A-Infos (en) US, Media, Occupy Denver profile: Pat Marsden is both anarchist and peacemaker

âPat Marsden is almost impossibly human, particularly in the sense that he is both focused 
on his humanity and slightly impossible. The Occupy Denver volunteer identifies as a 
black-flag anarchist, though that assertion comes with some hesitation: first "Maybe you 
shouldn't put that," then, "Whatever, it's who I am." And when Marsden shakes your hand 
--- firmly -- as he does with most newcomers at his kitchen, dubbed the Thunderdome, it 
comes back just a little bit stickier. ---- While in the Thunderdome, the heart of Occupy 
Denver, those hands are usually gloved to handle food. Marsden, a consistent feature 
there, officially started his own occupation in front of the capitol about four days into 
the larger picture, but it was a sign, both literal and metaphorical, that drew his 
attention on day one. It read: "The American Revolution starts at 7 p.m. tonight."
"How could I not stop by?" Marsden asks.
â
It was a transitional time for Marsden, who eventually did stop by, but only after his 
community service at the downtown library had finished for the day. Earlier this fall, 
Marsden was arrested for graffiti, for which he earned four days in prison and 26 at the 
library. It was not his first stint in prison, nor is it the first time activism has faced 
rebirth during one of those stints.
"This is an anarchist kitchen, and there's no bureaucracy here," he explains to a 
volunteer asking if the enormous vat of oatmeal he's monitoring is done. (It's not, 
nowhere near it.) He explains his constant activism with the same bluntness: "At some 
point, you have to stand up for yourself and raise that banner."
Marsden's friendly resistance of all things corporate or overtly political began early. At 
seventeen, he worked in a sexual violence center in Minneapolis, and the following years 
have led him through a string of similar positions that include Earth First!, an anarchist 
kitchen in Seattle, a stint as a "Hollywood drunk punk" in California and then, after time 
in jail, to Denver five months ago.
In the periods when he wasn't hungry himself, he cooked. The kitchen has consistently 
remained Marsden's central niche in all of the activism he has approached. "You can't talk 
to someone who's starving about changing the world because all he cares about is the 
hamburger in your hand," Marsden says. "I would rather support the bum on the streets than 
the bum on top."
This isn't to say all of his duties take place in the kitchen. Early in the morning, a 
fight, as random and inexplicable as all that arise at the occupation, broke out, and it 
was Marsden who calmed the aggressor down. Convinced that he was threatened with a blade 
that wasn't there, the man begrudgingly gave in to Marsden's calm, smoke-weary voice. A 
minute later, he was back in the kitchen.
Today, Marsden woke up a bit grumpier than usual, but instead of detracting from his 
generosity that fact just promotes his characteristic verbosity. Marsden is uncannily 
eloquent, in large part because there are few issues he cannot unearth some passion for. 
In the span of a single hour, he could create a small gift book of memorable, if 
occasionally angry, quotes: "You don't hear about people rising up because they don't want 
you to know that you can." "The beauty of unconditional love is that it doesn't require 
response." "How can you be an anarchist if you're on food stamps?" And then, "It's always 
scary to be the first person who cares."
The activity at Occupy Denver this morning also included a visit from a city police 
officer and a state trooper, who responded to a situation that appeared to have the 
potential for violence. A man volunteering with Occupy Denver was confronted by the 
officers, who dealt with him peaceably and made no arrests. The video, shot by volunteer 
and marijuana activist Corey Donahue, shows the relationship between the police and the 
protesters. Check it out below.
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