Ben & Jerry's Co-Founder Repossesses Occupy Wall Street 'Batmobile'
NEW YORK CITY — Ben & Jerry’s ice cream co-founder Ben Cohen wants his Occupy Wall Street "Batmobile" back. Earlier this year, Cohen doled out nearly $30,000 to a group of Occupy Wall Street activists with an unusual idea — for a passenger van to be rigged with a powerful projector that would beam progressive messages onto the sides of buildings.
Ben & Jerry's Co-Founder Repossesses Occupy Wall Street 'Batmobile'
By Patrick Wall, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
October 1, 2012
NEW YORK CITY — Ben & Jerry’s ice cream co-founder Ben Cohen wants his Occupy Wall Street "Batmobile" back.
Earlier this year, Cohen doled out nearly $30,000 to a group of Occupy Wall Street activists with an unusual idea — for a passenger van to be rigged with a powerful projector that would beam progressive messages onto the sides of buildings.
From there, The Illuminator — known alternately as the Occupy ProjectoVan, the Batmobile and an Art Car for the 99 percent — was born.
With Cohen’s cash, the group built The Illuminator and began touring New York and beyond, shooting leftist light rays onto dozens of buildings in support of the Occupy movement, as well as a host of other causes — from WikiLeaks to the Russian band Pussy Riot to stop-and-frisk opposition groups.
But before long, the van’s operators said, Cohen decided he wanted greater control of The Illuminator and less interference from the van’s affinity group, an Occupy decision-making body that relies on discussion and consensus.
