Did Occupy Fail?

If so, then why? If not, then why do most people think it did?

Hey Folks,

Guess what? It’s Reader Appreciation Day!

If you’re new to Nevermore, Reader Appreciation Day is what I call it when I make a post based on comments that I’ve gotten from readers.

Sometimes I’ll answer your questions, sometimes I’ll amplify your voices, and sometimes I’ll tell you, as nicely as I can, why I disagree with you.

Here’s an example:

Lately I’ve been writing about the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011, and I have solicited people to share their reflections about that moment in time.

Personally, I think it is only a matter before Americans hit the streets again, and in some ways the Occupy movement now seems ahead of its time. Certainly, its predictions that corporate corruption would only worsen if left unchecked have proved prescient.

I have described Occupy Wall Street as “a failure”, but I was pleasantly surprised to receive a number of comments that have made me realize that this sentiment is far from universal.

I’ve gotten some really great comments, so I’m choosing to share some of the best ones.

If you participated in Occupy, or have strong feelings about it, please share your thoughts in the comments!

Love & Solidarity,

Crow Qu’appelle

P.S. And here’s some memes because why not? If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re already dead.

MEMORIES OF OCCUPY

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Mindy Stone:

For me, Occupy was more important than most people think it was. At the time (Sept 2011) I was 43 yrs old, from a small town in Florida. who never really lived anywhere where people from around the world were so prevalent in one city - Oakland, CA. That's where I was living at the time. I participated from day one....and learned more than I shared. I realized that I was not as educated or experienced in direct actions/movement building and wanted to soak it all up! There were so many workshops and areas at Oscar Grant Plaza (in front of Oakland City Hall) providing info and ways to help the effort in the plaza as well as the community and outward! Personally, I was active in the Anti-Repression Committee (doing bail support, court support, helping with actions, prisoner support work), took part in helping a woman w/ cancer in Alameda who was trying to save her house from a Wells Fargo foreclosure by committing to come and sit in the house certain days and hours each week, bringing food to share w/ residents and home defense support. The woman got her loan reorganized and saved her house! took part in the nightly General Assemblies, worked in the food tent and helped wash plates/silverware and donated food. Slept in the plaza in a tent and some nights took part in security of the plaza 2 hr. shifts. Took part in shutting down the port two times, going over to SF to support the occupy there at their city event "Occupy Wall Street West" (1/20/12). Took part in Occupy San Quentin and Occupy the Farm in Albany. There is more but you get the gist.

There was soo soo much going on in Oakland and the younger people who were well organized as anarchists/leftists knew how to do on-the-ground work and did so much for making opportunities for growth....to question and learn how to be autonomous. Was there a demand of the state? Hell no. Because tweeking a screwed up system is not a solution for real change. People who came to see and take part were getting a taste of what the people who work together can accomplish. I've taken what I've learned and continued unlearning and learning new ways of living outside the system and sharing what I learn with others.

Artist as Family:

Thanks Crow, we participated briefly in Occupy Melbourne but were soon put off by similar things as you witnessed in Ottawa. Also, we are country folk and what we found there was too much hubris not enough humus.

Given the problem of globalisation is the concentration of power and money, we have focused over the years on the distribution of materials and relationships needed for life making that refuse to feed or come from the machine.

Many of us have been crafting/ reclaiming radical non-monetary, community-sufficient, neopeasant-subsistence economies, using permaculture principles as our framework.

Coupled with this are the mens, women’s and children’s deep listening circles we have all been crafting in our (unintentional) community, where each participant speaks without being interrupted, given advice to, or responded to in any way. Responses can come later if requested. These circles form a social compost, which builds trust, a thing sorely lacking at Occupy, because as you too observed, many people were meeting for the first time..

We also see the limits of consensus, however deep listening - cultivating the capacity to listen to a brother or sister with openness and without judgment - enables tremendous freedom and grows collective trust. Often, after deep listening, if a group decision needs to be made, the growing of trust through the circle degrows ego, which makes it easier to arrive at a decision.

In other words the sacred comes before the political to radically reduce reductive or domineering behaviour. Little gripes that may have existed before a circle are no longer present because we have ceased to remain as fragments, and not at the expense of our individuality

Radical non-participation in the global pool of money, and radical love for community others and the land that feeds us may not seem powerful to those who believe we have to use our time to smash our heads against the walls of power, but imagine the covert and subversive redistribution of power to peoples’ lives if we returned our senses back to a local, bioregional scale and withdrew from the machine poisons (industrial chemicals, food and medicine) that are part fuelling global insanity.

The coming bankrupted governments will only have resources to control citizens (people of the civis) in the city. The services to regional areas will probably diminish and so too institutional fascism outside the centres, the ‘smart’ cities. This will bring huge opportunities.

Imagine relocalisation from a billion cultural approaches, from communities of three households up to 300, all across the world, reperforming earth-honouring lifeways that leave fear, desire and division behind to radically unshackle lives.

We also recommend Krishnamurti’s ‘Beyond Violence’ (1974). We regard it as a seminal anarchist text for the present.

John:

Whatever the goal, the movement made it's mark on history and sent a message to the powers that shouldn't be.

Keep the comments coming!