“Occupy Wall Street” Protesters Are Living On Day To Day Donations
Protesters on Wall Street are taking daily food donations in order to sustain the large number of people involved in the protests. Some people stated that they were eating better at the “park kitchen” than they were at home. There were even people among the protesters who knew how to scavenge dumpsters for food, and helped provide for others in that manner.
The protest, and it’s “kitchen,” are located in Zuccotti Park
“While this restaurant doesn’t yet have a stove, it does sort of have the early murmurings of a philosophy, which might be defined as box-to-table communal scavenging, or “we share whatever people bring us.””
About The Protest
The protest itself has been described as a “leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions." They say that they are “the 99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent.”
The 1 percent refers to the rich, who has most of the country’s currency and wealth. The 99 percent refers to the poor, who are becoming the bulk of society as the gap between rich and poor widens.
“1 percent of the people have 99 percent of the money.”
“Occupy Wall Street is a diffuse group of activists who say they stand against corporate greed, social inequality and other disparities between rich and poor.”
The method of camping out for weeks, or even months, is based off of the protests in Egypt. Since the start of this protest, multiple other protests similar to this one have sprung up all over the country.
How they’re Being Fed
Almost all the food that the protesters have been receiving comes from donations. Protesters have to rely on constant donations in order to sustain their ever growing numbers.
The protesters admit that they don’t know where the food comes from; they just eat what they’re given.
All donations given to the protesters were accepted. Some were received with much gratitude, such as a much needed can opener. Others were met with puzzlement, like when they were sent a can of spam.
Robert Strype, 29, a protester from the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., area, said, “Food plays a huge part in this movement because people are tired of being fed poison.”
The protesters wanted the food to be as healthy as possible, even though they couldn’t choose what they received from their donators.
Anj Ferrara, 24, who helps the park’s kitchen, had come to Zuccotti Park “to push the sustainable-food side of things,” she said. “I feel we’re all moving toward a small-farm economy.”
Protesters get to eat what is handed out by the kitchen without having to pay for the donated food.
Restaurants Benefit
After the start of the protests on Wall Street, nearby restaurants had a sudden increase in business. Calls from all over the world began coming in. People from places like Germany, France, England, Italy and Greece, as well as all over the US, were calling in to buy food that was to be delivered to the protesters.
The Liberatos Pizza on Cedar Street got its largest order, an order of 50 pizzas, from someone on the West Coast.
Another store that benefited from this event was a deli on Houston Street named Katz’s. One of the owners stated that “thousands of dollars” were coming into the store “from customers who are sympathetic to the cause.”
The deli sent in sandwiches last Thursday, among other foods, such as “pastrami, brisket, corned beef and turkey sandwiches, as well as heaps of pickles, potato salad and coleslaw.”
Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/dining/protesters-at-occupy-wall-street-eat-well.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
Also Used:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/o/occupy_wall_street/index.html?inline=nyt-org
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