Mary Johnson Photo.
Power to the people.
It sounds like something out of a gathering of folks in 1970, chanting John Lennon’s song.
More and more, however, it’s a rallying cry for the growing “Occupy Wall Street” movement, which began in mid-September with a gathering on Zuccotti Park near Wall Street and has blossomed into a nationwide call for financial reform.
Mary Johnson Photo.
It’s also the rallying cry for Dr. Marc Schwartz (in green cap), organizer of the Occupy Wall Street rally that took place late Monday afternoon on the Branford green. Approximately 60 people gathered to listen and to express their opinions about today’s economy, politics and corporations.
They came from all walks of life in what organizers believe is the first shoreline town in the state to hold its own “Occupy Wall Street” rally. These protestors will not hold a daily occupation of a portion of the Green as will soon happen in New Haven. This was a rally. There may be more in the future.
Many on the green Monday grew up in a world where protests were the norm.
Mary Johnson Photo.
Many were also seniors who live on pensions. Branford’s population is aging. By 2030, over 40 percent of the town will be seniors, First Selectman Unk DaRos says. Now they represent 25 percent of the town’s population. Others on the green were jobless.
Schwartz was quick to assure the crowd that a permit was not needed for the rally and that organizers had the blessing of both Town Hall and the police department.
Schwartz’s inspiration is Jacob Hacker’s book, Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer – and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. Hacker, a political science professor at Yale University, spoke at the Blackstone Library in September. Schwartz said Hacker described a scenario from 1928 that’s not unlike today in which the top 1 percent holds all the country’s wealth. That ended with Great Depression and it took the likes of Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration to get the country back on its feet.
Schwartz believes that central problems are not being addressed: government and large corporations are in collusion with candidates running for office with money from special interest groups. “There’s more money in fewer pockets,” he says, “And central problems are not being addressed.”
Later at the rally he said, “We’ve lost our sense of accountability. We elect officials, then let them do their thing.”
He said that about 100 people had attended Hacker’s talk at the library and he had tapped into that list in organizing Monday’s event. If you think that protest movements are for young upstarts, think again. The majority of those attending could have been those aforementioned folks in the ‘60s and ‘70s!
Mary Johnson Photo.
People who spoke at the Branford green rally were articulate and echoed the sentiments expressed by the original Occupy Wall Street Organizers. Some, including residents of Guilford and Madison joined Branford townspeople.
Mary Johnson Photo.
John Alfone told his story. He holds a doctorate and can’t find a job.
“We’re frustrated about the lack of progress in Washington and with the economy … the lack of accountability,” Alfone (pictured) said. “I lost my job in June. I hold a doctorate. I’m collecting unemployment and tapping into my pension, but I’m getting taxed on both. There are 50 million people without health care. That’s unacceptable. It sent me over the edge and sent me here.”
Other voices at the rally:
• “I’m appalled that our Congressmen accept health benefits without Americans having those same benefits. We should have the same rights as those voted into office.”
• “I’m a Vietnam veteran who’s been unemployed for three years. I worked in a call center for Pfizer in charge of 150 people. They outsourced those jobs. I was a contract employee. They hired contract employees so they don’t have to pay benefits.”
• “What about the 99’ers? Those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits?”
• From a representative of the Guilford Peace Alliance, citing from Les Misérables: “Charging for the lice and extra for the mice!”
• “We have to dispel the notion that there’s not enough to go around.”
• “We have to reduce the value of politicians to corporations and reduce the complexity of passing legislation.”
Mary Johnson Photo.
Schwartz said he wished more students were present. He admitted that he looked for some sponsorship around town and ran into opposition or indifference. Indeed a woman named Rose at Branford Book and Card said she had no opinion either way about what was happening.
Another speaker said the message at the rally has to get into the schools, since young people will be most affected in the future. The word has to be spread in ways they can relate to. A Facebook page has been created, Shoreline Occupy Wall Street.
Coco Charles, one of the students attending, said that religion and politics seem to be taboo subjects among them. She said she believes many were not aware of Monday’s rally.
As with any organization in its infancy, supporters are needed to help with organizational tasks. Schwartz said the group will break down into smaller focus groups, and come up with recommendations.
They were reminded that New Haven’s Occupy Wall Street rally will kick off with a march on Saturday morning as protesters prepare to start occupying New Haven’s upper Green this weekend.
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