Hey, there, fellow Kossacks! Longtime lurker here, galvanized into creating a profile by the incredible OWS movement. I've been photographing the OWS protesters over the last few weeks, and would like to share my pictures (posted at Flickr under my nom de guerre photographique WarmSleepy) of this lovely, hope-filled, brave, tenacious movement. Warning: Heartwarming earnestness and shocking acts of civic courage to follow!
Last night's OWS Times Square rally was incredible, an outpouring of people into a tight urban space, and with many arrests. I was right next to Kossack NYCEve (whom I don't know) around 46th Street when the march from Liberty Square entered Times Square: when the barricades on the east side of Broadway buckled, things got ugly and there were arrests, like this one:
I really need to thank LA Times photographer Carolyn Cole, who pointed out this arrest to me and other nearby photographers, all crushed against the barricades: amazingly, she shared this moment with us, saying, loudly, "Look, Look!" A stunning act of professional and artistic generosity, IMHO, really, I'm still speechless. Crazy times! Anyhoo, here are some mounted NYPD right near the scene of the arrest:
And I'm sure you all know this kind woman, whose first name is Elspeth, and who's made the rounds of the Internet as the 1%er lady who stands with us of the 99%. She graciously allowed me to shoot this, and chatted for a while (darn me for not getting her last name: I have a lot to learn as a citizen journalist!):
And some other shots from earlier in the ongoing saga of OWS to round out this brief photo diary:
(Huge thanks forever to BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin, who posted this last one a few weeks ago.)
Someone who is no stranger to us here at DKos:
This last one speaks to me about what we're fighting for, and what the Zombie Squid Plutocrat Fascist Squad are fighting so hellaciously against: equitable sharing of resources, a just slice of the American pie for all. As I kid in the caption, Surely the godless OWS Communists must be destroyed: sharing is unAmerican, and equitable distribution of precious pizza resources will undermine the neoliberal hell that Wall Street is trying to create in the USA.
But that's why we're here: why I and other OWS protesters far braver than I march and occupy; and why we're here on DKos, to inform ourselves, communicate with others, and to agitate, resist, and fight for a better future. To the degree that these humble pictures can achieve these vital ends, I am proud; to share these images with the DKos community, I am even prouder.
Please feel free to use any and all of my photographs in any way you can possibly think of in support of OWS. They're Creative Commons licensed, and belong to all of us, especially the courageous souls pictured therein.
See you at the Occupation, Everywhere.
Tim Krause