Sunday 11 November 2012

Occupy Sandy organizer Diego Ibañez in Far Rockaway

In the video we meet an Occupy Sandy Relief organizer, Diego Ibañez, and learn more about the group's incredible efforts in the Rockaways area.



The efforts of Occupy Sandy Relief, part of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, continue in the Rockaways. In the interview, Ibañez talks about how the group is organizing themselves and that they have recently moved into the premises of a business that lost everything to the hurricane. While the owner is devastated, as he only started the business a few days before the hurricane struck, he is more than happy to help with rescue and rehabilitation efforts.

Ibañez explains that while some of the volunteers had experience with Hurricane Katrina, for the most part the members of Occupy Sandy Relief are thankful for their experiences in Zucotti Park, which set them up perfectly for organizing, community building, helping and feeding a crowd of people affected by the storm.

He compared the situation to that of the Chilean students, who were not taken seriously when protesting, but how those students helped during the earthquake in Chile, because they had the infrastructure in place, just as OWS does right now. 

At 7 pm every evening, they have a community meeting with local residents, in an effort to establish a place for people to go for more than just their basic needs. Ibañez says how many local residents are becoming organizers themselves and are becoming committed to helping in their neighborhood. He says that many have said that it is so sad that they have waited until a moment like this to actually create a community and become involved with each other.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/336619#ixzz2BuSlsjzh

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