On Freedom Plaza, we continue to be incredibly busy. This Wednesday we will hold an interfaith holiday service beginning at 4 PM . The event is being organized by Freedom Plaza’s clergy, Minister Sandra Harrelson, and will reflect a wide range of faith traditions. On Christmas Day we will be joined by Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant of the AME Empowerment Temple . Rev. Bryant is the national spokesperson for an important new ally – Occupy the Dream . This is a group of African American faith and civil rights leaders who are joining with the Occupy Movement. Representatives of Occupy Washington, DC and Occupy Baltimore attended a church service on December 18 where Pastor Bryant gave a powerful occupy sermon which we will be posting when it becomes available as it is a must see video. Freedom Plaza occupiers were joined by occupiers from McPherson Square, Wall Street, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other cities in supporting Bradley Manning , accused of leaking the wikileaks war and diplomatic documents that exposed U.S. foreign policies crimes and unethical behaviors. We rallied at Ft. Meade on Bradley Manning’s 24th birthday to show our support for Manning. There is no question that the Occupy Movement and Bradley Manning share common ideals of creating a more perfect union and recognizing that the first step toward doing so is getting out the truth to all Americans. Freedom Plaza was very pleased to have noted progressive, political singer and songwriter, David Rovics, sing at Freedom Plaza on Friday, December 16. Rovics sang in the cold for more than an hour including a great Occupy Song, Stay Right Here . Rovics also sang at the Bradley Manning support rally. We are continuing to winterize to prepare for the cold months that are coming up. We’ve put up the first military canvas tent after negotiating with the National Park Service and having an engineer provide drawings which showed the tents are safe. The second tent should be up this week. We are also looking for indoor space so people can get off Freedom Plaza on especially cold nights. There is less pedestrian traffic in the cold months which means less donations so your financial support really makes a difference . If you are planning on making end of the year contributions to issues you care about please consider donating to Occupy Washington, DC. It has been an incredible journey, and the American Spring is going to be even more exciting. We’re just getting started and are already having an impact on the direction of the country. Thank you all for your support this year. In peace and solidarity, Occupy Washington, DC/October2011
Posted by JANMB