IT'S SO NOT OVER
Today marks the fourth anniversary of the day that protesters descended on Zuccotti Park in New York City, re-naming it Liberty Park and launching #Occupy Wall Street!
Although the mainstream media narrative has often tried to deem as inconsequential the impact of the two month encampment, there can be no doubt that beyond the amazing spread of the #Occupy movement across the United States that fall, the Spirit continued to move across the land in a myriad of local, regional and national efforts to create a more equitable and democratic society. (Read Michael Levitin's article in The Atlantic, "The Triumph of Occupy Wall Street.")
On the national level, it seems to me that the emergence of Bernie Sanders, an avowed Democratic Socialist, as a credible candidate for the Democratic nomination for President this year is a direct result of #OWS! bringing into focus the alarming, and growing, income inequality existing in the US --and bringing to the national stage the issue of the ever-increasing domination and distortion of a government claimed to be "of the people, by the people, and for the people", by a wealthy corporate elite. (Although it may be just lip-service even several of the Republicans have been propelled to allude to, if not address, the disparity between the 1% and the 99% and the influence of unbridled money on the political process as well.)
#OWS! made the case. Now it's up to each of us to stay on the case.
The Flame of Liberty Park
Written as a song of triumph the night that Mayor Bloomberg first threatened to clear the #OccupyWall Street! encampment at Zuccotti Park --then backed off -- this is another one of those songs that pretty much wrote itself.
A year later, for Occupy's First Birthday, I revised it a bit to reflect that fact that the Mayors Militarized Minions had ultimately cleared the camp. Then I put it up on YouTube with a one take audio track captured with an $8 web cam mike, an old Dell laptop grunting away trying to run a basic video editing program, and a collection of photos that I grabbed from the web. It took me about 16 hours that day.
It is, I think, still a Song of Triumph. It certainly was a labor of love, born of a labor of love. (You can read the original ramble here: Happy Birthday #OWS!)
But first have a look and a listen!?
Although the mainstream media narrative has often tried to deem as inconsequential the impact of the two month encampment, there can be no doubt that beyond the amazing spread of the #Occupy movement across the United States that fall, the Spirit continued to move across the land in a myriad of local, regional and national efforts to create a more equitable and democratic society. (Read Michael Levitin's article in The Atlantic, "The Triumph of Occupy Wall Street.")
On the national level, it seems to me that the emergence of Bernie Sanders, an avowed Democratic Socialist, as a credible candidate for the Democratic nomination for President this year is a direct result of #OWS! bringing into focus the alarming, and growing, income inequality existing in the US --and bringing to the national stage the issue of the ever-increasing domination and distortion of a government claimed to be "of the people, by the people, and for the people", by a wealthy corporate elite. (Although it may be just lip-service even several of the Republicans have been propelled to allude to, if not address, the disparity between the 1% and the 99% and the influence of unbridled money on the political process as well.)
#OWS! made the case. Now it's up to each of us to stay on the case.
The Flame of Liberty Park
Written as a song of triumph the night that Mayor Bloomberg first threatened to clear the #OccupyWall Street! encampment at Zuccotti Park --then backed off -- this is another one of those songs that pretty much wrote itself.
A year later, for Occupy's First Birthday, I revised it a bit to reflect that fact that the Mayors Militarized Minions had ultimately cleared the camp. Then I put it up on YouTube with a one take audio track captured with an $8 web cam mike, an old Dell laptop grunting away trying to run a basic video editing program, and a collection of photos that I grabbed from the web. It took me about 16 hours that day.
It is, I think, still a Song of Triumph. It certainly was a labor of love, born of a labor of love. (You can read the original ramble here: Happy Birthday #OWS!)
But first have a look and a listen!?
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