughter.
Don't write me back here. I don't read them. You can contact me on my YouTube channel Suzannahartist. The NYPD are not the problem -- Bloomberg and the Partnership for NY I dubbed the Oligarchs of NY are the problem. Look to the who is really running the show here and hint that was why Bloomberg ran down to Goldman Sachs. Bye for now.
totally
It is interesting to me that anyone--yes, even doctors, lawyers, or business owners--would deny what OWS is saying. Each and every one of us (the citizens that is) sells our body for an hourly wage labour. Unless we win the lottery or "get discovered" by fluke accident, NONE OF US are capitalists. NONE of the 99% has enough wealth to simply sit on it--while forcing others to do your bidding, mind you--and never have to work. Anyone who isn't rich (and I mean REALLY loaded) is the 99% AND YET, so many working stiffs--construction workers, teachers, retail workers, etc.--fight for the status quo, even while it oppresses them. We would not be poorer or less equiped if we dismanteled this neo-liberal, capitalist government! WE WOULD BE RICHER (globally and locally) AND BETTER PROTECTED because we would have dismanteled those rules (legislation etc.) that enables the problems of poverty. I work hard for my money, but my work is less and less valued each year. I study hard as a student, but my debt grows each year. What about you? Your kids? Your elderly parents? This government does not care about CPP, or funding elderly medical care, or excessive tuition fees. When discussing the rise of taxes, or government bail outs people always say, "well where else with the money come from?" as though the poor and the working class were the only groups of money to draw from. They argue, too, governments are in debt they have no money either. Yet their salaries steadily increase, and their funding of foreign military actions INCREASE. Furthermore, when there are men in this world making AT LEAST a million dollars a day I'm sorry folks, but there is plenty of money to go around without having to bankrupt communities (i.e. municipalities, countries, nations...in other words insert fabricated border lines here) or fight to take blood from a stone (i.e. the working class and the poor). THE TRUTH: there is enough money and food to feed the world over and we need to STOP letting the rich get richer off our backs. Why do the 99% fight between themselves. Citizens, we do not want to take your parks from you; we want to give them back. Give it all back.
Remember when there were Crown Corporations? Remember the golden ear (c'mon baby boomers I know you do)? That and much MUCH more is what were fighting for. Some of you may not like the marching in the streets, or the occupying space demonstrations. But we are not capitalists and politicians, so we lack the funding and "power" it takes to get a billboard, make a commercial and pay for national air time, put out colourful pamphlets with great little catch phrases. The demonstrations (protests, assemblies, occupation, direct-democracy, civil "dissobedience") are our billboards, our commercials, our voice and without other, larger means our ONLY way of getting the message out to large groups of civilians. DO WE REALLY NEED ANOTHER GREAT DEPRESSION OR TO BECOME LIKE THE STATE OF CHINA and the like, WHERE FREE PRESS IS SQUASHED AND STUDENTS CAN BE SHOT OR RUN OVER BY TANKS IF ANYWHERE NEER A PROTEST before we stand together? I don't want to harp on those that resist this message, but I do wish to strongly encourage you to think twice before quickly dissmissing how important this movement is to ALL OF US.
Thank you so much for your thoughts. I really feel like you hit the nail on the head for my experience as well. Solidarity.
Hearings commence today at the Federal Court as part of the legal challenge against the City of Melbourne’s response to the peaceful Occupy Melbourne protests held throughout the city since October 2011.
The legal challenge, filed in November 2011 by Fitzroy Legal Service, will argue that the manner in which the council has been using their powers is incompatible with the rights of all Australians to freedom of political communication.
“We are taking the reasonable and responsible path, contrary to the path taken by the City of Melbourne and Victoria Police,” said litigant James Muldoon.
The challenge will not only be an important test case for civil rights in Australia, but may also act as an international precedent for how police and local authorities respond to peaceful protests occurring around the world.
Fitzroy Legal Service will be assisted by the Human Rights Law Centre and Emrys Nekvapil and Nick Wood of counsel, while former Federal Court Judge, Ron Merkel, QC, is acting on behalf of the litigant from Occupy Melbourne.
Nick Carson, of Occupy Melbourne’s Media Team explained; “We hope to see this challenge succeed and the courts uphold the right of all Australians to be in a public space and exercise their right to political expression.”
Hearings are scheduled for March 21-23 and will begin each morning at roughly 10am. There will be a 'Free Lunch for Free Speech' held in neighbouring Flagstaff Gardens for supporters and well-wishers.
Occupy news from Australia,Cheers.
Remember this.
When you saw the cops took away the freedom of the people in the nearby city to protest, you didn't say anything. When you saw the cops took away the freedom of the people in the nearby suburb to protest, you didn't say anything. When you saw the cops took away the freedom of your neighbor to protest, you didn't say anything. When the cops are going to take away your freedom to protest, nobody will say anything.
Gee I wonder who else will show up . Glad OWS is still here !!
I made some YouTubes from Union square and did some blog posts. http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-couldn-afford-lobbyist-ows-union-sq.html and this shows NYPD had sectioned off an area and later removed the yellow tape. http://mayorbloombergkingofnewyork.blogspot.com/2012/03/occupy-wall-street-occupies-union.html
from across the street http://eastvillageeasteastvillage.blogspot.com/2012/03/union-square-ows.html
http://youtu.be/h3Q80VWDb1E Occupy Wall St Interview Mr. Youknowwhy Union Square with act-up he got arrested St. P day for handing out flowers.
http://youtu.be/_HobxmrUYbE I visit OWS Union with Mayor Bloomberg King of NY poster and a no hospital protest sign re: no hospital West Village. We also are losing hospitals Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens so I ask why Bloomberg his mini-me corrupt Christine Quinn and Obama are doing nothing to bailout hospitals just banks. Christine Quinn is taking money from Goldman Sachs and other banks for her mayoral run as well as a fortune from the Rudin family who are putting lux condos were St. V hospital was.
Those who fear change are the same people who benefit when you lose your job or suffer for lack of health insurance. It has always been economically advantageous to those at the top of the pyramid to resist paying those who do the work what they're actually earning. Consider the following example:
If your CEO is given $18,000,000 in salary and bonuses in a single year that's about $8700 per hour based on a 40 hour week. That's well over 200 times what one of his unionized employees earns.
When your boss receives more than 20 times what you do, you cease to have anything in common with him.
Awesome! On the west coast but my heart is with you. I value all those who are willing to put themselves on the line in an effort to restore democracy. OCCUPY!
Love the spirit.
Love the commitment.
Drive and determination.
We move forward - Together.
hello i am doing a report about occupying wall street and he protesters. If any of you are protesters may you please answer my questions:
do you and the rest of the protesters want a form of a communist government?
what are you problems/or reasons you specifically protest
thank you if you get back to me, it will really help.
p.s. i am for your protesting
You have one shot at being believed - don't waste it.
The Occupy movements are for returning our government to the service of the people for which it was made - Living Breathing Biological humans.
To remove corporate manipulation of our government.
To fight corruption and criminal activities on wallstreet as well as in all business.
To balance the scales for the American worker who is currently a wage slave.
All this and so much more.
This is the Occupy OWS and 99% movements goals along with other environmental and social groups.
The membership of protesters of all associations are growing.
1.) No, as a protester I do not want a form of a communist government. I am for reclaiming the current system from corruption via actions such as getting the money out of politics. The Second Bill of Rights proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt is a good place to start. http://youtu.be/3EZ5bx9AyI4
2.) My specific reasons come from my own struggle. I have a university degree and yet can only secure employment up to 39.5 hours per week so that I cannot receive full-time benefits. My scheduled hours constantly change so that I cannot get another job on the side. I am hard-working, intelligent and motivated and yet I cannot even make a living, much less save for a future family or support my parents as they get older. I have done everything right, everything that American society has told me to do, and yet I still cannot make it. That means something is wrong with the system, and sure enough if you look closer corruption is there.
I would like to hear the word love yelled at the cops instead of Shame! Shame! Shame! I think saying shame over and over again just incites bad feelings. What I would want is for the cops to join our cause and shame is not gonna make that happen.
Yes, the message that is being conveyed to the public is that the real and ardent mission of the Occupy Wall Street protesters is to conduct an anti-police campaign. If "Shame!" was the worst thing being shouted, perhaps it wouldn't be so easy to draw that conclusion. But, the police literally are being bombarded over and over with true hate speech. I watched the videos circulating and my impression was that if anyone had as their intention to discredit the OWS movement, they do a good job with their display of those taunts and tirades at the police.
I'm sure occupiers were hoping that the videos would show police brutality, but instead they showed police with an enormous amount of restraint. Most people in the public who view these can see that the people who are arrested are simply the ones who want to get arrested. That's sort of admirable that someone wants to get arrested for the publicity for what they stand for (What is it? That we live in a police state? We can see that's what they want to convey), Getting arrested by cops just doing their job is not very convincing (because, the truth is, we don't live in a police state). It's hard to feel sorry for anyone who goes to a protest trying to provoke the police and gets arrested when it happens.
we do have the highest per capita imprisoned
Well, the police don't put people in prison. It's out of their hands after the arrests. So do you blame the courts and juries or maybe we should look at the criminals?
Good grief, you're naive, friend. "Just doing their job?" Where have we heard that before? Let's see...hmmm...Oh, I remember now...The Nuremberg Trials.
Comparing people who murdered Jews in gas chambers in an attempt at racial annihilation with individuals who were merely arresting serial miscreants for intentional behavior, designed to get themselves arrested as some sort of protest, would more appropriately be defined as naiveté.
How about an ex-US Marine who served in combat getting hit in the head with a tear gas canister that caused the young man to suffer brain damage - memory loss and speech impairment. How about an elderly woman being pepper sprayed and dragged along the groud in the course of being arrested. How about a man walking along the sidewalk being confronted at random by police shoved and wrestled around and getting his head bashed into a plate glass door. Those acting as the law enforcers need to obey the law themselves, sir, for when they do not, they become nothing more than thugs and muggers. Lawless hooligans.
Any serious consideration of those very few and isolated events... even ignoring that the accounts have been exaggerated way beyond their reality, illustrates how civil the police really are to a group of people who are purposefully taunting the police and largely committing actions with the intention of getting themselves arrested. If you go to a "protest" with the objective of getting arrested, you probably will. And most likely those efforts to defy the police run the risk of getting others, who just came to watch, injured from being in proximity to those who are resisting arrests. We have an amazing police force which ensures to everyone in this city that the streets and parks are safe places to protest or march or assemble. Without the cops, these "protests" could easily become mob riots with real hooligans who might claim to proffer opposing political views attacking with bricks and other weapons. The police have kept the "demonstrations" to be actually very placid events. Those who attend the marches and conduct their protests in a civilized fashion go home unscathed. Those who provoke conflict are not doing the movement any favor. No matter how hard the few radical activists work to try to turn these marches into Tiananmen Square or Kent State, it's just not working.
Read this, then come back and tell me how "it's all lies." http://occupywallst.org/article/war-on-dissent/
per·spi·ca·cious/ˌpərspiˈkāSHəs/ Adjective:
Having a ready insight into and understanding of things.
Some how I think not.
Unless you are keeping it to your self.
Your above interpretation has no bearing on reality.
Occupiers, what is your message? To close the gap between rich and poor we simply need a cap on sales profits on all middlemen ie.Banks, investors, ..
A cap on sales profits will create a rising tide that will improve the standard of living for everyone.
We need more mannequins!!!
http://occupywallst.org/forum/we-need-more-mannequins/
See that Bloomberg's & J.P.Morgan's NYPD
Really means "Not Your Police Department" !
Mercenary Cops are 'We The People' too & that
We may Love all sinners so long as they Repent !!
Yet Parasites are Incorrigible & Totally Untrustworthy
As They will always seek to stifle any and all Dissent !!!
We Are 'The Enlightened Ninety-Nine point Nine, Nine'
And that truely They are "The Darkside 0.01 Percent" !!!!
~
pax, amor et lux ...
Further, "Police State Blues - Our rights do not end where the caprice of authoritarian bullies begins.", by Phil Rockstroh : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30858.htm .
fiat iustitia ...
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take the good in my words and leave the rest.
I honestly dont wanna be 40 years old fighting over a loaf of bread. Give to our government that which is theirs and we shall keep the rest. The land is ours, not theirs. If we want to grow crops instead of a store owned by someone living in another country then we shall do so.
better yet get you a nice high power magnet and fuck that gas pump up.
I fear this site is just trying to get profits. I am stuck in SC, id love to come and join, but you guys need more organization. Occupy a gas pump, and you will cause all the problems u want. Flood the jail to were it over flows, then put your car in the way of a gas pump and take the tires off. Gas is the main problem, we are being taxed beyond belief because our government is taxing the countries we import from, and that causes us to suffer.
yippee occupy occupy occupy
An Alternative to Capitalism (if the people knew about it, they would demand it)
Several decades ago, Margaret Thatcher claimed: "There is no alternative". She was referring to capitalism. Today, this negative attitude still persists.
I would like to offer an alternative to capitalism for the American people to consider. Please click on the following link. It will take you to an essay titled: "Home of the Brave?" which was published by the Athenaeum Library of Philosophy:
http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/steinsvold.htm
John Steinsvold
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." ~ Albert Einstein
是的,应当支持和鼓励你们,干掉那些卑鄙的银行!
The violent cops should be investigated on suspicion of conspiracy to obtain and distribute illegal bribes in violation of public peace, because fear and paranoia always benefit someone near by. Also, the inconvenience of accommodating protesters in Union Sq. is the weight of a feather compared the system in place in Manhattan today. It's Urinetown pay to pee, the needs of the people there are met only with money, the folks can't look you in the eye, and the locals know what I mean. Everyday people work go to work and try some way to reach someone's heart, but they got that system there, it's a trap. Now they say people have no right to get together in the street. It never felt like this before and I'm hometown.
OUS shirts will be coming out soon contact me through messages, at facebook.com/UMasterJayU we can make this park stick its our new home this summer
So, I guess this means that the homeless are indeed welcome again and they now have a new place where they can spend the night. Word should spread rapidly through the shelters and many will be joining the "sleep-in" at Union Square. Free meals and a place to sleep in a relatively safe environment (the police do provide these "occupations" great security not available in most other parts of the city where homeless sleep outside) will be a great attraction for large groups of the city's homeless. Now, if this could also be done in Central Park, there would be a massive influx of the homeless (even from the other boroughs and outlying areas).
I have for years been an advocate for the homeless to be able to camp out in public parks. This may open some doors for unrestricted homeless camping.
I don't care where you have this but for the love of God move to another park! Because of this regular people can't chill in the park without looking like they're part of this "movement"! It's just unfair to occupy such a large popular place en masse for so long. Go somewhere that actually near Wall Street!
Not to sound negative, but though you may not need a permit to occupy the area, don't you think it's a bit of an asshole move to just lay around the area for so long? It's already a busy area without a damn near 200 day protest happening here.
please occupy somewhere else. i work and live in this area and now i have to walk through herds of people and observers every day of my life. go inconvenience someone else please. you are taking away the freedom new yorkers and tourists have to use union square park as a place to socialize and enjoy being outside. it is going to be overrun now with cops, and protestors. do you think it is fair to just take whatever you want without repercussions?
you are not the 99%, you are the fraction of 1% that is unemployed, think it is okay to do whatever you want, not be responsible for your actions, be entitled to handouts, and to prove it - you are doing what you do best. sitting around doing nothing.
You're just "payin' the cost for bein' the boss!" Thanks and bless your heart for the contribution of your time, since it takes you longer to get to work.
When you put it this way you are describing people on both sides of this dispute.
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