Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Organizers hope their Occupy The Caucus protests are the 'least organized' demonstrations around the presidential campaign.
Heading into the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night, Occupy Des Moines had logged upwards of 50 arrests after a week of protesting every presidential candidate and were already claiming victory. Yet, the true test of whether organizers achieved their goals won’t come with results of the caucuses Tuesday night. Rather, it’ll be later in the month when candidates move out of Iowa and on to other early voting states. “We’ve done our job,” said David Goodner, an Occupy Des Moines member and organizer. “We’ll keep at it and everything but it’s time to take this thing out to New Hampshire, and Nevada and South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states.” Goodner said this is one model for how Occupy Wall Street can take the movement into the 2012 election …
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Police arrested protesters at the Democratic party headquarters in Des Moines and Ron Paul Iowa campaign headquarters in Ankeny on Thursday.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
By: Tyler Kingkade for Patch Police arrested 17 Occupy protesters, including a child, at the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters and Ron Paul's presidential campaign office on Thursday in an on-going week of demonstrations around the Iowa caucuses. A dozen of the approximately 50 protesters demonstrating at the IDP headquarters at 5661 Fleur Drive were arrested for trespassing on Thursday afternoon. One of them was a 14-year old student at Callanan Middle School, Frankie Hughes. Frankie said she's been arrested three times before at protests, including on Oct. 9 when Occupy Des Moines first set up an encampment at the statehouse grounds. Police allowed her father to come get her and drive her to the juvenile detention center. "I'm actually …
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Members are encouraged to attend the Jan. 3 caucuses without supporting any candidate, a move that has historical precedent.
Some Occupy Iowa members are planning to caucus this year, but they say they won't support any of the candidates on the ballot. Instead, Occupiers are pushing an effort called "Occupy Iowa Caucuses: Caucus for Uncommitted." The plan is to attend a caucus and play by the rules, but vote "uncommitted" on Jan. 3. The move is directed at both Democrat and Republican caucuses. "This is a way of participating without having to give in to the lesser of two evils," said Brandon Long, 24, a member of Occupy Cedar Valley who helped organize the idea. He said the point is to send a messasge that they want to participate in the process, but feel it has been hijacked by the "1 percent." The idea has some historic precedent. In both 1972 and 1976 in …
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Protestors dressed as GOP candidates Gingrich, Bachmann, Paul, Romney and media personalities.
Occupy Des Moines protesters demonstrated one thing tonight: They know how to throw a fun protest. They came in costume. They dressed as circus clowns, Republican candidates Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney and media puppets on a string. Ringmaster Danielle Ryun led the crowd as they marched and chanted from 5:30 to 7 p.m. up and down the sidewalks of University Avenue in front of Drake University, where the first major GOP presidential debate is scheduled to take at 8 p.m. Gathering about 50 Occupiers together for the march, Ryun told them to stay on the public sidewalks, stay off Drake property and "most important, have fun." Police had warned the protestors they could be arrested if they come on university …
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Representatives from Occupy Des Moines and Occupy ISU will tell their stories and discuss plans to demonstrate outside GOP presidential candidates' campaign headquarters after Christmas.
Occupy Wall Street groups, which have met infrequently throughout Ames, will be the topic of a community discussion at 3 p.m. Sunday at KHOI Radio at the Ames Pantorium Building. KHOI Radio and the Alliance for Global Justice of Ames will host an open discussion with representatives from the Occupy Des Moines and Occupy ISU groups. Jerry Lamsa, an Ames Occupy participant who is helping with the discussion, said the groups are still determining the panel's format. Occupy members will likely be asked to share their personal stories and take questions from a moderator. The Des Moines group will also discuss its plans for demonstrating at GOP presidential campaign offices after Christmas as well as demonstration plans during Iowa's Jan. 3 …
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Protesters could not get close enough to the Des Moines church where a Republican presidential forum was being held for their message to be heard.
The 99 percent were not loud enough to get their message heard Saturday at a Republican presidential forum at one of the largest churches in Des Moines. Warned in advance by police to stay off church property, about 50 to 70 Occupy DSM protesters stood on the grass shouting slogans, but the distance and wind prevented them from being heard by audience members filing inside. "We're the 99 percent and so are you," they called to people entering the church to watch the forum staged by the Family Leader, an Iowa conservative Christian political action organization, led by unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats. "What are they saying?" asked people as they entered the forum. "I can't understand a word of what they're saying." Do…
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Protestors across Iowa describe their feelings after New York City police cleared protestors from Zuccotti Park in New York City.
Iowa protesters affiliated with Occupy Wall Street awoke to news their fellows in New York City had been cleared from Zuccotti Park early this morning. Rather than being disheartened by the police raid, during which nearly 200 people were arrested, they said they have become even more committed to their cause -- and they think more people, rather than less, will support their movement. “It will only make us stronger,” said Jessica Reznicek, 30, an Occupy DSM organizer who serves as liaison to Occupy groups in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City. “I really, truly believe that the more they push, the harder we’ll push. The more people see this kind of abuse of people peacefully protesting, the more they’ll support us.” In Des Moines, about 25 …
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The group organizing through Facebook said they will meet each day at noon.
A group of about 100 people who support the Occupy Wall Street movement protested around the Iowa State University Campanile in Ames on Thursday. Members of the Occupy ISU group took turns expressing their anger at corporations, unjustified wars and bad health care before marching through campus. The march lasted for more than an hour. Here is a link to video and an article about the protest.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Occupy ISU asked people upset with the state of the current economy to meet on Iowa State University campus Thursday.
People behind the Occupy ISU movement being organized in Ames via Facebook might reveal themselves Thursday. The creators of the Occupy ISU Facebook site declined interviews with Ames Patch unless they could remain anonymous, citing that it is a leaderless movement. They have asked for people upset with the current state of the economy to gather around the Iowa State University Campanile at noon Thursday and will begin a short march to Lincoln Way at 1 p.m. And they have posted a link to the planned marching route in the Ames Patch comment section. As Occupy Wall Street speads across the country, communities have reacted in different ways. In Iowa City, police have not contested the take over of a local park, but in Des Moines more than 30…
Monday, October 10, 2011
Arrests raise questions about Occupy Wall Street efforts around Iowa. Ames may be next.
Unlike in Iowa City, Police clamped down with arrests as Occupy Wall Street spread to Des Moines on Sunday. Some 400 protestors had gathered earlier in the day on the Statehouse lawn, but by the end of the night dozens were reportedly hauled off for not having a permit and thus violating a 11 p.m. curfew. Reports vary as to how many people were arrested. Radio Iowa reports three dozen people were arrested for trespassing, while the group Occupy Iowa pegged it at 20-40 people on it's Twitter feed. Several outlets are reporting former State Rep. Ed Fallon, who once ran as a Democrat for Iowa governor, was among those arrested. Iowa Politics reported on its Twitter feed that protestors chanted, "The world is watching," while being hauled off …
Francis Singh
5:41 pm on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
PLEASE VOTE UNCOMMITED AS A IOWA DEM!! IM A CA DEM AND IM WITH YOU UGYS 100% OF THE WAY! GET BARRACK OUT THE DAMN WHITEHOUSE!! more ›