We're going to report on this story before anyone else does, because, well, it's very, very silly, but if cast in the wrong light, it has the potential to do some serious harm to our movement.
There have been a lot of snide remarks that Occupy Wall St is nothing but a hippie drum circle. Those of you familiar with south park will catch the reference. The drumming has become a problem. It prevents those of us trying to have a serious conversation about how to solve the problems facing this country from having any conversation at a volume below screaming.
It's causing a significant disturbance for people who work and live in the area, many of whom are among the 99 percent and are trying desperately to keep their families from starving. And why wouldn't it? To quote one community board member "If my daughter were to play her drumset in my house for fourteen hours a day, I'd kill her."
The Community Relations Board of NYC worked with the Community Relations Working Group of the General Assembly to come to some kind of solution. A plan was presented to the General Assembly: Two hours of drumming a day between 11 AM and 5 PM. The plan was passed with complete consensus: for the sake of our experiment, for the sake of a conversation, the drumming needed to be limited.
Now, here's the problem: The drummers don't usually attend the general assembly. They've decided that they are there to drum, and have sometimes refused to stop for media events, working group presentations, or to let the people's mic be heard. Because they didn't attend the General Assembly, their voice wasn't heard. They could have attended the General Assembly being held literally fifty feet away. But that would have involved a cessation of drumming, which the drummers were not interested in at all.
The reason we're all here is to take the next step in the experiment of democracy. If you're in Zuccotti Park, or attending any other occupation, you're as involved as you want to be. A number of people have left the park, telling myself and other reporters that they cant stand the drumming. Most of the interviews I've done and conversations I've had have taken place outside of Zuccotti park so that I can hear what's being said. Our sound equipment wont work otherwise.
Now, the Drummers, upset at the fact that the General Assembly made a decision they personally disagreed with, decided to ignore the decision of the General Assembly, and continue drumming.
This is a problem.
The General Assembly operates by consensus democracy. "To hell with society, I'm going to do what I want no matter who is bothered by it" is not what this movement is about. It's about changing the nature of the State. It's about economic injustice. It's about the fact that our democracy is fundamentally dysfunctional. It's about students in debt they can't pay, and people losing their homes.
But the drummers wanted to drum. And so they did. For another 14 hours.
When they awoke two days ago, they found that most of their drums had been sabotaged in the night. This is unacceptable, yes. Everyone we spoke to about the situation has been horrified. Damage to personal property - even theft - has been a reality of life in Zuccotti park, which is why the Media center is now protected by security volunteers, most of whom either work or have worked as bouncers. People have been warned about this possibility. The fact that it targeted a specific group bothered everyone.
Yesterday, the drummers made a request that the General Assembly pay them $8,000 to replace their damaged equipment.
This is the single largest request ever made of the NY General Assembly. No consensus was reached.
There were a number of concerns expressed. Chief among these concerns was, essentially, the winter coming up. $8,000 is a lot of money to spend on drums, when it's going to be needed to by snow gear and sleeping bags warm enough to keep people alive during a brutal NYC winter. The second concern was the fact that the Drummers had ignored the General Assembly's consensus that drumming should be reduced, and confined within a certain time. Others thought that it was an irresponsible use of funds. Still others simply dislike the drumming.
Because no consensus was reached, the drummers were not given the funds to replace their drums. I doubt that they will be.
Their response was an ultimatum. They said they would leave if they were not given the funds to replace their drums.
One of our reporters approached them today, and waited until they stopped playing to ask them some questions. When asked about the decision, they began yelling angrily at our reporter. They told him that their drumming was providing "spiritual ascension." They could not stop drumming for even part of the day because they "[were] at war." When asked about those people who disliked the drumming, or had left because of it, they said "Fuck 'em."
They aren't doing much to convince the remainder of the occupiers that they need the $8,000 for drums.
Personally, I wish they could get $15,000. I hate that their equipment was destroyed. I'm sorry that they feel let down by the General Assembly. But I will say this: You are as involved as you want to be. It's likely that if they participated in the decisions more often, a different result may have come about.
But as I said before, that would involve them putting down their drumsticks. The Occupiers are learning a very important lesson: democracy is hard, and not everyone is going to be pleased with the decision. The government of Zuccotti Park, the General Assembly, operates by consensus and consent. You're there because you want to work with and through the General assembly, where even the smallest voice is heard.
A block placed on any item requires a 90% vote as an override. A block essentially means "This violates my personal ethics, and if passed, I will leave." No block has been placed on any item of business regarding the drummers.
The drumming will continue I think, but it will be limited to only a few hours a day. Not all of the drums were destroyed. The drumming continues now, but is reduced. Many of us are glad for that, but upset that the drummers had some of their equipment destroyed in the night. And so the occupation of Zuccotti park continues, quieter, but still strong.
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We've seen a lot of great Citizen Journalism here at Kos. It's made my job a lot easier actually, deciding to write about a breaking story only to find out that the Kossacks are already on it. That gave me the time I needed to research and confirm the one above, which is the sort of thing you can only do on the ground.
Melbourn Violence
The protesters at Occupy Melbourne were evicted. Violently. A number of protesters have tweeted that the police involved removed their name badges.
Despite this, the Melbourne protesters are regrouping, and planning to meet at 12am tomorrow. Which isn't that far off in Australia.
Eric Cantor Cant Stand Questions
There have been a number of reports about Eric Cantor, including several diaries here at Kos, but I wanted to add a little bit.
I used to live in Virginia. I'm still signed up to get e-mails from the Virginia Organizing Committee. I received an interesting one, just a few days ago.
Have you seen Eric Cantor? If you live in Virginia the answer is probably “no.” During the congressional recess, U.S. Representatives all over the country are making their way back to their districts to meet with their constituents.
But, not Rep. Cantor.
Rep. Cantor has spent the last several weeks killing the American Jobs Act, attacking the Occupy Wall Street protesters and restricting women's reproductive rights. And instead of facing his constituents to explain why he is not fighting for jobs, he will be in Philadelphia speaking to UPENN business students on the virtues of trickle down economics.
We are tired of waiting for things to trickle down and we are tired of waiting for Rep. Cantor to show his face in his district.
If Rep. Cantor won’t come to us, we will come to him! On Friday, October 21, we will be coordinating a car pool up to Philadelphia to join hundreds of protesters who are also tired of Cantor’s obstruction and excuses.
So when I heard that Eric Cantor was canceling his speech, it struck me as quite surprising.
He's not just running from #OccupyPhilly, he's running from his own constituents, who haven't seen him in months.
I wonder why he doesn't want to talk to them?
Maybe it's because any bad press at all in the next few months seriously endangers his chance to be re-elected?
Last year saw his vote share drop to it's lowest level since he took to the hill in 2001.
An Interesting Occupation event is occurring right now in Chile.
In the town of Frutillar, a native Mapuche population is returning to farmland taken from them in 1991. About twenty families are occupying the spot right now. The farm is about 250 acres, and is currently owned by a wealthy businessman with interests in Hotels and Fisheries. The farm was owned by the native population for generations, and they are now demanding its return. Peaceful occupation began on Oct. 20th. They are in dialogue with the police, and the occupation, like all of them outside of Italy, has been completely peaceful.
What was that chant from last saturday? “Wall St, Times Square, Occupy Everywhere!”
For those of you who enjoy Schadenfreude, Reuters out that a significant number of companies associated with Nasdaq have been hacked. Hackers attacked Nasdaq last year, and the attack was repelled. But nasdaq didn't notice that an application they developed had been infected with spyware which allowed hackers unfettered access to their communication.
"God knows exactly what they have done.” Said Nasdaq's security expert.
Apparently “Director's Desk” a program that allows board members to communicate. It was infected by hackers, using security codes stolen from Locheed Martin.
Breaking news as I finish writing this. There's a significant fire going on near OccupyWallSt. Glass Shattered on the 28th floor of a nearby building, and rained down on some of the protesters. No word about injuries yet. Broadway is closed.