Adbusters-spawned protest results in occupation of Wall Street park

A campaign spawned by Vancouver's Adbusters magazine resulted in a sit-in where protesters set up camp on Wall Street in New York on the weekend. According to a story in the Vancouver Observer, "Occupy Wall Street" was prompted by the magazine and the idea spread through social media. Michah White, the senior editor of Adbusters was quoted saying:

"We're trying to follow the model set up by the Egyptian activists to have an encampment and hold a peoples' assembly," he said. "This is how it's done – you pick a symbolic place, set up camp, and hold a people's assembly and decide what your demands are."

(The encampment, which was set up in Zucotti Park on Liberty Street, a block from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. An estimated 5,000 people took part in a daytime protest march and about 300 people stayed the first night and were apparently digging in for a long-term stay. There was some indications, however, that authorities were beginning to push back, with an increased police presence and suggestions that health inspections would be used to shut it down. Protesters are forbidden from erecting any structures to protect themselves from rain.)

 The event was widely covered by some media, but ignored by others -- such as television -- said the VO article. 

"This is an opportunity for independent journalism to strut its stuff," White said of the protests. "Mainstream media has been belittling it or ignoring it...It's not that there is a total media blackout but there is a kind of belittling and insulting tone taken. The corporate media is showing its true colours."

[Photo by David Shankbone]