Walking back from lunch I heard a rally over at the Capitol, the Occupy Salem crowd. Had to check it out. Here is my non-scientific observation based on 5 mins - the time before they marched from the Capitol steps to downtown Salem.
A woman had the microphone - "6600 kids will be thrown out on the street!" Speculate - someone from DHS protesting government cutbacks? Foster kids?
Next up - a guy who had a poem from someone in "Spo-kane", pronouncing all long vowels. Hmm, since that is not the way locals pronounce it (not that I know) I thought maybe he was one of those outside agitators. The poem contained lots of imagery of police violence, rubber bullets. He was inciting the crowd to be violent? Then the phrase "uprising of the workers".
Are these workers? If they can camp out overnight at Willson Park, I wonder what kind of work they actually do.. After his poetry reading he went on to talk more about "the system", and how the "1%" were pillaging the rest of us. The rest of us, the non-privileged. He decried the inequalities that exist, how it takes money to play politics, and how people are born into inequality with no chance of moving up.
Then "we have a right to overthrow a government that does not work". Then "we want health care, we want the government to take care of us!" - to which there was some dissent, so he backpeddled a bit "when we need them to!"
Then someone from Oregon Peaceworks, "I've been waiting for this day since the 60's!"
So - 5 minutes in the life of Occupy Salem. I did not hear any positive policy statements, or answers. Only anger, and inciting to violence.
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