Q. When did you’re involvement with the occupy movement first begin?
A.I’d heard about this actually before it came together. This started out on Oct., but I’d been talking about it online before the occupy thing even sprang up. I’d been here since Oct. 6 with a couple of time outs. For the most part I’ve been here since the beginning.
Q. What do you think about the effectiveness of movement?
A.I think its captured people’s imaginations because people have been waiting for something to happen. People know the system is broken; no matter what you’re political ideology, you know its not working. Well, it’s working if you have a billion dollars; if you’re making that salary a year. But the government’s and the elected officials are not responsive, and everyone has been waiting for something. When this sprang, there was a huge weighty exhale, a sigh of relief. As if “Thank God, someone’s doing something” It’s changed the dialogue around the country in a very short order.
Q.What made you decide to get involved in Occupy DC?
A.I’ve been involved in politics, going back to [when I was] very young. I think its maybe in my DNA, or maybe because I’m Irish and we always love to talk politics. [I was involved] going back to high school in the 60s, with the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement. I’ve really been waiting [for] my time to come back, and I’m just glad that I’m alive to see it.
Q. What is the daily routine?
A. Well, nothing’s routine, everyday it’s something new. There are routine elements [like] the general assemblies in the morning and the evening, but beyond that anything can happen. We don’t know what research needs to be done for what’s coming up. There are days that are slower than others, but it’s always something new.
Q. What specific action do you think the government needs to take?
A. One common answer is that you have to get corporate influence out of government. The government doesn’t belong to the people anymore. It isn’t responsive to [us] and we’ve got to take it back.
Q. How would you’ve measure you’re progress as a movement?
A. Well I think it’s been huge. It’s been two months and we’ve totally changed the dialogue of politics of the country. This time at the end of September, nobody would have known who the 99% was and who the 1% was. People maybe knew in the back of their heads that the government wasn’t responsive, but they really didn’t know or think in terms like that. Now they do; it’s an awareness that’s there, and it informs every discussion there is. We’ve changed the dialogue, and I think we’ve set the [political dialogue] on a course that’s going to be irreversible.
