Live Blog: Unions Join #OccupyWallStreet for March in NYC Today!
Posted: October 5, 2011 Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, The Great Recession, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics, unemployment | Tags: economy, greed, jobs, occupy Wall Street, protests. MSNBC, unemployment, unions 31 Comments
I have to admit, I’m getting really excited by the way the #OccupyWallStreet movement is taking off. I just got home and turned on MSNBC to find that they are covering the Wall Street protests live this afternoon. They have a number of network personnel on the ground, including Dylan Ratigan. And get this: even Beltway Bob is there! That has to be sign that the mainstream Villagers are taking note.
Right now Harrison Schultz, a spokesman for the protesters is on, and he just said, “I call this a revolution. No one is organizing it. It’s just happening.” He says the media is obsolete. The media thinks they are driving people to the protest, but that’s not true. If he would in charge of a major media outlet, he would be nervous now, because this would be happening whether the mainstream media paid attention or not. He says no one knows what is going to happen or where this will go.
The union march will take place at 4:30 this afternoon, according to MSNBC, but ABC says 3PM. If you have access to MSNBC right now, please watch with us and let us know if anything is happening in your area. Awhile ago, they put up a map to show where all the protests are now, and they were in so many states! I’ll see if I can find the map and post it. Meanwhile, here is a little about what we can expect this afternoon.
The cavalry has arrived in Lower Manhattan. Representatives from no fewer than 15 of the country’s largest labor unions will join the Occupy Wall Street protesters for a mass rally and march today in New York City.
The AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers, and Transit Workers’ Union are among the groups expected to stand in solidarity with the hundreds of mostly young men and women who have spent the better part of three weeks sleeping, eating, and organizing from Zuccotti Square.
Their arrival is being touted as a watershed moment for the “Occupy” movement, which has now seen copycat protests spring up across the country. And while the specific demands of the “occupiers” remain wide-ranging, the presence of the unions – implicitly inclined to making more direct demands – may sharpen their focus.
Today’s action is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET, when the protesters in Zuccotti Square march approximately one mile north to Foley Square, where they will be met by community and labor leaders. Then, at 4:30 p.m., they plan to match together back down toward Wall Street. They do not yet have a city-issued permit for the gathering, but are now pursuing one.
ABC is anticipating more arrests today, but on MSNBC, a spokesman said the unions got a permit for today’s march. Furthermore, if NYC chooses to try to break up the protests today, it will only help the growth of this movement.
Here’s a report from Democracy Now today:
UPDATE: MSNBC has moved on to other things for now. But the Guardian has a live blog. It figures we have to go to a British newspaper to find out what’s happening in our own country.
peej
Carissa
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Sky Dancing 
I’m so psyched!!
I think it’s great this is happening all over the country too. We’re supposed to have a march tomorrow in New Orleans
Yup and one in Atlanta too!
Russ Feingold endorses Occupy Wall Street: “This will make the Tea Party look like … a tea party.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/russ-feingold-endorses-occupy-wall-street-this-will-make-the-tea-party-look-like–a-tea-party/2011/03/03/gIQANucZNL_blog.html
Yay!
MSNBC has moved on for now. I’m looking for a live stream of the march. The Guardian has a live blog though.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/oct/05/occupy-wall-street-protests-live?newsfeed=true
Here is the live stream.
http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
According to the Guardian, Mitt Romney said that the Occupy movements are “class warfare.”
So far, I just see a lot of people chanting on the live stream. It seems to be pretty windy in NYC.
I think the march isn’t going to start till 4:30, as MSNBC said. That’s what other news outlets are saying.
Martin Bashinr just had a great interview with Michael Lewis that’s worth viewing.
I saw Michael Lewis on Jon Stewart last night, I was going put a link to it on the evening post but I’ll put it here: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – Political Comedy – Fake News | Comedy Central
There are two parts, and it is wonderful…
The Nation magazine is closing early today so staff can attend the march/rally.
OT: Eric Cantor is a friggin psychopath: one of his aids has quit to start a superpac to raise money to push Cantor as a VP candidate
Well, if he were VP he’d pretty much be invisible, so that might be an improvement.
Cantor as VP??? One of the biggest weasals in DC. I’d fight any ticket the man was attached to. Rick Perry and Eric Cantor. Now, there’s a twosome.
Ugh!
I know, saw that earlier today and it made me choke up on my coffee.
Great vid, BB. Strong, effective and on point. I’m trying very hard not to get too excited but this all looks so-o-o promising. Finally. You have to give it to these kids. They hung on under all kinds of dismissal and ridicule. And now the message is beginning to be heard: we’re all tired and mad as hell that the Government is working for the 1% at the expense of everyone else.
About time.
I think the support of the Unions has helped get the attention they should have been getting…
I can’t help it. I’m excited already, especially because of the unions. You should go to their website and see the list of unions supporting them.
I just saw on twitter that Cornel West spoke at Occupy Boston today.
They’re still working on the live feed. Hope they get it going.
I’m glad MSNBC is actually talking to people out on the street protesting. I’ve been getting tired of media putting words in people’s mouths.
The live stream at the Occupy site is working now. Here it is again:
http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
The Youth have really been working hard and doing their best to get the message out.
Isn’t it great?
Colleges and universities around the country are joining the protests. A student walk out was planned at 12 noon today.
http://occupycolleges.org
Wonderful!!
Well, I am disappointed in MSNBC’s “coverage” of the Occupy Wall Street march this afternoon. Ratigan is not “on the ground”; he’s broadcasting his show from a studio. MSNBC has shown a few camera shots of the march, but that’s about it. They just have a lot of talking heads talking in the studio. The usual suspects.
Oh well. F**k them. We don’t need any mainstream media!