Occupy Philly, Training and Library Tent

In Albums: Occupy Philly

Oct 18th, 2011, by Alex Zorach

This photo shows the training and library tent at the Occupy Philly protest. This was the first tent that I entered.

I was surprised with the generosity of the people at this protest. The person told me to take whatever books I like, and that I could return them if I wanted but that I did not need to return them, and that it was fine to keep them, especially if I was interested in them and intended to read and use them.

I took three books from this tent...Slow Money, Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender by Thomas H. Greco, and Peter North's book on local and community currencies. After taking these books (all of which were new), I decided that I wanted to contribute at least as much in value to this protest, either through donations of tangible goods, or labor.

After walking around, I found that this attitude and spirit was reflective of the spirit and feeling of the whole movement: it is a very generous movement. The movement is constantly soliciting donations of resources and labor, but is also constantly giving them out. There is free food available for all as well.