The Occupy Movement
About a week ago, at the end of a short solo tour of Southwest Alaska, I I guess I should have introduced myself to all of them, but I felt sheepish Matt considered himself lucky to be protesting in Anchorage rather than Historically, it’s always been pretty easy for the powerful to get poor With regard to Occupy and Law enforcement, mayors and college In October, the New York City Police Department arrested over seven hundred No one gives away 4.6 million expecting nothing in return. J.P. Morgan CEO I hear complaints that the protest is unfocused, that the protesters The Tea party blames the government, Occupy blames the corporations that now I’ve taken part in very few protests. I attended one No Nukes march
wandered down to Occupy Anchorage. The camp was only a block from my hotel.
The temperature was in the single digits with a light snow. There were three
tents, the first of which was wide open. Inside were four young men, two
white and two native, a dog, and a propane heater. I offered them some
smoked salmon and some CDs. They took great interest in the salmon and it
was quickly consumed. The white guys introduced themselves. The natives did
not.
and shy, like an interloper or a tourist. They all seemed to handle the cold
pretty well. I asked them if they had any tips to help Occupiers in the
lower forty eight get through the winter. They shrugged. John, the dog’s
owner, said,”It’s pretty simple. You need shelter, heat, and food.” About
then, a nice woman named Wendy, who lived in the neighborhood, came in with
a crock of hot soup. Morale improved instantly. Wendy struck up a lively
conversation with a young man named Matt, who seemed like he could become a
spokesman, if the movement wanted a spokesman. He had something of a
thousand yard stare from, I guessed, fatigue and constant cold.
Portland or Oakland, because the Anchorage Police were not bothering the
protesters, and some officers were openly supportive of the movement,
stopping by to chat and to gripe about departmental budget cuts. Matt said
he thought he preferred sub zero temperatures to pepper spray, horses, and
batons. He offered me some of the soup. I’d had plenty to eat and had to
catch an early flight, so I declined, wished them luck, and left. I was
struck by their generosity. I liked the salmon, but they needed that soup.
people to swing sticks at other poor people. The powerful simply have to pay
the stick swingers just a little bit more than they used to pay the strikers
or the protesters or whatever group is causing them annoyance, divide and
suppress. Police officers may not live in abject poverty, but they’re
certainly not rich. They need their jobs and they’re trained to follow
orders. They are not paid to care whether or not they belong to the one
percent that gives the orders, though I don’t doubt that some of them do
care anyway. I’m curious about the origin of the orders.
presidents seemed to be charged with giving the orders, at least officially,
and they are subsequently charged with taking the heat when the execution of
any of their orders goes terribly wrong and produces violence, physical
injury, and embarrassing Utube. Politicians and Administrators don’t
generally like controversy, it’s bad for careers. I don’t think such people
would give orders that would likely result in some really messy controversy,
unless enough pressure were brought to bear on them that they would fear for
their careers anyway. I think there are bigger forces at work here.
Occupy protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge. Some were held for hours without
charge. Earlier this year, J.P. Morgan/Chase, one of the recipients of the
government bailout, derided by both Occupy and the Tea Party, donated 4.6
million dollars, partly in technology, patrol car laptops and such, to the
New York City Police Department. This was the largest single donation ever
received by NYPD. You can’t tell me there were no strings attached. City
Budgets are strapped. Departments are underfunded. A direct donation from a
major corporation must be like manna from heaven to a police department. But
of course, the department will need more in the future, and it won’t get
more if it turns on its new benefactor.
Jamie Dimon is quoted as saying, “These officers put their lives on the line
every day to keep us safe, we’re incredibly proud to help them build this
program and let them know how much we value their hard work.” I wouldn’t
argue that NYPD, or any police department, is not worthy of such a donation,
but I must question the motive and the timing. I wonder if Mr. Dimon
actually lives in the City. The few New York CEOs I’ve had the pleasure of
dealing with all lived in Connecticut and rode limos down the Meritt Parkway
to work and back. Wherever Mr. Dimon lives, I doubt he fears for his safety.
rejection of traditional hierarchy renders the movement ineffective as a
political force, that it has no clear message. But I don’t see a problem
yet. Occupy has been effective simply by coming into existence. No one
organized Occupy ahead of time. A call went out and people showed up.
They’re still showing up and their numbers and tenacity do have an effect.
They get noticed. As for the message, one can google Keith Olbermann and
hear the message, well written by Occupy and well read by Olbermann.
Basically, occupiers want to take their country back from the banks and
lobbyists. Their demands aren’t that different from those of the Tea Party.
The two groups should join forces. They’re mad about the same conditions,
though they disagree on where to put the blame.
own the government. Is there that much difference? Ultimately, we will all
have to join forces if we are to call ourselves a nation. Right now, we are
too polarized to be effective. We no longer recognize each other as
Americans. The mayors and college presidents who call out the riot squads
apparently don’t know that those are their fellow Americans getting beaten
and pepper sprayed. Those are American sons and daughters. Those are
American students, American librarians, American grandmothers, and American
veterans, and when they get hurt, we all get hurt. The stick swinging has to
stop. It serves no useful human purpose.
in Washington D.C. in the late seventies. It seemed to be conducted mostly
by old hippies who wanted to do it again, and younger people like myself who
thought we were sorry to have missed the sixties. My son and I attended
several anti war protests in Austin at the start of the Iraq war. Our fellow
Americans screamed expletives at us as we stood on the street, but we didn’t
get arrested. There were some “protest for fun” types there too. I think
Occupy is different. I’ll have to go to New York and check it out. I’m
pretty sure the guys in Anchorage weren’t out there for the fun of it. They
seemed to feel that they needed to be there, that they had no choice. It’s
common feeling and common conviction that makes a movement. And it seems
that more and more of us feel that we have no choice.
