I've been an avid "student" of protest movements for years. I've attended many protests and I've noticed that there are a few things people do that tend to diminish their potential effect. I'm not going to get into those details, since I don't want to discourage any reader that may be participating in the Wall Street occupation protest that started today.
But what I'm going to do is get straight to the point, emphasizing that this is a very unique opportunity. This effort by these true patriots that understand that we have reached a point in history when there is no other choice than to take to the streets and demand that the criminality and oppression by the ruling elite stops, could either be a catalyst to help awaken the population, or it could fizzle away without having achieved much.
I recognize and understand that many readers may see these suggestions as extreme, unorthodox, or even too provocative, but I believe that for a protest movement to break through the propagandist effect of the mainstream media, and apathy of the general public, you have to "think outside the box." You have to do something that projects the true power people have.
The riot police have uniforms, and shields, and helmets, and batons. When they want to intimidate the protesters, they stand in formation, march, bang on their shields with batons, and stomp on the ground in unison. That's very powerful imagery, and it is intimidating--which it's the intended purpose.
When it comes to the protesters, many times there is no organization. People carry all kinds of different signs (for all kinds of causes); many of the signs are hand-written on cardboard.
But the bought-off media purposely focuses on portraying the protesters in a certain way (see the New York times photo below) that undermines the message of the protesters (in the eyes of the typical middle class person).
What I'm about to suggest is actually not that hard to do, but for some reason, I've never seen it done at any of the protests I've attended. But I believe that if done, it would send a very powerful message, and again, it could serve as a revolutionary catalyst...
So gather up some guys in the group with military or law enforcement experience. Ask for volunteers within the massive number of people protesting tonight, tomorrow, and hopefully every single day of the week next week in Wall Street.
Here's the deal... this group would act as a "Phalanx Formation" (I have to admit that @OccupyWallSt came up with that name when I suggested the idea via twitter).
Ideally, you would "recruit" strong-looking people, and ideally they would wear a similar color clothing. The idea is to project an image of organization and discipline.
This next step is very important... Think about what is it that we are protesting about. We all know: the wholesale takeover of the country by an increasingly oppressive and exploitative ruling elite and Wall Street criminal banksters, who have looted the country's coffers, and plunged much the populace into economic despair.
So, come up with a very powerful verse (with strong in-your-face kind of language) which will immediately send a very clear message.
The leaders with military, organizational, or law enforcement experience would then coordinate with the volunteers for this "phalanx formation" and work out the details about how to (physically) organize it.
Do you have 200 people, or 500, or a 1,000? When the moment comes, then quietly and with discipline, everybody gathers and falls in military formation. A speaker (leader) in front of the formation delivers an impassioned short speech... She or he then ends with the verse agreed to previously. And the "phalanx formation" then starts chanting that verse in unison, and with powerful voices.
As it happens, other members of the protest group take pictures of it, and video, and then post them on YouTube, or via livestream.
Visually, and emotionally, this could have a very powerful effect on the rest of the protesters... It could be a catalyst. And you could see many other members of the larger group get closer to the core "phalanx formation" and join in the powerful REVOLUTIONARY chant.
This could have an incredible psychological (and inspirational) effect on the entire demonstration, and it could SPARK something really big.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning.
They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must pay for all they get. If we ever get free from all the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and, if needs be, by our lives, and the lives of others.
- Frederick Douglass
Today (Saturday, September 17th, 2011) there were very large gatherings of people on the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street protest. Even so, here's the photo the New York Times chose to use for an online article reporting on the protest:
Notice the hand-written cardboard sign... half of the protester's face is showing; no large gathering of people.
The way these protests are portrayed by the mainstream media tends to send a negative image about the protests, sometimes in subtle ways, and other times in not so subtle ways.