Or at least licensed.
The National Parks Service license for the Occupation of Freedom Plaza (also known as the October 2011 Stop the Machine protest) officially expired at 2 pm. Just before, protest organizers sat down with the cops, who offered them a four-month extension (!). This was greeted with enthusiasm at the General Assembly. So the encampment is safe from arrests, at least until things get seriously cold in Washington.
No one asked me—I wasn’t in the inner circle of planners—but I would never have applied for a permit in the first place, and I certainly wouldn’t have entered private discussions with the Parks Police (even though they do have those cute Smokey the Bear hats) which led to an offer we would have looked churlish to refuse.
The authorities were brilliant; they look calm and reasonable and a militant occupation that sought confrontation with a despotic system has magically turned into a campground. Oh, well, make sure you take your garbage out when you leave.
If the 1O11STM is to move forward, grow and ultimately confront the system, it will need to find militancy and excitement in its offsite (not at Freedom Plaza) actions. Which, according to one principal organizer I talked to today, is what is intended.
We shall see.
Much has already changed; this was supposed to be about the Afghanistan War and nothing else, and now Afghanistan is scarcely mentioned specifically (though militarism is).
Now there are two occupations: Occupy DC in McPherson Park eight blocks away, and us. Occupy DC has the anarchists and the homeless and the young scruffy kids. They also have the energy. We have organization and experience from the Reagan and Clinton eras, but we are lacking the joyful spirit of the Occupy people. Obviously we need both, together. We should merge.
At this point there are hundreds of Occupys around the nation. It is clear that I am not needed here, that this occupation will be here for a while. DC is only a train ride away. Like the workers councils in Russia called the soviets, which became the basis of the Russian Revolution, this movement is local. Sooner rather than later, it will be time for me to join or start a local occupation closer to home.
This revolution is chaotic, sloppy, wanky and annoying. Aren’t they all?
2 Comments.
Thanks for keeping us posted, Ted. Things seem to be getting more interesting, overall. Joining up with the kids seems like a good idea… if a revolution ain’t fun, it ain’t gonna be fun after it either…
I think the imagination of the country is caught up with people finally rising against the banksters. And I was wrong… they are starting to talk back, and very very stupidly imo. Playing the envy card… how pathetic is that?!
ted, i know you’re impatient for the revolution to commence and it is a long time coming but keep in mind that most americans are still sleeping. even if they’ve heard of the occupations taking place all over the country (and the world) they don’t know what they’re about (much less that they should be there too). and as much as i know you believe violence (or the threat thereof) is necessary to overthrow our overlords (and i’m not saying you’re wrong), at this point, actively seeking out confrontation (at least, more so than necessary) i think would be counter productive to the movement. we’ve only just begun! we’re still trying to wake people up! educate them! i think sometimes people like us forget just how ignorant our fellow americans are. we’re so cut off from your average joe it’s hard to remember that things we take for granted as obvious truth aren’t common knowledge much less accepted fact. we need to first pique their curiosity and entice them out of their cocoons. any kind of provocation on our part will most likely scare these people away. and the truth is, as we’ve seen, regardless of how peaceful we are, confrontation will find us regardless, foisted upon us by the police which inevitably will give us greater exposure and make us even more sympathetic. i’m not saying this will be enough to bring the change that is needed. i fear that it will not. but there is time enough for that later if it becomes necessary. once our our message has spread and our numbers have increased. the thing is, even without verbally threatening violence (or even with verbally committing to nonviolence), when there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of people in the streets, the threat is there nonetheless. it’s implicit! we can maintain our moral high ground and the power of the threat at the same time! come home to liberty plaza! we’ll be waiting for you! 🙂