Official Press Statement

Contact: occupystlouis@gmail.com

Occupy St. Louis Cites City for Violations

November 7, 2011—Today OccupySTL is issuing an open statement regarding the group’s presence in Kiener Plaza. The statement reads:

Occupy St. Louis is one of many cities that exist as a solidarity movement with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which formed to publicly attest to the fact that corporations control far too much of our economy and political life. This movement has received vast support across the country. How ironic, then, that Mayor Slay has decided to stop listening to the complaints of the people and instead heed the complaints of the corporate groups who control the city.   This week, Downtown Partnership met with the mayor’s office and told him to shut us down. He responded to their call. No more fitting example could illustrate who is pulling the strings. (For a list of who voiced the words behind the Mayor's blog: http://www.downtownstl.org/AboutUs/PartnershipforDowntownStLouis/PartnershipBoard.aspx)

One of the most common responses to the thought of wide spread Anarchy by those who've made it past the anarchy=chaos misconception is that of the lowly trashman.  "But who'd take out the trash" if we were all free to do what we wanted, who on earth would choose to be the trashman or the sewer worker, you know.. the shit jobs.  I've heard this arguement often and I finally have an answer.  .... I would.

I have met many Rainbows over the years volunteering with one disaster or another; some standing up for your rights on a street corner but I had never made it to a Gathering "on time".   2008 saw a valiant attempt to make it to Wyoming but our side trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation left the bus sabotaged and we spent the week of the Gathering waiting for a part we didn't even need.   So this year I found a random ride home, on Facebook.

Going in I envisioned prolonged down time and hanging out with people I knew but that's not how it played out.  Turns out my friends seem to be the ones that ... do the work.. and we "hung out" mostly in passing as we went about our "work" daze.

Instead of camping with pregathering friends I decided to stick with the 3 random strangers I'd shared a van with for the 5 day journey that we all thought was to be 3.  There were no mechanical problems; we just stopped every hour or 2 and the van was too cramped  for comfortable napping.  It was a bit frustrating for me to take 5 days to drive a distance I've done alone in 2 &1/2 but it was the 1st time I ever road tripped somewhere and did not drive so that was way different and certainly a bonding experience.  ;~)

On Saturday, June 4 from 7-10 pm a panel of storytellers and
documentarians will be talking about their work at the march
headquarters in Marmet, WV. Join us for this lively presentation and
discussion!

Watch the LIVE Stream of this event HERE

This June, hundreds of people from all across the country will come
together to preserve Blair Mountain, abolish mountaintop removal,
strengthen labor rights and invest in sustainable job creation for
Appalachian communities. This event will undoubtedly be historic, but
the struggle for the land and people of Appalachia is ongoing. We hope
that by recording this march and telling stories from it, we can inspire
people in Appalachia and across the nation to continue the struggle.

mo'fo' on panel and the Blair Mountain March @
http://marchonblairmountain.org/?page_id=517

Time lapse photos of 2 afternoons worth of heating, filtering and pumping about a 100 gallons of waste veggie oil. The Bus leaves for Alabama's Tornado Zone on Wed. the 18th.  Then on to the March on Blair Mountain in WV.  ~ download

Thanks to the Frenchmen St Deli & Mardi Gras Zone for their lovely fuel.

SOURCE

by Jerome McCollom