Media Blackout for #takewallstreet
Yesterday on Saturday, September 17th, 2011, it's estimated that somewhere between 50,000 and 75,000 United States citizens marched on New York City's Wall Street in a protest loosely organized by the gloabl internet group Anonymous. Chanting slogan like "Human Needs, Not Corporate Greed" and "People Not Profits," the protesters faced a battalion of NYPD officiers in place by the orders of Mayor Bloomberg. While this, in itself, is not that surprising, the utter lack of media coverage was.
It has been widely speculated that a mainstream media blackout was called for, both to hinder any who might wish to join the protesters but also to give ample time for consultants to figure out how to put the most negative spin on the event. As of this writing, (Sunday morning, 6:20am, EST) there have been no reports of violence and few, if any, arrests. It's believed that not only are a portion of protesters staying put for the time being, but they hope more will come to their aid.
Much of the protest organization was being directed through Twitter via #occupywallstreet, but it was reported that Twitter blocked that particular tag at some point early Saturday morning. Not to be undone, #takewallstreet was promptly used as the official replacement, which makes us wonder if such censoring tactics were feared ahead of time. With as essential a role that Twitter played in the so-called "Arab Spring," it's dishearting to think the same social networking sites would balk at their services being used for peaceful resistances in America.
The following are two videos taken from Saturday's protest.
Find more, live-streaming updates from the protest at...
http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
