> I've been pondering my mixed feelings about last night's OWS event at
> Foley Square. Might as well confess that I was a little disappointed
> that the crowd was so well-behaved. I'm deeply convinced that no real
> social change ever happens without some lawbreaking, and that stopping
> traffic is the very least you can do. But last night, a crowd of
> 30,000 people -- by some accounts -- allowed themselves to be squeezed
> onto the sidewalk, so louts in SUVs could continue to drive down
> Centre Street. Business as usual: a very important symbolic point.
[...]
> But I don't want to turn into some kind of Jacobin-magazine
> alter-kaker, so let me end on a pleasanter note:
>
> http://boingboing.net/2011/11/17/interview-with-the-occupy-wall.html
Where we read:
> XJ: How did this come together?
>
> Mark Read: It came up at an action coordination meeting. We were
> talking about what to do on the 17th. We had a sense that the morning
> on Wall Street would be forceful and confrontational, and we wanted to
> not do the same kind of thing in the afternoon. Initial talks focused
> on having a thousand people taking the bridge in the afternoon, and
> continuing in a militant mode of activism. But we started thinking
> about creating a more unifying moment. A celebration of the birthday
> of Occupy Wall Street. Maybe taking the roadway and having lots of
> arrests might not be best thing. What if we took the pedestrian
> walkway, and gave out LED candles? We would give out 10,000 LED tea
> candles, a river of light streaming over the walkway.
Between you, this 45 year old guy and his friends, and the Jacobin editorial staff, who is the alter-kaker?
SA