Photos by Brandon Kutzler and Lillian Reid
Members of Occupy Phoenix protested Wednesday across downtown Phoenix against the American Legislative Exchange Council and corporations associated with it.
About 50 protesters gathered at the state Capitol at noon. By 3 p.m., a group of about 75 people picketed at the Freeport-McMoRan building, in opposition to the company’s sponsorship of ALEC and its alleged human-rights violations in Indonesia.
At about 4 p.m., more than 80 people marched with signs through downtown Phoenix, stopping at the CenturyLink building, the US Airways Center, Bank of America and FedEx, companies which have backed ALEC.
The event was part of a nationwide protest called F29, an event coordinated by Occupy Portland to raise awareness of ALEC, according to an Occupy Phoenix press release.
ALEC is a politically conservative nonprofit organization that has become controversial for its role in public policy-making. In Arizona, ALEC was involved in the writing and passage of the controversial Senate Bill 1070.
Joya Scott, who organized F29 in Phoenix, said that ALEC is attempting to pass anti-union legislation in Arizona similar to the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill. Scott said ALEC is “trying to strip public workers of the right to collective bargaining.”
The protesters were closely followed by a group of about 15 police officers. Phoenix Police Department Det. Chris Wilson said that members of Occupy Phoenix communicate in advance with police, and the events are no secret because they are promoted through social media sites like Facebook.
“We have rapport with a lot of them,” Wilson said of the members of Occupy Phoenix.
Eric E. Kinneberg, Freeport-McMoRan’s director of external communications, responded to allegations of human rights violations in an email: “Freeport-McMoRan condemns human rights violations of any form. We have a longstanding commitment to the protection of human rights and have been vigorous in communicating, enacting and enforcing our Human Rights Policy.”
The F29 protest, like last month’s Occupy-affiliated rally against a war with Iran, marks Occupy Phoenix’s transition from genuine occupation to event-oriented, planned protests. The group’s occupation of Cesar Chavez Plaza ended in late 2011 following seizures of camping equipment and arrests.
Jules Lobel, president of the Center for Constitutional Law and professor at University of Pittsburgh Law School, spoke about the Occupy movement at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law on Feb. 17. According to Lobel, the success of the movement was its constant presence, a situation that has shifted in the wake of nationwide evictions of camping protesters.
“At this moment in history, to get the public attention you have to do something that’s not going away,” Lobel said. “The notion of an ongoing, indefinite occupation hit at the point that to get something in the public mind, it can’t be a temporary, one-shot thing. What got Occupy attention, I think, was the fact that they were there day after day. It wasn’t going away, it was a continual, 24-hour-a-day presence.”
Many members of Occupy Phoenix, including Rob Poe, an independent contractor and student who said he has sporadically attended Occupy events, blame their failure to occupy on actions taken by police.
“The only reason it transitioned (to a more event-driven focus) was because the idea got undermined by the constant police raids,” Poe said. “It frustrated what the people were trying to do.”
“Things are a bit harder here,” said Charles Parke, an organizer for Occupy Phoenix. “When other Occupies send members here, they’re surprised that there is police presence every night.”
Nevertheless, Parke said that he believes Occupy is moving in a positive direction, stating, “More important than ‘Can we occupy the plaza?’ is ‘Can we engage people and have them add their voice?’”
Michael Royer, who has been involved with Occupy Phoenix since its initial stages, echoed the sentiment that the movement is improving. Royer said the importance of the Occupy movement was to form the network of advocates who can now connect on projects and future rallies.
“It’s an evolution. It’s organic. It’s the people’s movement,” Royer said. “It has its problems, like a family, but so does every family, and so does society.”
But not everyone in the movement feels this way.
Activist Paul Puchalski was arrested at a past Occupy event for obstructing a public thoroughfare. He criticized the Occupy Phoenix movement for piggybacking on events organized by previously established political groups.
“Occupy Phoenix is officially over,” Puchalski said. “It’s dead, done, finished, over. It no longer exists.”
Contact the reporter at bkutzler@asu.edu
Mauro Whiteman and Aubree Abril contributed to this report.
