Wednesday, October 5, 2011
'Occupy Cleveland' Protest Starts Thursday
Posted by Erich Burnett on Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Recent footage of protesters railing against capitalist pigs on Wall Street has inspired others around the country and beyond to do the same. On Thursday, it’s Cleveland’s turn.
It’s called Occupy Cleveland, an offshoot of the somewhat more sizable Occupy Wall Street protest that’s been going on in New York City since mid-September.
The New York festivities were organized by Adbusters, a nonprofit group known mostly for being 1) anti-consumerist and 2) Canadian. Inspiration for the Wall Street protest — now three weeks strong, with body odor to spare — came from upheaval in Cairo earlier this year, which culminated in some fabulous YouTube videos and also the Egyptian Revolution.
But how does one Occupy Cleveland?
First off, by assembling at the Free Stamp downtown at noon on Thursday. From there, the group will march on one of Cleveland’s countless symbols of oppression, which has yet to be determined — most likely Public Square, the Federal Building, or possibly the batting cages at Progressive Field. (It will be Public Square.)
So far, the local movement’s got good mojo.
“In the past week or so, there’s really been a lot of people seeing a void that needs to be filled, and they’re stepping up and filling that void without any questions asked,” says spokesman Jacob Wagner, a law student at Case Western Reserve.
The group has sought solidarity with local unions and city officials, and has also reached out for celebrity support from the likes of filmmaker Michael Moore and Bone Thugz-n-Harmony, who surely are available.
Occupy Cleveland literature — all the best revolutions have literature — promises protesters will “set up their community camp and maintain an occupation indefinitely.” But so far, they’ve yet to pick a base of operations. Just like the bloody demonstrations spawned by the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago, “a lot of this is going to be weather permitting,” says Wagner.
And as for the plentiful arrests taking place on Wall Street?
“So far, it seems like the police are going to be on our side,” Wagner says. “Generally, police tend to agree with us, so we’re kind of hoping they’re going to look the other way with some of the city ordinances. But if they don’t, we’re gonna run into some problems.”
Cleveland Police did not reply to requests for comment.
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Comments (6)
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“So far, it seems like the police are going to be on our side,” Wagner says. “Generally, police tend to agree with us, so we’re kind of hoping they’re going to look the other way with some of the city ordinances. But if they don’t, we’re gonna run into some problems.”
I think this comment sums up the mentally of the people who will be down there. I say turn the dogs loose on them....make them get jobs..
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More college students with no real world experience..... at anything but beer bongs, pot and banging hot chicks. Not always hot chick, but chicks none-the-less.
Why turn "the dogs" on these people? what are you talking about? most of the unhappy 99%ers that I know ARE PEOPLE THAT HAVE LOTS OF WORK EXPERIENCE -working their butts off while the top 1% keep all the profits-if that's ok with you ,you're brainwashed.
"Make them get jobs"; "banging hot chicks"
Can we get some comments in here from people who can read beyond a 9th grade level?
If this is what Cleveland has to offer then the event will not go well.
I hope they march on the Fed, the real cause of the financial problem, but the majority of these protesters have jobs - they're just tired of their income being taxed to pay for a debt that we shouldn't be held responsible for. That's summing up the "mentally" (seriously? Mentality might have been the word you were looking for. You can proofread before your prove to the world that you aren't taking the time to actually look into this.)
Come on people, don't look the other way at this and if you feel that the demographic isn't representative, quit complaining on message boards, show up, and prove otherwise.
Civil debate with truth as the goal. Educate the population as to the abuse of power and money which is out of control in America. The constitution is being trumped by the power of concentrated money every day. Corporations see their articles as more binding than the constitution and legal systems go with the money most of the time. The people have too often been silenced by the power of greed which breeds more greed with each cahootsing done behind closed doors. Often greed plans against the people, and it is allowed by our money based legal system. Ethics must be returned to a real entity which can not be elliminated by concentrated wealth.
