For Every #OccupySLC Protester You Bust In The Park, There's One In Your Financial District

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Earlier today - at 11:09 AM MST, to be exact - I received a glorious piece of news.

Moon Base Alpha, the second #OccupySLC base camp, formerly located at the vacant lot across the street from the Fed and now located in Gallivan Plaza, is still standing.

That's right - like a Persistent Sinus Infection of Justice, it has outlived the mighty antibiotic that was the SLPD's recent raid on the original #Occupy base camp in Pioneer Park.

And yea, though they pitch their tents in the valley of the shadow of massive financial institutions, they shall fear no evil, apparently. While the cops were kicking down #Occupy's sand castles in Pioneer Park, it seems that the clever denizens of Moon Base Alpha worked out some sort of quasi-formal compromise to keep their camp as long as it stayed tiny, remained completely drug-and-alcohol-free, and kept a "low profile" before during and for a brief period after the police action against the base camp.

There was a sparsely populated literature table (I'll see what I can do about that):

I got there before anybody had really gathered.

From where Moon Base Alpha (AKA the new base camp, I guess?) is located, you could spit and hit the City Weekly (although I wouldn't recommend it, they have put a few ducats in Stephen Dark's pockets, and that's worth something).

#Occupy's two most devoted fan bases, police officers and Fox News, were both on the scene:

Pretty soon, the crowd started to collect in Gallivan's entrance.

A note about #OccupySLC's collection of bums, anarchists, and weirdos: somehow, despite our lack of investment in gold bars or our unwillingness to listen to Sean Hannity's radio show, we manage to get quite a bit done. When we noticed it was a little chilly, for example, a few #Occupants set up a plaza-approved, #Occupy-funded propane heating lamp, fueled by the tank below:

You might be able to make out the little -y4 on the tank. The rest of it reads "Occupy4." I was there for the acquisition, numbering and loose distribution planning of propane tanks, and the whole operation worked on principles of horizontal organization (read: "anarcho-collectivist principles") and went off without a hitch. Despite being ousted from Pioneer, trust me when I say that #OccupySLC is doing a great job of keeping track of resources and responsibilities, and, in closing on that subject, thank the Lord for social media.

Soon, Deb and Alexis engaged in everybody's favorite outdoor fall activity: street theater!

We stuffed as many people onto the front doorstep of Goldman Sachs at 222 S. Main Street as we could, right in the heart of Salt Lake City's financial district downtown. Organizers made sure that the sidewalk was clear enough to walk past on, and that none of us jaywalked (no, I'm not kidding, and if you wonder why we cared about jaywalking, try "getting the attention" of the police some time and you'll find out what the full possible penalty for each and every petty offense in the world is).

A few people were interviewed by various media outlets before and after.

It was fun and a little goofy. Tomorrow is the culmination of the thing, and I will probably go to it (same place, same time - about noon at 222 S. Main, but it starts at the entrance to Gallivan Plaza right across the street).