Tweet
Yesterday , along with my wife and daughters , I spent several hours at the wall street occupation. I have several observations to make and report of what I found there as well as my own attempt at activism, largely made up of talking with the police which surrounded the event in large numbers.
"Straw Poll on Direct Action" by Colin David Anderson on flickr. Straw poll on the consensus to form a subcommittee to explore being autonomous actions leading to arrest.
As expected, the vast majority of people I saw there were white and in their early twenties. Most were radical looking middle class youngsters who sat together looking somewhat frayed around the edges, having spent several damp nights hassling with the authorities, though the weather yesterday was better than nice , which I’m sure helped raise spirits. It is obvious that not many older citizens were able to attend due to the need to pay bills and mortgages , which the youth is typically exempt from for a time . Aside from a few construction workers , eating lunch in the park, there was no one who could be representitive of those people,who made Madison Wisconsin so successful, working men and women and union members.
I commended the young individuals there. There were not more than a few hundred present at best and without their presence there wouldn’t have been anything happening at all , but as always , where people are concerned, they were not entirely homogenous in their attitudes .
While most were respectful there were also those who were more confrontational with the police, dancing into an area of sidewalk which the local authorities were compelled to keep clear , a woman who decided this was the right place to go without a shirt ,and someone holding a sign up with something along the lines of “GO FUCK YOURSELVES ZIONIST PIGS “, none of which IMHO did much to create sympathy from the passers by.
In addition to this scenario was the obvious fact that most of those present lacked enough information to truly explain why they were there and it was hard to see that there was any real spokespeople to represent the movement and acuurately portray the reasons for the action. This could easily have been remedied though some printed talking points but as far as I was aware this hadn’t happened. Invariably the media focussed in on those pushing the line over the side walk area that the police had been instructed to keep clear for pedestrians and the more unsavory looking and uninformed youths.
I spent between three and four hours talking to the police , all in groups of between two and four, asking them first what they thought of the protest and if they knew what the reasons were for it . Essentially none had any idea whatsoever but were polite and listened respectfully to what I had to say about income inequality, record poverty and profits, Citizens United and our loss of basic rights such as habeas corpus and rampant domestic spying etc..
At the end of each conversation I believe the police I communicated with were far more aware of what is at stake and why the action was occuring ,becoming both supportive of the occupation and somewhat shocked by the facts and statistics I offered in defense of my positions .
My question is are we going to bring working men and women, union members , people of color, religious congregations , other political groups and older statesmen into the fray or can we expect only the youth to carry the standard without clear talking points and a thorough understanding of the issues to present our reasons for attending ?
24 Comments
That was an excellent way to help the cause.
I think it will take a lot to change things, both sensible things like what you did and maybe some more confrontational things. I hate it that the cops get stuck dealing with the confrontational stuff. I wish there was some way to get in the faces of the crud that works in the giant buildings and make they own their sins.
I think it is difficult for some to understand what is happening at this occupation because we have been conditioned to expect everyone to play by the rules set by the the PTB. These young people have rejected that paradigm and it is up to us to learn to understand their new reality.
We all understand that Wall Street are the criminals and it is not the demonstrators duty to convince us that they are worthy, they have moved beyond our narrow understanding of what it means to resist. It is not their duty to bring us in it is our duty to join them and learn from their ideas.
Saying that these young people don’t have financial responsibilities is laughable since they are the most indebted generation in history, even before they finish college and get a job.
It is probably the same with police as with protesters , some are better than others and even the best of us have our moments. I found however that the police were very amenable to the reasons for the protest once someone bothered explaining it to them .
“Saying that these young people don’t have financial responsibilities is laughable since they are the most indebted generation in history, even before they finish college and get a job.”
Probably correct and as a poor defence may I offer the inadequacy of language especially when written as opposed to spoken . That said I believe it is likely that before a first mortgage and a couple children people are often freer to do as they please unless they reject the dominant paradigm offered by society….. consumerism .
I believe that the only way to build momentum for such activism as involves civil disobedience is to create allies and so allow me to offer a story that my kids told me that happened during our hours with the “occupation forces”.
A fellow with a suit showed up and told those who were sitting nearest the drenched posters which laid on the ground that he was from AT&T and that he and others in his office wanted to help the protestors by providing materials , poster board , pens food etc to the protesters .
He was entirely ignored by those present till after several minutes of asking what he and his co workers could do he finally yelled loudly , “What the fuck do you people need !!!
Smmeone laighed and said glitter and he walked away disgruntled only to return later with a pile of poster board .
My wife and kids wrote Love and support from Portland Oregon , Wage peace with the materials and placed it on the ground next to the other signs .
A variation on the “Free” box. Good job!
I’ve heard that some students have as much as $20,000+ in debt already and can’t find jobs. When I was young (1970′s) home mortgages weren’t far from that figure. They are really stuck in a hole right now.
I found your report on the views of the police very interesting, their receptivity to what you had to tell them. You’ve really contributed to the whole situation with this article.
As far as the lack of organization in terms of talking points and demands, the organization of this protest and movement is very different from what we’re used to. Apparently it’s very much of a horizontal kind of organization and they use what is called the General Assembly model of organizing. Possibly they want their protest at this point to have a more generalized effect, speaking to the genral malaise and anger felt across a wide spectrum of groups, instead of being more specific, which invites divisions.
But you’re right that at some point they are going to have to reach out to allies such as workers and unions. Did you have any sense that they were trying to talk to the police? I believe the first people arrested had tried to talk to police. Possibly they’ve backed off on that strategy.
Being mischevious ?
Hey the plane fare , tolls and parking weren’t cheap neither was the hours spent educating the police over the issues which I had thousands of hours invested in on blogs like this one .
LOL
Gotta run, last night with family on the east6 coast before returning home .
Ciao .
When American citizens see the young Anarcho punks/neo-hippies, and topless women It only puts another nail into the coffin of this protest. These young people sleeping on sidewalks have offered themselves as victims, and society is quick to oblige them by thinking of them as victims. Although society and the protesters most likely do not agree what they are victims of. But the end result is that they have been marginalized by just showing up holding signs complaining about all the woes of market capitalism.
Where are the representatives of all part’s of society? Maybe these kids are playing out an roll playing game in real life. Pretending to have setup General Assemblies and voting within the group for the direction that they are going, while someone organizes teach ins about the Communist manifesto. Which will only marginalize their protest even further. Maybe the lack of constant media coverage is the fact that their is nothing to report other than a group of kids hanging out promising to sleep on the sidewalk forever?
You’ll be returning to “Occupy PDX”
http://my.firedoglake.com/adam503/2011/09/23/occupypdx-now-on/
This needs to go nationwide. All cities with a financial district with the TBTF’s.
“Cool Protest” elitism crap only serves the elite not the people.
Thanks for talking to the police. Their bodies are on the line and they have every reason to be concerned about what’s going on. This will be won with the police, not against them.
That last one sounds like an agent provocateur from the FBI (or maybe a conservative freelancer) seeking to pose as a protester.
What a stupid question:
Did you learn NOTHING of the Vietnam protests? The young are the leaders. The groups you mention are the followers, and in Nixon’s words the silent majority — silently supporting the young.
Thank you and your family for taking the time and expense to be there. Thank you for your artful way of contributing to the protests by education! Thank you for caring enough about the activist and this site for sharing with both.
My spouse and I have been unemployed right at 3 years now. If we had the funds to go and be there we WOULD! We are definitely not of the younger group. In fact, we have children the age of those kids in New York. I think the best thing we can do is to keep writing, keep our eyes on them, watch over them via , “The World is Watching” chants, and offer some seasoned ideas for their reasons/demands.
Excellent Post. Recommended!
Thank you for posting your experience at the Wall St. occupation and for being there.
I enjoyed reading it and heartily agree with your conclusions.
I posted a diary on MyFDL about the New Bottom Line activism that is going on about persuading the banks to write down all mortgages to market value – that’s principal and interest – as a way of healing the economy and making up for their greed during the housing boom.
I aim to write more about trying to figure out what is wrong with the activism in this country. We clearly have grievances that are shared by people in the entire country. What is missing from our mobilization?
Here is a link to my diary about the New Bottom Line:
http://my.firedoglake.com/femblog/2011/09/23/tarp-for-main-street-%e2%80%93-i-guess-it%e2%80%99s-going-to-have-to-be-a-people%e2%80%99s-generated-movement/
i’m glad this protest started. and, thank you freeman for talking to the police and educating them. i think it was eCahn in another post who said it would be good for the protestors to have hand outs for the police. i don’t think it needs to stay as amorphous as it currently is. it can, but in my opinion, bringing concrete demands expressed coherently can only help. making common cause with labor, religion, the police, etc can only help.
the whole country is suffering for specific reasons that can have specific remedies. the young people who are there may have a different paradigm. that doesn’t mean everyone else who would like to protest the same travesties needs to have the same paradigm.
how can it help when protesters are offered help and ignore the people offering?
thanks for sharing your experience, freeman. say hi to portland for me.
Hey man, why waste time talking to the stinking Pigs man? I mean, man they fence us in “Free Speech Zones” like freaking animals man, and suck everything “Groovy” out of the movement! Man!
Thank you for the link , when I am home in the columbia river gorge I will give it a serious read ,
I absolutely agree . We are all in this together , even those who the protest is directed against ,they just haven’t realized it yet .
Too pedantic . Rebel without a cause comes to mind.
As Gary Snyder pointed out years ago , the great counter culture has existed along side dominant culture as long as civilization has existed , eternally .
The time is ripe for what has been there all along as a seed of heresy within civilization for millenia , the inevitable return to the garden where the spiritual aspirations of humanity are realized here on earth .
I would add that Madison Wisconsin’s occupation of the state capital was accomplished so successfully because of the broad participation by not only young people but by teachers and union members and their supporters in the general population .
The struggle for worker rights at the turn of the century was not done solely by the youth . Gandhi’s struggle in India and Mandela’s in South Africa were not accomplished solely by those under the age of 25. The civil rights movement in the sixties was brought about by Southern blacks does that mean that blacks from Alabama are the real leaders in every struggle in the US ? Students in the sixties faced the draft and a very real possibility of being sent overseas to kill or be killed in an unpopular war , perhaps that was why so many were protesting ?
WHY DIVIDE THE MOVEMENT UP INTO SEPERATE DISPARITE ELEMENTS .
A people united can never be defeated !
We need unity not division .
I think eCahn’s suggestion about handouts is exactly right and would help educate both the police and general public about our reasons for participating .
With each attempt we can learn from our mistakes. This is something which can evolve over time because that is what it will take …… time .
I agree as well that we must also develop a number of specific demands which can be supported nearly universal way by most of the American population . Such as publicly finance campaigns , removing money from politics and an end to corporate person hood for instance.
Other wise the movement will be co opted after the fact by lesser interests by the unscrupulous.
This is precicely what faces the people in Egypt in the power vacuum left after the removal of the Mubarak government
That is quite possibly true and probably to be expected and because there were really very few protesters there after several days to begin with and few bad apples could be used to discredit the entire event .
This action , at least in New York at the present time lacks both numbers and broader participation . The weather has been awful in general and a denial of tents and tarps by the powers that be is certainly a difficult hurtle to overcome !
This will also be problematic with the planned action in DC on OCT. 6th . A core group could hold down the fort , so to speak , while others could join during the daytime hours to swell the crowds.
Summer is a better date for an occupation strategy than the fall obviously despite the symbolic value of another date in less advantageous weather .
EL PUEBLO UNIDO JAMÁS SERÁ VENCIDO!
yes, watching the occupation of tahrir square just about 24/7, i was so wishing they’d had their demands and infrastructure arranged ahead of time so they’d be less likely to get co-opted by the u.s. government or their own military and elites.
laals95
Flagged as Spam!