Occupy Westlake Park
After following some of the coverage of the Occupy Wall Street in the recent news, my curiosity brought to downtown Seattle on a Sunday afternoon. Without an assignment, but with cameras on my shoulders, I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about.
By checking their handy online schedule, I arrived about a half hour before their scheduled march to walk the perimeter of the group and get my bearings for what the general vibe of the group was.
Mostly it was just people holding signs and waving at passing traffic.
There were a few pockets of light remaining in the autumnal afternoon, but it was fading and fading fast.
Photographically, it would have been really nice for the light could have lasted longer – overcast skies are so common here that doing things outdoors in sunlight is an opportunity that should be capitalized upon as much as possible.
And for a little unsolicited public relations advice: if they’re trying to present a sunny, optimistic vision for changes to American society, I’d humbly suggest they do as much as possible in actual sunlight. People always look happier and agreeable when they’re in sunlight instead of shadows. Always.
Also, I know they want to be as green and environmentally responsible as possible, but writing “Revolution is Sexy” on the back of a soiled pizza box is a bit of a contradiction. Perhaps that is why the sign is abandoned in the park, along with a likewise attractive ski hat:
At the appointed hour, the group of began marching down the sidewalk, destination unknown. I was at the very front of the mass of people and had no idea of how many of the roughly 1000 people in Westlake Park were participating in it. They eventually all arrived at the Bank of America building at the corner of 5th and Marion and had a protest in the building’s plaza against “the banksters.”
Once they all arrived and after they occupied the plaza for about a half hour and made their voices heard by all of the employees working on a Sunday evening (probably zero, if they’re keeping traditional banker’s hours my dad used to joke to me about – “9 by 3,” meaning the ninth green by 3 o’clock), they decided to call it a day and go back to Westlake Park, seven blocks away:
Despite not having a permit, the police blocked off traffic and allowed the group to take the whole street for a more efficient route back. The protesters filled about two city blocks worth of space, so I’d make a semi-informed estimate they numbered about 800-1000.
On the way back, I noticed a woman in pearls looking out at the march from her window-side seat in a posh seafood restaurant on 4th avenue. Jenny described this as my attempt at being “artsy-fartsy.”
Just yards from reaching the final destination of the march at Westlake Park, the group decided to stage a sit in at the corner of 4th and Pike. Maybe about 70-100 decided sat down, blocking the path of a Metro bus. The police didn’t appreciate this; they weren’t prepared with the manpower to take away the prospective new guests of the King County Jail to their temporary accommodations. While the police dispatched a paddy wagon, the protesters held a vote and, after considering a night spent in lockup, thought better of it and retreated to the legal safety of the park, free to protest another night and day.
A leader shouts to the crowd as they vote on what to do:
Despite being abandoned by the vast majority of protesters, two teenagers held fast to their claim on the intersection as darkness fell. The ranking Seattle Police officer at the scene explained what would happen:
They were taken away:
As I was departing the park – after having a drink with an old friend I bumped into on the corner – I took an overall view of “general assembly” meeting the protesters were holding under the first drops of rain.
I’d guess there was maybe a couple hundred still there.
Who knows where this motivation and energy will go? After having witnessed a similar movement in the late 90s and early aughts with the heyday of the WTO protests, I have a healthy bit of skepticism of what they’ll actually accomplish. They’re tapping into the dissatisfaction the general public has towards the plutocracy, but they could use a streamlined message or thesis that can push instead of a scattered bird-shot approach where they try to address every instance of the “man” holding “the 99%” down. People don’t have time, let alone care, to listen to a spoken-word manifesto on Marx. Fewer drum circles wouldn’t hurt, either.
We’ll see what comes next.
I like these! I haven’t seen much of this, even though I work relatively nearby, and think I’d rather see your photos of it than try to walk through it on a lunch break
Thanks, Elizabeth!
I agree, there’s a lot better ways to spend a lunch break than walking around a drum circle in Westlake park! Beatniks!