As Occupy Wall Street goes into its third week in Zuccotti Park, the movement is spreading across the country. On Friday, October 7, economist Jeffery Sachs, a Columbia University professor, told protesters that they have the power to affect the next election. Sachs believes candidates don't need Wall Street's billions to run for president because of social media. All a candidate needs now is the 99% behind him. He backed away from supporting President Obama, saying he could do so only if Obama admitted that using campaign funds from Wall Street is the wrong thing to do.
Click here to hear Sachs on the $2 billion war chest Obama is trying to raise, here
for the power of social media , and
the money spent on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. * Jeffery Sachs has worked for and supported Monsanto
.
In the evening, Jewish activist Daniel Sieradski led a Yom Kippur service across the street from Zuccotti Park, Hundreds attended. Before the service, candles were lit for Jewish activists now deceased, including Abby Hoffman.
On Saturday, Occupy Wall Street held its general assembly in Washington Square Park. The police and the parks departments barricaded off the arch, the fountain, the bathrooms and all the grassy areas before the protesters arrived; and then spread through the neighborhood in large numbers. The massive police presence included paddy wagons and motorcycles which lined one of the streets near NYU. While the police prepared to handle a riot, the protesters, over a thousand strong, remained peaceful. Occupy Wall Street keeps pointing out that the police are part of the 99%, even though the
NYPD accepted a $4.6 million donation from J.P. Morgan.
Mayor Bloomberg predicted that people will take to the streets if more jobs aren't created.He was right, but I don't think passing the jobs bill would have prevented Occupy Wall Street. Participants in the OWS movement have more than jobs on their minds.
You can read the OWS declaration here.
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