What occupy has really done
HOW THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT HAS RADICALLY CHANGE AMERICA’S CONVERSATION. (12/14)
Those of us who have observed OCCUPY WALL STREET from outside the movement, or have been more directly involved, realize its limitations. A thoughtful perspective on the possible downside of the movement was detailed in the November 11th issue of “The Student Life” a newspaper produced at the Claremont Colleges. In a column titled “Think Before you Occupy,” the writer leveled two cogent criticisms. First, he suggested that OWS has “no clear constructive position at all, no set of policy recommendations that can be assented to (or dissented from)… The movement as a whole remains gloriously non-specific when it comes to governmental or corporate policy recommendations.” The second criticism suggests that “OWS currently consists entirely of grievances. And grievances are not, in themselves, constructive.”
I believe both criticisms are factually accurate. One of the major fears of the movement is that if it developed a clear political agenda it would be in danger of being co-opted by either the Democratic Party or some fledgling third party. OWS has refused to see its energy devolve into a political platform. As to the second criticism, most of what goes on at the various gatherings across the nation are, in fact, grievances—all the way from blasting the big banks to dealing with education debts without the jobs to pay for them.
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Some weeks back, when I wrote about OWS, I held out the hope that this inchoate movement would jell and begin to move toward some specific goals and objectives. While that was the way we did things back in the Civil Rights days, this new generation is much less committed to specific doable solutions. It is increasingly clear, however, that these almost leadership-absent, semi-anarchistic, free-floating collections of the disillusioned will not shortly morph into a politically potent force.
BUT THAT MAY NOT BE THE SUBSTANTIAL EFFECT WHICH HAS BEEN PRODUCED BY THESE TENT ENCLAVES. WHAT THEY HAVE DONE, HOWEVER, IS REDEFINE THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION. And that is far more important than producing a political agenda. Instead of a fixation on cutting budgets and doing away with the social safety net, the national conversation has shifted to the monstrous inequality of America’s wealth. The increased distance between America’s rich and poor and the upward gushing of wealth at the expense of the 99% are now common topics of dinner table conversations. Instead of just complaining about the unfair power of the big banks, thousands of Americans have now closed their accounts with Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and others, and have opened new accounts with local banks and credit unions. Two hundred citizens in our small community demonstrated on the streets before these three on a recent Saturday morning, and hundred of thousands of dollars have now been redeployed. And that active phenomenon has taken place across the nation.
In all the various OWS demonstrations you can see signs protesting the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision, which declared that corporations are persons, and unattributed money flowing into political campaigns is speech. Now across the country there are growing organized calls for a Constitutional amendment, and already the development of suggested texts.
No longer is the Tea Party the hot number-one topic at coffee shops, town meetings, water fountains and progressive churches. While much of the press has been cautious in its support of OWS, and particularly the loose-knit often-chaotic style of
its “town meetings,” there is a growing sense that something is brewing which for too long has been hidden under the shade produced by the Tea Party.
While OWS demonstrations have not in themselves generated direct political action, anyone who fails to see the potent political implications of what has been set loose around the country has not adequately read the dynamics. Change the conversation and you will eventually change the political landscape. The most hopeful aspect of the next few months lies in the capacity of the “leaders” of the movement to keep it from disintegrating into senseless violence, and to forget that its mission is to energize those far beyond the tents, the drums and the speeches. That is where the hard political work will take place, and will make everything the demonstrators have held important bear political fruit.
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