Neena Satija Photo
Planners assembled inside Cask Republic Tuesday night.
More than 100 New Haveners hatched a plan to “occupy” the upper Green to protest corporate greed — but to wait longer than counterparts in other cities, in order not just to protest but to create a new “micro-economy.”
Imagine a sudden new community on the Green complete with food, clothing, tents and toilets for its occupiers. It could even shuttle supplies to cities where other occupations are happening, like New York, Boston, or Providence.
That was the vision decided upon at a Tuesday night meeting, where the more than 100 activists showed up to launch “Occupy New Haven.”
The movement is an offshoot of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in New York, which has spread to cities across the country this past week. (Hartford’s began Wednesday morning.) The protests center on the current economic crisis, on the role large corporations and sympathetic lawmakers and regulators have played in the rise in unemployment and foreclosures, the country’s increasing income/wealth gap, Wall Street corruption, agribusiness-sparked poisoning of the food supply, multi-million-dollar parachutes or bonuses to failing executives.
Because the New Haven planners wanted the occupation to be more than just a vague protest, but also the creation of a community, they picked a start date of Oct. 15 to give them time to figure out all the particulars. (They’ve set up a facebook page here.)
Ben Aubin, who created the Free Store in New Haven earlier this year and has begun creating an outpost of sorts at the New York protests, called the New Haven version of the occupation “constructive direct action.”
He told the crowd Tuesday night, which moved from a private room at the Cask Republic on Crown Street to Pitkin Plaza for more space, that he’d like to see New Haven’s occupation be a little different from other cities’.
“We can’t afford to get arrested, in my opinion,” he said as he stood on a column in front of the Devil’s Gear bike shop. “Let’s not block the streets. Let’s make sure people can get to work so they can pay their rent.” He added that the protest shouldn’t disrupt the lives of homeless people already on the Green.
Aubin has already met with city officials who told him they’d be “happy to host us.”
“Not that it matters,” he added quickly Tuesday night, as the crowd laughed. He also mentioned that the city’s parks department promised to provide Port-a-Potties, generating widespread applause and cheers.
The Green was one obvious choice for the occupation, he suggested. It’s been a site of protest for decades; a gathering there wouldn’t threaten an existing residential community; it lies near “symbolic locations” like Yale’s Skull and Bones secret society, a symbolic home to the country’s elite.
And the Green seemed an ideal home for a new version of the Free Store, which hands out merchandise gratis and is currently looking for a new home.
The city told him the upper Green, the side closest to Yale University, is the best choice because the lower Green has water pipes below it that could be ruptured by tent stakes driven into the ground.
It took about two hours of speeches and debate Tuesday night, but Aubin’s idea won out. At the suggestion of the people who’d also been at the protests in New York, the group followed the procedure used by the occupiers there, meaning anyone was allowed to speak up and that the crowd surrounding a speaker had to repeat what was being said if it was hard for people on the outskirts to hear.
Meghan McGaffin signed up for the evolving local movement’s outreach committee.
As a result, many of the crowd exchanges Tuesday night on Pitkin Plaza went a little bit like that of Ariel Benjamin, who was laid off from two jobs in New Haven in 2008.
“Mic check!” he yelled, as all speakers are supposed to say to make sure people around can hear.
“I am here,” he began, and the crowd chanted back. “I am here.”
“To end corporate personhood.” The crowd repeated: “To end corporate personhood.”
Benjamin was one of a dozen or so people who came forward offering to occupy the Green daily starting on Oct. 15. That date was suggested by attendee Josh Smith, who chose it because it is also World Revolution Day.
“The government needs to know we’re really getting serious about this,” one participant at the meeting said. “I can’t go to school because I have no credit and I have no co-signers.” He said he moved to Ansonia after losing his jobs and is still looking for work.
After a series of passionate speeches about the state of government and society, the group decided on a time and place for the protests. Then it split into smaller “committees” focusing on outreach, education, media and occupation logistics. The group later decided it will meet again this Saturday at 6 p.m. on the upper Green to discuss what else needs to be done before the occupation starts.
John Avitable, who was arrested along with other Wall Street “Occupiers” on the Brooklyn Bridge last weekend and spent about five hours in jail, made his way to the media committee and asked people who had an extra laptop or video camera so they could livestream the occupation from the Green once it starts. And Keith Wawrzeniak passed a clipboard around to those interested in outreach, including designing and distributing flyers or knocking on doors in various neighborhoods.
Thomas MacMillan File Photo
Aubin (pictured) said he will get to work on organizing comfort (i.e. food, clothing, shelter) and outreach for the occupations in New Haven as well as New York, where he’s heading on Friday. He’s been shuttling back and forth between the two cities.
He was amazed at the turnout Tuesday night; he’d expected 50 or 60 to show up at most. An “Occupy New Haven” Facebook group had clearly helped, with more than 800 fans as of Tuesday night.
In its heyday, the Free Store had about 50 volunteers willing to work 10-hour days. Aubin predicted most of them can be convinced to work on the Green.
“All I have to say is, the Free Store’s moving to the Green, and they’ll probably all show up,” he said.
Previous Occupy Wall Street/ New Haven coverage:
• Wall Street Occupiers Page Verizon
• New Haven Exports “Free”-dom To Occupiers
Oh, hippies/hipsters. I'm sure their statements against corporate greed will be taken seriously as they sit around in designer clothes, drinking starbucks, and surfing the web on their ipads.
Corporations won't stop maximizing profits just because you say that you don't like it. Their job is to maximize profits; corporate greed is fundamental to being a corporation. While you organize and execute these meaningless and purposeless demonstrations corporations will continue to strengthen their grip on the reins of this country's politics, media, and workforce.
Since you all don't seem to have anything better to do why don't you make up placards with your statements against corpororate greed and carry them with you while you walk throughout the streets of the city picking up all of the litter. That way at least people will be like "Hey look at those guys cleaning up my street. They're OK. Maybe they are onto something" instead of "Hey look! A bunch of spoiled kids who are too lazy to get jobs complaining about how the world owes them a living."