Occupy Wall Street Ending First Week

The Zuccotti Park campout protest against the tyranny of the banksters will be marking its one week anniversary tomorrow, and indications are the participation will be ratcheting up for the weekend. (weather permitting: the rain has sent people scattering). There is a ton of coverage all over the internet, so I won't be repetitive.  But I do want to share a few good links.


Melanie Butler of the NYC Indypendent writes a lively first-person account of the action, which some naysayers have criticized for not having a common purpose:

As people are leaving work we march on Wall Street, led by the bombastic musical stylings of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.  I march with Eva-Lee, a seasoned CODEPINKer and member of the Granny Peace Bridgade.She is in awe of what young people are doing and says it’s unlike any other demonstration she’s experienced: "It's the process even more than the issues. I'm just blown away by how people are treating each other!"

The city's "paper of record", the New York Times has not covered the protests other than in one blog post, but the action is getting attention from the foreign press.  From BBC News comes a story of how the disparate band of park campers have boosted the fortunes of a local pizzeria.  And the Voice of Russia talks about the militarization of the Big Apple, post-9/11.  The New Zealand Herald concentrated on topless women flashing construction workers.  In perhaps the ultimate irony, Pravda railed against the total American media blackout of the event. ("Arab Spring, American Fall")

Keith Olbermann sent a news crew to the park on Wednesday, noting on his TV show that if one Tea Partier were across the street talking to himself, corporate media would be falling all over themselves and  leading with it on their nightly broadcasts.  A few celebrities have shown up to speak to the crowd, including that maven of blue collar progressives, Roseanne Barr.  Here she is, bullhorn and all.

And at Firedoglake, Kevin Gosztola has been running a liveblog and has further links to this ever-evolving series of events.