Photo by Felicia Simion
November 14, 2011.
The last four months have been hard fought, inspiring and delightfully revolutionary. We brought tents, hunkered down, held our assemblies, and lobbed a meme-bomb that continues to explode the world's imagination. Many of us have never felt so alive. We have fertilized the future with our revolutionary spirits and a thousand flowers will surely bloom in the coming Spring.
But as winter approaches an ominous mood could set in … hope thwarted is in danger of turning sour, patience exhausted becoming anger, militant nonviolence losing its allure. It isn't just the mainstream media that says things could get ugly.
What shall we do to keep the magic alive? Tactical Briefing #18. Occupy the High Ground. Adbusters Blog.
Today, #N17 did just that!
Monday, Mar. 24, 1930. Ahmadabad, India.
Monday, Mar. 24, 1930. Early one morning last week Mahatma Gandhi, wizened, sainted patron of Indian Independence, arose from his couch in the Sabarmarti Ashram, his settlement outside Ahmadabad, wrapped in cloth around his spidery loins, took the high road for Jalalpur, 150 miles away on the Gulf of Cambay in the centre of India's western seaboard. With him proceeded 79 followers: one Christian, two Moslems, the rest Hindus. It was a mission of profoundest significance to Indian Nationalists, for when, after 20 days, the little legion should arrive in Jalalpur,... INDIA: March-to-the-Sea, Time Magazine.
February 1, 1960 Greensboro, Alabama.
But the sit-in themselves weren't the movement. It was simply one tactic in the work to promote equality and justice in the lives of African-Americans. They led to broad student activism in the form of SNCC. Next came the Freedom Rides. Then the huge voter registration drives across the South. And marches and rallies. All of this mobilization, and the huge range of tactics, led to the accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement as a whole.
I believe this is an interesting historical lens to look at the current Occupy movements. Among my friends and colleagues, the idea of the camps is widely debated. The occupiers in the camps are doing something that just isn't done- setting up micro-communities and sleeping in public places. Whether you think that the particular tactic of camping in public spaces is right for you, or for the movement, I think most of us can agree that the message and the movement is right- "We are 99%" is powerful. We want change. And we will work together for greater equality and justice. From the sit-ins to the Occupy Camps; Ella's Voice, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.Jakada Imani. Nov 11, 2011
.... But the Salt March was more than a mass political action. Gandhi saw the march as a pilgrimage, as a living sermon. It was not merely about removing the British but to demonstrate what an ideal nonviolent society should look like, how ideal lives should be lived.
Meanwhile, Dandi had proved to be an unsuitable base for operation. At high tide it was cut off from the main roads, hampering Gandhi's programme of seditious touring. So a change in location was decided upon.
(snip)
Ten days after arriving at Dandi, Gandhi moved the camp back to the village of Karadi. While some of the original marchers returned to their home districts to organize the breaking of the salt laws, most stayed with the Mahatma and were with him when he was arrested.
November 14-16, 2011
Embattled Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, speaking in an interview with the BBC (excerpted on The Takeaway radio program's audio of Quan starts at the 5:30 mark), casually mentioned that she was on a conference call with leaders of 18 US cities shortly before a wave of raids broke up Occupy Wall Street encampments across the country. Quan was recently on a conference call with 18 cities across the country who had the same situation. . . .Busted | Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Admits Cities Coordinated Crackdown on Occupy Movement, 4ClosureFraud.
Thursday, November 17, 2011. #N17
Two days after Occupy Wall Street lost its tent compound at Zuccotti Park, over 32,000 participated in an evening march to Occupy the Brooklyn Bridge. Throughout the evening and into the night, police blocked access to cell phones, live stream and twitter, virtually cutting off reporting out from downtown Manhattan. Liveblogging from the scene, Mother Jones reported that the police employed low frequency sound cannons which use focused beam of sound or ultrasound as methods of crowd control. MJ continues following events using Storify. And provides coverage of today's events, which began this morning when occupiers overwhelmed NYC police as they descended from numerous directions to shut down intersections in a bid to actually occupy Wall Street.
"goodnight stars, goodnight air
goodnight noises everywhere."
from Good Night Moon