First of all, Jesse, I'm a big fan, and a fellow occupier After reading your now top-of-the-rec-list dieary, I couldn't help but wonder if you'd actually thought it through and compared it to the preexisting progressive movement, and it's stated goals. Moreover, after reading this list of goals:
It is time to TAX THE RICH
It is time to END THE WARS
It is time to restore Glass-Steagal
It is time to repeal Citizens United
It is time to get the money OUT OF POLITICS
It is time to invest in infrastructure and education
It is time to STOP busting labor unions, whether private or public
It is time to defend Medicare and Social Security tooth and nail from phony reforms or baloney cuts
It is time to STOP the spending cuts and start investing in America, and if we have to raise taxes on the rich and corporations in order to force them to invest in America, then so be it.
It is time to STOP the racist and discriminatory practice of "Stop and Frisk" and other tactics of racial profiling
It is time for civil rights for ALL, and that means equal rights for LGBT Americans to serve our military and marry whom ever they will
It is time for ACCOUNTABILITY for the men who lied us into war and crashed our economy
It is time for immigration reform that does not punish workers, but provides a clear pathway to citizenship for everyone
It is time for investigations that lead to prosecutions on Wall Street in response to the crimes that have been committed in the last decade.
It is time for a serious discussion about the Federal Reserve and it's role in this economic disaster
It is time for universal health care that everyone can afford. It is time to talk about Single Payer Health Care.
It is time for alternative green energy instead of Oil and Coal.
It is time to protect our civil liberties and our constitution.
It is time for a discussion about free trade and how it has undermined the working class while enriching only the wealthiest among us.
It is time to end corporate personhood.
I couldn't help but notice that most of the points are simply restated version of things that are already in the Democratic Party's platform. You know, the one that doesn't seem to matter in any way. Obviously there are some additions(The Fed, Single Payer, etc), but if we're going to try and assign the Occupy Movement a platform, I think that simply shoves the movement into the same old ignorable lefty org box. Besides, if platforms meant anything, then the Democrats would have taken care of most of these, when the had supermajorities.
I'm really not trying to be a jerk, here, but the whole strength of the Occupy movement is that it has used tactics beyond the standard playbook, and that has broken through the media's standard iron curtain of ignoring the left. You're relieved that the tents have been confiscated by the state? Really? The primary symbol of the movement is being literally torn down, and you're relieved?
It is time to move into phase 2 of #occupywallstreet. Whether that means supporting certain policy ideas, running our own candidates for office, putting pressure on politicians and corporations, whether this goes one way or another I can not say, but that change is coming whether the corrupt status quo wants it or not.
This is pretty much the same stump speech given at every progressive organization's meeting that I've every attended. They have achieved little that actually fundamentally reshapes the balance of power in our country. I should know, I used to be a professional organizer, and I have no problem admitting that Occupy Wall Street has done more to fundamentally reshape our national conversation, than all of the professional economic justice organizing, in recent decades. I'm not saying that the professionals have not contributed to the Occupy Movt, in very real and valuable ways, but I am saying that simply trying to turn the 99% into a brand that is slapped on the same old tried and failed campaigns tactics and strategies(see above quote) is a losing proposition. The strength of this movement is that it has been truly grassroots, and it has been a joy to observe and participate in. We should honestly discuss our successes and failures, as a progressive movement. Unless we do so, we will continue to make the same mistakes.
We deserve better.
We deserve the rights of free speech and assembly.
We deserve the chance to continue an organic movement that can use its unconventional nature to come up with new and innovative forms of struggle.
We deserve our tents back.