The Occupy Wall Street movement began in New York and has spread to many major cities throughout the United States. They have no leader, have varying goals and ideas, but are all willing to give their time, energy, and resources to exercise their freedom of speech.
It is not my intention to be leading with any questions I pose in this project. I ask them sincerely and openly. I am not here to tell you how you feel about these questions is right or wrong. I'm just asking.
I have two goals with this project:
1. I wanted to see a side of an issue that isn't shown (or can't be shown), that I would normally disregard for lack of information. This was the first time in my life I really looked into an issue of this kind myself and not rely on others to tell me what to think. I realized that I had strong opinions about the occupy movement that I had formed with little information from sources I don't always trust. I wanted to understand the occupy movement and form my personal opinion about it by speaking with occupy protestors themselves. They claim that the media is not representing them correctly, which may or may not be true, but I wanted to hear what they had to say.
2. Explore the concept of free speech and have the viewer think about where they draw the line. What "counts" as free speech? How free is free speech? I am not striving to advocate for nor against this particular movement, but rather use it as a vehicle to explore the mechanisms we have been given as an American people to instigate change and pursue happiness.
This is Jess. She is a college student, just like us. She lives in our area. She probably has a similar daily routine as many of us. She is a protestor in support of Occupy Provo, a group that sympathizes with the Occupy Wall Street movement and dedicates their Saturdays to protest local banks, politicians, etc.
What do you believe? What do you stand for? In regards to your beliefs, at what point would you feel a need to exercise your freedom of speech? What would cause you to feel a need to stand in front of a building in the cold with a sign all day?
The Occupy movement does not have a leader, nor central goals. Instead, they take past leaders that have brought about change as inspiration. I found this on the wall of a store in Salt Lake City where Occupy protesters were having a spray painting activity to raise awareness. With permission from the store owners, the Occupy protestors transformed the back of this building into a collection of images and words that they felt represent the movement.
Without a clear goal or specific solutions, is a person's voice valid? What counts as "valid" free speech to you? What does an argument have to have in order to make you give it consideration?
We'll say this is Don (fake name). He is an Air Force veteran and a bus driver. He told me that every day he looks at the kids he takes to school and thinks about their future. His goal is to give America's children the ability to pursue happiness. I don't think he had any specific political ideals that he was pushing during this protest. He was just celebrating that we live in a country where an old veteran can stand and protest without fear. He was making sure that exercising free speech is something those kids will be able to count on throughout their lives.
How important is free speech to you? How far would you go to protect it? Also, where do you draw the line with free speech? Is it where people may be harmed by what is being said? Is there anything that you feel is important enough to be said, even though people might be harmed by it? Would there be any possible reason that limiting completely free speech would be a good thing?
This is Jake. He was one of the Occupy Salt Lake protestors camping out in Pioneer Park as part of a ongoing 24/7 protest like the one in New York City. He was unemployed and smelled faintly of marijuana. He showed me that there was a division among the people camping there. He pointed at half the camp and said these were the people that knew what they were talking about. He pointed to the other half and said they were homeless people and drug addicts that were just hanging around for other reasons. Maybe the sense of community, or the occasional free meal, or maybe just for the party of it all.
When someone is voicing their opinion, does it matter who the person is to you?
This is Pioneer Park right before Occupy campers were evicted by police. Their permit was revoked after a man died in the camp. It wasn't clear but was believed by protestors and police that he died of carbon monoxide poisoning and drug overdose. Jake said to me it was one of the homeless men hanging along for the ride.
The protestors were given until sundown to get their tents out of Pioneer Park to enforce their permit being revoked. At sundown, Chief Chris Burbank came with a few officers to tell the protestors they needed to leave, and that if they wanted to be arrested as part of their protest, that it could be arranged. Here, a policeman stands by as one of the two mobile command posts arrived on site. There were also two police buses and 50 police cars lining the south side of Pioneer Park, creating a tense no-man's-land between protestors and policemen. The police were clear and non-violent. However, they were ready to take everyone into custody if necessary. The Occupy protestors I spoke with were very sad about what happened with the man that died. They did not, however, feel like it was their fault. They felt it was an excuse the police used to kick everyone out. They repeated to me that over 50 homeless people have died last year in Salt Lake City, and the police never lifted a finger then.
Where do you draw the line with free speech? If you had control to end the exercising of free speech in a particular place or a particular way, what would you need to see happen to justify that? When is it okay to intentionally limit a movement?
This is Jesse. He was ready at any moment to jump on a table and begin a speech. He urged Occupy protestors to never leave unless they were doing so in handcuffs. Here, he is being interviewed by the media. He was wearing an American flag with 99 written on the back, in reference to the idea that 99% of Americans have less say in the government than those whose incomes are within the top 1%. He was arrested later that evening. His back is to the viewer intentionally, hiding his face, to bring up the following question:
Do you feel the media in general adequately represents our people and the situations we face?
Almost a month later, Occupy Salt Lake finds itself in a strange spot.
This is Mitch. He wants to promote the Occupy movement in any way he can, but disagreements with other Occupy protestors have caused him to not form part of the main camp.
Mitch decided to offer his van to the movement. The OSLC van will be one of the new ways Occupy has decided to exercise its free speech to help replace camping. In this picture we can see a local graffiti artist named Stephon helping out with the van. Stephon wants to create a center for troubled youth, where they can come and spray paint freely.
How far would you go to have your voice heard?
Occupy Salt Lake got a permit to camp by the Gallivan Center. Their numbers are seriously reduced, from the 150 campers in Pioneer Park to around ten tents at the new location. However, this sign on the side of one of the temporary structures indicates they do not plan on disappearing. Today, one month from the day that the Occupy movement was evicted from Pioneer Park, they have decided to take part in a nationwide protest blocking Walmart product shipping across the country. This is perhaps the first major protest since the eviction last month.
Is the Occupy Salt Lake movement really back?
Other Links:
Today's Protest - https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/d12slc
Burbank explains his reasoning - http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-video-burbank-talks-about-occupyslc-20111112,0,6306555.htmlstory
