Wall Street Protesters Gorge on ‘OccuPie’ Pizza, Veggies
Three weeks into the Wall Street demonstrations in Zuccotti Park, one admiring citizen has brought socks and vegetables.
“I complain all the time,” Amy Evans, 36, a playwright and adjunct Fordham University professor, said Wednesday afternoon. “To see people who are turning complaints into action, I feel I have to assist in some way.”
Liberatos Pizza, a few blocks south, has been taking orders from supporters around the world to have its $15 “OccuPie” delivered to the protesters. Owner Telly Liberatos said since Sept. 18 he’s sold hundreds of the 18-inch pies, lined with pepperoni around the perimeter and through the diameter.
“I have nothing to do with the protest,” Liberatos said. “I don’t take sides. It was a very slow summer. I’m trying to run my business.”
Evans, who’s donated 30 cans of vegetables and three-dozen white cotton socks, said she wouldn’t be staying overnight. “I applaud them,” she said, “but I’m not much of a camper.”
This budding movement -- of sleepovers and drop-ins, youngsters and oldsters, radicals and liberals, placard holders and Om-hummers -- appears to represent a big tent. Based on a dozen interviews and the protest’s web site and free broadsheet paper, “The Occupied Wall Street Journal,” participants believe the economy and U.S. government are failing most Americans and that large U.S. corporations, particularly in finance, are too powerful.
Displaying a sign that asked, “How’s the best congress $$$ can buy doing?” Paul Derose, a 56-year-old Queens landscaper, said he felt betrayed by President Barack Obama. “I thought he had to be different and he may be the greatest shill there’s ever been.”
‘Driven to Craziness’
“I’ve been loving politics and policy since I was a child and I’ve been driven to craziness by what I see now,” said Derose, who also works part-time in a clothing store. He supports public financing of elections.
“It’s the typical wish list -- you probably know what it is,” he said of his goals for change. “And the global warming thing is freaking me out.”
There’s media aplenty -- journalists literally collide with each other -- and free food dispensed by volunteers. Pizza, fruit, sandwiches were on offer this week, depending on time of day. Most of it is donated.
“What they’ve done here is create a radical democratic non-commodified public space,” said Arun Gupta, co-founder of “The Occupied Wall Street Journal,” who also helps run the newspaper “The Indypendent.” “There is no exchange of money going on here at all. This is a powerful symbol, in the sanctum of global capitalism.”
$51,123 in Donations
By early Thursday afternoon, 1,169 people had submitted credit card numbers, donating $51,123 to the four-page, full- color “Journal” through the Internet site Kickstarter. In his lead story in the first issue, Gupta wrote that “the dispossessed have liberated territory from the financial overlords and their police army.”
“This is not the revolution,” Gupta said in the interview. “But it is changing people’s consciousness about what is possible.”
As a personal influence, Gupta, 46, cited “The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Time,” by Giovanni Arrighi, a Johns Hopkins University sociologist who died in 2009.
Simon & Garfunkel
Kanaska Carter, a 26-year-old singer-songwriter and tattoo artist, said she was inspired to participate by Paul Simon’s “The Sound of Silence.”
“We’re all breaking the silence of the society,” said Carter, a Canadian who moved to New York weeks earlier and has been sleeping in the park. “My mom is so supportive. My dad tells me to go to school, but then I’d be in so much debt.”
Carter could be heard quietly performing John Fogerty’s 1970 song “Who’ll Stop the Rain” on acoustic guitar on Wednesday, one of countless musicians scattered in the park.
“When you come down here, there’s joy,” said Bill Dobbs, who identified himself as a member of the “Occupy Wall Street” PR working group. “Joy and anger are the most important ingredients of great activism, because it’s not a job. No one gets paid.”
Surveying thousands rallying in nearby Foley Square on Wednesday afternoon, Aaron Brenner, a researcher with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union with a Ph.D. in labor history from Columbia University, declared himself encouraged.
“Is this the beginning of a movement? I hope so,” he said. “The labor movement has struggled for lots of reasons. Because of that, workers’ wages have been stagnating for 30 years and the gains have gone to people at the top. How long can that continue?”
To contact the writer of this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
A sign at the Occupy Wall Street protest..
A sign at the Occupy Wall Street protest.. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- "Occupy Wall Street" protestors speak with Bloomberg's Lili Rosboch in Lower Manhattan about the reasons behind their demonstrations and their opposition to the financial and political status quo. (Source: Bloomberg)
Arun Gupta
Philip Brooff/Bloomberg
Arun Gupta, founder of "The Occupied Wall Street Journal" in New York. The paper has raised over $50,000 from contributors on the Internet.
Arun Gupta, founder of "The Occupied Wall Street Journal" in New York. The paper has raised over $50,000 from contributors on the Internet. Photographer: Philip Brooff/Bloomberg
Lisa and Paul Derose
Philip Boroff/Bloomberg
Lisa and Paul Derose at Zuccotti Park in New York are joining hundreds of protesters this week in New York, now in its third week.
Lisa and Paul Derose at Zuccotti Park in New York are joining hundreds of protesters this week in New York, now in its third week. Photographer: Philip Boroff/Bloomberg
Kanaska Carter
Philip Boroff/Bloomberg
Kanaska Carter, a singer and songwriter, at Zuccotti Park in New York. She said she plans to live there through the winter.
Kanaska Carter, a singer and songwriter, at Zuccotti Park in New York. She said she plans to live there through the winter. Photographer: Philip Boroff/Bloomberg
Amy Evans
Amy Evans, a playwright and adjunct professor, at Zuccotti Park in New York, has donated food to the protesters in lower Manhattan. Photo: Philip Boroff/Bloomberg
Amy Evans, a playwright and adjunct professor, at Zuccotti Park in New York, has donated food to the protesters in lower Manhattan. Photo: Philip Boroff/Bloomberg
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
The Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park.
The Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
An interview at Occupy Wall Street.
An interview at Occupy Wall Street. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
A participant at the Occupy Wall Street protest.
A participant at the Occupy Wall Street protest. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
A fake Fox News camera and mic are used to interview a participant at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park in New York.
A fake Fox News camera and mic are used to interview a participant at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park in New York. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
A statement is made with a dog kennel at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park.
A statement is made with a dog kennel at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
A protester who is part of the Occupy Wall Street protest at Broadway and Wall Street.
A protester who is part of the Occupy Wall Street protest at Broadway and Wall Street. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Dancing at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park in New York.
Dancing at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park in New York. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Occupy Wall Street
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Crowds gather at the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Zuccotti Park in New York. The protest and encampment of the park began on Sept. 17.
Crowds gather at the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Zuccotti Park in New York. The protest and encampment of the park began on Sept. 17. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
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