Truth and Traditions

“I’ve been telling a lot of people – this movement is bigger than any one of us…for any reason somebody has to leave, someone will step up. We’re not a leaderless movement, we’re a movement of leaders.”

Though the crowd may have amounted to two dozen or so activists the moment I arrived, that soon changed. A stream of marchers poured onto the corner, returning from passing through the Loop spreading their message. Plenty of new faces were among them, but Sarah, a 26-year-old legal secretary, has been there, like Micah, since the beginning. She too, felt that the movement has made strides in the past two weeks and seemed undeterred by the changes.

via We’re not a leaderless movement, we’re a movement of leaders – aaroncynic – Open Salon.

Is this a tipping point in US politics? First the Tea Party, now Occupy Wall Street?

The abrupt and unexpected reversal, loudly cheered by rain-soaked demonstrators in the early morning darkness, averted a dangerous clash at the southern tip of Manhattan and seemed to give the unfolding protests against corporate greed, once dismissed as aimless and ephemeral, a growing air of credibility and endurance.

Behind the scenes, interviews suggested, the change in course was fueled by an intensifying sense of alarm within city government, shared even among some of those who work for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, that sending scores of police officers into the park would set off an ugly, public showdown that might damage the reputation of the city as well as its mayor.

via Occupy Wall Street Protesters Remain in Zuccotti Park as Cleanup Is Canceled – NYTimes.com.

“Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park — Brookfield Properties — that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation,” Deputy Mayor Caswell F. Holloway said in a statement.

“Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use,” Mr. Holloway said, “and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown.”

via Cleanup of Zuccotti Park Is Postponed – NYTimes.com.

Two days after the start of the Occupy Wall Street protests and thousands of miles away in Nebraska, the movement began to gain online cohesion independent of the magazine.

A 25-year-old artist and designer in Nebraska, foiled in her attempt to travel to New York and take part in the protest, created a simple digital hub for the proliferating Facebook and Twitter accounts calling for the occupation of central squares in other cities.

“Wow, it would be really great if there was a Web site that collected information about all of these,” the designer, Ella, said she recalled thinking.

via From Canada to Meetup.com, the Journey of a Protest Meme – NYTimes.com.

Occupy Wall Street faces a major practical/tactical decision, and so does Mayor Bloomberg.

At meetings in the corner of the park, protesters discussed strategy in light of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s announcement Wednesday night that the Occupy Wall Street protesters would have to leave temporarily starting at 7 a.m. Friday so that the park could be cleaned. Many have called the evacuation order a pretext for shutting down the protests permanently.

Some people advocated nonviolent resistance. But the wider consensus seemed to be that if the protesters cleaned up their own sleeping bags and tarps and pieces of cardboard and made the park better than new, the city and the park’s owners, Brookfield Properties, might relent and let them stay.

via Told to Leave Park, Wall St. Protesters Talk Strategy – NYTimes.com.