Occupy Atlanta establishes its "Five Pillars" (no, not those Five Pillars)

Until 8 p.m. this evening, Occupy Atlanta is occupying an FCC forum that's being held at Georgia Tech, using their voices "to extend public awareness of corporate greed and the money that influences politics, policies and government regulations."

The demonstration jibes nicely with what Occupy is calling the Five Pillars at the foundation of their movement (did Islam not copyright that?): The 1% and wealth disparity; corporate greed; foreclosures and banks; jobs; and money in politics.

Besides a demonstration on Black Friday, when several groups visited local shopping centers — and even feeding Thanksgiving dinner to people waiting in line at Best Buy — things have been relatively quiet on the Occupy Atlanta front. No camping in public parks (they left Freedom Park without incident after only a couple nights). No arrests. In the meantime, spokesman Ron Allen says they've continued to gather at Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter and that the movement has been "maturing," a process that included establishing the five issues on which they'll focus their attention.

Another aspect of the maturation: traveling to other Occupy sites. Allen says fellow spokesman Tim Franzen and several other members of Occupy Atlanta are currently visiting other cities "establishing relationships and building communication." At the moment, Atlanta is hosting Occupiers from Detroit, Charlotte, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland and Philadelphia.

"We’re establishing ties," Allens says. "Before we were pretty much all operating independently. There was some collaboration, but not much at all. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been increasing our infrastructure to collaborate. Basically, you’re seeing the movement mature."

Next Tuesday, they'll participate in a national day of action related to the foreclosure crisis. Allen says Rev. Joseph Lowery will also be making a "major announcement" with them that day.