The point of what many have done there in Zucotti Park was to signify to the world that the order of things as they are is unjust, and that people are tired of following that order. Usually, I'm a law and order kind of guy, but I don't really mind civil disobedience, which is what essentially OWS is.
I was rather surprised this morning to find out that OWS New York had been evicted, and somewhat surprised to find that they had been stupid enough to do it by force. Some may revel in the fact that it was done, but I'd say to them, just you wait.
Because here's what I think: This is not what a police state looks like. Not yet, at least. This is what a Democracy where civil liberties and the spirit of progress for the average person has been thwarted for too long. That's an important distinction in my mind. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, and if it isn't, it needs to be brought back to what it's supposed to be.
You folks out at the various OWS protests represent this nation's desire to get back to what America is promised to be, rather than what the few can distort it to be come through their political and financial power. You represent people in this country who have decided that they've had enough with sitting back and being resigned to things as they are.
You also represent defiance of a civil order that has become unjust and unworthy of being obeyed. We're not talking violence here. We're talking simply voicing that contempt. If they want to exercise power at our expense, at the expense of every American, if they want to escape official accountability, if they want to act like the lords and ladies of their country, despite having run its economy in the ground, if they want to perpetually express their contempt for any law that binds or constrains their actions, then they're going to find folks who feel similary unfettered of their obligations, the folks their failure to respect the rule of law has impoverished and rendered unemployed sitting their asses on their doorstep.
The Right Wing wants to believe you're a bunch of homeless people just looking for a meal. They want to believe you're just a bunch of dirty peasants who WON'T get a job, rather than employed people and folks who haven't gotten a job for want of trying. They want to believe that if they show their force, and thump your skull for resisting, you'll learn your lesson.
In truth, if you keep this up, they will be the ones learning their lesson. Not by getting their skulls thumped, but by being forced time and again to wall themselves up, show that force, do whatever they can to stop you, and not being able to stop you anyways, short of violating your basic rights.
Get every violation you can documented, every show of force documented. Flood local stations, and if they won't show it, flood folks e-mail boxes. These people do not want to believe that they are weak, that they can't defeat us, but one of the advantages of being the many is that we can most certainly outlast them in the long run, even if they are so stupid as to get violent. Especially if they are so stupid as to get violent.
It's time to expose their desperation, their contempt for the average person, their authoritarian attitudes and their right-wing contempt for those who disagree. It's time to force them to show Americans who they really are, and to do so until people have to notice.
Most importantly, it's time to impress upon people that the powers that be cannot keep us down, and that as Americans we will not sit still for our disenfranchisement, not sit still for being told to sit down and shut up.
Occupy Wall Street again. Make them evict you again. Force them to either live with your defiance, or disgrace themselves using force on people resisting non-violently. Have them make their excuses and have them shown hollow. Have them sneer in contempt and burn their popularity as your integrity and your solidarity of purpose shows through. OWS refused to be moved, they were cleared out- now we're going to show them how easy it is to move right back in, in Zuccotti park or elsewhere, if they're so fearful as to block it off.
They're going to find out what that guy in Oakland is finding out: you can't win against those practicing Civil Disobedience by bringing down the hammer. You will only put your own legitimacy, the limits of your own authority and political support to the test.