Sunday evening I dropped off some books and plastic containers at the Occupy DC camp. I only had a few minutes to walk around and observe.
Occupy DC is camped out at McPherson Square, a square block park in downtown DC, named for James B. McPherson, a General in the Union Army. There is a statue of him in the middle of the square. I believe the square is owned and administered by the U.S. Park Service.
The park is criss-crossed by cement sidewalks that run roughly diagonal through the park, and these sidewalks are all unobstructed allowing people to walk though the park as usual. There are tents in all the grassy areas except in a large grassy segment in the southwest corner reserved for group meetings I believe. On the west side of the McPherson statue there is a make-shift Information booth, and to the left is their make-shift library. While a lot of work has gone into making the park clean and organized, the general feeling is one of organised makeshift chaos. However, I felt safe and welcome (as opposed to tolerated) walking through the park.
The people. I only spoke with a few and observed maybe 60 others. It was about 7:30 on a pleasant Sunday night and a lot of people were eating, sitting on the park benches and around the statue. There was a lot of energy evident, with a lot of pockets of people talking together, but the park was generally quiet. I saw no police in the park, just four unoccupied DC police cars parked randomly nearby. I'm sure they have undercover police embedded.
From what I can tell there has been very little trouble at the site and there appears to be a good working relationship between Occupy DC and the city. The organizers seem determined to keep the park open and accessible to the public. My impressions of the people I observed are that they are largely working class, high school educated, with some homeless and drifters mixed in.
My question is, how many are there because they have no place to go and might not have any strong political feelings, and how many are there because of a strong desire to change the system? I wonder how you can start a "Occupy" movement in a city park and not have it turn into a camp of displaced people with personality or mental problems, violent tendencies and anger management problems? The latter can cause trouble in camp and the surrounding neighborhoods and generate unwanted negative publicity (which has plagued other Occupy sites), negative publicity that the Fox News crowd delightfully uses to paint the whole "Occupy" movement as undisciplined rabble, or "dirty hippies."
I will be in West Virgina for the next two weeks but hope to return to Occupy DC when I get back.
--Trakker
"Occupy," the concept
"Occupy" has more staying power than the "TEA" concept.
TEA is for limiting government.
Occupy is demanding performance from government.
An occupation on the ground isn't necessary to the viability of the occupy concept. It will not go away.
E. g: A retired businessman and his wife, he a WWII fighter pilot in the Pacific, old people, drove 12 miles to participate in and show solidarity with an out-of-town occupy demonstration. I know because she told me.
Posted by: horsec | November 16, 2011 at 07:35 AM