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Occupy Wall Street Gives NYSE A Flaming Middle Finger For Christmas
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 25, 2011
Modified Dec 25, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 25, 2011
Modified Dec 25, 2011
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While most Americans spent last night enjoying classic holiday movies like Die Hard, Occupy Wall Street was observing Christmas Eve—and the eve of the 100th day of protests—with a candlelight protest outside the New York Stock Exchange. And as you can see in this great photo by Ryan Devereaux, the candles were specially handcrafted to convey demonstrators' dissatisfaction with the financial system. Feel the burn, banksters!
According to occupier Jeff Smith, about 30-50 protesters stayed down around Zuccotti Park through the night, and kept warm thanks to free hot drinks handed out by a vendor to anyone who said the magic words "Occupy Wall Street." 24 hours of activities are planned throughout the Christmas holiday, including a "grounding meditation" this morning, poetry and art projects in the afternoon, prayer services, and a reading of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" speech.
“We are taught to close our doors and retract into the nuclear family, into our faith groups, into our nationalism," says Atiq Zabinski, an OWS spokesperson. "Lets do something truly revolutionary and celebrate, meditate, pray, play, and eat together! This event is aimed at bringing all people—Christian, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Theosophist, Marxist, Capitalist, Atheist, Agnostic—together to learn about each other and to see that essentially we are different faces of the same being, existing in light and love, and that the time where we had to remain separate and suspicious of our subtle differences is over."
And here's an excellent video showing the OWS Interfaith group "Occupy Faith" trying to persuade representatives of Trinity Church to let demonstrators use church-owned property at Duarte Park on Sixth Avenue and Canal.
Tagged
christmas
new york stock exchange
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occupy wall street
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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