General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNY Times: Where FEMA Fell Short, Occupy Was There
Even the Red Cross is sending them donations to distribute!Maligned for months for its purported ineffectiveness, Occupy Wall Street has managed through its storm-related efforts not only to renew the impromptu passions of Zuccotti, but also to tap into an unfulfilled desire among the residents of the city to assist in the recovery. This altruistic urge was initially unmet by larger, more established charity groups, which seemed slow to deliver aid and turned away potential volunteers in droves during the early days of the disaster.
In the past two weeks, Occupy Sandy has set up distribution sites at a pair of Brooklyn churches where hundreds of New Yorkers muster daily to cook hot meals for the afflicted and to sort through a medieval marketplace of donated blankets, clothes and food. There is an Occupy motor pool of borrowed cars and pickup trucks that ferries volunteers to ravaged areas. An Occupy weatherman sits at his computer and issues regular forecasts. Occupy construction teams and medical committees have been formed.
Managing it all is an ad hoc group of tech-savvy Occupy members who spend their days with laptops on their knees, creating Google documents with action points and flow charts, and posting notes on Facebook that range from the sober (Adobo Medical Center in Red Hook needs an 8,000 watt generator AS SOON AS POSSIBLE) to the endearingly hilarious (We will be treating anyone affected by Sandy, FREE of charge, with ear acupuncture this Monday). While the local tech team sleeps, a shadow corps in London works off-hours to update the Twitter feed and to maintain the intranet. Some enterprising Occupiers have even set up a wedding registry on Amazon.com, with a wish list of necessities for victims of the storm; so far, items totaling more than $100,000 water pumps and Sawzall saw kits have been ordered.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/nyregion/where-fema-fell-short-occupy-sandy-was-there.html?pagewanted=all
qanda
(10,422 posts)Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts):kick:
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)I am going to pretend that the toilet paper I sent from the "wedding" registry is in there somewhere.
FailureToCommunicate
(13,968 posts)Seems like orderly pews are finally a useful setup!
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)Indpndnt
(2,391 posts)Melinda
(5,465 posts)Oh wait - it's proud, happy tears. THIS is what social responsibility looks like.
Well done OWS, well done.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)me b zola
(19,053 posts)progressoid
(49,758 posts)cprise
(8,445 posts)The 1% will use stories like this to argue against FEMA. They will say is proves that emergency response should be left to local people.
ananda
(28,758 posts)People get to see heart and altruism winning out at last!
Occupy.
Mme. Defarge
(7,973 posts)Just posted on Facebook.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)Read here this morning that Occupy is an ineffective group of dirty hippies!!!!
Now back to the real world. This is part of disaster response, and would not have happened under bush. Find the effective on the ground organizations and work with them. They know the ground better than you do nine out of ten times. Tricky part is finding the fraudulent ones.
Occupy is a very effective on the ground organization. For me it was the Frente Campesino and the on the ground neighborhood groups.
Now NYT. Of course they are making this up...
GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)I'm speechless.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)myrna minx
(22,772 posts)marmar
(76,945 posts)nt
myrna minx
(22,772 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)Which are separate from facts
Raster
(20,996 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)and everyone is the better for it.
Politics isn't just about demonstrations, voting and writing your congresscritter. It is also helping in-depth!
When the next disaster hits, we should be ready and emulate Occupy.
George II
(67,782 posts)....there are DOZENS of organizations providing relief to the victims of Hurricane Sandy, but I haven't seen one boasting or patting themselves on their backs simply because they're doing what any sensible, caring person or organization might do.
There's the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, Kitchen Corps, the United States Marines, Hope For New York, Coney Island Lighthouse, Red Hook Recovers, Staten Island Recovers, the Salvation Army, and many more.
They're ALL providing relief services.
marmar
(76,945 posts)The sh*t you read on DU sometimes.
George II
(67,782 posts)....your antagonistic chip-on-the-shoulder post to which I responded:
"Wow, the Occupy Haters are conspicuously absent from this thread."
It's not about the NYT article, it's about the chip on the shoulders of the so-called "Occupy" folks, who beat their chests about how good and righteous they are. This wasn't the first thread about the braggadocio of the "Occupy" rabble, to wit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1781918
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021778163
Don't see the Red Cross bragging, or the Doctors Without Borders bragging, or the many other organizations helping out, etc. etc. etc.
DO SOME GOOD for the sake of doing good, not for talking about how "great" you all are!!!
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)One priest involved in the overall action said "This is what a church is for."
Thanks for the article!
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)Hugs!
DianaForRussFeingold
(2,552 posts)The Church of St. Luke & St. Matthew
is on Facebook.
FailureToCommunicate
(13,968 posts)myrna minx
(22,772 posts)Wind Dancer
(3,618 posts)Thanks for sharing!
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)It includes a great set of photos including this:
justabob
(3,069 posts)to get the items they need. That's pretty clever. Yay Occupy!
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)The Wielding Truth
(11,410 posts)DippyDem
(658 posts)adirondacker
(2,921 posts)Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)This is true. The Occupy camps were far more than a protest space. It was a space to provide food, medical care, mental health services, and support amongst the Occupiers and for anyone else who needed these things. As a community that involved music, art, education and necessities, it was very successful. Foreclosure actions, debt relief, and disaster relief is a natural extension of mutual aid and skills learned in the Occupy camps. It is nice to see Occupy in the news again but it is good to remember they never went away.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Occupy-Sandy-Onetime-protesters-find-new-cause-4025491.php#ixzz2BrD9cQxh
Raksha
(7,167 posts)because my daughter was actively involved with Occupy Oakland and several other Occupy movements last year.
Re "The Occupy camps were far more than a protest space. It was a space to provide food, medical care, mental health services, and support amongst the Occupiers and for anyone else who needed these things. As a community that involved music, art, education and necessities, it was very successful."
Yeah, they were "very successful" until the Occupy camps were busted in what turned out to be a well-coordinated crackdown. But even after the crackdown the other activities and services continued, albeit lower key and less publicized.
Loge23
(3,922 posts)Occupy is saving lives in Rockaway, a devastated community still without power and little government assistance.
Just wondering what Goldman Sachs is doing to help along with the legions of WS punks with their 6&7-figure salaries.
loudsue
(14,087 posts)if I knew how!
femrap
(13,418 posts)awe of Occupy Sandy. What great work.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)It's about climbing 23 flights of stairs in the dark to knock on the doors of people who are trapped in their apartments because they're too old or sick to walk down, to get them the food and medication they need to stay alive, and to let them know they haven't been forgotten.
It's about working with neighborhood organizations -- and even with one motorcycle club -- and putting a public face on the 99%.
It's about discovering the real-world application of all those skills that were worked out in the "sandbox" of Zuccotti Park a year ago -- feeding large numbers of people, distributing clothing and other supplies, and caring for the homeless.
There's a cold winter coming with anything between 10,000 and 40,000 people who have no homes as a result of the hurricane, and that may be beyond Occupy's ability to deal with through simple people power. But they may yet come up with something -- and at the very least, they won't stop reminding the rich and powerful that there are still citizens in need.
bluethruandthru
(3,918 posts)Wow....hard to believe the right lied about something!
horseshoecrab
(944 posts)This is a wonderful write-up in the NYT.
Even more wonderful is that Occupy is doing this good work for the people! Love this!
Politicub
(12,162 posts)The movement is coming into its own beyond protest.
Without Occupy, there never would have been a discussion about the 1%. I consider the movement vitally important to Obama's reelection.
Hekate
(89,976 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)One of the biggest LIES that we are constantly fed by the oligarchy is that we must be helpless and patient and resigned...that all of these problems are just too big for us and the powers that be are already doing the best that anyone could do...
The people are waking up.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)and one of the biggest lies, is that "change takes such a very lo-o-o-o-ng time to happen".
Yes. Rapidly..as needed.
TheKentuckian
(24,904 posts)Z_California
(650 posts)This is the future.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)Heros, all!
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)Oh yeah, too busy crying and contemplating suicide because millionaires have to pay more taxes.
Beartracks
(12,754 posts)O-C-C-U-P-Y
================
agent46
(1,262 posts)If there's hope it's with the people.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)benld74
(9,881 posts)Where's the reports on the large corporate 'people', out there where they are needed, by the people who are theor customers!? Has anyone heard anything like that in the news? Except for AB canning water to be sent, I have NOT.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)underthematrix
(5,811 posts)progressivebydesign
(19,458 posts)A Federal Agency must operate within specific guidelines, rules, and protocol. A group like Occupy, which cannot be sued, cannot be held accountable, can accomplish things that large organizations cannot. it's that simple.
oldbanjo
(690 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)....and none of them are looking for accolades or "credit" - it's what people do in a time like this.
me b zola
(19,053 posts)joshcryer
(62,265 posts)Can't have government workers putting themselves or others at risk by staying open during a storm...
This is what makes self-organization so powerful.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)This is all pretty amazing! And great!
blackspade
(10,056 posts)GO OCCUPY!
Baitball Blogger
(46,532 posts)Well done lads and lassies.
George II
(67,782 posts)So, they're not as monolithic and useless as many around here thing, eh???
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Not to diminished the efforts by Occupy, I want to shout out to the RAINBOW people for this. https://www.wepay.com/donations/279990407
They were down helping with Katrina as well. They have huge kitchens that are protable for the Gatherings so they are putting them to use to help people in the region hardest hit. One of the broadcasters on KVMR.org was on today. And he is taking time off to help with this. He is a chef in the rainbow gathering Kitchen and told the story of how they are feeding hundreds of people every day.
So if you can donate. Thede guys re on the street, in many communities and the more $ the better everyone will be and the more people will be fed.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)I'm Rainbow & Occupy. Been going to gatherings for almost 4 decades.
Kumbricia
(84 posts)In every city, and not just during disasters