We occupied Martha’s Vineyard, which wasn’t difficult as we already lived here. Unfortunately nobody thought of OMV until fall when the infamous one per cent had already left on private jets. Someone suggested that we set up a camp, but with hunting season upon us, and most of us being older, camping didn’t seem safe.
As demonstrators in cities and countries around the world take to the streets in the name of Occupy Wall Street, not one but two Occupy movements are taking shape here on the Island, one virtual and one decidedly not.
The first began last weekend with a Facebook page called “Occupy Martha’s Vineyard.” Within a few days, the page had attracted 189 friends, several of whom have posted stories of their personal economic struggles as a way of connecting with the movement.
They’ve occupied Owen Park, Menemsha, Five Corners and the West Tisbury town hall. And tomorrow Occupy Wall Street organizers on the Vineyard are planning an early-morning demonstration at the blinker intersection in Oak Bluffs. The gathering is planned from 7 to 9 a.m. on Veterans Day.
“Bring a sign. Bring your energy. Bring your voice . . . a demonstration of solidarity and support. All are welcome to join us,” wrote BZ Riger in a post on the Gazette Facebook page this week.
On Jan. 15 more than 90 people gathered at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center for an afternoon of videos, music and discussions about the Occupy Wall Street movement. As participants gathered, pictures of “occupiers” from all over the world as well as many taken right here on the Vineyard, were shown on the large screen at the front of the community center’s main room. One of the many anthems of the Occupy movement, We Are The Many, written and sung by Makana, a popular Hawaiian troubadour, set the mood.
On Sunday afternoon, Occupy Wall Street-Martha’s Vineyard held its first general assembly at Howes House in West Tisbury. The purpose of the assembly was to refine ideas generated by a previous meeting at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center and introduce Islanders to the so-called circle process, which is designed to encourage “high quality listening and a safe supportive space for all of us to share ideas,” as Chris Riger explained it.
I write as a detached observer who can witness how the remnants of Occupy mobs are still agitating and causing problems in our nation’s capital and at other locations, although in Washington they are probably regarded as a welcome distraction from failed current policy. If these people are eating, it is because they are being fed with goods bought, transported and prepared by others. Their housing consists of tents put up on public or private land, and, as far as most people can see, this constitutes criminal trespass.
Members of the Occupy Martha’s Vineyard movement gathered outside the Edgartown District Courthouse Friday, protesting the anniversary of the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
