When I was at Stop the Machine/Occupy DC in October, I began asking myself: what am I doing here? (Call it my Admiral Stockdale moment.) The Occupy movement is local. I rushed back to New York to start something closer to home.
Turns out others had already had the same idea. Occupy the Hamptons began the week I got back. It has a nascent website (though it does not yet officially speak for the movement since it is not consensus based). It has a regular meeting: Sundays at 3 by the windmill in Sag Harbor. Indoor space is in the works so we can transition out of the wind, rain (and soon snow).
The last few weeks have been productive. Working groups have been tasked with coming up with Direct Actions in the Hamptons—a resort area that, despite its reputation as a playground for the 1%, has one of the highest poverty rates in the country.
I’m on the Working Group tasked with developing a draft proposal for a Declaration of the Occupation of the Hamptons. It was a process but we’re ready to present it to the General Assembly this Sunday.
The discussion over the Declaration brought out some divisions about tactics and ideology among Occupiers that the movement as a whole is going to need to address in the coming weeks and months before 2012.
2012 will likely be the Year of Revolution.
Or, as my friend Cole Smithey likes to say, it’ll be on like donkey-kong.
It’s 1968 all over again. Now, as then, the absurdity and uselessness of the electoral system will be in sharp relief as the Democrats and Republicans debate every issue except those that matter.
Divisions in the movement reflect those in society:
Between reformists and revolutionaries
Between nationalists and revolutionaries
Between those who worry about alienating the right and liberals, vs. revolutionaries
Between those drawn to the national struggle and those who understand that this time, the revolution has been radically localized
It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
This will be the most important year of your life. Make the most of it.
Clear your schedule.
Learn how to escape a tear gas attack.
It’s on.
3 Comments.
“It’s on”? Uh …… no. It’s not “on”. Not even close. In fact, “it” (if anything) is “off”.
ex-
You have finally said something I can say I agree with completely, without reservation.
btw Ted, I’m not criticizing you here. You’re to be commended on multiple fronts for saying what needs to be said. You wrote a book, op-eds, and cartoons – all telling a truth liberals/progressives need to hear, and must accept. I’m just not of the belief that your message will be heard, much less embraced. You deserve credit though.