OWS 2.0 After the Raid

Hundreds gather at Zuccotti park after the raid on the camp to have a general assembly meeting to discuss what’s next. It includes those who have been supporters of the movement all along, as well as people who saw the atrocious police brutality practiced over the past night, in removing the campers from the park. Bloomberg’s move to decamp the protestors using police force over night and not allowing the press to enter has raised many concerns for NYC residents; concerns over first amendment rights and the bending of the constitution. The general assembly conversation takes place with hundreds of people feeling more empowered and inspired than before. People reiterated that the movement is all over the country and not just in the camp, saying that “you cannot evict an idea whose time has come”. Although all the books, tents, computers and other expensive personal belongings were destroyed, many seem to have found a positive outcome of the raid. Many believe that this will give the movement a chance to no longer depend upon a space to give them a voice, but to take it all over the country. Occupying homes, the work place, schools and conversations, now the protestors can truly benefit from having a conversation as the 99% and not as the Occupy Wall street movement. This all doesn’t mean that occupiers will give up attempts to take back control over the park, but they are discovering that they can use what they have learned from community organization– to give every one a voice within their own separate communities via general assembly facilitation.