Occupy Boston

[Alis]

My report of the "Occupy Boston", one of the "brancehs" of the Occupy Wall Street movement. I was trying to see if I can tell the story. Let me know if I was successful. I have a ton more but of course I did not want to bother you guys more.

They camp in the Rose Kennedy Garden, in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (the tall building in the background). Yes I know I was not supposed to take a picture of a federal building but I did!
Enjoy!

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[Alis]

The rest:

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[Alis]

Last one

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[acsky]

I love the one of Ghandi's statue

[Alis]

Thanks, Tono! I like that one too.

[Dizzy]

That's quite a photo-essay Ali, but it was so pic heavy that it took a while to
download them all with my slower DSL.

After seeing all the pics, I can only say I'm not surprised that many of those folks
can't find jobs. Success is not a right, it's something you earn with a lifetime of hard
work. 'Nuff said.

I liked a couple of the pics, and the fellow with the cowboy boots (1st pic in post #2) is
my pic of the lot.

Mike

[Alis]

Thanks, Mike!

I sort of agree with you. I was not expecting to see what I saw there. To me, it looked like most of them had no other choice but to live in that camp. Of course not all of them are like that, specially a lot of people who join during the day and leave at the end of the day. And it was not that magnificent, like what we see on TV from New York Occupy Wall Street. Anyway, I respect their cause, in my opinion, that is one of the checks and balances we need to kep politicians at check. I certainly don't believe in too much of this kind of protest as it will not be that helpful in its own and needs to be followed by some real political action.

But it was a good setting for photojournalism!

Alis

[Dizzy]

Thanks, Mike!
But it was a good setting for photojournalism!
Alis

I agree with your assessment Ali. Kinda reminds me of something my first wife used to
say on a very regular basis... "The right to whine exceeds all others". She practiced
that mantra on a daily basis... Truth be told, not everyone gets a prize after
the game is over. I'm afraid so many of those young folks are just now
finding out that, contrary to what they've been taught through 16-20 years of
schooling, that life is not fair, and never will be. Still, it's a wonderful thing to desire.

That would be a superb setting for photojournalism, especially with all the colorful
personalities (the boot dude, for one..lol) plus those characters running around with
their handkerchiefs over their faces. A "Woodstock of the 2010's" type
atmosphere seems to have developed.

Mike

[rpcrowe]

Great set of images! Nice photojournalism...

I think that I may have seen the guy in #21 before. He was protesting the Vietnam War at Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco during the 1970's... He's a bit grayer now though! Or was that his dad or older brother in S.F.?

I couldn't resist that one...

[Reed Waters]

Now, I'm no PJ and I wasn't there but it seems the story here is one of a friendly camp out. There are a lot of signs but I don't see the emotion in the people's faces. If there were demonstrations, there needs to be pics of the emotions in the demonstrators faces.

BTW, Pete Seeger, 92 years old, showed up at the Occupy Wall Street rally tonight. He is one of my heroes.

[Alis]

Great set of images! Nice photojournalism...

I think that I may have seen the guy in #21 before. He was protesting the Vietnam War at Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco during the 1970's... He's a bit grayer now though! Or was that his dad or older brother in S.F.?

I couldn't resist that one...

Thanks, Richard! He is old enough to be the person you think he is... Small world

[arith]

Great stuff; I was recently sent an email invitation to train as a foreign exchange trader and the main benefit cited was tax exemption on profits under British law. What a greedy lot.

St Paul's is occupied because the city is private property, and now the authorities are thinking hard of ways of moving these on: apparently St Paul's was open during the incendiary firestorm that was the blitz, but has to be closed because of the dangers posed by gas stoves on the concrete outside.

Why?

[Alis]

Now, I'm no PJ and I wasn't there but it seems the story here is one of a friendly camp out. There are a lot of signs but I don't see the emotion in the people's faces. If there were demonstrations, there needs to be pics of the emotions in the demonstrators faces.

BTW, Pete Seeger, 92 years old, showed up at the Occupy Wall Street rally tonight. He is one of my heroes.

Hi Reed,

If you mean my pictures don't show the emotions, you are completely right. But if you think so because you are comparing this to Occupy Wall Street, this is no where close to NY. It was as you see in the pictures. No emotions, no noise, not much movement. A bunch of people happily camping there and during the day a few more people join them.

Police in Massachusetts is very tolerant and one of them was telling me that they don't have a permit for this but here in MA, they have to really push us to arrest them or do anything to them. The cop in the pictures was telling the guy "we are OK with the tents (on his left side) but not with the signs they had put that morning on the right side because "it blocks the subway station's exit and it is a safety issue. He then kept repeating several times that the police is OK with "this but not with that (left and right ).

Anyway, my point is that when you put up signs and no one either pays attention (there are not many pedestrians in that part of Boston) or objects and even polices goes out of its way to show they are not bothered by it (that changed a the next day when they tried to block a nearby street) there will be unlimited peace and not much emotions that I could capture! So not my fault really

[Reed Waters]

Well Ali, I guess then you did good. I figured that there were demonstrations and stuff. I guess it really was just a friendly camp out. Good Job.