Occupy Spring: Who's Still Fighting The Power?

Spring is here, and the Occupy movement is emerging from its winter hibernation. Or that’s what the occupiers are saying, anyway.

With the tents of Manhattan's Zuccotti Park just a memory, it’s unclear how the movement will unfold in the coming months. Some occupiers are trying to change the political establishment through lobbying and legislation. Another vocal faction insists that the movement should be a force for radical change, not reform.

As the election season heats up, there’s a general consensus in the Occupy ranks that Romney is “Mr. 1 Percent” and Obama isn’t much better. But the occupiers don’t agree on much else. Take the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org, which along with other progressive and labor groups recently trained 100,000 activists nationwide in Occupy-style "direct action" tactics. Some mainstays of the movement, like the Canadian magazine Adbusters, think the "99 Percent Spring" is a force of co-optation, while others argue that it’s a force to be co-opted.

Here are six profiles of Occupy activists whose diverse perspectives could point the way to the future of the movement as a Occupy's spring begins.

Jason Cherkis, Tyler Kingkade and Matt Sledge contributed reporting.

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Comments

[demsrsilly]

07:08 AM on 04/25/2012

Really have to dig on HP to find anything about OWS anymore.

[zc91377]

03:57 PM on 04/26/2012

yea thank god this waste of time is dying out. another month and no one will even remember it happened.

[CabCurious]

05:07 PM on 04/24/2012

Northeastern progressive states = most peaceful
BIble-Thumping conservative states = most violent

Who is surprised?

[desertdreamer]

07:49 PM on 04/20/2012

From one of our Occupy Washington DC patriots!

http://october2011.org/blogs/kevin-zeese/disruption-congress-i-stood-millions-dead-whom-we-and-i-were-responsible

[TheMediaRanger]

01:32 PM on 04/20/2012

I have high hopes that Occupy will thrive. The election season will give most Americans a much better understanding of the movement, as Romney accuses Obama of not being tough enough "on the corruption in my business."

[demsrsilly]

06:54 AM on 04/25/2012

Hope in one hand.... and democrat in the other....wonder which one will fill up first.

[Scott Leland]

10:59 AM on 04/20/2012

Our country's economic problems: not enough Americans working full-time, paying income taxes and contributing to their Social Security accounts are caused by the corporations. We have to let them know that we will appreciate them hiring Americans to keep the Recovery going:

http://redwriteblue.blog.com/2011/11/04/releaf-america/

[Imissgeorgew]

10:40 AM on 04/20/2012

So the sign that the 'woman' was holding on the main Occupy picture says "The only boss worth working for is Bruce Springsteen".

Since she doesn't want a boss, that tells me that this woman has no intention of ever working and trying to support herself. This shows the true socialist agenda of these people. She's upset because she doesn't have the money to work for herself and nobody is giving her a handout.

I'm thinking I'll give her some help by buying her a one-way ticket to Russia, N. Korea, or China. Then her problems will be solved. Of course this means that her economic growth will be stunted as she will have to share her wealth with others. At least it will rid America of one leech.

[chevy706]

11:16 AM on 04/20/2012

Exactly what I thought when I saw that picture! F & F!

[kernalsan]

11:56 AM on 04/20/2012

Although you can read the words on her sign you seem to be unable to understand how words can be arranged to express IDEAS. This is something you should have gained some skill for in grades three through five.

She is making a joke. That is where you arrange words so that a reader can derive a new and humorous meaning. In this case she is alluding to a nickname that Bruce Springsteen earned long ago.

Your offer to buy her a ticket is also a joke since your name calling precludes any presence of charity in the shrunken thing you use for a soul.

[Imissgeorgew]

12:57 PM on 04/20/2012

Um...Yep - I get the Sprinsteen reference. Making a joke - you're incorrect (we could argue all day and you're still going to be wrong)

Concerning GWB and charity - you know not of what you speak. President and Mrs. Bush certainly did their part. According to their 2005 tax return, the Bushes had taxable income of $618,694 and contributed $75,560 to charitable organizations that included the American Red Cross (Hurricane 2005 Relief), the Salvation Army (Hurricane 2005 Relief), the Salvation Army (Pakistan Earthquake Relief), Martha’s Table, the Archdiocese of New Orleans Catholic Charities, the Mississippi Food Network, and the Federal Government’s Combined Federal Campaign.

Shall I continue?

[demsrsilly]

06:54 AM on 04/25/2012

Then entire occupy movement is humorous.

[Andrew Nutra]

07:54 AM on 04/20/2012

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Give some bored white kids with dreadlocks in the suburbs a copy of Adbusters and they'll form OWS, hit the streets with drum circles and try to save the world thinking they're Gandhi incarnates.

[kernalsan]

12:06 PM on 04/20/2012

A.N. you are coming along with your repertory. It warms my heart to see that you have added a snide Gandhi reference to your usual, repetitious droning about OWS. How clever you are.

Keep it up! At this rate you should be able to form a coherent train of thought in 2-3 years.

[Andrew Nutra]

02:51 PM on 04/20/2012

I could write some more, but I thought I'd save myself the trouble:
OWS 1
http://youtu.be/mGTaYo0VSz4
OWS 2
http://youtu.be/7SwKxUz7osM

Here are your typical members. LONG LIVE THE PERCUSSION REVOLUTION!!

[den1953]

02:59 PM on 04/19/2012

Tactical revolution can be better planned then running around unorganized the 99% have a objective it is the survival of the middle class and poor and if you fall into that class you already have a idea what would be in store for you should Corporate American and the wealth overlords pick up momentum. We already are seeing just who the elite aristocratic sector of this country want to get accomplished against the American voter, from women to minorities, the American worker and why the elite want to bottle up class warfare. This desire to over run the typical Democracy to a Plutocracy is as close to the upper elite class closer then ever before now it is up the the American people to keep Democracy alive and breathing and push back those who threaten it!

[Ralphiec88]

11:49 PM on 04/22/2012

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the only exporter of hilarious jingoistic propaganda was North Korea - until now. Keep it coming!

[James LaVecchia]

02:57 PM on 04/19/2012

Guess the writers of this opinion article has not seen how just yesterday the stockholders of Bank of America have rejected the CEO"S compensation package. Now other stockholder are following suit. I wonder when Jason Cherkis, Tyler Kingkade and Matt Sledge contributed reporters wrote this.

[TheWanger]

02:56 PM on 04/19/2012

Occupy is waning.
I think it should take the cues of Nestor Makhno and adopt the General Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists.

[JediChef13]

02:53 PM on 04/19/2012

We have built a society based on the assumption that cheap and abundant energy will always be available. We have placed upon this faulty logic an expectation of infinate growth and a financial system based on fractional reserve banking, compound interest and fiat currency. Current and future wars (there will be more to come) are the result of our dependence on abundant, cheap energy keeping the current economic paradigm (infinate growth) going. This is not only unsustainable, it is IMPOSSIBLE. Infinate growth based upon finite energy sources. Couple this with an unresponsive government (several of them worldwide), predatory banking institutions and a growing apathy/anger/rage (in that order) in the general population. Reform is not possible, the current system is corrupt and based upon the infinate growth paradigm. Our wars will eventually bankrupt us and destabilize certain regions of the world (energy-rich regions) that will send a ripple of instability through the world. Saudi Arabia has a serious problem, a population, underseved by the royal family, ready to explode (summer 2012), a destabilized Pakistan (brought on by our continued occupation of Afghanistan) would result in nuclear weapons in ???? hands. China is experiencing riots, weekly. The populations of Greece Spain and Italy have watched banking institutions install their prefered leadership over democratically elected leaders. The collapse of the fossil fuel based society we currently live in is unavoidable. We should actually welcome it.

[Polar Shift]

03:10 PM on 04/19/2012

Jedi, Great post! And a good overall view of what will be necessary, and it needs to happen SOON as the planet may not survive in any recognizable way. Some scientists think it is alredy too late, while others think we have a 7-10 year window.

[Talk2PassiveActionVital]

03:45 PM on 04/19/2012

The window of opportunity is at -5 years. All climate models are locked into an "inadequacy loop". Models are designed based on data accumulated by past models, which are routinely superseded by new data the old models were unable to predict. Hence, climate science is in a perennial game of "catch up", therefore unable to divine and design adequately predictive models.Ouch!

http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/underestimates.php

[jhNY]

03:19 PM on 04/19/2012

Fanned for scope.

[Talk2PassiveActionVital]

02:51 PM on 04/19/2012

Unfortunate Washington Establishment Post-Toasty tone to this article. "Who's still fighting...?" insinuating the heart may have gone out of the movement, after the 1% directed urban police forces to make short work of the democratic expression of free speech across the country throughout 2011.

What the article manages to grasp, and what will become glaringly apparent as Occupy: Our Posterity gathers momentum this year, is that the movement is both adapting to the police state, and leveraging its influence. It'll do the first by changing its strategy and tactics--adjustments which are already in evidence. It will accomplish the second objective by joining forces with the Hispanic/Latino/Latina immigrant support movement Si Se Puede, union rights pushes, re-democratization efforts in states whose ALEC-leashed legislatures have obstructed democratic participation, financial system and corporate reform efforts, legal system reform efforts and the burgeoning social justice movement.

Contrary to the article's status quo-seeking "where's the leadership" meme, Occupy will continue as a loosely affiliated, horizontally linked series of smaller elements, at times coordinated, at times not coordinated, as called for by circumstances.

One thing is clear. The majority of Americans are aware of, and, to one degree or another, support the objectives of Occupy. "We the People" get that we are the 99%, dominated by the oligarchy of the day.

[bigjakeIII]

03:24 PM on 04/19/2012

the majority of Americans do NOT support ows.

[Talk2PassiveActionVital]

03:55 PM on 04/19/2012

Atlantic Monthly, October 19, 2011:

"A new survey shows that Americans overwhelmingly support the self-styled Occupy Wall Street protests that not only have disrupted life in Lower Manhattan but also in Washington and cities and towns across the U.S. and in other nations. Some 59 percent of adults either completely agree or mostly agree with the protesters, while 31 percent mostly disagree or completely disagree; 10 percent of those surveyed didn't know or refused to answer."

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/10/poll-most-americans-support-occupy-wall-street/246963/

No newer polls than Fall, 2011. Guess the 1% don't want their media organs to uncover consistently bad news for their position.

[Scott Leland]

10:29 AM on 04/20/2012

I did not realize the extent of the student loan debt problem until OWS started and the Media picked up-on it so it can have some results.

[BaronWVS]

02:30 PM on 04/19/2012

MSNBC is doing a terrific job of ignoring them.

[Ed Red]

03:08 PM on 04/19/2012

Well MSNBC has a right to ignore since they help created it. If Ed and Rachel have lost interest it must be dying fast.

[BaronWVS]

10:21 PM on 04/19/2012

And if you believe that you're watching too much MSNBC. They ignore Occupy because if they didn't they'd lose their jobs, pure and simple. Fox News misinforms, but MSNBC *under*-informs. I'm consistently amazed by what my MSNBC-head fans don't know.

[Polar Shift]

03:14 PM on 04/19/2012

Baron, True..that's why I miss KEITH!

[lucky54]

09:23 PM on 04/19/2012

I also miss Kith, but I still watch Current, and even if he left, there is lot of GOOD news people. Love The Young Turks!!!

[BaronWVS]

10:21 PM on 04/19/2012

MSNBC went right down the tubes when Comcast bought the network and threw him off it.

[sandiegoconservative]

02:28 PM on 04/19/2012

If you want to go out and support OWS, and protest, make signs, march, sign people up to vote, file petitions, go ahead. I will support anyone's right to free speech.

Just stop all the rape, theft, vandalism, tresspassing, and acts of violence. And no more taking dumps on police cars.

[Talk2PassiveActionVital]

03:27 PM on 04/19/2012

Authentic conservatives, as opposed to the 1%'s neo-con mouthpieces, have always supported Americans' right to exercise their Constitutionally circumscribed political rights.

Now, for some perspective on your more divisive accusations, as parroted in the faithful corporate media:

Rapes committed by criminals exploiting the vulnerability of low-security encampments deserve prosecution, jail time. Some perspective: Rapes of female service personnel are occurring at epidemic rates within all branches of the US military, arguably among the most "secured" organizations in the country.

Theft--compare the petty larceny rarely committed by people associated with Occupy versus the massive thefts of US taxpayer dollars by duplicitous big banks, investment banking casino fraudsters and corporations gorging on lobbyist-encouraged corporate welfare. Where's the balance?

Vandalism--rare; most often perpetrated by Anarchists, who free admit they do so for differing political motives. Anarchists are participating in Occupy efforts, but with little attachment to Occupy's goals.

Trespassing--they used to be public parks and spaces until Corporate "sponsors" bought up many. What is the status of the people's remaining purportedly public spaces? Blocked with transparently pre-emptive, anti-right-of-free-assembly restricted-access ordinances enacted by state and local entities answering to a higher master, evidently.

Acts of violence—despicable; deserve due process, punishment, whether committed by Occupy protestors...or the police, whose shows of force--most notably in Oakland, CA--have been absurdly out-of-proportion to the non-existent “threat” challenges non-violent protesters allegedly pose.

[sandiegoconservative]

03:47 PM on 04/19/2012

Talk2- I work near three OWS sites in the bay area, including the Oakland area, which has had more than its share of media attention.

On your point on rape and theft- Two wrongs don't make a right. If you are opposed to something (theft of money), you don't further your case by committing the same acts you allegedly deplore.

Vandalism is not as rare as you would think. I have seen acts of vandalism at the Oakland, Santa Rosa and S.F. occupy sites. And multiple offenses in Oakland and S.F. LA is even worse (and yes, I have seen it myself there).

Trespassing is a crime no matter what the area "used" to be. What about trespassing on church property, or in warehouses and buildings owned by someone else? Free speech zones and restrictions are perfectly constitutional and legal (see time place and manner). Note none of these areas have been challenged in court, save for the actual parks occupied.

And violence is real. On the third day of the port occupying incident, I was nearly assaulted walking to a restaurant to get lunch. My vehicle has been damaged, and my building shut down on a few occasions. Why? Because our office is near an occupy site, nothing more. And trust me when I say that my size makes me unlikely to be intimidated.

The point is, keep the protest on topic. There is no reason for the excess.

[lucky54]

09:27 PM on 04/19/2012

Faved by accident. My touch pad is too sensitive. Please count me out.

[LRN2WRK4IT]

02:25 PM on 04/19/2012

We as Americans don't and shouldn't strive to obtain mediocrity, we should try to obtain greatness not whine because someone else has achieved success.

Most everyone here would agree with most of OWS agenda, get the money out of politics, corporatism, crony capitalism ect. but they make no effort to be taken seriously with the drum circles, vandalism and filth. Act like adults and you will be treated like adults.

[Scott Leland]

10:36 AM on 04/20/2012

That is a result of it being a "leaderless movement," it starts-out with educated participants then devolves into "Party Time at the Park" by the street people.