Occupy DC: Visitors in the Square
Thursday, October 20, 2011
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Now in its eighteenth day, Occupy D.C. is holding its ground and becoming a stop
for national activists. The McPherson Square encampment now features over 60
tents, a kitchen, a tech tent, and two donated generators – though more would
be useful. The scene is eclectic. A mix of hippies, old-school activists,
down-and-out laborers, unemployed youth, and alienated twenty-somethings fill
the tents, and during the day approximately 100 protesters mill about as
reporters weave through the crowd. At night the group swells to over 500 people.
Some are there for the food, some for the general assemblies (every night at
6p), some to socialize with like-minded folks, and some for the speakers. This
week alone the occupation has hosted the Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the young
leaders of the Egyptian Revolution, Ahmer Maher, and Harvard ethics professor
Lawrence Lessig. Speaking under an elm tree at McPherson, surrounded by 150
activists and bystanders, Lessig spoke out loudly, succinctly and hopefully to
the occupiers. “What is inspiring is [the movement’s] potential to talk
about and to teach the world to rally around an idea that we recognize and
believe fundamentally: that the government is corrupt,” he said. Not (former
Illinois Governor) Rod Blagovich corrupt, he clarified, but corrupt in the sense
that they are beholden to those who fund their campaigns¬, the 0.05 percent of
the American population. Lessig urged protesters to unite with the Tea Party,
which shares the same fundamental critique of American government’s failure to
be accountable to the people. “A common identification of corruption is the
potential to change the nation,” said Lessig, “However fun the carnival,
however tempting the drama… step back from that and think two steps ahead and
build the movement.”
- report and photo
by AJ Metcalf