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Solidarity actions and more occupations

Published Oct 5, 2011 8:33 PM

North Carolina
Photo: Bryan Perlmutter

The people are rising up. The anti-corporation sentiments that galvanized the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City are spreading across the U.S. and the world. The list of cities either staging or planning occupations increases by the hour.

As of Oct. 2, Occupy Together.org listed more than 160 cities across the U.S. as well as in Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. So many responded to this unofficial hub set up Sept. 23 to list events springing up in solidarity with OWS that the website had to restructure to accommodate growing demand.


Los Angeles
Photo: Sekou Parker

Massive unemployment and underemployment; mortgage foreclosures and mounting student debt; the lack of health care and educational opportunities; police brutality and incarceration; racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia; and the growing gap between the rich and all poor and working people are fueling this movement.

It’s like someone popped the cork and built-up anger and frustration with an economic system that is proving incapable of providing basic human needs is bubbling over. The “99 percent” are a diverse mix, but share many common concerns as the global capitalist crisis intensifies.

Independent filmmaker Michael Moore described the widening protests as “an uprising of people who have had it.” Real Clear Politics reported Moore as saying, “The majority of Americans are really upset at Wall Street … so you have already got an army of Americans who are just waiting for somebody to do something, and something has started.” (Sept. 30)

More than 16 cities in California and nine in Florida are on the Occupy Together list. There is an Occupy Columbus, Ohio; Occupy Columbus, Ind.; and Occupy Columbus, Ga. You can also Occupy Columbia if you live in South Carolina or Missouri.

The movement extends from coast to coast — Portland, Me. to Portland, Ore. — and across the Midwest’s traditional “rust belt” in hard-hit cities like Detroit, Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio, which have borne the brunt of the economic downturn.

Occupy the South!

Some of the most significant actions are taking place in the South. Over the weekend of Oct. 1-2, activities in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street took place in eight North Carolina cities, including Asheville, Winston-Salem, Durham and Raleigh. They included community speak-outs, demonstrations and assemblies to plan local occupations.

In Charlotte more than 300 people gathered in Marshall Park Oct. 1 to plan a response to the economic crisis and budget cuts. Then they marched to Bank of America’s world headquarters, chanting “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” and “How do you solve a deficit? End the wars and tax the rich!” Occupy Charlotte will start Oct. 8.

Durham and Raleigh held assemblies on Oct. 2. About 250 people turned out in Durham and 200 in Raleigh. In both cities, people spoke of wanting to get active and fight back against the economic crisis, having been inspired by the bold initiative of the Wall Street protests. Both assemblies discussed trying to consolidate actions planned for next week into one unified occupation in Raleigh, the state capital.

Occupy Asheville kicked off Oct. 1 with a memorial service for Troy Davis. More than 1,800 people signed up on the group’s Facebook page. Participants in Occupy Asheville set up camp downtown and plan daily demonstrations.

In Tampa an estimated 600 people marched with handmade signs Oct. 1 to protest “The Problem — The Banks!” They plan a larger march Oct. 6. Occupations are being organized in other Southern cities, including Birmingham, Atlanta, Memphis, Richmond, Savannah, Norfolk, Louisville and New Orleans.

On the West Coast, 3,500 people converged on City Hall in Los Angeles Oct. 1. About 400 people set up tents and plan to stay as long as possible. The gathering was half Latino/a youth. Trucks brought in food and water, and an area was set up with laptops for media work. The Filipino group BAYAN-USA and Workers World Party set up a tent featuring classes on anti-imperialist struggles and those in the U.S.

Movement spreads coast to coast

Occupy Wall Street in San Francisco started Sept. 29 when hundreds of protesters hit the streets with pit stops at Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo and Chase Bank to denounce the impact of corporate greed. Demonstrators in Spokane, Wash., set up a tent city before police enforced a no-camping rule. More than 100 people turned out for Occupy Seattle on Oct. 1.

Denver had its first protest on Oct. 1, with demonstrators saying they will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of Wall Street. Future OWS protests are planned for Phoenix and Albuquerque, where 500 people gathered Oct. 1. In Texas, OWS actions are being organized in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso and McAllen.

The Chicago sit-in began Sept. 23 with a march from Willis Tower to the Federal Reserve Bank. There, 100 demonstrators set up camp, calling it their Tahrir Square.

OWS has spread to Michigan, where Detroit activists have called for the occupation of a Chase Bank branch near Wayne State University campus beginning the first week in October. Activists packed the Oct. 3 meeting of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice to organize for Occupy Detroit. A general assembly is being planned for Oct. 10 to set the time and place for the occupation. OWS groups have also been established in Lansing, Flint, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor.

More than 300 people assembled in Philadelphia’s Center City Sept. 29 to begin plans to bring Occupy Wall Street there. While mostly youth, the lively gathering included seasoned activists. The sentiment appeared to be for setting up an occupation at a visible location near the city’s stock exchange. Pennsylvania occupations are also being planned in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown and Wilkes-Barre.

In upstate New York, OWS has spread to Albany, Buffalo, Binghamton, Utica, Ithaca and Rochester.

Throughout New England, OWS efforts are underway in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. More than 3,000 rallied in Boston Oct. 1 for a march on Bank of America. The bank has announced it will charge customers $5 a month to use debit cards to access their own money. Twenty-four people were arrested in the action.

At Dewey Square, just two blocks from the heart of Boston’s financial district, 300 activists, mostly youth, pitched tents for an encampment in the shadow of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Over the weekend Occupy Boston received its first formal union endorsement from Local 7 of the Boston Ironworkers Union. Its membership has been decimated by the downturn in construction jobs brought on by the collapse of the housing bubble, bank bailouts and mass evictions.

News pundits, who coined the phrase “The Arab Spring” in reference to the massive demonstrations that rocked Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and other African and Middle Eastern countries earlier this year, are referring to the OWS movement as “The U.S. Fall.” Is “The winter of our discontent” on the horizon?

Ben Carroll, Gene Clancy, Kris Hamel, John Parker, Gerry Scoppettuolo and Mike Shane contributed to this article.