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gridloreAs most of you have heard there is a "protest" going in the New York City right now called "Occupy Wall Street." Several hundred people have gathered to protest. They are quite strident. The NYPD has behaved very badly at least twice. And I have no fucking clue what these morons want.
Seriously. You're going to love this one.. the people who instigated this announced that first they'd occupy Wall Street, then determine what their one demand would be through a "people's democratic action." I'm not kidding. Their plan was to get a few hundred stirred-up activists into a chaotic situation and then ask for a calm discussion. Because that always works when you issue a cattle call for activists. So almost two weeks in, and we still don't know what it is that these protesters are asking America to do for them. The problem of course is that every single person there showed up with an iron-clad agenda. The "Free Mumia" folks think that the single most important thing on Earth is getting Mumia Abu-Jamal out of prison. The hard-core communists will demand the complete dismantling of the capitalist system. There will be some calling for bankers (defined as "anyone in nice clothes who goes into one of these buildings" from what I've seen) be hung from the lampposts.
You're never going to get a consensus from this mob. Never.
But I already know how this is going to end. Because we've seen it out here in the Bay Area. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has come under harsh criticism for the behavior of its police force. There was the Oscar Grant shooting and more recently the shooting of a homeless man in the Civic Center station after he threatened passengers, threw a knife at an officer, and pulled another knife. This led to a protest on July 11th where protesters climbed on top of BART trains to prevent them moving, blocked doors, and engaged in acts of vandalism. Through "Anonymous" protesters announced a second event on August 11th. Knowing that the protesters would be using cell phones to coordinate. BART officials turned off the equipment that lets one get a signal sixty feet underground in a concrete and steel box. This is where things get funny. Now the protesters announced they would be disrupting the evening commute over the perfectly-legal cell shutdown. Notice the words "disrupting the evening commute." The "organizers" decided the best way to get support for their cause was to prevent about ten thousand people from getting home from work. Open threats of violence form commuters and others who depend on BART became common. So then the focus shifted again. Now the demand (along with disbanding the BART Police and the entire board resigning and free massages and the return of the Sudetenland) was that BART open the emergency exit gates to allow commuters to board for free. This was met with howls of laughter, since the BART ticketing system requires an entry and exit sweep. If there's no entry point, the system charges the highest fare possible to that station. After that fiasco, the protests have faded away. They had a point, the BART police are poorly trained, but that point was lost in a mess of poor organization and shifting demands. A local independent news site found that 2/3rds of the protesters had no idea why they were protesting.
This is the fate of Occupy Wall Street. They have no organization, no message, no control, and in a week everyone will get bored and go home.
One final note. We were watching Keith Olbermann the other night and they had someone from OWS on... looking like he had just stumbled out of a Phish concert. Ratty t-shirt, unkempt; within a minute![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kshandra and I were making "I was occupying Wall Street before it went mainstream" jokes. You want to speak to middle America? You want to get your point across? Organize beforehand and have a set of media contacts available. People with Communications degrees and a nice suit. People who can clearly and succinctly express the goals of the protest. Find some archival footage of Jerry Ruben talking to the media in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Hair and beard combed, dressed well, and articulate. Look at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.. organized, controlled, everyone well-dressed and devoted to a single cause and message.
I support banking reform and I think that many Wall Street types should be in irons. But this protest isn't getting my support until they get organized!
Seriously. You're going to love this one.. the people who instigated this announced that first they'd occupy Wall Street, then determine what their one demand would be through a "people's democratic action." I'm not kidding. Their plan was to get a few hundred stirred-up activists into a chaotic situation and then ask for a calm discussion. Because that always works when you issue a cattle call for activists. So almost two weeks in, and we still don't know what it is that these protesters are asking America to do for them. The problem of course is that every single person there showed up with an iron-clad agenda. The "Free Mumia" folks think that the single most important thing on Earth is getting Mumia Abu-Jamal out of prison. The hard-core communists will demand the complete dismantling of the capitalist system. There will be some calling for bankers (defined as "anyone in nice clothes who goes into one of these buildings" from what I've seen) be hung from the lampposts.
You're never going to get a consensus from this mob. Never.
But I already know how this is going to end. Because we've seen it out here in the Bay Area. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has come under harsh criticism for the behavior of its police force. There was the Oscar Grant shooting and more recently the shooting of a homeless man in the Civic Center station after he threatened passengers, threw a knife at an officer, and pulled another knife. This led to a protest on July 11th where protesters climbed on top of BART trains to prevent them moving, blocked doors, and engaged in acts of vandalism. Through "Anonymous" protesters announced a second event on August 11th. Knowing that the protesters would be using cell phones to coordinate. BART officials turned off the equipment that lets one get a signal sixty feet underground in a concrete and steel box. This is where things get funny. Now the protesters announced they would be disrupting the evening commute over the perfectly-legal cell shutdown. Notice the words "disrupting the evening commute." The "organizers" decided the best way to get support for their cause was to prevent about ten thousand people from getting home from work. Open threats of violence form commuters and others who depend on BART became common. So then the focus shifted again. Now the demand (along with disbanding the BART Police and the entire board resigning and free massages and the return of the Sudetenland) was that BART open the emergency exit gates to allow commuters to board for free. This was met with howls of laughter, since the BART ticketing system requires an entry and exit sweep. If there's no entry point, the system charges the highest fare possible to that station. After that fiasco, the protests have faded away. They had a point, the BART police are poorly trained, but that point was lost in a mess of poor organization and shifting demands. A local independent news site found that 2/3rds of the protesters had no idea why they were protesting.
This is the fate of Occupy Wall Street. They have no organization, no message, no control, and in a week everyone will get bored and go home.
One final note. We were watching Keith Olbermann the other night and they had someone from OWS on... looking like he had just stumbled out of a Phish concert. Ratty t-shirt, unkempt; within a minute
kshandra and I were making "I was occupying Wall Street before it went mainstream" jokes. You want to speak to middle America? You want to get your point across? Organize beforehand and have a set of media contacts available. People with Communications degrees and a nice suit. People who can clearly and succinctly express the goals of the protest. Find some archival footage of Jerry Ruben talking to the media in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Hair and beard combed, dressed well, and articulate. Look at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.. organized, controlled, everyone well-dressed and devoted to a single cause and message.I support banking reform and I think that many Wall Street types should be in irons. But this protest isn't getting my support until they get organized!
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no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 19:44 (UTC)*shakes head* No clear purpose ahead of time. No spokespeople who know what the hell they're doing, and can put on the "we're just like you" persona when dealing with authorities and newscritters. Oy, and veh.
People are... stupid. On Saturday, a man out in Issaquah had been walking down the street, with two rifles, shooting sporadically. (No one was hit.) He holed up on the grounds of one of the schools; police ended up shooting him, since, well, he was shooting at them first. Simple, right? I made the mistake of reading the first few comments; one was outraged, it was *unconscionable* that they didn't Taser him. Riiiiiiiiiight, as if anyone could've safely gotten close enough. That was when I reminded myself of my "do NOT read comments" mantra. *shakes head again*
no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 19:45 (UTC)I've heard complaints that the reason for the lack of US media coverage is 'it's all a conspiracy' - but IMO it is because the protestors are unorganized and scruffy-looking. If it can't be summed up in a sentence or 2 - or a catch-phrase, it's not going to get on prime time network news.
no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 22:41 (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 20:59 (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 21:09 (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 21:23 (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 22:10 (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 22:13 (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 22:40 (UTC)They seem to not get that getting arrested AND TAKING YOUR LUMPS (ie the resulting jail time & fines) is the whole *point* of civil disobedience.
They seem to think that it's *unfair* to arrest them. Worse, they don't get that anything other than passive resistance (ie go limp and make them carry you or chaining yourself to something) makes it about you attacking the cops rather than whatever you were protesting.
no subject
Date: 29 Sep 2011 04:57 (UTC)For what it's worth, though, I did see a picture of one of the WSO protesters so darn limp there were four cops carrying him by his arms and legs. Dude looked like a ragdoll. He wasn't making it easy for them, but neither was he fighting them.
no subject
Date: 28 Sep 2011 23:06 (UTC)no subject
Date: 29 Sep 2011 01:05 (UTC)no subject
Date: 29 Sep 2011 01:08 (UTC)http://therealnounsandverbs.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/this-particular-revolution-should-not-be-televised/
no subject
Date: 29 Sep 2011 00:12 (UTC)Neil Stevenson's "Zodiac" should be a mandatory read for anyone attempting a direct action.
no subject
Date: 29 Sep 2011 00:38 (UTC)Bitter irony here. Not legal. FCC is investigating. By toggling power to an active cell service, BART was both violating the Communications Act of 1934 and interrupting access to 911 services.
This became lost in the noise over "protesters who wanted to be heard."
no subject
Date: 29 Sep 2011 02:05 (UTC)But if you guys aren't seeing it, I pointed out, that means that whatever they think their list of demands are isn't getting out to the people who need to see it.
no subject
Date: 29 Sep 2011 04:51 (UTC)I do agree that the US media should be paying a bit more attention to this. And that the 'stated' demands -- main among them prison time for the jerks who got us into this mes -- have been known regarding this protest for some time. I'm still trying to get over how badly this was organized.