Occupy Philadelphia - About Two Months Later

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/OccupyPhiladelphiaAMonthLater

Recognition received from 2011 International Loupe Awards

The International Loupe Awards, based in Sidney, Australia, recently recognized two of my photos (see Photo 1 and Photo 2) and granted me a Bronze Award in the Amateur Category.

The photo is part of a documentary series I have been working on about Occupy Wall Street, an exceptional social movement similar to the anti-war protests during the Vietnam War. As a photographer who lives near Philadelphia, I think it is a unique opportunity, and a privilege, to witness such rise in discontent with the government and the corporate establishment.

Many of the protesters in Philadelphia, the USA, and the so-called indignados demonstrations around the world, which began in Spain and have spread as far as Greece and Israel, are finally shaking up the basic financial and social structure in which most of us grew up. Such system has been unfair, insensitive and denigrating of human rights.

With these photos I only hope to inform the public about the actors who participate in protests locally and be a vehicle of the message they're trying to get across. However, my intention is not to be biased and take a side, on the contrary, I will still try to remain critical of OWS and Occupy Philadelphia. In fact, as much as I respect the movement and admire its participant, I see a grim future for the United States. I am afraid that the amount of power corporations have is so much greater than the US government that at this point we can stop saying that we live in a democracy. Instead, it has become clear that what we have is a right-wing dictatorship hidden behind most of our elected officials. Under these circumstances, it would be easy for the government and large corporations to ignored any signs of discontent and even to try to silence it discreetly. An example of this is the excuse that a group of democrats in the Senate - note I said democrats, not republicans - opposed Obama's job bill because they didn't want to increase taxes on the wealthy and large corporations (feel free to do a web search on this, it was all over the news). Given such depressive scenario, I'm even more frighten to think how people may react if they are truly cornered.

And yet, there's seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. For instance, I haven't seen any demonstrations in Philadelphia against the Occupy movement, social reform, and social democracy. I would be happy to document their outcry too... But such demonstration hasn't showed up yet and I am not sure that they ever will. As far as I know, there's simply no other movement that opposes OWS or has a different view, instead many people have joined the movement or support it in one way or the other. It so happens that the current socio-economic situation and political climate, nationally and globally, have touched many lives at a personal level regardless of creed, color of skin, social status, political tendencies, or personal opinions.

Documenting this social movement through photographs is my contribution to Occupy Philadelphia, a movement that goes beyond a simple ideology and is trying to rescue the basic needs human beings have a right to in order to subsist.

Thank you Occupy Philadelphia and OWS for the enormous work and risks your are taking for the rest of us.