The Revolution is Not Being Televised! The Occupation of Wall Street

Now in its ninth day, the Occupy Wall Street movement has received minimal coverage by the mainstream press. There's been no break in regularly televised programming, no break in regular radio programming. Yet, there was coverage on a number of issues that could have been postponed for future airing. 

I'm not saying that the six-ton satellite that fell to earth yesterday wasn't news. However, the more than week-long, American occupation of the financial district that controls many of the world's markets and the lives of billions of people should make headlines. Why the silence? Why did major American news outlets provide extended coverage of the recent uprisings in the Middle East and are not providing around-the-clock coverage of this homegrown revolution? 

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Protestors identify themselves as representing the 99 percent of Americans whose interests are subordinate to those of the wealthy one percent. They are middle-aged, older, and young; they are laborers and highly educated; they are Black, White, Brown, and Red; they are fed up!

The Occupy Wall Street movement has garnered the help of the Alliance for Global Justice to support the participants in terms of food and other necessities. Organizers plan to occcupy Wall Street for a month.  

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The Occupy Wall Street Website provides the following contact information:
Regarding arrests:
Please call the first precinct, central booking and the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information and urge them to release these peaceful protesters.
First precinct: +1 (212) 334-0611
Central booking: +1 (212) 374-3921
Deputy Commissioner of Public Information: +1 (646) 610-6700
NYPD Switchboard: 1-646-610-5000

Regarding food and other support:
We are now able to receive packages.
The UPS store 118A #205 New York, New York 10038 RE: Occupy Wall Street.
Money orders only please, cannot cash checks yet. Non-perishable goods only.
We can accept packages of any size. We are currently low on food.
Lemon Grass Grill +1 (212) 809-8038
Toloache Taqueria +1 (212) 809-9800
Alfanoose +1 (212) 528-4669

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Occupy Wall Street Movement Reports 80 Arrested Today in Protests

Sep 24, 2011 7:18pm

ABC News's Olivia Katrandjian reports:

 At least 80 people were arrested on Wall Street today in the eighth day of protests against corporations, according to the group Occupy Wall St, which reported police used tasers and mace to control the crowd today.

The New York Police Department could not confirm how many arrests had been made because they were still being processed, a spokesman said.

A video has circulated of a police officer throwing a protestor to the ground. The reason for the violence is unknown – the video shows the man standing in what seems to be a non-threatening manner before the attack.

Another video shows police officers shoving male and female protestors off the street, and using a large orange net to move the crowd.

The group claimed today on its website that several arrested protestors were locked inside a police van this morning, one with a “possibly life-threatening” concussion.

The website reported at least one protestor was arrested for taking photographs. An NYPD spokesman said police were not targeting those with cameras.

Photographs that did make it into the blogosphere showed signs that read, “A Few Prosper, Billions Suffer,” and “Debt = Slavery.”

The protests began on Sept. 17, when hundreds of protestors gathered at Bowling Green Park in Manhattan, home of the iconic charging bull in New York’s Financial District, as they prepared to “take the bull by the horns,” as a flyer advertising the event said.

“The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%,” said a statement on the website Occupy Wall Street.

According to statements on the website, the movement, an offshoot of online magazine AdBusters, is angered by what it calls the principle of “profit over and above all else,” which it says has dominated not only America’s economic policies, but also the way in which Americans view culture and humanity.

Posts on the website compare the group’s efforts to those used in pro-democracy movements across the Middle East, dubbed the Arab Spring.

“On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months,” one statement says. “Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America. We also encourage the use of nonviolence to achieve our ends and maximize the safety of all participants.”

As has become the norm of such protests, this movement has been fueled by social media fire, with supporters taking to Twitter under the hash tag #occupywallstreet. The major hacking group Anonymous has also thrown in its support, live streaming the day’s events.

“History teaches us that when the rich get too rich and the poor get too poor there is always a revolution. Let’s hope this is the start of change!” wrote a reader with the username “Takebackourgovernment” on the movement’s website today.

ABC News’ Candace Smith contributed to this report.

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Gil Scott Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

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