Opening day for Occupy Wall Street: Act 2

One of the protesters behind the barricades is Michael Pellagatti, an antiwar activist who has been protesting since last September. He says he was not surprised when the movement shrank this winter with the cold weather and universities back in session. Now, with publicity about sharp budget cutbacks for education and social programs in such countries as Greece, he says, “It looks like the movement is starting to grow again.”

One of those attracted to the protest on Tuesday is Brandon Crozier, a cook, from Sarasota, Fla. He says one of the key moments for him was watching the YouTube version of the NYPD pepper-spraying female protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge last fall. Mr. Crozier is part of an effort to live-stream the protest on UStream.

In the late afternoon, 114 people were watching. “When we have big events we could have as many as 1,000 people watching from this and other websites that are simulcasting it.”

On Tuesday, he says there will be “way more viewers,” than on Monday. “There is a huge interest in it,” he says.

On Tuesday, Mr. Guerra says there could be 40,000 protesters, who will meet at Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan for several hours before marching to Union Square. “This time there will be a lot of angry people if they try to shut us down,” he says.

One of those marchers will be a clean-cut graphic artist by the name of Joe, who stopped by Guerra’s outpost at Zuccotti Park. He says he plans to call in sick to participate in the events. “It’s this whole capitalism thing,” he says, explaining why he plans to participate. “We have to let the big bosses know we are a big influence on their profits.”

Guerra says there are many unions who plan to walk off the job on Tuesday as well as students who plan on leaving school early.

However, Gary Hubbard, a spokesman for the United Steel Workers in Washington, says a general strike by unions is not going to happen. “We have a thing called contracts,” says Mr. Hubbard. “A general strike is not a simple task to do.”

Mr. Hubbard recalls that the unions called a “national day of protest” in Canada in Oct. 14, 1976, led by the steel and auto workers unions. “According to the memoirs of Lynn Williams [president of the USW from 1984 to 1992], it took a number of months to unravel the mess – things such as discharges and contract issues,” he recalls.

In San Francisco, Professor Zunes says there has been some talk about shutting down the city’s bridges as well as protests in the financial district. “Closing the bridges probably won’t go over well,” he says, since it will inconvenience tens of thousands of commuters.

After May Day, the Occupy movement will turn its attention to Chicago where the US is hosting a meeting of NATO nations. Zunes thinks the venue will be a good one for the groups to protest the level of military spending. “You might even ask: Why is there a NATO with the cold war over?” he says.

However, Professor Morgan says that the group has to be careful not to become too sidetracked. He thinks the group needs to focus on building a broader coalition of supporters. “The main thing the movement has going for it is that a lot of Americans don’t feel the system is working,” he says.

Previous

1 | 2