Saturday, October 29, 2011

Occupy Tampa

I almost entitled this post "The Incredibly Shrinking Occupy Tampa" because their numbers appear to be dwindling.

Long shot of the crowd at Occupy Tampa

Two weeks ago they numbered around a hundred people, maybe more, now they seem to number about thirty. They also are a lot quieter and appear to have a lot less energy. They stand along the road holding signs, waiting for people to honk at them.

Occupy Tampa takes to the street

On Friday they had a run-in with the police and over the last two weeks several of them have been arrested. The arrests involved petty things, like arguments over the size of tables and pushing police officers. I saw a sign referencing their troubles, it read "TPD [Tampa Police Department] did this to me". No one was holding it.

"TPD did this to me"

They've been paranoid about the police since I first saw them. Their police run-ins make me wonder what their protest does to hurt corporations. All I see them doing is hurting the City of Tampa.

Here are some of their signs:

Two signs

"Who brought the economy to its knees?"

"We Shall Overcome"

Here's a sticker I saw on a nearby lamppost, advertising their website (not exactly family friendly):

Monopoly card sticker

Even with their reduced numbers they still have someone beating a drum:

Drummer

I only remember seeing a few of the people I saw today at earlier protests. The guy with a Mohawk wearing shorts in the picture bellow is their security officer. He's not with the police and remembered me. (His name is Chris.)

Occupy Tampa

The guy flashing me a peace-sign in the picture below is the only one them I've seen at all three protests I've been to:

The table

Last time I saw him he was videotaping me for being suspicious, so I'm glad we're cool now. And I have to give him some respect for slogging it out this long. Also for being cute.

I saw no one wearing masks today and no one claiming affiliation with Anonymous.

As I was leaving I took one last shot.

No photography!

The guy in the blue shirt came up to me and started yelling because I took his picture. He threatened to call the police. I didn't apologize and kept repeating that this was a public area (it's a public park). After a bit of this it was like a switch flipped and he shook my hand and walked off. Frankly, I would have felt safer with police around, they don't scare me, people like that guy do.

After this, the Occupy Tampa safety officer (Chris) approached me complaining about the low turn out. I mentioned the weather, he said it might have to do with the local University having events. He also sighted a breakdown between the protesters and the people running their facebook page.

I think people are just tired. The protesters are tired, the City is tired, and so is the media. Maybe a lot of people came to be on TV and now that there are no television cameras, and they might get arrested over something stupid, they don't want to take the risk.

6 comments:

  1. Nice photos, Jason!

    Not much of a protest, is it? A few people with time on their hands and some incomprehensible signs.

    Looks like a nice clean downtown.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RE: The sign on the Bob's Barricade that reads "TPD" did this to me. . . A cop car ran over a pole and knocked it down. lol Sorry for the confusion - I see it confusing to someone who wasn't there.

    One problem with the numbers is that we have no place for 24/7 occupation. But during the weekend rallies, there is consistently hundreds of people at our marches at 3PM. But at any particular time of day you may see a minimum of 10 or 15. At night, the numbers who stay vary between 15 and 60.

    I agree the run ins from the police have distracted from the intention of a 24 hr public protest vigil against corporate money greed causing so many problems! It really bites. But I have been there when the cops are doing their thing, and it is constant harassment. I am personally working with the group to practice non-violent direct action techniques (including how to handle paranoia so that regular people coming to observe aren't thought of as trolls, which we get a lot of. And when those trolls do come, how to handle the situation in a peaceful, strategic way). It is not easy but it can be done.

    RE: the "time on their hands" comment by Michael - I understand that sentiment completely. The people do rotate shifts so that people can get some rest and go to work and go about taking care of other responsibilities. Some stay more often than others. I would say its more of a sacrifice and time management arrangement than having nowhere else to be. I go there every morning from 8am to 11am or noon before I go in to work to take the morning shift as I have a daughter I can't keep over there at night.

    Cheers,
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Debbie King: One problem with the numbers is that we have no place for 24/7 occupation. But during the weekend rallies, there is consistently hundreds of people at our marches at 3PM. But at any particular time of day you may see a minimum of 10 or 15. At night, the numbers who stay vary between 15 and 60.

    I only know what I observe. I've always been there around noon, and on this occasion I saw far fewer people than I have ever seen before. Also, someone there in a position of authority, spoke to me and was concerned about the low turnout.

    I agree the run ins from the police have distracted from the intention of a 24 hr public protest vigil against corporate money greed causing so many problems! It really bites. But I have been there when the cops are doing their thing, and it is constant harassment.

    It can't be constant harassment. I've visited three Occupy Tampa events, probably spent eight hours checking them out, and saw perhaps one cop there, ever. I've walked down the street to other events, held by other organizations, with fewer people, and they had three or four police officers.

    And if a corporation were to do this, say Coca-Cola held an event with Coca-Cola signs and no permit, the police would clear them out of the park right away.

    If anything, Occupy Tampa gets preferential treatment from the city.

    I am personally working with the group to practice non-violent direct action techniques (including how to handle paranoia so that regular people coming to observe aren't thought of as trolls, which we get a lot of.

    You handle trolls by ignoring them. If you go up to newcomers and start screaming at them, or accuse them of being cops, then YOU are the troll.

    The people do rotate shifts so that people can get some rest and go to work and go about taking care of other responsibilities. Some stay more often than others.

    People stay there way too long. This goes on 24/7 and people get worn out, they look disheveled, they get cranky and they snap at people. They even get in situations with the police.

    I think the Occupy movement, as it is now, actually legitimizes the 1% and their place in society. This chaos is apparently what you get when the 1% aren't around running things. And organizing things, like they do, is obviously a lot harder than it looks. Maybe they deserve all the wealth they have.

    I was skeptical of that idea before, but not after visiting so many Occupy events.

    I encourage everyone to visit. (And bring a camera.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ours had an "End of Fed" sign, too. And nothing so artistic as the "chance: you never had one" paper. Where are their tents? Is it an actual occupation or do they just congregate each day and go home at night?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Coketown: Where are their tents? Is it an actual occupation or do they just congregate each day and go home at night?

    The police do not allow tents. They are allowed one table and that is all.

    At one point they tried making the table really big, to sleep under, but the cops came and broke that up.

    In Tampa and Saint Petersburg, homeless people sleep outside, and that's what these people do. From what I've gathered though, only a core group of them does that.

    I've got some pictures of how they sleep in the post I did on them two weeks ago. So many more people and so much more energy!

    ReplyDelete