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Peaceful beginning to Occupy Tucson (video)

by on Oct. 01, 2011, under Arizona, Capitalism, democracy, downtown, Free Speech, jobs, old hippies, organizing, Trickle Down Economics, Tucson
CREDIT: Pamela Powers
CAPTION: Organizing Occupy Tucson, Oct. 1, 2011

Between 50 and 75 Tucsonans attended the First General Assembly of Occupy Tucson this morning. The peaceful and respectful crowd initially gathered in the plaza adjacent to the Unisource Energy Building but moved to Veinte de Agosto Park after Tucson police and Unisource security asked them to.

The crux of the Occupy movement is to take back our country from the control of Wall Street and the corporatists who currently run it by manipulating all levels of elected officials through campaign financing.

Today, the Tucson group worked on next steps in their effort to support the Occupy Wall Street movement, which will be moving into its 2 week. As the Tucson group discussed options for dates and locations and voted on different ideas, I thought: Why can’t Congress or the Arizona Legislature or the City Council or the Rio Nuevo Board or the Tucson Unified School District Board conduct business so peacefully, respectfully, and efficiently?

According to decisions made in the park today, there will be another Tucson planning meeting in Veinte de Agosto Park (AKA Pancho Villa Park) on Sunday, October 9, beginning at noon.  Occupy Tucson will officially begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at the same downtown location. Occupy Tucson’s facebook page has grown to 599 members in less than a week.

Occupations around the US and the world are also slated to begin on Oct. 15– including one in Phoenix.

 

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 1st, 2011 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Arizona, Capitalism, democracy, downtown, Free Speech, jobs, old hippies, organizing, Trickle Down Economics, Tucson. Tags for this post: , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • http://www.texshelters.wordpress.com Tex Shelters

    Awesome job, and so quick!

    Peace,
    Tex Shelters 

  • usmctrucker

    Where were the other 549?

  • Heidi

    And now it’s at 891. We will be over 1,000 within the week, I hope.

  • Jitterbug

    599 MEMBERS ALREADY!!!!! ——– THATS WHATS UP!

  • Fraser007

    Maybe they can take the Pancho Villa Statue with them when they are done?

  • http://www.facebook.com/napsky CEuler

    Hi! Actually, the General Assembly had just decided by consensus to move the gathering to Veinte de Agosto Park at Church/Congress, and then a couple of minutes later we got word the police were asking us to move at the behest of the private owner. The General Assembly also  agreed by 90% consensus to 1. Next General Assembly/planning mtg Sun Oct 9, noon.Veinte de Agosto Park at Church/Congress !Bienvendios todos!  2. Main occupation begins Oct 15, Veinte de Agosto Park at Church/Congress. Yes we know this is Tucson Meets Itself weekend, but we tried to choose a place where Tucson Meets itself wasn’t having an event (that we could find).   3. This will be a ‘Leave No Trace’ protest; we are responsible for cleaning up. 4. This will be a totally nonviolent protest, and we can ask anyone who is speaking/acting violent to leave. This last point was decided unanimously by the General Assembly. 5. We also set up working groups to help with organization, such as the Food/Water group, Law group, Arts/Culture group, IT/media group, etc. Links to those groups are on our main web page: http://www.facebook.com/napsky
     

  • JUST LIKE GREECE

    6. Please stay away from the curbs, be mindful of  traffic,  and watch your step climbing  back into your little time machines.

  • http://www.Justice2012.com Taylor Smith

    Please see the new budget and how to pay for it.

    It is what many people have been waiting for.

    Thanks, Taylor

  • jlintuc

    I occupy my house. Does that count?

  • LOLASMOM

    Please post at website this video from Brave New World;
    http://www.bravenewfoundation.org/occupy/?akid=1908.425084.f_iNfH&rd=1&t=6 

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The Tucson Progressive

Pamela Powers Hannley writes the Tucson Progressive blog on the TucsonCitizen.com and contributes articles to the Huffington Post and Salon.com. She has had more than 30 years of experience in written, visual, and electronic communication—including freelance writing, photography, graphic design, and consulting. In addition to blogging for the Citizen, she is the Managing Editor of an international medical research journal.

Hannley has authored medical research articles, print magazine and newspaper stories, and numerous cancer prevention and self-help publications.

She has been a blogger since 2006, joined the ranks of Tucson Citizen bloggers in October 2010, and started contributing to the Huffington Post in 2011 and to Salon.com in 2012.

Hannley holds a masters’ degree in public health from The University of Arizona and a bachelors’ degree in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a native of Amherst, Ohio but has lived in Tucson since 1981.