Occupy Charleston Takes Over Brittlebank Park

CHARLESTON - As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to spread Charleston's Brittlebank Park is the latest swath of territory to be taken over by the 99 percent.

Tents, including a "food fort," assembly tent and even a covered stage, started popping up at the riverfront park Wednesday as people settled in for a 99 hour occupation.

About 50 people had turned up at the park by the time organizers called a general assembly meeting to order shortly after 6 p.m. Mainly focused on making sure everyone was aware of the park rules and the limits of the permits Occupy Charleston had obtained from the city for the use of the park, some protesters called for action beginning on Thursday. The group talked about a protest in front of the Meeting Street branches of Bank of America and Wells Fargo, and placing occupiers next to the Ashley River Bridge into downtown during rush hour on Thursday morning.

An 11-hour tent teach-in is also scheduled for Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. with Charleston County Councilman Vic Rawl talking about the "Shock Doctrine." At 11 a.m., representatives of the Democratic, Libertarian and Green parties will speak to the group about whether political parties still matter.

"We invited the Republicans too, but we haven't heard back from them," William Hamilton, an attorney working with Occupy Charleston said.

Events will continue throughout the day at the assembly tent in the center of the park concluding with a speech at 8 p.m. by Ken Riley, president of the International Longshoreman's Union Local 1422, who is expected to call for a general nationwide strike to force Congress to address the complaints of the Occupy protesters.

The expanding protest movement has attracted a wide range of protesters from dredlocked vegans to independent conservatives upset over illegal immigration to average middle class couples fed up with political divisiveness and politics as usual in Washington D.C.

"We just think there needs to be some changes in government," James Island resident Steve Grant said. "It's almost a legalized system of bribery in Congress, lobbyists buy them off to get what they want."

Grant, who carried a sign reading "Ban all lobbying," attended with his wife Linda.

"Congress is not in touch with what people want anymore," Linda Grant said.

Nick Rubin sees something wrong with the national discourse in America and joined the Occupy movement in the hopes that the movement can change that by bringing people together.

"I see the Occupy Movement as an opportunity to reopen these channels of dialogue that have been closed off by partisan politics," Rubin said. "Everything that people are upset about is flowing from that."

Mary McCutchen feels that the social contract has been broken.

"I feel like we got together as a society and agreed on a set of rules to live by but our legislators have stopped listening to us, and when we vote them out and replace them, we get another set of legislators that don't listen either," she said.

McCutchen sees herself as an independent voter. She said liberals think she's too conservative and conservatives think she's too liberal.

"Our government needs to focus on the business of government, it doesn't need to be involved in private industry," she said. "If the investment banks are going under, that's too bad, but those are the choices they made we don't need to be bailing them out."

Occupy Charleston Schedule of Events

Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011

10 a.m. - Shock Doctrine with Vic Rawl

11 a.m. - Is the Party Over? with representatives of political parties

Noon - Equity and Mobility with attorney William Hamilton

1 p.m. - Voting in S.C., New Challenges and Opportunities with Rose Davis

2 p.m. - S.C. and the 99 percent with Dot Scott, head of Charleston branch of NAACP and Rev. Joseph Darby of Morris Brown AME Church

3 p.m. - We Shall Overcome in Charleston with Charleston veterans of the Civil Rights movement

4 p.m. - Religion, Repression and Resistance with Amberjade Mwekali

5 p.m. - American Health Care, Time to Heal with Donna Ellington

6 p.m. - Other #Occupations a panel discussion with people who have attended other #Occupy events

7 p.m. - The New Gilded Age with Jason Eastman of Coastal Carolina University

8 p.m. - Strike for America - Lessons form a Longshoreman with Ken Riley