Having attended Occupy Philadelphia for a second visit Tuesday, October 18, this time with my friend, Carolyn, I was honored to hear two gifted orators who eloquently spoke of this worldwide movement in ways that gave me new insight into it.
As I mentioned in my previous Huffington Post article "Occupy Philadelphia: An Uplifting Experience", I still believe it is not a political movement, but a humanitarian one. But now I have to add it is also a spiritual movement that encompasses politics, religion, compassion, and human decency.
Tuesday on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show "PoliticsNation", filmaker and activist Michael Moore described the Occupy Wall Street movement as organic. It seems to have a life of its own. The very criticisms some give it for not having clarity and objectives are its strengths. For it is this flexibility that is allowing it to grow and develop. It cannot be easily defined because there are people of all persuasions there: Libertarians, Socialists, Evangelicals, atheists, gays, straights, all ages, and all races. Not allowing itself to be labeled is an asset in this age of poisonous political partisanship. All we know for sure is that we are the 99% being controlled by the rich 1 %.
Occupy Philadelphia has created a space for an open forum that allows discussions of all kinds. People have come together out of common desires for change to our political system that many deem unfair. But it is not empty rhetoric. Solutions are being debated, views are being expressed, and there is a great feeling of openness, non-judgment, and acceptance for all who participate.
There is an Idea Wall where anyone can write their thoughts, complaints and suggestions. I wrote: "End corporate welfare!" while Carolyn penned "Since when are all middle class members deemed failures for not becoming millionaires???! Abe Lincoln would never have been President today." I thought of this quote as I listened to Tuesday night's GOP debate at the opulent Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada when I heard the audience cheer Herman Cain for saying the Occupy protesters should blame themselves for being out of work. It shows how out of touch the politicians and a segment of the population are with the middle and working class folks in this country. It is not the fault of the unemployed that they are not working, it is the economic system that has failed them.
Besides there being two different marches while we were there and a drummer and rapper, there were discussion groups with open mikes for anyone to voice their opinions.
This is where I heard Alex Sheppard, 33 speak. He works as a Director of Operations at a city medical school and has two young children. He was well dressed with a suit and tie and an American flag bandana wrapped around his neck. With his short hair and well groomed beard and glasses, he looked as though he could have been running for office. In fact, several Occupiers told him he should run for Congress.
He has the oratory skills for it but whether he is interested in that is another story. Sheppard (the name he prefers to go by) believes we should take money out of politics. He says those in office are so preoccupied with raising funds that they stop serving the people that elected them. He feels this movement is a chance for people to dialogue to make change. He believes the American public feels their power has been taken from them by the wealthiest 1%. But now people are mobilizing to make a difference.
One of the reasons I feel this is a spiritual movement is that Sheppard told me that he is a "Christian Anarchist." I found that to be an interesting label with the two terms seeming to be conflicting. But he explained that Christian Anarchy focuses on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and the greatest commandments: "Thou shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind. And the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself."
If we just follow those two commandments, all will fall into place. Sheppard believes hierarchy structures are not necessary and that established Christian religion has often twisted Christ's teachings for its own purposes and dogma. For example, Catholicism forbids anyone who is not Catholic from taking communion. Many Christian churches force their members to dress a certain way and take confession.
Sheppard believes the true teachings of Christ stand alone and can exist without a state or church and that every individual can be a church on their own. We don't need a conduit like a Priest to mediate for us. He also said he can see how this message of love can be scary to some people. Previous power components can become obsolete which is threatening to many. I see that fear happening to the rich 1% and those who may be distrustful of this movement.
As Sheppard explained it, Jesus wants us to be open to everyone. He taught us to love our enemies. And then as if on cue, a homeless man that was clearly drunk walked up wanting to talk to us. Sheppard displayed a sense of compassion and forgiveness in engaging in a conversation with him. The man said he knew he was drunk, that he had been homeless for 8 years and that if he didn't drink he would go into withdrawal and have tremors and that he wanted to overcome this addiction. This man said they should put warnings on beer and liquor products that consuming them can lead to addiction and death. I was amazed at how clear thinking and expressive this man was even under the influence.
The fact that this Occupy movement had created the space in which a homeless alcoholic felt safe enough to come forward and share his story is a testimony to the healing energy that is being created there. It reminded me of the Bible verse where Jesus says to his disciples: "I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in." And they say, when did we do that? And he said "whatsoever you do to the least of these you do to me."
The true Christian teachings tell us to take care of one another. And this movement is about doing that. People are bringing in food to feed the Occupiers, supplies to camp out, and donating money and facilities (like the Quaker meetinghouse). While the GOP Presidential candidates are debating over whether Mormonism is Christianity or a cult, the Occupy movement is showing the Christian principle of loving one another in action.
I also interviewed Mee Lin Youk, 53 who gave a passionate talk about unionizing the movement. Mee, a gay, African American, Chinese woman works for a major airline. She shared with me her belief that a Universal Power is bringing compatible energies together right now in this centralized place and all across the country. She believes people are responding to their internal wounds. Hence the Occupy movement is a healing place.
The movement to her is part of a conscious resistance to bureaucratic oppression. Not that bureaucracy as a whole is bad. According to Mee, there is bureaucracy in everything, even ants and bees. But when it becomes unbalanced, cumbersome, or is not serving the common good of all, it must be changed.
Mee believes that there are internal, universal, revolutionary forces at work here. She said that the African American civil rights struggle was a prerequisite of what she calls a "people movement." She feels the occupiers should unionize and be card carrying members. She says they should sign up the homeless and have elected rotating committees with an anonymous voting system. In reality, that is already happening to some degree in Occupy Philadelphia with its spontaneous events and meetings.
Some political solutions Mee suggested were to get rid of NAFTA (which she has said has hurt American businesses by encouraging them to send jobs overseas), make telephone customer service personnel be American citizens, lower the retirement age to 55 (by creating a good pension) so that those jobs can go to the younger generation, reduce student loan debts for the unemployed, have stock holders and workers determine executives' salaries and bonuses, and make it illegal for a CEO or corporate executive to get a bonus when the company is filing for bankruptcy or laying off workers.
Mee calls her philosophy "peopleism" and she feels it can replace capitalism or socialism or communism or libertarianism or any economic system that is not totally serving the people. It kind of reminds me of the "Power to the People" slogan of the 1960s.
One issue almost all occupiers agree on is the desire for peace. They want us out of Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to war.
When Carolyn and I walked around City Hall, we asked a policeman if there had been any arrests or any problems with the protesters. He said no, that it has been totally a peaceful occupation. It helps that Mayor Nutter and the Police Commissioner have offered their support and co-operation. I know from the national news that that is not the case in every city that is participating in this movement across the country.
But if the other Occupy events are anything like the one in Philly, I would say this movement is real. If it attracts smart, compassionate, spiritual people like Mee and Sheppard who have clear ideas and solutions for the future of this country, I believe this phenomenon will continue until actual change is enacted. This organic, spiritual movement will baffle the politicians, the pundits, the Wall Street fat cats, the military industrial complex, the religious leaders, and the media until they realize it is about "peopleism". As John Lennon so eloquently put it: "I hope someday you join us, and the world will live as one."