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| The Library |
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| Humanity & Modern Social Thought |
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| Living With Bad Cops* |
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| What is a Person? |
Yes, there are a lot of "kids" in this occupation, many of them college students or of that age. They are often struggling to understand a world that simply doesn't function in accordance with anyone's idea of what is fair and just and equitable. And they are, thank god, still idealistic enough to ask why and to believe in something better and to strive for it. It's a development I see already in my upper level high school students. Is it naivete? Perhaps, but that's an essential ingredient - without some degree of naive belief that change is possible, there would be no progress...
*Although there were a few incidents earlier involving some bad cops doing stupid things (like pepper-spraying peaceful demonstrators who happened to also be women), there were several signs among the protesters voicing support for them and their rights and trying to get the message across that this new economic world order is no friend of cops either...more on that tomorrow.
I believe that the right to demonstrate is incedibly important. (Even when there is no right too). Often these things seem naive at first glance, but imagine the world without demos and actions.
ReplyDeleteThere have always been generations of young people standing up for their beliefs, and I think they are the forefront of the quiet majority. They do create changes, and they DO place lots of pressure on governments.
Anti-war, anti-nuke, anti-fur, anti-animal testing, anti-banking, anti-global, anti-police, anti-racism,
pro-peace, pro-women, pro-earth, pro-education.
All these and more are so important to stop our leaders just walking over the societies they run.
Your photos are documetary witness to a hopeful future. Even pictures of young people and books is a nice image. keep up the good work!
Great reportage . One of the fundamentals of human right. The right to demonstrate. Thanks for showing.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys - one thing there was no shortage of was photographers. The revolution may not be televised, but it will certainly be on flickr, twitter, facebook, youtube, etc.
ReplyDeleteOne of my former students, now college aged, stopped by the other day talking excitedly about what was happening at these events. And Paul Krugman had a nice commentary about it earlier this week:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/opinion/krugman-confronting-the-malefactors.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Nice to see you break into the people shots, Mike. Peaceful demonstrations offer a great opportunity for people shots. My favorite is "Humanity & Modern Social Thought" -- not sure why but this one just jumped out.
ReplyDeleteGreat work Mike, you have a really good photo story going on....
ReplyDeleteThanks guys - an easy place to photograph people. Everyone there has a camera, so the long-term participants eventually have to just ignore the photographers and act natural - and I don't have to feel self-conscious about taking their pictures.
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