“What time you gonna throw em out?” asked a plump
grey-haired business man with a smirk, clutching a black
brief case and walking past Dewey
Square.
“We’re not,” responded a police officer, expressionless. “The park is theirs
until they decide to leave or until they get fresh.”
This was my first IRL impression of Occupy Boston -- a movement
I had only experienced via TwitPics and hashtags until 8:05 this morning. Down
the block, over at the Occupy Boston HQ, protesters were prepping to march
towards the Massachusetts State House and Fox News.
“It’s still rush hour, a lot of people are coming by,” said
a skinny dude in a tie with a megaphone who appeared to be ‘running shit.' “Visibility here matters
too,” dude-in-tie added, addressing
rows of mostly 20-somethings holding cardboard signs. “We’re walking up Summer Street, to Downtown Crossing,
to the State House.”
As the group made their way past the CVS, RadioShack, Bank
of America, Sprint store, Starbucks, and other big-box names in Downtown
Crossing, police officers followed on motorcycles, in cars, and by foot.
“This is what democracy looks!” shouted some of the
protesters in unison, while protesters dressed in black with bandanas
across their faces held big black banners reading “The State is not the
Solution” and “Capitalism is the Crisis."
While the former group shouted “We are the 99%! You are the
99%!” the latter group’s chant of choice was: “What solution? Rev-o-lution!”
Occupy Boston protesters arrive at the State House:
At the State House, aforementioned dude-in-a-tie delivered the following
via the ‘human mic’ system:
“We are here today to introduce Occupy Boston. We set up our
tents in Dewey Square
on Friday night. We intend to remain there and have a conversation about what
we can do to improve our country. Today we have sent a small delegation to the
state house to present this letter to the wealthiest one percent that controls
50 percent of this country’s wealth...”
“80!” corrected a 20-something male in a red plaid shirt.
"And uses that wealth to undermine the democratic process," continued dude-in-tie-running-shit.
"Our letter reads: Get out of our government, we want our country back. - the
99%.”
“We are all the 99%,” shouts followed.
After some deliberation, the group re-addressed whether or
not they wanted to hit up Fox News.
Dude in tie: “Do we wanna qualify why maybe?” asked the dude
in a tie.
Someone else: “Well we were talking about it in the G.A last
night. We’ve been talking about it since 5 AM.”
Dude in tie: “Yeah, well, I just don’t want it to send the
wrong message.”
Someone else: “I thought there was a message we were handing
them.”
Someone else no. 2: “Fox News hasn’t been to camp yet to
talk to media or to talk to us. We want to politely demonstrate that we have
arrived in Dewey Square.”
Dude in red plaid shirt: “Stop telling people to be polite.
If people don’t want to be polite, then let them be however they want.”
Dude in tie: “OK so, the proposal we are considering then is
inviting Fox News to come speak with us because they have yet to come speak
with us. can I get a temperature check on that? Can I get a vote on that
proposal?”
Occupy Boston arrives at Fox News
Occupy Boston addresses the 'fascist corporate media' at Fox News
After the protesters made their way back towards camp, a
long discussion ensued via ‘human mic’ regarding hierarchies, and whether or
not to be ‘thanking the police.’ The following opinions were voiced:
“I think we should use the people’s mic as much as possible
to prevent any one person from acting like your boss and telling you what to
do. And also to maintain the collective decision making process.”
"I feel that we should encourage autonomous action. If you
want to go march, go march, but remember that your actions can have repercussions
to the group as a whole. But still if you wanna do it, fuckin’ do it. In
addition, we should tell Com if we’re gonna do something, just so we have legal
support if anything happens. Not to ask permission.”
“I want to see how people feel about thanking the Boston police for
escorting us instead of macing us.”
“I’m blocking that.”
“Right now, we are trying to grow the movement. The police
might be nice people but we’re not working together right now. It’s nice that
you want to be nice. But tactics and niceness are two different things. If you
go thanking the police, you undermine and dis-empower your own democratic
voice. So if you want to get down on your knees, do it, but I’m not doing it
with you.”
“I believe that we did work together. This is about voicing
our opinions. I want to thank the Boston
police.” (Many echo: “I want to thank the Boston
police,” before a group eventually shouts “THANK YOU” together.)
“I feel that we should thank the police as fellow human
beings and not a part of the system. So for the police, who have kept us safe
on our journey, I want thank them.”
“I would like to point out that the face that a police
officer did not crack your skull or mace you is not a reason to thank them. The
police should not be hurting people to begin with. Unfortunately this is a very
real reality of the majority of police work. therefore, I don’t think we should
applaud the police for doing their job which is to make sure we stay safe.”
“There have been no women speaking.”
“I have found that revolutionaries think in a
counter-intuitive matter.”
“I’d like to point out that the reason this movement has
grown as fast as it has is because people have been attracted to us because of
the warmth of our invitation. because people feel welcome with us. because they
recognize that what we’re doing here is the most positive thing they’ve seen in
a very long time. so I want for that positivity to continue and for us to
continue to be warm and inviting to all of the 99%. that means getting out of
thinking in the same old categories. that means expecting the best from people
until they prove otherwise.”
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