Occupy Amherst (Amherst, MA)
Last fall, when Occupy Wall Street first began its marches and occupation of Zuccotti Park in NYC (AKA Liberty Park), many of us wondered if it could survive the impending winter. And when the Mayor and police cleared out the park in November, many wondered if the movement would last. Loyal BloomVoxers will recall that I've seen evidence of the post-Zuccotti persistence of Occupy in Chicago, and places like Grand Rapids, MI and Detroit. Most recently, I was delighted to find a group from Occupy Amherst protesting in front of a Bank of America in Amherst, MA. When I asked how long they've been at it, they said "from the beginning." They maintain a presence in front of the bank for an hour every Monday. They were a cheery, all-ages bunch, with the flavor of that Amherst-Northampton-Mt. Holyoke collegetown braniac vibe. Amherst had had a pretty heavy snow the two days prior, but Occupy was standing tall.
The relatively mild winter nationally is pretty much over, and Occupy still stands all over the country. This past weekend, a few hundred Occupiers reclaimed Zuccotti Park to celebrate OWS' 6-month birthday for a brief, shining moment until ousted by the police. There was also an evening march. (There were arrests made, the NYPD claim under 100, amid allegations of police brutality. Check out the somewhat indecipherable video on the OWS site.) There have been commemorative gatherings in Chicago as well. As always, the OWS website is a great source of news on the Occupation. (I tend to find the Occupy Chicago website less helpful to outsiders. It rarely posts press releases or news and mostly seems to serve as a bulletin board for upcoming events, which include supporting student protests on local college tuition hikes, certainly a good cause). Some Occupiers are citing the increasing relevance of the movement in an election year, and some political candidates (e.g. Elizabeth Warren in Mass.) are channeling aspects of Occupy's message. What I find most encouraging in my Occupy tourism is the ability of the movement to maintain fragmentation and localization: that is, each Occupy takes up the issues and arguments that impact its community, yet still under the banner of more global concerns with exploitative corporate capitalism. Not bad for a six-month old. Bloom on, Occupy!
The relatively mild winter nationally is pretty much over, and Occupy still stands all over the country. This past weekend, a few hundred Occupiers reclaimed Zuccotti Park to celebrate OWS' 6-month birthday for a brief, shining moment until ousted by the police. There was also an evening march. (There were arrests made, the NYPD claim under 100, amid allegations of police brutality. Check out the somewhat indecipherable video on the OWS site.) There have been commemorative gatherings in Chicago as well. As always, the OWS website is a great source of news on the Occupation. (I tend to find the Occupy Chicago website less helpful to outsiders. It rarely posts press releases or news and mostly seems to serve as a bulletin board for upcoming events, which include supporting student protests on local college tuition hikes, certainly a good cause). Some Occupiers are citing the increasing relevance of the movement in an election year, and some political candidates (e.g. Elizabeth Warren in Mass.) are channeling aspects of Occupy's message. What I find most encouraging in my Occupy tourism is the ability of the movement to maintain fragmentation and localization: that is, each Occupy takes up the issues and arguments that impact its community, yet still under the banner of more global concerns with exploitative corporate capitalism. Not bad for a six-month old. Bloom on, Occupy!
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