Cate Woodruff Reporting From Wall Street Occupation

By Cate Woodruff, Reader Supported News

20 September 11

esterday, I spent part of the afternoon in Liberty Park at the "Occupy Wall Street" protest.

What I did not find was an indignant, screaming, angry or self-absorbed mob. However, what I did find was a group of extraordinarily caring, very peaceful, deeply concerned and educated people who have come together with the determination to help Americans take a realistic look at the destructive direction of this failing financial system.

Most important, they want Americans to demand change. And the positive energy was palpable.

Passersby often stopped on the Broadway sidewalk at Liberty Street to engage in lively political discussion with a group of sign-holding protesters.

Their make-shift camp is located behind a wall of protest signs - in what was once Zuccotti Park, but has since been re-named Liberty Plaza.

Hundreds of people, sometimes surging into the thousands, are here to stay until demands are met ... armed only with sleeping bags and cardboard. Some were texting, receiving words of support from protesters in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Paris and Rome.

The police, very watchful and ever-present, have restricted the demonstrators from covering their faces or from using tarps or tents to cover themselves.

They have, somewhat casually, surrounded the park and direct traffic away from side streets.

Protesters say they will not leave until "corporations and banks are held accountable for crimes," and until "Wall Street is regulated to put people before profits" and "the rich are taxed."

Some talk of other important issues being "misdirected" by Wall Street and politicians and want to see that "the war in Afghanistan and Iraq is ended," and that "education and healthcare is made affordable and available to all." For many, protecting the earth and climate crisis are also top priorities.

In effect, they seek a healthy balance in our lives, in the way we manage our country, and to take responsibility for the ways we affect the rest of the world. To think about what we can do for each other, rather than what we can take for ourselves.

I urge you all to go downtown and have a look for yourselves. I was inspired and very moved by the backbone and integrity I witnessed, and for the first time in a long time "My Fellow Americans" seemed to have real meaning.

This could be big. This movement could change the world. What you do can change the world.