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(H/T walkinboots)
Folks, we all are Occupying the same blue orb…! Why on earth am I hearing this noise from OWS, at ground zero mind ya…? Occupy Wall Street kitchen staff protesting fixing food for freeloaders…
The Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a “counter” revolution yesterday — because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for “professional homeless” people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters.
For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.
They will also provide directions to local soup kitchens for the vagrants, criminals and other freeloaders who have been descending on Zuccotti Park in increasing numbers every day…
Say what…? “professional homeless” Some Career choice, eh…?
Who are we kidding…? The Destitute have no choice in choosing their condition, muchless any opportunity to ever having their voice heard. We need to actively pursue the homeless community, and, encourage them to attend the Occupys with food and safe Sanctuary(notwithstanding the Police State)…!
What part of the 99% don’t they fit in…?
I’m trying to establish an actual Occupy Hilo, I’ve already talked to several of my local Church organizations about serving a centralized population, which is a distinct feature of the Occupys. However, they did adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude…! Tomorrow, I’ll be attending the latest Occupy meet-up to actively promote an Occupation here, I’ll be well armed with many of the Logistics and Site Location…!
I’m writing this dairy primarily to widen the debate on the Destitute and the OWS movement…!
Please chime in with your thoughts…!
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Aloha, CT. We have been dealing with this issue at (Un)Occupy Albuquerque, and it is a daily activity. There have been a variety of related topics discussed at the GA. As I left tonight (and it is getting very cold, our first real cold snap this fall), I passed a couple of people on the sidewalk under a tarp where it looks like they have settled for the night.
It is important for people to see and experience what the reality is for people who are on the streets 24/7.
We have been clear that Occupy is not a substitute for the services that the City does not provide in terms of the realities we are facing, despite our efforts to include the homeless/hungry and otherwise impacted people who are in our midst.
I have been involved in several interventions in my relatively few hours (compared to how many hours have been spent there by many others) at the Occupation.
I can also say that we are also including in our thinking about the 99% those who are jailed and those who are the jailers. As has been pointed out, the support for our movement is growing.
We are starting to talk about taking GAs to more comfortable settings where we can dialog with people who want to know more (or don’t support/understand what we are doing). Like community centers, libraries and other public areas. We have lots of support, and not all those people are comfortable or able to participate in the streets.
I am not sure whether it is more important to fight with the authorities over 24-hour access to our places or to spend more energy engaging with more people about the movement, our process and how to move forward and grow the movement. What do you think?
As I had noted on Ryan’s thread which prodded me to expand the discussion… “Build it and They will come”
I think it is essential to Occupy our public spaces… The squeaky wheel and all…! But, also what the Occupys do present is the centrality of the efforts…! It’s a lot easier to service one central locale than multiple locales…!
Occupy is not a substitute for the services that the City does not provide in terms of the realities we are facing…
Exactly, but, who else is picking up the slack for those wicked budget cuts…? What exists for them to exist…? 8-(
Occupy is not a substitute for the services that the City does not provide in terms of the realities we are facing…
This is why we are resisting the paradigm they have imposed.
This is the reason given, lack of security and problems with homeless/substance abuse, that we were kicked out.
That is precisely why we need to shift the veritable ‘Overton Window’ towards the Destitute…! They’re not going anywhere else…! 8-(
Seriously important issue to delve into, C Tuttle.
And, the discussion might be uncomforable for some at times.
What we’d like to see perhaps is for the 1% to be taking care of the homeless, for obvious reasons. That they aren’t, is the reason, I believe, for the anger that has created the Occupiers Movement.
We want those who say they believe the tenants of Loving Your Neighbor and feeding and helping each other to act like they believe it and mean it.
As you said, CT, we are all sharing this world, so We Are All Each Other’s Neighbors.
What in the world are these people thinking? This is the behavior I would expect from those we condemn for their mean spiritedness and false piety.
So shall we let them starve? “Professional Homeless” sounds a lot like a conservo talking point. Basic human decency demands that we feed the less fortunate, if we are able. Otherwise, we are no better than those we so love to condemn.
Very important issue, indeed. It is great to see the discussion ongoing because one can recognize that the logistics would definitely vary depending on locale. Practically speaking, the hope would be that as support and participation increases, so will the ability to include the homeless as much as possible, since they are the first casualties in this war of attrition after all.
As you treat the least of us so you treat me or something close to that. The dude Jesus.
For anyone who can afford it, to share with everyone, and to take the heat off Occupy kitchen staff, Occupy Potluck.
I get the feeling that there’s a lot of support for #OWS, but that a lot of people aren’t exactly the sit-in type of folks. How about a Facebook Page/Twitter thing for people to sign up to bring prepared cold/hot meals (macaroni/casseroles,etc.,) to the various OWS sites? They may not want to ‘sit-in’ but maybe a casserole is more their speed.
And just set up a page for each site – telling folks what they need – blankets, drinks, etc.?
This points to exactly why Occupy is needed — decades of relentless cuts at all levels of government have created a permanent class of homeless people, and the various Occupy groups simply are being overwhelmed because donations to a private group just can’t make up for loss of public institutions supported by tax money.
Note also that it’s the conservative publications (like the Murdoch Post in NYC) that are most heavily pushing this controversy — they want to see Occupy fall apart because of the slashed social spending the Cons have pushed.
Ah, but the whole drug/booze thing is what the 1% will use to crack down even harder than they are now. The NYPD and FDNY just this morning came and stole OWS’ generators!
The whole reason the Occupy movements haven’t been utterly snuffed out yet is because they’ve gone out of their way to be self-policing. No booze/drugs may seem like a downer, but booze/drugs can lead to fights, and the 1% are looking for anything they can use to tag the protesters as violent thugs.
As strongly as I support OWS, I wouldn’t feel good about contributing to food and supplies that were distributed with elitist discrimination. This attitude is in fact a total turn-off to me (I live in the boonies of Maine, so maybe I’m not being realistic about the situation in a place like NYC).
Then it occurs to me that maybe this story is heavy on the BS with just that aim: to turn off supporters. Is there any verification that these remarks were actually made?
I don’t know if this is OWS’ mission. I mean, I would feel weird just stopping by for free food if I wasn’t directly participating in the active protests. I realize it’s a draw for those most profoundly affected by economic disadvantage. But there are resources for those who are not directly participating…
Also, to PW’s point, the small community is a small petrie dish of organic democracy. Anyone can participate, but they have to participate!
http://occupysandiego.org/
“Concerning the number of homeless in our Occupy Camps. what do we do, what do we do?
Do we push them out
because they get in the way
of a neatly framed image
. making our lives too complicated?
. making us think?
An image shaped by the same design
that makes us buy
what we do not need
and helps us think we can ignore
what fills every door cubbie
down the street?
Wear ties and cut the hair they say
it plays so much better in the press.
But it is the homeless are for whom we fight
for they were the first
to feel the knife
of indifference and greed.
First Wall Street came
for the mentally ill
and threw them out.
then the random poor
then the middle class family
who lost their jobs
and then their home.
We can ignore them no more
because we will be next
. we will be next.
The homeless among us
speak to our truth
like few other
that we do indeed care
we do indeed care
for all of us
the 99%.
Bring more food.”
There has to be a synergy here, and you are on the right track. See this, for example http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/occupying-financial-districts-occupying-goods-our-hoods :
Black Agenda Report writer Bruce Dixon writes:
This is in the cards. One of the strengths of #OWS’s leaderless, amorphous structure is that local Occupations are free to experiment and develop new relationships, and then spread them around the country as they emerge.
Guess what? It turns out that the NY Post’s story is bullshit. From the Atlantic:
After the raid of Woodruff Park on Tuesday night and last night’s police state shenanigans, Occupy Atlanta itself is homeless.
badmetrics expressed in more detail exactly what I was thinking. We donated what meager staples we could to OA, but it dawned on us that the hundreds of people like us who can be there only sporadically each bringing a dish could economically feed a lot of people. And sharing food, breaking bread together, fosters community rather than tearing it apart.
Obviously the 1% are worried and confused. They first thought that this OWS was nothing, but now it isn’t going away. The 1% are desperate to get bullet-pointed lists of demands that can be absorbed and dismissed, violence that can be smashed by the various pds, and manufactured internal dissension to make OWS participants turn on each other. The oakland pd goon that shot Scott Olsen probably increased by a large % the number of people who support the movement, not what they intended. The oakland mayor apparently realized what a stupid move that was and is envisioning a huge suit settlement.
Regardless of the lies the Post spread about the cooking, I just can’t possibly see how Occupy can be what it is without caring for the homeless in their midst.
Occupy just MUST find a way to deal with it. Gotta feed ‘em, n if booze and drugs are involved, cops gotta get involved with Occupy to remove them and incarcerate them. 3 squares a day in jail . . . but Occupy MUST embrace the homeless, they just must . . . as we all must by either donating time or food or money to the social services in our neighborhoods, be they non profit or church non profit or city, county or state entities.
Tax the rich, feed the poor.
Till then, we all need to feed Occupy AND the poor, and the homeless . . . in any way each of us can regardless of how little or how big we can help.
Major Kudos to PW for exposing the Post for the piece of shit it is.
And a fine diary CT, and rcc’d.
Loved that video, great catch on you part and thanks for sharing it with us readers.
Agree in full with you NP . . .
I want to respond to some who misunderstood my point about services that the City does not provide. Yes, we are feeding the homeless and substance abusers. Yes, they are the 99%, and yes we are the 99%. Yes, they participate with us in the GA. We know their names. They are respected.
Last weekend a woman died near the camp, on a bench at the university, from an alcohol overdose, a gallon of vodka.
We do not accept that her death was the fault of Occupy. We point out that the City and our community do not provide adequate resources. But we are held responsible for her health and safety by the PTBs, and this is the reason we are kicked out. If anyone at the camp was aware of her situation, you can bet that help would have been summoned. Absolutely.
Last year, a woman had her throat slashed by a transient at the university. They did not have #OWS to blame for that, but they have a convenient scapegoat now.
I’m so glad to hear this. My instinct, that the story might not pass the smell test, was correct.
“Occupy MUST embrace the homeless, they just must”
Agreed