A close friend of mine who had been following the Occupy movement casually recently asked how he thought the Occupy movement would ‘play out’? There was a note of healthy skepticism, as if he expected a dark response. But at this point, who can answer such a question? I have no more of a looking glass than anyone, nevertheless, it needed a response. So here goes...
The protestors are undoubtedly principled, and, in many instances, deeply courageous with their insistence on non-violence. Their politics remain fuzzy, however, in the traditional sense, they are not especially partisan, neither Democratic nor Republican. So far as I can tell they've invented a kind of hodge podge of anarchism, direct democracy and do goodism that will mostly engender sneering from the cognoscenti, but their earnest belief that not only CAN they change the world, but that they MUST change the world is endearing--and part of the answer to how it will play out is the direct democracy process itself. They work through painfully slow consensus building to arrive at decisions in a truly inclusive and participatory fashion. They are practicing and (hopefully) refining the art of passive non-resistance. If I were to invent whole cloth a fictional movement that would take down the greatest corporate empire in the world, this would not be it. I don’t even think Tom Robbins would go there. Imagine the pitch to an agent: granola eating vegans, raw foodists, Rastafarians, young anarchists, octogenarian World War II veterans, Vietnam War veterans, Iraqi War veterans, Christian do-gooders, Anonymous hackers, middle class mothers, professional business men, lawyers, dancers, artists, writers, poets and union workers descend on Wall Street to put a stop to the financial octopus that is squeezing the life out of workers and pensioners here and around the world. I can hear the eye balls creaking in their sockets. Too wildly improbable for words. A sympathetic Wall Street trader with whom I conversed for about an hour on Monday said that he thought nothing would happen to take on Wall Street's influence on Washington until there was blood in the streets--and not even then. Maybe. And yet these kids depend on the conscience of their neighbors, of the jaded adults like ourselves to finally do the right thing. So no, it's not a good bet. And yet, how else?
Stealing a little from Sheldon Wolin, these folks understand that there is something deeply wrong, that there has been something wrong for quite some time. Wolin argues that to the extent the United States on occasion came close to genuine democracy, it was because its citizens struggled against and momentarily defeated the elitism that was written into the Constitution.
The American political system was not born a democracy, but born with a bias against democracy. It was constructed by those [with the notable exception of Thomas Jefferson] who were either skeptical about democracy or hostile to it. Democratic advance proved to be slow, uphill, forever incomplete. The republic existed for three-quarters of a century before formal slavery was ended; another hundred years before black Americans were assured of their voting rights. Only in the twentieth century were women guaranteed the vote and trade unions the right to bargain collectively. In none of these instances has victory been complete: women still lack full equality, racism persists, and the destruction of the remnants of trade unions remains a goal of corporate strategies. Far from being innate, democracy in America has gone against the grain, against the very forms by which the political and economic power of the country has been and continues to be ordered.
So, here we are. Another struggle, which is the same struggle, in fact, but a different form. And these activists from Wall Street and elsewhere have learned how to peacefully achieve their goals from our past, from the civil rights marches, and Gandhi’s walk to the sea. They are doing exactly what they’ve been taught to do by these examples when confronted by massive injustice, by what amounts to enforced serfdom by a corporate oligarchy. So maybe the answer of what happens to this movement isn't about them; it's about us.
This time, how will Americans respond? Will they slink off to their football games and barbecues even as their retirement plans are dismantled to the highest bidder? Who will rise to the occasion and help, who will refuse out of fear or sloth? And, as always, it’s about the power structure in this country and how they will react when people forcefully resist and say simply, ‘no more’; say directly to the wealthiest and most powerful men on Earth ‘you must change, we cannot continue this way any longer.’ In short, my friend, you ask, how does Occupy play out? I answer: Please, you tell me how it plays out, tell all of us.