Monday, November 21, 2011

Occupy My Life?


I can't believe how busy I've been...after years of a sense of political hopelessness and activist dormancy I'm finding the #Occupy Wall Street movement is radicalizing...me. Not only is there an amazing succession of city-wide protests and events to go to, there's an Occupy Brooklyn, and shock of shocks, an "Occupy Sunset Park," named not for an encampment in my local spot of green but for the patchwork multicultural neighborhood I live in. So of course I've gotten involved. I have to keep this short because having just attended an awesome forum on the movement in Manhattan I've got to lay out two different Chinese versions of the above flyer before I call it a night....and then get up a little early for a busy work day. It's refreshing to be feeling like I'm part of something, participating in a wave of political awakening unlike anything I can remember. It feels...great!

Update: Here's one of the two Chinese language flyers we produced. This one is in the modern simplified characters developed in the PRC. The other is in the more old-fashioned traditional characters. Sunset Park is home to one of the three large "Chinatowns" in New York City.

4 comments:

  1. Well look at YOU, WTG. I am soooo jealous. But you know what, this local communities approach is really what it will take. Hmmm.... I believe they call that a 'grassroots' movement. lol

    I wonder if I could start an Occupy Central Park movement... yes, that's my park's name across the street from me.

    Keep up the good work.

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  2. You should definitely pull out the picket signs Annie. Just be ware of the pepper spray!

    thanks, friend.

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  3. i fully support OWS at this point. this past weekend we got marginally involved. here in khakis-and-caviar, new jersey there isn't much i can do to get locally involved. what can i do to extend an arm from a distance for you?

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  4. Hey Freebones. You can give me 24 more hours each day!

    Seriously, I feel pretty energized by this movement all of a sudden. But it makes me feel like I've been lazy the past couple years. The cool thing about Occupy Sunset Park is that all this is happening not just in my city but in my neighborhood.... meetings have been in a church just upstairs from my subway exit. And I'm meeting some cool neighbors. If you want to help, what I would say is just talk up the whole OWS movement. Heck, have a meeting at your school. You can get pdf downloads of the Occupied Wall Street Journal.... they'd be great discussion starters. As they say, "we don't know where this will end, but the beginning is near."

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