Why in the middle of the night? Why with so much police power? Why did they think they had to shove people out? The good news is that this action, so unnecessary, will build the movement even more. Yes, the people in the park had become tired, irritable, a little vague. They had even considered exit strategies but were unable to execute any, due to a serious allegiance to the kind of democracy most people gave up on long ago. Some sexual violence was happening, likewise drugs, as the park was open to the world and the world moved in with it.
But the larger story is one of extraordinary discipline, inner development, non-violence. The larger story is the way some folk out of Canada, with great symbols and slogans, camped out and changed the conversation in the United States. I call Occupy my Xanax, my anti-depressant, my ability to sit with peers over dinner or coffee and not become morbid. I had a spiritual and political depression. I don't have it any more. The cops don't have a chance of taking it away from me.
My hope had been that the earliest spark and spirit would have prevailed and some humor would have announced an orderly departure to a winter home in various congregations and union halls. That was partly in the works. But the police made all the decisions, the way force often does. So unnecessary, so sad. There is some relief that there is an ending. But truthfully, this is just the beginning. The fact that New York's finest -- and a decent Mayor -- made a choice to go stealth instead of steady is embarrassing. New York is better than that. The mayor won't care, because he is in his third term. But New Yorkers will.
When I say humor, let me say that it is something different than the humor we knew in Denver. In Denver, apparently the mayor insisted on having one representative from OccupyDenver to talk to regarding matters. The General Assembly deliberated and deliberated and then deliberated some more. Finally they elected a border collie. They got the dog an email account. I am told the border collie has outstanding requests to the mayor for a meeting. Part of me finds that hilarious. It is the same part of me that loves the toy soldier on the carpet part of the menarchists running things downtown. They are having fun. It is a camp meeting. It is utopian mysticism. It is drumming. It is also getting evicted by the mayor and the cops. More respect for mayors and police would not have hurt. Giving them a way out would have helped.
There are other kinds of humor. We just pick up our tents and our iPads and our vegan options and our beautifully swept park and tell the gardeners who are bringing down new flowers that they'll have to come back in the spring, after student loans are halved and bank fees obliterated, after foreclosures are foreclosed. If I read the spirit of the drum right, we may have to come back every September and every spring and do something so extraordinarily bright that it shines a light on Wall street and the way it has forgotten heart beats as well as drum beats. We may have to await a constitutional amendment, one that takes money out of politics or makes sure that corporations are understood for what they are, which is not persons or personal. Another blogger says, "I'll know corporations are individuals as soon as the State of Texas executes one." I don't want to be that punishmentalist. I just want a couple of constitutional amendments. Is that too much to ask? It will come by humor, by deftness, by ducking the police, season after season after season.
At first glance, I see hope. At second glance, I see change. At third glance, I see the pathetic nature of police action, when it confronts the human spirit.
Zuccotti Park Eviction: NYPD Orders Occupy Wall Street Protesters ...
Occupy Wall Street | NYC Protest for American Revolution
Occupy Wall Street: Watch Live Streaming- NYPD Raid Zucotti Park ...
"In the vogue words of the time, the Scholls and their friends representeÂd the "other" Germany, the land of poets and thinkers, in contrast to the Germany that was reverting to barbarism and trying to take the world with it. What they were and what they did would have been "other" in any society at any time. What they did transcendeÂd the easy division of good-GermaÂn/bad-GermÂan and lifted them above the nationalisÂm of time--bounÂd events. Their actions made them enduring symbols of the struggle, universal and timeless, for the freedom of the human spirit wherever and whenever it is threatenedÂ. "
http://wwwÂ.fff.org/fÂreedom/019Â6a.asp
Maybe not. But government tyranny and violence can sure suppress it for a while.
Tiananment Square.
You know and trust..........humanity.
Born in Compton in the 50's. Grew up in South Central LA in the 60's.
Watts Riots, Civil Rights movement, LAPD suppression.
Half Black. But with blue eyes. South Central was a challenging place to grow up.
Father an addict who died. Mother, Jewish, an alcoholic addict who died while still a teenager.
Got my way through university. Joined my Corps. Went to war in Vietnam got shot. Fluent in French and Hebrew went to middle east. Got broken back.
Went on to get MBA, got into computers, then Ph.D., J.D. practiced law for a few years (hated it), back into computer consulting. Lived and worked around the world.
I've seen and been part of riots, wars and killing around the globe. I don't much deal in G_d. A G_d that brings war, famine, poverty, pain, and tyrants is not work trusting.
But, I do know and trust humanity - trust authorities to be just as tyrannical and cruel as they need to be to maintain their position. In the US, in the past, we had a societal agreement of reasonable economic equality. No more. Now 15% live in poverty and another 15% live very near it. Our "leaders" have become tools of feudalism. And, they'll demonstrate what police power they need to maintain their position. As in Wall Street.
What does your drum say about the Greenmarket? What about the street vendors on Cedar Street, and the nearby restaurants who rely on foot traffic for their business?
Does the drum realize that no one who has wealth and power is affected in the slightest by OWS?
It's truly insane, isn't it? It's like conspiracy theory thinking. "The government has its top minds and scores of special agents perpetuating this evil, secret conspiracy, but this website run by some high school kid has uncovered it!".
They somehow manage to think that Wall Street rules the world with an iron fist, but it's also weak enough that its evil tyranny can be toppled by having a couple hundred people sleep in a park.
I am very glad to see that Judson is still (or again) at the forefront of the movement for social justice. I remember y'all well from the sixties and seventies.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/occupy_wall_street_vows_to_shut_zQ7usOEA95uyUhOTaP8PhO
They're going to occupy the Subways and stop all those evil 1% subway travelers from getting to work, or shopping, or any travel at all.
Because we all know only the rich and powerful use the Subway, so it's the perfect target for a shutdown.
What a great, well planned, well thought out protest against the evil 1% rich subway riders and their excessive funds. Who could oppose stopping these subway travelers from getting to work, or making a living, or shopping. Clearly those rich enough to work and take the subway scan afford to live off their savings in their mansions for a few months while the protest moves to really impact the 1%...
And if you see any complications in the logic of this argument, you're clearly wrongheaded, evil, and want the rich 1% to control America forever... or so I've been told.
Hooray for the protesters and another action to really hurt the working class 1%.
Since when?
But then you say there was some Sexual Violence?? Ummm Sexual violence isnt Non Violent and you cant have it both ways.
I commented on her post B/C she was saying it was non violent which is cool . But then she posted that there was sexual Violence and in my opinion sexual violence is not Non Violent. I did say that she couldnt have it both ways and she cant its either violent or non violent. But i do see what your saying and i understand that.Thanks for replying to my post