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  1. Gallery

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    thepoliticalnotebook:

    Occupy Wall Street, October 2011. Here are a collection of photographs of some protest signs from the early days of the Occupy movement’s rallying in lower Manhattan. Photos taken and submitted by Noran Elzarka. 

    Check out more of her photography on Flickr!

    You can view the rest of The Political Notebook’s project to gather photography, documentation and experiences from the OWS movements nationwide. I have also compiled an archive of all my posted submissions to this project on a single Pinterest board for your viewing convenience. Check out the Call for Submissions page and email your photos to me at torierosedeghett@gmail.com!

    Thanks to all the members of our Occupy Together Flickr group too, who have been documenting the movement over the past year. Some new shots from action days on Saturday 12 May have been added from Berlin, Montreal and Brussels.

  3. Quote

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    One thing that became clear to me after the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan was evicted is that it had been built, half-consciously or consciously, to show parts of American life that are essential to our popular identity, and that we stand to lose. Mark Greif asks what the Occupy London camp meant to Britons

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  4. Quote

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    With a few tents and shedloads of determination, those who have huddled outside the cathedral in the freezing cold have acted as sentinels for an idea of social justice that can be found on almost every page of the Bible but which the church has too often lost sight of. Former canon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral Dr Giles Fraser on the latest Occupy eviction

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  5. Video

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    Occupy London encampment cleared by City of London

    Protesters at the Occupy London camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral were given five minutes to clear the site after a high court decision gave the City of London the right to remove their emcampment. Dozens of baliffs and riot police attended the scene but by 4am, no protesters or camping equipment remained in the square

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  7. Quote

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    At the autumn peak, about two dozen Occupy camps existed, from Edinburgh to Plymouth, Norwich to Belfast. A handful lasted into winter, but even those are now packing up. The few activists remaining on Exeter’s Cathedral Green left last week.

    The camp on Bristol’s College Green, at one stage numbering 60 tents, was cleared after the final, solitary protester gave in. Occupy Edinburgh finally finished last week, while Sheffield must quit on Monday after a court order.

    That leaves just Nottingham, where campers are discussing an “exit plan”; Norwich, where campers have agreed to leave their city-centre site; and the slightly incongruous-sounding Occupy Thanet, which set up camp outside the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Kent, just over a fortnight ago.

    Then there is London, where the flagship outpost – the sizeable if slightly diminished encampment in the lee of St Paul’s Cathedral – also faces a possible visit by bailiffs and police from Tuesday. Once that is cleared, all that will remain is a lower-profile offshoot on Finsbury Square, just north-east of St Paul’s, and a squatted former court building.

    It is a similar story worldwide.

    Read more on the state of the Occupy protest now here.

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  8. Occupy: Cardiff group march against the death of protest

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    Steven Morris tweets from the trial in Cardiff of two men arrested after trying to set up an Occupy camp in Cardiff castle. Read a letter to the guardian from those opposing the action here. Here’s an extract:

    As trade unionists, elected representatives, lawyers and campaigners, we feel that the 11 November police action constitutes an attack on the right to peacefully protest. Furthermore, the subsequent CPS decision to prosecute, far from serving any public interest, endangers free expression and risks chilling democracy. We call for the charges against Eric and Jason to be dropped. We also call on South Wales Constabulary to act responsibly when called on to “police” protest.

  9. Chat

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    • Longrigg asks:
    • Does Ms. Wolf think that it'd be a good idea for one of the key questions that the Occupy Movement to ask more focefully is whether, on a finite planet, the goal of society (both left and right) should be continued economic growth?
    • Naomi Wolf responds:
    • I think they (like any citizen) should ask whatever they wish but THAT is a radical and crucial question in my opinion. And even MORE than most needs good explainers.
    • JKMarsters asks:
    • One of the main problems Occupy faces is public perception. On forums, discussion threads, even radio shows, the main image of Occupy appears to be that they're a bunch of unwashed, lazy benefit scroungers and trustafarians. This image, of course, is not correct and slightly unfair, but so long as the general public believe this to be the truth, it's easy to not take the movement seriously. With that in mind, should one of the first steps forward be to show the public that Occupiers come from all different backgrounds, cultures, ages, and different levels of education and employment?
    • Naomi Wolf responds:
    • Hooray for this great question too! In an electronic world appearance affects reality and yes this 'image'is not ideal. That is why if you have hundreds or thousands of trained spokepeople we will see -- the housewife, the military guy, the retiredperson etc etc and the scruffy hippie...the face of everyone. But also the civil rights movement told marchers to wear suits and the ladies dresses, gloves and hats for a reason -- it is important to communicate respect for the chance to protest and respect for the chance to speak to one's fellow citizens. People can be "themselves"while still presentig themselves in a way that does not let their opponents write them off. Act Up often wore suits when they disrupted FDA hearings and it was a better visual than torn jeans.

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