Saturday, June 2, 2012

Julie Cramer

May Day, May 1, 2012
Photo: Stacy Lanyon

My best friend has been involved since the beginning. I came down a few times to Zuccotti, but I never fully immersed myself. All of my regular day routines just swamped my mind and my priorities. I was always intrigued by it, but I never got fully involved. I came to Union Square in the beginning of March after hearing Mickey Z. talk at Jivamukti Cafe. It was so enlightening. That day, I came to Union Square. We stayed so late. We were here for hours just talking to people. I had never been so immersed in an environment with so many people who had so many things to say. Everyone was so intellectual. It was so different from what you hear about it. I just fell in love with it. 

I went home and started doing research on different issues. What I was intrigued by was that there were so many different activist groups that I would never have gotten involved with or known about if it weren’t for Occupy. I researched different things that I became so passionate about -- environment, health, politics, health care. I was just like, “Wow, people don’t talk about this.” To actually be involved with groups and people who actually care and talk about it and can teach you about it, I think is so beautiful. Spring Awakening in Central Park was the epitome of what I love about Occupy and what I think that it truly is about. I love it because it’s different groups who are passionate about different things who are willing to come and spread information to each other about what they know about. Occupy to me is self education, learning from others and teaching others, spreading positive energy.

I think that it’s so important because people are talking about things that they have never talked about before. I learned about hydrofracking and Monsanto and GMO’s. The knowledge and the education allow me to branch out to the people in my life. First I change my way of doing things. My family started buying organic now, and they are more health conscious because of all these things that I know. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known. I think the knowledge is really why it’s important, to get information that is not provided to us through our government and through our media.

The thing with Occupy is that there are so many things that people are fighting for. It’s hard to say there’s one way that we want the government or the country or the world to change. I think that the most important thing is for people to be more conscious about what they are consuming and what they are investing their money and energy and time in. It’s really just an awakening of the consciousness. What I think people should be changing is where they focus their mind at.

I would like to see a country not run by corporations but actually run by the people, people who have a say in who they vote into office, people that actually represent them. The truth of the matter is, if corporations are funding political campaigns, who are these politicians actually representing? They’re not representing the people. They’re representing the billionaires. In 100 years, I would like to see an actually democracy. 
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
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