The definition of “occupy” has been nuanced in the last few months. Previously we have thought about “occupy” as meaning taking residence or being taken over by an army, but the idea of using occupation as a citizen’s movement to peacefully register protest by making encampments is here and it is large scale, important, necessary and brilliant. It is also the America I love, or maybe it’s the bit about people empowered and courageously overcoming obstacles that has always been associated in my mind as the true soul of America.
In the beginning of November I traveled from Livingston and visited “Occupy Philly.” Actually I had gone to see my son, Walker Stole, who attends Swarthmore College nearby. Swarthmore is a bastion of the principles that originated the Occupy movement, and many of the students there are committed to these principles and are active participants. Visiting my son at this particular college was a great segue for my plan to paint the Occupy movement. I packed my easel and brushes and obtained paints once I was in the area.
The day I chose to be at Occupy Philly was brisk and cold along with the hush of a quiet public demonstration and all the smells of human encampment, I felt an air of incredulity. Just to be there was problematic. It’s one thing to camp outside in summer or spring or with a wall tent and wood stove, but there was no visible source of heat here. Yet some 300 people wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags persevered like a war-weary army. I had arrived early in the morning and it was easy to pick my way through the tents. Most people were still sleeping, waiting for the warmth of sunlight.
I had arrived by subway and the exit I took led me through some of the wealthiest real estate in the world. One block away from Occupy Philly clientele were arriving at the Ritz Carlton Hotel with doormen carrying their opulent luggage through shiny glass doors. There were tourists as always visiting these monumental buildings: a father showing his children a frieze by Alexander Milne Calder for example. Juxtaposed amidst this wealth and the status quo, growing organically was a tent settlement: expedition tents and blankets and cardboard slung over rope structures.
Scenes from the Encampment
Looking up from the encampment next to the West Portal of City Hall one sees sculpture anointing a tower. The West portal was originally the prisoner’s entrance at the end of the eighteenth century, and what the accused would see on their way to trial. The allegorical theme here was the “Administration of Justice.” Over the top of the entrance is a figure representing Sympathy. Flanking Sympathy are figures representing Hope and Justice. What better place to make these points?
Hope and Justice are not just reserved for those who can pay or the ideas ultimately lose their meaning altogether.
Some people were up early taking stock of the situation and some were working on banners. In the encampment there was everything going on from love affairs to nursing babies to people madly scribing documents for the next day’s meetings and planning, planning, planning. This was a 24/7 protest and involved medical tents, libraries, study areas and free books (I picked out one by Gabriel Garcia Marquez—which I will always treasure).
An “Art Tent” was marked as such and was sponsoring events. That morning flyers were circulating declaring a “Flash Dance” would be choreographed and then the dancers would gig their way to Wells Fargo Bank across the street and down a half a block. The flyers were small woodcuts with a dancing figure and they were a way to communicate to campers and participants when and where this event was scheduled. The prints were beautiful. The entire scene was beautiful. The downside was that I was freezing.
I am from Montana and I used to guide dog sledding in subzero temperatures but the 20 degrees with high humidity and no sunlight surrounded by cold stone and brick was getting to me.
Dilworth Plaza, where the movement occupied adjoins the foundation of Philadelphia’s City Hall. This building has walls 22-feet thick made of granite and mortar and effectively held in the cold. I was gaining respect for the toughness of these people.
I went to Starbucks to get warm, two blocks away. There were no Occupy people there.
An hour and a half later when I returned somewhat fortified, things had livened up. The workers, supporters, and participants are not all people who have no jobs or families. Many come down whenever they can so at any given moment there may be 300 living there and another one or two hundred who have come to participate on their day off or their lunch hour or because they came to check it out from, say, Montana.
I felt accepted and at home there. For me it was a life changing experience. In my own life I cannot seem to get ahead no matter how hard I try, how many extra jobs I take on, how little I spend. In the words of John Lennon, “I am not the only one.” The thing that makes this movement great in my mind is that it is accepting of everyone which also meant me.
I felt and still feel empowered by the fact that these brave souls camp out in the cold to get this message out loud and clear.
The disparity of wealth in our country is not fair or right or okay. It breeds something that causes depression and “Depressions” and horrible feelings of inadequacy. We are taught if you work hard enough, this is the land of opportunity and you can succeed. Well, I still believe in the dream but America does not foster an environment that generates it.
The encampment was festooned with hand-painted banners. They were colorful and resourcefully using bedsheets and tied to the trees. There was one older lady (well, she was probably my age) who was opening her tent and bringing a potted plant outside to see the sun. The temperature had warmed to 40 degrees. She seemed to have all her belongings in the tent and she had a good spot facing east. She was smiling, excited to begin this adventure anew.
The main stage had a DJ rap artist and the speakers were competing well with the general traffic and city life going on all around. There were two different TV news vans and reporters doing live interviews.
Someone had written in ballpoint ink on a large sheet of butcher paper the sonnet, “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus which is emblazoned at the foot of The Statue of Liberty. In this city of brotherly love, on that day it rang in my heart. The Liberty Bell was cracked but still chiming. There were pieces of computer paper scattered around with hand scrawled lettering. They stated two words, “ hallowed ground ”
A Melting Pot
In Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’ there is a scene where people in an encampment such as this had memorized whole books to save them for future generations because all the books had been burned. Certain special people had certain books that they recited continuously so that they would not forget. It feels somehow that these brave souls are reciting what freedom feels like so that we will not forget. I can tell you that anyone who visited Occupy Philly will not forget.
In this mix of babies and septuagenarians the predominant age and income group could not be determined. Even gender and sexual orientation was not prevailing or dominant. When I spoke with someone for whatever reason, the dominant perception was: “This is marvelous regardless of your socio-economic situation, and it is great to see a manifestation of democracy at work.”
Socrates would have loved it. Everyone there loved it. There is no getting around being part of a social movement dedicated to changing things for the better for the majority of people is fun. It was like a carnival that raises consciousness.
One of the attractions of this carnival is the human microphone, where someone speaks and everyone repeats what was said so the words can be heard by all. It’s sort of a variation of rap because its spontaneous, but it has the hymn-like effect of Gregorian chant. When one is part of it they are speaking and hearing at the same time and cognitive ability is engaged at the same time as expression. It’s very cool and addictive while repetitive in an artistic and expressive way.
It is great to be part of an effective group working together and the moments when I participated in the microphone were exhilarating.
Capturing the Moment
Notices of eviction were posted because of a 50 million dollar construction project and much talk was about that. The mayor made a point of calling it a “99% project” employing the 99%. I had the sense Occupy Philly would move to a new spot, although it was sad because there could not be a better place.
The construction project was worthy. Somehow the city had built the levels of the park without meeting the requirements of handicap access legislation. No one really wanted to obstruct handicapped access to the building. The project was initiated to rectify the accessibility and it was a salient point when the occupiers were discussing how to handle the eviction.
That afternoon I realized the flash dance instruction would take place in front of the art tent so I set up to paint there. I had time because it took a while to assemble as many dancers as the choreographer wanted. He demonstrated the dance, explained how the moves illustrated giving back the money from the bail out, and taught the people to dance.
Some were talented dancers, some not so much, but all were thrilled to be part of this guerilla theater production. One lady was in a wheelchair. She was encouraged and gladly participated. I painted and I was thrilled to be part of it also. It got colder. Dancing makes you warm, painting not so much.
Finding Continuing Balance
That night riding back on the subway to Swarthmore, I talked with students who had been there also. We compared notes. We all loved it. I heard about a problem with a homeless man who was schizophrenic and off his medications and tried to stab someone. I had seen him earlier, he was obviously angry and speaking to non existent entities. To the credit of the occupiers such incidents were handled effectively and non-violently. This man was subdued until authorities came and then peacefully returned to the mental health facility where he normally lived. Many homeless and/or street-bound mentally ill patients have moved into the occupy areas. The food is good and the rules are easy. The problem is some of the mental patients who have come to this welcoming place are not getting their medications.
Understandably the occupy people have approached the shelters to collaborate about this problem, which is why when the man got violent there was already a plan in place to help him, rather than prosecute and punish him, yet still essentially preserving public safety. This is something that would be impossible to effectively blame on the Occupy Movement.
Mentally ill people exist and are part of society’s obligation to care for. Again, I was impressed. As this issue arose, the encampment rose to the challenge.
At Swarthmore the next day I heard three amazing speakers, each with stories of peaceful resistance. Each had great respect for the Occupy Movement and talked glowingly about what they might achieve.
The first was a journalist from Bahrain, Nada Alwadi, who reported about the persecution of peaceful demonstrators in her country and the worldwide blackout on reporting this news. Second was Mubarek Awad, founder of the Palestinian Center for Nonviolence who cautioned that all governments lie and admonished us that it is our job to find the lies and expose them.
Third was an American, Larry Gibson, who was going to bat against mountaintop removal, a practice that frankly I can hardly believe we are still practicing. The pictures were like something before there were environmental safeguards in place at all.
Gibson was eloquent in his argument explaining if it were not for the fact of the poverty in Appalachia there would be no way this would be taking place.
George Lakey, an amazing man who is a visiting professor and research fellow at the Lang Center Center for Civic and Social Responsibility at Swarthmore brought these speakers together. Lakey has envisioned and enacted students of his Peace and Conflict Studies classes to create a Global Nonviolent Action Database. My son Walker did some of these case studies which can be accessed online at nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/
In the hallway at Swarthmore there was talk about including the Occupy movement as a case study, the problem is no one knows the resolution yet. I know from the time that I spent there that this will be an ongoing project. Until there is major reform of our government, occupations will continue.
Evolution of the Movement
The experience certainly inspired hope in me to be politically effective enough to spread the word. As the old joke says, when the chicken farmer thought he heard someone in his coop stealing his chickens and called out to ask who was there a voice came back saying, “ain’t nobody here but us chickens.”
Two weeks ago now the Occupy Philly camp was dispersed some days past the eviction date. It was relatively incident-free with only fifty peaceable arrests and three minor police injuries.
The ghost of the camp still hovers in my mind and in images: the paintings of Swarthmore and one of the Flash Dance at the movement.
I am surprised the encampment did not just move en masse to another location, but actually moving is a pretty big job.
There was talk about getting a permit, and I think one was granted but it did not include overnight camping. The movement is not looking for a containment camp or a refugee camp so wherever it springs up next has got to be a politically effective spot.
In Philadelphia on December 3 there was a solidarity march from City Hall to the Liberty Bell. The posters of protesters read, “You Can’t Evict An Idea!”
December 6 was declared an action day by the Occupy Movement at large: “D6 Day of Action.” There is an aligned movement called “Take Back The Land” and across the nation there were peaceful demonstrations at foreclosed or soon to be foreclosed properties.
In some instances Occupiers found homeless families and moved them to long empty and un-cared for foreclosed houses. The Occupiers worked together to make these properties livable, performing repairs and generally cleaning up the area. In instances of foreclosures scheduled for the day the Occupiers rallied, the attention given to the particular family’s plight at least stalled the foreclosure for a time.
In some places the Occupiers are taking round-the-clock shifts in an effort to keep the families in their homes. In broadly-reported and emotional testimonials the people who have been given more time in their homes have thanked the citizens who are helping them.
There are empty houses that are in need of occupancy and care and there are the homeless who need a place to live and greatly desire a place to take care of and call home. Why can’t that be put together for everyone’s betterment? Because the banks need to make a greater profit?
There are 99% of us here who want more of the pie, at least more of a chance at it. The pie is not necessarily wealth but opportunity and perhaps more importantly respect. We don’t have to be chicken about asking for it. If the Occupy idea perseveres across the nation perhaps those who need to learn the lesson will learn how to share.
—Tandy Riddle
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