Governor supports Occupy; says college debt 'detrimental' to economy

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Commenting on two issues hot in the news, Gov. Lincoln Chafee said Tuesday he supports the Occupy Providence movement in Burnside Park and discussed tuition hikes and college debt and how those issues might factor in the protesters’ message.

“Oh, absolutely,” said Chafee about sympathizing with the protesters. “From what I see from the outside, [this is] a protest against the American way of life.”

The Occupy Providence protestors set up camp in Burnside Park in Downtown Providence Oct. 15 and have been camped outside in tents and partaking in demonstrations since then.

Michael McCarthy, a spokesman for the Occupy Providence movement, said the Rhode Island protestors have been planning and organizing since the first of October, when they began meeting and voting on their tactics.

The initial march that took place on the 15th had between 1,300 and 1,700 protesters, according to McCarthy, who said he is proud of the peaceful and respectful report those at Burnside Park have maintained.

Yesterday, protestors picketed outside of Waterplace Restaurant, where Providence Mayor Angel Taveras was holding a dinner for supporters, who paid between $75 and $500 a plate. The protestors offered free soup to the guests of the dinner, underneath a sign that read “99 Percent.” A sign that read “1 Percent” pointed to the door of the restaurant.

Taveras stated his intention to pursue a civil injunction against the Occupy protestors in an Oct. 29 public letter. But McCarthy said Taveras’ reaction to yesterday’s demonstration was not hostile or defensive.

“He came out and gave us hugs afterwards,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy said he is glad their movement has caught the attention of elected officials, but to him, creating a stir among individuals is the larger cause.

“I don’t believe public servants are evil,” he said. “They understand and know what their job ought to be, but they get financed by the big banks. By us being [in Burnside Park] we’re empowering people to have conversations they weren’t having before. We want them to have conversations around the water cooler at work or at dinner. Those are the people we want to reach out to.”

McCarthy said the Occupy movement began with a focus on economic injustice: the “one percent” that own most of America and hold most of the wealth.

“The Occupy movement is about America under siege and most importantly the middle class, and that’s what made America great,” said Chafee. “In any county, where you have a strong middle class you have a strong country. What they’re saying out there in these camps is, ‘We can’t make it any more.’”

Now, the larger issue has become an umbrella for multiple protests including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, minority issues and teacher protests.

“Single issues contribute to the much larger economic issues,” said McCarthy. “There are a number of reasons to be upset.”

McCarthy said that the various groups of people have come together “harmoniously” in support of one another.

The protesters have agreed to stay indefinitely at Burnside Park. McCarthy said they will stay in their camp until they are evicted, but he admits he didn’t foresee the protest lasting this long when they first began.

“If you told me three weeks ago we would still be here, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

But McCarthy reminds those on the outside of the protest that even if the camp goes away and the protesters aren’t seen, it won’t mean that the Occupy Providence protest has come to an end.

“I don’t think this is going away anytime soon,” he said.

One of the misconceptions about the movement, according to McCarthy, is that a group of college students began what is now happening in Burnside Park.

McCarthy got involved in the Occupy Wall Street protest by marching on the Brooklyn Bridge. Since then, he has been following similar protests across the country through social media sites.

When he returned home to Rhode Island after his time in New York, McCarthy found that an Occupy Providence Facebook group had been started, and plans to organize a protest got underway.

But college students have shown support for the Occupy movement, and the Occupy Wall Street website launched “99 Percent Project,” in which people can pose with a sign reading a number of things, including “I am a student in $25,000 of debt.”

Chafee said the debt college students face upon graduating is detrimental to the economy. He recognized the importance of programs that assist students in attaining their education.

“[There are] social programs, in particular those that allow people to get an education at both ends of the spectrum. Those are Pell Grants that help,” he said, “and those programs are under siege right now. And that’s the protest. And as a result we squeeze the middle class…and we have a disparity of wealth.”

Chafee said comprehensive tax packages, like the one Clinton introduced during his presidency, made the economy take off. He believes tax cuts, like those that Bush made, were detrimental to the economy.

Although Chafee hasn’t visited the camps personally, he sympathizes with what some of the protesters, especially the younger ones, are going through.

“Those in college, they’re looking at decades of paying off college loans,” he said. “That makes it difficult to buy a house, to make investments, when you’re under the heavy yoke of college loans for decades. I see it as a harmful factor to economic growth. When you have debt it stifles risk-taking.”

But those at the Occupy Camps are not only young students in debt, they’re people interested in fringe politics, people who have been laid off from their jobs, or people who now find themselves living on the streets.

“The toughest part in the camps has been [the attraction] of the indigent and disaffected,” said McCarthy. “We’ve been working with the Rhode Island Homeless Outreach to get them into a place at night.”

The protesters plan to hole up at colleges during the snowy winter months, but McCarthy sees the protest continuing for quite some time.

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  • perky4175

    aa

    Monday, November 7, 2011 Report this

  • perky4175

    college students are dead beats if they could afford to go they shouldnt be allowed to borrow the money

    the colleges should put leans on the parents property

    Monday, November 7, 2011 Report this

  • falina

    Lincoln Chaffee is detrimental to our economy!

    Tuesday, November 8, 2011 Report this