There’s a different feel since I last visited – it’s quieter and more lived-in. Less a protest and more a small town. Services are organized and there’s less people standing with signs and taking each other’s pictures.
I briefly sat in on the Quaker/Interfaith tent, where a meeting was going. I couldn’t hear much but the main issue of business was how open an interfaith speaker’s series should be. I didn’t have too much time so I quietly slipped off afterwards to take more pictures of Occupy. #blog
In album Occupy Philly, 10/25 lunchtime #occupyphilly (7 photos)
Part of the “Idea Wall”
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So how do you interpret this change? Has the “edge” of the initial protest waned so that people are unclear what next steps to take? or do you think this is a quiet before a new storm of protests? Or something else? Too much discussing, not enough doing???
I’d say it’s maturing and growing into a real lived community. I used to do peace marches back in the day, and today Occupy felt more like that. The danger is becoming insular: passersby were asking me about it because many of the “residents” were going about their lives.
I think there’s something to be said about the anger and frustration that spurs these things on. But, if nothing happens because of the initial protests, my guess is that something like this can quickly wither away. Not that I should complain as I’m not out there literally in the trenches, 🙂 But, I’m both interested and even excited by recent events. It will be interesting to see how this continues to play out. Thanks for sharing the pics, BTW.
I haven’t done counts but there were probably twice as many tents compared to the Occupation’s first week and it feels prepared to stay. I’d love to see some scientific surveys of who’s making up these mini-cities.
My experience a couple of weeks ago of Occupy Wall Street was that it was insular. They only talked about themselves and their community.
The peace marches could be pretty insular. But with this kind of witness, it’s hard to guess at the lasting impact: just being there, visible and talked-about, has it’s own value.
An affinity group I was part of had an action once of paying one of our member’s income taxes with a check written on a coffin lid, complete with “War = Death” graffitti. It was pre‑9/11 so there we were in the IRS office as agents tried to make sense of it all (technically you can write a check on anything). Everyone in the building came over to watch the spectacle as agents unscrewed the lid, made up a receipt and took it to the back office. Best of all, our member got the lid back a few weeks later – from her bank, cancellations and all. How many federal and bank employees went home over those weeks to tell their spousal equivalents of the crazy coffin lid check?
I see normal, non-radical people on my morning commute every morning reading that day’s slam of #occupyphilly. That’s more publicity and conversation-starting fodder than the left has been able to generate in a while.