84 Year Old Protester: 'People say to me, "Are you crazy? Why don't you just retire?" I can't' [View all]

[kpete]

Last edited Sun Jan 15, 2012, 02:12 PM - Edit history (2)

Protesters' stories: Dorli Rainey and Occupy Seattle
In September 2011, Occupy Wall Street began in Zuccotti Park, New York, when 1,000 people gathered to protest against corporate greed and social inequality. The Occupy movement quickly spread to more than 950 cities and 82 countries. Dorli Rainey, 84, was at an Occupy Seattle protest on 15 November 2011 when a policeman pepper-sprayed her in the face.


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Over the years, I have been active. I helped close down the freeway when the shooting started at Kent State, when the four students got killed during the Vietnam war . I was involved in the anti-WTO protests and got teargassed. People say to me, "Are you crazy? Why don't you just retire?" I can't. I have to keep on going because there's so much work to be done. I just don't feel like sitting at home and letting the world fall apart.

A lot of my older friends are very involved in the protest movement. One, Father Bichsel , is in federal prison here in Seattle. He just turned 84, too. I would like to educate people so they understand what really is happening. Our first amendment rights are being shredded. The police are being militarised. I taught a course about current events at a community college for senior citizens, and those senior citizens still come to events with Occupy Seattle or Stop The FBI Repression . One of my friends is 90, and she has a big Stop The FBI sign and stands in front of the FBI. It's very gratifying when they tell me that they look at the news with completely different eyes. They used to believe everything they read in the paper, but they don't any more.

My voice is not completely back and my lung capacity is not up to 100% yet. I used to run upstairs, but now I get really out of breath – and that is a direct result of the pepper spray. But I am very happy that I got pepper-sprayed, because finally the media are paying attention. I hope it does not go away. I hope that understanding of the real problems in the world will grow.

the rest:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/13/protesters-dorli-rainey-occupy-seattle?newsfeed=true