Salon.com > Occupy Philly

Occupations in winter

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Local occupations around the country are linking up through frequent, massive conference calls, tightening what is now an extremely loose national network that operates under the Occupy banner into a more focused force.

The effort, now known as InterOccupy, started out of Occupy Wall Street in New York in mid-October. It has since grown into an elaborate website with multiple weekly phone calls during which occupiers trade ideas, coordinate multistate actions, and plan for the future. Participants at about 150 occupations around the country (and a few internationally) have now participated in the calls, organizers tell me.

"The [weekly] national calls have brought people together, including people who are otherwise isolated in their own occupations,” says Nate Kleinman, an Occupy Philly participant and InterOccupy organizer. “There's usually a strong particular culture at individual occupations. It's immensely valuable to have a place once a week where people come together from across the country and share ideas and their hopes for what the movement can accomplish.”

Sometimes that has meant planning specific coordinated actions.

Occupy Philly’s noble failure

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:45:00 +0000

On Friday, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter made the long-expected announcement that Occupy Philly had 48 hours to abandon its month-long encampment outside of Philadelphia's city hall, where a major construction project is expected to begin soon. Come Sunday night, the mayor let the deadline pass without incident. While the occupiers defiantly repacked Dilworth Plaza preparing to be arrested there, many participants and leaders of the movement also acknowledge that its expected eviction comes as a mixed blessing.

Occupy Wall Street, as the movement began in New York, proliferated, and ― for a spell, anyway ― thrived as a taking of public space, which spoke at least as loudly as any particular message. But occupation in troubled urban spaces can also be a liability. Whether the movement can or should continue to focus on occupying public places ― in winter, no less ― is a question these movements are now grappling with around the country.

Occupy Philly debates: Move or get moved?

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:00:00 +0000

With Occupy Wall Street encampments evicted in New York, Oakland and Portland, Ore., Occupy Philly’s 300-tent protest is one of the largest left standing. But Occupy Philly and Mayor Michael Nutter’s relationship, once a national model of protester-politician amity, has turned sour. And the mayor has signaled that he is prepared to evict protesters.

The conflict pivots about the planned reconstruction of Dilworth Plaza, City Hall’s massive concrete front lawn where protesters are camped out. Protesters voted to stay put last Friday, citing a lack of communication from the mayor about a possible relocation. The mayor held a press conference the next day declaring that protesters must leave, and last night announced that the “project’s commencement is imminent. Accordingly, you should take this opportunity to vacate Dilworth Plaza and remove all of your personal belongings immediately.”

Protesters charge the mayor with orchestrating a media campaign against them in coordination with a nationwide movement to evict Occupy encampments, and say he is attempting to divide the movement between mainstream activists and “radicals.” On Wednesday night, protesters gathered at a general assembly to discuss a situation that seemed to be rapidly spinning out of control.