Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.
“Gandhi Visits Occupy Wall Street”
Annual Agape Advent Evening
Saturday, December 3, 5:30pm
2062 Greenwich Road, Ware, MA
George Pattery, SJ, a Jesuit from Calcutta, will speak. He is currently teaching a course on Gandhi and Religion at Holy Cross.
(This event conflicts with the Stone Soup anniversary party, unfortunately.)
Last night, the Worcester City Council voted 9-2 to support the City Manager’s handling of Occupy Worcester so far. Several councilors spoke to the issue, but none of the supporters addressed incidents like OW people being threatened with arrest for entering City Hall to schedule an appointment with the Manager, or the frequent policy changes about the use of Lincoln Square that have frustrated police and Occupiers alike.
The Council also, by voice vote, withdrew their own request that the Manager have people meet with OW to answer questions and address concerns.
So the Council voted a “good job” to the Manager while withdrawing any previous suggestions to him. I am pretty sure these votes had zero effect on anything.
You would think that Councilor Konnie Lukes, who last week complained that “we’ve sort of turned the tables around where the CM is leading and the City Council isn’t doing much of anything” would be opposed to measures shirking leadership, but you would be wrong—she was a strong supporter.
I couldn’t help but think of Dianne Williamson’s recent satirical postmortem on Councilor Barbara Haller while watching this meeting. Haller co-sponsored the resolution supporting the Manager’s OW crackdown, and this might be one of the last high-profile things she takes on as a Councilor. Haller’s behavior at this meeting echoed Williamson’s sarcastic portrayal of her as someone who’s a “liberal” in her own mind but who the unfair public see as “not progressive enough”.
(Williamson has started doing a sort of Stephen Colbert thing with her column, which I fear is a little insidery and subtle for non-Worcesterites. For example, in this column she misidentifies One Love as “vegetarian,” framing the “Dianne Williamson” character as “ignorant outsider” in the very first sentence.)
Sorry if this post is disappointed and angry—I usually avoid watching the Council meetings because I don’t like feeling this way. Happy posts coming soon.
Today marks one week that Occupy Worcester has maintained a 24-hour demonstration in Worcester’s Lincoln Square. You will remember that OW tried to set up camp there after leaving Lake Park. Camping hasn’t been permitted, so OW has been standing around on the sidewalk, conducting other activities as allowed by whichever police are on duty.
OW has been doing all sorts of good things. The camping, and now marathon demonstration, are the one aspect I’ve been skeptical of. I’m not sure this sort of public presence is worth the effort. On the other hand, Worcester’s City Manager has mounted a publicity campaign against OW, and Worcester City Councilor Konnie Lukes thinks the attempts at camping have created “a difficult situation.” The local powers-that-be evidently think OW has been more than a minor nuisance. Maybe OW is onto something.
Also, Joe Scully says they had a late night poetry marathon. Now that grabs my imagination.
Pictured: Stone holds forth at the one-week anniversary General Assembly in Lincoln Square.
This rainy afternoon, when I stopped by Lincoln Square, there were three hardy souls in the Occupy Worcester camp.
During the taping of today’s video, Worcester police stopped by and asked them to pack up all their gear and remove it from Lincoln Square.
More commentary on last night’s Worcester City Council discussion of OW: It’s @BizarroLukes’ world, we just live in it
Update: Nothing brings another dozen Occupiers in a hurry like camp drama.
A couple dozen people were in Lincoln Square when I stopped by to visit Occupy Worcester this afternoon. They tell me that at least some authorities have determined Lincoln Square is not a park, and that they are being allowed to set up sleeping bags on the grass within 3 feet of the sidewalk.
A couple locals stop by with signs.
When word got to the camp that the City Council might consider an anti-OW item tonight, most of the OW people headed down to City Hall. This was just as the weekly antiwar vigil, now ten years old, began in Lincoln Square. I took some video during this crossover time.
Update: Apparently Konnie Lukes asked for the Council to publicly support the city administration’s response to Occupy Worcester, and the Council was like, “Maybe we’ll think about it.”
“I have concerns that the city council…has not taken any action to either support or criticize the City Manager.” She says they shouldn’t be letting him hang out dry alone because “he takes orders from the City Council…we’ve sort of turned the tables around where the CM is leading and the City Council isn’t doing much of anything.”
She introduced a resolution in which she called on the council to go on record in support of the manager’s efforts with Occupy Worcester as the city’s chief conservator of the peace and his efforts to respect the movement’s constitutional rights of free speech.
But District 2 Councilor Philip P. Palmieri exercised his right under the council’s rules to table Mrs. Lukes’ resolution for one week. He said such a delay made “good sense†so the council can have time to get a report back from the city administration regarding the questions that were raised tonight.
Mrs. Lukes, meanwhile, said only two of her colleagues were willing to support her resolution.
After a long night experimenting with what the police will allow in Lincoln Square, Occupy Worcester began their first full day in this, their third encampment. (Though I prefer to think of it as the fourth.)
Some were able to sleep on the sidewalk last night, despite police discouragement; others were taking naps on the grass when I visited Lincoln Square this morning.
The Occupy Worcester encampment in Lake Park is being packed up tonight and moved to Lincoln Square at the edge of downtown at 7pm. Some think that the legality of camping there is enough of a gray area that OW will be allowed to remain.
Police, apparently, disagree.
Update: A little before 10pm, Occupy Worcester laid down some tarps and sleeping bags on the grass at Lincoln Square. A little after 10pm, three policemen rolled up to the site and announced that the grass is city property, but that protesting on the sidewalk is OK. They warned OW they would be arrested if they remained on the grass. OW moved the sleeping bags onto the edge of the sidewalk. When I left at 11pm, only one person was making an effort to sleep. One policeman told us that if people fell asleep, they would be woken up and told to stay in motion on the sidewalk. One OW camper I asked said he would remain in Lincoln Square till dawn, whether or not he was allowed to sleep.
An all-night sidewalk demonstration is not what anyone had in mind for tonight. These setbacks are disappointing, but to the extent that Occupy is an open source protest, even failed experiments add to a larger body of knowledge. Personally I’m stunned and encouraged that OW still has this kind of energy a month in.
Second update: OW did indeed stay all night. Photos on Facebook show the small contingent back on the lawn at sunrise.
Also: T&G story
Continue reading “Occupy Worcester camp moving to Lincoln Square”
On this rainy day outside Worcester’s City Hall, Occupy Worcester organized a series of satirical marriage ceremonies between local residents and corporations, to protest corporate personhood.
Here, Sarah stands with her groom, the Corrections Corporation of America.
Update: Because of the rain, these events were in/under the City Hall entryway. OW folks tell me the following. OW had an actual permit for the event. Police came and moved them to the Franklin St side. Some OW folks went to the City Manager’s office to ask why, when they had a permit, they were made to move. They were met inside by police, threatened with a trespassing charge, and told not to return. OW folks are meeting with the City Solicitor and perhaps the Mayor right now. A press release is forthcoming. From Facebook: “Occupy Worcester members illegally and forcefully evicted from City Hall during business hours! We could use some bodies at City Hall now.”
Congressman McGovern’s office is not far from City Hall, so some OW folks went to talk with him about this. Congressman McGovern is no stranger to civil disobedience himself.
Second Update: Here’s a post with the blow-by-blow. The upshot is that the permit was for “the Franklin St side of City Hall,” which the organizers and the police interpreted differently. Also potentially the permit was invalid because the organizers didn’t hire police officers to watch over the protest. The main ridiculous thing here is that people were threatened with arrest when they asked to talk to a city staffer about making an appointment with the City Manager. This post is quite funny and enthusiastic:
So we go to see our congressional representative, who keeps an office next to the world’s shadiest mini-mall.
While explaining ourselves to the secretary, who should walk by but none other than Congressman Jim McGovern! We talk about what happened, and the whole time he’s nodding sagely like some kind of Jedi master, like he’s peered into his crystal ball and foreseen the encroaching forces of Bullshit Repression and Jerkwad Authoritarians, and that now is the time to put counter-measures into place.
Right off the bat he blows our minds by revealing that he has been arrested 3 times for protesting the massacre in Darfur outside of embassies, which is the most badass place you can get arrested for protesting, second only to volcanos. He confirms that heinous bullshit had indeed transpired, and put a call in to the city manager while we were talking.
As we were shooting the breeze with an honest-to-God-Congressman like it was no big deal, I get a call from one of the other Occupiers who was there that night, saying that the Mayor has been informed, is pissed, and wants to meet with us and the city solicitor so as to sort out hand grenades from horseshoes when it comes to things like free speech and police nonsense.
So yeah, your average light conversation, you know?
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican and Bill Coleman. We discuss Occupy Worcester and the election.
[display_podcast]
Audio: mp3 download link, other formats, feed
You can watch 508 Fridays at 7pm on WCCA TV13.
On the evening of November 5, Occupy Worcester members set up 8 tents on the Common. Shortly after 10pm, when the Common is closed to visitors, police warned the occupiers they would be arrested, then arrested them. OW says 19 were arrested, including a legal observer who somehow got caught up in things.
Update: Police press release. (I am a big fan of police press releases, but even this one is not a definitive account of the events. For example, contrary to what this press release says, I’m pretty sure Holly did not get arrested on the Common, since I watched her get arrested on Major Taylor Boulevard.)
Supporters of the arrestees marched from the Common to the police station, walking in the road until they too were threatened with arrest. After the group moved onto the sidewalk, two of them darted into the road, and one of these was arrested. A friend of this man walked out into the road after him and was also arrested. A third marcher was arrested under unclear circumstances.
Charges against those arrested include trespassing and disturbing the peace. As I write this they are posting bail and being released from lockup. You can view the website for more information
. There are many videos/pictures/accounts online—over the next day I’ll add some links to this post.
Occupying the police station lawn on a cold night, waiting for those arrested to be released.
Occupy Worcester Arrests, 11/05/2011 from Matthew Wright on Vimeo.
