Weekend “Occupy” events in Lawrence and Kansas City
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LAWRENCE — On Saturday about 150 attended an “Occupy Lawrence” rally in front of the U.S. Bank building on Massachusetts Avenue in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York.
Occupy Lawence event outside U.S. Bank on Saturday
Melissa from #OccupyLawrence read the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City adopted also by the Lawrence General Assembly. The prolog to that document reads:
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
Steve Robinson from #OccupyLawrence said he started the local web page about the event since “America is broken economically and politically and the people need to fix it.”
Those addressing the crowd used a “human microphone” instead of a PA system to be heard.
Some signs seen in Lawrence included:
- In solidarity with Occupy Wall Street
- This is Class War!
- Change? Voted 4 it … now demanding it!
- Corporations are not People!
- Stop the War on Working People
- How can this be a free country if everything is for sale?
- For Sale: America
Gretchen Alvarez, Lawrence, said her attention-grabbing sign, “The Hand of the Free Market Touched Me in a Bad Place!”, was about her 401(k) retirement savings being “raped” by events on Wall Street.
#OccupyLawrence video
#OccupyKC
On Sunday “Occupy Kansas City” started with a rally that was followed by a march of over two miles to the Plaza.
Live musical entertainment was provided between talks that included union representatives and economics professors.
Kenyan at #OccupyKC who knew more about Pledge of Allegiance than those who could vote. He opposed Federal Reserve policies used to provide money to governments in Third World Counties like his own.
UMKC economics professor Judy Ancel addressed the audience according to a report from the Kansas City Star. Earlier this year Ancel was part of a controversy in which she claimed Andrew Breitbart had edited videos from her “Labor, Politics, and Society” class about shutting down non-union companies.
Kansas Watchdog interviewed several of the attendees both before and after the march. See the “Interview” video below.
One young woman, who was reluctant to talk on camera, suggested “everyone is here for a different reason.” All seemed to support the “99 percent,” the “war against the middle class” and were against corporate greed and corruption. But many attended the event for a variety of other reasons.
Kansas Watchdog joined a discussion in progress among a small group about the flag Pledge of Allegiance (Interview video, 1:15) where several were trying to remember the words. A young man from Kenya pointed out that the pledge was “to the Republic”: “This nation is a republic, it is not a democracy.”
The Kenyan objected to the way the Federal Reserve loaned money to third-world countries through the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. He claimed there was much corruption in how local politicians in third-world countries kept the money from helping the people.
The Kenyan said that on Oct. 15 everyone is going to occupy the world to protest corrupt politicians. “This time people are going to revolt.”
One of the speakers before the march told the audience “I really think of this not so much as class warfare but as species warfare. I’m talking about the human species versus the legal fiction that a corporation is.” She suggested “that only human beings and not corporations are persons and entitled to constitutional protection.”
The final speaker before the the march was a union official who told about his group’s involvement in the protests in Wisconsin earlier this year.
About 550 marched from the “Occupy Kansas City” site, across the street from the Kansas City Federal Reserve building, to the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain next to the Country Club Plaza. See the separate #OccupyKC March” video below.
Guy Fawkes masks
Guy Fawkes masks worn at #OccupyKC
Kansas Watchdog asked two people wearing Guy Fawkes masks to talk about the mask and what it meant to them.
A young man said (Interview video, 0:15) “The mask represents Anonymous. We don’t really need to show our faces to show what we’re standing for … a revamp of the tax code, social equality, having corporates not be the voices of how our nation is governed.”
A young woman wearing the mask with a rose to the side gave her views (Interview video, 5:02):
“… my mask is a symbol. We the people are ready to not owe anything to anyone anymore. We work too hard, we get paid too less. The corporations, they take all … the greed … we’re left with nothing, except for the dirty, repetitive, grimy work. We want to go to college for free. We want free health care. We want our veterans to be taken care of. And we want new technologies to benefit the world and all our human brothers. We deserve so much more. We have evolved and we are awakening. It is time.”
On Sept. 27 the group “Anonymous” released a YouTube video calling for protestors to “occupy everywhere” and Kansas City was mentioned as one of the 30 U.S. cities.
#OccupyKC Interviews, Oct. 9, 2011
Signs. Some signs seen in Kansas City included:
- We are the 99%
- People over Profits
- A corporation is not a person!
- Beware of the Greed
- Come! Join the Revolution
- Capitalism is the Crisis
Marx 2012
A request for video comments was declined by the marcher with the Marx 2012 sign.
Few 50-Star American Flags
Unlike Tea Party rallies few 50-star U.S. flags were seen in either Lawrence or Kansas City at “Occupy” events.
At the Lawrence rally a woman carrying a “Jobs” sign wore a sweatshirt with an American flag.
In Kansas City one 50-star U.S. flag was seen in the march to the Plaza, but several U.S. peace flags were observed.
A peace flag replaces the 50-star blue-and-white field with a peace sign.
In the “Interview video” above (6:22) one marcher explained “It’s an American flag. I’m a Green. It’s got a green peace symbol instead of the field of stars. It represents a peaceful country that I would like to belong to.”
Another marcher carrying a U.S. peace flag said (6:46): “The flag I’ve had since the Iraq War … I thought this was appropriate for trying to provide people to keep the peace as we do the march. It’s important that we stay peaceful and it’s important that we’re inclusive.”
Related
- Occupy Kansas City – March to the JC Nichols Fountain, MetaphoreMedia video, Oct. 10, 2011.
- SEIU Pledges Support for Occupy Wichita, ProgressiveToo.com, Oct. 10, 2011.
- Kansas City AFL-CIO leader backs Occupy protesters, Kansas City Business Journal, Oct. 10, 2011.
- Protestors gather for ‘Occupy Kansas City’, KCTV 5, Oct. 10, 2011.
- About 300 people gather for Occupy KC rally, march, Kansas City Star, Oct. 9, 2011.
- Lawrence version of Occupy Wall Street protest springs up, Lawrence Journal-World, Oct. 8, 2011.
- Occupy Wall Street Movement Spreads To Wichita, KAKE, Oct. 8, 2011.
- Occupy Kansas City, Kansas Watchdog, Oct. 2, 2011.
- 7-story tall “IOU/USA” art exhibit near KC Federal Reserve, Kansas Watchdog, Sept. 18, 2011.
- Kansas law enforcement sites hacked by “Anonymous”; information leaked, Kansas Watchdog, Aug. 8, 2011.
- Tea Party at Kansas City Country Club Plaza, Kansas Watchdog, April 15, 2010.
- Overland Park Tea Party in the Snow Against Health Care Bill, March 20, 2010.
- Kansas City Tea Party at Liberty Memorial, Kansas Meadowlark, April 16, 2009.
- “Tea Party” Rally and March to Senator McCaskill’s Office in Kansas City, Kansas Meadowlark, Feb. 28, 2009.
Contact: Earl F Glynn, earl@kansaswatchdog.org, KansasWatchdog.org
Reprinting: Kansas Watchdog is a free wire service and we welcome reprinting and only ask for attribution and notification. If you’d like to reprint this story we ask that you e-mail the author with the date the story will run and the outlet name.
Posted under Accountability, Column A, Federal Government, Free Market, General Interest, Personal liberty.
Tags: #OccupyKC, #OccupyLawrence, Anonymous, Guy Fawkes mask, Kansas, Kansas City, Lawrence, Occupy Kansas City, Occupy Lawrence, Occupy Wall Street, Peace Flag, protests
3:22 pm on October 10th, 2011
Wow! The democrats reply to the Tea Party movement. The big difference is the tea party people have Jobs and are self sufficient. They actually are paying to sustain these Obama free loaders. Don’t think this will work for them in 2012.
Thank God
3:52 pm on October 10th, 2011
Obama attacks banks while raking in Wall Street dough
The Daily Caller – 9 hrs ago…
Despite his rhetorical attacks on Wall Street, a study by the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Project shows that President Barack Obama has received more money from Wall Street than any other politician over the past 20 years, including former President George W. Bush.
In 2008, Wall Street’s largesse accounted for 20 percent of Obama’s total take, according to Reuters.
When asked by The Daily Caller to comment about President Obama’s credibility when it comes to criticizing Wall Street, the White House declined to reply.
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer says the distance between the president’s rhetoric and actions makes him look hypocritical.
“It’s almost as if President Obama won’t cross across a Wall Street picket line except to get inside with [his] hand out, so he can raise money,” Fleischer told TheDC, referring to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators who the president has been encouraging over the past week. “That sort of support causes him to look hypocritical.”
Fleischer continued by saying that President Obama and Democrats, such as New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who has received approximately $8.7 million from Wall Street since 1989, should stop taking campaign donations from Wall Street banks if they are so offended by their actions.
7:54 pm on October 10th, 2011
The Steve Robinson who started the website in Lawrence just has to be the same Robinson who was part of a campaign to draft Al Gore in 2004. He seems to enjoy getting in front of lost causes.