5,000 books at Occupy Wall Street were unceremoniously placed in a dumpster (now the NYPD claim it was simply a “sanitation truck”) during the inevitable nighttime raid. I say inevitable due to the moral decay of those in power in NYC. These books were all donated, many one at a time, by generous lovers of the written word- the free expression of it, that is. In response to widespread anger, the NYPD is saying that the books were not really destroyed and can be picked up later this week. Regardless, eyewitnesses say they were put in a dumpster.
OWS doesn’t sound convinced by the NYPD claims, and I wait with curiosity to find out what will transpire when people go to claim them. I’m sure that the books will be quite usable if they weren’t destroyed, lord knows, time in dumpsters or “sanitation trucks” will do wonders for page crispness and scent. I actually like to do my reading at dumps for the ambiance.
Here’s a little trick brought to you by a lover of simplicity: did you know that you can look at any political group or entity in power…then look at how they treat books. Do they value or destroy them? This will allow you to figure out who the good guys are! Pretty simple, huh? Decent entities do not fear sunlight or the free exchange of ideas. It’s a certain truth. Folks who burn books or tear down libraries are never who you want in charge. But they always seem to find their way there, don’t they?
It’s obvious when a nation has reached a dangerous time -when books are targeted as dangerous trash to remove. Hey, that’s sort of how they treated the OWS protesters themselves. They are full of ideas and open horizons – the Bloomberg billionaires don’t want that sort of thing to dwell in the minds of the staff (or would be staff). And the first OWS encampment was a hotbed for the sharing of these ideals.
And let me get this straight….in order to improve on the hygiene of the park; they took items in trash trucks to redistribute later? Sure.
None of it makes sense because once again, they destroy to save, beat to bring order, and create filth to bring cleanliness.
And certainly a myriad of possessions in the camp were treated with the destructive glee end of a beating stick. The NYPD is claiming that other items can be picked up with a photo id. Umm, yeah– that’s probably a safe thing to do! Go hand over your identification and get a “sorry don’t know where your laptop is, but make sure you enjoy the hand up your crotch next time you go to an airport!” And I’m still skeptical that all the books will be returned. Books are dangerous, as are the thoughts that percolate after reading them. They were not to be saved, nor should the humanity behind their donation be noticed. But we shall see where we are on the trajectory towards Kakistocracy (look it up…it’s a word that fits)- if they return the books in usable condition or not.
A shared library full of truthful books is emblematic of a decency that they probably want to extinguish. Wow, even anarchists will return books for others to use in a timely fashion- who knew?! We can’t let it out that community can occur, even when a homeless subset who are violent are dumped nearby (wink, wink from the agent saboteurs). It’s amazing that the OWS NY camp held together as well as it did with tricks and malice in their every direction.
That was truly one of the first endearing stories that emerged from OWS- that of the shared library. Picturing those books in that goddamn city dumpster/trash truck-whatever it was should fill all with a disgust for the Bloombergs of the world. They are the true barbarians. Gilded gorillas, nothing more, confusing their wealth with worth.
I wonder if the outcry about the books had some low level employees dumpster fishing late Tuesday night, pulling out books to return? Did they realize at that moment that they were part of the 99%?
Education is not a free right of a free man according to those who want to destroy the OWS core values. It is to be financed, only through student loan penury and later servitude in an institution geared to grind out only the facilitators to the elite. It’s also no accident that in our society libraries so often face the budget cuts while graft laden deals mark much of even our local expenditures. Roads to hell, paved not with good intentions, but with deals that drain coffers. Rotten from the top, rotten to the core. And OWS sees it, hence all the drama.
But yes, Bloomberg, you cleaned up your girlfriend’s park, didn’t you? Funny so many stretches in NYC don’t get the same attention. A friend mentioned to me that perhaps a poor neighborhood should put in a big statue of a bull- that seems to ensure police patrols and presence.
I hope that in this coming time of winter solitude, the long nights and introspection will mark another chapter of the OWS protests. A hibernation and rejuvenation. And I hope that with the coming of spring, that the movement will reemerge with vigor and righteous anger. I want to see Punxatawny Phil emerge, not just with a shadow, but with rabies.
Kathleen Peine writes out of the Central Time Zone in America so please only email during those hours so as not to wake her. She can be reached at: kathypeine@gmail.com