The Closing Bell
OWS protestors gathered again this Friday down on Wall Street for the closing bell which signals the end of another day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The good news is that photographer Accra Shepp and his camera survived last week’s arrest to shoot another day in the work that is his Visual Diary. Another photographer however was one of a number arrested in this latest round.
Some links from today’s NYT’s which seems to be trickling a little more of the news through. Meet David Peel and Loren Hart.
And, of course, you must meet Lauren DiGioia, the girl with the fabulous blue hair, who tells the story of her arrest and that of many other women in this week’s Village Voice – Bail is Busted.
Thank God we live in America and have our first Amendment rights to protect us … oh, wait!, those rights are becoming obsolete, right along with our fourth Amendment rights. Silly me, I forgot the Government, the bankers, and the CEO’s are playing dirty pool in the same pool hall. At least you got some great photos and the people look like they’re hanging in there. I still think they should be standing in front of the Federal Reserve and on Capitol Hill, though. If you’re going to kill a tree, the best way to do it, is to uproot it. We need to first abolish the Federal Reserve, then you can bet bailouts will be a thing of the past.
It will be interesting to see how tomorrow’s events unfold in the light of free speech and International Workers’ Day originating here in the US. Thanks as always for your input Marcy. What, if anything, takes the place of the Federal Reserve if it were to be abolished?
We would have to phase the Federal Reserve out, Patti. Our ‘actual’ U.S. Treasury Department needs to start minting money with real value behind it, be it gold, silver, or some other precious commodity. JFK minted silver certificates in 1963 (?), which were to serve as an alternate currency along with the Federal Reserve notes until they were being absorbed. In the meantime, people had a choice as to which method they wanted to use as money. After JFK’s assassination (which is one reason I think he was murdered) no other President enforced the Executive Order ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_11110 ) that made Silver Certificates legal tender)). I don’t see why the attempt should be made again to phase out the private bankers manipulate ours, and the world economies. In the meantime, the Federal Reserve needs to be audited and monitored regularly, to assure they are not up to their shell games. Most people do not realize that the Federal Reserve is comprised of private bankers in a Cartel agreement with our Government. The Federal Reserve charges interest on any monies the Government borrows, and the people pay interest on all of that money via the good old IRS. Note that there was no IRS before there was a Federal Reserve. Once the Federal Reserve is exposed, and the people realize how bad we’ve been screwed for almost 100 years, I have no doubt we will all only use REAL Government issued money. If you want to learn more check out “The Money Masters”.
The Money Masters . Full Length Video . 3 1/2 Hours
I can not stress the importance of this documentary series. If you do, please share the link with others. Thanks. 🙂
Marcy, I am so far behind but I am looking fwd to catching up with the posted link asap. Thank you!
That link to ‘The Money Masters’ is to the full version and is over 3 hours long, but believe me, it is SO WORTH THE TIME. It is an education in itself, and not one you’ll ever see taught in any school. I can not recommend it enough. Whenever you do get time to watch it (or listen to it in the background, while you do other things), I’d love to hear your opinion on it. You will never look at money, or banking the same, I assure you. It is chalk full of general history lessons as well, so please enjoy! 🙂
great slide show – and a tribute to the courage of photographers!
Thank you Frizz. I posted this in a rush late last night and have now added an interesting link from the Village Voice detailing the bailout system here in NYC.
I can’t even pull off brown! I’m kinda jealous!
Happy to hear you are doing okay, Ms. K.!
I guess it’s all in the attitude, I couldn’t pull it off either 😦 !
Amazing photos Patti! I read the Village Voice article – “Bail is Busted”.
It’s inspiring that Occupy Wall Street has spun off numerous projects, including one that “addresses banks’ criminal responsibility for the foreclosure crisis by taking over foreclosed homes in East New York and installing homeless families in them”.
It’s also wonderful that a group of OWS organizers, calling themselves Bail Out New York, is “contemplating an organized effort to post cash bail for as many non-Occupy-affiliated criminal defendants as it can afford to”.
Be careful, and stay safe, while covering the May Day activities!
On the face of it OWS is seen as a bunch of the usual suspects and agitators but the “invisible” machinery behind the organisation is as you note active in so many other ways. The police have a handle on who’s who, which wouldn’t be at all difficult, and one person told me he suspects he was targeted for arrest because he posts bail for OWS-affiliated criminal defendants!
Theresa, thank you so much for best wishes and please forgive me for taking so long to reply!
These photos are getting very good, you know that, don’t you?
That is so sweet of you to say, thank you!
🙂
So, so happy that they all appear safe and relatively happy in their protests!
The tension is so alive in your photos.
Yet I also see hope and peace.
Thanks for your involvement, Patti. For keeping this alive for those of us so many miles away.
And it all swings so quickly from one moment to another! Looking fwd to catching up with you and your latest travels Annie!
Another great series Patti – good to know that Accra and his camera are back on patrol 🙂 I don’t get the need to shove peaceful protestors up against a wall to handcuff them! Surely the police can find a polite way of doing this with someone who isn’t resisting? i.e. calm hand on shoulder and calm voice along the lines of ‘please come with me sir’ – or am I being naive 😦
Patti will no doubt have a wiser answer —
but Martin, I think you are just being British.
That’s not how we do it around these parts 😦
Martin, you are not being naive! A lawsuit has been issued against the NYPD, details which might interest you at this link – Is the NYPD Out of Control?
Patti,
Just to let you know that up here (Northampton MA, not so far from the VT border) the leading activitist is Frances Crowe, who is still getting arrested at 93 years old. She and fellow activists and Quakers (including our 84 year old neighbor) are struggling against the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is a doppelganger of the one in Fukushima, old and running down — opposed by Vermont’s governor and its people but supported by some legal entities and fictions, it gets complicated —
Anyway, the point is these mothers and grandmothers have spent a great deal of their lives being arrested — mostly not winning — and amazingly! never being downed or drowned by it, but always coming back. They don’t go away. I could never do this myself, but thank God for the people who can and do.
How inspiring, and impressive, are these woman! NYC is full of feisty, energetic older women and I wouldn’t want to mess with any of them! Change doesn’t happen overnight, unless of course a nuclear power plant does over-react by which time it is too late to pretend it is going to be fine. I looked up some links on the plant – traces of tritium leaks, cooling tower collapse and a spent fuel pool nearing capacity among other things! With 130 arrests at a protest attended by 1,000 in March, this year! Someone doing a good job in Washington lobbying for the NRC?