Friday, October 7, 2011
News Occupy Wall Street momentum moves south, occupies Woodruff Park
Posted by George Weidman on Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 3:53 PM
Just as the Occupy Wall Street movement has blossomed in recent weeks, its local spin-off is quickly picking up steam. In its fifth public meeting, Occupy Atlanta is expected to bring hundreds of pissed-off protesters to downtown's Woodruff Park tonight.
“At every gathering, the number of folks has doubled,” said Tim Franzen of the American Friends Service Committee. "There was a planning meeting on Sunday, and over 200 people showed up. Tonight at 6 p.m., there will be hundreds and hundreds of people… We’re expecting, by Facebook responses, at least 500. Maybe 1,000 and upward."
While the neophyte group doesn't have designated leaders, Franzen is a particularly outspoken participant who has taken an active role in representing the group’s interest to the media.
“Quality of life has been on a decline since 1980,” he said. "Americans are overworked, underpaid, and overstressed, and it contributes to every problem in this country. People are coming out of the woodwork, saying, ‘Hey, we don’t have anything to lose anymore.' Folks are sick and tired of the austerity measures, the defunding of education, and the intense wealth consolidation that means that we don’t have a democracy anymore.”
“Dave,” one of Frazen’s fellow protesters, says the gathering will likely be largely organizational. “Everyone here seems to agree with the Occupy Wall Street manifesto. We’ll probably be reading that this evening, and setting that up to vote, set that as our goal,” he says.
Decisions for Occupy Atlanta are made by majority consensus during group meetings called “general assemblies.” Still, says Franzen, “Who knows? People may be spending the night in Woodruff Park.”
If the meeting does turn into a camp-in, Atlanta Police will be forced to decide how — or whether — to enforce the citywide 11 p.m. closing time for public parks.
"No one really wants to mimic the actions of the New York City police," says Franzen, referring to well-publicized instances of violence and abuse against Occupy Wall Street protesters. "Their actions have really done more to make this movement grow than hurt it, and Atlanta has traditionally been a big civil rights town. Police (here) tend to go out of their way to not arrest protesters."
Still, Franzen acknowledges jokingly that arrests are a possibility: "I hear Atlanta jails are pretty crowded right now. Perhaps one of the local banks will make some space in their lobby for us."
Comments (13)
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I wonder what oydave meant...
Nimrod is, according to the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the son of Cush and great-grandson of Noah and the king of Shinar. He is depicted in the Tanakh as a man of power in the earth, and a mighty hunter.
he's just mad that a new generation is stealing his ex-hippie thunder
behind dave's scorn is a touch of wistfulness
The hippies were wrong, too...on politics. They were right on sex, drugs and rock n roll, self actualization, "going up the country" and growing your own food, treading lightly on the earth, etc.
mk777 - I'm trying to do my part to fix that. It's a losing battle.
Sweet dreams, all met with derision
This train, it was armed for collision
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
Clap your hands in the sparkle and glitter
Shake your heads at the twisted and bitter
Oh, they don't know how lucky they are
Foot down for the alienation
Look on as your love, it gets lost in translation
To a language that nobody understands
But there are smiles as they erode and corrupt you
Of the great expectations you could never live up to
We are lost, we are lost, we are lost
Get your coat, because the righteous are leaving
Because they can't work out what the hell to believe in
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
No abandon, no heartfelt desire
No love could be worth getting fired
For real, it's surreal, it's so real
So paint over the cracks and then cover
What you thought was the worst-ever pain with another
And the first one, it always comes free
How they love you, so cold and so vicious
With friends like these, well, who needs politicians
The first one, it always comes free
They tell you heroin tastes like ice cream
Clever men know all that and all this
And they will talk and they will talk and they don't fucking listen
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
It's no life, but God, it's a living
Come on, Jesus Christ, come back, all is forgiven
We are lost, we are lost, we are lost
Have no fear of the state of the nation
Let the facts have no bearing on public relations
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
What a model of Christian behaviour
Preach on with the message of "Go fuck thy neighbour"
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
A shame, it's a shame
Watch your step by the crowd of fanatics
While they kill in the name of applied mathematics
And you hate the system even though you invented it
Go kill your brothers and claim self defense of it
Picking up all the secrets and the tricks to being
One of the guys whom the shit never sticks to
Take your seats for the final calamity
Don't you look so serious, hell, what can the matter be?
Another day and the rot's getting faster
And all the machines started killing their master
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame
Good article. I was wondering who all those people were in the Park. I love to see freedom of speech alive and well in the USA.
There is no freedom of speech right now in Woodruff Park. Just ask John Lewis. You must be approved by a consensus of the mob.
"No freedom of speech?" "Consensus of the mob?" Really, Dave? Nice descriptive language and exaggeration. It was two people who didn't want him to speak.
Two dumb people.
John Lewis is a badass.
Right...and since there was no consensus, he was not allowed. There is no exaggeration. Watch the clip. "Block!" That is their rule and I'll never forget the guy who shouts as Lewis is leaving, "John Lewis is no better than any other person." These people are nuts.
I view John Lewis as a true American hero, though I disagree with his politics.
Yeah, I watched it. Saying there was no freedom of speech in Woodruff is an exaggeration. To call 'em a "mob" is an exaggeration.
They are still working out their internal rules, two folks spoiled it for the rest of the group who obviously wanted to hear Mr. Lewis speak. Consensus implies the majority wanted it & they didn't.
Come on with the melodramatics here: I'll never forget the guy who shouts as Lewis is leaving, "John Lewis is no better than any other person."
Your faux outrage is too funny.
I'm not outraged. I'm amused. They are like cute little puppies snapping at fingers and peeing in their den.
No freedom of speech is no exaggeration, though. What will it be like when the mentality on display at Woodruff Park rules the world?
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