I just went down to Dewey square on my lunch break expecting an empty lot and a confused somber gathering of Occupiers. What I found was the thriving community of Occupiers I had taken my young daughters to see on the previous Sunday. I don't consider myself out of the loop and even I was confused by the reporting around the police action that took place in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
I spoke with a couple people in the logistics tent so I could better understand their situation. The Occupiers are in touch with the city agency that owns the land they are on and the agency continues to allow them to use the space. OccupyBoston is also in touch with the Mayor's office and other municipal agencies trying to identify other sites which could support expansion. The key thing to notice here is that the Occupiers and the city are talking. They were also talking when the city told them they would remove any encampment that expanded into other areas on the greenway. I'm not going to pass judgement on the decision to press the city on its word but also notice that so far the city has done exactly what it said it would do. The original camp remains fully intact and the new camp was disbanded.
The power of the encampment at Dewey square can not be understated. It is a source of contemplation, fascination, and increasing involvement. It has tremendous observable impact on people passing by. As I was walking across the cobble stones to the encampment I happened to walk beside a women who was clearly on her lunch break from one of the surrounding corporate offices. The spirit of the encampment was infecting her and she reach out across the chasm of complacency and isolation to say to me "this is right on!". We briefly talked and she went and bought a bag of apples for the Occupiers at the adjacent farmers market. The conversation was about the purpose of civic society. It would not have happened without the Dewey Square occupiers.
The danger the movement might be in is that the people most active in it are becoming callused to the impact it is having on the people just getting involved. They are seeking to expand what is already in place rather than to mine its value. They are seeking a delta between what they experience now and what they envision is the next step. What they are failing to see is that the delta between the public at large and what is already safely in place at Dewey square is huge. Bridging that delta with the public should be the focus of the movement. Don't leave the public behind or the Occupation itself risks becoming the %1 who tried to do something but failed to connect with the other %99.