I went to Occupy San Diego on Tuesday the 15th around 3pm. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was surprised that there were very few people in front of the Civic Center Plaza. It seemed that there were more police officers than protesters! There was a homeless camp set up on the street side of the theater and a young man was shouting things he had written on a clipboard to the street through a megaphone.
One man I talked to said he has cancer and spent all his money moving from Philadelphia to San Diego and as a consequence had to be homeless for a month. He became involved in OSD when he was standing outside a Wendy's, and a woman said that she would buy him lunch if he held a sign for 3 hours. The sign said "meet at 4 at the Civic Center"; the man has been involved ever since, and now he has made enough money to live in an apartment. He talked about how the original camp in the Plaza was set up with sanitation and nursing stations, and that everything was orderly and great until the police "raided" them and forced them all out of the Plaza. The man said that he believed an undercover cop infiltrated the protesters and created factions between them. He is sad that the numbers are not as strong as when OSD first started.
Another man discussed the organization of the OSD movement. He said that it is a pure democracy with no recognized leadership which helps keep the protesters from factioning. He said that the donation section on the OSD website was intended to be given to businesses effected by the protesters, but that was shot down in a General Assembly. He said that a weak part of OSD is insufficient media coverage which includes the need for one person to actively maintain the OSD website.
I also spoke to two police officers who were standing away from the majority of people. The officers stationed near the street declined talking to anyone and said that their boss has an official statement, but he was too busy for me to talk to him. The officers I did talk to said that protesters will try to "trap" them into saying something inflammatory so they have to be careful who they talk to. The officers said that 60% of the people who were in the Plaza today they actually recognize as homeless persons from North Park and Ocean Beach. They said that only a handful of people actually know what they're protesting, and they usually show up around 8 or 9 pm for the General Assembly meeting. The officers didn't seem upset at the protesters; they said that they are just exercising their 1st Amendment rights.
I am having trouble figuring out how to make my own thread for a post... so I am going to add onto Joann's post...
ReplyDeleteI visited Occupy San Diego on a Thursday morning. When I arrived, there were still people sleeping on the streets from the night before, tents set up with signs leaning up against them, stating a fading message that read "THE REVOLUTION WILL LIVE". Although a strong message that has great potential, my experience in OSD reflected a movement that was not moving, a revolution that got lost in translation, unorganized leadership and organized chaos.
There were police on corners and in-between, some just arriving and some leaving (relieving each other). However, they seemed to out number the protesters and their overwhelming presence seemed a little unnecessary (however the number of protesters could increase through out the day which could be the reason there were so many officers).
I spoke with some waking protesters stumbling out of their tents that they have been sleeping in. What I came to realize as I began conversing with some of these individuals was that they were homeless, and they made OSD their home. They just moved their tent. From one location into the middle of OSD. Possibly unaware of the full meaning of the movement they were fighting for, but they were going to argue against it for the sake of arguing. One man identified his purpose for protesting as "a fight for the future generations and a new beginning". He seemed to have a sense of belonging to this group and identified with OSD.
Another individual I spoke with however, was not so clear on her purpose. She was a homeless youth and really seemed to need to identify with someone and something, and although she was not aware to the full extent what she was fighting for she was determined to make a change regardless of what it was for just for a sense of empowerment and freedom.
I also spoke with a police officer who summed up the protest from their point of view. He explained that because the protesters get out of hand, they have to respond to their outbursts (which may lead to violence depending on how cooperative the protesters are) in order for them to maintain control and help reduce chaos.
A reoccurring theme I came across during my visit was that the movement has lost momentum, the protesters have forgotten what they are fighting for and the police are annoyed with the protesters "wasting their time". There was an obvious lack of leadership amongst the protesters. They themselves did not seem to get along or agree with one another on the matter. The lack of leadership in turn can not hold power and ultimately makes the movement ineffective. However, I don't feel this is or was the intension (obviously) there was a purpose, however, it has slowly diminished and now neither the protesters nor the police are willing to back down which magnifies the power struggle between the two.
Posted by Allison Welsh