Your thoughts on the Occupy Movement?

[Nicole]

I'm sure you've seen the articles, the videos, and FB pages -

 MSNBC - Occupy Wall Street supporters demonstrate in cities from co...

Occupy Voting Booths 2012.

 

Click to here to join the Wall Street occupiers and demand real dem...

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-21/wall-street-aristocracy-go...

 

Occupy Toronto

 

 Occupy Philly protesters march to Liberty Bell | Deseret News

 

What do you think about it all?

[Mary W.]

Three words: I love it.

I love that people are explicitly angry about greed and are protesting for social and economic justice.

And I don't really know where it will go from here -- things could take a violent turn, or it could build into a more prolonged and organized political movement . . . or it could just fizzle out. I have no idea! But today (and, I suspect, tomorrow too) I love that this is happening: that people are coming together to express their frustrations -- thinking and talking in cyberia AND in meetspace about the state of the world, working out where we might go from here.

My husband attended the Occupy San Diego protest last night (Fri, Oct. 7, while I was home sick with a cold). The news estimated there were 1400 people there; he thought it was more like 3000.

I appreciate this article by Douglass Rushkoff: Think Occupy Wall St. Is a Phase? You Don't Get It.

[Nicole]

That was an excellent article by Rushkoff, Mary. Good to hear about the San Diego meeting - it has been really exciting to see them springing up all over.

 

I am concerned about the Occupy Toronto - there seems to be a lot of visible dissension within the leadership group and it is compromising the effort. I hope they will resolve it.

 

Sigh - just saw this -  Bloomberg says Wall Street protesters trying to destroy jobs - CNN.com

Mary W. said:

Three words: I love it.

I love that people are explicitly angry about greed and are protesting for social and economic justice.

And I don't really know where it will go from here -- things could take a violent turn, or it could build into a more prolonged and organized political movement . . . or it could just fizzle out. I have no idea! But today (and, I suspect, tomorrow too) I love that this is happening: that people are coming together to express their frustrations -- thinking and talking in cyberia AND in meetspace about the state of the world, working out where we might go from here.

My husband attended the Occupy San Diego protest last night (Fri, Oct. 7, while I was home sick with a cold). The news estimated there were 1400 people there; he thought it was more like 3000.

I appreciate this article by Douglass Rushkoff: Think Occupy Wall St. Is a Phase? You Don't Get It.

[Edward theurj Berge]

Rushkoff gets it. It was funny watching the conservatives on Fox News Sunday today struggle with trying to explain this away. The next step must be organizing it into a political force to  effect change much like the Tea Party did in the last election. A right move in this direction is Alan Grayson's (re)election to Congress. On Real Time last Friday he explains the movement in a minute and will gladly take on being a spokesperson for it. I say support this guy, get him back in Congress, and let's redress the crimes being perpetrated against us by Wall Street.

[Nicole]

How the Occupy Wall Street Protesters Can Defeat the Corporate Elit...

www.alternet.org

An Occupy Wall Street organizer explains the strategy behind the movement, how far it has come and where it's headed...

[Mary W.]

Wonderful article, Nicole; thanks for sharing!

[Mary W.]

Appreciating her clarity:

[Mary W.]

Just now hearing distressing (and blacked-out) news about Occupy Boston -- SWAT Teams, riot police, tents being torn down and thrown in the garbage... Things are rough in Seattle as well.

 

[Edward theurj Berge]

This was prophetic of the movement. Will violent protest be necessary? As the author says, it is a last resort. If continuing violence is perpetrated against peaceful protesters could this be the spark?

[Edward theurj Berge]

See for example Rachel Maddow's coverage of the movement last night. One aspect she addresses is that the right is freaking out in fear of the kind of violence that could be unleashed. Glen Beck is the only one honest and crazy enough to voice the fear that most conservatives have about this. The police themselves, projecting this fear, are the ones getting violent in response to their own fear, not anything the protesters are doing. But they just might create their own monster if they keep escalating their violence upon us.

[Mary W.]

Yes -- as history demonstrates, movements for change that incorporate confrontational but non-violent strategies frequently face violence. I do hope that violent protest remains a last resort. One of the things that made the civil rights movement transformative was media coverage of the startling brutality perpetrated by policing authorities on demonstrators. It shook people up, made them think. Violent demonstrators would not have had the same effect -- actually might have made the police violence look justified.

At this point, I think it is more important for the protesters to stay the course, hang together, learn, and demonstrate the dignity of what they stand for -- even in the face of violence from police and civic authorities.

[A related problem is the use of provocateurs -- people sent in who appear to be a part of the protest movement, but are actually working covertly in an "intelligence" capacity -- to start fights, do dirty tricks, and make the protesters look bad. Like the days of COINTELPRO. (Even in the 1980s, when I participated in protests against U.S. policy in Central America, I saw dirty tricks taking place...)]

Check out this 7-minute documentary posted at Common Dreams: I AM NOT MOVING.

 

[Mary W.]

Coverage of police evicting Wall Street Occupiers.

[Balder]