Occupy Wall Street - October 2011
For helpful background I recommend you read the short article by my friend Isabel Sawhill. The article, OWS and the Demise of the American Dream, clearly and succinctly frames the issues.
Then enjoy the photographs I took on two visits to Zuccatti Park this month.
The scene down there first struck me as random and anarchic. But very quckly it became clear that there was real order and discipline to the anarchy! The community of demonstrators feeds itself, manages itself, polices itself, entertains itself, and uses a democratic process to communicate and make important decisions. The place is clean. As you can see from the photos there are some high-fashion types there, and there are some low fashion types, and there's everyone else too!
Unlike the Tea Party and other pressure groups, the demonstrators, who call themselves "the 99%", aren't guided or funded by professional agitators, lobbyists, or other wealthy ideologues. There's no big money pushing them along from behind.
There are some ways to get involved, if you are interested. (These are suggestions made by Nick MacDonald):
"What inspires me so much is that OWS seems like democracy in action --- without leaders, without politicians, without celebrities or egos (mostly). Grass-roots, from the bottom up. It is peaceful, transparent, uncompetitive, communal. In short, anarchistic. Or “horizontal democracy” as OWS puts it." - (Nick MacDonald)
While I am at it, I'd like to interest you in THE DEMOCRACY COLLABORATIVE, which focuses on the role community economic stability plays as an essential foundation of civic practice and democratic life. The executive director is Ted Howard. The web site: democracycollaborative.org