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Colorado Seen 03/2012 OCCUPY DENVER A YEAR OF PROTEST
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Colorado Seen
03/2012
OCCUPY DENVERA YEAR OF PROTEST
From the EditorI count over 430 distinct individuals in
the pictures of this issue — not including the hundreds in some of the mass rally overviews. Demonstrators, dancers, marchers, police, interest-ed (and not-so-interested) bystanders.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with the politics and philosophy of the Oc-
cupy movement, they get one thing right:“This is what democracy looks like!”There’s an election next week, which
means you don’t have to be an Occupier to stand up and have your voice heard — you just have to get out and vote.
Colorado Seen
An internet image magazine
Editor & PublisherAndrew Piper
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Copyright © 2012 ColoradoSeen
ON thE COVER:Occupy Denver marchers parade down 15th
Street past the Denver Pavilions shopping mall on their way to protest outside Denver’s branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.
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OCCUPY DENVER A YEAR OF PROTEST
OCCUPY DENVER A YEAR OF PROTESTTEXT & PhOTOS bY ANDY PiPER
on September 17, 2011, protesters occupied New York City’s Wall Street financial district. By the end of that week, supporters had also oc-cupied Denver’s Veterans Park, a section of the city’s Civic Center Plaza at the foot of Colorado’s State Capitol building.
The driving force for the Occupy movement was disgust at the growing income disparity between the “1%” of richest Americans and the other “99%.” And government policies during the current economic crisis, such as bailouts of Wall Street (and other) financial institutions, that seemed to feed that disparity.
Within a week, Occupy Denver had become a thriving tent commune along a block of Broad-way, with its own food distribution center (the “Thunderdome” — a reference to the subsis-tence lifestyles in the Mad Max movies) and free clothing store. Population swelled and shrank, from about 50 regulars to hundreds during Sat-urday demonstrations and marches.
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Occupy Denver participants deliver a donation of fruit cups to “Thunderdome,” the protest’s ramshackle food kitchen in Veteran’s Park at the foot of the Colorado Capitol building.
Outside Occupy Denver’s kitchen hut, Barb, left and Sleepy, who did not want
to reveal their last names, prepare coffee for the dozens of demonstrators.
“We are here to put the REVerie in the REVolution,” said Barb. “The Revolution
Will Not Be Televised — but it will be caffeinated,” said Sleepy, in a reference
to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1970 poem.
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George Lelesz, left, was laid off from his job as a fireman due to gov-ernment austerity measures brought on by the economic crisis. Although he had found a new job as a bus driver, he spent his Saturdays dem-onstrating in Denver’s Civic Center Plaza along with other supporters of the Occupy Denver movement.
The Plaza is a three-block-long park linking Denver’s cupola-topped City and County Building, background, with the State Capitol’s hilltop perch overlooking the Rocky Mountains.
11
“Mike Check!” A General Assembly of Occupy Den-
ver protesters meet to discuss issues and plan events in early October 2011. In the participatory democracy model of the Occupy movement, a “mike check” al-lowed one person to speak while others repeated their words loudly as a measure of respect, and so that those more dis-tant could hear.
After 21 days, by October 13, the Oc-cupy Denver hamlet at the foot of the Capitol steps had become a stable and growing community.
But the City and State governments had other plans, and warned the occupi-ers that they had until 11 p.m. to leave. . .
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October 14, 2011. State and city law enforcement officers in riot gear line Broadway in front of dump trucks loaded with the remains of the Occupy Denver encampment.
October 14, 2011. As dawn breaks over the Colorado state capitol, state police move in, push the demonstrators across Broadway onto city property in Civic Center Plaza, and tear down or confiscate the structures, tents and sleeping bags on state land.
in a pre-dawn raid of the Occupy Den-ver settlement on October 14, a phalanx of state and Denver police officers swept into Veterans Park and removed sleep-ing Occupy Denver participants from their tents, drove them across Broadway away from the Capitol, and then demol-ished the tent city and illegal “permanent structures” such as the Thunderdome.
Twenty-three people were arrested on charges of unlawful conduct on public lands. Those not arrested milled around on the Broadway Terrace, watching as their protest site was dismantled and loaded into dump trucks.
When the demolishment was complete and the trucks had driven away, demon-strators were allowed back onto the site.
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Stunned Occupiers mill about on the west side of Broadway
as they watch their camp being demolished and loaded onto
trucks beyond a line of police.
Neal Minter, serving as “Security” for Occupy Denver, talks to a reporter after state troopers push the protest off state land. Worried about further conflict with police, he keeps a wary eye on his angry fellow demonstrators.
The dump trucks depart south on Broadway, carrying the remains of
the Thunderdome, clothing store, tents and other Occupy structures.
After the dawn demolishment of the Occupy Denver encampment, protestors were allowed back into Veterans Park under the watchful
eyes of law enforcement.
the removal of the Occupy Denver campsite provoked an immediate re-sponse. The next day more than 1,000 demonstrators filled the Broadway ter-race of Civic Center Plaza fronting the Capitol, rallied, and then marched on the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank, which is despised by the move-ment for bailing out financial corpora-tions.
At right, a performance artist ha-rangues the Oct. 15 crowd in her Stalin-ist/Gothic/leather persona as “Mufti” the agente-provacateuse.
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A day after police demolished the Occupy Denver campsite, around
1,000 demonstrators came out to march in support of the
movement.
A filmmaker documenting Occupy Denver, above, gets an interview with Martina Ramos, 9, before Occupy Den-ver’s weekly march, on Saturday Oct. 15, 2011, from their new rally point in Civic Center Plaza. At right, videographers and photographers climb a light pedes-tal to improve their view of the plaza-filling crowd.
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Marchers gather to begin a trek down the 16th St. pedestrian mall to Denver’s branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. American flags include the traditional design, and a ‘corporate’ flag with large companies’ trademarks in place of stars.
A young demonstrator adds a chalk message
to a Broadway sidewalk in front of
the state Capitol.
the Amphitheater in Civic Center Plaza was home to demonstration the-atrics on Saturdays, often meant to surprise, shock and offend as well as express opinions. At left, Occupy Den-ver participants dance on the Ameri-can flag (while in the background an-other flag is flown respectfully) after a march on Nov. 5, 2011.
Businessmen (always male) are por-trayed variously as pigs, demons, or the quintessential top-hatted rich fat capitalist: “Uncle Pennybags” from the Monopoly board game.
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The Oct. 15 march kicks off with drums and bullhorns. The mustachioed “Guy Fawkes” mask became a symbol of the Occupy movement nationwide.
A marcher hands out literature to construction workers along Denver’s 16th
Street pedestrian mall. Some Occupiers shared positions on many issues with the more conservative Tea Party movement,
including opposition to the U.N. as well as the Federal Reserve Bank.
While most of the demonstrations and marches throughout October and November passed without serious inci-dent, on October 29 a march ended in a face-off between Occupy Denver and police in front of the Capitol after police shut down a free food stand reminiscent of the Occupiers’ original “Thunderdome” food kitchen.
It was presumably a sign of social prog-ress that women were on both sides of the battle lines.
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Under a reversed American flag, the marchers pass stores along 15th St.
on the way to the Federal Reserve building.
The protesters fascinate a youngster watching the march from a restaurant window along 15th Street.
A fist fight breaks out between two Occupy Denver demonstrators over whether or
not to burn an American flag outside the Federal Reserve Bank. The flag eventually was tossed over a bank fence and escaped
being burned.
Occupy Denver protesters mount the balustrade of the Federal
Reserve Bank branch at 16th and Champa Sts. in downtown Denver.
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Signs for The Money Museum inside Denver’s Federal Reserve Bank served as an ironic backdrop to Occupy Denver’s demonstrations outside.
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Signs for The Money Museum inside Denver’s Federal Reserve Bank served as an ironic backdrop to Occupy Denver’s demonstrations outside.
FACESOF OCCUPY DENVER
tERRY BURNSED
“I’m out here because a choice between the troglodyte, racist GOP and the
spineless, bourgeois Democrats is no choice at all.”
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FACESOF OCCUPY DENVER
JULiAN EMERYS
“I’ve been at every Occupy event since October 2011. I was living at Broadway and Colfax for four
months.”
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LiNDSEY (With JULiANE & AVA)
“Keep it going! Something has to happen. I can’t believe
we won’t have an effect eventually.”
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thE RAGiNG GRANNiES
ChRiStiNE SOtO, JUDY tROMPEtER,SARAh LEhAN, ANNiE MEO,
LOUiSE WESt, MARthA NAREY
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“We get out and do what we can — write a little, sing a little. You have to stand up and be someone.”
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DARREN O’CONNOR
“I’ve been blogging about Occupy Denver since January, but this is my
first event streaming video.”
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tERRY hiLL
“I’m from Spokane, but I met an Occupy Denver organizer at a ‘Localize This!’ training session on Vashon Island, and a few of us decided on a little
road trip.”
A skaterboarder joins a desultory ‘mike check’ circle on a snowy day in January, 2012. Cold weather reduced Occupy Denver marches and rallies to a handful of stalwarts throughout much of the winter.
Without recourse to ‘permanent structures’ that brought an immediate police response, Occupiers re-sorted to more temporary sleeping bags to maintain an overnight presence along Broadway, and made common cause with the homeless people who also spent their days and nights in Civic Center Plaza.
“This is our home,” said Millie and Steve, at right, of their collection of sleeping bags and backpacks. An Occupier made sure his “home” stayed clean, above.
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Occupiers awake on a cold January morning amid a sea of sleeping bags and tarpaulins. The Denver City Council began proceedings to outlaw ‘urban camping’ when they discovered that it was not —in fact — already illegal.
A lone Occupy Denver demonstrator braves a snow shower on a raw January day.
Spring sunshine — and a need to fight the proposed ban on urban camping — brought new life to the Occupy Denver movement, culminating with a ‘General Strike’ and May Day march.
the May Day 2012 “General Strike” ral-ly and march recaptured some of the en-ergy — and the crowds — of the autumn demonstrations.
“Mike checks” and protest songs echoed from the Greek Amphitheatre in Civic Center Plaza.
Police rode shotgun on bicycles and motorcycles, blocking traffic to allow the marchers free access to the parade route, as they wound through the Capi-tol Hill district and up Broadway before proceeding — as always — to the Federal Reserve Bank.
Watch a video of the Occupy Denver 2012 May Day protest and
march. CLiCk hERE
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Protecting themselves in case of arrest,Occupy Denver protesters tattoo the phone number of their legal defense team on their arms with permanent markers before the May Day march.
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This whole family came to the May Day rally. The Guy Fawkes masks are borrowed from V for Vendetta, a British comic book and film about an anti-fascist rebellion in London.
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This whole family came to the May Day rally. The Guy Fawkes masks are borrowed from V for Vendetta, a British comic book and film about an anti-fascist rebellion in London.
On the evening after the May Day rally, Occupy Denver staged a “slumber party” along Denver’s 16th St. pedestrian mall as a last demonstration against the impending law banning “urban camping.”
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During the sleep-over, a portable soup kitchen provided hot meals to demonstrators.
After May Day, summer college vacations and the camping ban again sapped some of the strength from Occupy Denver. Today its events are still frequent, but targeted to spe-cific times, issues and locales.
On Sept. 17, the anniversary of the original Wall Street occupation, Occupy Denver held a Foreclosure Dance Party at the entrance of Denver’s main Wells Fargo Bank offices. “Pow-er-to-the-people” cupcakes were served, and two-sided banners also expressed solidarity with Chicago’s striking teachers’ union.
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Occupy Denver demonstrator Rashon
protests continuing home foreclosures
Sept. 17 outside the Denver headquarters of
Wells Fargo Bank.
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Music ripples through the streets of Denver’s financial district as Occupy Denver holds a ‘Foreclosure Dance Party’ outside the Denver offices of Wells Fargo Bank.
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Music ripples through the streets of Denver’s financial district as Occupy Denver holds a ‘Foreclosure Dance Party’ outside the Denver offices of Wells Fargo Bank.
At quitting time, a businessman rejects an offer of Occupy Denver
literature outside the Wells Fargo Bank building at 17th
St. and Broadway.
On September 23, Occupy Denver lent its support to World Peace Day. A rally of 50 or so decorated the statue of a Civil War soldier on the Capitol steps, and marched to the Denver offices of Chase Bank and military contractor Halliburton Corp. to protest the “Military-industrial Complex.”
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in the end, after a year of demonstra-tions, encampments, songs and marches, what has changed?
There are new signs on the lawns of the Civic Center, above. Denver has a new or-dinance banning “urban camping.” And the Colorado Capitol dome now wears a white plastic wrapper to protect workers renovating the aging structure.
Unable to truly “occupy” Denver as originally planned, Occupy Denver and the rest of the Occupy movement have not yet brought capitalism to its knees.
What it has done is keep a conversa-tion about troubling issues alive and spo-radically visible. And keeping issues alive and visible is what democracy looks like.
Occupy Denver would say that that is not an end, but a beginning. n
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On Sept. 17, 2012, a lone Occupy Denver supporter waves the flag where the movement began a year before, on Broadway at the foot of the Capitol. n
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