Thursday, May 9, 2013

The downfall of Occupy from a commoner's perspectives

On a mild Fall evening in a small public park in downtown Atlanta where a few major companies' headquarters are located a block or two away, my girlfriend, Canesha and I attended an Occupy protest event. The park had just been named after Troy Davis, the gentleman who many argue received an unfair trial and had just been executed by the State. We arrived hearing instructions shouted to attendees through a megaphone where there was a mass sea of predominantly young and old white people circled around the man. Some decided to bring their children to witness something exciting on the horizon. My anxiety was running high and really felt this was the dawn of a new day -- a beginning where ALL of us received the dignity and respect in the near future we deserve. Canesha took out her phone and turned on the video application, while I expressed my excitement for a historical moment in our lifetimes. It turned out to be a mere blip on the radar for America's collective consciousness.

We walked to an area under a few oak trees where signs had been made ranging from poster board to cardboard. It was touching to see a young, blonde haried girl who was around six pick a sign up that said: I DESERVE A VOICE. Canesha took a few pictures of the different signs on the ground and began moving our way to the mass of people huddled around in a circle.

The park was small. It probably couldn't hold more than 250 to 300 people at one time. We decided to sit on the wet grass, while we followed the instructions from the extremely short and scrawny guy with large glasses, an unshaven face, and ratty red T-shirt. "If you agree with......, wave your fingers". So, we began mimicking others with our hand gestures to agree on a proposed amendment for the assembly. Some time passed. We felt it was a pointless excursion even coming out, as there were probably 101 plus things we could've done to OCCUPY our time that would've been more satisfying.

As the seemingly endless and inane resolutions continued to be presented followed by hand gestures for agreeing or disagreeing to each one, an announcement suddenly sparked our attention. Civil Rights icon and Atlanta area Congressman John Lewis arrived and would like to speak for a few minutes. To our left, we saw Congressman Lewis with several people who appeared to be aides and/or staff members. The resolution was brought to our attention: "For all those who would like to hear Congressman Lewis speak..." He motioned with the silly hand gesture again to agree to have him speak. After a few minutes, he announced: "We don't have consensus. Does everyone agree to the resolution," he asked again.

To our shock, a middle aged woman approached and said Rep. Lewis has another event to attend. We never reached a 100 percent consensus. Rep. Lewis was shown interviewing with a local news organization and walked away. Canesha and I were outraged.

"What," she cried. He was a Civil Rights icon. Why?"

I sat there in stunned silence. Why do you all need 100 percent consensus? Clearly, the overwhelming majority supported having him speak. You all could learn a thing or two from what this man went through -- dozens of beatings, several arrests, and how to successfully be a group who practices civil disobedience. Nope. And really, this summed up the downfall of Occupy. Later that night, we saw Lewis' interview and one thing caught our attention, "They're still growing. They'll learn." Unfortunately, that never happened.

We decided to attend two more events. The first was also hosted by MoveOn.org, a grassroots progressive organization that was created out of the absuridities of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to unnecessary time spent trying to impeach Clinton. Canesha and I marched with fellow protestors from Troy Davis Park for about a mile to the steps of our State Capitol. While walking, I was so inspired by others' reactions as we chanted, "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out."

Street vendors provided smiling approvals. Some of them nodded. A few of them said, "Go get 'em." As we continued our walk, there were even a few female police officers who yelled, "Yay." Wow! This seemed to really be gaining momentum and support from all walks of life. We reached the State Capitol and heard some very powerful testimonies from various oppressed individuals. One was a middle aged woman who was about to be laid off at an area hospital where she worked as a healthcare administrator.

"I'm also an employer. We are all employers. Our political leaders need to learn they are serving us as our employees."

She contined her testimonial where she provided some heartbreaking encounters with fellow staff members and administrators at her hospital. "I'm also a healthcare provider. They seem to forget that. Just because I don't physically heal someone doesn't mean I dont' also care for them." I was overwhelmed by her powerful convictions and emotions. Clearly, this was one of so many out there through no fault of her own was getting screwed all because of greed.

Canesha and I left a little after the testimony that still resonated with me. "I'm an employer." Yes, you should be doing what we tell you to do instead of answering to lobbyists, I thought to myself. We proudly held up our protest signs while walking back to the car. Overall, this whole Occupy movement thing seemed to be gaining ground with more people coming out and at a very rapid rate.

Sadly, city by city we saw massive police force used on peaceful assemblers at various public parks. A woman in her upper 80s was hit by a projectile fired off. Another Iraq War veteran suffered the same unnecessary near fate and thankfully, lived to tell about it as well. Last I saw of him, he was still active and courageously volunteering his time with Occupy to make a difference.

Work took up our time in the months that followed. We ended up attending a screening sponsored by MoveOn for the Academy Award winning documentary, Inside Job. It chronicled how the 2008 global economic collapse started in Iceland and the players behind the intentional misdeeds that led to countless housing foreclosures. It was there we met the so-called leader of Occupy Atlanta.

He was a wiry, scrawny guy who was a few inches shorter than me. While looking at all unfamiliar faces, I saw a bong in the kitchen. He said that we're going to wait for some others who were still planning to come to this thing. I see why he said it. A few moments later he began firing up the bong and taking a few hits off it. This is the leader of a historic movement for Atlanta, I asked myself. Good God.

After the film, we met a real nice guy who now is the head of The Green Party in Atlanta. He described how Occupy's stoner was well supported by a prominent area businessman and former Civil Rights activist. Yeah, but.... That's what I wanted to say. How can anyone take this soft spoken, pot smoking hipster seriously? Don't we need someone like Rev. Joseph Lowry to lead something like this? Just imagine Martin Luther King Jr. firing up a joint before addressing more than a million on the steps of the Washington Mall.

Today, you see Occupy lending its support to labor, students, and other causes. A few offshoots of Occupy, one in particular, helped to buy back the debt of over 1000 homeowners. So, they're obviously still doing great work. It's just on a very small scale. They tried to go big and failed. Here's why:

1.) Too much in fighting: You're rarely if ever are going to have ten or more people agree on any one topic and/or issue. Even one of the founders of Occupy acknowledged this in a rare interview with Cenk Uygur. The guy went on to say you have to open up the jail cell doors for the people to decide whether or not they should be let out. Bad analogy and terrible mindset. The doors have been open for more than 30 years now. The problem is how easily distracted they've become with talk radio and the 24 hour cable news network dedicated to reporting how the corporations decide they report.

If you're going to bitch about greed's influence in Washington, what you really need to bitch about is how we're the only country on the planet that needs a supermajority in the Senate to pass any bill. So, why the 100 percent consensus? Progressive minded bills were voted on and failed due to the supermajority. These were bills presented that were demanded by Occupy to help the poor and middle class. You would think this movement would also demand a simple majority from its participants.

2.) Cowardice to Police Force. The technology has vastly evolved since the late 1950s and through the 1960s. Yes, instead of firehoses we're now seeing tear gas and rubber bullets used by police. And yes, some instances are when there have been no justifiable reasons for their excessive usages. With that said, here's the elephant in the room and main difference between Occupy and Civil Rights movements -- skin color. 

During the Civil Rights movment, people felt like they had nothing to lose. And they didn't. Black individuals really had no rights, no fair access to public resources, etc. Today, it has slightly improved. You'll still see a dry cleaning store on just about every street corner in the suburbs compared to a liquor store on every street corner in the ghettos. White America occupied this land since 1492 and continues today to be fully invested in concentrating all the resources in their possession with no exceptions. They're still terrified of minorities. Sadly, the same movement was started by great, innovative people who are also white.
One could argue the majority of those who participated at Occupy rallies were young and white with much more to lose today than those who fought in the Civil Rights movement. If the average protestor faces one to three year prison sentences with our ever growing private prison complex, it's understandable why they'd want to stand down. There's college, a place in the workforce afterward, fear of losing his or her current job, etc. Those opportunities never existed for black people and if so, very few who were privileged.

3.) From Dictatorship to Democracy: After reading this post, I strongly encourage all of you to read Gene Sharp's From Dictatorship to Democracy. It's a short read with great brevity how all historical uprising whether done without firing a single bullet or not (Gandhi) was won when turning the people in power against each other. That's the ultimate goal today is to have say, the majority of the workforce at a Goldman Sachs turn against their leader, Lloyd Blankfein. It's up to all of us to pave a new path where we become less accustomed to a dictatorship in the workplace and more accustomed to a workplace where it runs like a co-op where employees are paid a living wage and have an ownership stake in the company. Until then as Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Like Occupy's main message, it's leaderless. Movements have always been successful through persistence which often times mean several years before change is implemented. They're the unnamed and unnumbered who struggled long and hard to win their freedoms. Our actions will help determine our future.








2 comments:

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