Occupy
Wall
Street Mission
to Egypt
Debated, Rain
Falls, Banks
Let Off Hook?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
LOWER
MANHATTAN,
November 22 --
Should Occupy
Wall Street
spend $30,000
to
send observers
to Egypt's
parliamentary
elections on
November 28?
The
proposal was
debated at
length on
Tuesday night
in lower
Manhattan,
not in
Zuccotti Park
from which
tents were
evicted a week
ago but in
another
privately-owned
"public" space
at 60 Wall
Street.
Back
on November
10 the money
was allocated,
and turmoil in
Cairo's Tahrir
Square has
increased
since then.
But Tuesday
night's
amendment said
"the
November 15
eviction from
Liberty Plaza
has taxed our
human and
capital
resources" and
"there is no
unanimity on
whether
sending an
observer
delegation
from New York
is the best
way we can
help the
movement in
Egypt."
An
opponent of
the
amendment
called it
merely
budgetary, an
attempt to
save money.
(One
point of
information
was that the
$1,500 per
ticket was
inflated, as
these were
available
online for
$820.) But
others said,
"OWS is
global, we
have to show
solidarity."
One
critique of
the amendment
was that the
sponsor
wouldn't give
his name. He
maintained
that position,
saying "I am
White Hat, I
am known as
that."
There
were five
Blocks,
several of
whom said it
was their
"first block
ever."
These were
whittled down
but not
eliminated so
a vote seeking
modified
consensus --
90% vote --
was taken. A
count of
voters was
taken, but
more than 10%
voted against.
The
proposal
failed,
leading one
member of the
"Movement
Building"
group
to complain,
we don't want
to go, we are
not going!"
Palm tree, not
in Egypt but
60 Wall
Street, (c)
MRLee
Another
Movement
Building
member
mentioned
concerns about
security,
while
from further
back in the
crowd there
was grumbling
about
expensive
plane tickets
and hotel
rooms.
Reporting
from the
United Nations
as Inner City
Press shows
that there are
other
elections on
November 28,
including in
the Democratic
Republic of
the
Congo.
Also at the UN
earlier on
Tuesday, when
Inner City
Press asked
for
a response to
the use of
tear gas at
University of
California -
Davis, UN
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
said that an
investigation
was
"appropriate."
But
the UN
is
tone-deaf on
entanglements
with
bailed-out
financial
institutions
like Bank of
America.
And Occupy
Wall Street,
while
initially and
still
intermittently
targeted at
banks, bogged
down Tuesday
night on
a proposal to
spend $350 for
a legal filing
fee to sue the
NYC
Department of
Sanitation to
not, at least
yet, throw out
the
belongings
seized during
the November
15 eviction of
Zuccotti Park.
Penny
wise, pound
foolish said
a bearded wag
back in the
crowd.
Indeed. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
Inner City
Press has
written and
uploaded many
of its Occupy
Wall Street
pieces from 60
Wall Street,
where the day
of the
eviction the
public
Interest was
shut. Now amid
cold November
rain, the OWS
General
Assembly has
moved indoors.
It is next to
Wall Street
and that
should be
used.
, 
