Snowstorm tests the resolve of Occupy protesters

The Occupy movement prepares for winter - with a taste of October snow and harsh winds, that will test the commitment of protesters

guardian.co.uk, Ryan Devereaux, Sunday 30 October 2011

A member of the Occupy Wall Street movement demonstrates in Zuccotti
Park during the first snow fall of winter in New York October 29, 2011.
Photograph: Lucas Jackson/REUTERS

"We're in the Valley Forge stage now," said a young man working the food station at the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York City Friday night.

The ongoing occupation was in the process of winterizing for a feared storm due the next day. Tents were secured and tarps were strung from trees and poles in the Lower Manhattan plaza. While the five week-old demonstration is hardly at war with the British empire, it is in the midst of hunkering down for an east coast winter that will test the movement's commitment and fortitude.

Saturday morning brought driving snow and the beginning of a new phase of challenges for the ongoing occupation. It was just the fourth time since the Civil War that New York City had seen snowfall in October, and the first time in history that more than an inch had fallen on the city before Halloween. On a typical Saturday, Zuccotti Park - re-named Liberty Square by the occupiers - is teeming with supporters and curious onlookers, with numbers sometimes ballooning into the thousands. This afternoon, however, the space was barren. Pockets of protesters gathered under sparse tarp roofs. Rain ponchos were distributed while medical personnel handed out foam sheets absorb water under protesters' tents.

The exact number of occupiers who had chosen to weather the storm was impossible to verify, as many were holed up in the scores of tents that have filled the plaza in recent weeks. Unrelenting high winds tormented the occupation with freezing sleet and snow while temperatures fell into the low 30s. Many tents to collapsed under the conditions, leaving occupiers' possessions vulnerable to the elements. It seemed nothing was safe from the pervasive wetness.

Still, a core group of hardened demonstrators remained. One woman stood in defiance of the elements, holding a sign that read, "Hell snow, we won't go!"

Until today, winter had been an obstacle looming in the future of the New York City occupation. Many of the demonstration's original organizers now argue it is time for the weather take center stage as a primary challenge facing the movement.

Robert Grodt hitch-hiked from California to New York City to take part in the occupation's original planning and has stayed ever since. He argues that the physical presence of the demonstration in the financial district has been essential to the movement's growing prominence.

"If you look on the internet, they're talking about principles of solidarity or they're talking about these little tiny squabbling sort of issues," Grodt said.

"They have to remember that the reason that we have this sort of voice, the reason that we have that large forum, are the occupations themselves. That is our appeal," he reminded.

Grodt added, "We need to make sure those things are being talked about; can we keep them going through the weather?"

The 24 year-old believes Occupy Wall Street's detractors are counting on the cold months to bring an end to the movement.

Standing in donated rain suit near his recently-collapsed tent-home, Groudt said, "This is literally our test. Right here. If we can survive this, there is nothing that can stop us."

Ryan Devereaux is a reporter for Democracy Now