Photo: Stacy Lanyon
Going back to when I first got involved with activism, I was still part of the establishment. I was a republican. I didn’t like the democrats. I’m from Connecticut. I first went down to Occupy a week after it
started just to go around and see what was going on. I only saw the park once before the eviction. When I was at the park, one of the things that made me want to get involved was that I started to see the two party dictatorship for what it really is, which is a joke. I saw all of the media down there. I saw Fox News down there basically saying that it was a bunch of people who needed to get a job and take a shower, and I started to have a dialogue with people, instead of just demonizing people.
We need to start talking to people. Before I got involved, people were stuck on the same political labels, like “Oh they're a bunch of communists,” instead of just going out there and talking to people and having a dialogue. We may come from different backgrounds, but we know who the real enemies are. They're not the fake enemies overseas that the media tries to sell us. They are here destroying the economy, destroying creativity, destroying jobs, and we all need to recognize that. The system doesn't want people from different political backgrounds and philosophies coming together. The system wants people to be divided over these little issues, like gender and race. Hopefully, people get around that and recognize that.
Fast-forwarding to last year, I joined We Are Change Connecticut and started getting involved with the journalism part of it. I never thought that I would be going down to New York to livestream it and film arrests and cover it. Beforehand, I understood that the group of protesters were being suppressed. I knew about the arrests and the eviction that had happened, and I realized that the media wasn’t really covering it. They weren’t getting the full story. When I saw that the media wasn’t doing their job, I decided to start doing that myself and getting involved. I saw there was a need for that, so people could follow what was going on online as it was happening. I started livestreaming Occupy around August of 2012. I came down for the weekend events of the one-year anniversary. It was my first experience covering a big event. I saw how the police were responding to it. It was really intense. I decided that it needed to be documented. I’m glad people are able to see it out there. The police think that when they try and intimidate people that people will not go, but more people started to show up because of it.
Journalism is being criminalized. The NYPD is specifically targeting journalist. They go after livestreamers. It’s to intimidate people who are seeing what’s going on out there. People have to recognize that that’s what they want. They don’t want journalists and livestreamers to cover it. The NYPD wants to intimidate people, so they don’t protest or cover it or get involved. People have to get past that and lose that fear. It's important to show people that this is what happens when people go out and try to exercise their first amendment. The technology is out there for anyone to livestream these events. It can be done with a smart phone, a camera. We need as many people out there filming as we can get. We need this especially in New York City because the police can make-up anything. I think it’s important to make sure that we document anything that happens there, so it’s not twisted. With livestream, you don’ t even have to edit anything. It’s right there on the internet for people to watch as it’s happening.
The mainstream media is never going to get the full story. They try and find the craziest person in the crowd, and then they say, “See, that’s Occupy out there protesting.” I want to inspire others to get involved. Don’t just look to us. The best thing to do is to go out there and start covering it yourself. It’s easy to get angry like I did when I first got involved, but you have to channel that anger towards what you want to do to bring about the change you want to see. Channel it to what your passion is, whether it be photography or whatever and use that to the best of your ability. Don't get caught up in the anger. Otherwise, you’re going to get stuck in that. You’re going to get depressed, and you’re not going to go anywhere. Instead, use that to the best of your ability to get involved. That’s what the system doesn’t want you to do. They want you to be fearful, but once you get out there, you realize that you’re not alone. There are plenty of people out there.
We need to start talking to people. Before I got involved, people were stuck on the same political labels, like “Oh they're a bunch of communists,” instead of just going out there and talking to people and having a dialogue. We may come from different backgrounds, but we know who the real enemies are. They're not the fake enemies overseas that the media tries to sell us. They are here destroying the economy, destroying creativity, destroying jobs, and we all need to recognize that. The system doesn't want people from different political backgrounds and philosophies coming together. The system wants people to be divided over these little issues, like gender and race. Hopefully, people get around that and recognize that.
Fast-forwarding to last year, I joined We Are Change Connecticut and started getting involved with the journalism part of it. I never thought that I would be going down to New York to livestream it and film arrests and cover it. Beforehand, I understood that the group of protesters were being suppressed. I knew about the arrests and the eviction that had happened, and I realized that the media wasn’t really covering it. They weren’t getting the full story. When I saw that the media wasn’t doing their job, I decided to start doing that myself and getting involved. I saw there was a need for that, so people could follow what was going on online as it was happening. I started livestreaming Occupy around August of 2012. I came down for the weekend events of the one-year anniversary. It was my first experience covering a big event. I saw how the police were responding to it. It was really intense. I decided that it needed to be documented. I’m glad people are able to see it out there. The police think that when they try and intimidate people that people will not go, but more people started to show up because of it.
Journalism is being criminalized. The NYPD is specifically targeting journalist. They go after livestreamers. It’s to intimidate people who are seeing what’s going on out there. People have to recognize that that’s what they want. They don’t want journalists and livestreamers to cover it. The NYPD wants to intimidate people, so they don’t protest or cover it or get involved. People have to get past that and lose that fear. It's important to show people that this is what happens when people go out and try to exercise their first amendment. The technology is out there for anyone to livestream these events. It can be done with a smart phone, a camera. We need as many people out there filming as we can get. We need this especially in New York City because the police can make-up anything. I think it’s important to make sure that we document anything that happens there, so it’s not twisted. With livestream, you don’ t even have to edit anything. It’s right there on the internet for people to watch as it’s happening.
The mainstream media is never going to get the full story. They try and find the craziest person in the crowd, and then they say, “See, that’s Occupy out there protesting.” I want to inspire others to get involved. Don’t just look to us. The best thing to do is to go out there and start covering it yourself. It’s easy to get angry like I did when I first got involved, but you have to channel that anger towards what you want to do to bring about the change you want to see. Channel it to what your passion is, whether it be photography or whatever and use that to the best of your ability. Don't get caught up in the anger. Otherwise, you’re going to get stuck in that. You’re going to get depressed, and you’re not going to go anywhere. Instead, use that to the best of your ability to get involved. That’s what the system doesn’t want you to do. They want you to be fearful, but once you get out there, you realize that you’re not alone. There are plenty of people out there.
I think people need to understand how important the occupation was. It was the first big movement of this generation where people started coming together. I’m twenty-two years old, and I’ve never seen anything like that before. It was amazing just to be there. I wish I had been there more at the begging when everyone was in New York. I think protests in general are good, but what's most important is moving forward with some real solutions and creating alternatives for future societies. It’s important to reach more people. There are so many issues that Occupy touches on, and I think it’s important for people to start having these conversations about sustainability and the environment, about GMOs and what’s going on with Monsanto. There are a lot of good issues for people to start getting involved with. When people start having a dialogue, most people agree on these issue. Nobody wants to feed their kids garbage food. We have to start bridging that gap and having conversations about that. Otherwise, people are going to believe the corporate media propaganda.
It was definitely a good start. People were giving out free food to everyone who came to the park. The relief effort that happened with Occupy Sandy was excellent. People have to recognize the importantce of Zuccotti Park. It created much bigger stuff than people camped out in a park. It created an awareness that wasn't there before for a lot of people. All of the sudden, people would have this click in their mind when they realized that everything is screwed up here. Everyone has their own moment like that. I think being in Zuccotti Park was one of my major moments, when I was seeing different people from different backgrounds working together. Hopefully, it will get stronger eventually and that more people will get involved. We don’t have to live this way. We need to work together to create alternatives to this system because this system wasn’t meant to work. It was meant to be like this. It was meant to enslave people with debt and indentured servitude.
A lot of us were told when we were kids that one person can’t change the world. One of the quotes I live by is Gandhi’s, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The idea is to empower people. I hear so many stories from people who say, “This is my first time out here. I’ve never felt like this before. This is an amazing group of people.” It created so many activists and journalists. It encompasses so many different things, from media, to solutions, to creating alternatives for our society. I think it’s a good step in the right direction for sure. We all don’t agree on everything 100%. That’s impossible. The important thing is to start focusing on the agreements and move on with those. We need to put aside the disagreements, put aside the ego, put aside your particular belief and start having conversations. That’s a step in the right direction—having important conversations about these topics. They need to be had.
I think one of the biggest problems is that people don’t recognize their
own power, or they feel like they’re alone. Bradley Manning is a good example. It
was just one person trying to expose what was going on. Anyone can have that
same idea, can be the whistle blower. People are too passive and don’t
recognize their own power. They let fear control them. I think that fear is one of the major issues. They’re most scared of people getting involved and doing something. If we do that, they don’t have the control over us anymore. People have to recognize their own power and run with it and have their own passion. Governments use things to divide us. We can’t be divided by little things. We have to recognize that we’re all in this together, regardless of the little differences—religion, class, gender. We have to recognize that we have power over them. We have more people than the people in power. We have to get the power back to the people.
We've become so detached with technology. There is an upside to technology, but there is also a downside where we’re detached from our fellow human beings. We have to connect with the people around us and have a dialogue, talk about what’s going on. I think we also need to put the distractions aside. Sports should not be number one in your life. People put too much of their attention toward stuff that’s not important. Our relationships with fellow human beings should be our first priority. We need to start having conversations about what’s wrong with this system. We need to get out and start appreciating nature and appreciating the little things that matter. We need to appreciate the people around us. Consumerism shouldn't be at the top of people's list.
Another issue is that kids are often taught that they can’t do this or that. The schools, the education system is obviously an indoctrination to be obedient to the state. School is not for knowledge. It’s for making you obedient. I went through that in high school. People have to do their own education because they're not going to get it from the school. It's created this nationalistic pride in America. We’re so creative when we’re younger, and we ask questions. When we're older, we're told to sit down and shut up in school. That shuts off the creativity. People stop thinking for themselves. They stop thinking logically and critically. We’re taught to just repeat what we are taught.
We've become so detached with technology. There is an upside to technology, but there is also a downside where we’re detached from our fellow human beings. We have to connect with the people around us and have a dialogue, talk about what’s going on. I think we also need to put the distractions aside. Sports should not be number one in your life. People put too much of their attention toward stuff that’s not important. Our relationships with fellow human beings should be our first priority. We need to start having conversations about what’s wrong with this system. We need to get out and start appreciating nature and appreciating the little things that matter. We need to appreciate the people around us. Consumerism shouldn't be at the top of people's list.
Another issue is that kids are often taught that they can’t do this or that. The schools, the education system is obviously an indoctrination to be obedient to the state. School is not for knowledge. It’s for making you obedient. I went through that in high school. People have to do their own education because they're not going to get it from the school. It's created this nationalistic pride in America. We’re so creative when we’re younger, and we ask questions. When we're older, we're told to sit down and shut up in school. That shuts off the creativity. People stop thinking for themselves. They stop thinking logically and critically. We’re taught to just repeat what we are taught.
I think the world I want to see is where more people are helping each other out, where people are not intolerant of people who have a different skin color or a different background, and where we’re not judgmental toward others. We’re taught that when we’re kids. We’re taught to treat others with respect. We need to look past the differences, whether it’s race, gender or anything like that. I want a world where people aren't divided by all of these little issues.
I think once we accomplish that it will be an amazing time to be living in. It is an amazing time to be living in now. I think it’s important to recognize what’s in front of you. Having said that, I think the possibilities are endless once we are able to unleash the creativity in the right environment and let it flourishes. Our society doesn’t allow for creativity. In a society where we are allowed to create what we want to create and change what we need to change, the sky is the limit. We will be able to create in order to better this world.
You can view some of Jeff Durkin's interviews at http://www.youtube.com/wearechangect.
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
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