Rain has returned to #occupybaltimore, gentle but persistent, all is wet, all is glistening. The climate is fittingly gloomy, as the clouds of faux scandal have now arrived as well. I'm not going to link to the article because, frankly, Andrew Breitbart wants people to link to his websites. He makes money on clicks, and that is why he publishes the drivel he does. So, needless to say, we've been Breitbarted. It was one of his reporters that stopped by on Monday, I'm not sure what the proper response is. For now, I wrote a single tweet about it to the hashtag and am continuing with life as normal, perhaps using the hashtag a bit more than usual to counter the drones. In the end, I think it will be a benefit to us, since its free publicity. I'm hoping we can come up with a cogent response that doesn't address the troll himself.
With that out of the way, I'd like to take a chance with this post to speak a bit about what #occupy is in context of where #occupy came from. While the Occupy Wall Street group started only just over a month ago, the fact is, we got here because of a lot of people with great ideas who have been working their asses off. I'm going to cover it in reverse chronological order, and obviously from my limited point of view. First, I think we need to give a major shout out to the protesters earlier this year and late last year that came out against austerity programs. This includes US Uncut, inspired by the group UK Uncut, both of whom used direct action tactics against banks. Their tactics and probably many of their members are the lifeblood of Occupy Baltimore. We also need to give our respect to the Indignatos from Spain, the protesters in Israel, and the peaceful protesters in Greece.
Our group probably wouldn't have as much popular appeal if it wasn't for the amazing, inspiring, and altogether life affirming work of those heroes in Tahrir Square and in Tunisia, and the people still fighting in Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Bahrain. These individuals reminded us that we have a human responsibility to get off our asses when injustice occurs. Without them, we would have much less spirit and hope.
We should of course give love to the anti-free trade movement of the late nineties. Naomi Klein has been an early and vocal supporter of the movement, and gives us the language to talk about our grievances, and the rhetoric to explain the way the current levers of power are corrupt and illegitimate, thus justifying being in the streets. Even more we should give love and respect to the fighters who first took to the streets against racism and war in the 60's and 70's. The very idea of a sit in protest, occupying a space, etc. is taken directly from their tactics. We learned much from their actions, and many of them walk amongst us. They are our progenitors.
Finally, we should remember and honor the countless people who fought for the rights of workers. The union movement pioneered the tactics the 60's radicals redefined, with sit in strikes and major direct actions. Without their hard work, sacrifice, and the blood they lost in the process, there would be no great American middle class. These people had nothing but a hope that they could achieve something never seen before, and they won. It is their legacy we fight for now, and it is why the unions are our allies.
Occupy is a movement that emerges from a long and complicated past. Our inspirations are many, and our commonalities are almost as great as our differences. I only hope that we can demonstrate the strength of will to stand up and keep fighting when we really start to piss them off, and they start seeing us as enemies, not just an annoyance. We've seen flashes of violence, but the potential for true power to be exerted against us will remain indefinitely. As the Buddha would say, all things in life are impermanent, strive on with diligence. Well, that about sums my feelings for the day. More soon!