ca of occupy philly2

7/30/2019 CA of Occupy Philly2

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Community Analysis of Occupy Philly

December 9, 2011

Sarah Colegrove

Angel Mendoza

Charles Michel


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Introduction

Occupy. It is the word that has come to inspire ridicule and revulsion towards those who

have decided to live in the 'Occupy' communities. How do the 'Occupy' communities,

specifically 'Occupy Philly', inspire people to live in this community in the face of arrests,

ridicule, and revulsion? What makes up this special community?

On December 17th, 2010, a Tibetan man set himself on fire to protest against the police.

This act of self-immolation was the start of a chain of events that has spread worldwide. Revolts

soon started to occur around the world, especially in the Middle East and Africa, in what is now

called the 'Arab Spring.' Countries such as Egypt and Libya threw off their government in these

protests.

In September of 2011, this 'Spring' took physical form in the United States. After several

months of online communication, on September 17th , 2011, the 'Occupy Wall-Street' movement

began. The 'Occupy' movement has since spread to well over 900 cities and 50 countries.

'Occupy Philly' first started to met in a local church in late September. The community started on

October 6 when the protestors officially began their camp out at Dilworth Plaza surrounding City

Hall in Philadelphia.

Population

The 'Occupy Philly' community has a very fluid population that is effected by both

weather and time of day. At night there are only a few hundred who sleep within the community,

and even less during bad weather, but during the day there could be over a thousand people

there. The community's continuation is very much dependent on the weather. If there is

continued bad weather, the community is at risk of disappearing.


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The population within the community cannot be categorized by any one descriptor.

Varying races are present in the community. By just walking through the community it is

apparent that there are people there who belong to white/black/Hispanic/Asian racial categories.

While there is not an exact count or examination of racial makeup, the majority of the population

is white.

The community, partially because of its convenient location on Dilworth Plaza

surrounding City Hall, has attracted a significant homeless population. Many of the homeless

have become members of the community because they share the same feelings, goals, and

intentions as those who came together and formed the community. Others have joined the

community because they are able to get protection, shelter, food, and clothing as members of the

community. Most of the non-homeless members of the community have in turn accepted the

homeless into their community.

There are those who have participated in the 'Occupy' movement who earn incomes that

place them in the middle or upper middle class, however they are few and far between. Most of

those within the community belong to the lower or poor classes. There are community members

who are upper class are a rarity but are still present. Many do not have any income at all or

practically no income because they have been laid off of their jobs.

Almost all of the members of the community are adults in varying ages. Surprisingly,

there is a large older adult population that is very present in the community. The most commonly

seen age group represented in the community are college-aged adults.

The community does not have a lot of the traditional family structure. The majority of the

adults there are unmarried, although there are several couples there. While there are some who


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have brought their children with them to the community, there are not many children there. The

most common familial structure within in the community is the close-knit group of friends that

many of the members either brought with them to the community or have made while they are in

the community.

Community Structures

The 'Occupy Philly' community is unique compared with other communities such as

Radnor or Norristown. The value of all the housing in the community is worth less than the

average in the United States. This is because the community members sleep in either tents, tarp,

cardboard, or in sleeping bags on benches in Dilworth Plaza. Their housing is all crammed

together side by side in the relatively small area that they were granted by a permit through the

city government to protest and have their community. The community specifically chose

Dilworth Plaza for their occupation because Dilworth Plaza is on city land. That means that if a

community member were to be arrested, they would face charges from the city and not involve

the state or federal government.

There is not any typical industry, business, or commercial aspect to the community as

they have not allowed businesses to enter their community. This is done because the community

is currently protesting against corporations and the relationship between big business and the

government. As a result, they are not welcoming business into their community.

The community has, surprisingly for the very short period of time that it has been in

existence, offered several services to the community. At Dilworth Plaza, the community has two

different medical tents. At these tents, volunteer medical professionals, such as paramedics or

EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) offer basic services to the community members.


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Another tent is designated as a the library, which is run by community members. The library

allows the community members to check out books and to engage their time instead of just

sitting around all day. There is not a tent designated for schooling because the community does

not have a lot of children. The children who are there are home schooled by their parents. There

is an area that is designated to arts. Supplies are at the arts area for people to make signs for their

protesting. Another tent is designated for faith and religion. Free yoga classes are offered to the

community on a regular basis. This service allows the community members to exercise without

having to leave their community or stay in the community and not exercise.

Another service is the safety tent and the safety officers within the community. Members

of the community volunteer to be safety officers. The volunteers take shifts patrolling the

community and sitting at the safety tent. There is a second level of security available to the

community. Civil officers also patrol the area to try to keep illegal activities and situations under

control. The third level are the city police officers. The first two levels of the safety and security

try to solve the issues before involving the police. At 'Occupy Philly', they were able to solve

many of the issues by just using the first level of safety and security provided by other

community members without having to involve outside officers.

As a result of many of the community members not having jobs and normal housing,

there are special necessary services that are offered to the community. Food is donated everyday

to the community by sympathetic people from outside the community who agree with the ethos

of Occupy Philly. Clothing is another thing that is donated to the community. The community's

continued survival depends on these donations because it is not a self-sustaining community. The

community has a website where they listed needs of the community, such as tents or sleeping


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bags. These items are then donated to the community. Dilworth Plaza did not have a bathroom

facility so the city brought port-a-potties to the plaza for the community.

Economics

The community does not have to deal with a lot of decay that is associated with an aging

community because it is so new. However, because this community is so new, there are several

issues that have arisen. The community is not very clean. For a few weeks after the community

inception, there were no easily accessible toilets and during the entire time the community has

existed, there have been no showers available. Garbage is also an issue. There are not enough

trash cans to properly dispose of all of the trash properly nor does the trash get collected often

enough. These results from the community being created very quickly and it existed on a

relatively small concrete plaza.

Social Issues

The 'Occupy Philly' community is no longer in existence at the Dilworth Plaza. Before

the community had come into being, City Hall had planned on doing construction work on

Dilworth Plaza starting November 15th. The city granted a permit for the community to stay at

the plaza until the 15th and were in negotiations up until the 15th about the issue of where they

were to go if they could not be at Dilworth Plaza after the 15th of November. The city told the

community to move to a different plaza for their protest, which the community did. They soon

found out, however, that they were not allowed to stay overnight in the plaza. As a result they

moved back to Dilworth Plaza and had to face the retribution of the of Philadelphias

government. On November 27th at 5pm, they were forcibly evicted from Dilworth Plaza. The


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government took advantage of the community by issuing a permit for the other plaza but making

sure that the permit did not allow them to stay overnight at the new location.

Now, the community members of 'Occupy Philly' are not able to give continuous physical

form to their community as they are unable to do anything other than gather for a few hours at a

time. The physical aspect of the community is now longer able to take place. They are no longer

able to share the same square and have community as they used to.

Community Relations

One thing that particularly stands out about the community is the solidarity that the

community allows for the interests of its members. This solidarity gives the community members

the encouragement that they need to continue their protests and to continue to live in the harsher

living environment. Within this solidarity, there is the ability to be heard. The community

operates under a pure democracyevery member gets a vote at the general assembly meetings

that they hold. Only with a visible majority does anything get passed.

The community has a few organizations within it. Several of the members of the

community represent such organizations as the Socialist party and are partially there to convert

people to their party. Other people are working with a homeless initiative and are trying to bring

awareness to their cause through joining the community and protesting.

There are no clear-cut leaders of the community. Rather, the community has several

different facilitators that help with making sure that at the community meetings (general

assemblies), there is order while the members all express how they feel about the issues up for

discussion. These facilitators hold no power over the community other than they try to keep

order by indicating when someone is able to speak during the meeting.


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Ethical Concerns

All of the analysts of the community are strong supporters of the community's goals. In

fact, two of the three analysts were among the protestors on the October 6th when the protest

started. As such, there is the possibility that because of our support of the community and close

ties to the community, it may have caused us to put the community in a much better light that it

should have been.

The 'Occupy Philly' community could have occurred because of the collective behavior

approach that defines social movements. The movement came about because citizens of the

United States in the general Philadelphia area had several grievances against the government,

corporations, and the relationship between big business and the government.

The location that the Occupy Philly members chose for their community has significant

meaning. There is a lot of symbolism that is connected with their location on Dilworth Plaza. On

one side of the plaza is city hall and on the other side are big businesses. The Occupy Philly

community sees themselves as the barrier between the government and big businesses. The other

reason why the Occupy Philly is at Dilworth Plaza is that the land that the plaza is on is owned

by the city. If someone in the community were to be arrested, only the city government would be

brought into the case. If they had been on state or federal land, then not only would the city

government be brought into the case, the state or federal government would be brought into the

case. By being on city land, the residents who are arrested have much less of a hassle to go

through.

The 'Occupy' community is a very unique community compared with the stereotypical

neighborhood. Through a series of events across the globe, the community practically appeared


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overnight. This community is a good example of how quickly a community can come together

and how the members of the community can work together to make it a safe and functioning

neighborhood. This community is also an example of the thoughts and idea that bind a group of

people.

This community was bound by similar ideas and it was through these ideas that they were

able to survive through the opposition. By having solidarity within this community and by

listening to the voices inside the group decisions were made that was able to keep everyone

together. Although Occupy Philly does not have a physical location the community is not ready

to give up and they are working on trying to regroup and rebuild.

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