The occupation of Liberty Plaza in Manhattan has taken an ugly turn, with police brutality against peaceful demonstrators and 80 arrests. But the occupiers are there to stay.
As the occupation of Liberty Plaza, just minutes away from Wall Street, goes into its twelfth day many people still question its success. If high-profile appearances and tributes are anything to go by, then surely the occupiers are flying high, with visits from Cornel West to Michael Moore and written tributes from Noam Chomsky and Lupe Fiasco. The encouraging words from these academics, musicians, activists and producers have reinvigorated the cause globally and strengthened the faith of the 99 per cent making a home in Liberty Plaza.
However, the 12-day journey has been far from smooth. Saturday proved to the world that police brutality is not a phenomenon of the east, and that Obama’s talk of ‘exercising restraint’ was hollow. Now-infamous Officer Bologna was caught on camera throwing protesters around, dragging them through the street and then macing three female protesters who were already trapped in police netting. The result of Saturday’s hostilities was the arrest of 8o marchers, all of whom demonstrated peacefully, and not a single investigation into police conduct – the irony being that not only is nobody in Wall Street arrested, but 80 people have now been arrested for asking why nobody in Wall Street has been arrested.
Other difficulties plague the occupiers, such as the confiscation of media equipment and the arrest of members of the media team in a direct attempt to censor the streaming of their occupation to the world. However, thousands still huddle into Liberty Plaza every night for the General Assembly, chanting songs of solidarity, speaking words of encouragement and, most importantly, exercising direct democracy. It seems that no obstacle is impossible for them to overcome as of yet and they are intent on making the occupation an example of how decisions should be made.
The sentiment and will remains strong and hopes remain high. As Amy Goodman of Democracy Now wandered around Liberty Plaza with the camera crew you couldn’t help but empathise with the occupiers and feel that they are the change that Obama failed to bring. In the middle of one the Democracy Now features a familiar face shows up: ‘Yell’ – the woman who was maced. She speaks of her experiences so far and in one line captures the resilience of both the occupiers and the crisis of Capitalism, ‘I’m not going anywhere… I’m not going anywhere’.
