Occupy Tulsa is a small Occupation, but their spunk, their fire, and their drive has made them one of the most formidable occupations to come out of the Midwest. Despite opposition from the outside and disruptive persons trying to take the movement out from within, they soldier on.
Recently, I decided to take a more active role in writing about Occupy in general and Occupy Tulsa specifically, since that's where I'm working from most of but not all of the time. But today, I do want to talk about Occupy Tulsa, about the Midwest, and about the pulse of the Occupy movement.
Occupy Tulsa has faced serious opposition from the very beginning. In fact we've had Oklahomans beg us not to plot mass exodus. We've faced many uphill battles, but Occupy Tulsa just keeps coming back. This small group of activists shows you just how powerful Occupy's staying power going forward is. Tulsa has managed to produce a vibrant, diverse and truly horizontal Occupy Movement.
Occupy Oklahoma protesters were attacked during a Santorum rally, and they kept protesting. This video only shows one attack clearly, but there were several men and women from the Occupy Oklahoma group who were attacked within 5 words of their prepared Mic-check.
The more Occupy Tulsa/Oklahoma accomplishes both statewide and beyond Oklahoma's borders, the more they give to the movement as a whole. If Oklahoma has the staying power to create and sustain an Occupy movement, then the rest of the country has nothing to worry about.
Occupy Protesters from across Oklahoma disrupted and shut down Santorum this weekend, in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City, they're standing strong and continuing to grow. Occupy protesters helped organize the Anti-personhood rally at the Capitol building, and have built a coordinated effort to end prison-profiteering in a state that loves privatizing everything. They've managed to coordinate some serious efforts region-wide, and put together a strong communications network to keep hammering the 1% in the playground where they experiment with all the laws they intend to push nationwide, and Oklahoma citizens are fighting back.
Arrested, pepper-sprayed, defamed, mocked, stolen from, misrepresented, marginalized, and still, Occupy Tulsa keeps coming back, keeps building and experimenting with soltuons to the world's problems, and keeps making an impact. Their people have braved cold streets, intimidation, violence, and assisted in saving lives put up with police brutality, intimidation tactics and those intent on dissuading their efforts.
But that's not the real story, the real story here is this: They've built a housing co-operative, called Occuhouse, that is beginning to address the needs of the community, even as the occupants of the house live in dire straights. They're working on their efforts with no fundraising, Occupy Tulsa hasn't had a bank account since Thanksgiving of 2011, and yet they still come back and accomplish more and more. They're remodeling this house, they've started a farming co-operative in league with an occupy tulsa group called Occupy Tulsa Neighborhoods
Nationwide, Occupy Tulsa is respected, regarded as holding their own, and known to be a horizontalist democratic body truly representing its own as an occupied city. Make no mistake, you say "Occupy Tulsa" to people paying attention to the movement, and they know that name. In fact, Oklahoma Occupants made a huge splash in Zucotti park last week for their anti-Santorum activities.
Focus.
We're winning, all of us.
Occupy Tulsa has managed to unite Left and Right Wing paradigms, to force them into a new mode of being by working towards consensus.
We are a real threat to the bank/corporate/governmental takeover of our voices and rights. The fact that Oklahoma has sustained and continues to sustain an Occupy movement proves this. Right in the heart of middle America, is the little occupation that did. They have stood up to power, they continue to expand the Midwestern Occupy presence, and their efforts will not be disregarded in the long run.
You cannot evict an idea whose time has come, and as the Occupy Wall Street movement evolves and adapts, we remain committed to horizontalism, to opposing injustice, and to making room for a new society to build from the shell of the old.
We are Occupy, we are Strong. We are the people, we are united, we will not be defeated. Global Revolution is upon us, and we're carving a new society for ourselves right here, in the heart of corruption. It is this solutions based focus that many of the occupy movements nationwide have taken to, and Occupy Tulsa is among them.
We are dangerous because we are united, because we are synthesized, because we're taking the left/right paradigm and forcing it beneath the things that unite us. As we look forward to the Chicago Spring, let's remember that if Oklahoma can do it, anyone can.