The Occupy Movement
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Stephen Marshall
Jun 9, 2012, 10:45:44 AM6/9/12
to occupy-bur...@googlegroups.com, Occupy Vermont
We gathered almost a year ago believing that the movement that could end
corporate, military and capitalist hegemony had begun. We gathered in
massive waves and camped in public spaces saying "The first amendment is
our permit". We met each other, and people we didn't know came to us and
gave us money and food. The police state exercised its tactics on us.
Winter came and we hunkered down, meeting and planning and waiting for a
summer of actions. Spring came and we dispersed. Now, without public
introspection, without intentional, reflective self doubt, we pare down
to the few whose needs remain the top priority of the few who meet.
Where is Burlington Occupy going?
Even in the heady times of November and December, people found that the
movement did not embrace them, or their passions, and stopped showing
up. We worked hard during the winter, people left and new people showed
up, but we held on, trying, trying, to create something, to create many
somethings. What were we about? Marches? Community? Meetings? Sorting
out rank and privilege? We held on, motivated by each other, by the
press of injustice, by desires for and hopes of change, because we loved
what we could be, because we loved each other. Still, our ranks have
gradually thinned. GAs have been intermittent. Even our /reason d'etre/,
Direct Action, did not meet this last week.
It may seem impolite to express such concerns publicly. I have not been
known for being polite.
Perhaps, however, I have also been known for caring about Occupy
Burlington, for wanting it to succeed. Even when my own behavior did not
always help. So now I am asking.
Where is Occupy Burlington going?
There are reasons to care. You have yours. Mine begin with the premise
that no institution is worth saving which does not meet the needs of the
people of which it is made (and deciding this about Occupy, many have
left). Conversely, any institution, whose entire reason to exist is to
serve the goals of the people, is worth loving and nurturing. Is worthy
of my commitment.
I am not part of the Occupy Movement because it is an instrument of
protest, though it is that. I am not part of the Occupy Movement to fill
my time or to practice community, though both of these are done. I am
part of the Occupy Movement because the Occupy Movement is the idea, the
construct, around which the world I want to live in can be built. I am
part of the movement because I need a community to build, because this
is the nucleus of the community I want to build, because I want to help
build the world-wide community of caring and justice. Because we are
world-wide, and if we are thoughtful, strategic and active, we can
define the future.
The forces arrayed against us are powerful, and appear to be winning
this round. Even the venerable NYC GA does not meet anymore. And, I
fear, if we do not resuscitate our movement, the loss will burden us for
years, possibly a generation, and grief for that loss will re-visit us
before we can again gather to act in solidarity. This is what power
wants for us.
To me, many other futures are possible. We can wait for the
self-emergent futures designed by power to happen, or we can step back,
and design our future, and act to make it happen.
I don't know how much agreement there is for my views. But here is what
I believe: If Occupy, as a movement, as a community and as a culture, is
worthy of our energy, it will survive and prosper only when we conceive
its purposes over a long span of time, over the full diversity of the
99%, and when we decide to underwrite the community with humility.
Occupy can succeed only if it exists to serve everyone, including those
who do not show up. Occupy can succeed only when we, individually, give
ourselves over to the whole. Only when we plan and act in a way that is
inviting and empowering to others.
In simple terms, if Occupy exists as a vehicle for your self-expression,
for you to do what you want to do, you will take more energy than you
give, and the people whose energy you are taking will leave. If Occupy
exists as something larger than yourself, as something whose survival
abets your own survival, as something you give to even when all you get
back is appreciation, as something whose survival is important by
*/itself/*, then people will come, the movement will grow, and we will
have a chance to define the future we want.
Thus I ask the question: Where do you want Occupy Burlington to go? What
does a prosperous, meaningful future look like to you?
//
Stephen Marshall
Dispolemic.Blogspot.Com
802-922-1446 Cell
*Please note that Visi...@burlingtontelecom.net will expire .
I have a new address, visi...@occupyburlington.org. *
corporate, military and capitalist hegemony had begun. We gathered in
massive waves and camped in public spaces saying "The first amendment is
our permit". We met each other, and people we didn't know came to us and
gave us money and food. The police state exercised its tactics on us.
Winter came and we hunkered down, meeting and planning and waiting for a
summer of actions. Spring came and we dispersed. Now, without public
introspection, without intentional, reflective self doubt, we pare down
to the few whose needs remain the top priority of the few who meet.
Where is Burlington Occupy going?
Even in the heady times of November and December, people found that the
movement did not embrace them, or their passions, and stopped showing
up. We worked hard during the winter, people left and new people showed
up, but we held on, trying, trying, to create something, to create many
somethings. What were we about? Marches? Community? Meetings? Sorting
out rank and privilege? We held on, motivated by each other, by the
press of injustice, by desires for and hopes of change, because we loved
what we could be, because we loved each other. Still, our ranks have
gradually thinned. GAs have been intermittent. Even our /reason d'etre/,
Direct Action, did not meet this last week.
It may seem impolite to express such concerns publicly. I have not been
known for being polite.
Perhaps, however, I have also been known for caring about Occupy
Burlington, for wanting it to succeed. Even when my own behavior did not
always help. So now I am asking.
Where is Occupy Burlington going?
There are reasons to care. You have yours. Mine begin with the premise
that no institution is worth saving which does not meet the needs of the
people of which it is made (and deciding this about Occupy, many have
left). Conversely, any institution, whose entire reason to exist is to
serve the goals of the people, is worth loving and nurturing. Is worthy
of my commitment.
I am not part of the Occupy Movement because it is an instrument of
protest, though it is that. I am not part of the Occupy Movement to fill
my time or to practice community, though both of these are done. I am
part of the Occupy Movement because the Occupy Movement is the idea, the
construct, around which the world I want to live in can be built. I am
part of the movement because I need a community to build, because this
is the nucleus of the community I want to build, because I want to help
build the world-wide community of caring and justice. Because we are
world-wide, and if we are thoughtful, strategic and active, we can
define the future.
The forces arrayed against us are powerful, and appear to be winning
this round. Even the venerable NYC GA does not meet anymore. And, I
fear, if we do not resuscitate our movement, the loss will burden us for
years, possibly a generation, and grief for that loss will re-visit us
before we can again gather to act in solidarity. This is what power
wants for us.
To me, many other futures are possible. We can wait for the
self-emergent futures designed by power to happen, or we can step back,
and design our future, and act to make it happen.
I don't know how much agreement there is for my views. But here is what
I believe: If Occupy, as a movement, as a community and as a culture, is
worthy of our energy, it will survive and prosper only when we conceive
its purposes over a long span of time, over the full diversity of the
99%, and when we decide to underwrite the community with humility.
Occupy can succeed only if it exists to serve everyone, including those
who do not show up. Occupy can succeed only when we, individually, give
ourselves over to the whole. Only when we plan and act in a way that is
inviting and empowering to others.
In simple terms, if Occupy exists as a vehicle for your self-expression,
for you to do what you want to do, you will take more energy than you
give, and the people whose energy you are taking will leave. If Occupy
exists as something larger than yourself, as something whose survival
abets your own survival, as something you give to even when all you get
back is appreciation, as something whose survival is important by
*/itself/*, then people will come, the movement will grow, and we will
have a chance to define the future we want.
Thus I ask the question: Where do you want Occupy Burlington to go? What
does a prosperous, meaningful future look like to you?
//
Stephen Marshall
Dispolemic.Blogspot.Com
802-922-1446 Cell
*Please note that Visi...@burlingtontelecom.net will expire .
I have a new address, visi...@occupyburlington.org. *
Mia
Jun 9, 2012, 12:08:40 PM6/9/12
to occu...@googlegroups.com, occupy-bur...@googlegroups.com
I'm glad for this conversation, thank you Stephen. I was pushing the movement before people started showing up in Zuccotti, and I have continued to work on its behalf throughout the ups and downs. I think we're more than worth investing in through taboo-seeming conversations.
There will be many perspectives, all of them valid in their own way. This is how I see things:
In the Fall, Occupy was an alarm clock, ringing loud and clear, to wake people up to the fire that was about to engulf them. We rang and rang until weather and tragedy and exhaustion made some quietness and indoor work important. Now that we have woken some people (not everyone, but some), we need to actually talk with them, invite them in, and change our strategies. The alarm clock needs to shut off, and we need to become the morning ablutions, considering how to connect and work with each other as we face the new era that we allowed to evolve.
GAs have been meeting, just not in the same way. And many Occupiers have spawned or joined satellite groups. If Occupy isn't visible, it's because it's busy morphing, not inside a cocoon, but right in front of our eyes, so close to us that we can't tell what we're looking at. This is true all over the country, and particularly so in Burlington.
I've been suggesting from the start that Burlington is a unique town (with many of the same problems) that needs to be approached very differently than a big city full of millions who are still sleeping. Many people were already awake in Burlington, and many were doing the work of Occupy long before it existed. Yes, Burlington has a long way to go as it grows from a culture of charity to a culture of Beloved Community (MLK concept).
The old paradigm of Us-vs-Them does not work well in Burlington, as we have seen through attrition; chanting and marching and confrontations are of limited success in a society of people who know and love each other; you don't want to shake your fist at a friend, even if they're doing wrong, do you? Burlingtonians who are somewhat awake and active were already a half step beyond the old paradigm: they were wanting something new, something that would help them make a space at the table for everyone, not just throw dented cans of corn into a charity bag or make weak regulatory pseudo-interventions to an economy that only works for a very few.
We were starting to illuminate the possibility of Beloved Community to them and ourselves; we were starting to inspire them and ourselves, even as they were flinching about the untidy, misbehaved elements of an encampment.
Then tragedy.
Not just the loss of our friend Josh and the local betrayals of trust from our police and political systems, but also the necessity of witnessing our friends and comrades all over the country being beaten bloody, assaulted with sound cannons and chemical weapons, tricked and trapped by the people we hired to protect and serve us. You can act jaded, but you all know this hurt.
And as is normal, human process regressed under the influence of trauma. People felt angry and betrayed. People didn't feel like reaching out and instead either hid from themselves or from the risk of change within the armor of anger and betrayal. We worked hard over the winter, but were never able to re-establish trust and to (want to) develop the necessary outreach to already-existing pods of awakened Burlingtonians.
There are ways to work through and beyond this stage of pain and betrayal, to continue growing into our potential; I'll list three off the top of my head; they seem discrete, but they actually overlap. Learn from the Baby Boomers because they went through the same things over developmentally different but related issues:
You know which options I've chosen; I'm investing in ways to support anyone who wants to choose the third option. I'll continue the work without you, though I'd rather continue it with you. For those who will respond in your heads/hearts and via your keyboards, how can we merge all of the perspectives that will come to light as this discussion continues?
Love,
Mia
There will be many perspectives, all of them valid in their own way. This is how I see things:
In the Fall, Occupy was an alarm clock, ringing loud and clear, to wake people up to the fire that was about to engulf them. We rang and rang until weather and tragedy and exhaustion made some quietness and indoor work important. Now that we have woken some people (not everyone, but some), we need to actually talk with them, invite them in, and change our strategies. The alarm clock needs to shut off, and we need to become the morning ablutions, considering how to connect and work with each other as we face the new era that we allowed to evolve.
GAs have been meeting, just not in the same way. And many Occupiers have spawned or joined satellite groups. If Occupy isn't visible, it's because it's busy morphing, not inside a cocoon, but right in front of our eyes, so close to us that we can't tell what we're looking at. This is true all over the country, and particularly so in Burlington.
I've been suggesting from the start that Burlington is a unique town (with many of the same problems) that needs to be approached very differently than a big city full of millions who are still sleeping. Many people were already awake in Burlington, and many were doing the work of Occupy long before it existed. Yes, Burlington has a long way to go as it grows from a culture of charity to a culture of Beloved Community (MLK concept).
The old paradigm of Us-vs-Them does not work well in Burlington, as we have seen through attrition; chanting and marching and confrontations are of limited success in a society of people who know and love each other; you don't want to shake your fist at a friend, even if they're doing wrong, do you? Burlingtonians who are somewhat awake and active were already a half step beyond the old paradigm: they were wanting something new, something that would help them make a space at the table for everyone, not just throw dented cans of corn into a charity bag or make weak regulatory pseudo-interventions to an economy that only works for a very few.
We were starting to illuminate the possibility of Beloved Community to them and ourselves; we were starting to inspire them and ourselves, even as they were flinching about the untidy, misbehaved elements of an encampment.
Then tragedy.
Not just the loss of our friend Josh and the local betrayals of trust from our police and political systems, but also the necessity of witnessing our friends and comrades all over the country being beaten bloody, assaulted with sound cannons and chemical weapons, tricked and trapped by the people we hired to protect and serve us. You can act jaded, but you all know this hurt.
And as is normal, human process regressed under the influence of trauma. People felt angry and betrayed. People didn't feel like reaching out and instead either hid from themselves or from the risk of change within the armor of anger and betrayal. We worked hard over the winter, but were never able to re-establish trust and to (want to) develop the necessary outreach to already-existing pods of awakened Burlingtonians.
There are ways to work through and beyond this stage of pain and betrayal, to continue growing into our potential; I'll list three off the top of my head; they seem discrete, but they actually overlap. Learn from the Baby Boomers because they went through the same things over developmentally different but related issues:
- One way is to continue this path of unresolved trauma and hide unchanging within the armor of anger, selfishness, and fear (Yuppies).
- Another way is to stuff the pain and move on, regressing a bit and investing in existing charitable movements in Burlington and the nation (Hippies).
- The third is to actually work through the pain and sadness, learn the powerful lessons, and become the change we wish to see in the world.
You know which options I've chosen; I'm investing in ways to support anyone who wants to choose the third option. I'll continue the work without you, though I'd rather continue it with you. For those who will respond in your heads/hearts and via your keyboards, how can we merge all of the perspectives that will come to light as this discussion continues?
Love,
Mia
Alexander Percivul Ruhe
Jun 10, 2012, 12:57:01 PM6/10/12
to occu...@googlegroups.com
Mass respects to you Steven
....for this thoughtful expression and prayer on the very real need of Occupy Democracy to succeed in stopping the controls of the extreme wealthy bank cartel.
My guess is that we all need to relax and enjoy spring after long sad and survival oriented winter ...in time when all is sameness of days on end ...or Autumn verges near and the readiness for winter survival begins in earnest ...so too will our need to defend our Democracy and the up coming elections ...in fact, besides the many loving and vigilantly sincere symbolic gatherings in meetings, protests and music fests, it will be when the young idealist students return and settle in that we shall indeed see a very inspirational return to evolution revolution ...and it shal be great fun ...and possibly Epic in proportion all over the World : )lol
SunSeerly, AleSonder PS Ruhe 2013
ELFkind Production working for Ecotopia Systems, SunSeerly, AleSonder PS Ruhe
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