Arnello Sirignano

One Year Anniversary Convergence, September 17, 2012, Liberty Square

Photo: Stacy Lanyon

Right around the time Occupy started, I personally was depressed and disgusted with what was happening in the world. I live upstate in Woodstock, and I got a call from a friend in Colorado, and she said, “What are you doing home?” I said, “What are you talking about?” She said, “Why aren’t you down at Zuccotti Park?” I said, “What do you mean?” She began to tell me about this gathering, this occupation of Zuccotti Park. I hadn’t heard anything about it. I tried to do some research, and I couldn’t find anything that first week. Then, when I first began to hear things, it wasn’t much later that I realized that I really wasn’t getting the truth. I’m almost embarrassed to say that at first I thought that this was going to be some kind of trend, and I punched a lot of holes in the lack of leadership and not having any demands, and it wasn’t until weeks later that it all hit me, and I began to realize what was really happening. 

I managed to come downstate myself and spend a day at Zuccotti Park, and it was an enlightenment experience in a lot of ways. As I walked through the park, it almost felt like all of my dreams and ideas were just coming to life as I walked. It was almost like this amazing, wonderful hallucination because it was things I thought about and things I would do in my own way because it’s the natural and healthy way of living. For instance, the kitchen that was there feeding anyone who needed food. I always try and create a sense of community. In the winter time, I always have a fresh pot of soup on the stove, so when guests come, I can serve them, and they can eat. It’s really the spirit of giving, and I saw that alive constantly throughout the park.

I’m an older guy. I’ve was around for the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement. I was just a kid back then. Then, I was around for the Vietnam War and the Anti-war Movement. Since then, so much has changed for the worst in this country and in other parts of the world that I began to give up hope, and being around the people who were involved in the Occupy Wall Street Movement has once again given me hope for the future. When I come to these events, I experience a sense of community that I can’t experience elsewhere. I have brought friend and their families, their children, and it’s just a wonderful learning experience for kids, for people of any age, really.

I feel a little isolated because I live in the country, and it’s really hard getting people organized up there. I do what I can. I’ve done a number of solo civil disobedience stuff up there with the local banks and things. I’ve just been very inspired by the Occupy Movement. It’s been one of the only ways that you could really find out the truth about what’s going on in the world and make connections with people who are willing to make whatever sacrifices are needed to bring about change.

The Occupy Movement is not just one group of people working toward one particular thing. It’s about many, many different people who live in their hearts looking to bring about a better world and willing to make whatever sacrifices they need to make. I show up in support because I feel the Occupy Movement needs support to keep going. I may not see the kinds of changes I would like to see in my lifetime. I’m almost sixty years old, so I may not see those changes, but I believe that if the spirit of Occupy Wall Street continues to grow, those changes will eventually come about. There already has been fantastic changes that have been brought about that people minimize. 

I really believe that it might be our only hope because the majority of the people on this planet, due to corporate owned media, are not hearing the truth about what’s going on. It’s total insanity and repression and misuse of power that’s happening everywhere, and things are going to get worse unless people really stand up and take action. The Occupy Movement is keeping these ideas alive and putting them into action, and I think by supporting it, somewhere down the line, there’s going to be profound changes. I really believe that. I got to a point where I just felt total despair about what was going on in the world. I felt like giving up. It helped me go from a state of despair to once again having hope. That was a wonderful feeling. It was personally rejuvenating and revitalizing. It brought me back to life.

There is an endless list of things that are wrong. When president Obama first ran for election, I was ecstatic. I had so much hope. I campaigned for him. I registered voters. I read the two books he had out, and I was like, “This is it. There are going to be some changes.” In some ways, it just got worse. In regards to our foreign policy and our civil liberties, he’s taken things that Bush has done and taken them further causing even more problems, so I’ve totally given up with the two-party system.  That’s one thing that’s wrong, this two-party system that we have. 

Everywhere you look, whether it’s the corporate run media or the oil companies or the banks, it’s a misuse of power. That’s what it comes down to. There are some people who aren’t even aware. They are so diluted. They have been bread into this mind-state that they don’t even realize the type of misuse of power and how it’s hurting millions of people. Then, there is this whole problem with the NYPD. I would have never thought the brutality would get so bad. I’m not sure what’s really behind it except this type of brainwashing through people in power, supervisors and the media. The wrong messages are being put out there, and then people buy into it and react off of it. There’s a lack of heart. People’s hearts are not open. They’re just going off of these crazy ideas in their heads and not following their hearts.

I hope someday to see more equality among people and people caring for one another. I think the Occupy Movement once again through Occupy Sandy showed people what we’re really all about, which is helping others and being a good person. That’s really what it comes down to. Wherever you go, you’re going to run into people with problems, but the majority of people I have met in the Occupy Movement have really open hearts and are willing to sacrifice to do for others. I’m hoping that one day it brings about a fairer and just world where there is more equality among the people.

I think the world will be more wide awake, where people are waking and talking with their eyes open, where they can see the truth and act off of that truth instead of acting off of lies and delusion. I think people will be more awake and more caring. I think there will be more fairness in the world in regards to how people do business and treat each other. I think people will begin to care more about values than material wealth. People will just care more about doing good as opposed to getting more. People live in fear, and I think that’s part of where this abuse of power comes from, afraid of dying, afraid of doing without, afraid of losing what they have, particularly the elite, wealthy people. They live in fear. 

I would like to see a more trusting world, where people trust one another and don’t have to live in fear. As a result of that, I think we’ll be able to treat each other more fairly. I tell whole families, there’s an Occupy Wall Street event. You should bring the whole family. You should bring the kids. They’ll get a priceless education that you can’t get anywhere else about mutual aid and community and respecting one another, sharing. If you expose children to healthy, positive principles, they will first play with those, like they would play with toys in a way, and by them playing with those principles and values, they become the teachers, and they begin to teach others.  Adults begin to wake-up seeing these kids. Kids eventually grow up, and hopefully they take those values and principles with them. That’s the wonderful thing about Occupy Wall Street and the young people that are getting involved is that. They’re our future. 

Interview by Stacy Lanyon

http://elementsofoppression.blogspot.com/

http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/