With all the police move-ins on groups of Occupy protesters in the past days, here is something that has been on my mind. The "Occupy" (insofar as actually camping out) gimmick has reached about the end of whatever good it can do, in my opinion. It appears it can only become increasingly counter-productive and a liability from here on out. It's taking the focus off of the issues the movement is really about and putting focus on the clashes between police and protesters. That doesn't exactly help you any since it makes those in the public who are for you even more for you and those who are against you even more against you.
Obviously when the first protesters began in NYC, they couldn't have had any clue that the movement would grow to have the awareness of the world upon it like it does now. If you think about what really happened, many people jumped on board the "Occupy" bandwagon--just like we would do with the "trends that are hot this summer"--only because they shared the feelings of mass injustice encompassed and vocalized by the movement. And it was all done without thinking of the implications of many people camping out in many areas. "Camping out" served its purpose with the initial protest, by drawing attention to itself and unexpectedly ballooning with unprecedented support. But I think it is probably time to think about dialing back on that aspect--or at least to do so would best serve the cause.
There are many in the public who say that the protesters deserve whatever crackdown they get by foolhardily occupying these locations. And it is of my opinion that they are largely correct, regardless of your stance on whether the police are justified in their actions.
I think that assembling every day and then going back to wherever you are from won't hurt the cause any. Doing so could only help it really, by giving the oligarchs less of a "reasonable" reason for showing a stern hand, and by garnering more support if they still decide to attack you. By continuing to perpetually occupy these areas, you are in the end only helping them by giving them this "justification". You have to keep in mind that it only serves to give the police more "reason" to crack down on you and further solidifies the opinions of some of the public against you.
One major con of permanent occupational activity is that being in these very vulnerable groups 24/7 will attract some people who are only looking for trouble: say, to rape and cause fights. Whether or not this has anything to do with you, regardless of how sanitary you keep the areas, it will still reflect badly on you in public opinion. You are merely giving the media fodder for no other reason than "This is the way it started out."
Occupiers, remember: The first step of this battle you are fighting is largely an informational war. You need to think about what messages you are projecting, even via the basic organization of how the movement is set up, just as the politicians would.
You can be a peaceful movement, by all means, and even still Occupy all these locations daily, but the camping out seems a bit superfluous. You need to show yourselves to be very flexible depending on what is thrown at you, and try your best to get the widest support possible. Changing your ideas in order to get that support isn't possible, but changing your tactics very well is.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not on the ground with you all, so I can't say all this with 100% certainty. Maybe by not being on the ground, I am missing something that is very vital. I'm sure that "un-occupying" on a nightly basis would give rise to other issues as well, such as maybe some who are at the protests that have no place to go. But it would help solve the issue of the upcoming flu season to at least some extent, and possibly allow for some of the donations that would go toward vaccination and other medical issues to be used to find some sort of lodging for such people. I'm sure you can all figure out something if you work together.
Eventually there may even be people planted within the movement for the sole purpose of sparking riots and pinning it all on the Occupy group in further attempts to cast a negative light on you and orchestrate a "response" from officials. Keep this in mind. The political world is a dirty one. If you don't desire to have a true leader--or if he who is destined just has not stepped up yet--you at least need to decide upon spokespeople who can relay things to the media on behalf of the group. Maybe you're doing this and the messages just aren't allowed to reach the other end. But one thing seems to be very important for your (and maybe our) future: There needs to be some call to assemble representatives from all of the movements in one location to decide on something substantial. I have seen some efforts in regard to this end already, so I have hopes for you yet.
I think a supporter of the movement said it better and more succinctly than I could have hoped to with this:
"I agree our focus right now should be on developing and fleshing out these new social institutions [our individual Occupy groups]. I think we should be conscious about getting to the point where we don't need the occupations to sustain our institutions, but we shouldn't end the occupations until we get to that point. As long as we require the occupations to sustain our general assemblies (and associated working groups), we will necessarily have a precarious political position. I can't speak for anywhere but Tucson: in Tucson, we're not ready to end the occupation. We need more time."
And in the words of another supporter:
"Through effective use of media we can BE together anywhere, everywhere, anytime, all of the time. We can act in a totally coordinated way and demonstrate convincingly, that we are still here, still together, still waiting impatiently for solutions. We can trigger flash mobs, that can assemble anywhere, anytime unbelievably quickly and disappear before police can mobilize and disperse us."
I figure it is best to be realistic and mindful of Plan Bs. There is strength in numbers--the more of you there are, the less likely you are to forget about a potential weakness within you.
One last thing, it is not admitting defeat to discontinue the camp-outs. If you are to be noble and respectful about this and truly hope for it to be a peaceful movement, then there is no reason to not change your tactics. Because as it stands, we all know what they are going to do in an increasing fashion, and sticking around and waiting for it is only putting your brothers and sisters at risk of harm.
You also need to be very mindful of the potential for Martial Law being declared, and I think avoidance of it is one of the main reasons you should look to change your tactics. I thought the whole idea was to have a peaceful movement, not to just stake out in a certain place and ignore when the city says, "Please don't camp there," just waiting and bracing for the inevitable showdown...
If you agree with me, then maybe you should bring the issue up in your next General Assembly. Each location's needs are specific, so it should be up to each faction to decide what is best to continue their message.
------------------------------
Please send this to your friends and family, encourage others to learn more about #OWS. Click the networking buttons below and comment. Leave suggestions if you care to know about a specific issue regarding #OWS. If you would like to be a guest author/journalist for this site, please send your requests to OccupyUnveiled@live.com
No comments:
Post a Comment