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Occupy Trump! Don re-energizes Zuccotti vets

Marni Halasa, right, speaking at the Occupy Wall Street press conference at the movement’s sixth anniversary on Sept. 17.

BY LEVAR ALONZO | It has been six years since Occupy Wall Street took to the streets of New York City to fight against greed, social and economic inequality and the perceived influence of corporations on governments.

On Sun., Sept. 17, at Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, about 100 people gathered for the movement’s sixth anniversary as some former Occupy protesters held a press conference to proclaim Occupy and the work that it has influenced.

Marni Halasa, the press conference’s organizer, is also running as an independent (on the Eco Justice Party line) for City Council in the Village and Chelsea’s District 3. She said that, even though the movement died, it has spawned different groups and encouraged people to become activists, taught people how to protest and also inspired protesters to run for public office.

Halasa has based her platform, in her Council campaign, on saving small businesses in the city.

According to her, the Democratic establishment isn’t doing anything to stem the loss of small-business jobs.

With Donald Trump’s capturing the presidency, many of the same Occupy protesters are taking the fight against inequality and using it as motivation to be leading voices in the New York City resistance against him.

Jerry Ashton was inspired in the wake of Occupy to co-found a charity, RIP Medical Debt, which collects donations and uses that money to completely pay off people’s medical debts.

In response to Trump and the Republican Party’s renewed push to repeal Obamacare, Ashton said the focus should be on how to help the 64 million Americans struggling to pay off their medical bills.

“There should be a desire to relieve this burden,” Ashton said. “They have to realize that this struggle goes across party lines.”

Some, like Halasa, feel Occupy has renewed relevance now with Trump in power.

“Groups are more focused,” Halasa said. “One demand is to get Trump out of office. In Occupy, we had a host of issues we were fighting for. But these groups — such as Rise and Resist — their whole focus is to drive Trump out of office.”

Miss K, an activist who was also inspired by Occupy, has attended every anniversary since police raided the park and booted out the protesters. She came this year to offer insight on her fight for affordable housing and the homeless.

“I was there to let people know that finding affordable housing is a crisis and homelessness is on the rise,” she said.

She is a part of the organization Picture the Homeless, which is fighting against landlords who hold onto vacant property or space until they can rent them for a huge profit. The organization is also fighting for the city to develop a publicly accessible database that lists all vacant properties throughout the city.

“Many of the groups that you see protesting are from people that learned from Occupy, that were there during the protest, they watched and learned,” Halasa said. “I must say the legacy of Occupy Wall Street will forever live on.”