I am an Occupy Writer. I am writing this to ReOccupy.
A few weeks ago Sunflower Skins sent 100 Feed the Whales books to the People’s Library in Zuccotti Park, hoping to inspire and sustain hope for our fellow protestors of Occupy Wall Street. Our books were part of the collection that was destroyed by the NYPD via Bloomberg’s orders on November 15th. Those were your books too. Everyone’s. Barely a month after celebrating Banned Books Week and our freedom to read and access information, too. What a terrible, terrible shame.
But—do not lose hope. You cannot bear to lose sight of that beautiful vision of the future, one free of corporate corruption and endless greed. Please do not give up.
Resist despair.
I am writing this for myself too. I need to remember this every day when I read the news, when I see continuing police brutality and social injustice. Mass arrests on peaceful protestors. Pepper spray used on the elderly. Batons on the unarmed. I could go on, become distracted—disillusioned—even as I write this. But today is the Day of Direct Action and everywhere everyone has been called, including myself. I cannot physically be present at any of the occupations; how I wish—desperately wish—I could be in Foley Square at this moment. And so I must write this for myself, and for you—reader, story-teller, protestor, citizen: protect your books, honour your free expression, uphold the First Amendment and the Fundamental Freedoms, your democratic rights and constitution. The police state may try to squash it, but we continue to grow stronger, and if the 1% do not honour, as you do, your right to an equal, economically-just society, have heart yet; you can destroy a book, but you cannot destroy an idea, a movement, a revolution. Resist despair.
Please visit the People’s Library and Occupy Writers.
