I am an old war horse who was a participant in the civil rights and new left protests in the 1960s. I have been in an out of various movements since then. When the OWS movement began to happen a month ago, I heard the bugle blow. While my spirit is still willing, the flesh ain't what it was 50 years ago. I got involved in various online discussions of the movement, primarily at Daily Kos. When a local movement began to develop in Santa Rosa CA near where I live, I began to attend some of the general assemblies and look for ways in which I could participate on the ground. What I would like to offer here is my reflections at this point after a fairly short period of participation. This is much more about asking questions than providing answers.
What has been truly remarkable is the way that the Occupation of Wall St. has spread across the US. The reality is that the US is a bit late in catching up with an awareness that there is a serious global problem and that ordinary people everywhere are having their lives disrupted by it. Protest movements have been spreading in the Arab world and in austerity Europe for sometime. Here is a global look as of the present.
Global Protest Movements
This is an unusual picture for the US. Historically protest actions have usually been concentrated in a few major cities on the east and west coasts. There are people in places like Tulsa and Nashville who are taking to the streets. While the movement has a wide spread, there are questions about the depth of its penetration in local communities. There isn't much systematic data available. Since last Saturday 10/15 was promoted as a day of international protest, the New York Times made an effort to estimate particiaption in those events.
Turnout for Saturday's OWS Events
The size of the crowds in some really large cities is a bit disappointing. The focus for many of these local groups has been on maintaining and supporting an occupation camp, usually in the face of varying degrees of opposition from police. I am going to use my experience in Santa Rosa as a basis of first hand observations to discuss what has happened and to discuss where things might go. I have been strongly impressed by the abilities and commitment of the people I have encountered there and I think that what they have accomplished from a cold start about two weeks ago is amazing. Santa Rosa held a rally and march last Saturday.
Occupy Santa Rosa - Off The Launch Pad
We were hoping for 1000 people and about 3000 showed up. Sonoma Co. has a strong tradition of political activism and that helped. This Saturday 10/22 the local Tea Party is planning a counter demonstration and we are having another one. Following a general assembly on Saturday night the group commenced an ongoing occupation camp at City Hall.
I should say at this point that I am strongly convinced that the traditional political process is fundamentally broken. It is under the control of the financial elite and is thoroughly corrupted. In light of these realities we have to find a new approach and I support the efforts of this movement to search for it. The efforts to work through a non-hierarchical consensus building model seem to me well worth trying. I also agree that it is important for this group to avoid getting co-opted by traditional political organizations. What I want to explore is possibilities for making a broader impact in local communities while maintaining commitment to these organizing principles.
There was a great deal of interest an energy in that crowd of 3000 people who showed up. There are about 100 people who are making regular appearances at the occupation camp. The police come around every night and confiscate most everything except food and water. So far there haven't been any violence and arrest. I have made two visits to the site. I am limited by my personal circumstances in my ability to spend long periods of time there. My interest and desire to find useful ways to participate is not so limited. I think that there are large numbers of other people in similar circumstances. There are efforts underway to provide means for people to establish online communication, but so far they have been slow to get off the ground. The general assembly is meeting three times a day and that is the focus for the direction of this group.
I've been using Santa Rosa as a focus not just because that's where I have some personal experience, but I also suspect that it is not an atypical experience. The questions that I want to raise are not specific to any one locality. They all revolve around the issue of where do we go from here. There have been people raising this question in a negative a critical manner that often strikes me as an effort to discredit a movement that they find threatening. That is not my purpose.
Are occupation camps going to be the primary activity of this movement? My impression is that they are right now in many places. I'd be very interested in comments from people with experience in other places. Maintaining such projects demands resources. The pressure that they are getting from local government and opposition groups greatly adds to those demands. If you are going to plant your banner in the soil, you must be prepared to defend it vigorously. General assemblies meet at the camps and are usually fairly focused on the problems and issues of the camps. In areas with sever winter weather that is going to become a major problem before long.
However, there are other things going on in local communities that have a direct connection to the concerns and the issues that gave rise to this movement. One example is the drive that is underway to get people and organizations to divest their financial arrangements from the TBTF banks. There is the long list of problems that are hitting the 99%, unemployment, foreclosures, etc. I think that anybody who has been paying attention to this movement should understand that we are trying to wake America up to these problems more than attempting a laundry list of immediate solutions. However, an important part of that wake up call is shining a light on what is happening to real people on Main St. USA.
People who are involved with OWS can certainly do other things like feed the homeless and support school programs that have been cut back. What I am talking about is efforts that attempt to connect up the dots in the public understanding about why all these things are happening. The general issue at this point is not about specific initiatives, but a more general question about what can be accommodated under the umbrella of OWS and its organizational model. Would it be possible to have closely affiliated groups where one focused on the camp and the people who are able to participate there and another that tried to involve people who have different contributions to offer? Would a federation of general assemblies be workable?
Another matter that is being raised from more than one quarter is the idea of developing some sort of national connection for the local groups.
I think I'll stop here and hope for an exchange of thoughts and ideas.