By Frank Pizzoli
Central Voice
thecentralvoice.ning.com
Oct. 15, 2011
By midday Saturday (Oct. 15, 2011), about 100 Occupy Harrisburg protestors filled the steps of the Capitol.
Ten days earlier, about the same number filled the community room of Harrisburg’s Metropolitan Community Church of the Spirit, where Alex Knapp moderated a discussion leading up to today’s action. Another volunteer Alex Blitzer created their online presence. The local action coincides with International Protest Day.
For now, the group has decided to present a message along the lines of Occupy Wall St., namely to remove money from politics and reform Wall Street. The simple expression of their anger is that 1% of the nation who owns most of the wealth. Those protesting are the remaining 99%.
To underscore the connection between Wall St. and Main St., local organizers at one point today peacefully marched most of those attending to a nearby Wells Fargo branch office.
“If we’re the 99% it stands to reason we’re going to have issues all over the place,” said one participant of the initial organizing meeting. “But we agree that we’re plain tired of not having a say on issues important to us – health care, jobs, stagnant wages,” she continued. A friend chimed in with “the 1% on Wall St. wants us arguing on Main St.
If we remain divided, they remain impenetrable.”
Another participant of the first meeting said, “I come from a Communist country. I know what it’s like when those at the top have everything.”
