OccupyEducated: an online library for occupiers

Mother Jones reporter Josh Harkinson, who has been doing really incredible coverage of OWS in various cities, tweets, "In response to the trashing of 5,000 books in the #OWS library, writers have launched occupyeducated.org, an online library for occupiers."

From the website:

This is an emergency response to the destruction of the library at Occupy Wall Street, a clear attempt to destroy the education of passionate people who are tired of living in a deeply flawed system.

Razing libraries and burning books has historically failed every time; this will be the most colossal failure to repress education in history, because the education will not be centralized.

As Cory blogged previously on Boing Boing, the New York police yesterday destroyed a dangerous, unsafe, disease-spreading library full of hazardous books at Zuccotti Park. The librarians who ran it are still trying to find out where their seized books are:

We’re getting our first report back from the folks who went to the Sanitation Garage. Mayor Bloomberg’s office tweeted: “Property from #Zuccotti, incl #OWS library, safely stored @ 57th St Sanit Garage; can be picked up Weds” But it turns out, not surprisingly, that this was a lie. Our folks on the ground say:

“There are only about 25 boxes of books; many of the books are destroyed. Laptops here but destroyed. Can’t find tent or shelves.”

• [Robert Marks]

  Yeah it sucks when someone doesn’t respect your private property…..ohhhh wait.

• [Evan Johnston]

  Actually, those books were for the public. As is the park. 

• [Hans Roes]

  actually it’s not an online library, it’s a recommended readings list that links to booksellers 

• [daniellerch]

  You can read most of The End of Growth (Richard Heinberg) online, for free, here: 
  http://www.postcarbon.org/postcarbon-articles/?related=36200-richard-heinberg

• [Emily Ravich]

  Brought the car to pick up the books today. 1st one I saw was a Holy Bible soaked through, and still wet, splattered with pink tempera paint, also still wet. That was just one example. Many books were mangled and covered in filth. This is not how the left these books! Most of the bins are cracked too. I wasn’t inside, but I was told by another librarian that it is just a room of piles to be sifted through.

• [btux]

  It’s not an online library.