Answering a friend’s question on facebook a few weeks ago about
why the occupiers are protesting . . . .
Yeah I can definitely see how it can be confusing to
people. I think there are a number
of reasons that Occupy has not asked for specific demands so far. The original call to action from
Adbusters was to protest the corporate take over of the government. So there are many people who still are
specifically focused on this and issues related like corporate personhood,
corporate lobbying, bank bail outs, casino capitalism, etc., and there is even
a working group in New York called Demands who are pushing for the movement to
come up with specific demands related to “Corporatocracy.” But Occupy has also taken on a mind of
its own since the first call to action, and there are many protesters (and it
seems like they may be the majority since they haven’t made any demands yet)
that believe that we need a whole new system and way of being altogether and
that by making any demands within the current system would be an affirmation of
it.
Also, another issue is that for the first time in a long
time, there is a movement that is drawing people together all over the country
and the world, which is great, but the difficult part is we all have so many
pet issues that we would like to address.
Picking one might alienate the others, and at least for now, we want the
movement to keep growing and growing and becoming stronger and stronger.
I think there are a few purposes of trying this new tactic
of sustained protest and encampment.
Because of the radical change that is desired, I think campers are
making the statement that they are not just asking for one thing and then are
going to go away and return to the status quo. They are sick of the status quo. And for the people that are calling for more specific
changes, I believe their statement is about holding those in power accountable
for the injustices and letting them know that we are not going to forget what
they did/are doing like we have in the past. Also, as messy as it may look because of the numbers of
people and differing opinions, the encampments give us a space to come together
to discuss what we desire and envision for the nation and world . . .a chance
for people to connect face to face in real time instead of just on the
internet.
So who knows what will come of everything. But there has not been this much energy
around change in this country since the 1960s, and I am personally excited to
see so many young people engaged for once instead of the usual attitude of
apathy and being too cool (and/or distracted) to care about anything of
significance. I want to support
the movement any way I can.
Although there are not many sound bites that the media have
been able to get out of the movement due to the enormity and complexity of the
grievances and desires and the many different people and opinions, the “we are
the 99%” slogan has been something that seems to have taken hold. You probably have already seen this
site, but it just shows example after example of why the current system is not
working for the majority of people in the U.S. right now:
And here is the list of grievances that Occupy put out in
the beginning so you can see why we might be protesting for a long time J :
And this is a link to an article by Matt Taibbi in the
Rolling Stone that I highly recommend concerning the movement not having
specific messages and demands and how the media is portraying the movement,
etc.
