Anyone lucky enough to have studied political philosophy under Professor Stephen Bronner at Rutgers University in the 1980's was made quickly familiar with his favorite quote from Hegel: "The owl of Minerva only flies at dusk." Some took this to mean that the truth of events and history can only be understood in retrospect, after the dust has settled. I saw it a little differently. I believed Hegel was saying that the truth, and those things synonymous with the truth like justice, reveal themselves just in time, when the darkness is almost complete. This interpretation allows us to understand great leaps in human freedom occurring despite conditions of great oppression, like the French revolution, or civil rights from jim crow or the Arab spring. Is OWS another of those moments, a creaking turn of the dialectical wheel? If so, what do we make of Anonymous? Is Anonymous Robespierre to this revolution, or Batman?
This past three years has been a period of unprecedented reactionary attack on civil society, at least in my lifetime. From Citizen's United to the co-ordinated attacks on public sector unions, the right wing, through it's Oz like echo chamber, has mounted a furious assault on the very identity of modern America. Quite openly, right wing politicians have announced their intentions to return us to a time before the New Deal, before the Progressive era. They have announced that the welfare state is bankrupt and that the future will be one of capitalism unbridled, "red in tooth and claw," one need only imagine the rest: sick people falling over dead in the streets, swarms of orphans, lethal workplaces, a devastated environment. No need to go on, anyone reading this here already gets this picture.
The point is, by this fall I was feeling beaten down and under siege. Our president had proven himself weak and ineffectual. Our senate corrupt and divided. Those few "leaders" out there actually describing reality, such as Bernie Sanders, seemed willing but incapable of stopping this onslaught by capital against the people. Every day Limbaugh was on the radio for three hours, urging on his troops, attacking the foundations of the country. Every day Drudge spewed more blatant racist bullshit in his apparent attempt to foment race war and chaos. In this environment it's easy to understand the thrill I experienced when I learned about the group known as Anonymous.
Here was a powerful force, able to work it's will against the largest corporations and institutions on earth, effortlessly. Unlike every other lever of power on earth, it was not owned by the corporations, and seemingly could not be bought, as it did not seem motivated by profit. What got me most excited was that it, this entity, this dark force, possessed a political consciousness and seemed to be aligned with the people! All the rage I had been carrying around at my own feelings of impotence in the face of the right wing putsch sprung forth, and I'll admit, I fell into magical hero thinking. I knew Anonymous scared the shit out of these corporations. I knew the government was worried. And it made me happy. And I realized "Anonymous is our Batman."
Batman is the dark hero. He is merely human, but possesses extraordinary powers and abilities. To battle the dark forces who stand beyond the rule of law he too has abandoned the protections and accountability of civil society. If Batman chose, he could rob every bank in Gotham, he could violate the rights of any citizen, he could accrue power unto himself until he was the greatest criminal in Gotham. But he doesn't . Apparently taking Nietzsche's advice to those who battle monsters, he never became one. He stayed true to the people.
Now we have OWS. Unlike Anonymous or Batman, this is the people acting on their own behalf, attempting to create accountability, to enforce the rule of law. This is the best power on earth, and the forces of darkness will mount increasingly furious attacks to discredit, undermine and destroy it. History shows they will use plants and agents provocateurs to discredit the movement. They will use force. Their nuclear option though, will be to paint OWS as in league with terrorists, and chief among those terrorists will be Anonymous. Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, Anonymous will soon be branded as a terrorist group. God knows what kind of action list they will find themselves on. What I do know is that OWS and the grassroots cannot afford that association.
Batman fights a lonely struggle. He is there not for the problems the people can solve themselves, but for the problems that they can't. People can make corporations more accountable, they can bring finance to heal. It's been done before. Attacking corporations and Wall Street with even the most creative hacks probably does that struggle no good. But again, Batman is there for the blowhard bullies who are beyond the reach of the law, beyond accountability to the public. Those drug addled blowhard bullies of the airwaves, those self loathing little race baiters of the internet, they need to be taken out. They sow confusion and fear, they are our nemesis, and they have power greater than any mere citizen. Anonymous can score two for America by exposing and destroying Limbaugh and Drudge. They have dark closets that need to be thrown open, and they have financial castles built on sand. They are easy pickins and in one fell swoop the right wing echo chamber would be no more.