Over the last few days there has been what appears to be a coordinated attempt by many of the nation's mayors to end the Occupy Wall Street protests that have swept the country -- and much of the world.
Many justifications have been given: concerns about "sanitation," drug overdoses, the violation of noise ordinances, isolated assaults. But what do you expect? The Occupy encampments involve tens of thousands of people. Those are the kinds of problems that develop when you have groups of thousands of people.
In reality, the Occupy Movement has done a remarkable job coping with these everyday problems of governing large numbers of people in small spaces. In fact, I would bet that the instance of most of these problems in the Occupy encampments is far less prevalent per capita than most places in America.
Of course, there are sanitation issues that have to be addressed -- ever see the National Mall after a fourth of July fireworks festival? That's the nature of large crowds -- so work with the Occupy groups to solve them. But don't use "sanitation" as a pretense to try to end this important movement.
The bottom line is that the Occupy protests are disruptive. That's the idea. That's the idea of any serious protest movement: to be disruptive -- to stop business as usual -- to force the media and the society at large to focus on a critical, fundamental problem.
When Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus in Montgomery she was being "disruptive." So was the bus boycott that followed.
When the sit-down strikers that founded the United Auto Workers refused to leave the plants in Flint, Michigan in the 1930's, they were being "disruptive."
When Gandhi led tens of thousands of Indians in the civil disobedience that ultimately toppled British Imperialism, he was being "disruptive."
When thousands of Wisconsin workers refused to leave the State Capitol in Madison earlier this year, they were being "disruptive."
When the people of Egypt occupied Tahrir Square in Cairo they were being "disruptive."
The protesters who dumped tea into Boston harbor in 1773 were being "disruptive."
The idea of the Occupy Movement is to occupy Wall Street and other public spaces to demand that American government and business pay attention to the elephant in the room -- the exploding inequality in wealth and power between the 99% and the 1%.
The pundits who charge that the Occupy Movement doesn't have demands must be on another planet. They may not like their demand -- but the Occupy Movement has a very clear demand: end that inequality of wealth and power -- and end it now.
Protest movements that change history are always "disruptive" of the status quo. The mayors who are so concerned that Occupy is "disruptive" should instead turn their attention to the level of disruption caused by Wall Street, when its greed and reckless speculation collapsed the world economy cost eight million Americans their jobs and caused a recession that has lasted over three years. Now that's "disruption." And that's exactly what the Occupy Wall Street Movement is demanding be changed.
Some of these mayors are good people. But they are focusing on small-bore problems without backing up at the chart to look at the bigger picture.
The Occupy Wall Street Movement is not just a group of random protesters. They have spawned a critically important historic, worldwide movement that is born of the most fundamental problem facing American society -- the future of the American Dream -- the future of the middle class. The future of democracy.
Years from now people will look back at video of police in riot gear rousting Occupy protesters, whom they will remember as heroes of American democracy.
The question for these mayors is what they want their grandkids to think of them as they watch that video.
Will school children in 50 years think of them the way they think of Bull Connor as he ordered civil rights protesters driven from parks with fire hoses? Will their actions be described in the same narrative as Herbert Hoover's orders to remove the Bonus Marchers from Washington in the Great Depression?
The one thing we know from history is that once a movement that is rooted in a demand for justice has taken root, attempts to destroy it with brute force almost always make it stronger. And those who attempt to destroy these movements almost always fail.
This is a moment when mayors across the country need to look into their mirror, and decide which side they're on.
Whatever their intentions, the mayors who have acted to end the Occupy protests around America over the last few days are on the wrong side of history.
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of the book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com. He is a partner in Democracy Partners and a Senior Strategist for Americans United for Change. Follow him on Twitter @rbcreamer.
Follow Robert Creamer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rbcreamer
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I firmly believe that our success in life is a result of three things - what our parents did to prepare for our arrival, what we did in our own lives to both prepare for adulthood and as adults, and just plain dumb luck. Some people win in the first category, but lose out in the second and third; some people win in all three categories; some people make it on the second category, and some people make it on the third.
What will it take for the OWS people to realize their left-wing 'movement' is over and done. They all care desperately but the rest of the world has moved on.
They have destroyed their own movement. These articles are pure fantasy. "Wrong side of history"? What planet is this character on?
Nice try.
And of course that will do a lot to create jobs and build businesses and help with health care.
Oh, wait. I forgot OWS has no goals or plans. Just hate and rage and bitterness.
Carry on
Acting like an arse in a public park, which the citizens in the neighborhood can't use, has NOT been working to effect any real change.
How about if corporations are supposed to be people, then sufficient regulations to keep them from becoming corporate criminals and thugs, undermining the interests of the many in favor of the few. Or are laws just for "actual people" who don't have the means to buy politicians. How about politicians realizing that we didn't elect them to bust unions, roll back women's rights and crack down on medical marijuana suppliers operating legally within their states. How about banks that came to taxpayers "hat in hand" be required to start lending again so businesses can hire again and the economy can grow. How about not expecting Americans with skills to train their immigrant replacements who are here to steal their job.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. We're tired. We have worked hard all our lives and have little to show for it. We've been robbed by Wall Street of our livelyhoods and our savings. We want justice, and we think we deserve it. And we think those in power know EXACTLY what can be done, since they have figured out how to protect the rich and powerful at the expense of everyone else for so long.
They seem to be willing to ignore that Obama is bought and paid for by Wall Street. Will they be so forgiving if POTUS wanted the tent cities gone because it was hurting him politically?
I think very few OWS people are Obama fans. I don't know any myself. Some still see Obama as the lesser of two evils (say, against Cain) but many simply have no faith in the system and know that, no matter who is sitting in that chair, the results will be the same. Bankers and Lobbyists will run our country.
The revolution WILL be televised. Occupy. Occupy. Occupy.
Fanned and faved.
No one is shutting them down, they are shutting down their ability to adversely affect the lives of other "99%ers" that are trying to earn a living running a business, or trying to enjoy a park with their family and not have to see rampant drug use/dealing, crapping in the planters, sex in the open and other nonsense that has nothing to do with protesting.
If I purchase a car and am unhappy and upset that the dealer "screwed me", I do not have the right to block the entrances to the dealership so that no one can go in or out. Try it sometime and watch what happens. I do have the right to picket on the street, just not in such a way that I disrupt the normal business. This is no different than what was done to OWS.
1) it's about people who have been hurt badly (they can no longer find jobs to buy silly things like food)
2) And this is because there was such tremendous greed in housing and wall street enabled by Congress, and triple A rated by the ratings agencies; and then it all collapsed- POOF! Retirees pensions funds, investors, unions- millions saw their money disappear. Their taxes were used to bail out the wall st firms that were near bankruptcy, but no one gave one dime to help the people.
3) These people didn't lose everything because they were reckless; Wall St went way beyond the pale, overleveraging themselves with risk.
4) So, guess what? OWS is striking back, for all the people who can't afford a home, food, health insurance.
5) Wake up
By harmed, I mean they had a good job prior but now lost it through no fault of their own because of the economy. But I think many of the OWS crowd did not have the stuff they think they are entitled to in the first place.
I am sorry but if you are 22 years old and just out of college you are not "owed" a home with granite counter tops, you are not owed a 6 figure salary job. I did not buy a home for almost 10 years out of college like most people - you work and save your money
You are also not "owed" a free education - you chose to take out the loans knowing full well they have to be paid back. College costs were expensive when you took them out and keep going higher, but you cannot claim you did not know.
There are plenty of people who were legitimately harmed by the severe downturn and did lose their job and their house.
That is not the same as the sense of entitlement that many OWS have - they want things that others have and believe it should just be given to them without working. They want to start on the top, not at the ground floor. They want to redistribute others hard work to themselves.
Building a national community and protecting the rights of individuals is the role of
government, the proper regulation of business for the public good is the role of government, enabling profits at public expense is not.
Or do the occupiers not understand what they're protesting well enough to engage in actual policy change and constructive opinions? Occupiers, if you really want to bring about change, stop drinking the Kool-Aid and DO SOMETHING. Stop asking for extremes because it'll never happen. Take advantage of all the information we have at our fingertips - stop with the idealism and start with the realism. Have well-formulated and intelligent ideas about how we can make this country better and then maybe someone will listen.
America is about standing up for what you believe and trying to bring change through action-not just sitting around asking for change and expecting other people to take care of it for you.
This demand to end the inequality is asking history to remake itself and the future to be built without one ounce of reality. We will ALWAYS have the rich and the less-than-rich. That's not the problem. Maybe, just maybe, it's the total lack of accountability in countless government entities. We can't even get the FED reserve to meet audit demands. I propose that if the OWS wants a change that they make sure they are ALL registered to vote and that at every election they get the government cleaned up from the local to the federal levels. Because making demands to end the inequality of wealth, is like me yelling at the kids to clean up their room as they walk out the door to go play. It's futile and hopeless.