Beautiful, funky, eclectic, crowded—these are just some of the words that can be used to describe Pearl Street. Now, Pearl Street can add another word to that list: Occupied.
On Saturday morning, a group of protesters with the Occupy Boulder movement marched from the corner of Canyon Boulevard and Broadway Street to the lawn of the Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall. During their march, the protesters stopped in front of three banks: U.S. Bank, Chase Bank and Wells Fargo.
Occupy Boulder protesters march in front of the Chase Bank on Nov. 19. During their march, they chanted, "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out." (CU Independent/Hadley Vandiver)
At each bank, chants of “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” and “Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like,” rang from the crowd.
Daniel Schwartz, 22, a student who recently transferred to CU from Virginia Tech, led a large portion of the march as it made its way down Canyon and Pearl Streets.
“I believe that my future is threatened,” Schwartz said, as to why he became involved in the Occupy movement. “My security, safety and happiness are threatened. Personally, I believe that if we don’t address our concerns, there will be economic and environmental destruction.”
Daniel Schwartz, 22, a junior physics student, yells into a megaphone in front of Wells Fargo. He led the protestors as they marched to each bank, and often began the groups chants. (CU Independent/Hadley Vandiver)
Occupy Boulder had its first meeting on Oct. 15, also known as the Global Day of Action, according to Fiore Grey, 27, a birth doula, child birth educator and member of Occupy Boulder.
Grey and a smaller group of Occupy protestors went in to Wells Fargo during the march to sit and protest peacefully for 10 minutes. Following the sit-in, Grey spoke to the group of protesters.
“We need to rise up together,” Grey said. “We are the 99 percent of the people!”
Kyle Brennis, 26, said that though Occupy Boulder has no codified set of goals, there are a number of issues that they wish to address. These include corporate personhood, the unethical actions of banks, improper use of tax money, corrupt politicians and social inequality.
Fiore Grey, 27, an active member of Occupy Boulder, gives a speech to the crowd of protesters outside of Wells Fargo. "We need to put our bodies in the way of the machine that is sucking the lifeblood out of all of us!" (CU Independent/Hadley Vandiver)
“The list could go on,” Brennis said. “The primary purpose of the whole occupy movement, I believe, is to create a physical forum for people to come and talk about these problems, because our forums within government have been so compromised with childish games and squabbling, that we’re not having an effective discussion there. So we need to talk among ourselves, and the best way to do that is to come out of our houses, stand together and talk.”
Occupy Boulder holds general assembly meetings every Saturday, where they discuss other Occupy movements around the country and how to move forward with their own protests. The Occupy Boulder movement is now permanently stationed on Pearl Street, and plans to respect surrounding businesses by remaining at least 10 ft. from their storefronts.
For more information, go to http://occupyboulder.org/
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Hadley Vandiver at Hadley.vandiver@colorado.edu.
1 comment
good news@