Dylan Kelley's blog

Montpelier- As many as 1,700 people descended on Montpelier Wednesday to celebrate May Day, the international workers’ holiday, to show their support and participate in solidarity activities for workers’ rights, human rights, immigration reform, and a range of climate justice issues. Primarily organized by the Vermont Workers’ Center, this year’s May Day festivities were also celebrated by more than a dozen other organizations including Rising Tide Vermont; Vermont Early Educators United, Vermont Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals, and Migrant Justice-Justicia Migrante.

Beginning with a long march that wound it’s way through downtown Montpelier, most of the day was passed on the State House lawn in an “action fair” of health screenings, songs, free food, community networking that was mirrored my sister demonstrations and rallies across the country and around the world. Rallying beneath the banner of “Put People First” the assembled organizations collectively spoke on Vermont’s continuing journey towards universal healthcare; a morally accountable state budget addressing dignity and equity; opposition to a planned natural gas pipeline, and the ongoing battle of Vermont’s undocumented workers to obtain drivers’ licenses.

Organizers with Migrant Justice celebrate their bill to obtain drivers' licenses making out of the House Committee on Transportation.

Thousands of citizens advance upon the State House to mark May Day, the international workers' holiday.

May Day revellers march in Montepelier celebrating their victories and vowing to continue their fight for immigration reform

A large cheer went up from the crowd mid-afternoon when Migrant Justice announced from the microphone that S-38 (which would grant drivers’ licenses and other identification to undocumented farm workers across the state) had passed the House Committee on Transportation roughly 3 weeks after passing via the Senate by a margin of 27-2. “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! (the people united will never be defeated!)” proclaimed several workers and organizers as they turned up the music in celebration of sending their bill to the floor for final vote later this legislative session. Critical to safe and accessible transportation, state issued drivers' licenses would at last give many of those feeding the Green Mountain state vast improved access to healthcare, food, and other basic necessitites without fear of persecution and/or arrest by law enforcement.

In addition to labor and human rights advocates, a number of citizens and organizers also arrived in Montpelier to proclaim their passion and advocacy for climate justice and Vermont’s energy sovereignty. An indicator of the growing opposition to the natural gas pipeline that has been proposed to snake through the Champlain corridor, dozens of organizers and volunteers from Rising Tide Vermont arrived carrying an enormous pipeline “dragon” that slithered, danced, and playfully snarled at revelers before the golden dome. A local chapter of the much larger Rising Tide North America, Rising Tide Vermont’s profile has risen dramatically in recent weeks due to the massive anti-pipeline mobilization underway in communities like Middlebury, Monkton, Hinesburg, and seemingly countless others. A recent community forum on the pipeline in Middlebury turned has been described as a tongue-in-cheek “slaughter” of VT Gas and it’s supporters as citizens spoke overwhelmingly against the plans to pipe natural gas south through the town and eventually under Lake Champlain to service Ticonderoga paper mill. Demonstrating their continuing belief in “direct action” as well as ongoing solidarity with the Texas based Tar Sands Blockade, organizers and supporters of Rising Tide Vermont erected two large wooden tripods during the May Day festivities, stringing a series of banners between them in a less-than-subtle hint that affected communities may be preparing to physically resist construction of pipeline should it be approved by the Public Service Board.

Supporters and organizers with Rising Tide Vermont erect an enormous tripod on the lawn of the State Capitol

“Ours is a people’s movement” read a statement from the Put People First campaign, “that believes Vermont can and must do better, and more more of our neighbors, coworkers, and family members are joining each day. We have come together to work for a Vermont that puts people first by protecting and fulfilling human rights and ensuring a healthy environment.” Touching on issues of Green Mountain Care, paid sick days, access to transportation, full inclusion of people with disabilities, and a final re-iteration of the “People’s Budget” and public accountability; the statement continued, “we are gathered in a spirit of collaboration and optimism this year, Vermont will take one step closer to becoming a beacon for human rights in this country. We look forward to continuing the hard and important work of building a people’s movement to make this change possible in 2013."

Musicians march down State Street towards the Capitol dome.

Cecile Reuge marches through Montpelier before serving free food from the "People's Kitchen."

The Solidarity Singers serenade the crowd with songs of workers' and human rights.

An ecoactivist scales a tripod in front of the Capitol, demonstrating the lengths many Vermonters are prepared to go to resist a planned pipeline through the Champlain corridor.

For more by Dylan Kelley visit his blog, website, Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter via @LivefromGround

Burlington- Despite a period of bitterly cold temperatures, Vermonters and other New Englanders are keeping the heat turned up on a variety of issues dealing with human rights and climate justice. Arriving in force at the State Capitol; organizers from the Vermont Workers’ Center continued to apply pressure in Montpelier as Governor Shumlin made his annual budget address to a joint session of the Vermont legislature on Wednesday.

In their counter address that preceded Shumlin’s, the red-shirted Workers’ Center organizers re-iterated their ardent assertion of “Healthcare is a Human Right” in addition to demanding that lawmakers “Put People First” in their considerations of budget building during this legislative session.

Shumlin’s address followed a short time later and confirmed several of the fears detailed by members of the Workers’ Center; namely that of reducing the ability of struggling Vermonters to receive state assistance. Outlining a series of austerity policies and restructuring moves, the Governor proposed a 5 year lifetime limit on state benefits such as welfare to work in addition to mandating that only 3 of the allowed 5 years may be consecutive, effectively purging many the most vulnerable assistance recipients. Shumlin justified this in his speech to assembled legislature: 

“There is no better social program than a good paying job. We will not allow vulnerable Vermonters, such as those who are disabled, to fall through the cracks, but we will ask those who can work to get the training and support they need and get a job.”

Following the address, organizers with the Workers’ Center were quick to say “what jobs?!?!” and pointed out the Governor’s backward logic of providing an incentive to find more work for continued Reach-Up benefits (which are only available to those working to begin with) by stripping them of critical support.

Continuing their practice of constant vigilance, volunteers from the Workers’ Center’s “People’s Team” are currently monitoring every public meeting and conference in the Capitol building in an ongoing mission to ensure workers and citizens of the Green Mountain State eventually gain access to truly universal heathcare, education, and livable wages. 

Broadening the Conversation

​

Recognizing the interconnected nature of issues and struggles, many of the same citizens and activists turned up at a “flash-mob” on Burlington’s Church Street last Wednesday. Proclaiming their solidarity and support for the Idle No More movement of indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States, Burlingtonians gathered together in temperatures well below zero to condemn the stripping of First Nation people of tribal rights; hydraulic fracturing or fracking; expanding pipelines; and most especially the retrofitting of the Trailbreaker pipeline that runs from Montreal to Portland, Maine.

Described as “the dirtiest oil on Earth” by Sierra Club President Allison Chin, tar sands oil must be extracted from soils in northern Canada before the heavier, thicker, more viscous product is piped across Canada, Vermont, and eventually to Maine where it’s loaded onto ocean-going tankers for transport to refineries. This process also transports tar sands oil, through the now infamous Keystone XL pipeline, over-land to the Gulf of Mexico via the American prairie of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and eventually Texas where an ongoing blockade has captured the attention of radical environmentalists and activists around the world.

A profoundly destructive process that transforms lush grasslands into a moon-like landscape of craters, brown-black water, and house-sized heavy machinery; tar sands mining and transport is arousing the ire of many New Englanders. Joining others in Portland, Maine just a few days after the tiny Burlington flash-mob; around 1,500 people marched on the ferry terminal slated to be the filling stations for tankers carrying the freshly extracted oil.

Organized by 350.org, the march and subsequent rally featured speakers from 350 Vermont, the Burlington City Council, and a variety of other groups. Drawing some quiet criticism, the event focused primarily on global carbon footprints and the health of Portland’s Casco Bay (which experienced an oil spill in 1996), yet was curiously lacking much discussion of the indigenous Canadian population’s rapid erosion of tribal rights and lands.

Further criticism was leveled at 350.org for its apparent endorsement of “green” capitalism: the idea that capitalism and monetized green initiatives will provide economic incentives to reduce global warming and ecological destruction. For some, this leads to what has characterized as false solutions in the form of industrial solar, wind, and hydro-electric damming.

Despite 350.org’s reluctance to engage in anything other than the palatable actions of permitted marches and rallies, there appears to be a growing support for both large scale civil disobedience as well as Earth First style interference with energy and resource extraction occurring in the North Country. For the first time in its history the Sierra Club has relaxed its policy against civil disobedience and is partnering with 350.org to conduct an exclusive, invitation only action of civil disobedience at some point in the relatively near future.

Radical environmentalists such as members of Earth First and other related organizations greeted the news from the Sierra Club with cautious enthusiasm and noted wryly that they’re prepared to engage in upcoming actions as pipeline construction continues across New England and the Green Mountain State. Speaking to another activist at the Portland rally, one Vermont activist nodded to future plans “We’re under no illusions. We’re prepared to do everything we can within the law and if that doesn’t work… we’ll start discussing further options.”

For more photography by Dylan Kelley visit his blog and "like" his Facebook page.

Following continent demonstrations in support of the "Idle No More" movement, Vermont Citizens and activists gathered in Montpelier on Saturday afternoon to pledge their solidarity with the rapidly growing movement of indigenous people in Canada.

Responding to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's move to advance omnibus bill C-45 that many consider an attempt to strip First Nations, Inuit, and Metis of their tribal rights; the Idle No More marks yet another re-invigoration of dissent against Canadian government leaders.

Friday marked the one-month anniverary of a hunger strike in Ottawa by Theresa Spence Chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation of Northern Ontario. Signing off on her will and claiming she's prepared to die, Spence's demonstration has sparked solidarity demonstrations in 130 cities and towns around the world and propelled occupations and demonstrations in government offices, shopping malls, and other public spaces across Canada and the United States.

Canadian officials have criticized the movement for lacking focus and not following "proper parliamentary procedure" regarding their apparent "misinterpretation" of C-45. On the other hand, organizers and activists within Idle No More claim the motives of the bill are not to provide greater economic strength to First Nations peoples, (as government officials attest) but to open a door for further extraction of energy from natural resources such as tar sands oil, natural gas, and electricity via gigantic river dams. Such extraction would critically endanger fragile watersheds and ecosystems.

Gathering energy from their neighbors to the North; activists across the United States have begun to build a sister movement in opposition of many of the pipelines scheduled to snake across much of the country including Vermont as indicated by renewed interest in the Trailbreaker Pipeline moving through the Northeast Kingdom en route from Montreal to Portland, Maine.

The stage appears to be set for another year of increasing dissent and outrage across North America: where Occupy focused unparalleled attention on world financial markets and income inequality; Idle No More and the various tar sands blockades stand poised to do the same for climate justice, indigenous land rights, and the continuing grasping of straws for the world's energy resources. Prudence demands we stay tuned.

For more photography by Dylan Kelley visit his blog here.

Follow Dylan Kelley's Facebook page here.

Burlington- In a move bound to anger many Burlingtonians as well as the broader community of activism in Vermont, the Burlington Police Commission unanimously decided not to recommend an independent investigation to Burlington City Council of events earlier this summer when police in riot gear were deployed with force against unarmed protesters.

Police Commission Chair Jerome O’Neill stated “I believe the burden was on the protesters” and that he believed an independent investigation of the police violence unleashed during the New England Governor’s Conference “would be a waste of time.”

During the public forum Robert Appel “My understanding of how protests have been traditionally handled in this city is not to deploy initially officers in what could fairly be described as riot gear.”

Appel, the Executive Director General Counsel of the Vermont Human Rights Commission who acted as a mediator between Occupiers and police officials during their eviction from City Hall Park last November continued, “I was also concerned that within a day or two of the event that both the Chief and the Mayor issued public statements which at least I had perceived to be saying the police acted reasonably. I don’t know how you square that with an after the fact review that is internal.”

Robert Appel discusses the decision of the Commission to not recommend an independent investigation to City Council

Joining numerous other speakers during the public forum, Appel noted the complete lack of comment or interview of any protester or non-police official in the internal review, “this is not an attack on any individual officer, it is an institutional question.”

Under pressure from O’Neill to conclude his remarks on the BPD, Appel voiced his concern more directly, “I’m worried that without a true independent, dispassionate review of what occurred that day… that trust and connection with all of the community will be dissipated.”

Presenting hundreds of signatures from Burlingtonians requesting an independent investigation, police victim and local activist Jonathan Leavitt asked Commissioners to consider “the voices of hundreds of citizens… asking that our civil liberties not be deliberated by the same police department which shot us.”

Jonathan Leavitt presents several hundred signatures requesting an independent investigation

Commissioner William G. Bryant commenting on the "impartial nature" of the Burlington Police Commission

Identifying himself as “Roger Pion”, a reference to the tractor driving cruiser crusher that made headlines around the world this summer, another community member made an impassioned plea for further investigation: “Until you take that action [of further investigation] this department will operate under a cloud of suspicion and mistrust forever because of the actions taken that day.”

“The idea of trust for the Burlington Police is a privilege and one that I don’t have” said Marni Salerno, another of the activists assaulted and struck by sting-ball pellets, “I’m a strong 24 year old woman, I’m a member of this community, I’m a non-violent activist, but last of all I’m an American citizen and I deserve equal protection under the law.”

Speaking very slowly and carefully, Salerno continued, “I think it would be a lot better if there was an unbiased eye looking at the investigation. From me looking at the investigation, from what is in there, what I experienced, and what actually happened… I don’t that this investigation was [truly] an investigation, because it was extremely biased.”

Responding to a room of about 40 community members at the headquarters of the Burlington Police Department, O’Neill continually dismissed concerns over the BPD’s actions: “We need to focus on policy… I don’t see any kind of basis for [an independent investigation].”

Rather than considering the necessity of an independent investigation, the commission chose to discuss potential policy changes within the Burlington Police Department. According to the commission, the BPD acted within its policies on July 29th as well as within National Best Practice Standards for police departments across the country.  Instead of honestly deliberating whether the BPD acted within its already vague policies for the deployment of riot police (there is no specific protocol in place), the commission instead chose to blame those conducting civil disobedience at the College Street Incident:

“You didn’t make their job any easier…” said O’Neill to community members after the public forum, “I believe the burden was on the protesters and maybe that’s something that the State’s Attorney would want to look into," alluding to the sinister possibility of protesters being charged for the non-violent actions take that day.

Further dispelling any belief of impartiality, O’Neill (who was not present at the College Street Incident) painted some of the activists as “troublemakers” and hinted about future deployments of riot police: “we’re likely to have the same problems if we have the same personalities that are determined to cause trouble.”

Sandy Baird and Jonathan Leavitt listen as the Commission decides not to recommend further investigation of the College Street Incident

This statement alarmed many of the gathered community members advocating an independent investigation. Signaling a shift in the conversation of civil disobedience, the Burlington Police Commission has now left the door open to further violence and persecution of civil and political dissent.

The message appears to be clear: peaceful dissent and disobedience will be put down with violence and brutality. Anybody getting in the way of the Weinberger, Shumlin, or any other powers that be, has only themselves to blame.

Jo Robin, an activist involved with Occupy Burlington, pointed further up the chain of command. Alleging federal involvement at the Governor’s Conference, Robin recounted a visit to her home in Winooski by the FBI shortly before the conference began, “Is it not incredible to imagine that the decisions made by the BPD on that day came directly from those agents of the FBI?”

Citing the ever-increasing role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the control of protest and dissent in the United States, Robin implores the Burlington community to look at the bigger picture, “does it not seem worthy to question whether BPD actually made the decisions to fire or if they were ordered by federal agents (her emphasis)… Why have we not filed a FOIA on the FBI office, and the BPD regarding this issue?”

Expressing deep shock and anger, many of the gathered community members walked out of the meeting when the decision of the commission became apparent. “This is unbelievable!” exclaimed Sandy Baird as she left the station.

The longtime Burlington attorney and civil liberties veteran doggedly reiterated her question put to the commission “Their essentially saying that if it’s a lawful order [the police] can shoot them with less lethal weapons. Why weren’t they arrested? What’s the deal? Why is nobody answering that question?

“They didn’t mention one violent act on the part of the protesters because there was none. My question remains, why weren’t they arrested? The cops had weapons, the protesters did not.”

An unarmed protester is shoved by riot police on July 29th in Burlington

Marni Salerno and others upon being struck at close range by sting-ball munitions on College Street.

Salerno listens on Thursday evening as the BPC decides that any further investigation of the College Street Incident would be a "waste of time"

For more photography by Dylan Kelley visit his blog and Facebook page.

Tampa- Despite a seductive tango with Hurricane Isaac and more than a few opportunities to cut a rug with the Tampa Police Department’s $50 million budget, the Occupy movement turned out in Tampa with remarkable enthusiasm and endurance... despite less than remarkable numbers.

The view of Occupy presented in the sweltering heat of South Florida is one that is full of radical contradictions and escapes any easily gained assumptions or analyses.

Only a few Occupiers actually showed up (compared to thousands at Chicago’s hosting of NATO this May). Those that chose to do so came from as far afield as Colorado, Oregon, and Maine. Yet, rather than a sprawling camp teeming with radicals, Tampa witnessed only a few dozen tents sprinkled across a privately owned vacant lot (dubbed Romneyville) next to an Army-Navy surplus store.

Among those to arrive in Tampa were two bus loads of anarchists from New York. In the weeks leading up to the convention, numerous news outlets hyped a report by the FBI warning of their imminent arrival and intent to disrupt convention related activities in Tampa and St. Petersburg. Those aboard the buses laughed openly and decried the reports and media attention as “classic FBI scare tactics” and “black baiting” that attempted to wrap an aura of fear and criminality around anarchist civil disobedience.

Despite their enthusiasm, Occupiers stumbled slightly when taking a travel break in Jacksonville before the final drive into Tampa. Propelled by genuine and morbid curiosity, they wandered into a Dixie Heritage store. In the ultimate object lesson in culture shock, the Occupiers were asked to leave immediately by employees of the Confederate Flag-bedecked store as well as local police officials after one Occupier bluntly asked the young woman behind the counter “Are you a racist?” Minutes later, Occupiers were headed further south amid animated discussions of racism, the Civil War, and the difficult position of the employees at the Dixie Heritage Store.

Proceeding directly to St. Petersburg, Occupiers finally disembarked at a what can only be described as an anti-Romney rally comprised of Occupiers, non-Occupy anarchists, members of the Green and Progressive Parties, and numerous Democrats running both hot and lukewarm about President Obama, soundtracked by tunes such as “I’m a Better Anarchist than You” and “I Wanna Know Who (Are the Terrorists).”

Weaving carefully in and out of the various protesters and performers were green vested police officials handing out copies of the “RNC Event Zone Guide” that outlined the various newly enacted restrictions and prohibitions for downtown Tampa, including prohibitions on camping gear, coolers and ice chests, non-plastic containers, ladders and tripods, and any hard material exceeding ¾” in thickness. Puppets were also banned in Tampa for the duration of the convention.

Dismissing these restrictions, the whole crowd proceeded from the banks of Mirror Lake down nearly abandoned streets to demonstrate outside Tropicana Field where many GOP heavy hitters were engaged in what was described to those gathered as “the world’s biggest cocktail party.”

Storm clouds darkened the sky as Occupiers made their way back to Tampa with every hand around a phone as they scrambled to find emergency shelter. “Every shelter is full!” shouted someone near the front of one bus, “And they’re saying to get in anywhere you need to be on some fucking priority list!”

Excepting the sound of rain on the roof, the bus went silent. The Occupiers came to a realization: they would have to ride out the hurricane with no more shelter than the flimsy tents stuffed into their backpacks. More than half looked around the bus in urgent fear until finally somebody spoke after a long silence: “What if we don’t have a tent?”

The rain began shortly after sundown. Little more than a drizzle at first, it built for several hours until becoming a torrential downpour, flooding much of Romneyville in a calf deep quagmire of wooden mulch, saturated sleeping bags, and other errant camping equipment. Those lucky enough to be in tents spent much of the night desperately trying to anchor their lightweight shelters in the steadily rising wind, a task made all the more difficult by the bed of concrete discovered just one inch below the surface.

Awake, shivering, and soaked to the bone, dozens of those without tents ultimately ended up huddling closely together beneath the nearest highway overpass as they waited for morning.

The following days witnessed marches both permitted and unpermitted as Occupiers alternately praised and cursed Tampa’s climate: At one protest in downtown Tampa, about 50 Occupiers, some using Black Bloc tactics and clothing, refused to move from an intersection where they’re way was block by some 200 police clad in riot gear and brandishing weighted batons as long as broomsticks. “You must move from this intersection. If you do not move voluntarily you may be moved by force.”

A ripple of tension moved through the gathered Occupiers and journalists as an addition 100 riot police marched from around the corner of a building. Journalists moved into protected positions and Occupiers locked their arms together sat down on the pavement.

A few moments later, an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device, a type of sound cannon meant to disable crowds) was moved forward towards the opposing lines by police. “You have 5 minutes to disperse or you will be dispersed by force” announced the police. Then the whole event changed: the skies opened and rain poured down in buckets. Police, journalists, and occupiers alike sprinted for the nearest awning, entryway, or other shelter as the streets quickly filled with water in a hilarious display that rivaled any slapstick comedy production. Only the riot police remained, motionlessly awaiting orders. One famous journalist was seen laughing as her colleagues ran for cover.

Receiving their orders several minutes later, the riot police marched away as water audibly sloshed and squished inside their black armor.

The Occupy/leftist protester experience in Tampa of is one exceptionally courteous police conducting seemingly unparalleled surveillance of a remarkably small group of dissidents. Among the potentially dangerous activities requiring law enforcement supervision: groups of as many as 60 people standing in line for food from a multi-colored school bus, the appropriation of any un-sodden surface to dry clothing in the sun, and the array of 38 cell phones and camera batteries patiently waiting their turn on one of the six available outlets for charging.

Reformation or Revolution?

Far more interesting than the goings on of the GOP just a few blocks away is the ongoing debate between Occupiers and other leftists: to reform or to revolt? Familiar to most Americans are those who support Obama, the Democratic Party, and entities such as MoveOn.org who argue for campaign finance reform, increased regulation of financial markets, measures to eliminate the evils of crony capitalism and the revolving door of Washington.

Opposing them, the Occupy movement: an anarchist movement espousing horizontal democracy, consensus decision making, and the outright rejection of electoral politics altogether. Asserting the candidates are merely two puppets controlled by the same hand of American plutocracy, Occupiers also reject the notion of crony capitalism and implore citizens to consider the failure of contemporary capitalism globally: from ecological destruction across the map to the economically parched communities across the U.S.

Continuing to defy labels, anarchists as they are, Occupiers can’t be label as wholly and unilaterally revolutionary. One occupier who wished to remain anonymous said: “Not only are we against the selling of democracy to the highest bidder, we’re appalled that there’s bidding going on to begin with.” Rather than, wholly rejecting conventional politics and governance, he spoke passionately of the merits of localized governance: organizing at the community level; be that a small town in Montana or a single neighborhood (or park) in New York City.

This dynamic played out in several ways throughout the convention, but was most noticeable during the large marches that left each day and night on their way to the heavily fortified convention center as well as other areas of Tampa. One occupier and practitioner of Black Bloc recounted a story of Green Party representatives becoming increasingly that a march that left Romneyville was refusing to stick to party scripted chants lead by that party’s VP candidate, remembering an aide to Cheri Honkala demanding that marchers “respect her [VP candidate’s] authority.” Needless to say, the group of anarchists refused.

This is not to say that groundswell of dissent shares no common ground. When a contingent of seven (count ‘em) members of the Westboro Baptist Church arrived in Tampa with infamous signs proclaiming “GOD HATES FAGS” and “SOLIDERS DIE 4 FAG MARRIAGE” were appropriately met with over 200 anarchists, Green Party members, and Democrats; each united in their rejection of blind spreading of hatred and homophobia.

Not only did the Occupiers reject such hatred but also enthusiastically demonstrated how people might loving engage one another, embracing and energetically kissing members of the same sex around them. The performance spawned a media circus of photographers and camera men literally climbing over one another to get footage of the of a gay kiss, thoroughly neutralizing the media event crafted by the WBC.

At their request, the seven members of the Westboro Baptist Church were escorted away by over 150 fully armed riot police.

The following day, Occupiers boarded buses and headed to the TECO Big Bend Powerplant to stand in solidarity with members of the radical environmentalist group Earth First. Locking themselves together as well as to the roadbed for several hours, the Earth First’ers who successfully shut down access to plant were allowed to leave without arrest following their careful extraction via circular saws and other hardware. The TECO Big Bend Powerplant is known for soaring carbon emissions as well as being one of the RNC’s largest sponsors.

Citing the interconnectivity of economic and ecological issues, many Occupiers spoke of eliminating enormous energy subsidies for large utility companies while many Americans struggle to put food on the table as well as prohibiting oxymoronic resources such as clean coal plants, widely believed to cause health problems for nearby residents as well as massive greenhouse gas emissions.

---

After the conclusion of the convention, featuring Mitt Romney formally anointed as nominee of the Republican Party, the Occupiers sit in the baking sun in front of the Army-Navy lot formerly called Romneyville, considering what’s next on the horizon. Most obviously, the long journey north to Charlotte to protest the Democratic National Convention, perhaps against some of the very people that marched alongside them in Tampa.

Among the issues discussed are drone attacks overseas, the continued operation of Guantanmo Bay Prison, the trial and persecution of famed whistle-blower Bradley Manning, and the deportation of over 1 million people under Obama’s reign thus far. But further on everyone’s mind is the impending September 17th anniversary of the occupation of Zucotti Park, an event that sparked occupations on every continent.

What’s going to happen? In the year that has unfolded since, the tone of the global conversation has changed, ALEC; perhaps America’s largest lobbying firm has been brought to its knees... and countless Occupiers, fellow protesters, and journalists have been surveilled, arrested, persecuted, and brutalized in blatant human rights abuses by the NYPD as well as other police forces across the country: Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Burlington to name a few.

September 17th represents not only an anniversary to Occupiers. It is also a symbol of what lay ahead. Many Occupiers see their movement as they best shot that The People with a capital “P” have had at major change in a long time, too long.

The fact that an anti-capitalist movement has survived long enough to have an anniversary is seen as a victory in itself and many Occupiers and anarchists from all across the world are expected to “come out of the woodwork” to mark the occasion next Monday morning in New York City. Nobody knows exactly what will happen, just as the original Occupiers had little idea of the impact a few tents on Manhattan concrete would have around the world.

My next report will be from Wall St. on the 17th. Wish me luck.

For more photography by Dylan Kelley visit his photo blog here.