The 24/7 Occupation of Birmingham’s Financial District has begun. Right now, the 99% stands outside the towers that house some of the largest consumers of the financial bailout. They stand there for those of you who cannot make it, but they look forward to meeting those who can join us. You can find us on the corner of 20th St N and 5th Ave N, downtown Birmingham.
The atmosphere was lively tonight with 30+ members of the movement meeting to share experiences and our lives with one another while we relaxed under a pleasant night. Doumbeks and Guitars were filling the air as I walked up to the occupation. I saw some familiar faces from the General Assembly, and shook hands with many of the new faces I have yet to meet.
There were several who kept signs high in the air. The group would cheer loudly with each car horn that blared in support. Our favorites where the workers who would stop their vehicles, snap a photo of the crowd, flash a peace sign, and honk their horn as they drove off. It’s great to feel that kind of support from the people. New faces would appear randomly. One guy stopped to ask for directions, and ended up parking and hanging out with us for a few hours tonight.
By 1 AM, the group reduced to the core who would stay the night, 16 people in total. Some were already getting some sleep, but a group gathered to discuss topics that mattered to them tonight. The three hours I spent with the occupation allowed me to explain the Glass-Steagall Act, Sarbanes–Oxley Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act to another new face that was interested in how these three acts shape our financial system. I got to hear from people who were proud that they opened up accounts with Credit Unions this weekend. We even got to spend time with a couple who just returned from Zuccotti Park and listened to their stories.
Unfortunately, I had to leave the occupation at that point, but I did so refreshed seeing a spectrum of the population that makes up the 99% express their will that we will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. They do this together, beneath the towers that blaze the names Regions and Wells Fargo, on the corner of 20th and 5th, and begin the first night of the occupation.
NBC13 visited the occupation site and delivered this report:
http://www2.alabamas13.com/news/2011/nov/07/protesters-occupy-birmingham-ar-2670038/
CBS 42 had this report:
3 Responses to “First Night of the Occupation”
Woot! Can’t wait to get down there again! Hang in there! Take RRPark
President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, Robert Kennedy, Jr., netted a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official.
It’s just one more in a string of eye-opening revelations by investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer in his explosive new book, Throw Them All Out.
The details of how BrightSource managed to land its ten-figure taxpayer bailout have yet to emerge fully. However, one clue might be found in the person of Sanjay Wagle.
Wagle was one of the principals in Kennedy’s firm who raised money for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. When Obama won the White House, Wagle was installed at the Department of Energy (DOE), advising on energy grants.
From an objective vantage point, investing taxpayer monies in BrightSource was a risky proposition at the time. In 2010, BrightSource, whose largest shareholder is Kennedy’s VantagePoint Partners, was up to its eyes in $1.8 billion of debt obligations and had lost $71.6 million on its paltry $13.5 million of revenue.
Even before BrightSource rattled its tin cup in front of Obama’s DOE, the company made it known publicly that its survival hinged on successfully completing the Ivanpah Solar Electrical System, which would become the largest solar plant in the world, on federal lands in California.
In its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, BrightSource further underscored the risky nature of the Ivanpah venture and, more broadly, the company’s viability:
Our future success depends on our ability to construct Ivanpah, our first utility-scale solar thermal power project, in a cost-effective and timely manner… Our ability to complete Ivanpah and the planning, development and construction of all three phases are subject to significant risk and uncertainty.
Ironically, in 2008, Kennedy wrote a CNN article praising Obama as reminiscent of his famous father and uncle. The article, titled “Obama’s Energy Plan Would Create a Green Gold Rush,” proved prophetic. However, the “green gold rush” came in the form of $1.4 billion of taxpayers’ money flowing into the pet projects of rich venture capital investors like Kennedy, not average citizens.
What’s more, BrightSource touted the Ivanpah project as a green jobs creator. Yet as its own website reveals, the thermal solar plant will only create 1,400 jobs at its peak construction and 650 jobs annually thereafter. Even using the peak estimate of 1,400 jobs, that works out to a cost to taxpayers of $1 million per job created.
As Schweizer writes in Throw Them All Out, “A billion dollars in taxpayer money being sent to wealthy investors to bail them out of risky investments—does this sound familiar to anyone?”
I’m impressed that the local news was relatively polite about Occupy Birmingham. No one called us “run-away, drug-smoking hippies.”