Wall Street protesters say they 'want a voice'

NEW YORK -- Don't ask the protesters sleeping out in a downtown plaza for the list of demands of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which enters its 19th day today. There isn't one, and with labor unions set to join the group today and with groups in other cities from Los Angeles to Louisville starting their own camp-out protests, their specific proposals for change aren't likely to get any clearer soon.

"This is the first movement of its kind in a long time," said Jake Dodenhoff, 18, who has been camping out since Sept. 17. "We're accomplishing things slowly, but we're accomplishing things."

Instead, rows of handmade protest signs laid side-by-side stretch the length of the plaza offer a political smorgasbord: "Tax Breaks for the Rich Don't Work — But We Will" lies near "Fix Are Skoolz," "Personhood is for People" (an objection to the Supreme Court ruling that corporations can make political contributions just as individuals can), "Ban Fracking" (a form of natural gas drilling), "Drone Attacks Foment Terrorism" (an apparent reference to the death of al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki), "Obama: Stop Funding Israeli Occupation" (supporting a Palestinian state) and "Free Squid Sketches" (unclear).

So what? says protester Chris Guerra. "Name one big group that agrees on one thing. Democrats? No. Republicans? No." The spread of protests from New York to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and smaller cities such as Louisville and St. Louis is an achievement already, he said. "If we wanted to, we could go home. Just to bring awareness to people, that's success."

But the theme of anger at corporate money and its influence in government resonated in smaller protests across the country Tuesday. "I'm here because our federal government has sold us out," said Meredith Dooley, holding a sign at an intersection in Louisville, where nearly 150 people gathered. "It's government of the money, for the money, by the money. I hope people get greater awareness that their government is not representing them. People should be outraged by the inequality of wealth."

"We feel the power in Washington has actually been compromised by Wall Street," said Jason Counts, a computer systems analyst and one of about three dozen protesters in St. Louis. "We want a voice, and our voice has slowly been degraded over time."

Zuccotti Park, a plaza near the World Trade Center site that has become the headquarters for Occupy Wall Street, has acquired a lived-in look: Sleeping bags, blankets and air mattresses are clustered together, beach umbrellas provide a bit of shade and shelter, and tables of donated food keep those camping out fed.

"No more canned food! We don't have any can openers and no place to cook it," said Bill Buster, an organizer.

"It's a very odd mixture of people," said New York City Councilman Dan Halloran, who dropped by Tuesday. "It's not just one group of discontented social strata." But he felt the protesters would be more effective if they had policy proposals. "You can't fix problems without solutions. They'd be better served sending their message with a specific plan," he said.

Some protesters Tuesday said they had come to the park to bring diversity. "The media has been branding us spoiled kids who dress from Barney's," said Guerra, an artist from Newark, whose shoes were splattered with paint and whose leather jacket, he said, was a gift from his mother. "I just want the government to be held accountable for their ties to corporations and (for) helping corporations when they're supposed to be helping people."

Vanessa LaPoint, 48, came to New York from San Francisco with her colleague Uma Arunachalam. "We saw it on TV. We wanted to give them a different demographic. It's not just hippies anymore," LaPoint said. Her sign read, "It's Time To Stand Up Against America's Corporate Greed."

"I've never protested a day in my life," she said. "I'm just so mad at what's going on in this country. … It's just a slap in the face to see (corporate executives) taking these bonuses year after year and not sharing it with anyone who works for them. It's like being kicked in the teeth every time bonus time comes around."