Live Blogging OWS - 10/15/11

I wanted to thank Anne Laurie of Baloon Juice for the very generous shout out regarding Occupied Media as well as our coverage at Plutocracyfiles.com. I do want to make it clear that Occupied Media is an effort of many members of Occupy Missoula - many thanks to the members of Occupy Missoula who mobilized so quickly to get this information out and hopefully, especially to smaller occupations.

Additionally, thanks to Economist's View for including our Jeff Madrick interview in its links. And to The Rumpus for acknowledging our coverage of OWS.

Naomi Klein tweeted that this was a must read. Lots of stuff here I disagree with (or at least my initial reaction is that I disagree). But also quite a bit I agree with. Some people will know what I mean when I say this movement is approaching a terrifying flying-blind phase where decisions about the direction of the movement can impact its future. I did love the last paragraph - beautiful quote.

Mike Konczal did a Bloggingheads TV interview with Nathan Schneider. I think there's quite a bit raised here that I have some disagreement with as well, but great food for thought.

Here is Doug Henwood's most recent piece on OWS; I will be interviewing Doug tomorrow regarding OWS (interview should be on the blog Monday or Tuesday). I love the fact that Doug is allowing himself to think out loud regarding OWS. Even those of us involved directly with the movement have evolving opinions and are working our way through various ideas. I know I've changed my mind about things and suspect I will in the future. It's important with something so new that everyone be given some room to do this - bravo Doug Henwood.

3:03 PM: Here's a nice piece on Occupy Des Moines (also, thanks to therumpus.net for the shout out).

4:01 PM: Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake reporting on day of Global Protest.

5:18 PM: Statement from OWS regarding day of global protest:

Over the last 30 years, the 1% have created a global economic system - neoliberalism – that attacks our human rights and destroys our environment. Neoliberalism is worldwide – it is the reason you no longer have a job, it is the reason you cannot afford healthcare, education, food, your mortgage.
Neoliberalism is your future stolen.

Neoliberalism is everywhere, gutting labor standards, living wages, social contracts, and environmental protections. It is “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” It is a system that ravages the global south and creates global financial crisis – crisis in Spain, in Greece, in the United States. It is a system built on greed and thrives on destablizing shocks.

It allows the 1% to enrich themselves by impoverishing humanity.

5:23 PM:

Twitter reports that nets are out in New York and that things are getting very tense.

5:47 PM:

Right now, sounds like people are dispersing from Times Square. This blog will hopefully have a report on Times Square soon.

5:59 PM:

allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @nyclu: more possible arrests at 46 and 6th, police wagons rolling in #occupywallstreet #ows

6:22 PM: Occupy Europe.

6:46 PM: Pic of Times Square.

6:56 PM: Times Square.



7:11 PM: More reports of infiltration by police.

Salon reporter Jutin Elliot tweeted:

guy on the right appears to be undercover officer. behind police line. with "Occupy" tshirt slung over his back #ows

7:26: Apparently undercover.

7:30 PM:

There was a call for people who bank with the mega banks to close their accounts. There are rumors that people were arrested for trying to close their CitiBank accounts. I agree with Chris Hayes that if that happened, it will be iconic:

chrislhayes Christopher Hayes
If NYPD actually arrested people for trying to close their accounts at Citibank, it will be an iconic moment in the growth of #OWS

9:34: Police riding horses through crowd.



9:36:

Sounds like second NY location, Washington Square was shut down by police; protesters decided not to defend. Those on the ground seemed in accord - that it was a wise decision.

9:39: Maybe not...

allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @natashalennard: Huge number of police lined up, perhaps 90 strong on south side of wash sq pk. And many more around park

9:43 PM:

YourAnonNews Anonymous
CONFIRMED: Multiple NYPD buses and vans now on scene. Crowd remains at 1000+, maybe even 1500. 20 mins til curfew.. #OWS

9:52 PM: Seattle seems to have almost nightly problems.

jamiekilstein Jamie Kilstein
RT @yayyyates: ]police planning to shut down #occupyseattle at 10pm. We need people present to resist! Please RT @CitizenRadio

9:54 PM: Washington Square Live Stream.

10:02: Apparently police are threatening arrests in Chicago.

Also, photo diary of today's protests over at Kos.

10:37 PM: Story regarding police infiltration.

10:42: READ THIS BOTTOM UP

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
@motherjones My phone is dead but am taking subway to apartment to upload video. Please stand by.
19 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
I will upload the video as soon as possible
20 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
They said it was past the point of no return. But one officer escorted me out.
20 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
Then the riot cops poured in with zip cuffs, and I began backing out. Barely made it out. Several cops wanted to arrest me.
21 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
At that point, a very angry white shirt came in, clutching a bull horn, and sent the community affairs officer packing.
22 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
So then I asked if this meant that, according to police, the occupy movement cannot expand further.
22 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
That's what Zuccotti Park is for, the community affairs officer said.
23 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
I asked if this meant that they could come back tomorrow night and occupy the park.
23 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
The cop said all the police have been up long hours and are tired and just want to go to sleep.
24 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
A community affair office aproached and tried to talk them out. But they would not leave.
24 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
Set up in a pizza shop. Huge crowd on other side of police barrier, with tv crews etc.
25 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
Extremely powerful. I'm shaking right now and can barely type.
25 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
I barely avoided getting zip cuffed as I was filming the arrest
26 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
There are about 10 or 15 people still in the park, all singing Woodie Guthris songs, surrounded by more than 100 riot cops in face shields
26 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
I just came within a hair's breadth of getting arrested
27 minutes ago

JoshHarkinson Josh Harkinson
I'll tweet the rest of the speech later. It's gonna get ugly, I think, and I want to tape it.

10:55 PM:

owsbot OccupyWallStreet Bot
by OccupyWallSt
Hearing multiple reports of 10-20 people arrested at Washington Square Park. #ows

11:01 PM: Video summary of violence in Rome.

11:13 PM: Four Charts That Explain What Protesters Are Angry About.

11:31 PM: From Occupy Phoenix:

occupyPHX #occupyPHX
The word in the crowd is that we are ALL going to be arrested in a few. If you hear nothing by midnight, that happened.

11:33 PM: Report on Occupy Oklahoma City.

11:36 PM: Infiltrator claims to have been heavily monitoring OWS and Anonymous.

11:43 PM: Report on Occupy London.

11:46 PM: Olbermann summary - good clips of police violence.



11:55 PM: Madrid!



11:58 PM: Report on global protests from OWS.

12:19 AM: Video of Time Square.