Occupying Together
I should be writing for Darkbrain right now (It's next on the list Andrew!) but I keep having some brain spazes, so! It's time to let them out and share with you.
I had the opportunity to attend the Occupy New Orleans General Assembly this Sunday. There were a little over a hundred people there, and it was an amazing, awesome gathering. It was slow moving, it was messy at times, but it worked. It was a beautiful representation of the challenges and success of a true democratic process. There were conflicting ideals, strong personalities, moments of tension, and overall this incredible sense of solidarity and community. Of purpose. The Ancient Greeks of Athens would have been proud of us, I think. Make no mistake, the process will have to be refined and finessed as the group gets larger, but hey if OCW can do it, so too shall New Orleans, and every other city not just in America, but worldwide (there are now occupy Europe, Berlin, etc fb pages popping up).
It is amusing to me that now as the NYTimes and Washington Post bloggers begin to "cover" the event the criticism is always – what's the message? Who's the leader?
That they ask those questions in my opinion represents the beauty if the movement. Occupy Wall Street means different things to different people, however, the commonality is glaring clear – corporate money rules this country. We see it. We're tired of it. And now, we've decided to do something about it.
This is not a beef with millionaires (not for me anyway). If you've honestly made your fortune, I could care less. More power to you. That's awesome. If you've been buying politicians to rape the Earth, ignore the rights of tribal people, scam the little people, and further operate from a place of profit without responsibility, compassion, or respect for fellow living being (humans, plans, and animals) those are old world thoughts that are no longer accepted.
The devil is in the details as they say, and those details will be different for every city. New Orleans does not have the same needs as New York (for example our march on October 6th begins in front of a prison, a glaring representation for us of both corporate greed and an unjust system. I also suspect we may end up having two occupy base camps, but that's just a speculation, nothing more and I may be proven wrong). Each groups General Assemblies (which I want to hear talked about more in the social news network) is a working, living, breathing, forever changing display of what democracy truly is. Not rule by majority. Not a Constitutional Republic. Real, democracy.
There will never be a sole leader. There will never be the kind of clear demand sheet the Mainstream Media wants. And that is why this movement will succeed; because it is the epitome of the hammer that changed the system and built something new.
Take a second to really let that sink it. Millions of people around the United States, with different backgrounds, and religious views, and political views, all working in solidarity, making consensus decisions, and comprises about day to day living, without the assistance of an "authority figure".
How amazing is that.
Right? Exactly. Rock on.
There is only two tiny little thing I'd like to send out as a caution to the movement worldwide, and that's coming to peace with our part (big or small) in allowing this monster to grow. More importantly not drawing lines in the sand and adopting an us versus them mentality.
I think that admitting our responsibility by our participation in this system is necessary but it does not nullify they're contribution. We've all assisted that 1% in getting richer, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to do it. We've all at one point played the game, or ignored it completely, and our compliancy allowed someone else to govern us, make the rules, and create the vision for us.
I think to continue to stand in truth and integrity, something that is so incredibly key for the success of our General Assemblies is extremely important. I don't want to finger point, for me, I want Wall Street to know that we see what we've allowed you to do, and since you won't act right, we're going to take away your power to cause harm.
It is a message that we do not require hand holding, or for you to tell us the vision any longer. We're going to meet and discuss and decided for ourselves how to move forward and right this ship. And eventually you're not going to be a factor in that process. We sincerely hope, you'll change your heart and start doing the right thing. However, the choice is yours.
Finally, I think an us versus them mentality needs to be strayed away from at all costs, and I've seen small traces of it here and there (though not much. It's just something to pay attention too). We just don't want to become the oppressor in a sense. It's that very same mentality that allowed them to keep their control over us for so long. We let them divide us, and they conquered. Simple really.
We don't want to do that. We need to stress that all are welcome, policeman, politician, rich person, poor person, alien, dog, whatever. We have identified something that we think is wrong, and we're trying to fix it. That's it. Bottom line, when you're ready we've got your back.
In the meantime, change is coming. You should in fact expect us. Without fear. Just heart and truth.
Amazing times we're living in aren't they?
-DCS
