Welcome to Argentina, where protests of all kinds make the news, including, it seems protests that take place in New York City! The well-known Spanish* newspaper, El País, had an online story about #OccupyWallStreet called, Entrenched, despite everything, on Wall Street. I wish I would have checked today's hard copy, but didn't. I will keep on eye on the newsstands here and report as soon as I see that first front page story from New York City!
I thought that our Kossacks who are lending their strength and spirit to the efforts on Wall Street would like to know that although our US papers are ignoring what is going on, at least one paper in Argentina is not only paying attention, they understand the extreme difficulty of maintaining the efforts at all:
Mantener viva la protesta que arrancó hace cuatro días en Wall Street es una tarea titánica. Prácticamente todo está en contra de quienes han organizado esta acampada dirigida a denunciar la crisis económica y política global. Desde la lluvia hasta el urbanismo. La intención es conseguir presencia continuada para que su voz se oiga desde el corazón del distrito financiero de Nueva York, como ocurrió durante el 15M en Madrid o en la plaza de Tahrir en Egipto, pero las características, logísticas, geográficas y culturales no podrían ser más diferentes, aunque lo que se denuncia sea muy similar. Teniendo en cuenta la agresividad que caracteriza a la policía neoyorquina, resulta casi un milagro que entre 200 y 300 personas hayan dormido cada noche desde el sábado en el parque Zuccotti, rebautizado por los manifestantes como Plaza de la Libertad (Liberty Square).
Keeping the protest, started four days ago in Wall Street, alive is a daunting task. Almost everything is against those who organized this camp, designed to expose the global economic and political crisis. From the rain to the planning. The intention is to ensure continued presence so that their voices are heard from the heart of New York's financial district, as occurred during the 15M in Madrid or in Tahrir Square in Egypt, but the characteristics, logistical, geographic, and cultural, could not be more different. But what is reported is very similar. Given the aggressiveness that characterizes the NYPD, it's almost a miracle that 200 to 300 people have slept every night since Saturday in Zuccotti Park, renamed by the demonstrators as Liberty Square.
The article goes on to describe the difficulties of the site that has been chosen for the protest and the fact that with so few people, hundreds in a city of millions, that unless the numbers grow quickly, this protest is likely to fizzle. They do mention the arrests and I believe many in South America will wonder at being arrested for painting on the ground or for erecting tarps to protect from the rain.
There also seems concern that the message from the crowds is confused and that locals in New York are wondering just exactly what the protesters want.
For myself, this seems pretty obvious. But then, I've been reading DailyKos for months and have been immersed in the stories of the unemployed, of the underemployed, of families losing homes, and of our veterans returning from war only to be welcomed by poverty. Like you, I understand that there is no single reason to be on Wall Street right now; that our protesters have more than enough reasons to protest without needing a unified theme.
But maybe, at the end of the day, that is what the protest will need to take off. After all, the Tea Party has an underlying theme. They believe it is Tax Enough Already but we know that they really came together to protest President Obama. Every single Tea Party rally has that common tinge of hatred to it, whether they want it to be there or not. And that is what attracts the press.
What do we have? What is our motivation? What is the simple message that needs to be repeated again and again and again?
When we have the answer to that - when the memes start coming through - then this protest will take off. It will attract more people which will in turn attract more press.
Our own Ministry of Truth is working on this and he has requested our help in his recommended diary.
I need graphs depicting the stark inequality in pay between the richest !% and teachers, police officers, firefighters and construction workers. I have been assigned the task of helping create a message, and I could use all the help I can get. If you can post up graphs or info on this in the comments below, or if you can post links to those graphs or email them to me, please do, and we will use them for signs and posters tomorrow.
So, can we help out? I would love to see the next article in El País using some facts, figures, and memes that come from Ministry of Truth's hard work.
And know this, Kossacks. People around world are watching even though your average American doesn't have a clue that this protest is happening at this moment in time. Maybe they will learn soon.