Occupy Wall Street comes to Portland
Kari Chisholm
As you've probably heard by now, there's a growing crowd of protestors gathering on Wall Street.
The video here is a floor speech from Congressman Peter DeFazio yesterday in which he calls the Occupy Wall Street movement "the American Awakening" - and notes that the protestors, many of them young people, "have had their future stolen from them" by Wall Street speculators.
I think these young people, and the others that are joining them, get it. They may not be totally focused, but they know that this isn't a country that gives them a fair shot at the American Dream anymore.
Meanwhile, today there is an Occupy Portland march that will be taking place at noon. Participants will be assembling at Waterfront Park (just south of the Burnside Bridge.) See OccupyPortland.org for more information.
Mayor Sam Adams held a press conference to discuss the city's efforts to create a space for a peaceful demonstration. Video here.
Will you be attending Occupy Portland? What are you hoping is the message of the demonstration?
On the jump, a twitter feed for #OccupyPortland.
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8:52 a.m.
Oct 6, '11
Kudos to DeFazio. I love this speech and plan to be at Waterfront Park today.
1:46 p.m.
Oct 6, '11
The Portland Mercury has a roundup of responses from the mayoral candidates here.
2:10 p.m.
Oct 6, '11
I just came back from the waterfront. It is an interesting group. The organizers seem to be in their late 20's-30's and focused on economic issues. The crowd so far was polite and your usual Portland leftish crowd; grey hairs like mine and plenty of young people. Most stayed on message, but there were some of the Ron Paul crowd blaming the Federal Reserve. Only one or two masked anarchists noted. I sure hope they stay sidelined so that there is no violence to taint the protest.
3:53 p.m.
Oct 6, '11
And I thought the Tea Party was white only. I Was there and saw no people of color.
1:15 p.m.
Oct 7, '11
I did, but not many.
5:48 p.m.
Oct 6, '11
A few photos here.
11:13 a.m.
Oct 7, '11
Todd- Welcome to Portland! There are a lot of white folks here. Sorry I missed you yesterday!
1:16 p.m.
Oct 7, '11
Been trying to get in to post to BO, but for now this will have to do. A list of resources for PDX and beyond. http://albertideation.com/2011/10/07/occupy-portland-and-beyond/
1:22 p.m.
Oct 7, '11
Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now by Naomi Klein
2:47 p.m.
Oct 7, '11
Useful idiots - see http://ttoes.wordpress.com/
3:08 p.m.
Oct 7, '11
The main message I saw was that Wall Street greed cannot remain the overarching force of American life. For my own 2 cents, even among people losing their jobs and their houses, a top priority must be to end the two hopeless but oh-so-profitable-for-the-1% wars. Prying off that stinking squid that is sucking our faces could soon help everyone who is hurting--not least our troops.
6:33 p.m.
Oct 7, '11
1) Bring Back Glass-Steagall (they can have their casino, just don't make commercial credit dependent upon it). 2) Bring back the Tobin Tax (I found out just yesterday that the US had a revenue-generating Tobin Tax from 1914-1966. Let us tax Wall St. once again!).