… who looks after things.
Denver ReOccupies. A bit of history of Women in Occupy Denver.
Berkeley was served an eviction notice yesterday. Occupy Oakland Live is livestreaming at Occupy Berkeley as of this writing. On the stream, occupiers said that the Mayor of Berkeley had announced on TV that there would not be a raid tonight, but the police would go through and cite people. This is expected at midnight.
Update: The police came at 1:10 AM. It looked like a raid to me.
Folks from the Jewish Labor Committee met at Dewey Square. The light rain did not dampen spirits. Nor did it dampen the lights on the Menorah – electric. Looming behind is the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
I’ve met these folks before. The U Miami hunger strikers ended their fast on the last day of Passover with them.
Being hideously monolingual [unless you count computer languages], I didn’t do at all well with the squiggly print, but I did join in on “Light One Candle.”
I don’t want a huge bloody revolution. I mean who does. The system’s gotta change and frankly you know there’s talk about the anarchists, and the socialists, and the communists, all these ists and the isms and all this stuff and frankly I don’t give a rats ass if it’s the Keebler f*cking elves that comes up with the solution to the problem.
To: Chaser
From: the Guy by the Door
Subj: OB Caucuses
Thought you’d like this video. Went with the Socialist Caucus from Gummint Center back to Dewey. It was a pretty good action. Joe consensus checked us out of confrontation with the police on a fairly deserted part of Beacon toward Charles. Quick sit down in Downtown Crossing. Superintendent Evans was at Dewey. Last thing before going over to the Fed, Lady Dr. F jumped in the circle and mentioned the LRAD and the police claim that it “wasn’t supposed to be there”. Evans confirmed to me that it “wasn’t supposed to be there.”
tgbtd “You mean someone in your command is out of control?’
Evans: “No it was just a miscommunication.”
He looked pretty cowed. Kinda enjoyed myself.
Was ok at the Fed. The guy from the Thursday night tent arrest1 was one of three people very in the face of the police. Looked to my like they were a little carried away with themselves. What can I tell ya? I’m old.
The Greek from SC wasn’t there. I saw him later at H. Said there was a lot of dissension in SC. AC too. Sorry to hear. Good to hear you at G.A. After you left a guy from I.W.W. said he understood your comment but felt he could go along with SC anyway.
I tried to get to your meeting at the bandstand, but with the free clothing store gone, I couldn’t pass up a pretty classy London Fog and some rain overalls at the Fountain.
I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you more at camp. I found the bandana a little bit of a put off. My bad. But I noticed your contribution to the day to day running of the camp – dishes, garbage, safety. Thanks.
How about getting the band back together.? Tell ‘em you’re on a mission from Bakunin or somebody. I’d know who you like if I’d talked to you. 
I said some good things to Bloomberg News. Say hey to Nat.
Hope to see you around the propertyless Occupy Boston. Well the less property OB anyway.
Gotta go. Meeting up with CLVU bunch in the North End. Will be at Open House tonight.
randy
1 I don’t know anybody who thought that was a good move. Do you? I mean does “quit with a win” mean anything in DA?
It started at noon today. Andrew Katz from Columbia School of Journalism twitpicd from about 4:30 PM on.
[l]Scene at 6th Avenue and Canal St. [c]Detained protestors who rushed the space at Sixth and Canal [r]NYPD are currently taking photos of detained protestors
Arrests in many parts of lower Manhattan. These are in Herald Sq.
There was also an attempt to occupy Juan Pablo Duarte Park which is owned by Trinity Church a bit north west of Zucotti Park.
Archive of Livestream footage of other action from The Other 999
A protester named Austin was arrested in Times Square about 6:50 PM. I believe it was Austin Guest ’05.
A report from AP about the day.
An exercise in journalism: A mic check announced that police officers were covering their badges with electrical tape. Livestream Tim [The Other 99 above] observed that badge names and numbers were clearly visible. Officers are wearing black ribbons on their badges to mourn an officer who fell two days ago. Good job Tim.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino had a problem from the beginning of Occupy Boston. We, unelected, gave a clearer voice to Boston’s 99% than the manufactured consent that dubs him as “elected”. His first attempt to discredit us, was to claim that the movement had been hijacked by anarchists. There were, off course, skirmishes on all levels. A working group, is in and of itself an aggregation of some amount of power. But it is the thoughtful anarchists who understand that there are methods of organization that can limit aggregation. Power is fraught with peril. Leadership is an aggregation of power, but if it is moderate in magnitude and transitory, the unfortunate effects can be avoided. Occupy Boston is leaderless in the sense that no-one has a permanent tenure in any position. But it does have a class structure, clicques, and other imperfections. We have challenged a corrupt system riddled with contradictions. We occupied the 1/3 acre Dewey Square Park, we had nowhere near the resources to establish an entirely independent society. Medical acknowledged this is some important ways from the beginning. Serious conditions led to a call to EMT’s. Because of these limitations, it was abundantly likely1 that we would have a complex relationship with capitalist society. It was abundantly likely1 that we would have our own contradictions. I would hope to deal with all of these issues in the future, but for now I’ll confine myself to the conspicuous failures of both capitalist society and our attempt to do better.
Tom Menino abandoned the “hijacked by anarchists rhetoric”. Instead he said that we had an “element” in the camp. By the time he said it, it was commonly held within the camp that we had a number of people who’s challenged lives were a threat to the well being of the entire camp. Discussion about the “element” included homelessness, malingering, and substance abuse. Of these, substance abuse is by far the most damaging. I know because I am a homeless alcoholic. I am not a malingerer because I have not had a drink in 26 years. I have been very busy in those 26 years. Since the Occupation, I have been even busier.
A number of people believed that a more supportive environment would help the “element” to heal. When healing occurs in capitalist society support is a big part of the story. Our mistake was a serious underestimate of the amount of support needed for the large number of seriously challenged people we had. We also had a serious overestimate of the magnitude and efficacy of the tools at hand. When I announced the 12 Step Substance abuse Working Group at a GA, I asked to talk with people who, like myself, are in recovery. Standard practice for a 12th step call on a single alcoholic is to have two people in recovery. There were 4 people who told me they were in recovery. One offered to help. None of them were living in the camp. I decided on the equivalent of calling the EMT’s. We would go off site. The one other member of the working group made a map of the nearby AA meetings. We did get one notorious person to an AA meeting. I suspect he thought it would prevent him from being thrown out of camp. Fine. Capitalist courts require people to go to AA. It is a challenge for the Fellowship, because it disavows alignment with the state. Individual members follow their conscience in signing court slips. When we encamp again, do we want to have an agreement between us and a person or persons we know to have been a problem due to substance abuse. Will we insist upon an action plan of recovery for them to stay with us?
[There's more, but it's time for GA]
1One of the traps that ideological left groups fall into is the idea of historical inevitability. Revolutions do happen but they are very hard to predict. They often frustrate people’s messianic urges. I too would be God, but if i understand my Hindu friends even remotely, we are all part of the godhead. The problem is not so much that i think myself to be god, but that i think that you are not – i have forgotten our unity with each other and the universe that gave birth to us.
A mirror of the OccupyBoston.org Eviction liveblog for the period 5:01 AM – 7:41 AM of December 10, 2010:
7:14 am: Traffic resumed on Atlantic and Constitution Aves. Small group or protestors still outside South Station. Dewey Square still barricaded and surrounded by police officers. Front-loader clearing remaining tents from square.
6:35 am: Intersection of Atlantic Ave and Constitution Ave shut down by Boston Police Department. Occupy Boston protestors amassing outside South Station.
6:34 am: All male prisoners are being taken to B4. All female prisoners being taken to C6.
6:20 am: Confirmed: Long Range Audio Device (LRAD) in back of Boston Police Department truck at Occupy Boston raid now.
6:15 am: Dewey Square completely barricaded. All protestors cleared and arrested. Bulldozers moving in to clear tents.
5:57 am: Boston Police Department are shining flashlights into video cameras to prevent them from filming.
5:55 am: Livestreamer just arrested. That leave stream has ended. Another liverstreamer is on site, further from GA area.
5:50 am: Occupiers singing “Solidarity Forever” while waiting for their arrest.
5:48 am: Veteran about to be arrested at Occupy Boston: “I took an oath to defend the constitution and here I am.”
5:01 am: Occupy Boston is being evicted RIGHT NOW.
A mirror of pertinent twitter handles and a link to the main feed [I cannot tell/predict when it is/will be live]:
We continue to livestream on our main feed.
On Twitter, follow @Occupy_Boston, @DeweyGA, @caulkthewagon, @Fara1, #OccupyBoston, and #OBRaid for live tweets throughout the day.
We will hold a General Assembly tonight at 7 pm at the Band Stand on Boston Common.
Here is our main feed:
I had to go green to keep my not terribly rewarding job at Harvard. Kathy Hoffman told me at Non-Violent Direct Action training that we might well feel survivors guilt. I do.
Mayor Menino’s plans to evict Occupy Boston at midnight last night ended in a standoff. WHDH estimated the assembled crowd of supporters at 1000. Pat Scanlon of the Smedley Butler Brigade estimated 50001. Superintendent William B. Evans who commands the Special Operations Unit of the Boston Police Department took a nap in the pre-midnight hours. The expected announcement to leave the park or be arrested did not occur. A band was playing in the Dewey Square proper just outside the camp. Crowds of supporters lined both sides of of Atlantic Avenue which bounds the park on the south. Among them Quakers in silent support and a large contingent of protest chaplains in choral support. There were drummers drumming. And of course, there was a very substantial presence of Occupy Students many of them willing to risk arrest2. Young people in black lifted the fork-lift palettes that had been Main Street and moved them to the periphery of the park to form barricades. There was debate between the YPiB3 and people with a more conservative notion of non-violence. But, I did overhear one YPiB argue that putting up barricades is non-violent.4
The crowd moved off the sidewalks into the street. The half block near the congress street end of Atlantic Avenue was solid with people. Superintendent Evans pushed his way through the crowd. After a couple of round trips of the site, he released a statement that there would be raid that night. The question then for the demonstrators, “Should we believe him?” The chanting, the singing, and the drumming continued with no diminution. After about an hour my affinity group, homefuls of about my age, decided to leave. The block party continued slowly dwindling in numbers.
I slept under the stars5. I awoke to see Steve Anderson of the Greenway surveying the site. A few police were around, but not a lot. They were fairly solicitous to us. I’ll tell you about the preparations before the standoff and the reconfiguration of the camp in the wee hours. But it will have to wait. I have to get back to my peeps.
1 I don’t have pictures to show you or get a better count. I had stashed my camera to avoid confiscation during a possible arrest. A word picture will have to do.
2My thanks to Occupy Students organizer Bea for lifting my spirits. When I returned from a day long Non-Violent Direct Action training, I found that half the tents were down it didn’t seem worth defending. Bea and senior anthropology major Dr. Fail convinced me otherwise.
3YPiB is admittedly an imprecise characterization. In the terms of the tabloid media, they are Generation Z. Black is the usual color of anarchists. I was told that the older anarchists, those between 25 and 30, were somewhat concerned about some of these folks because nobody knows who they are. Some are always wearing masks, appear only for actions and are not seen around camp at other times. There are others who have a relationship with encamped anarchist groups.
4One of the benefits of non-violence training, of which there are many flavors, is the understanding of the intrinsic ambiguity in the notion of violence. I highly recommend such training to everyone, whether you intend to be in an action or not.
5It was an overcast New England sky. Literary license – work with me.
The decision forwarded by Kade Crockford of the Mass ACLU. [You're the best.]
1
This came on an @Occupy_DC tweet, but the folks are blocking K Street in Washington DC. This is the lobbyist district of DC. At the height of the protest, occupiers shut down 4 blocks of the street. Ryan [OccupyBosRyan] and Acacia livestreamed it. There is archive footage of the first 82 minuteswhich includes the 4 block shutdown. The archive footage of the second 74 minutes includes arrests of the protestors holding the final 1 block.
1Twitpic has a fairly nice feature for hotlinking which normally includes a thumbnail for the source end. The html is there but the thumbs are not available at the moment. Hopefully this will be fixed.
Occupy Boston would not now exist if it were not for the support of a large number of often unnamed benefactors. We also benefit from relationships with supporting institutions and supporting groups at rather unsupportive instituitons. I’l mention the latter after discussing with them their exposure. Strong among the supporting institutions is Encuentro 5. They have given us a place to meet, get warm, dry off, and blog. So as not to over tax their resources, our media group has become a tenant. They have a desk.
I’m forming a relationship with Tecschange: Technology for Social Change. People at Occupy Boston certainly know about it, but I don’t know if they know what TecsChange can actually provide. One occupier had her laptop stolen and asked TecsChange to get her a new one. TecsChange usually gets donations of used equipment and most of them are desktops. But at least one occupier has benefitted from having a relationship with them. I could have done a real repair on my laptop’s AC adaptor if I had been able to find their soldering iron. But my pliers1 disappeared along with my SLR2. So with Charlie’s pliers I could improve greatly on the wire and tape repairs I’ve been making.
1It was actually a multipurpose tool – an imitation of the famous Leatherman. it cost $30 and has much lower resale price, but it was worth much more in allowing my to repair my sleep gear. Being homeless has put me into a strange relationship with property. I don’t have a TV and don’t miss it, but if someone nabs my sleep gear on a cold night, I could die.
2It was a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I had some hope it would help me become homeful. I also lost 3 Sigma lenses. The f/1.4 allowed me to do low light photography – i.e. police raids in the wee hours of the morning. It’s a thing, but I miss it.
Denial, anger, and bargaining1over the loss of Our Beloved OccuSink to the urge to march. @arieloshin met up with the carpenters and continued on to the #99unity rally in Copley Square.
There is a broad range of social justice issues on the agenda for today, including the mother of all social justice issues – abrupt global climate change/climate justice.
1No one is in acceptance. We are confident that the court will realize that it was an unreasonable seizure.
Occupy Boston goes to court tomorrow. A Temporary Restraining Order prevents the Boston Police from removing the tents from Dewey Square Park. Superior Court Judge Francis Mcintyre ruled that tents constitute symbolic free speech. The hearing will determine if the TRO will be replaced by a Preliminary Injunction or simply expire leaving the BPD to do their will. The National Lawyers Guild lawyer representing us is optimistic. Another member of the Guild told me, “the case will be over.” Folks went out tonight to rally public support. @gvmiii tweeted using a photohost with a less than obvious “intellectual property” regime.
This is what alternative media looks like.
Left: The fine print says, “When people have more to work with, they can make more stuff with the same amount of work. The extra amount of stuff you can make with an extra dollar’s worth of capital is called the marginal product of capital. In ideal markets, it would be the INTEREST RATE.”
Right: Preparing for Christmas at South Station. Under the chicken wire is a collection of milk crates from at least a dozen different dairies. They all warn the misuse will be prosecuted.
An older lesson that I missed while doing the dishes although I have been beating the same drum for a while now‘
It was November 17. A number of us from Occupy Boston responded to the call from Occupy Wall Street. My affinity group arrived at Liberty[ Zuccotti] Park at 5:30 AM. The park had been mostly cleared. There were no tents. There were more police and sanitation workers than occupiers. We were able to get in at one very small opening lined by police. We didn’t stay in the park very long.
As the early morning light filtered between the buildings, we joined the crowd gathering across the street on the east side of the park. Within minutes I was separated from my affinity group. After several circuits of the crowd. I crossed to the north side of the Park. I ran into a friend from the Mass Hall Occupation of 2001. She invited me to join her affinity group. I thought it was OK to use her name, but I see that another member of our affinity group Keith Gesson, kept her name out of his article in the New Yorker. And probably because he could not reach me for comment, he didn’t use my name either. I met Mark Rudd and didn’t know it.
Have to get to Dewey for GA. Will have pictures, honest.
-r
A number of folks from Occupy Boston went down to Plymouth to join with the Native American community in their Day of Mourning. I didn’t go with them. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to sleep late. Rather, I felt my place was at Harvard1
Flickr tells me that this how to greet people in Malaysian and Punjabi respectively. The thumbnail pictures are links to larger images hosted on Flickr.
The world holds enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.
Folks at Occupy Boston gave Ghandi a floral wreath for the Thanksgiving/Day of Mourning holiday. The ranks of Occupy Harvard were swelled by the arrival of Romance Language faculty, family, and friends.
A small sample of Romance Language faculty. They were quite good at mingling. I’m glad to see Harvard hasn’t squashed the romance out of their spirits. The spread on Thanksgiving/Day of Mourning brought by occupiers and supporters. There was more than one flavor of occu-pie.
My apology to Dr. Allen Counter and family. They showed up with a heap of provisions. When Dr. Allen said smoked turkey, I kind of forgot to take pictures. It was greatly appreciated throughout the day and into the next day. We clearly heard him say it was from the administration. Some folks thought they had heard the President mentioned. I think we should assume the best and thank her. As John Miller, CEO of Intermetrics, Inc.2 pointed out, “Thank you’s are cheap.”
Occupy Harvard encampment with the skeleton of the geodesic dome in the center. On the left Massachusetts Hall is in the backgound and on the right Harvard Hall.
1At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
2Intermetrics was a spinoff of the MIT Instrumentation Lab which specialized in missle guidance. I*2′s claim to fame was that they wrote the compiler for the Space Shuttle. I*2 is no longer in business. The Instrumentation Lab is now known as the Draper Lab.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68367048@N06/6360170281/
The Older button will step you through a few pics. bbl
Occupy Boston was in court this morning seeking a Temporary Restraining Order against action by the City of Boston with respect to removing the tents and effects of Occupy Boston. Judge Francis McIntyre expressed concern about exactly who she could bind if she gave an order. The decision was widely regarded as a victory for Occupy Boston. I am waiting for the results of the General Assembly this evening. My concern – “Do we really understand how this will change our relationship with the state?” I want to hear from the ideological left and particularly the Anarchist Caucus.
Will we be confined to being a tepid reform movement?
Zuccotti Park was cleared early this morning by NYPD. New York Civil Liberties Union filed for a got a Temporary Restraining Order against the city. The City has filed to overturn. The hearing has been held. Judge Stallman has rendered a decision. Temporary restraining order is denied. No tents.
City Hall claims that protestor possessions including the library were not destroyed, but have been moved to the 57th st sanitation garage.
@nyclu [Twitter] Reported an hour ago that protestors who had gathered in Duarte Park have returned to Zucotti Park and are circling, awaiting the decision. No report yet of how they have responded to the decision.
@Occupy_Boston is due to step off on a solidarity march in a few minutes.
Not a “fallen woman” at all, but one of our regular and remarkably patient donors. She pulled over next to the Greenway drive near The Vent. The policeman on duty would not let her stand while we retrieved the pots she had lent us the night before. She had to circle. When we reunited her with her pots – huge restaurant size pots – I told her, “Thank you. We can’t make it without you.” She replied, “We can’t make it without you.”
By second hand accounts, it was a fairly exciting evening in and around Harvard Yard. I first suspected something was up when a second guard was assigned to Lamont Library on my shift at about 6PM. Students started mentioning to me that there were a lot of police in the yard. Then the word – lockdown. No one without a Harvard ID was allowed in the Yard. Occupy Harvard had planned to rendezvous at the John Harvard statue. Occupy Cambridge rallied in front of the Holyoke Center outside the Yard. In order to have a General Assembly all could attend they moved to the Law School. There was the now standard Occupy Consensus Process based largely on anarchist tradition1.
Democracy is messy. – Donald Rumsfeld trying to justify the looting and pillage after the “allies” occupied Baghdad.
Consensus is messier. Rightly so. It is much closer to true direct democracy. – the guy by the door
Occupy Cambridge wanted to Occupy the Common, but Occupy Harvard had their hearts set on the Yard. This won out. With the Harvard Police still controlling access to the Yard. Occupy Harvard proceeded into the Yard, while Occupy Cambridge marched around just outside the wall. There was an attempt from OC to push into the Yard to join OH. A young woman, got her leg caught in a gate as the Harvard University Police tried to close it. The crowd moved in and pushed back on the police hard enough to free her. One member of Occupy Boston vaulted over the gate, was immediately detained, but then released. Dean of Student Life Suzy Nelson appeared and spoke with about 100 students. She expressed support for them, but asked them to occupy somewhere else. The occupiers started putting up tents. Divinty students created a ring of protection around them. The police chief paced about. There were no arrests. By the time I arrived on the scene more than 20 tents were erected, the police had retreated to the gates, and all seemed quiet.
1My new friend Will showed my a pamphlet that I believe was from the Wobblies. I can’t find it right now. I will have a great deal more to say about it. The central point is quite simple. Consensus seeks to arrive at a decision that everyone owns. It seeks to avoid having to force anyone “go along”.
There are two parties urging you to do this.
One of the parties is Jerry Stiller:
Jerry Stiller in New York City for a book reading for Festivus.
[Photo: Daniel Krieger via Wikimedia Foundation]
I could not navigate the copyright quagmire well enough to show you the actual ad. But Jerry is a paid spokesman for the 1%.
We, the 99%, urge you to move your money out of any for-profit bank and deposit it in a not-for-profit credit union. It is not a radical idea, but is does fall within the scope of direct action broadly understood. I heard it proposed by two time gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross1. There was one earlier attempt by Occupy_Boston.2 I was told that the banks simply refused to give them their money. The current effort appears to be nationwide. Like many things associated with Occupy .*3, leadership is “dynamic and evolving.” The Facebook incarnation lists Kristen Christian from LA as originator and it is called Bank Transfer Day. Occupy Boston lists Move Your Money.
The Move Your Money Project describes itself on the bottom of it’s home page as Another Stadia Studio Project. It appears to be a for-profit venture from St. Louis MO. I’ll reserve judgement about whether that is a problem for what I hope will qualify as an anti-capitalist movement. Occupy Wall Street was started by Adbusters Magazine. A reporter from the Wall Street Journal took that to be proof that we are at heart a capitalist movement. Wikipedia paints a picture of Kalle Lasn at the very least opposed to corporatocracy. And my new friend Liam tells me that Lasn is “the real deal.”
The project has produced a video which has very high productions values. Footage from “It’s a Wonderful Life” is intercut with footage from CNN and CSPAN from 2008. It is well done, but I’m concerned that folks will buy into the idea that banks are the only way to aggregate capital but had strayed just a bit in Frank Capra’s time. By 1946, the New Deal and/or World War II had mitigated the worst of the Depression. But in the early days of the Depression a lot of folks were more with Woody Guthrie in The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd:
Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won’t never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Despite it’s fairly moderate approach, I do think Move Your Money Day is worth doing for those that have some4. It is a way to support Occupy .* It is not radical, but it may help. And perhaps it will inspire more dramatic efforts.
We, at Dewey Square and others sites around the nation and around the world would not still be in place were it not for the outpouring of community support. Thank you. I hope, fairly soon, to discuss what I have learned about Consensus, Contradiction, and Community.
To add some energy to this movement, some friends from Occupy Boston will leave Dewey Square on a tour of the Financial District Saturday morning Nov. 5 at 10:30 AM.
I will be at Harvard guarding the library.
1Grace ran once on the Green-Rainbow Party ticket. It was the Massachusetts branch of the national Green Party. Green-Rainbow still exists, but is has been demoted to a ‘political designation’ due to low vote count. She ran again as a Democrat. She gave an excellent talk at Community Church of Boston.
2If you want to appear hipper than you really are, you can follow @Occupy_Boston on Twitter.
3I have used the language of regular expressions in the title of a previous post. I repeat the explanation. Regular expressions are a part of the Chomsky Hierarchy – Class 3 according to Wikipedia. I had used them for thirty years. In all that time, I never heard Chomsky’s name connected with them even though I heard his name at anti-war rallies all the time. The dot is the symbol for any single character in the alphabet of the language. The asterisk indicates “zero or more occurences”. Combined, they match any number of anythings i.e. all possible sentences of the language. Occupy is growing.
4I’m not penniless, but close to it thanks to the recalcitrance of Mr. Leo Godwin of the Quincy office of the United States of Blackwater Revenue Service. Even without Leo, Harvard’s campaign to reduce the standard of living of it’s low wage workers would have me homeless as I am. But what money I do have is in the Harvard University Employees Credit Union.
Tom Moroney from Bloomberg News came to camp yesterday. He didn’t understand why I giggled. Being camped at the Federal Reserve of Boston and Wall Street in NYC, just maybe the folks have issues with the financial service sector. I think he got it. But then again Bloomberg is news – a bit different. So I regaled him with how Reuters got started. They hired people to row out to incoming sailing ships to get the news before the ships landed. They understood that this edge in the stock market was worth money. Akerloff, Spence, and Stiglitz refer to it as asymmetic information. I’ve even heard N. Gregory Mankiw acknowledge that it exists. The ideal classical market assumes perfect information and guarantees maximal efficiency. Asymmetric information awards “unfair gains” to some at the expense of others. Tom kind of looked away for a bit. After all, I had impeached the character of his entire business. “That doesn’t mean I won’t talk to you.” He rebounded quickly and the interview was on.
After my interview, of which you only see a part, I gave Tom a quick tour of the camp and connected him with two other occupiers Nat Jackson from the Anarchist Caucus and John Niles of Veterans for Peace. And again, you only see a portion of what Tom shot.
Tom and I spoke a bit about history. I have to assume that his remarks were off the record since I had not identified myself as a “citizen journalist” at the time. I infer from his remarks that he was responding to my use of the word anarchist. I think the conversation would be well served if we make this public and extend it. How ’bout it Tom? I’ll give y’all a hint of what I’m thinking. I was trained as a physicist, I’ve followed the work of many of the “best in the business.” Yet my own thinking leads me back to remarks made by Danny Greenberger at City College years ago. The regularities we think we find in nNature are often more than well worth betting on, but they are never really guaranteed. We were sure space had three dimensions and time one. If we decide on 10+1 will that be the end of it?
1I want to get Noam into this but I have to get back to camp. I shall return.
