Yours truly hosts a small but dedicated protest at the county seat
The initial protest in New York City was sparked by the Canadian magazine Adbusters, which devoted a page to an “ad” urging people to travel to Wall Street on Sept. 17 to protest the elites and bring their sleeping bags. The group characterizes itself as the 99% of the population that wants an end to the exploitation by the super-rich 1%.
The Tumblr site We Are the 99% continues to draw contributions from people in sympathy with the movement.
The focus on Wall Street was designed to draw attention to the fact that none of the miscreants who destroyed the U.S. and global economies have yet to be arrested. The movement has since been embraced by many of the unions that find themselves beleaguered in this new era. A series of incidents captured on YouTube that show police officials abusing the crowd drew attention to the burgeoning movement, swelling their numbers.
An organizing meeting for Saturday’s protest will be held at The North Star Center (106 Lathrop Street in Lansing) Wednesday, Oct. 12, beginning at 7:30 p.m.. Kevin Pietrick and David Mitchell from the group will appear on Lansing Online News Radio on WLNZ 89.7 Monday, Oct. 9, to explain strategies such as the General Assembly that the group uses to make democratic decisions.
This is the announcement:
- What are our demands you ask? Come help us formulate them. We plan to use direct democracy via a General Assembly. We are assembling due to a common frustration with an economy that works for the 1% at the expense of the rest of us. The rest of us are leaderless, as it should be. We don’t need a corporate spokesperson – what is nowadays known as a politician – to be our big man. It takes a village, or so they say, and it’s high time for us villagers to stand up to the corporate kings of this country. This shall be in solidarity with our bold brothers and sisters in the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests.
- Why did they get a bailout, and the people get sold out?
- Why do they use our money for endless war?
- Why do they directly and dictatorially control the content of the media?
- Why do they hold a new generation hostage to debt from education, while gutting pensions for the older generations?
In the tradition of non-violent civil disobedience, we aim to give voice, and perhaps some shouts as well, to the 99% who have been silenced by the interests of the elite.
Our weapons are our questions:
Our questions are many, and yet to be answered. Join us in opposing them.
I’m curious to see if the media will largely ignore this gathering as they seem to be doing nationwide. The Tea Party seems to garner attention at every turn, but the reporting on this movement seems very dilute.