St. Johns County residents Occupy St. Augustine
- Written by Sarah A. Henderson
- Friday, 11 November 2011 17:23
Rosalinda Sanquiche holds up a sign protesting the Citizens United decision at St. Augustine’s Plaza de la Constitución Saturday. In the Citizen’s United decision, the U.S. Supreme Court deemed that corporations could make unlimited campaign contributions. Sarah A. Henderson
Above the murmur of the crowd is the soft thumping of Rosalinda Sanquiche’s drum.
The St. Augustine resident stands beating her small drum with one hand and holding a sign in the other — one of dozens of protest signs poking through a crowd of county residents Occupying St. Augustine’s Plaza de la Construcion Saturday afternoon.
The protest, organized by three St. Augustine friends, is the realization of a local populous idea, Sanquiche said. She said Ethical Markets Media, a grassroots group of which she is part, has been very supportive of popular protests like ones seen in business districts in cities across the country.
“We finally have a popular uprising,” Sanquiche said.
While it may not have been an uprising, the four-hour Occupy St. Augustine protest had some popular support. A few hundred people gathered to voice their grievances with Wall Street and the U.S. Government in the city’s historic plaza.
“I see it as the average working Americans coming together to say that the system is broken,” said Terry Buckenmeyer, one of the event organizers.
Many who attended Occupy St. Augustine agree with the organizer’s sentiment.
“The economy still sucks,” said Chris Fulmer, a St. Augustine resident. “The people at the bottom are suffering, and the people at the top are making more than they ever did before.”
Spurred by New Yorkers in anger over wealthy corporations, the Occupy Wall Street movement as a whole has spread across the nation and now carries St. Johns County in its wake.
“[Corporations] only have profit as their goal,” said St. Augustine resident Cynthia McAuliffe. “At what cost? The cost of the people.”
While it was initially started in protest of high earners in the corporate sectors — branded the 1 percent — and the loss of jobs by the middle and lower classes — the 99 percent — the movement brought protests of all kinds to the Plaza Saturday.
Anti-war. Anti-tax. Anti-banks.
Paul Wise, who spoke at Saturday’s one-day rally, said he attended to voice his concerns about how difficult it is for many to get by financially in America.
“Everybody who works a 40-hour job in America should be able to afford an adequate and decent lifestyle,” Wise said.
Retired Marine John Hathaway agrees and added that it’s the banks who should take the blame for the economy.
“The banks have collapsed our economy, and no one has gone to jail,” he said.
But Annette Cappella, chair of the St. Johns County Democratic Party believes the local grievances are about jobs — a popular opinion she said that has created a movement that transcends political party lines.
“I don’t think you can call it liberal or conservative — it’s a populous movement,” she said. “This should be a nonpartisan thing because it affects everyone no matter what party.”
President of the Ponte Vedra Democratic Club, Chris Awerdick, agrees.
“I think that movement is like anything else — it’s not about party, it’s about people,” she said. “Everybody should be able to go out and have a sit or stand in — that’s what’s this country is about.”
While Awerdick said she is unaware of any Ponte Vedra residents who attended the St. Augustine event and she has not participated in any gatherings either, she believes the movement is a positive one.
“This is a group of people coming together to stand up for what they believe in,” she said. “I think that is commendable.”
Stepan Kira, corresponding secretary of the Republican Club of Ponte Vedra Beach, said his group sees the movement differently. The only way he would participate in
the Occupy movement would be by counter-protesting, he said.
“All of us are just looking at it and shaking our heads and saying, ‘Why don’t you just get a job?’” Kira said. “The [Occupy movement participants] are looking for handouts — they all want something for nothing.”
Kira said he thinks the protest groups shouldn’t target corporations but the federal legislature instead.
“They don’t seem to understand the problem doesn’t lie with [the banks and Wall Street],” he said. “Occupy the Capitol. Get them to fix our problem. The problem is in Washington.”
He believes there is no real focus to the movement.
“You ask three different people why they’re there, you get three separate answers,” he said.
Palm Coast resident John Coffey agrees that it’s a pretty multi-dimensional movement with different people voicing different concerns, but he said it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“Even though there are a lot of different thoughts of what should be done, they all support each other,” he said.
Cappella said the individuals just need to find some direction. She said once they find that, they will have the potential to grow and have an impact at the state and national level.
Kira agrees. If unified, the Occupy groups across the nation could be politically powerful group, he said.
“If someone decides to create an organization out of it, they could be a counter to the Tea Party,” he said.
Hathaway hopes his effort Saturday and those of other county residents will eventually help bring attention to their national concerns.
“Perhaps we’re just redressing our grievance to ourselves,” Hathaway said, “but it seems to me it’s started a conversation — it’s changed the national conversation.”
For drum-toting Sanquiche, though, it’s not about grievances at all.
“We have the power to make the change we want,” she said. “No grievances, just power.”
sarah@opcfla.com
(904)686-3941
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