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Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Obama Bought Out By Corporate Interest, Occupy Protester Says

Kimberly Leoffler |
October 5, 2012 | 8:44 a.m. PDT

Contributor

Patti Beers, from Oxnard, CA (Kimberly Leoffler/Neon Tommy).
Patti Beers, from Oxnard, CA (Kimberly Leoffler/Neon Tommy).
Patti Beers, a native of Oxnard, Calif., has been part of the Occupy Los Angeles movement since it started last year.

She joined, she said, when she realized the government wouldn’t help her.

“Obama was not our friend,” she said. “He was bought out by corporate interest.”

She felt that the government was on the side of corporations and that America needed to do something to advance the interest of the people.

She was inspired to join the Occupy movement when she saw the live stream of Occupy Wall Street online and “realized the revolution was happening.” 

The main contribution Beers has made to the Occupy L.A. movement has been her live streaming, which she says is her profession. She was live streaming this week's general assembly meetings in Pershing Square to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Occupy movement.

When the movement was beginning, Beers would watch news coverage and thought that what they were saying about the movement was a lie.

She said that the news coverage of the Occupy movement was “what pushed me into journalism and live streaming because someone had to tell the truth.”

Her passion for her work is evident. She even suggested to pose for her picture as if she was live streaming.

Although Beers has not seen many people come out in support of the anniversary, she still sees some activity within the group. She said that recently, people stopped camping out in front of City Hall. She also is hopeful that with the City Hall park fences down now after its restoration, more people will start to come into Solidarity Park, or Pershing Square, again.

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage on the Occupy movement here.

Reach Contributor Kimberly Leoffler here.



 

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