It played out different here in my small town. The gentleman that I talked to was amazed out how grassroots this group was. Young people didn't have masks on. There was no magaphones. The organizer explained the local laws to us and we all agreed to disperse if the police asks us to. A couple of young people sat under a tree and sang folk songs. An elderly couple was on the side of the street were we did not have a permit sat in lawn chairs with a long sign. They had written on a roll of shelf paper "end corporate personhood." The center of it was taped to a walker for support. Later another person joined them in a electric scooter chair waving a flag. He saw us when he was shopping at the drug store on that side of the street. The organizer went over and talked to them but the stubborn old coots stayed put until they got tired. They were very popular with the traffic. Hated to see them go. The local police just smiled at us as they drove by. The drug store didn't complain about the old farts on their sidewalk. We grew to around 60 people at one point. It was easy to count because we stood or sat in a line. We had the local AM station talker there telling us that he lost 2of his important sponsers because he had been supporting the clean up wall street movement. A reporter was taking pictures. I walked away feeling good and needing a nap from all the standing and waving.

Guess you weren't feeling much solidarity.

The Miami event got close to 1000 and was very inspiring. Great diverse mix of folks. Huge support from passersby in cars.  Favorable local news coverage. I eavesdropped on the discussions between the organizers and the cops and they were both extremely cordial. Now they are setting up tents at the local government complex.

Saw an arriving older couple pulling an "Eat the Rich" sign out of their pearly new Escalade. No joke.

I've spent the last week on and off with Occupy Everywhere - Seattle, there are Paul folks and Larouche folks there, but they are not in charge of anything and are continually pushed to the edges, in fact most of the people do not associate with the Laissez Faire/ I <3 Somalia folk. The Larouchies as I call them keep getting into long protracted arguments, okay I started on of them, about their felon leader.. hahaha.

Do you think possible that the Paul thing is indicative more of NH politics? I have a few relatives in NH and all they ever talk about it is how they pay too much in taxes, seriously.  I will be heading back to Seattle's movement tomorrow, as it grows daily, and then at the end of the month I am heading up to Vancouver to see how the movement is growing in Canada.

Certainly I agree with your sentiment, the Paulites must be marginalized and not represent any part of what is growing into a world wide movement. My mom is heading to a Occupy the World movement in Manila tomorrow to observe. I will find out what she sees and hears there.

I was thinking about heading to Frankfurt to participate in their global Occupy event, However, with the turmoil over the PIIGS, especially Greece and now Italy, careening at the edge of the abyss, I suspected the event would be more Euro-centric ... which it was. Both are fraternal twins born of the same event, but each have different characteristics that differentiate them from one another because of the politics of their geographical areas. I'm waited for them to tie the two together ... they share the same birth mother. The euro crisis is a stage beyond what the Wall Street protest is based upon ... while individual states don't have the capability to bring down the value of the dollar, the industries based in their states have the capability of bringing about a similar meltdown in the form of still lower wages, scarce to minimal benefits coupled with higher prices for the products and services offered. Scarcity of money in the hands of the public chasing high priced, essential goods is a form of currency devaluation ... purchasing power is diminished which is a form of devaluation. Some might counter it's inflation not deflation/devaluation. I could be wrong, but I consider inflation to be were wages are steady while prices for goods and services increase. When wages drop while resulting prices for goods and services remain high or increase I see dollars earned as being devalued ... one has to work more to earn that dollar value.

Dan, thanks for the report. I feel that some good may come from the simple fact that so many are demonstrating their dissatisfaction even if it is scatter shot in nature. I bet there are a variety of complaints and desired solutions in this group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SjUIEAZr4Yo

[in response to PeraclesPlease upthread]

First, I think you need to look up the definition of snark, because what I wrote was anything but "pure snark."  Havel did play a major role - if for nothing else by bringing international attention through the literary world.  Moreover in the Czech culture, the artists were given a pedestal and authority not seen in too many other cultures.  It was those in the theater that helped pushed the protests of the students into a national protest.

Saturday, November 18

Two students visited Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec at his private residence and described to him what (really) happened at Národní Street. The declaration of the strike at the Realistic Theatre in Prague occurred, and other theatres quickly followed. The theatres opened their stages only for public discussions. At the initiative of students from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague the students in Prague began a strike. Gradually, this strike was joined by university students throughout Czechoslovakia. The students were supported by the theatre employees and actors in Prague, all of whom had also gone on strike. Instead of playing, actors read a proclamation by the students and artists to the audience, that called for a general strike on November 27. Home-made posters and proclamations were posted in public places. As all media (radio, TV, newspapers) were strictly controlled by the Communist Party, this was the only way to spread the message. In the evening, Radio Free Europe reported that a student (named as Martin Šmíd) was killed by the police during the previous day's demonstration. Although the report was false, it heightened the feeling of crisis, and persuaded some hesitant citizens to overcome their fear and join the protests.

Sunday, November 19

Theatres in Bratislava, Brno, Ostrava and other towns also went on strike, following the example of their colleagues from Prague. Members of artistic and literary associations as well as organizations and institutions joined the strikes. Members of a civic initiative met with the Prime Minister, who told them that he had been prohibited twice from resigning his post, and that if they wanted to achieve changes, there would have to be mass demonstrations like those in East Germany (some 250,000 students). He also asked them to keep the number of "casualties" during the expected changes to a minimum. About 500 Slovak artists, scientists and leaders met at the Art Forum (Umelecká beseda) in Bratislava at 17:00. They denounced the attack against the students in Prague on November 17 and formed the Public Against Violence, which would become the leading force behind the opposition movement in Slovakia. Its founding members included Milan Kňažko, Ján Budaj and others.

Actors and members of the audience in a Prague theatre, together with Václav Havel and other prominent members of Charter 77 and other dissident organizations, established the Civic Forum (Občanské fórum – an equivalent of the Slovak Public Against Violence for the territory of the Czech Republic) as a mass popular movement for reforms, at 22:00. They called for the dismissal of top officials responsible for the violence, and an independent investigation of the incident and the release of all political prisoners. College students announced a strike.

To think that the Velvet Revolution would have unfolded as it did without both the dissident activities that had been done over the previous decades, and the existing networks of leadership which was already in place as result of that decades-long work is the height of naivete'.

And quite frankly I don't understand how in what I have written you could get the idea that I am asserting we are all guilty to an equal extent for the crimes that have been committed.  When I spoke of his faults, of which we all have, it is merely to assert that one cannot ignore nor deny the good that we do in spite of other actions.  In part I was thinking of those who try to diminish the righteousness of the words and actions of MLK because he committed adultery. 

While a statement such as "you might want to reconsider asserting it into every thread where Havel is mentioned" is rhetorical hyperbole, I think the point is pretty clear that I wasn't asserting that you were actually doing such in every thread where Havel was mentioned.  Rather that you were in this case attempting to drive home a point about Havel (which has validity) that was not warranted by the comments.  In other words, there are those that believe Havel did no wrong, but the comments made about him in no were making such an assertion.

It does seem the attention and accolades given the Czechs pushes some buttons with you, the privileged kids on the Eastern Bloc who get undeserved and thus unjust rewards for efforts made by those on the other side of the tracks.  Again, no one here on this thread made some assertion that what they accomplished was equal or better than what was did by the Poles, East Germans, Hungarians and Bulgarians. Again, Havel was only brought up in the context of the need for those in leadership roles in popular "uprisings."  If such leadership comes in does something after others elsewhere do the heavy lifting doesn't undermine the basic concept that such leadership is still needed.

And  - one of the reasons that the Czechs didn't kill that many may just have something to do with the fact that the Klimas and Kunderas and Havels kept an international spotlight on the Czech movement, something the Poles, East Germans, Hungarians and Bulgarians didn't have.

And finally whatever injustice there may be in folks like Jaruzelski not being recognized for their roles should not diminish the roles of others like Havel.  I would never say Havel was the sole leader of the fall of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe.  Which is why I wrote the phrase the "likes of Havel."  Havel, rightly or wrongly, is one of the few individuals that the majority of folks in the political blogosphere know without having to explain who they are.  But no one said life was fair.