It’s the anniversary of the Occupy movement, a movement which I made an effort to document over the course of this year through photography submissions from people who had witnessed or participated in rallies and protests across the US (and even across the pond, I received a few Occupy Londons, an Occupy Bristol, and even an Occupy Dublin). Above are just a handful of the photographs I collected from people. If you want to see the full collection, it’s housed here on The Political Notebook and also here on Pinterest.
Here are some longreads, old and new, on Occupy, its origins and its future.
- “Inside Occupy Wall Street.” By Jeff Sharlet for Rolling Stone. 10 Nov. 2011.
- ”’We Are the 99 Percent’ Creators Revealed.” Interview by Adam Weinstein for Mother Jones. 7 Oct. 2011.
- “Occupy Year Two.” By Nick Pinto for the Village Voice. 29 Aug. 2012.
Photos: [1] Occupy Philadelphia Day 59. Eviction protests. Michael Albany. [2] Zuccotti Park. Fall 2011. Jack Massey. [3] UC Davis. Pepper spray cop. Brian Nguyen. [4] Occupy London, October 2011. Tahlia Hein. [5] Zuccotti, Fall 2011. Luis Antonio Thompson. [6] Zuccotti, Fall 2011. Bianca Farrow. [7] NYC, Fall 2011. Ceridwyn Asher. [8] Occupy Dallas, Fall 2011. Chris Wang. [9] Occupy London, November 30th. Allan Shaw.
Happy anniversary, Occupy.
I also noted two years ago that I had taken up the public editor duties believing “there is no conspiracy” and that The Times’s output was too vast and complex to be dictated by any Wizard of Oz-like individual or cabal. I still believe that, but also see that the hive on Eighth Avenue is powerfully shaped by a culture of like minds — a phenomenon, I believe, that is more easily recognized from without than from within.
When The Times covers a national presidential campaign, I have found that the lead editors and reporters are disciplined about enforcing fairness and balance, and usually succeed in doing so. Across the paper’s many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism — for lack of a better term — that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.
As a result, developments like the Occupy movement and gay marriage seem almost to erupt in The Times, overloved and undermanaged, more like causes than news subjects.
Jill Abramson, the editor of the paper, disagrees with this assessment. ”In our newsroom we are always conscious that the way we view an issue in New York is not necessarily the way it is viewed in the rest of the country or world. I disagree with Mr. Brisbane’s sweeping conclusions,” she told Politico.
Twitter is appealing a judge’s decision requiring the social media company to turn over an Occupy Wall Street protester’s tweets and account information to Manhattan prosecutors.
In June, Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino ruled that releasing Malcolm Harris’s tweets would not violate his privacy, since he had posted them on a public website.
Harris, a Brooklyn-based writer, was arrested with hundreds of other Occupy members during a mass march across the Brooklyn Bridge last fall.
The case has focused attention on a number of murky legal questions surrounding the use of social media, including whether users own the content they post publicly and whether companies like Twitter can prevent authorities from using that information to prosecute social media users.
READ ON: Twitter appeals ruling to hand over Occupy protester’s tweets
Twitter has historically fought for its users’ rights in cases like these. So props.
In May, Twitter sought to quash a subpoena for Occupy Wall Street protestor Malcolm Harris’s tweets, location, and other data over a 90-day period flanking his October 1st arrest for disorderly conduct on the Brooklyn Bridge. On Saturday, Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr. upheld an earlier ruling that Harris himself had no standing to contest the subpoena, ruled that Harris had no expectation of privacy in a public tweet, and denied Twitter’s claim that the subpoena constituted an unreasonable burden on the company.
In short, only Twitter can fight a criminal court subpoena for user information, and for most requests for once-public information, the company will be expected by the court to hand it over. Unlike a privately sent email, “[t]here can be no reasonable expectation of privacy in a tweet sent around the world,” writes Judge Sciarrino Jr.
Sciarrino also makes it clear that in his opinion, the logic and implications of the ruling are not limited to Twitter alone, but all forms of social media.
It’s not the first time Twitter fought against giving away its users’ data in court.
The ragged edge: As you may have heard, today is May Day — a day of international celebration of labor and worker’s rights movements. This has been the first May 1st in America since the formation of the Occupy movement, and organized protests around the country have surged in size and visibility all day long. Despite isolated incidences, the occasion has been predominantly peaceful, but for the so-called “black bloc.” Often limited numbers of black-clad demonstrators, they eschew the Occupy movement’s broader declarations of non-violence. Their influence has most been felt in Seattle today, as shown above — credit to Casey McNerthney of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, who shot this video in evidently chaotic circumstances. source
Happy May Day: Here’s a selection of photos from the May 1st general strike, pushed by the Occupy movement, along with labor activists worldwide. As many as six have been arrested in New York City alone in the protests, intended to show the “1 percent” what life without the “99 percent” would be like. (From top left, via Photo Gallery, Swanksalot, Lennon Ying-Dah Wong, Takver, Petteri Sulonen, Hossam el-Hamalawy, Barbro Uppsala, Amine Ghrabi, and Trowbridge Estate.)
As the university does not want this incident to be its defining moment, nor do I wish for it to be mine. I believe in order to start the healing process, this chapter of my life must be closed.UC Davis police chief Annette M. Spicuzza • Revealing that she will step down, five months after an infamous pepper spray incident that most of you guys remember, which involved the Occupy movement. “For the past seven years, I have accomplished many good things for both the Police Department and community here at UC Davis; and am grateful to those of you who have remembered this,” she emphasized in her statement. source (via • follow)
First off: Congrats to the creators of the “We Are the 99 Percent” Tumblr, who won a Shorty Award tonight for Microblog of the Year on Tumblr. (As I told them, I didn’t even write an acceptance speech because I knew they would win. Still had fun.) I got a chance to meet both of them tonight, and I admit to learning a ton from by just listening. Really cool to hear all that perspective in person. Too many encounters in the media are cut down to a soundbite. It’s nice to take a step back, listen and consider. That’s what I felt like I got to do tonight. It was great. (Also, Jeremy “Missing e” Cutler totally got robbed.) — Ernie @ SFB
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#@#$%!.tumblr.com
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In which Occupy Wall Street protesters attempt to goad cops by making them “fish” for donuts, but instead jump the shark themselves. Painful to watch. Who thought this was a good idea? (ht @antderosa, via @palafo)
Occupying from within the system: Today, OWS created a super PAC called the “The Occupy Wall Street Political Action Committee.” John Paul Thornton is the treasurer of the committee. “It’s going to be fairly democratic. We’ll take opinions on how much candidates need and in what areas,” Thornton said. The point of this super PAC is to raise money … to stop politicians from raising too much money. “I am out to get the bloated amounts of money out of politics but to do that, we need to support candidates looking to do that,” Thornton said. source
The OWS roadshow came to my hometown of Northampton. The NYTimes covered their visit. Still unfocused. I stand by my original criticisms that OWS needs 1) a spokesperson and 2) run candidates for office.
There’s a debate to be had about all this. OWS has essentially been trying to do wide-scale “anti-PR” for months, which makes sense considering it was spearheaded by an organization (Adbusters) that actively scorns a traditional approach to advertising and PR. My own opinion is that you can’t just assume taking an adversarial approach to traditional PR is a smart PR move on its own. But on the other hand, they’ve done anti-PR just long enough at this point that they can say it’s won them some success, possibly enough to feel that they don’t need to go with Plan B. But in case they change their minds, Jesse LaGreca certainly seems like a good choice. — Ernie @ SFB
We think the way that we have worked with the Occupiers has been a model … What we have noticed throughout this movement is that the movement changed. We continue to respect free speech.Austin, Texas Assistant City Manager Michael McDonald • Discussing their handling of the Occupy Austin protests, after the group was removed from their encampment on Friday. A source tells us that there were a number of reasons the encampment was forced out — including rumors of a large-scale protest against police and an upcoming cultural event that the encampment would’ve affected. It’s worth noting that the way it happened was a little arbitrary — Austin officials essentially changed the rules of what, and despite them being there for over 100 days, the Occupy Austin movement was pushed out within an hour. High costs of police overtime were also listed as a factor for the decision. The group returned to Austin’s City Hall Saturday, but left on their own.
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