If you've passed DeWitt Park over the past week or two, you might have noticed something.
We are occupying.
What started with about 7 tents the Monday before last, has now grown to about 17.
We have a "Hospitality Table" as well, with plenty of information and - for as long as we can keep them in stock - hard copies of the newly launched Occupied Ithaca Journal.
The immediate local business community has been wonderfully accommodating - helping to keep us warm, fed and equipped for the long hard task in front of us. We are grateful for all of our donors, but it is especially nice to be so warmly welcomed by our own downtown business and resident neighbors.
We have had many visitors since setting up our round-the-clock public protest.
Everyone has been warm and congenial.
If you haven't joined us for discussion yet, please do.
You may not yet understand our movement if your only source of information has been corporate news media, but we are eager for all who are curious to drop by for some direct, sincere, and long overdue dialogue about how we can make our world a better place.
We are occupying.
What started with about 7 tents the Monday before last, has now grown to about 17.
We have a "Hospitality Table" as well, with plenty of information and - for as long as we can keep them in stock - hard copies of the newly launched Occupied Ithaca Journal.
The immediate local business community has been wonderfully accommodating - helping to keep us warm, fed and equipped for the long hard task in front of us. We are grateful for all of our donors, but it is especially nice to be so warmly welcomed by our own downtown business and resident neighbors.
  |
| 2nd day of the Occupy Ithaca encampment. |
The official "Occupy Ithaca - Declaration of the Occupation" has been published,
and is hosted online by the Occupied Ithaca Journal.
and is hosted online by the Occupied Ithaca Journal.
So, why now? Why take to the park in Ithaca more than 2 months since the start of the movement?
Because the time was right.
Because the time was right.
Since very early on, Ithacans had been supporting the greater Occupy Movement from it's fledgling stages, right on through to it's global networking. As a more socially-conscious city than most, and with plenty of activists ready to stand up for what we believe in - in a call for social justice worldwide, targeting at the core of global social and economic corruption, Wall Street - it seemed obvious early on that our resources were best spent on helping OWS (Occupy Wall Street) to hold it's ground and Occupy Together to help spread the message. Carpools and ride-shares brought our people-power resources to where they were needed most, helping to ensure the longevity and stability of the greater movement. Once the N17 International Day of Action proved the worldwide success of the movement in terms not only of that longevity and stability, but also the enormous growth of the movement, it was clear to Occupy Ithaca that our resources could safely be directed more toward local actions, here at home.
We have had many visitors since setting up our round-the-clock public protest.
- Mayor Carolyn Peterson came by to chat with us on day one, and to personally deliver a permit application, requesting that we file it with the city. We did.
- Ithaca's Finest visit regularly and help to keep us company in the late hours, when company is harder for us to come by.
- Mayor Elect, Svante Myrick has been by more than once to check in, and to join us in discussions.
- Your friends and neighbors are dropping by regularly to get some direct information on the Occupy Movement, from the source rather than from sensationalist "news" media.
Everyone has been warm and congenial.
If you haven't joined us for discussion yet, please do.
You may not yet understand our movement if your only source of information has been corporate news media, but we are eager for all who are curious to drop by for some direct, sincere, and long overdue dialogue about how we can make our world a better place.
