Occupy Wall Street and the 99 Movement

Some of us wondered when and if the younger generation would become politically active and mobilized. Now that they have and have engaged a broad segment of society to focus on the basic inequalities in our economic system, we should applaud their efforts but restrain ourselves from providing any advice. I've read former anti-war activist after activist from the Baby Boomers suggesting everything from a general strike, which was one of the most pitiful efforts during the Vietnam period, to recruiting people for running for office.

Let them be. We have seen in vivid color, mostly orange, the gratuitous and sadistic pepper spraying of non-violent demonstrators by police who now look like sci-fi versions of the military. The photos of the Lost and Found where the Wall Street Occupers' gear was stored showed dozens of laptops wantonly smashed and stomped upon by NYPD. Elderly women have been tear-gassed despite their non-violence.

Through it all the Occupy Movement has kept a good sense of humor, something which ultimately defeats an adversary. I especially loved the Batman Sign flashed on a skyscraper in New York and the Drum Circle created to beat 24/7 outside of Mayor Bloomberg's townhouse. When police banned tents in California the Occupy crowd floated them with balloons in their air. I could do without the Vendetta masks. But the human microphone technique used when New York prohibited electronic sound systems was ingenious. In Nashville there are having square dances.

The Occupy Movement took the notion of Tahir Square in Egypt and replicated it many times over and applied the idea to everything from parks to foreclosed homes to abandoned buildings. As the Digital Generation, they are clearly into horizontal organization and not about to create a hierarchy. Whether that type of new model can generate further precise political actions who knows. An older generation talks about fostering more lasting coalitions but I tend to disagree.

I think the Occupy Movement bears living witness to how screwed up our social priorities are and how the game is so rigged that by only standing outside of it can the full scale of the control of the 1% be realized. So far they have bamboozled the media and only infuriated the Right. Karl Rove is launching ad after ad at Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts as if she is to blame for any excesses by the Occupy people. Forbes to its credit wrote a piece decrying the police brutality and emphasizing the movement's inerently non-violent nature. Yes, grouplets like the Black Box tried to encourage the movement to engage in violence and how much of that was police infiltration?

I think they have shifted the political debate in this country. I know they terrify the Professional Right, which would like to replay the days of the 1960s counter-culture and claim that all the organizers are radical leftists. I received many e-mails suggesting that the CPSA, the Communist Party, was a major player. CPUSA hasn't been a major player since the late 1950s and even then it had dwindled in number. Then the funder has to be the Biggest Boogeyman, George Soros, a man in his mid-80s who could dream of such a thing. Then, of course, it was the fault of Barack Obama who will use these people violently if he doesn't win re-election. It's wonderful to see what people project on the Occupy Movement. And generating those reactions seems to be part of the point. No we don't care about any of that stuff. No,. we don't care whether Obama is re-elected or not. No, we don't care whether the media represents us accurately.

I don't necessary agree with this but I appreciate how it heightens their effectiveness. You could attribute Paul Ryan of Vouchercare fame's distribution of an accurate chart showing the distrubution of wealth in the country to their impact. The former staffers for John Boehner offered an $850,000 lobbying contract to help the banking industry discover who the leaders and funders of the movement are and how to develop techniques to tar any congress person who expresses sympathy for them. This lobbying firm expressed concerns that this movement would affect policy for decades to come and that they are having an effect on how people perceive the current situation.

Some of the reactions have been lulus. Newt Gingrich told an audience of the Christian Right that the Occupy Movement should get a job and take a bath first, like something out of Archie Bunker. In fact, Jesus freaks are joining the movement in California. And the best was Rudy Guiliani, whose views were made known in NewsMax . Speaking in China--yes, China, Rudy told the audience he would have broken the Occupy Wall Street crowd up in one day. Rudy was speaking in a country which only days before admitted they have killed protestors at Tinnamen Square at a new rally. Rudy told his audience that this people are not America and that they shouldn't influence them about the United States.

My reaction was that the most negative impressions of America now come from the republican dominated House which condemns the President of the United States on a daily basis. That is feeding the enemies of the country and portraying us as weak, not the Occupy Movement.

I am amused at all the talk about what do they want? I mean who could they petition about their blanket indictment of the current economic scene? What kind of regress do people suggest? Isn't that the point of this--that the whole situation is so muddled and confused and frustrating that there is no Congress or President who can make this right?

The Professional Right are outraged that Occupy is focusing on the banks, wall street and the very wealthy and not their favorite target--the Government. Occupy doesn't have that antagonism against government and in fact thinks government should prevent the abuses of the banks and the Wall Street institutions. This runs counter to the Tea Bag frame, which has dominated our public discussion since the 2010 elections.

Yesterday Peggy Noonan wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal, which didn't make sense but she discussed how Republicans were always aware of the abuses of government power and that's why they resisted anything President Obama proposes. But Occupy has turned that on its head and demonstrated that freedom can just as easily be threatened by private sector abuse, which has long-standing social consequences.

I enjoyed Occupy because I always tell democratic movements abroad to "occupy" any spaces in the political system, where the governing authority is not. I love that this is taken literally. The other aspect is my personal belief that our society can only advance through energy, human energy that comes behind an idea. We saw President Obama's 2008 campaign and how it energized people about the possibility of a better tomorrow. The Tea Party was a negative energy, an energy of reaction that had no flow. Occupy has flow and has moved the debate forward even if that was not their intention.

I also think Occupy has some unintended consequences for the participants. By establishing informal relationships a generation has created links that generate a whole lot of possibilities. We have already seen books and music as well as emphasis on projects in abandoned urban wildernesses like Detroit. Participants have a menu to choose from. They don't have to be all into high finance and the abuse by banks but other relevant issues that basically are ignored now by my generation.

My peers have trouble with a Movement that just is. Does one have any expectations? Does it succeed or fail? No one expected it at the beginning so why do we project our own frames on it? If it disappeared tomorrow, it would have articulated what millions of Americans have been thinking quietly for a few years. If it moves on, I am sure it will take many local and national forms which no of us expect. Have at it, guys.

The criticism of Occupy ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous. Baby Boomers weigh in with sage advice, although our successes are negligible in my mind. But when it comes to crime, drug overdoses,disease, sanitation, and rumors of rape and murder, let's keep a perspective. In its totality, Occupy may at any given moment consist of a medium to large American city. Even if all the rumors were true--and they are not--Occupy has a better record of behavior than the medium sized city does over the same period of time.

While my teabagger friends brag how well-behaved and disciplined they were, they never enacted such a sustained national effort for two months out of doors and away from the conveniences of their own homes in bad weather facing local police forces that have over-reacted.

To me Occupy is a considerable achievement in terms of political organization. Clearly, it has inspired thousands of other actions throughout Europe, for instance. One Baby Boomer likened it to the revolutions of 1968 through Central Europe, France, Italy and elsewhere. I don't think it fits into that frame but the point is taken. It will be studied, analyzed and perhaps give way to new forms of political mobilization in the United States.

And to all my readers, have a Happy Thanksgiving. I am off to Occupy Cleveland.