May 15, Anti-Fracking Rally...

Dateline Albany, NY, May 15, the Anti-Fracking Rally at 4:30 at the state capital...

The weatherman doesn't get it right a lot of the time, but today of all days, he was "spot on", as they say.  It was in the mid 60's, and rained fairly heavily for much of the day.  Not hospitable weather for the great anti-fracking rally scheduled to take place on the west lawn of the capital building at 4:30.  The rains began to slow to a drizzle by 3:45, the skies brightened a bit, and by 4:10 the rains ceased.  A biblical miracle!!!  But as you can see, the west lawn was empty.....

with the exception of this one intrepid anti-fracker who told me that she was just there to direct people to go inside the building where the rally had been moved by the organizers who decided to ignore this "sign" from the heavens that all would be well, thereby subjecting the protesters to the indignity of enduring a thorough security check (airport style) before being permitted their right to "protest".  I read a very thoughtful article recently observing that the whole security subculture search thing at airports etc. had the unstated, but very real, ultimate purpose of desensitizing us to the  indignity of subjugating our rights and privileges to the control of uniformed authority "for our own good and safety" as an important early phase of the fascist control under which we will and are already finding ourselves exposed to on a daily basis.  Rant, rant rant...     

So I decided to stay outside with a few others including Diana from the Finger Lakes area who designed this sign...  That's not Diana holding the sign.

Great revolutions produce great art, and great suffering...

And interesting people...

And sometimes a fortuitous combination of the two having nothing to do with fracking.  A good day for pictures if not for protests.  

Leaving on Thursday for a road trip to back to Nebraska by way of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana.  See you along the way.

                                                             Pablo 

Frack it....

Not unlike the practice of fishing by throwing a stick of dynamite into a lake, fracking (the process of hydraulically destabilizing the substructure of the earth's crust to release natural gasses) just doesn't seem like a good idea, in spite of what the overpaid scientific shills hired by the energy companies tell us.  This is not the place to learn more about the science of the thing, but to report on the upcoming gathering of rightfully concerned citizens of New York State who may get fracked in the not so far distant future and are not happy about it.  In fact on May 15, these concerned citizens are planning a mass rally on the west lawn of the capitol building, an outpouring of concern that is unprecedented around here in response to the potential horrors of an environmental issue.  You can squeeze only so much blood from a stone before it implodes, and the recent increase in global seismic activity may be related to the destabilization of the underpinnings of our terrestrial surface by human activity.  As I have said, we have developed the technology to destroy the planet, and are doing a damned good job of it.

                                Poster by Will Sweeney

 In my most recent Occupy Albany post, I lamented (possibly prematurely) the demise of the local Occupy movement, but maybe I was wrong, maybe it has morphed, as I hoped, into a more focused and issue related cause that has the potential of a real resolution/revolution, the banning of fracking in our state, and whatever else comes their opportunistic way.  If a picture can tell a thousand words, then the movement has gotten off to a great start.  The poster designed to alert us to the dangers, as well as the upcoming event is fantastic, revolutionary, even visionary,  and makes me look forward to the rally with great expectations.  The posters are prepped and ready for marching...

Indeed, photo proof positive of the beginning of a morph.   Here's hoping!!!

                                                                     Pablo

May Day, May Day!!! Occupy Albany...

May 1, 2012,  Albany, New York

                                                                           

May Day!!!  Day one of the 2012 season of occupying in Albany.  61 degrees, overcast, breezy, and the ground still quite wet and soggy in spots after a fairly steady rain last night.  After an almost non-existent opening day parade scheduled to begin at 12 noon, the afternoon rally and "teach in" beginning around 1 pm in Academy Park was also poorly attended.  Maybe 150 Occupiers, and and almost equal number of state and local police (I exaggerate, but not by much) and members of the press hoping for some action.  They were sorely disappointed, as were the rally organizers who had hoped for a larger and more enthusiastic turn out.  Fair weather anarchists???  Short attention span???  Apathy???  Hope this is not a barometer of things to come and that the warm weather will bring out the crowds as they have been reported to have turned out in other cities.  There does not seem to be the sense of inner city urban desperation here as elsewhere, and the turn out from the suburban "activists" was sparse.  Maybe if it was a Saturday...  Disinterest set in quickly and "the center did not hold" in spite of fervent calls to action by facilitators.  Photographically, it was a slow day as well.

                                                                         

                                David

                               George

                               A guy from the gay and lesbian group

Came home for a while for lunch, and will return to Academy Park for the hoped for big rally at 5 pm.   Everything is in place for a real protest. Will report back then.

Then:
Got back to the park at about 5:50.  58 degrees, overcast and there was a darkness of the spirit in the air.  Same 150 or less people were there.  Fewer cops and reporters.  Even they realized the air was out of the balloon.  Hung around for a few hours, till I couldn't take it any more and went home.  Got the feeling that this might be a last gasp for the Occupy Albany people.  Wasn't even thinking about them any more till I turned on the local news showing live shots of the last stragglers being arrested for refusing to leave the park after the 11:00 curfew.  A pathetic display of negative attention seeking behavior as PR stunt.   Civil disobedience for its own sake, or rather as a last gasp of relevance, an unmistakable sign of capitulation.  They were lucky that the local media had nothing better to do at the moment and aided and abetted the "movement" in perpetrating the perception that they went out with a bang rather than a whimper.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Hope the coming of warm weather and summer vacation will bring out the fair weather friends of Occupy, and prove me wrong.

                                                                     

                                                                     Sadly,  Pablo