subscribe to nothingRegarding Occupy Wall Street- particularly the main grouping in NYC…I am hereby forecasting its end. While it does all remind me of those classic lines from The Wild One-
“What are you rebelling against?”
“What have you got?”
Of course, I maintain realistically low expectations here. Just as how 700 protesters were arrested early on (despite numerous reports that they were herded onto the bridge by authorities), and now with reports that Mayor Bloomberg is still looking for ways to cut law enforcement overtime costs by pulling the curtain on the entire show- we should absolutely be forewarned. What has confounded the media and powers that be thus far is that for the most part, Occupy Wall Street has generally been a peaceful protest. The free libraries, the soup kitchens, getting large numbers of citizens to close down their bank accounts, the earnest debates open to all…these have been the greatest accomplishments, but they are simply not enough to guarantee either legitimacy or longevity. Moreso, with no centralized leadership the possibility is growingly present for outsiders to sneak in to defame the OWS movement by inciting anarchistic violence and damages to public property, which I am certain has been the case in dozens of incidents across the country. As such, the Brooklyn Bridge arrests served as omen of further upcoming violations of our constitutional Freedom Of Assembly. Notice how mainstream media outlets never acknowledge how the mass police-enforced shutdowns of Occupy camps nationwide are almost always conducted simultaneously. With no “head” the body can oh so easily be misused by both the media and miscellaneous law enforcement agencies. I believe this so vehemently, that irrevocably it will eventually be the downfall of the organization, unless measures are taken to somehow verify or validate participants in the demonstrations and rallies. But even that small level of organization would be contrary to the overall agenda of the movement, therefore insuring an eventual self-termination of the cause. Wait and see, the Occupy movement will continue to splinter off into that much weaker sects, with controversial incidents purposefully prodding that direction into ultimate ineffectiveness. If however, the many Occupy movements were to consolidate under the banner/re-branding of Abolitionism 2.0 they may have some small chance at endurance. The greatest trick the devil ever played was in convincing the world he doesn’t exist, right? So too, the greatest trick our current slavemasters have played is in convincing us that our blue collars are not strangling.
A few years prior to his essay Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau denounced the then brutal (and completely unprovoked) war with Mexico, refusing to pay his Massachusetts poll tax and was so arrested. There is a great story that Ralph Waldo Emerson (himself also opposed to the war but seeing protest as futile) visited his jailbird pal Thoreau. Emerson asked- “What are you doing in there?” and Thoreau replied- “What are you doing out there?”
Obviously, the thousands of persons who are actively participating in the Occupy Wall Street of NYC and elsewhere have reasons for unrest. Our society is falling apart. What should a taxpayer do if he or she no longer has any elected leader even remotely concerned with their constituents? No longer has a government focused on dealing with their grievances, but rather instead proudly serving plutocratic big business at the full expense of the working class citizenry? Of course class war is indeed a part of this, and the persons most offended by this, as usual, are only the ones with something to lose. Clearly though, economic distress is our biggest societal bane right now, and the singular cause for this is the all-encompassing greed of a handful of persons. This goes for the whole world too, from cause to effect.
The U.S. Treasury Department even has a “donate now” button. But we are not in the middle of the worst economic depression of this nation’s history. Right.
And I am not homeless and unemployed right now. Right.
Regardless, there is a huge problem that is only increasing in threat, but as Occupy Wall Street will never amount to being anything more than something for what’s primarily an overly-liberal literati to focus on with flavor of the month intensity, it will never come remotely close to being THE solution to said problem.
Tags: Abolitionism, ideaspace
Midwifed by nilskidoo - 28/05/12 - 2 comments
I think part of the problem with judging the Occupy Wall Street movement is too narrow a focus on it rather than a larger focus on its influences. Take what’s happening in Montreal. We are seeing the largest protest marches in Canadian HISTORY in Montreal. To my mind, this is an extension of Occupy (as Occupy itself was an extension of protest movements in places like Spain and Egypt) rather than somehow isolated from it.
In addition, I think movements like Occupy, the Quebec protests, and so on are rebuilding connections between people that were destroyed beginning in the McCarthy era. That isolated people and I think what we’re seeing is that this is changing. I don’t think anyone can predict where it’ll go, either. Perhaps capitalism in general, the ruling elite, and so on will pull it off again and these movements, when we look back on them, will be failures. We’ll see. At the same time, we may see a brand new political landscape in, say, 10 years. I think all bets are off right now and it could go in many directions. In Quebec, the Charest government passed Bill 78 (Loi 78), a massively draconian law that not only did NOT end the student protests but galvanized non-students to join it (they had approximately 400,000 people out in the streets). The protests, in many ways, have morphed from a tuition protest to a much larger protest about neo-liberal “reforms” in Quebec, Canada, and the West in general. The law backfired badly on the provincial government and they’re still scrambling to pick up the pieces. If austerity continues, if unemployment remains where it is or becomes worse, if more draconian laws are passed, things could become very interesting.
By the by: for more on the Quebec protests (because English media in Canada and media in the United States in general are going out of their way NOT to cover it, take a look at http://www.quebecprotest.com/101)
Just as “that darn economic crisis” is in actuality “those damn economic crises”, then so too is the need to clench fists maybe a manifestation of the noosphere/ideaspace/Collective Unconscious…that’s what I’ve been toying with. But even if everything is connected, chain-linked together, the chain could still be attached to one heavy anchor dragging us all into the undertow.
It’s like with the energy crisis/crises. Multiple small time solutions are not singularly the one great revelatory answer, and neither is a mixture of multiple small time solutions. I think the real solution is still out there somewhere.
The protests can either decrease in violence (whatever the catalyst) and dwindle further into the ineffectual, or they can increase in violence and so offer up an excuse for the powers that be to pull back on the leash with all its worth. I am a firm believer in third alternatives, but we haven’t been exposed to it yet. Yet, mind you.