 selected writing Mike Bloomberg's Political Cleansing of #OccupyWallStreet  I spent three days and two nights on the ground in Zuccotti Park from October 9th-11th, after working as one of the remote producers of the seminal Liverstream.com channel, Global Revolution, since day two of the #OccupyWallStreet protests which began on September 17th. There was no doubt that the channel was responsible for helping to inspire the protests around the United States and beyond, considering the first week's commercial media coverage, which was close to nil, and the second week's media coverage, which ranged from dismissive to outright mockery. At the end of the third week, when I arrived in Zuccotti Park on a Sunday morning just before everyone woke up, I had definitely accrued a number of questions about how the protest was being managed, and was able finally, on the ground to get the answers to them. By that stage, the local free newspapers that are dispensed across New York City were busy pumping out stories of how much a nuisance the protesters were, or how debauched—as Metro put it on a front page story, "Sex, drugs and occupy" with a photo of a guy smoking an Arabic water pipe. I had walked by the guy the day before. It was, of course, just tobacco. My favorite trash-talking story was from the October 7th New York Times, "For some Occupy Wall Street is Occupy Main Street" (slightly retitled online), and spoke of the put upon neighbors. There were a few items of concern, but behold the strange example that almost leads the article, of a toddler who must be protected from breasts—breasts just like the ones it was recently suckling as an infant:
The prevailing media narrative at the point I arrived at the park was one pushed by park owner Brookfield, that the area was a total mess, and that there was vermin and garbage everywhere. Ha.  Clutter, I'll grant, as Zuccotti is only 200x60 yards, and that's not a whole lot of space for 400 sleeping people, a library, kitchen, info desk, sacred tree and media center. But the park was absolutely not dirty. The well-organized occupiers have a variety of working groups and committees, and one of them is Sanitation.  All day long, members of Sanitation would walk the park with both garbage and recycling bags, picking up every tiny bit of litter. It would be a gargantuan lie to say the park was filthy, but that lie was all across the NYC media. The park ground is almost 100% stone and concrete, with some trees growing out of holes in the concrete. This has actually minimized any damage that would have been caused to thousands of people walking through the park and residing there. The mayor came to visit the park two days ago, and later announced that it would need to be cleaned starting the morning of Friday, October 14th, but that the protesters could stay. The mayor's announcement played into two narratives, the "dirty park that needs to be cleaned" story and the tale of Mike Bloomberg's supposed commitment to free speech. I've already dealt with the bogus former, let's look at the latter. On Monday 10th, Bloomberg stated that protesters could stay "indefinitely":
On October 11th, park owner Brookfield properties wrote to the Mayor, asking for the park to be "cleared". Brookfield's Letter to NYPD asking to "clear" Zuccotti Park of Occupy Wall Street protesters On October 12th, the mayor appeared to meet Brookfield halfway, agreeing to make sure the park was cleared for cleaning, but claiming the protesters would be allowed to return. The deputy mayor laid it out in a statement, with a telling conclusion:
According to sources on the ground I spoke to later in the day, the plan to "temporarily clear the park" is going to be achieved by splitting the park into three parts, then cleaning them one by one, with an estimated time of 4 hours per section. Protesters who wish to return to the cleaned park section afterwards may do so, providing they abide by the rules, which just got changed. It is very clear from Brookfield's letter, embedded above, that they just want everyone gone, and their mid game rule change ploy is either something they pulled after the mayor agreed to help clear the park, or something that is part of a coordinated plan. The latter seems far more likely. The deputy mayor's statement very specifically ended its guarantee that protesters could remain with the condition they obey the rules. The next day Brookfield published new rules clearly written with #OccupyWallStreet in mind. It already seems coordinated, without even pushing into the beyond reasonable doubt stage—as noted by a number of blogs, Bloomberg's live-in girlfriend Diane Taylor is on the board of Brookfield properties. In a few hours this morning (I am writing this at 2am), it seems as though Mayor Bloomberg is going to cleanse free speech from Zuccotti Park. It's going to be a long day at Global Revolution. Whatever happens to the protesters in the park tomorrow, they have started a movement that has spread across the whole country and far beyond. If the police are seen brutalizing the peaceful protesters of Zuccotti Park, that spark of inspiration that has given birth to occupations in city centers around the world will fire a hundred more. PLEASE SUPPORT MY MEDIA WORK FOR #OCCUPYWALLSTREET OCT 14TH UPDATE: #OCCUPYWALLSTREET WINS! Bloomberg backs down, protestors stay in parkFrom MoveOn.org: This morning at 6 o'clock, MoveOn members, union members, community organizers and thousands of others gathered in Zuccotti Park to stand in solidarity with the people who are occupying Wall Street and to defend them from eviction by Mayor Bloomberg. 
more from this section  • DOCUMENT: Pittsburgh Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security: "Occupy Pittsburgh Threat Assessment" (Friday, October 14th, 2011)  • Mike Bloomberg's Political Cleansing of #OccupyWallStreet (Friday, October 14th, 2011) • RNC 8 back in court for hearings (Monday, May 10th, 2010) • Pittsburgh G-20 Legal Update: Report for Rustbelt Radio (Monday, March 15th, 2010) • The 2010 Olympics and Repression of Independent Media: Report for Rustbelt Radio (Monday, February 15th, 2010) • Israel & the Goldstone Report: Report for Rustbelt Radio (Monday, February 1st, 2010) • Egypt and Gaza: Report for Rustbelt Radio (Monday, January 18th, 2010) |
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