55 Days of Occupy Philly: day 43, Thomas Paine fiasco, rumors of eviction

11/16/11 Day 43
Weather -54 – 39 Rain

I will be posting these for each of the 55 days of Occupy Philly on Dilworth Plaza, from October 6, 2011 to November 30, the night of our eviction.

To view all posts to date, click:  55 Days of Occupy Philly.

5:15 Friend’s Center.
CoCo, It would take days lying on a beach in the sun to bake the weariness out of my bones.

Larry just came in—an announcement from the city that start of construction was “imminent,” that people would be coming tomorrow morning to relocate the homeless.
There won’t be much construction—mid-winter. Read “removal” is imminent.

Move – 24 to 48 hours—
anytime between tomorrow afternoon and Friday afternoon—if it happens at night, will be tomorrow (Thursday) night. Speculation: a daylight move perhaps possible—Ramsey putting a good face on his assault — to distinguish Philadelphia from other cop actions?
I will facilitate the interfaith proposal.

Fantasize – a council, planning for an invasion from outer space.

Legal Collective: no raid tonight.
Pat Gilespia –Phila Building Trades—expressed solidarity with us.
AFL-CIO, same, but if we impede construction, will have to step back.

     Pink banner folds 
     billows gently wind-blown  -- unreadable
     There is no Way to Peace
     multi-colored tents row on row
     multi-colored green 
     tarps
     circle below the spiral stair spattered
     with pigeon shit—all of this must go
     the tall man lurching as he walks bends
     stops bellows & moves on –
     MEDIC red cross – INFORMATION
     table empty now—daily schedule blank – wheel chair – WATER
     Please Sanitize Hands – rain soaked
     slabs of cardboard, plastic forks, spoons
     orange plastic buckets
           IMMINENT 
               … left undefined, the end game
     has always been in progress –
     playing out from before it all began
     Boycott Everything	 -- Shut the City Down
     -- the city – whose city – whose city
     bikes chained to railing—flag, U.S Marines
     ARMY –shirts – wave their arms LABOR
     & FACILITATION side 
     by side –hula hoops lean on SAFETY

GA in the Friend Center after Occupy Together meeting
–after a 2:00 afternoon discussion about what to do—given the notice to vacate fliers posted around the camp—at 9:00 we had to leave the Friend’s Center, continued the GA in the usual place in front of city hall—but no lights no mic— -back to people’s mic… past 10:00 before we came to a decision—to move across JFK, with a call for help from unions—whose support was tied to not blocking the fucking construction scheduled for the plaza… caught the police off guard—-hadn’t expected us to move after the Nov 11 decision—but no go. Told to go back—after dismantling the food station, carrying some of the tents across the street.
Carry them back.

Total clusterfuck.

Another discussion

——
I’m writing this blind—the poor light (Lucky 13) & left my reading glasses at home.
A fiasco—but leaves us with all the chips. The city blew its moral advantage—all ours now. We showed solidarity with the unions, we complied (or tried) with the city’s request to move–

& they chased us back