Occupy Denver in Photos

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Photos by Kylie Horner

Denver’s Thunderdome: an “anarchist collective”

Makeshift kitchen provides free food to Occupy protestors

By Kylie Horner on Nov. 7, 2011

(DENVER, Colo.) For now it stands, the fourth incarnation of the Thunderdome, reeking of indulgence and spontaneity amid Civic Center Park’s cultivated lawn.  It’s a weather beaten structure that holds firm, echoing the lively protests of Denver’s  “99 percent.”

“And it’s going to be destroyed later today,” said Corey Donahue, co-founder of Denver’s only free kitchen open 24/7, serving 300 to 400 people each day.

Occupy Denver participants file through the free food line at Denver's Thunderdome. (Photo by Kylie Horner)

Colorado’s unpredictable weather is no match for the Thunderdome,  but threats from Denver police are  “They come in with their nice badges, guns and riot gear and they come through and destroy the entire kitchen,” said Donahue. “All the donated food gets thrown in the trash.”

The Thunderdome violates the park’s no-encumbrance law, a rule that was applied more loosely in the past but is now being strictly enforced.

“It’s lucky we have ‘Beard The Builder,’ ” Donahue said, referring to the Thunderdome’s constructor.

The Thunderdome’s original wood design had a working back kitchen and overhead tent.  Its fourth iteration resembles something of a postgame tailgate. Donahue says the demise of the original structure—and its two successors thereafter—was at the hands of police.

But for now, a few midmorning snacks still line the table.  Sean Phayton, 21, who biked 16 miles from Golden to join the movement, grabbed an apple and a granola bar to fuel for the rally ahead.  “Have a good day, brotha,” Donahue responds in a familial tone as he waves Phayton farewell.

Rick Strandlof, co-chef, sits beside Donahue as another man approachs the table and grabbs a water bottle from the ice-filled bin.  “I would prefer you would save the bottle so you can reuse it, but I know you won’t,” Strandlof said. “There’s a little bit of guilt for ya.”

The eclectic group of volunteer chefs behind the operation refers to itself as an “anarchist collective.”

Donahue, a tenderhearted fellow with a burly beard, wears a hijab.  Over the course of the protests he’s been pepper sprayed, hit with batons, kicked and arrested on three different occasions.  “It’s a tactical scarf,” he said, referring to the hijab that covered his entire face. “Pepper spray can’t really get you.”

And his co-chef, Crunchy, a now unemployed chef that previously worked at TAG Restaurant, sports a Mohawk.

Strandlof, a student at University of Colorado-Denver whose family was in the restaurant business, said he joined the Thunderdome team because food is something he is familiar with. “I think serving food is the most revolutionary act possible,” he said.

Both Strandlof and Donahue agree that in order to sustain a revolution people must be fed.  “When people are secure in their basic necessities they can begin evolving and act beyond the need for sustenance,” Strandlof said.

“Our goal shouldn’t only be to fuckin’ make the change by reforming the system, we should also look at the very basics of our society,” Donahue added with charge. “You can’t talk about these revolutionary actions that we want to bring forth to the public when you’re starving, you just can’t do it.”

At first glance the Thunderdome appears to be an installment of the Occupy movement—surrounded by demonstrators holding signs that read, “OCCUPY DENVER: the resistance continues.” Not to mention the outspoken chefs that participate in the Occupy demonstrations themselves.

But Donahue emphasized that the Thunderdome isn’t exclusive to Occupy Denver protestors. “Anybody can walk up and have a meal,” he said.

Strandlof chims in with enthusiasm.  “If the Governor came down here, I’d give him the same treatment that I would the person that was just sleeping in the park,” he said.

Donahue says the entrepreneurial establishment of the Thunderdome—built from the ground-up with donated supplies—is a microcosm of what a larger society can look like. “Once we start realizing that we can take care of everybody here in Denver, and show everybody this is a sustainable way of living—by feeding each other,” he said. “Then we can start to create that society.”

Occupy Boulder: “Our roots are in revolution”

By Gina Yocom on Nov. 30, 2011

(BOULDER, Colo.) It was a sunny day in Boulder and warm for November. Pedestrians strolled down Pearl Street after lunch or a midday shopping spree. Around the old courthouse on Pearl and 13th Street it was a different scene. The Occupy Boulder movement held a public general assembly at 1 p.m..

As people gathered in a circle next to their campsite of tents, they discussed their strategies to send a message.  They talked about unification, complaints about lack of positive media and frustration over the decline in Occupy members. The meeting ended with an idea to put the local Wells Fargo on trial.

Greeted with hospitality, I was invited into their green tent labeled “Library” and had a group interview. Sean Kobaeyashi, the leader of the three participants, was grateful to have an interested person to listen to his concerns.  His voice was beyond raspy and he apologized for his sickness, explaining that he was sick from exhaustion and 15 straight nights spent in the cold. He said he wanted to spread his message and explain Occupy’s cause.

“We are against the seven-headed monster that is the government,” Kobaeyashi said. “It is something that is bound to happen. It is something that nobody could tell was going to happen, but their world will change because of it.”

Kobaeyashi moved various novels, blankets and board games out of the way to make room for his friends.

“It’s not enough just to fight against the 1 percent or the corporations because it’s the military, it’s the police. There’s the media, there are a lot of heads to the seven-headed monster,” Kobaeyashi said.

He wiped his hands on his grass-stained pants and smiled before he spoke again.

“The ultimate goal is to peaceably tear the heart out of the beast, and we don’t need a beast running our country,” Kobaeyashi said. “We want peace and freedom for the generations to come.”

Curious, I asked the reason for the tents and the message they were trying to convey by camping, since a lot of the occupiers do not camp. Kobaeyashi said that this created tension.

“Some people in Occupy [Boulder] have a problem with us camping and us being treated different than the rest of the homeless population,” Kobaeyashi said. “But we’re here because we’re trying to gain exposure, and as a young movement we need opinions and support and advice, anything.”

Darcy Figgs, a recent addition to Occupy Boulder, wore dreadlocks, a tie-dyed headband and a dirty flannel shirt.  She ate granola out of a plastic bag as she explained her camping goals.

“I was in Denver for a long time and then I came here and saw the community,” Figgs said. “We model the society we want when we are in these camps, when we go to our general assemblies, and when we go to our 24/7 meetings. This is what we want for ourselves on a larger scale so we live the change.”

Ben Daniels chimed in after listening and eating granola and peanut butter for some time.  He wore a grizzly beard, shaggy hair and dirty clothes. He smiled at his new friend Figgs.

“This is one of the best places to live,” Daniels said. “It’s beautiful here, and it’s beautiful what is going on here.”

Kobaeyashi said the negative media attention and stigma attached to Occupy never stopped him from joining the movement.

“Anytime anyone has a negative comment, we just hope that it is constructive, not, ‘Oh, get a job, get a life,’ because we do have jobs and we do have lives,” Kobaeyashi said.”This movement has become the job I was looking for. I don’t care about the paychecks or the money”.

Kobaeyashi said the media is telling inaccurate stories about the Occupy movement. He said the whole story is not being told and that his message is worth more positive media attention.

“We cannot forget that our roots are in revolution,” Kobaeyashi said. “There is a lot of support behind starting over. We are trying to be examples, and all I ask is that we have peace.”

Occupy CU

Students at the University Memorial Center courtyard explain their connection to the Occupy movement. (Photo by Hannah Krasovec)

A small group of CU students brave the cold to support Occupy CU at the University Memorial Center courtyard. (Photo by Hannah Krasovec)

Occupy Movements lack clear focus, leaving reporters to decipher different messages

By Chris Kennedy on Nov. 7, 2011

(DENVER, Colo.) In school, we’re often taught to write in a linear fashion with a clear focal point and thesis, but news reporters across the nation are finding this to be a difficult approach in covering the Occupy Movements.

The movements lack leaders and political affiliation, making it hard for writers to dial in on sources and commentary.

While newsgathering organizations worked to solidify an understanding of the diverse messages, needs and complaints of these movements, coverage came in staggered waves.

“The news coverage of the Occupy Movement, especially at first, was rare and generally misguided,” said Occupy Denver protestor Sarah Inskeep-Mueller. “There are many complaints that there is not a list of demands. There is also the issue of the refusal to appoint a leader.”

“Initially, it would have been better to have a spokesperson,” said managing editor of the Boulder Weekly, Jefferson Dodge.

However, Dr. Ben Robertson, professor at University of Colorado-Boulder and a seasoned scholar of networked relations, believes the movement’s lack of a leader contributes to the strength of the movement. “It’s rage; it’s power, and it’s not going away,” said Robertson. He believes that without a defined authority figure within the movement, people who want to undermine it will have to focus their efforts on the growing masses in the streets rather than directing them at one person.

A leaderless movement further complicates news coverage because there is no one person who claims to represent the entire movement.

“Who do you ask a question to?” said Robertson. “It doesn’t seem there’s anyone to ask questions to that can claim to represent the whole group.”

But Occupy protestors say that’s the point.

“I don’t think there should be a leader,” said Occupy Boulder protestor Tim Petty. “If you’re given power, you just become part of the elite. You become the 1 percent.”

With constant pressure to elect a leader, Occupy Denver recently elected Shelby, a border collie, as a message against corporate personhood.

“As such, under auspices including, but not limited to, the facts that she can breed, and show emotion, there by proving she is more of a ‘person’ than a corporation, here by demand that Shelby not only be legally recognized by both State and Federal government as the leader of Occupy Denver, but also as a person,” said an Occupy Denver supporter in a post on occupydenver.org.

Occupy movements have also proven to be different than usual protests in that each localized movement seems to have different messages and demands.

“The movement has been criticized for being unclear, but if you incorporate it into local examples, it becomes more clear,” said Dodge. The Boulder Weekly used this localized approach in an article comparing Occupy Boulder’s messages against corporate greed to a renewable energy bill on the 2B and 2C ballots.

Robertson finds similar strengths in the diversity of messages as the strengths afforded by the lack of a leader. “I think there is a desire to do something and have a clear goal,” said Robertson.  “But it seems that as soon as you define that thing, it becomes easy for whatever the other side is to suddenly crystallize against that specific thing, whether it’s health care, or campaign finance reform or whatever it is. They undermine through compromise.”

As coverage of the Occupy Movements continues, we are seeing news coverage shift from a portrait to a mosaic. As more individual articles of the movement are produced, the big picture is becoming clearer.