dark days upon occupy here locally...

[Earth_First]

full-timers arguing with part-timers.
thefts, vandalism and violence.
ego, ego, ego...

so much negative energy right now.

:sigh:

someone tell me they've dealt with this, too and overcame the odds...

[Earth_First]

1. The full timers feel that sustaining the camp trumps all else...

The tent is not Occupy

[NYC_SKP]

2. I haven't seen or heard of cases here, but not surprised to her of it in some places...

It's just the nature of humans, the ego thing.

Best luck to your local occupy, hope it pulls through.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I'm sorry to hear that, Earth_First.

We run into a little of that here, too, mainly because there are only a few who are occupying 24/7 and they don't get much relief. But then again, because there are so few of them, they're not having the vandalism and violence issues that you speak of, so I guess it's a blessing in a way that we're a relatively small group here.

I've set a time aside for myself -- Saturday afternoons -- when I go hang out at the Occupy tent whether there's one person there or a full-fledged "event." That's the commitment I've made. And, of course, I show up for special protests when I can. It may not be much, but at least they know they can count on me to be there Saturday afternoon from 12:30 to 3:30. I think if more people would do that (and maybe they do) a little more "community" can be built up.

[wordpix]

4. Sorry about that. Politics can be nasty, whether locally or nationally

In general, the most committed people, "full-timers" if you will, are the most knowledgeable b/c they're deep into the ins and outs of the issues. If the "part-timers" don't like the "full-timers" agenda, this causes turmoil.

OWS has an occupy full-time problem. No one wants to live outside in winter, for good reason.

Maybe it's time to occupy indoor offices during the day to bring attention to what they've done/are doing in those offices (e.g. legalized bribery in lobbying offices in DC). Then occupy parks/camp out when the weather warms up.

[Generic Other]

5. You are describing my camp too

[MelungeonWoman]

6. Mercury Retrograde

I'd just like to preface this by saying I'm not really an astrology person, but I'm just saying...

Mercury went retrograde four times this year and reached direct station last Friday in this last cycle. Astrologically, everything should start looking back to normal after the first of January.

[BlueIris]

8. Ahem.

Mercury has gone retrograde three times this year. Between March and April, in August, and between November 25 and December 14th. Mercury did go retrograde four times in 2010.

While I agree that Mercurial issues (communication, transportation) will start looking better once Mercury is out of its shadow period from this last retrograde after December 31st, the dying out of this phase of an entire social movement is bigger than Merc Rx.

If you ask me, it's related to the upcoming Mars Retrograde in Virgo, which will kick in on January 23rd next year and run through April 14, 2012. It's in Virgo, the sign of service, including service to others (ie; the few serving the collective.) From what I've seen, Mars Retro issues, which include the stopping or slowing down of forward momentum and low physical vitality, would naturally coincide with a movement of this nature needing to take a break (this is the larger purpose of a Mars Rx, to take break from the hard charge of our every day lives.) It's also affiliated with acrimonious disputes. I typically start to feel Mars Retrograde "stuff" when Mars enters the sign in which it will turn retrograde, and Mars about midway through Virgo right now.

If we're really dragging astrology into this, I predict OWS will be back after the end of the retro. So, look forward to April.

[Leopolds Ghost]

7. At our local occupy, the sleepers / campers feel kind of marginalized because

There's a large number of nonpolitical homeless (some of whom are mentally ill and were sleeping in the park already) and gypsies (random nonpolitical hippies) among the campers, making it more a Hooverville encampment really, which is part of the idea I guess, but there are a disproportionate number of "9-5 radicals", some of whom have fairly doctrinaire attitudes, among the GA meeting attenders. The GA folks don't know how to deal with the campers who are not activists like themselves ("like themselves" tends to be a key hurdle to developing common programs, teach-ins, or community standards).