This is how Hedges begins what I am confident will, in due time, be looked upon as a prescient analysis of the Occupy movement:
In every conflict, insurgency, uprising and revolution I have covered as a foreign correspondent, the power elite used periods of dormancy, lulls and setbacks to write off the opposition. This is why obituaries for the Occupy movement are in vogue. And this is why the next groundswell of popular protest—and there will be one—will be labeled as “unexpected,” a “shock” and a “surprise.” The television pundits and talking heads, the columnists and academics who declare the movement dead are as out of touch with reality now as they were on Sept. 17 when New York City’s Zuccotti Park was occupied.
The next groundswell. It is coming. For I have witnessed Occupy's continued orgainizing across the country, the
marches and
direct actions and collective investment in combating the corporate stranglehold slowly suffocating this nation. And Hedges is correct: those declaring Occupy dead are simply out of touch. Those in the mainstream conducting post-mortems on Occupy -- and popular resistance in America generally -- don't understand the depth of discontent with our growing income disparities and corporately-owned governments.
They didn't before September 17, 2011, and they don't now.
And they also are ignoring this unyielding truth: as the disparities grow, as corporate influence and the one percent continue to gobble up greater percentages of American wealth, so too will that discontent.
Yes, those writing Occupy obituaries are out of touch. But it should be noted: they are willfully out of touch.
For these obituaries are being written precisely by those in the corporate media who make up the power structure Occupy intends to topple. Mainstream journalists today -- those who trade access for integrity, those who choose swank coctail gatherings with political and corporate elites rather than reportage from the trenches of American society -- are the ones declaring Occupy finished as an influential movement.
But they simply don't know of that which they speak. How could they? For it would require pounding the pavement and marching with those Occupy collectives across the country, from Oakland to NYC, that continue to organize and engage in direct actions. It would require a journalistic desire on the part of mainstream outlets to measure the enduring resistance, awakened last fall, still pulsing within American society, a resistance to the corporate corruption that still remains.
Here's Hedges:
Those who have the largest megaphones in our corporate state serve the very systems of power we are seeking to topple. They encourage us, whether on Fox or MSNBC, to debate inanities, trivia, gossip or the personal narratives of candidates. They seek to channel legitimate outrage and direct it into the black hole of corporate politics. They spin these silly, useless stories from the “left” or the “right” while ignoring the egregious assault by corporate power on the citizenry, an assault enabled by the Democrats and the Republicans. Don’t waste time watching or listening. They exist to confuse and demoralize you.
Yes, Occupy has been hindered by brutal police tactics and coordinted state (and federal) suppressions. However, despite this, activists continue to engage in direct actions -- from
occupations of houses threatened to be foreclosed upon to
stop-and-frisk marches to the
comandeering of endangered public schools.
In short, the resistance remains -- being carried out by smaller numbers than in the past. But being carried out by numbers which represent those currently dormant, waiting for another chance to release their frustrations amongst the shouting masses.
Hedges again:
Our dying corporate class, corrupt, engorged on obscene profits and indifferent to human suffering, is the guarantee that the mass movement will expand and flourish. No one knows when. No one knows how. The future movement may not resemble Occupy. It may not even bear the name Occupy. But it will come. I have seen this before. And we should use this time to prepare, to educate ourselves about the best ways to fight back, to learn from our mistakes, as many Occupiers are doing in New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and other cities. There are dark and turbulent days ahead. There are powerful and frightening forces of hate, backed by corporate money, that will seek to hijack public rage and frustration to create a culture of fear. It is not certain we will win. But it is certain this is not over.
It's not over by a long shot. Of this I am certain.
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