DOWNTOWN – Several hundred of the “99 percent” marched through Downtown and gathered on Fountain Square on Saturday as part of Occupy Cincinnati, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests of corporate power and greed that began in New York City three weeks ago.
They were students, teachers, retirees, married couples and families with young children – all fed up with the nation’s growing wealth gap and especially the concentration of money and power in the hands of a few.
“If we start gathering, people will start listening,” said Brad Weitz, 39, of Liberty Township.
Rising joblessness was one of the reasons Weitz and his wife Lynnea, 41, attended the rally on Fountain Square.
“I have a job, and I’m here to support those who do not,” Brad Weitz said.
The crowd gathered at Lytle Park around 11 a.m. before winding its way through Downtown, escorted by police and picking up protesters as it went.
Crowd members bore signs like “Waterboard Wall Street” and “Tax the Rich,” and chanted, “This is what democracy sounds like.”
The march ended with a rally at Fountain Square that lasted well into the night, as speakers railed against everything from corporate greed and political dysfunction to government spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the nationÂ’s wealth gap was the central message.
“One percent of the population controls 45-50 percent of the wealth of the nation,” said Nathan Lane of East Walnut Hills, an organizer of the event. “The information is freely available all over the place. It is very widespread. The top 400 individuals in the nation control as much wealth as the bottom 40 percent.”
When the Occupy Wall Street movement began, Lane watched the protests online. And two weeks ago, he met a group of people who wanted to bring Occupy Wall Street to Cincinnati.
“It’s just grown by leaps and bounds since. We’ve got almost 5,000 people liking our Facebook page. In two weeks time, I never would have imagined this occurring here,” Lane said. “I’m excited to see what form it takes.”
Alyshia Osborn, a 21-year-old graphic designer from Lebanon, also followed the Occupy Wall Street protests online.
When she heard they were spreading to other cities, she found the Occupy Cincinnati Facebook page and headed to Fountain Square with her sister.
“Corporations have too much power in politics. Us – the majority, the 99 percent – don’t have a voice,” she said.
“People want to skew (this movement) as the left’s answer to the tea party – it’s not,” she said. “It’s just everyone is tired of what’s going on, and we’re just trying to get our voices heard.”
Many in the crowd made their voices heard with homemade signs, including one by Tom Whalen of Taylor Mill that read, “I pay more federal taxes than General Electric and Bank of America combined.”
Whalen works in the financial services industry and hasnÂ’t been laid off, but heÂ’s still concerned about the direction of the country.
“I just think it’s gotten totally out of whack, the balance of power in this country,” Whalen said. “The corporations have all the power and the people have none.”
Occupy Cincinnati organizers said SaturdayÂ’s event was only the beginning: they plan to hone their message as the movement evolves, and they believe it will have a tangible impact.
“We are at the beginning of this,” Lane said. “I honestly do not know what form this is going to take. That’s part of what’s exciting about this. It is just the open possibility out there. We have yet to find out what that will be.”
The Occupy Cincinnati protesters assembled peacefully: although the event lasted 13 hours, no arrests were reported into the night.
While the protestersÂ’ permit for Fountain Square ran out at 1 a.m. Sunday, many said a group planned to risk arrest by camping out. Lane said those not arrested would continue to walk the streets Downtown.
“If that means there’s people at 2 or 3 in the morning marching down the sidewalk, then that’s the form it takes,” he said.
Organizer Kristin Brand of Bond Hill said Occupy Cincinnati will continue, although there is no location where protesters can camp out around the clock as in other cities.
“During the week it’s going to be less people, because a lot of us do work despite what the media says,” she said. “There’s a small group of people that plan to do it every day.”
The protests have highlighted the hardships many people across the country have faced during the past few years, said Aaron Roco of Northside, another organizer. Roco has been laid off three times in 18 months and now works two part-time jobs.
“These are just real people in real situations, and there’s thousands, if not millions, of these people out there,” Roco said. “I realize it is not just me having trouble, everybody is. All my friends are. No one can find a job or everyone is underwater with a mortgage. These are real-life concerns.”
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment