Here's a look back at the Occupy movement and a long and boring opinion I had on a NYT article

OCCUPY EVERYWHERE

There have been demonstrations starting three weeks ago in New York City, complaining of corporate greed, our ineffectual Congress and our banking institutions.  These seem to be only a handful of the complaints, all happening at the same protests.  And, according to Erik Eckholm and Timothy Williams writing for The New York Times on October 3, 2011(online), the protests are spreading across the country.

The article calls it a “loose-knit populist campaign that started on Wall Street” and states that people have “camped out in Los Angeles near City Hall, assembled before the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago and marching through downtown Boston to rally against corporate greed, unemployment and the role of financial institutions in the economic crisis.”  Eckholm and Williams quote Georgetown University history professor Michael Kazin as saying, “Rants based on discontents are the first stage of any movement.”  To paraphrase Professor Kazin, he speaks to the fact that the protests need to have clear political goals if they are to keep their momentum and become a “lasting movement.”

The article states, “With Little organization and reliance on Facebook, Twitter and Google groups to share methods, the Occupy Wall Street campaign, as the prototype in New York is called, has clearly tapped into a deep vein of anger, experts in social movements said, bringing longtime crusaders against globalization and professional anarchists together with younger people frustrated by poor job prospects.”

The writers list other city’s that are seeing protest and touch lightly upon the publicity surrounding the arrests in New York that are motivating more protesters across the country.  In the article, it is stated that “Occupy Together, an unofficial hub for the protests that lists dozens of coming demonstrations, including some in Europe and Japan.”  Apparently the movement, which according to Professor Kazin lacks focus, is going global.  The article quotes some of the protestors from outside Los Angeles City Hall.  One protester, Elise Whitaker, listed in the article as a 21 year old freelance script editor and film director is quoted as stating that the protesters were “united in their desire for ‘a more equal economy’”.  In Chicago, according to the article, Sean Richards, 21, states that he dropped out of college at Illinois State University to travel by train to Chicago and demonstrate against oil companies.  In the article, it is said he would continue to sleep on the street for “as long as it takes.”  As long as what takes?

The article ends with a quote from USC sociology professor, Nina Eliasoph, speaking on the topic of the protests and the movement itself and its “major emotional resonance” considering the state of the economy today.  “So there is a tension between this emotionally powerful movement and the emptiness of the message itself so far.”  And boom goes the dynamite.  The emptiness of the message itself.  Professor Kazin talked about a lack of focus and a need for the “newly unleashed passions to be channeled into institutions, but Professor Eliasoph, in my opinion encapsulates the movement best.  What is the message?  What exactly is Sean Richards waiting for, oil companies to hand over profits to struggling middle class families?  Ms Whitaker, the 21 year old “freelance script editor and film director” (read unemployed on parents dime) talks about “big money corporations” not representing her.  Are there any small money corporations waiting in line to represent her?  What exactly does it mean to be a “big money corporation”?

One gentleman, Paul Bucklaw, 45, is quoted in the article.  “We all have different ideas about what this means, stopping corporate greed, for me, it’s about the banks.”  Okay Paul, what about them? 

I’m not against civil action and protests.  I love our system of government.  Let me rephrase.  I love our Constitution, Bill of Rights and our system of Law.  However, are you really protesting, if you’re just angry and scared and don’t know what to do about the future, or are you just ranting and taking up sidewalk space.  There are several disparate ideas being bounced around by the demonstrators which, according to some, could hurt the movement.  I don’t think so.  This article, in my opinion, missed a very important thread.  Only once are social media mentioned, followed by quotes from protestors that seem clearly chosen to cast them in a “dim” light. In the article it is stated that a Washington strategist “noted that the Wall Street demonstrations followed protests in Wisconsin this year over efforts to suppress public employee unions and numerous rallies on economic and employment issues.”  Okay, so the Occupy Wall Street campaign was spawned in Wisconsin.  That seems a bit simplistic.

  Here is an idea.  Can you think of any movements, with no clear political goals other than change, with no specific leaders that relied on social media to rally support and communicate with each other and the world?  If you said Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Morocco or Libya, than you were correct.  I believe that we are taking a cue, for once, from outside our own borders.  I think that the ubiquity of social media and Internet access has shrunk our world.  I think that we have a whole new generation, that thinks less “them over there” and more mankind as a whole.  The lines are getting blurry.  All around the Middle East and Africa, there are protests and demonstrations that are utilizing the Internet and social media, to affect change.  We are all angry at unchecked greed, corruption, stalled governments, failed financial systems and an uncertain future.  The young protestors may not know precisely what they want or how to ask for it, but they do know this.  Right now, almost any change is good.  I think the writers missed that.  I would have been very interested if they had caught the similarities to the wider world and written on it.  Right in front of them was a window with an amazing view of the world, and all they could talk about were the curtains.  A good article overall, but it the writers missed the real story.  “But that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.”