Occupy Wall Street is coming to Santa Rosa Oct. 15.
For nearly a month a growing community of protesters have camped in Zuccatti Park at the heart of Wall Street, demanding a separation of government and influence from the corporate greed that towers above their encampment. The target of this movement is the 1 percent of the population that controls the majority of the wealth and has used this position to influence elected officials.
The men and women of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) rally behind the slogan, “We are the 99 percent.” 99 percent see themselves as nonviolent revolutionaries for democracy and have vowed to maintain their occupation until there is change.
The General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street stated its goals and motivation on its blog: “We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments.”
The occupation at first looked like it would be a bust. The first day saw far fewer protesters than expected, but as the first week progressed more and more people gathered in Zuccatti Park.
Since the New York protest began on Sept. 17, the movement has spread across the nation with protests in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. More than 500 events are mapped across the U.S. by www.occupytogether.org, a site that calls itself “an unofficial hub for all of the events springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.” These events include occupations, rallies and marches as well as a virtual occupation put on by MoveOn.org, a progressive political action committee.
According to Occupy Together, a total of 1,016 cities have, are or will be holding their own occupation. On Oct. 15 Santa Rosa will become one of these cities with a protest and occupation at City Hall in support of the protesters of OWS.
However, the goal of the Occupy Santa Rosa protesters is not just to show support for those in New York. Their goals also address local issues. In a statement on www.occupysantarosa.org, the organizer said, “We are working on our own set of demands and grievances that pertain to local issues, such as Public Transportation and Emergency Services cuts on top of the current demands of #OCCUPYWALLSTREET.”
OccupySR, the official twitter stream for the protest, said in a twitter interview, “We’re still working out the specifics, but some proposed local grievances include public transportation, expanding BART to Santa Rosa, budget cuts in emergency services and cuts in public education.”
During the interview, OccupySR apologized for slow responses explaining they were taking time to consult with other members of the movement to present a consensus answer.
“Yeah, another idea that we all value and share is democracy- but it takes time. Democracy takes weeks- tyranny takes minutes,” OccupySR tweeted.
Like the people they are supporting in New York, the protesters in Santa Rosa plan on camping at city hall indefinitely.
Occupy Santa Rosa began holding General Assemblies and the in weeks leading up to the protest these meetings have mainly been concerned with planning.  “After the 15th, we will be getting in to the same stuff in NYC where *everybody* has a voice and anybody can veto something,” OccupySR tweeted.
The General Assembly of Occupy Santa Rosa echoes the nonviolent sentiment of their OWS counterparts, warning people participating in the occupation to watch out for instigators trying to turn the protest violent. However, until now the only detractors they have had are a “few Facebook trolls,” according to OccupySR
The national movement has gained support from many organizations in the past few weeks, including the union representing the New York City transit workers, the Air Line Pilots Association, MoveOn.org and the Teamsters Union.
The movement’s most important value is democracy. The governance of the camp in Zuccatti Park is accomplished through the General Assembly, a nightly meeting where everyone has a voice and has the power to veto items brought before the assembly.
The city of New York is not allowing the protesters, who are present without permits, to use any amplified sound. To combat this the General Assembly is conducted using a human microphone. The crowd shouts out the items so everyone can hear. Richard Kim, executive editor of the nation explained the slow process of these meetings on his blog. “The greatest hidden virtue of the human mic has been the quality that almost every observer has reflexively lamented: it is slow. I mean incredibly, agonizingly, astonishingly slow.” Kim wrote. “It can take over an hour for the General Assembly just to get through a nightly refresher course on group protocols before starting in on announcements, which precede debate about anything new.”
While the movement moves slowly on the ground it has grown quickly on the Internet. Occupy Together, which was started by two designers who could not attend the protests in New York, has grown rapidly. According to its website the group went from listing five locations a day to hundreds of emails overnight.