Occupy Philadelphia: Day Five
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – On day five of the protests there are about 50 tents set up on Dilworth Plaza, outside City Hall. Early in the morning, there were some people milling about. For some, it was a late night; for others, an early morning.
"I'm upset about Wall Street, I'm upset about corporate greed, I'm upset that people are losing their jobs," said Daaiya Goldstein, who joined the movement recently.
"I hope that everyone unites and comes together as one and this movement keeps going on," said Michael Miller, a construction worker who has been unemployed for eight months.
Don is up, manning the safety desk, making sure there are no problems here. He says this movement is happening without any leadership.
"From the first day, we had a daycare set up, we had family things set up, we had adult education, we had non-violence training courses, tech support was set up within hours. And this is all organic process. No one even directed each group, there's not even a board or anything."
Don says there have been no problems he's heard of yet -- no arrests. And he says visitors from other Occupy movements in other cities say the Occupy Philadelphia movement is the best organized movement they've seen.
Much has been made about the Occupy movement not having demands, but members say there isn't just one belief here. Instead, it's a bunch of people who agree on many things. Signs protest Wall Street, war, the lack of jobs, and even Andy Reid.
"I try to correct everyone who says this is a protest, because a protest means essentially that you're whining, 'I don't like what you're doing,' and you're just going to stand there and yell. And, having demands, it makes you more like a petulant child. So, what we do is try to come together and work on solutions for each other. It's better when you make an important decision in your life to consult with your friends. It's a whole other issue when you consult with a thousand friends."
One concern for demonstrators is politicians latching on to the message and bending it for their own political gain.
"An article written to us by a person who was with the Tea Party movement, talking about how it was their group got co-opted and how we can prevent that from happening to us. So that is a conscious concern of people out here."
Another concern here is the forecasted rain. People say they've learned from Occupy Wall Street protesters that they need waterproof containers and tarps to protect their food from the elements.
Reported by Jim Melwert, KYW Newsradio 1060; Oren Liebermann, CBS 3
