battleforbrooklyn:

I stayed up late last night looking at footage from the occupy wall street protest.  For the most part it’s pretty mild stuff.  There are very few truncheons swinging.  Yet the tone of dismissal and power is overwhelming.  There’s a palpable anger among the officers even as the protesters remain non-violent.  What’s even more disturbing is that the white shirts (the supervisors) are responsible for the most egregious acts of violence in both the mace video and the one of the orange shirted café worker who is trying to figure out what’s going on.  


For the most part the protests have gone un-reported (up until the violence of this weekend).  Slowly the media started to pick up on some of the more violent police actions.  In reference to uncut footage of a supervisor macing 3 calm women, a police spokesperson claimed that the footage was “doctored”.  It’s uncut footage.  The supervisor walks up and sprays mace in their faces and walks away.  The footage is clear.  I take particular offense at these charges because as filmmakers we take great pains to be even handed, yet we get accused of creating “propaganda”.  When those who are inside the tent, and used to controlling the message, are confronted with a counter narrative they often get very angry.

Today I went down to a tent on the plaza of the Atlantic Center mall to see Jay Z make a “surprise” announcement that he will do 8 shows at the arena and that the team will be called the Brooklyn Nets.  It was a total bread and circus moment.  While there are hundreds of people protesting on Wall Street there were hundreds of press people at this press event dutifully reporting the dominant narrative that they were led to.  When I pointed this out to press people they didn’t see the irony. 

When I first arrived (at the wrong location) I saw Marty Markowitz talking to an ABC news reporter. 



I offered Marty a copy of the film.  He refused to take it and told me that it was propaganda.  I explained that I made the film and asked if he had seen it.  “No, but I have had plenty of people tell me that it’s propaganda.”  I told him that I took offense at that notion as I had taken great pains to make it even handed.  I asked him again if he was sure that he didn’t want a copy.  He did not.  I didn’t film this exchange because I had no ill intent.  I sincerely wanted him to have a chance to view the film.  I offered one to the reporter as I had filmed him at the ground breaking.  He didn’t want one either.  Then Marty yelled at me that they didn’t have to take one. (UPDATE:  As I thought about this later I thought it was pretty hypocritical of Mr. Markowitz to accuse me of being a propagandist while organizing a propaganda event)

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