Media Round-Up Part II: OWS v. Bloomberg Settlement

Huffington Post featured a photo of the later days of the library, when a good part of the collection was protected by Fort Smith (maybe someone will correct Wikipedia on this now..) and uses the AP story to declare “New York City has agreed to pay Occupy Wall Street protesters more than $100,000 for property damaged or lost when police cleared out their encampment in a downtown Manhattan park in 2011, according to court documents signed on Tuesday.” read more…

The Daily News chose to show off Steve’s smiling face and sounds surprised that a collection of graduate students, writers, artists, seasoned activists and librarians was able to work with a skilled civil rights attorney to win this case… as they report “Remember the anti-authority message of Occupy Wall Street? Remember the backlash over its vague goals and nebulous methods? Surprise! Occupy Wall Street (OWS) just struck a sizeable victory, and it came by working within the system.” read more…

The Voice of Russia (American Edition) covers the story and connects it, unlike most of the other press, to bank bailouts! Follow the link to listen to the story: “The settlement has returned attention to the issue of bailouts, a central theme of Occupy Wall Street and a central theme of similar protests in Russia, where $25 billion was spent to bail out the financial sector and another $10 billion was spent to bail out the small business industry, said Dmitry Babich, a Voice of Russia political commentator.” read more…and listen here…

UPI chose a photo for their story that doesn’t fit their description of the occupation as a “sit-in” nonetheless, they report “New York City and a property owner have agreed to pay the Occupy Wall Street movement for books and property destroyed during a sit-in by the group in 2011.” read more…

Galleycat uses a photo of Stephen’s awesome sign that he made while trying to protect the library from being seized by the city. read more…

This opinion piece on Gather gets at least, and perhaps only, one thing right when they refer to the Occupy movement as “radical” and “anti-capitalist.” The rest of it distorts the facts or just makes things up such as “The police even stored the books for pick-up.” Well…. actually the books that weren’t destroyed were sent to a sanitation garage, not held by the police, and the tweet from the mayor’s office was nothing more than a PR stunt because they were losing the image game in the press. This article also ignores the fact that Bloomberg’s office did not preserve any books or make them available (although they lied on twitter and said they had), because most of them had been thrown away or destroyed – as the city clearly admits in the settlement. read more….(although it’s really not worth reading)

The Inquisitr, whatever that is, reports quite correctly that it was the NYPD (under Bloomberg’s command) who cost the city $366,000 in this case, writing “The NYPD’s raid on Occupy Wall Street in 2011 will cost the city $366,700. The raid was launched on November 15, 2011 when Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the police to evict protesters at Zuccotti Park.” read more…

msn.com mentions the police brutality charges brought by journalists who were stopped from covering the violent eviction writing “Occupy Wall Street hasn’t scaled the same heights of publicity it had in 2011, but at least one NYC organization is still feeling heat from the group. That would be the NYPD, whose (some would say heavy-handed) November 2011 raid on the group’s Zuccotti Park encampment is going to cost them $366,700 in settlement money, according to a recent court ruling. That figure covers the destruction of books, computer equipment and bicycle-powered generators the group was using. What of the brutality charges levied against the NYPD by journalists arrested while trying to cover the raid? That’s covered in a separate lawsuit. So, $366K for one raid — was it worth it?” read more….

And finally, Maclean’s uses the prototypical chanting protester image, but quotes Jaime’s blog post! “Our court case against New York City’s various officials and agencies is over!,” the People’s Library wrote on its website Tuesday. “The city has settled with us.” read more…

N17 Day of Direct Action

(This post will be updated as resources and news become available)

7:50 The People’s Library is OPEN on the Brooklyn Bridge.  Chanting, “Banks got bailed out, books got thrown out.”

6:51 “Hey this is James (super tall corduroy man!) From the library and I wanted some to post on the blog that at WBAI 99.5 NYC from 9 to 10 I will be on air with Jim (the barrel guy) and I will be taking calls with him and discussing ows and the library and that people should tune in!”

4:58 The advocacy group Common Cause has released a statement calling on the Mayor and City to replace our books.  Our post here.

3:34 A People’s Librarian reports on police violence at Liberty Plaza.

3:00 Reports from onsite are that the police have dekettled and reopened the park.  For now.

2:01: Liberty Plaza is under siege by NYPD. Occupiers are kettled in the park.

1:43 A People’s Librarian in action.  Handing out Bartleby at the action.

1:38: The ALA has released a statement decrying the seizure of the People’s Library and expressing support for the Working Group.  Our response here.

2:21: Police deny People’s Mobile Library entry into Liberty, even though Brookfield staff ok’d it.

12:00 pm

11:29: Barricades are down on at least one side of Liberty!

11:05: NYPD announce 60 arrests so far this morning (via WNYC).

10:47: Video of Douglass Rushkoff’s Speech from November 9th is up.

10:40: Transcript of Jonathan Lethem’s Speech from November 7th is up.

10: 30am: The People’s Library is mobile today, find us on the streets!

(photo: Stephen Boyer)

9:30am: The hashtag #OccupyMap is tracking locations of NYPD. #N17 is the tag of the day. Join and share the N17 event on Facebook. CUNY Students, Staff and Faculty are walking out today at campuses across the city, see Occupy CUNY on Facebook, the Occupy Hunter web site. The following livestreams are covering direct actions in New York: OccupyNYC & Occupy Wall Street Independent Media Team & The Other 99

Schedule for Today

7am: Shut Down Wall Street

All Day: Strike & Walk-Out

Students from universities across the city  walk out of class. Walkouts will be occurring all day on different campuses, but will converge on Union Square at 3PM and then will march down to Foley Square to meet the rest of the protesters.

3pm: Occupy the Subway

We will gather at 3:00pm at 16 central subway hubs and take our own
stories to the trains, using the “People’s Mic”

5pm: Mass rally at Foley Square

Take the Square, Festival of Lights on Brooklyn Bridge

Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology Now Online

We are proud to offer you the complete Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology!

In the past, the poets responsible for editing the Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology wanted readers to experience the magic of the occupation while reading the poems the movement has generated.

With the police raid though, now seemed a good time to get a positive story about Occupy Wall Street into the discourse.  Occupy Wall Street isn’t about fighting the police or senselessly tearing systems down, we’re out to create a new beautiful world.  And one of the ways we are doing that is through is through poetry.  So please, share our anthology, read about our movement and our lives, and know this: Occupy Wall Street will build that better world though unity, determination, and beautiful words.

If you’ve submitted a poem and don’t see it, no worries: Our resident poet assembling the anthology hasn’t slept since the raid and needs sleep.  He will get to it soon.  And if you want to share a poem, please send it to Stephen.j.boyer@gmail.com with the subject line Occupy Poetry Anthology.

 

Guest Speakers at The People’s Library

Our Guest Announcement Board

The People’s Library at Occupy Wall Street has been fortunate to host a number of special guest speakers in recent days including Carl Mayer, Jonathan Lethem, Lynn Nottage, Jennifer Egan, and Douglas Rushkoff. Upcoming are Michael Zweig and Daniel Pinchbeck.

Carl Mayer

Jonathan Lethem, Lynn Nottage, and Jennifer Egan

Lynn Nottage

Douglas Rushkoff

Douglas Rushkoff

Our Guest Announcement Board

Laura, Naomi, Naomi’s husband Avi Lewis, and Sean

And one more photo of our lovely (Canadian!) librarians with the lovely and Canadian Naomi Klein, at the first Spokes Council:

Laura, Naomi, Naomi's husband Avi Lewis, and Sean

Photos from Occupy Providence and Occupy Boston

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Video of Douglass Rushkoff’s Speech at the People’s Library on November 9th

Transcript of Jonathan Lethem’s Speech at the People’s Library on November 7th

This is a lucky day for me, to stand before you.I wish I could offer something in returnFor what you’ve given me:

The hope I thought I’d spent three years ago.

You great human specimens

Who offer your nights and days to the Occupation

Who offer yourselves as a lens on the world.

A vision of changing our lives,

To reflect our passion for justice,

For community and for connection,

Outside what’s permissible under the corporate regime

Which now passes for our republic

And still goes by its great name:

The United States of America.

You, here, on the Barricades of the Now

I wonder where you find the strength

To stand and stare, and endure the gaze

Of those who haven’t heard the call.

My thoughts turn to the middle-men

Whose incomprehension and scorn

Stands between you and the new world

On which you’ve settled your gaze.

The police, yes, and the traders

The wannabe moguls, the eager drones.

The newscasters and commentators

With their weary condescension.

Tribes that insulate the status quo,

That bad dream, which they too, suffer

And who stultify your dream of another world.

The only analogy I can offer

Is that of the service call.

We’ve all made such calls

To some bank or agency or institution

Some monolith which typifies

The drab abuse of routine power.

Precisely those whose inspire your resistance here.

Think of those you encounter on such a call

How they speak as if the rules that bind them

On the wrong side of the human story,

Were laws as natural as gravity.

As if the curbs on their humanity, and yours,

Were common sense, were right as rain.

How I wish, at those times, in my weakness

I could climb through the phone,

And commence my career as a strangler!

And so I imagine how you must feel

Looking into those faces.

Your grace, your restraint, is astounding.

God bless you for that.

For it’s never worthwhile to heap abuse

On those who perpetuate the lies

When you know they’re lied to as well.

Even those who sneer or berate,

They’re one of you, one of us,

Just not willing, not yet, not quite,

To try on the glasses, to look through the lens.

Not yet conscious of the possibilities

That lay within your steady gaze.

So they react in defense

Of the only world they know,

And against fear of what’s unknown.

What’s best to do, on a call like that?

Best is to summon these words:

“I’d like to speak to your supervisor.”

And then, usually, to say it again,

When the so-called supervisor appears,

“Now your supervisor, please.”

And so on, up the line.

That’s what this Occupation is:

The greatest collective service call ever made.

The ones you want to speak with

Are those who enact the structures

Within which the operators serve,

The real architects of the status quo.

The muckety-mucks, not those

On who they dump their muck

Nor even those who dump on their behalf.

I’d like to speak to your supervisor, please.

A graceful question, and peaceful too.

I’d like to speak to your supervisor, please.

Until you get to the top of the scheme,

The secret room at the summit of the tower.

How simple, really.

We all know who they are,

The supervisors with whom we wish to speak.

Their name crawl across our televisions,

Are etched on the plastic in our wallets,

And on our stadiums and concert halls.

They’re the ones avoiding your call,

And they’re the ones you want to speak with.

For if corporations are persons now,

Let them and their masters be called to account

Within the human community,

Let them answer to We, The People,

On this vast person-to-person call.

The phone’s ringing now.

You’re about to get through.

So go to the top.

Don’t settle, my friends, don’t settle for anything less.

Tools of the trade

New York Review of Books piece on Occupy Wall Street

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/nov/10/zuccotti-park/?pagination=false

More visitors to The People’s Library: Johanna Lawrenson, Mickey Z, and Jesse Jackson

Mickey Z and Johanna Lawrenson (Abbie Hoffman’s widow) stopped by the library yesterday. Jesse Jackson also passed through.

NY Daily News Profiles Steve S.

The NY Daily News profiles our volunteer librarian/knight in shining armor, Steve. Also, a great video to see how things work at the library. You’ll see many of us in there looking very busy, but be sure to have the sound on, as Steve is eloquent, as always, in his explanation of what’s going on and why we’re there.

London Review of Books blogs about the OWS Library

This is my favorite publication, so I’ve been waiting to see them do a piece on us or the movement as a whole. They also have a blog, and we did get a mention there and even a link back to this blog: http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2011/10/12/annie-dorsen/in-zuccotti-park/

The People’s Library Loves Books and the Writers of Books Love the People’s Library

Here’s Beth Gutcheon donating a copy each of all of her books—and in the rain! I asked her to pose for a photo and inscribe her donations. Because, how great is this?

If you meet any other writers who want to donate their own books, I encourage you to post photos! Nobody has turned me down yet. Don’t let those camera shy authors get away too easily!

My photos of shoes from Occupy Wall Street—Occu-pieds

http://www.flickr.com/groups/occupieds/

Nationwide Occupation Libraries Unite!

I’ll be visiting the following cities on behalf of the OWSLibrary on these dates:

Chicago: Oct 24 – 28

Boston: Nov 3-6

Philadelphia: Nov 12-13

San Francisco: Nov 16-30

Get in touch if you would like me to visit your library. OWSLibrary in New York has a growing surplus of books and supplies, and we may be in a position to assist you!

Naomi Klein and Eve Ensler visit The People’s Library

Lovely people both and excited about what we’re doing.

Slavoj Zizek visits OWS (Video and Transcript)

I’m sorry I missed this. I love Zizek!

http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/736

 

A useful daily feed of updates from occupations around the country

http://www.thenation.com/blog/163885/occupyusa-blog-tuesday-frequent-updates

Yes, also provided by The Nation! I find this useful, because I don’t hear about all the celebrity visitors to Liberty Plaza, which is interesting to hear about. The support of well known people can’t hurt. Yesterday, I failed to notice Al Sharpton, Geraldo Rivera, Slavoj Zizek, Susan Sarandon, Kanye West, and a few others. Did any of them stop by the library? This is also a great feed for keeping updated on all the other occupations. I want to organize some outreach to other libraries around the country as soon as we’re weather secure.

I just love this photo

A day in the life of the People’s Library Reference desk.

The Nation visits The People’s Library

We were delighted to welcome Katrina vanden Heuvel, the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Nation magazine, to The People’s Library today. For those who aren’t familiar with this publication, it is the longest running, continuously published weekly magazine in the United States, stretching back all the way to 1865, when it was founded as a vital instrument of the abolitionist movement. The magazine has what you might call a left/progressive slant, and they and their writers are passionate advocates of social justice. I myself have been a reader (and sometime subscriber) for years. In fact, I had emailed someone at The Nation over the weekend requesting speakers for a series of in-library talks I’d like to have, and the response was more than I anticipated. In addition to the visit today, Katrina plans to return and indeed possibly help arrange for some speakers. She seems very eager to help us, and I think we should embrace her support as the publisher of such a widely-read organ of progressive politics. Luckily, I recognized her when she came in: while standing up on the ledge to fix a sign, I looked down to see a familiar face. Her photo is published alongside her columns, and I’d seen her speak before, too. So you can imagine my surprise and excitement! Fortunately, she shares our spirit, and I think she was even more excited than us. When we mentioned that we need tarps, she seemed delighted by the prospect of having something else to offer! And, of course, she said she has a warm feeling for books—who can blame her?

More on this: I had imagined I might get us a subscription to The Nation for the library. Before I even had a chance, I received this email:

Hey Steven — Starting this Thursday — we’ll send a box of issues of The Nation (most recent, plus smattering of relevant back issues) down to the library each week. Would that be ok with you folks? How many is too much — I don’t want to create a burden for you guys.

I’ve been working with Babak and the teach out committee folks to bring Naomi and Barbara Eherenreich and others down to speak. But the smaller library meeting could work too. I’ll be in touch in case we arrange another field trip–which I imagine will happen soon/

Best and good luck,

Richard

Richard Kim

Executive Editor

TheNation.com

I haven’t responded yet so others have a chance to chime in. I certainly think it would be great to have such a recognizable publication to hand out (legitimacy! legitimacy!), but I’ve been at the vanguard of paper-handling issues, so I recognize that others should have a chance to attenuate my enthusiasm.

Photos from Katrina’s visit below, including the page she autographed in her book, dedicated to the People’s Library and now in the newly constituted Reference section.