The Occupy Wall Street protests went local over the weekend with an endeavor called Occupy Cincinnati, and a number of folks associated with the Enright Ridge CSA were on hand as the protestors gathered at Lytle Park, marched through Over the Rhine to Findlay Market, and then returned to Fountain Square to settle in, discuss issues, and occupy Cincinnati’s historic public venue.The signs people carried were all over the map in terms of what inspired them to come down and join the rally, but it was good to see a few of them were thinking about the environment, urban agriculture, and the future of farming, as you can see in the photo above.
Some folks stayed all night on Fountain Square, then moved to Garfield Park, where they are still in residence as of Sunday night. They are settling in for another night (fortunately it’s been good weather for outdoor protests as well as for harvest) of occupying a public space in Cincinnati, along with other organized protests across the country.
They are still working on their goals, deciding if they want to publicize a specific agenda or simply create an arena for anyone and everyone to protest what they see as the problems we face in our country and our world today. The Occupy Cincinnati movement hasn’t gotten a lot of press coverage (though it had extensive police coverage on Saturday), but it took a few weeks for Occupy Wall Street to get in the news, too.
There was a lot of music as well as speeches at Occupy Cincinnati on Saturday, and it reminded me of a line from a poem by Arthur O'Shaughnessy —“three men with a good song’s measure/ Can trample an empire down.” Which reminded me of another fellow who had something to say about the strength of a few people leading to something more:
And if three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin’ a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin’ a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.
Friends, maybe Occupy Everywhere has a chance of becoming a movement.
Such a great post, thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty inspiring to be part of this last weekend and I was really impressed with the number of CSA members who were also marching, cheering and working! I know some folks have been active during the week, too. Can't wait to go back down tomorrow!
According to today's Democracy Now broadcast, there are approximately 1000 Occupy sites around the country, with a lot of international solidarity events, too.