Occupy Wall Street and Foreclosure Victims
Photo by Matze_ott
On Friday 28th March Occupy Wall Street demonstrators numbering nearly four hundred marched to targeted banks to deliver seven thousand letters they had collected on their website. The letters were written by innumerable victims of the foreclosure crisis.
The marchers came to halt at the office of Citigroup on Park Avenue. Some of the letters were received but others were refused. The marchers made them into paper planes and tossed them at the office.
In one letter LaShima Garcia of Tucson narrated how her father and mother lost their employment because of downsizing and cuts being made in the budget. In the letter she wrote, “Savings are difficult to accrue when the ends don’t even come close to meeting. Please help keep the American people alive”.
Jeremy Wattles of Geneva (New York) stated that he was worried about the ruling giving by the U.S. Supreme Court that guaranteed the corporations right of free speech. This would be a fillip to campaign donations being made by the corporate sector without restrictions.
He wrote, “Corporations out not be equal with a person under the law. There ought to be a way for us to coexist financially – for you to make a profit and for responsible citizens to have a fair opportunity to achieve a middle-class lifestyle”. The protestors at one stage changed, “Everybody pays their tax, everyone but Goldman Sachs!”
The onlookers showed mixed reactions. Jason Patel working as an analyst in a bank said that although he sympathized with the demonstrators he felt that the anger should be directed against the legislators.
He thought that reforms should be brought about so that banks pay due interest on the bailout funds they have taken as loan from taxpayers. Watching the protestors he said, “This is fantastic, but I think there’s a better way. I think it would help if they went to Washington. Those are the people to talk to”.
Earlier on Friday morning the authorities informed that safety hazards were being removed from the camps of the protestors in Zuccotti Parkin Manhattan. Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg said that the demonstrators had of their own accord surrendered 6 generators and nearly twelve gasoline canisters; these were said to be safety hazards that were illegal. Iana Dikidjiea, one of the protestors, said that the generators were needed for a kitchen, for emergency lights and for equipments of the media. The group felt they would find another solution.
Bloomberg speaking over the radio said that the demonstrators could continue to stay if they abided by the law. He however added that the authorities were worried about the quality of life.
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