Occupy Seattle Day 4

The occupation in Westlake Park has nearly doubled in size from yesterday. Occupy Seattle expects that occupiers may be arrested tonight. The protest is well organized, from what I saw is completely peaceful, and poses no threat (or even inconvenience, for that matter) to anybody. Clearly, any attempts to evict the occupation will not be based upon any risk or threat to public safety, but are a selective enforcement of the law to attempt to silence those who dare to speak truth to power.

Occupy Seattle/OWS Updates

Looking at the links on the Occupy Together website, there are protests/occupations of some sort happening in at least 175 cities worldwide, including events in 46 states plus the District of Columbia. Twenty-eight of these are outside the United States, including 13 different countries. That is an absolutely remarkable demonstration of the level of rage and frustration out there, seeing as this movement has essentially zero resources and organizational base.

Locally, according to this post on Occupy Seattle's website, Occupy Seattle has been asked by the mayor to vacate Westlake Park, but they have decided to stay. More support (and more occupiers) are greatly appreciated.

Other occupations in Cascadia:

• Occupy Vancouver
• Occupy Victoria
• Occupy Spokane
• Occupy Tacoma
• Occupy Olympia
• Occupy Boise
• Occupy Idaho Falls
• Occupy Portland
• Occupy Salem
• Occupy Eugene
• Occupy Ashland
• Occupy Arcata
• Occupy Humboldt

Occupy Seattle News Roundup 10/3/11

Occupy Seattle Day 2 (Seattlest)

Wall Street protesters in Seattle (Seattle PI)

‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement arrives in Seattle (Raw Story)

Occupy Seattle Day 3

Occupy Seattle has been camped out in the square in front of Westlake Center for 2 nights now. I saw the above sign today and thought it pretty neatly summed up why resistance is beginning to flower now. The encampment currently consists of about 20 tents (equating, I think, to 30-50 occupiers). It is worth noting that of the people I saw, there appeared to be a pretty wide range of ages, social backgrounds, and political viewpoints. This is a lot broader than just "recent college graduates that are unemployed". Also, it is worth noting that most of the establishment media are talking about how these gatherings are insignificant and nobody seems to care about them. Well, if that's so, then why is everybody talking about it (not least the mainstream media who are so dismissive of it)?

The number one thing that is needed is more occupiers. If people can't do that, everybody is welcome at the general assemblies (occurring about 5:30-6:00 PM daily) and there is a donation box for financial contributions.

Also, on the UW campus, I saw a group promoting Occupy Wall Street in Red Square, but I didn't stop to talk to them.

Occupy Wall Street has published a Declaration; note that it is not a list of demands. The point of this resistance is not to ask the political-financial system for a redress of grievances; it is to point out the basic illegitimacy of said political-financial system. Since the system is illegitimate, it needs to be removed or radically reformed, not negotiated with (unless the negotiations are about how it will be removing itself from ill-gotten power).