Part of me didn't want to go to the Occupy Phoenix event on October 15th. It was going to be hot, sure, but when is it not hot in Phoenix? My legs were going to get tired too, but I knew they'd never feel worse than they did at my first job working the graveyard shift at K-Mart. So, in spite of walking a mile and missing the Light Rail and feeling a little dizzy because of Meniere's disease, My mother and I (I'm not the gentleman in the blue shirt, by the way) occupied Phoenix, albeit for a little while.
We arrived "fashionably late" to the Phoenix City Hall, and my mother remarked later that there wasn't as many as she thought there would be. I reassured her that since Arizona is pretty well in Red State territory we wouldn't have as many people in attendance. Still, I think we got a pretty respectable showing:
More after the flip:
The signs I saw, just like every other #OccupyWallSt event, represented a wide range of issues, from people looking for more regulation in the financial sector to 9/11 conspiracy theories. We even had more than a few Ron Paul followers in the crowd. What is worth noting is that the people who organized the event made it clear that we were to be respectful of everyone's opinions here, even if we didn't agree with them. There was some kind of altercation to the north of where we were (the details weren't clear to me), and within a minute there was someone on the microphone to call "peace makers" to diffuse the situation without violence and I didn't hear anything else about it after.
We even had some tri-corner hats, though these people were wearing them ironically, I'm sure. They were part of the musical entertainment. I believe they are called Local Crew. Also in attendance was a fellow playing bagpipes, though I couldn't get any good shots of him.
Of course, Guy Fawkes masks abound:
The man in the tie dye shirt was called up to do sign language.
The two gentlemen below were here to tell the crowd about disproportionate unemployment and poverty in Native American communities. I distinctly remember the gentleman in the first picture who said, "I wish [Native Americans] had 9.1 percent employment." Hopefully, if anything good comes of this movement, they will not be forgotten.
Unfortunately, the heat really did get to my mother and me, and we left after about three hours (and six water bottles) later. On the ride home, I got to thinking about the nature of our enemies, and I realized that we must never win.
Please note that I said "must" never win, as opposed to "can". If we declare victory, we will grow complacent, and this cycle will just start again. Instead, we must be vigilant, now and forever, against the abuses of corporate quasi-people, the actual people who hide behind them, and their enablers in every nation on Earth.
For now, though, I suppose the fact that we're fighting at all is remarkable.
In any case, thanks for getting this far, and if you take anything away from the diary, let it be this: