Thousands of people plan to fill City Hall’s Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Phoenix Saturday as part of Occupy Phoenix, an event started by three local teenagers to show solidarity with similar protests across the country.
Occupy Phoenix officially begins at noon Saturday, with a projected attendance of 4,000 people, according to spokesman Sevan Poetry. A “pre-occupation” march from CityScape to the plaza will take place 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. The event does not have a specific end date, and Poetry said the protest can continue through the 2011 calendar year.
The event, which aims to add to the nationwide series of protests to raise awareness of political and financial disparities in the U.S., began with Alex Kennedy and Edward Medina, both 18, and Laine Baker, a 17-year-old global studies major at the Tempe campus. They started an #OccupyPhoenix Facebook page September 20, three days after Occupy Wall Street began, and the group has since garnered support from over 5,500 Facebook users.
The trio attempted to create similar movements since August without much success, but Medina said as soon as the Occupy Phoenix page was created, it took on a life of its own.
“Social media is our single most important tool,” Medina said. “We’re going to bring a lot of change, and we’re going to work as hard as we have to in order to achieve that change.”
Now, there are 10 administrators moderating the page, with the original three actively contributing to the online content. Their main goal, they say, is simply to drive support.
In spite of their age, Kennedy said that they have faced few situations that they perceived as cases of age discrimination.
“One time at First Friday, some guy told me to get a job,” he said.
When faced with criticism because of their youth, Kennedy said he appeals to reason.
“If the problem is this big, why is it that kids my age are stepping up to the game?” he said. “Why aren’t you doing anything?”
On campus, Baker said she has been met with enthusiasm for her efforts.
“I can understand why people would discredit us, but we have all age groups organizing with us,” she said. “If we have students behind this, it can be a really powerful movement.”
Baker said the protest’s main message is that 1 percent of the country’s population holds a great amount of wealth and social influence. She said the average working person has not been in the place of importance that they should be.
“The change had to come from somewhere, and what better group for it to come from than students?” Medina said. “We are going to grow up completely in this system if we don’t change it now.”
Medina, who goes to Chandler-Gilbert Community College, and Baker plan on changing their majors to political science as a result of the experience they’ve had with this movement.
“I really have a desire for change and making lives better,” Medina said.
Kennedy starts school in January at Chandler-Gilbert Community College and plans on studying sociology. He is not as interested in politics as Medina or Baker, but he is open to forming community-based groups.
“After talking to all the people I’ve talked to, all the different communities in Arizona, all the different voices, it would be awesome to get into some form of organizing,” he said.
Contact the reporter at dmzayas@asu.edu
Jack Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.
