I am in Freedom Plaza. The sun has set. An evening program is happening. Comedian Lee Camp is on the stage making jokes about Afghanistan and the version of US history we teach children in schools. About 200-300 people are down in the plaza tonight.

I will be down here following the action until I am scheduled to appear on Richard Estes’ show “Speaking in Tongues” on KDVS 90.3 FM at 8:30 PM ET. Follow the link and you can listen to me live.

Firedoglake’s premier live blog on all things occupy resumes. We’ve followed this from Day One. I was seriously interested in what would happen as a result of Adbusters, OccupyWallSt.org, some Anonymous members and US Days of Rage coming together to promote an occupation of Wall Street. I didn’t wait until unions began to endorse to decide that this was a people-powered action worth supporting. And, now I am here in DC to see if this occupation is able to become sustainable like Occupy Wall Street has been.

LIVESTREAM FOR OCTOBER 2011


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LIVESTREAM FOR OCCUPY WALL STREET

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11:28 PM Freedom Plaza occupiers gradually losing luxury of having a permit. They still have porta-potties. They still have outlets with power in the park. They still have their permit. It runs through Sunday. But, their sound permit ended so now they must use people’s mic.

11:17 PM Some late night updates—

-Blue Texan on the 1,300 who showed up for Occupy Austin

-Anthony Noel offers his take on “life in Freedom Plaza.” The post features Eagle Woman, an indigenous person who attended the Keystone XL pipeline hearing to speak out against what it would do the land where she lives.

-Mary McCurnin posts a firsthand account of Occupy Sacramento. She highlights an email that she received from Occupy Sacramento that indicates they violated a civil order when they banned occupiers who were arrested in Sacramento last night.

-John in Sacramento outlines the ultimate irony of arresting protesters in Cesar Chavez Park.

Short documentary on Occupy Portland

8:28 PM About to go on the radio. (See above for link to tune in and listen.)

7:42 PM Pizza is served and, as you may see on the livestream, a rockin’ band is playing. It’s manic. It sounds kind of like a cross between a Jack White project and Frank Zappa.

7:34 PM Mayor Mike Bloomberg has more scorn for the protesters. Now, in addition to what he said last week, he claims they are hurting the economy:

What they’re trying to do is take the jobs away from people working in this city…They’re trying to take away the tax base we have because none of this is good for tourism.

Through propaganda like this Bloomberg is hoping to turn NYC against the supporters so he can have political support to make some move that suffocates the occupation.

7:27 PM Occupy Atlanta General Assembly votes on whether Congressman John Lewis should be allowed to speak to the occupiers. The outcome is a consensus that he should not speak.

7:23 PM Want to donate a pizza to the occupation in Freedom Plaza? Go here. Tell them you want the pizza delivered to Freedom Plaza. Go here to make all other donations.

7:20 PM From yesterday: a video report on Day 1 in Freedom Plaza

7:19 PM Union leader on Chris Matthews on MSNBC right now. Union leader is not an OWS representative. Movement co-option is in progress.

7:13 PM Jensen: “We have to remember these occupations are taking place on stolen land.” Talks about how capitalism promotes a culture of occupations where land is stolen. He reminds people that the original inhabitants of the land beneath Freedom Plaza were run out of this area by development. He extends this argument to advise occupiers on what to do to successfully defend the Earth against corporations. Bottom line, political and economic entities are destroying our land base, he says.

Jensen calls for the overthrow of the corporate state. He thanks the people for being here. He calls on the police to join the occupation(s).

7:11 PM Derrick Jensen, environmental revolutionary, is now coming up on the stage to speak.

7:08 PM Mike Ferner of Veterans for Peace giving an anecdotal example of how we activists need to learn to listen to each other. He is talking about the union workers from Liuna that were out in support of Keystone XL pipeline and how one member of the occupation got in his face for thinking the pipeline would create jobs. Ferner talked to the worker after that guy left and the worker was trying to hear him out but he didn’t understand his argument. Ferner reminds everyone that we all have something in common. We are not part of the elite running the show.

I saw this today. I did not like seeing the people in orange shirts out in support of the pipeline. It bothered me to see environmentalists once again pitted against labor. But, that is how the elite uses divide and conquer to achieve victory.

6:55 PM Jeff Cohen of FAIR media watch group is talking. He says the mainstream media cannot figure out why you are here. He quotes Seymour Hersh who said, “Don’t count on the New York Times to lead a social revolution. They won’t even know about it for six months.” He says the problem is they do not have their sources in these movements but rather in the elites of the two political parties. Their field of vision is significantly narrowed as a result.

6:50 PM Van Jones has brought his “Rebuild the American Dream” movement to Occupy Wall Street.

6:40 PM General Assembly at 7:10 PM