Michael Levitin: Occupied Wall St. Journal Informs & Unites

For an activist journalist like Michael Levitin, the energy and mission of the Occupy movement is fertile ground in which to generate a newspaper.

The Occupy Wall Street Journal, which has distributed over 100,000 copies between its English and Spanish-language editions, informs and updates protest participants, as well as would-be participants.

Michael first encountered mass anti-corporate revolt when covering, as a journalist, the "Water Wars" in Bolivia in the 1990's. Bechtel Corporation had privatized all the water in the countrry and was denying water access to anyone who couldn't pay the huge new fees. Bechtel lobbied tne Bolivian government to decree that people coult not gather water from any creeks in the country's watersheds, or even capture rain water from the sky, without paying Bechtel.

After weeks of riots and revolt and some loss of life, the Bolivian people wrested their water rights from Bechtel. For Michael Levitin, this was a dramatic example of what a popular uprising can accomplish, and he sees that spirit in the Occupy movement. Given the opportunity to become an editor of the new Occupy newspaper - The Occupied Wall Street Journal - he was up to the task.

Shift Shapers co-host Daniel Kerbein conducted this 35-minute interview live over KBBF-FM 89.1 (Calistoga, CA), a pioneering bilingual public radio station. Mr. Levitin, who is fluent in Spanish, also gave a live on-air interview in Spanish the previous day.