The Occupy Wall Street Movement is a true grass roots movement.
It is democracy in action. By virtue of modern communication systems, the actual voice of the dis-enfranchized now has a chance to be heard. We have learned a new approach from the Egyptian Spring.
However, THE STATUS QUO, wants to keep the status quo. And so they deploy all the resources at their beck and call; agent provocateurs and their media propaganda army to find ways to discredit it.
We need to work to prevent OWS being captured by the pundits and these agent provocateurs.
OWS is a live entity. It grew out of massive amounts of pain, suffering and being ignored by the political power structure. They are now saying: "I'm mad as hell and won't take it anymore." And the numbers of hurting people are astonishing. Instead of statistics, we now see faces and we now hear their stories. The ravaging of Wall Street now has a brutal image. Wall Street is the 1% who (yes they are now 'people') has stolen the very things people need in order to survive from the 99%. And as they have not been made accountable, they continue in this rape and they don't give a damn.
An idea started by AdBusters ignited a flame of protest that is spreading all over the country. One of the most important things to me is that this movement is truly Grass Roots. Not like the celluloid, Corportocracy designed Tea Party Movement which was designed to appeal to low information voters and appeal to their prejudices and selfishness. The 99% are protesting real losses in their own lives: jobs, homes, savings, health, retirement, debt, and the impunity and lack of accountability with which corporations are poisoning our world. These are not all, but representative of the concerns of the 99%.
We must protect this movement from being hi-jacked and derailed. I believe that it is a NEW type of movement. Like the Egyptian movement. Let's face it, the 'old political strategies' have not worked. So, to have a new approach evolve, and not only evolve, but make sense to the vast numbers of people who now are supporting it, is a startling phenomena.
It is democracy in action.
The thing that has struck me most about this movement is the whole process of 'consensus building' that is, as I understand it, the basis of their 'General Assembly.' And their sense of inclusion. Of everyone. It cannot be about party to be truly what I understand it is: a mass uprising of those who have been screwed by the system, who have formed a solidarity against that system.
I have watched the pathetic pundits try to claim a pseudo mastery of 'understanding' what is going on and dropping down their golden words of wisdom from their Corporate Mt Olympus (yes, that's you MSNBC, CNN, et. al.) They are making fools of themselves, imo. (Erin Burnet's recent performance was nothing short of a latter day Marie Antionette, which Cenk Uygur took down so well. She will be remembered. Her attitude and the world view she is so cynically trying to preserve will be remembered. It is so clear that she and her kind, could not see Reality of the 99% if they stumbled over it.)
What they want is for this movement to fit into the boxes residing in their tiny brains so they can pontificate about it. They need it to be reducible to the black and white world they live in; they need it to fit the current corporate, Matrix-like world view, so that they can continue to make money for themselves and their corporate masters. But Most of All, they need it to reflect and maintain the Status Quo.
And we, ourselves, must recognize this attempt to box them in and to refrain from any logic that is as black and white as theirs. "What are the demands of OWS?" "It won't have any value unless it allies itself with a political agenda and party!" "Its got to be organized." Etc, etc. Ad nauseum.
The people who understand the true revolutionary nature of this movement are counseling patience. They are counseling not to rush to judgement or to 'demands' (another vestige of failed politics of the past,) but to let the movement evolve of its own accord.
One of the greatest fallacies in our age, imo, is the rush to judgement and opinion. Who can be the first to predict what is going to happen. That has led to a level of opinion that is suffocatingly superficial and ideological beyond belief. It is opinion delivered whose sole purpose is to drive ratings. (We scooped the story, See it first here.) What happened to thinking, weighing options, connecting the dots on a deeper level, going into process on an issue? What happened to considering the impact of actions taking place? What happened to allowing the higher rational functions such as synthesizing and integrating to take place? No, the world we live in is a fast pace, shoot from the hip world filled with bloviating pundits who a lot of the time, DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT but are protecting their reputations and jobs.
A brilliant example of how the media is in status quo/self-preservation/trying to derail the OWS movement mode was written about in this diary, which contains a must see interview clip:
Jesse La Greca on THIS WEEK! Updated!
Watching the "Pundits" spew forth their self serving nonsense, I realized the clarity of the excellent response so ably given by Jess La Greca was not only beyond their comprehension, but beyond their empathy. The 1% is terminally about the 1% and THAT boys and girls, is their real religion, Rick "Elmer Gantry" Perry nothwithstanding.
I have great hope in this movement I have hope for their process, which I understand will evolve. They have set up a brilliant populist method of group process, The General Assembly. Hopefully it gives us something of a new process, because, god knows, the effin old political process hasn't worked. I hope that this movement will bring forth new political candidates who emerge from and are dedicated to the principles of this movement.
Most of all, I hope that the Democratic Party can catch up with them, and let itself be reformed by them. That is my biggest hope. As far as the elections are concerned, I don't worry about the OWS' movement impact on that at all. The movement will sort out the electoral process as that time draws near. I trust this movement in general. I think that the main concern right now is to help it in all regards, especially from being derailed by agent provocateurs of all stripes. And that includes not letting the media get away with trying to put them into the 'status quo' boxes especially.
So, to anyone who wants the OWS to conform to known paradigms, I counsel patience. Let it go through its evolving group process and find its way and its new strategies. It is just being born! In the meanwhile, it is very important that we stand by and offer as many resources as we can.
But what we shouldn't do is to tell it how to do 'its thing.' Its doing very well right now, thank you. I trust in its ability to morph in the way it needs to. Don't try to 'box in' its growth. Give it the room it needs.
Our future depends on protecting this new life.
Be patient, support and help this new birth. Don't rush to judgement. Be open.
UPDATE:
h/t to Richard Lyon for his comment
Paul Revere would have had to wait for the polls.
which both amused and inspired me.
Of Course! The founding of this country was the result of a long process. The delegates knew that they didn't want to be persecuted anymore, but it took a LONG PROCESS AND DISCUSSION TO FORM A CONSENSUS OF ACTION. And thankfully they had the stomach and stamina to go through this process.
The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, from September 5, to October 26, 1774. Carpenter's Hall was also the seat of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. These were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees of correspondence of the respective colonies. The colonies presented there were united in a determination to show a combined authority to Great Britain, but their aims were not uniform at all. Pennsylvania and New York sent delegates with firm instructions to seek a resolution with England. The other colonies voices were defensive of colonial rights, but pretty evenly divided between those who sought legislative parity, and the more radical members who were prepared for separation. Virginia's delegation was made up of a most even mix of these and not incidentally, presented the most eminent group of men in America. Colo. George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Edmund Pendleton, Colo. Benjamin Harrison, Richard Bland, and at the head of them Peyton Randolph — who would immediately be elected president of the convention.
The objectives of the body were not entirely clear but, with such leadership as was found there, a core set of tasks was carried out. It was agreeable to all that the King and Parliament must be made to understand the grievances of the colonies and that the body must do everything possible to communicate the same to the population of America, and to the rest of the world.
The first few weeks were consumed in discussion and debate. The colonies had always, up to this time, acted as independent entities. There was much distrust to overcome. The first matter to be considered by all was A Plan of Union of Great Britain and the Colonies, offered by Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania. The plan was considered very attractive to most of the members, as it proposed a popularly elected Grand Council which would represent the interests of the colonies as a whole, and would be a continental equivalent to the English Parliament. Poised against this would be a President General, appointed by the crown, to represent the authority of the king in America. Conflict in Boston overcame the effort at conciliation. The arrival of the Suffolk County (Boston) resolves just prior to the vote on the Plan of Union, caused it to be discarded by a narrow margin.
(my bold)
First Continental Congress, from ushistory.org
I am a fan of anything John Adams and admire him greatly, and highly recommend the book by David McCullough, John Adams which eloquently chronicles the struggle of the colonies to find consensus and a path of action to redress their grievances.
Also, the tv series, http://www.amazon.com/... goes into a lot of detail of the laborious process that led to the American Revolution.
The Revolutionary War is often referred to as the "Birth of our Nation."
Here, with Occupy Wall Street, a process is going on that I believe I founding father's would not only recognize but wholeheartedly support.
Hopefully OWS will result in a 'Rebirth of our Nation."