georgephillip
Diamond Member
"In LA, disasters tend to bring us together,' explains Professor Wendel Eckford, a historian with Los Angeles City College who's been coming down to the Occupation everyday after class.
"And it is a disaster: One of out of every five U.S. foreclosures this year was in California. The unemployment rate in Los Angeles is 13 percent...
"There's a boiling point and currently it's expressed in the 253 tents surrounding City Hall. Its part Peoples Park, part low-budget film set and part civics crash course...
"Los Angeles City Council members make frequent visits to the tent city encompassing the building where they work. City Council President -- and soon-to-be mayoral candidate -- Eric Garcetti, who holds an annual Government 101 seminar at City Hall to help citizens make better use of the system, has been down at Occupy LA recruiting participants for next year's tutorial.
"Councilmembers Dennis Zine and Bill Rosendahl also are staunch supporters of the Occupation..."
How long will the occupation last?
"How long is it going to be out there? I ask around. They are in it for the long haul, protesters say. 'We're not going fast, we're going far,' is a phrase they use.
"The time between the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788 gets mentioned."
Occupy L.A.: This is What Civics Look Like - Tina Dupuy - Politics - The Atlantic
"And it is a disaster: One of out of every five U.S. foreclosures this year was in California. The unemployment rate in Los Angeles is 13 percent...
"There's a boiling point and currently it's expressed in the 253 tents surrounding City Hall. Its part Peoples Park, part low-budget film set and part civics crash course...
"Los Angeles City Council members make frequent visits to the tent city encompassing the building where they work. City Council President -- and soon-to-be mayoral candidate -- Eric Garcetti, who holds an annual Government 101 seminar at City Hall to help citizens make better use of the system, has been down at Occupy LA recruiting participants for next year's tutorial.
"Councilmembers Dennis Zine and Bill Rosendahl also are staunch supporters of the Occupation..."
How long will the occupation last?
"How long is it going to be out there? I ask around. They are in it for the long haul, protesters say. 'We're not going fast, we're going far,' is a phrase they use.
"The time between the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788 gets mentioned."
Occupy L.A.: This is What Civics Look Like - Tina Dupuy - Politics - The Atlantic