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| Walter Ebmeyer, of Bryn Mawr, holds up an Occupy Norristown sign outside the Montgomery Court House on Saturday, December 10, 2011. Occupy Norristown is collecting toys for the Children of Montgomery Head Start, a preschool program for low-income families with young children. Photo by Christine Reckner/Times Herald Staff |
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| Ron Friemel, of Jeffersonville, holds up an Occupy Norristown sign with a holiday twist outside the Montgomery Court House on Saturday, December 10, 2011. Occupy Norristown collected toys for the Children of Montgomery Head Start, a preschool program for low-income families with young children. Photo by Christine Reckner/Times Herald Staff |
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| Owen Powell, of Media, waves to a car honking in support of the Occupy Lockheed Martin and LOCKHEED-VILLE Demonstration on Saturday, November 26, 2011, at the Lockheed Martin Valley Forge complex in Valley Forge. Photo by Christine Reckner/Times Herald Staff |
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| Tents and signs sit on display at the Occupy Lockheed Martin and LOCKHEED-VILLE Demonstration on Saturday, November 26, 2011, at the Lockheed Martin Valley Forge complex in Valley Forge. Photo by Christine Reckner/Times Herald Staff |
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| Beth Centz, of Philadelphia, adjusts a sign at the Occupy Lockheed Martin and LOCKHEED-VILLE Demonstration on Saturday, November 26, 2011, at the Lockheed Martin Valley Forge complex in Valley Forge. Photo by Christine Reckner/Times Herald Staff |
By Christine Reckner
Occupy Norristown members convened with representatives of Brandywine
Peace Community, a self-described faith-based, peace activist, war resistance group, outside the Lockheed Martin Valley Forge, to
demonstrate against the weapons contractor and protest Lockheed Martin’s
alleged profiteering amid unmet human and community needs.
The motto of the demonstration was revealed on a large banner which read: “LOCKHEED-VILLE: where the businesses of war matters, and human needs don’t.”
“The reason we have been with and are connecting with the occupy movement is to make the connection to the fact that Lockheed Martin is actually the top gun of the super-rich, of that one percent super-rich that the occupy movement speaks to,” said Robert M. Smith, staff coordinator of the Brandywine Peace Community.
While some motorists rolled down their windows to wave and honk in encouragement, others yelled obscenities at the protesters, telling them they were wasting their time and to get real jobs.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of young, angry white males,” said Owen Powell, of Media. “I think that’s partly due to racism; a lot of young white males don’t like Obama.”
An on-site ‘Shanty Town’ sat surrounded by cardboard signs, representing, the group claimed, the shanty towns or, Hoovervilles, built by homeless people during the Great Depression.
Throughout the protest, “LOCKHEED-VILLE Shanty Town” demonstrators chanted “We are the 99 percent” and held banners reading “You Pay; Lockheed Martin Profit$,” and “Jobs Not Wars.”
The motto of the demonstration was revealed on a large banner which read: “LOCKHEED-VILLE: where the businesses of war matters, and human needs don’t.”
“The reason we have been with and are connecting with the occupy movement is to make the connection to the fact that Lockheed Martin is actually the top gun of the super-rich, of that one percent super-rich that the occupy movement speaks to,” said Robert M. Smith, staff coordinator of the Brandywine Peace Community.
While some motorists rolled down their windows to wave and honk in encouragement, others yelled obscenities at the protesters, telling them they were wasting their time and to get real jobs.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of young, angry white males,” said Owen Powell, of Media. “I think that’s partly due to racism; a lot of young white males don’t like Obama.”
An on-site ‘Shanty Town’ sat surrounded by cardboard signs, representing, the group claimed, the shanty towns or, Hoovervilles, built by homeless people during the Great Depression.
Throughout the protest, “LOCKHEED-VILLE Shanty Town” demonstrators chanted “We are the 99 percent” and held banners reading “You Pay; Lockheed Martin Profit$,” and “Jobs Not Wars.”
