Occupy-ers: This is our "Valley Forge moment"

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Anti-Wall Street protesters around the U.S. who are vowing to stand their ground against the police and politicians are also digging in against a different kind of adversary: cold weather.

With the temperature dropping, they are stockpiling donated coats, blankets and scarves, trying to secure cots and military-grade tents, and getting survival tips from the homeless people who have joined their encampments.

"Everyone's been calling it our Valley Forge moment," said Michael McCarthy, a former Navy medic in Providence. "Everybody thought that George Washington couldn't possibly survive in the Northeast." Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was the site of the Continental Army's winter camp during the Revolutionary War.

More than a month and a half into the movement, Occupy Wall Street activists from New York to Colorado have pledged to tough out the snow, sleet and cold as they protest economic inequality and what they call corporate greed.

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"Occupy" protests: Month 2

But the dangers of staying outdoors in some of the country's harsher climes are already becoming apparent: In Denver, two protesters were hospitalized with hypothermia this week during a storm that brought several inches of snow.

The activists also know full well that the number of demonstrators is likely to drop as the weather gets colder.

Some movements are scouting locations indoors, including vacant buildings or other unused properties, possibly even foreclosed homes, though some question the wisdom of holding a protest outside the public eye.

Lighting campfires is probably out of the question in most places because of safety regulations.

Volunteers from the Occupy Wall Street protests organize donated clothing at the storage and distribution center on Broadway, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011, in New York. Major clothing labels such as American Apparel are regular contributors.

/ AP Photo/John Minchillo

Boston's Occupy movement, which has roughly 300 overnight participants and could face some of the most brutal weather of any city with a major encampment, has set up a winterization committee that will try to obtain super-insulated sleeping bags and other winter survival gear.

Activists from the movement's flagship encampment, consisting of hundreds of people in New York City's Zuccotti Park, are sorting through packages arriving daily that include coats and jackets.

In Providence, where city officials are threatening to go to court to evict hundreds of campers from a park across from City Hall, a core group said it will remain through the winter months — if not there, somewhere else. Rhode Island's capital has an average low temperature in the 20s from December through February and recorded nearly 3.5 feet of snow last year. Many of the more than 100 tents are not built to withstand harsh conditions.

Temperatures were expected to drop into the 30s across much of the Northeast by Friday morning, and forecasters said snow is possible in some places over the weekend. Boston got its first dusting late Thursday night.

John Moore/Getty Images

In Denver (left), as protesters prepared for this week's snow, a few dozen sympathizers stopped by to drop off blankets, gloves, chili and hot chocolate. Police refused to let activists erect a tent. That left some sleeping on the wet ground, covered by snowy tarps.

"I welcome the challenge of this cold weather," said Dwayne Hudson, a landscaper who has been living at the Occupy Denver site for nearly two weeks. "This is like war. You know, soldiers do it when they occupy a place. I'm sure the mountains of Afghanistan get pretty cold."

But after the first snowfall, he admitted: "It's getting tough."

Eric Martin, who is on Occupy Boston's winterization committee, said the group had raised about $35,000, which could help buy winter supplies. Various ideas are being discussed to keep tents warm without using combustion-based heaters, which are forbidden. Another proposal: igloos.

"We're looking at ideas from military vets to survivalists, to the homeless community to indigenous peoples," Martin said.

Activists in Philadelphia are also researching sturdier, warmer structures that could replace the 300 to 400 tents set up on the concrete plaza surrounding City Hall.

Chris Goldstein of Riverside, New Jersey, owns one of the tents, though he sometimes sleeps at home. He learned the hard way during the first rainfall that the site has poor drainage: "I occupied a puddle." The self-employed writer and activist put pallets under the tent to lift it off the ground, and outfitted it with small carpets for insulation.

In the meantime, he and other activists have access to a Quaker community center two blocks away where they can shower and thaw out in common rooms.

In Chicago, where winters are famously bitter, protesters living in Grant Park are working to secure several indoor locations to get them through to spring. A church nearby is letting some demonstrators sleep overnight. Activists in Portland, Oregon, likewise said that moving the protest inside is the only realistic option.

A protester, his sleeping bag covered in frost, sleeps on the sidewalk at the "Occupy Denver" camp at Civic Park, October 27, 2011 in Denver, Colorado.

/ John Moore/Getty Images

Patricia Phelan and her fiancee, Savanah Kite, have been camping in the Providence park in a $20 tent from Walmart. As temperatures dipped into the 40s in the morning this week and people could see their breath, they hadn't yet employed their hand warmers or a down comforter Phelan had in the car just in case.

Their plan is to add layers as necessary.

The trick will be keeping morale up, Phelan said, "and not letting the climate get to us."

[IndeedTrue]

Thank goodness for Global Warming, huh?

[sjj1222]

My response to the unprecedented October snowstorm in NYC is to forward you an email I received from MoveOn.org. Occupy Wall Street's ability to keep speaking up for the 99% depends in part on their ability to hold out against the winter weather. And that depends on their having the right supplies—sub-zero sleeping bags, long underwear, and warm hats and gloves.?If you have any of these items—or can go buy them today—and are willing to donate, please bring them to 52 Broadway (at the corner of Exchange Pl, next to the Amalgamated Bank). Items can be dropped off there until 9 p.m. tonight or from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. tomorrow. (Donations outside of these hours can be brought directly to the Comfort table on the east side of Zuccotti Park.)Your contributions will make a huge difference in ensuring that Occupy Wall Street can keep up their good work. Let us know you're bringing supplies by clicking below. We've also?helped put together a new site, OccupyWishList.org, that letsOccupy groups around the country list the supplies they need and lets peoplelike you help fill those needs.Many of those occupations can accept shipped donations, so even if you can't make it down to Occupy Wall Street today, you can help occupiers from Albany to Anchorage get ready for cold weather. Check out what's needed here:http: //occupywishlist.org Thanks for all you do.

[bkdiver]

Are you kidding me??? Are you really expecting the public to provide these sorry, entitled imbeciles with donations and supplies , when they are already costing taxpayers around the country scarce financial resources to police and clean up after them? They give themselves wayyy to much credit for calling themselves the 99%. As an independent voter my whole life, I would think that they'd be trying gain the support of people like myself and others who represent a true decision-makeing majority in this country. Its no wonder your theur fans or late are organized labor and other left wing organizations that like the parasites they are, like to feed off the hard work of others.

If we can't count on our own elected officials to get rid of these idiots, it looks like Mother Nature is taking care of business.... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

[IonOtter]

"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44"Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45"Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matt 25:41-46

Jesus Christ: Original Healthcare Provider, Original Socialist, Original Terrorist - Leading humanity by example since 30AD.

[McJen50]

Jesus telling individuals what to do, not blindly suggesting that the government redistribute the wealth. You are not very well versed on the Bible are you?

[noloyalisti]

Simple solution to your whole diatrebe: tax the rich, stop Wall Street speculation, make banks pay and prosecute, repeal all the fake free-trade agreements, ban corporate lobbyists and get all corporate money out of politics.

[noloyalisti]

Don't forget to move your money on or before National Move Your Money Day on November V. Dump Citi, Chase, BofA and Wells. If millions move their savings and checking, credit cards and mortgages, they WILL pay attention.

[noloyalisti]

People (and I broadly include the confused Tea Partiers), must understand that this 99% Movement was simmering for 30 years while the Top 1% stole everything from us. Certainly better late than never but this is also why this is only going to grow and grow and grow.

We have a lot of work to do with a total makeover of our ruined country. The sooner the 99% all unite, the sooner we can get the work done.

[arthanyel]

Hear hear. In one of the articles I posted yesterday (from Rolling Stone) the author made a key observation - people are not mad now because there are rich people. They are mad because they way much of that wealth was acquired was NOT LEGITIMATE.

If the Silent Majority truly wakes up and gets involved, I think we can fix the bipolar disorder in Washington and get the appropriate corporate and financial services controls put in place.

[noloyalisti]

And at least one of the Occupiers said that they don;t even want to be like the rich scum. They just want a chance for a good job after working so hard to get through school. I mean some of these students with massive debts assumed that their parents generation would make it so they had an opportunity to have a good job. And we have sold them out to the Top 1%. BUT NOT MORE!!!!!

[gekkobear]

"Everybody thought that George Washington couldn't possibly survive in the Northeast."

Agreed, but he surprised them and most of his troops survived. Sure some of them died, but that's the cost in war.

Do you have protesters who are willing to accept that 3-5% of them may die this winter is part of your protest in order to achieve a goal yet to be clearly defined and determined, that might not be defined until after their death; as they die for some cause... probably .. once you've got one?

I guess we haven't had enough poisoned kool-aid serving leaders if you can find protesters like that... but you have fun seeing how many people freeze to death while trying to figure out exactly what goals you're attempting to achieve.

[arthanyel]

No one is going to die and there is good consensus on what they want - the documentation is lagging.

[noloyalisti]

America, the Banksters generated something like $700 trillion in derivatives which is ten times the GDP of the entire world. Just like the Banksters actions lost 20% of the wealth of America, their fake, fraudulent investments went all over the world to cause a worldwide recession. That is why they must be broken up, jailed and strongly regulated.

[arthanyel]

Apufan - not free of facts. 700 trillion in derivatives (which are all just made up money) is a fact, as is the statement this is about 10 times the worlds GDP? Here is one reference http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-700-trillion-elephant-room-theres

And some of the investments that resulted in the global meltdown were fake or fraudulent.

[Smokey75]

by slappy_mcjohnston October 28, 2011 3:31 PM EDT
"made-up corporate welfare"? When GE doesn't owe more than I do for a year of income tax, there's a serious problem with the system.

Call it what you like, but I call it government interfering with capitalism, which is bordering on fascism.

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Our government has done that for ever why do you think we have billions wasted on green energy endeavors. Or Billions wasted paying farmers not to grow crops. I don't know if it is fascism or not but it is not welfare.

[noloyalisti]

Are we supposed to endlessly depend on fossil fuels that are destroying the earth's climate. Is it OK to spend trillions on occupations for oil in Iraq and Afghanistan and not spend a few billion on alternative energy?

[rightbehind]

These protesters need to be out registering people to vote and by absentee ballot if possible. The republicans are doing all they can to suppress votes. They all need to be wearing the same shirt and spreading their message now instead of confining their message to the parks. They need to march.

[KT23456]

The Democrat Communist Party are the ones that stuff the ballot box. Always. It's never the Republican Party that commits voter fraud, it's your side.

[arthanyel]

KT23456 LOL. I hope you intended that as a joke. The democratic party aren't communists and Republicans have committed as much or more "voter fraud" than Democrats