Minnesotans are joining the OccupyWallStreet crowd this weekend, in at least two ways. First, there will be an OccupyMN event at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis. Originally scheduled for the Federal Reserve Bank, the event was rescheduled to “reclaim the Government Plaza as the ‘People’s Plaza.'” The occupation/demonstration/event begins at 9 a.m., and you can keep up on late-breaking developments and changes at http://www.occupymn.org (Twin Cities Daily Planet reporter Ibrahim Hirsi will be there to cover whatever happens.) Other Minnesotans are heading to Washington to occupy Freedom Plaza in an ongoing protest.
New York’s occupation grew some volume over the weekend. What had previously been a couple of hundred people camped out in a private park grew to a march of about 2,000, with 700 arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. As Brian Lambert notes over at the Daily Glean, “That is — let me see, that is … carry the zero — roughly 700 more arrests than they’ve made on Wall Street for melting down the world economy.” A New York Times blogger reported on the march, and her arrest.
The goals of the occupation/movement, in New York or as it spreads across the country, are unclear. As Mother Jones observed earlier on, “There’s something there for everyone, but no one clear message that can carry a movement forward.”
On the other hand, the Tumblr blog called We are the 99 percent captures lots of eloquent personal stories of discontent from people on the losing side of class warfare.
We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we’re working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.
Here’s one of the 99 percent stories:
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Coverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Collaborative.
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