LIVE: Protesters Block Brooklyn Bridge

[Magdalen]

http://gothamist.com/2011/10/01/breaking_occupy_wall_street_protest.php

This about the only news source I can find so far - unfortunately the live feed has just been cut off.

[Welshy]

The livefeed is back up. And the strip at the bottom of the video says that a teachers' union declared support (I didn't get to see which one) and that verizon workers had also declared support.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Nice to see there Black and Red banners out. That means there's some of revolutionary elements out and about.

No Pasaran!

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

The livefeed is back up. And the strip at the bottom of the video says that a teachers' union declared support (I didn't get to see which one) and that verizon workers had also declared support.

It's the United Federation of Teachers.

So far they are joined by the USW and TWU Local 100 (NYC transit workers).

[Welshy]

The livefeed is back up. And the strip at the bottom of the video says that a teachers' union declared support (I didn't get to see which one) and that verizon workers had also declared support.

Turns out it wasn't a live feed but just the video from early. Also it said that verizon workers have joined to the protest.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Talked to someone who said cops have set up nets at both ends of the bridge and started moving to the middle, trapping everyone together, and arresting dozens.

[ellipsis]

Hell yah. Fuck all the haters who said that Occupy Wall Street had failed.

[ВАЛТЕР]

From what I understand the police are now squeezing them from both sides and arresting en masse? This is a bad decision, surrounding a group will only escalate the situation. Expect violence if it continues this way. There is no way all of them will allow themselves to be arrested without resistance....

[Welshy]

Talked to someone who said cops have set up nets at both ends of the bridge and started moving to the middle, trapping everyone together, and arresting dozens.

That's what the video was showing. Hopefully the people involved in this will come away realizing how hopeless it is to reform the system and that the cops aren't there to protect them.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I don't think there was any conscious action to block the bridge. I don't have all the info, but from what I'm hearing it looks like the cops waited till they started walking across the bridge and then closed off both ends. So this looks to have been forced by NYPD. I can't confirm for sure yet.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Watching the feed, it literally looks like thousands of people are standing in line waiting to be arrested one by one.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Sun Tzu suggests that an army should not be completely encircled, but should be given some room for escape, in order to prevent that 'encircled' army's men lifting their morale and fighting till the death –- a better situation would be them considering the possibility of a retreat.

I have the book right next to me I just can't find the actual quote to give you guys. Surrounding people only encourages fierce resistance...

[Magdalen]

From what I understand the police are now squeezing them from both sides and arresting en masse? This is a bad decision, surrounding a group will only escalate the situation. Expect violence if it continues this way. There is no way all of them will allow themselves to be arrested without resistance....

It's a tactic known as 'kettling', which has become very popular with British Police over the last few years - presumably the Americans are employing it too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettling

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Surrounding people only encourages fierce resistance...

Not in this case so far.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested Saturday as they marched in the car lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge.

A sea of NYPD cops swarmed the demonstrators massed on the iconic span's Brooklyn-bound lanes shortly after they stopped traffic about 4:30 p.m.

Cops set up orange nets penning in the protesters, prompting some to chant, "Shame! Shame!"

"People were trying to climb off \[the roadway to the pedestrian walkway\], but they were freaking out," said Mariana Flor, 23, a demonstrator from Brooklyn.

"Police said, 'If you don't start moving, we will arrest you.' People started panicking."

Before cops arrived, hundreds of protestors took to the bridge on the pedestrian walkway and the roadway chanting, "Take the bridge!" witnesses said.

By 5 p.m., both the walkway and Brooklyn-bound car lanes were shut down, causing massive traffic delays.

The arrests marked the second Saturday in a row several protesters landed in cuffs.

Last week, cops arrested more than 80 people near Union Square. During the round-up, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna doused a handful of women with pepper spray - spawning a video clip that helped embolden the movement.

NYPD Internal Affairs and the Civilian Complaint Review Board are probing the pepper-spray incident, which gave the protests - now more than two weeks old - added verve.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/10/01/2011-10-01_dozens_arrested_at_occupy_wall_street_protest_b rooklyn_bridge_shut_down_.html#ixzz1ZZMJbC9o

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/148212/city-s-poverty-rate-inspires-march-across-brooklyn-bridge

More than 3,000 people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday to send a message that poverty rates are rising, and services for the poor are that much more critical. NY1's Zack Fink filed the following report.

Carrying signs with anti-poverty messages, marchers made their way across the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday.

"Well, I'm out here to raise hope for education and income pretty much. Education is the only way to prevent poverty. So that is why I'm out here today: To lend a helping hand to the community," said one march participant.

"After they get out of school it's tough for them. Not everyone is going to go to college. We need to set up some vocational programs, anything we can do," said another.

The march was organized by the United Way of New York City to highlight gaps in income, health and education.

"There has been a reduction in some of these services. Non-profit organizations that provide these services are experiencing drastic cuts because they are just not able to provide the services as they usually can," said Elwanda Young of United Way NYC.

The United Way says one in five New Yorkers live below the poverty line with a household income below $18,000. And for many people in these punishing economic times, it's only getting worse. There are now 1.6 million New Yorkers living in poverty, the highest number since 2000.

Organizers say the way out is to improve education, which means the city, the corporate community and non-profits need to work together.

"Our whole focus is on education to ensure young people reach their full potential and income to ensure that families are financially stable. To ensure that we have healthier communities. That's a tall order," said United Way of New York City CEO Gordon Campbell.

Once in Brooklyn's Cadman Plaza, marchers held a volunteer festival with roughly 40 non-profit organizations looking to recruit.

"If properly prepared, properly engaged volunteers can do anything. We have the best people in the world and we believe we can make it through these lean times," said New York City Chief Service Officer Diane Billings-Burford.

For more information, visit www.unitedwaynyc.org.

[ВАЛТЕР]

We need some insurrectionists between them...to agitate and educate. Create some kind of class-consciousness...

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Thought this was an interesting bit from a liberal journalist in the solidly-bourgeois New York Times:

"The encampment in Zuccotti Park is likely to remain indefinitely. At this point, any attempt on the part of the police to close things down could only result in the resurrection of Emma Goldman." - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/nyregion/for-police-another-protest-brings-another-overreaction.html?hp

Especially since I would guess that a large number of readers would need to look up Emma Goldman to understand the reference.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

"Source on bridge says, 'a couple hundred,' still waiting to be loaded into NYPD vans." - Ryan Devereaux, Democracy Now! reporter

Waiting to be loaded into vans...

[Sasha]

It's a tactic known as 'kettling', which has become very popular with British Police over the last few years - presumably the Americans are employing it too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettling

useless knowledge for the history buffs; the word kettling comes from the german word kessel as in eingekesseld which has its roots in the battle of stalingrad, the lower "valley" of stalingrad was called the kessel (kettle) by the german soldiers, when they at first surrounded the russian defenders only to be later get besieged themselves those troops where "eingekesseld", stuck in the kettle.
bit of an irony that now in germany kesseling is an popular tactic to break the resistance at neo nazi-demonstrations

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Is this a farce or what? I'm not familiar with Australian media at all. Is this your far right news outlet?

'Goddamned hippies' shut down Brooklyn Bridge

ANTI-Wall Street protesters have shut down the Brooklyn Bridge, stranding motorists as thousands of marchers, who have been camping out in the Financial District for weeks, made their way through lower Manhattan.

About 100 cars were left stuck as the Occupy Wall Street protesters covered the span from end to end in another day of demonstrations against high unemployment, bank bailouts and economic uncertainty for the masses.

One irate driver, a Ground Zero construction worker, blasted the pedestrians.

"I work my arse off all day, and these goddamned hippies close down the Brooklyn Bridge so I can't get home?" he said. "This ain't right!"

The protesters, who have repeatedly tussled with police in the two weeks they have spent occupying downtown Manhattan, made their way through the rain from Zuccotti Park to City Hall, where the New York Police Department locked the gates to City Hall Park and diverted them elsewhere.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

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The crowd then bottlenecked at the entrance to the bridge, tying up traffic as they slowly oozed across in a bid to get to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Some big-faced names have shown up at the Occupy Wall Street protests, including Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore and Cornell West.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/goddamned-hippies-shut-down-brooklyn-bridge/story-e6frf7jx-1226155649140

[Magdalen]

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution

The live feed's back up folks - it appears that there's a second contingent marching towards the Bridge, chanting 'This is what democracy looks like!'.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

http://gothamist.com/attachments/byakas/10111popo.jpg

http://gothamist.com/attachments/byakas/10111bridgeee.jpg

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Those are the cops at the end of the bridge in the 1st pic. In the second pic, another group of protestors heads back to the bridge (you can see it in the background).

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

They're bringing in city buses to take away all the people they've arrested.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Just saw a sign "Capitalism is organized crime" :lol:

[#FF0000]

I saw a couple anti-capitalist signs.

I dunno. Some of you guys might be all hopeful about this but I dunno.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Great to see some more direct action.I am sure that it will fail in the end but hopefully it will inspire others to take up activism.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Too early to say anything...lack of class consciousness is my biggest concern. Without it I do not see this in being effective. However, it may develop as the days go on.

[#FF0000]

that guy in the grey hoodie is trying to spit some game I think.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Okay, I'm stuck in a small town in Maine right now, that's my excuse. Anybody in the US who is anywhere near a big city really should not be on their computers now. Sell newspapers, talk to people, do whatever it takes but you should not be indoors.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Okay, I'm stuck in a small town in Maine right now, that's my excuse. Anybody in the US who is anywhere near a big city really should not be on their computers now. Sell newspapers, talk to people, do whatever it takes but you should not be indoors.

That is my same excuse as well! :(

[Os Cangaceiros]

From what I understand the police are now squeezing them from both sides and arresting en masse? This is a bad decision, surrounding a group will only escalate the situation. Expect violence if it continues this way. There is no way all of them will allow themselves to be arrested without resistance....

Getting arrested during the course of a political event is a badge of honor for liberal activists...;)

Not to say that there probably isn't a radical contigent there, but I'd say it's safe to say that it's a minority compared to the left-liberal base.

Some police official (who I believe may have be a former US police official...?) recommended a tactic in the aftermath of the London riots, that police forces should just come in and arrest people in mass during civil unrest, regardless if they're doing anything wrong or not, and that the worst that would happen is that they'd simply be released without charges.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Lol I'd rather have been there and not gone to jail. I can see what you are saying about it being more left-liberal based. Those people generally aren't ready to do anything more serious than civil-disobedience.

Arresting everyone may work, but only if the people are willing to allow it. People forget that the police are usually out numbered 10 to 1. A little organization and you can over run them.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Yeah, I don't think it works if there's a bunch of people who are willing to beat pigs over their dumb heads with 2X4's, but I think it may work p. well when you're dealing with a "peaceful protest". I remember one story about how, during the civil rights movement, protestors amassed in some southern city, I believe it may have been Augusta GA, and the chief of police simply arrested everyone and let them out of jail the next day. The protest fizzled out, in comparison to the cities in which protestors were met with clubs, firehoses and dogs.

[RedTrackWorker]

I don't mean to be too flippant, as I hope any and all arrested are freed and the charges dropped, but the NYPD is performing as a helluva PR department for these protests. Solidarity to those arrested.

[RadioRaheem84]

http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-protest-shuts-half-brooklyn-bridge-220134996.html

Looks it getting real......where is this gonna go?

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Still going to end in defeat (as every direct action without class consciousness) but nonetheless this is good news.Hopefully the spirit spreads and they keep at it.

[~Spectre]

Comrade, that article is propaganda. As discussed in the other thread, It was a police trap that arrested over 400 protesters. They were never trying to block the bridge:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/police-arresting-protesters-on-brooklyn-bridge/?hp

[thefinalmarch]

Is this a farce or what? I'm not familiar with Australian media at all. Is this your far right news outlet?
Conservative. The Herald Sun is complete garbage.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Already a thread about this: http://www.revleft.com/vb/live-protesters-block-t161983/index.html

[eyeheartlenin]

NEW YORK (AP) — "More than 700 protesters demonstrating against corporate greed, global warming and social inequality, among other grievances, were arrested Saturday after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours in a tense confrontation with police...."

Read the whole story at:
http://news.yahoo.com/700-arrested-protest-nys-brooklyn-bridge-030009188.html

According to AP, "... the movement has shown no signs of losing steam." :)

The story also mentions "NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna," who used pepper spray on a group of female demonstrators, an act that provoked an extended commentary by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

[RHIZOMES]

I'm not quite understanding this description of the Occupy Wall Street campaign as being 'left-liberal' or as lacking in 'class-consciousness'. I wasn't aware 'left-liberals' were into challenging bourgeois laws via occupation of private property, or that direct action against Wall Street was lacking in 'class-consciousness'. Some of you may have noticed how capitalism has become increasingly financialised in the last 40 years, meaning Wall Street is one of the most potent symbols of the corrupt U.S. political-economic system.

I think what is actually occurring with these sort of critiques is the fact that some leftists can't see these sort of organic social movements outside their own ideological paradigms. So when Revleftists say 'left-liberal', they really mean they don't like how the 'Occupy Wall Street' organisers have (correctly) stripped down the message to the bare minimum (against Wall Street) to motivate the masses who are otherwise uneducated in radical politics, to partake in some direct action. If the protest propaganda had been all about the intricacies of Marxist crisis theory, it would have appeared (justly or unjustly) as largely fringe and niche. By refining the message of the protest, it has been able to unify numerous social and political identities that have become increasingly fragmented by capitalism, under one 'banner' against a common enemy. This may include left-liberals, but so what?

Such a critique is fundamentally idealist rather than materialist, as it construes the ideas the protesters have (as if they can be so easily reduced) as being somehow more important their actions. It reflects a growing feeling of impotence among the traditional left, who have dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's when it comes to some unifying radical critique of capitalism, yet they haven't been able to unify the masses in any sort of meaningful opposition.

The movement isn't ideologically pristine, but no mass movement is. If we wait for such an organic event to occur, where everyone is waving Little Red Books and singing the Internationale, global anti-capitalist revolution will never happen.

What we as radical leftists should be doing is taking a prominent role in this movement, rather than whining that we don't agree with the entire scope of its social-ideological make-up. The Anti-War and Civil Rights movements of the 1960's didn't consist of only Marxists, and there were far more groups in opposition to the Czar than simply the Bolsheviks.

[brigadista]

there are some videos on youtube- respect to all there

[Volcanicity]

Some footage from RT:

o_1bYVMwg8k

[PhoenixAsh]

This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released in the upcoming days: 1) A declaration of demands. 2) Principles of Solidarity 3) Documentation on how to form your own Direct Democracy Occupation Group. This is a living document. you can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing [email protected]

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.


They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *

To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

[PhoenixAsh]

This seems to me a huge step in the direction of class consciousness.

Rather than sneer our noses at them we should definately be amongst them to radicalise and help the process along

[W1N5T0N]

Oh land of the freeeee

[agnixie]

I already critiqued the piece on reddit so I won't do it here but long imitations of the DOI are not automatically good style and I'll keep it at that.

That said on principle I'm glad there's something even if it looks like people are pussy footing around the core issue, which is that almost all those grievances are inherent to capitalism, even "regulated capitalism" of liberal myth.

Also our reports are 700-ish arrests out of about 1500 kettled by the NYPD.

[ellipsis]

Merged dupe thread for politics.

[PhoenixAsh]

I already critiqued the piece on reddit so I won't do it here but long imitations of the DOI are not automatically good style and I'll keep it at that.

That said on principle I'm glad there's something even if it looks like people are pussy footing around the core issue, which is that almost all those grievances are inherent to capitalism, even "regulated capitalism" of liberal myth.

Also our reports are 700-ish arrests out of about 1500 kettled by the NYPD.


Then link to reddit article. Or copy and paste.

[W1N5T0N]

back against the wall m*fuckers!!!

[agnixie]

Then link to reddit article. Or copy and paste.

Oh, I sort of assumed you were the one who had posted it.

Will post it then.
The rough gist of my criticism was the fact that prison issues and homelessness (which are pretty huge things for working class african americans and queers) had less of a mention than animal rights and that some of the stuff in there gave the impression that priorities were skewed. Also that the interminable list makes this very painful to read. All mostly because the assembly is still going around the pot and not admitting that this is mostly capitalism.

[Morgenstern]

This all isn't perfect, but the best we can hope for is that it raises class consciousness. I saw a picture of the OWS Library and they have an Emma Goldman book. If we can get even 5% of the people there to push deeper into the left then it's a win-win. We are getting protesting into the general American mindset, even if they are liberal, and we have some new class conscious activists.

[KurtFF8]

This video from yesterday is a must watch

http://www.vimeo.com/29906321 (Can we embed vimeo on RevLeft?)

[KurtFF8]

This all isn't perfect, but the best we can hope for is that it raises class consciousness. I saw a picture of the OWS Library and they have an Emma Goldman book. If we can get even 5% of the people there to push deeper into the left then it's a win-win. We are getting protesting into the general American mindset, even if they are liberal, and we have some new class conscious activists.

That's funny, I actually wrote an Emma Goldman quote on one of the cardboard signs, but it ended up raining that night so I'm sure that sign was destroyed :(

[Sasha]

This video from yesterday is a must watch

http://www.vimeo.com/29906321 (Can we embed vimeo on RevLeft?)


yes we can: vimeocode: 29906321 (http://www.revleft.com/vb/custom-bbcodes-t145872/index.html)

29906321