5:13 PM: I love local humor (I don't have to say where right?):
Cancel the Debt.
"Journalists" being paid to infiltrate protests.
Monday, October 10, 2011
10/10/11 - Just a Note
Not much time to do anything today, but hope to have a big post tomorrow or the next day. Here's a Chris Hedges article (ht - fellow Occupy Missoula protester Monte).
5:13 PM: I love local humor (I don't have to say where right?):
Cancel the Debt.
"Journalists" being paid to infiltrate protests.
5:13 PM: I love local humor (I don't have to say where right?):
Cancel the Debt.
"Journalists" being paid to infiltrate protests.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Live Blogging - #OWS - 10/9/11
10:14 AM: Story about DC protests.
10:29 AM: From Kevin Gosztola:
11:09: New York Times joins the walk back.
11:27: As of 11:27 AM 1,098 U.S. cities are occupied.
11:32: Hashtags: #OWS is now the official hashtag and having a shorter hashtag has actually made a difference.
1:55: More on the protest in London.
3:58: The Uptake provides the various live feeds across the country. A permanent link will be provided in the upper left corner of this site.
http://www.theuptake.org/2011/10/08/occupy-wall-street-live-across-america/
12:20 AM: Sorry for the lack of feedback folks. Just getting back from OWS. Here's a great video and we'll see what else I can manage to get posted (Krugman for sure).
Okay, here's Krugman (great stuff).
10:29 AM: From Kevin Gosztola:
As Americans following the increasing number of “occupy” protests wake up this morning, the big news is not happening in the United States right now but in London. An action that you can follow on Twitter with the hashtag #blockthebridge is unfolding as hundreds if not thousands of activists “occupy” the Westminster Bridge to protest a National Health Service reform bill. The protesters have chanted, “We Are the 99%,” in solidarity with occupiers participating in Occupy Wall Street and other “occupy” actions.
UK Uncut is explicitly involved in the action on the Westminster Bridge. Follow @PennyRed for the latest on what is happening on the bridge.
11:09: New York Times joins the walk back.
11:27: As of 11:27 AM 1,098 U.S. cities are occupied.
11:32: Hashtags: #OWS is now the official hashtag and having a shorter hashtag has actually made a difference.
1:55: More on the protest in London.
3:58: The Uptake provides the various live feeds across the country. A permanent link will be provided in the upper left corner of this site.
http://www.theuptake.org/2011/10/08/occupy-wall-street-live-across-america/
12:20 AM: Sorry for the lack of feedback folks. Just getting back from OWS. Here's a great video and we'll see what else I can manage to get posted (Krugman for sure).
Sign Language from socially_awkwrd on Vimeo.
Okay, here's Krugman (great stuff).
Saturday, October 8, 2011
#OccupyMissoula (#OWS)
OCCUPY MISSOULA held their first GA and about 300 people attended (although only about 100 were at the 5:00 PM GA and only about 30 people slept at the Missoula County) - through the consensus process, Occupy Missoula decided as follows:
1) Occupy Missoula would be a nonviolent movement.
2) Occupy Missoula would immediately establish an indefinite occupation at the Missoula County Courthouse. I am proud to say that I brought the proposal to immediately establish occupation to the GA. My first ever proposal at a GA.
3) Occupy Missoula would establish study working groups to provide information to the GA regarding issues of concern to the group.
4) Another GA would convene at 5:00 PM at the Missoula County Courthouse.
Other issues were raised, but tabled for a later time.
The group then agreed to march from its location to the courthouse to establish occupation. The process was a bit chaotic (in the best possible way). The facilitators did great for their first time though it's clear we have a lot to learn.
3:34 PM:
The Outer Limits radio show will be providing weekly coverage of Occupy Missoula. The weekly show is from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM on KBGA. Anyone who wants to be interviewed can show up at 8:45 at the KBGA studios at the University of Montana.
All further Occupy Missoula coverage will be on OccupyMissoula.wordpress.com.
11:35 PM: Occupy Missoula's second GA created 3 working groups - communications, logistics and development.
Currently, working groups will meet daily at 4:00 PM and GA will be daily at 5:00.
Twitter: occupymissoula (agreed upon hashtag @occupymissoula).
1:52 AM (10/9/11): By the way, it appears that thus far, Missoula authorities are being cool. It turns out that we needed a permit to camp on the Courthouse lawn. However, the police informed us that for the time being, they would not disturb us so long as there was no alcohol or drugs. Also, one of our members - who is also a member of the IEW - contacted the person in charge of the Courthouse facilities. He agreed to turn off the automatic sprinklers and requested the we not use stakes for our tents. Well done Missoula! We believe that the police and the very cool gentleman in charge of maintenance are part of the 99%. And we appreciate their service to the entire community.
1) Occupy Missoula would be a nonviolent movement.
2) Occupy Missoula would immediately establish an indefinite occupation at the Missoula County Courthouse. I am proud to say that I brought the proposal to immediately establish occupation to the GA. My first ever proposal at a GA.
3) Occupy Missoula would establish study working groups to provide information to the GA regarding issues of concern to the group.
4) Another GA would convene at 5:00 PM at the Missoula County Courthouse.
Other issues were raised, but tabled for a later time.
The group then agreed to march from its location to the courthouse to establish occupation. The process was a bit chaotic (in the best possible way). The facilitators did great for their first time though it's clear we have a lot to learn.
3:34 PM:
The Outer Limits radio show will be providing weekly coverage of Occupy Missoula. The weekly show is from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM on KBGA. Anyone who wants to be interviewed can show up at 8:45 at the KBGA studios at the University of Montana.
All further Occupy Missoula coverage will be on OccupyMissoula.wordpress.com.
11:35 PM: Occupy Missoula's second GA created 3 working groups - communications, logistics and development.
Currently, working groups will meet daily at 4:00 PM and GA will be daily at 5:00.
Twitter: occupymissoula (agreed upon hashtag @occupymissoula).
1:52 AM (10/9/11): By the way, it appears that thus far, Missoula authorities are being cool. It turns out that we needed a permit to camp on the Courthouse lawn. However, the police informed us that for the time being, they would not disturb us so long as there was no alcohol or drugs. Also, one of our members - who is also a member of the IEW - contacted the person in charge of the Courthouse facilities. He agreed to turn off the automatic sprinklers and requested the we not use stakes for our tents. Well done Missoula! We believe that the police and the very cool gentleman in charge of maintenance are part of the 99%. And we appreciate their service to the entire community.
Live Blogging - 10/8/11 - #OWS
8:45AM: Headed to Missoula GA. Will report back later.
12:59: Before I get to Occupy Missoula's first GA, I wanted to thank Anne Laurie from Baloon Juice for the shout out (and thanks to my Mom for plugging the site).
Here's the brief news from Occupy Missoula's first GA.
Coverage will be sparse until we can set up media contact from Occupy Missoula. I am returning now so as to get set up for the 5:00 PM GA.
3:27: As of 3:27 PM, 1,019 US cities are occupied.
3:37 PM: Photo from Washington Square Park in NYC:
3:45 PM: More Pepper Spray video:
4:16 PM: Dustin Slaughter on his 3 days with Occupy Boston.
8:49 PM: As of 8:50 PM 1036 US Cities - including Missoula, Montana - are occupied.
9:26 PM: Just getting caught up with today's news - will be posting soon. Spent the day at Occupy Missoula.
11:25 PM: Occupy Wall Street has established a second location at Washington Sqaure Park.
Occupy Atlanta turns away civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis.
2:47 AM: John Lewis responds:
From Kevin Gosztola: Occupier Kenneth Lipp reports Secret Service had a detail that was following the marchers this morning. Kevin also reported macing in DC.
3:10 AM: I'm behind on this, but I love Alan Grayson:
12:59: Before I get to Occupy Missoula's first GA, I wanted to thank Anne Laurie from Baloon Juice for the shout out (and thanks to my Mom for plugging the site).
Here's the brief news from Occupy Missoula's first GA.
Coverage will be sparse until we can set up media contact from Occupy Missoula. I am returning now so as to get set up for the 5:00 PM GA.
3:27: As of 3:27 PM, 1,019 US cities are occupied.
3:37 PM: Photo from Washington Square Park in NYC:
3:45 PM: More Pepper Spray video:
4:16 PM: Dustin Slaughter on his 3 days with Occupy Boston.
8:49 PM: As of 8:50 PM 1036 US Cities - including Missoula, Montana - are occupied.
9:26 PM: Just getting caught up with today's news - will be posting soon. Spent the day at Occupy Missoula.
11:25 PM: Occupy Wall Street has established a second location at Washington Sqaure Park.
Occupy Atlanta turns away civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis.
2:47 AM: John Lewis responds:
From Kevin Gosztola: Occupier Kenneth Lipp reports Secret Service had a detail that was following the marchers this morning. Kevin also reported macing in DC.
3:10 AM: I'm behind on this, but I love Alan Grayson:
Friday, October 7, 2011
FIELD REPORT: #OccupyBoston: learning together
FIELD REPORT: By guest blogger Una Spenser:
The other day, I wrote about my early experiences of #OccupyBoston and the potentially disheartening dynamics of the General Assemblies.
Today, I'll share with you how close things came to falling apart completely and how, instead, we made some successful strides.
I wasn't sure if I would even go to Dewey Square, Wednesday. The previous night had not proven to be any more successful than Monday. I felt quite strongly that without some foundational shifts in both the way the General Assemblies were structured and the embracing of the assembly model by the entire community, it was a waste of time and energy. It was like getting everybody to build barn, Amish style, except the barn is on a huge tarp where half the people present are ready to pull the tarp out and bring your framework crashing down.
Early in the day some members of the facilitation team had a flurry of emails. Here's a sampling of the mood:
In response to the challenges in front of us, several people in the working group were suggesting that we needed do more than plan for each evening's GA. We needed to actually document how to conduct a GA and bring that as a proposal to a GA and take it through a consensus process. Of course, we were in a catch-22 since there was no community buy-in to any process. So, how do you get anything done? We felt stymied.
The facilitation working group meets at 5 each day to prepare for the 7pm General Assembly. After some consideration, I decided I would go to the meeting to help establish a group to work on that document. I was not interested in planning for the GA, much less participating.
I arrived at 5:15. There was no meeting. I found one other person from the group and she didn't know where anyone was. A third person approached and we figured we had a meeting going. There were two insurmountable problems: no group representatives had delivered any agenda items and no one was willing to facilitate the GA.
We were on the verge of saying, "Well, there won't be one then." In the spirit of collective thinking we tried to brainstorm solutions. A fourth person joined us and we did just that: brainstormed. At 6pm, one hour before the GA, this is the plan we had:
We decided that we needed a proposal which we were fairly certain could get to consensus but, was flawed enough to force some of the process to play out. One of us would go around to all the working groups in search of a proposal.
For facilitation, the man who had eloquently and positively constructed a way to request the consensus up front, agreed to present that piece, but couldn't stay past that due to other obligations. We still needed someone to facilitate the proposal process and the individual stack. Of the three remaining people, one could not do it and another didn't feel he had the skills needed or understanding of the process required. Guess who that left. Me.
I was not going to do it. I felt strongly about that. What ensued was the constructive solution building process again: "what would you need?" I was able to articulate that I needed to have the proper infrastructure in place to make the job manageable. That meant: having at least two Floor Time managers out on the floor, at least two Stack Managers on the floor, a Stack Coordinator on stage, a co-facilitator and a timer. It takes a team of at least 8 people to facilitate a GA. The others agreed to find people to play those roles, while I took some personal space to review the consensus steps and prepare myself. We had 40 minutes. I didn't have high expectations.
It was 40 minutes of absolute chaos. Other members of the facilitation working group arrived on the scenes with all their fears and concerns. I simply told them that there was no time to change the momentum and we had a plan. Thankfully, they all decided to help make it happen.
At 6:50, I still wasn't sure if we would have a GA. In a flurry, people approached telling me that we had a facilitation team. In the very last moments, one of our original meeting group arrived with a proposal from the food team to work through. After a bit of frantic processing, we started the meeting just a few minutes late. Our opening gambit had a moment of great tension for us, as we waited to see if empowering the facilitators and working together as a learning process would get approved.
As the request was being made, the facilitator was describing the system and structure of the meeting, including the hand signals to be used. We knew that one of the participants was quite offended by two of the signals and we had told him that we take the time to address that in the meeting. He was very upset, though, and fearful that we wouldn't, so he was impatient. He had no faith that his concerns would be addressed and no faith that if the pre-existing sign system were used a few more times it wouldn't mean that we were eternally associated with what he found so egregious.
In his fearful, non-trusting state he jumped on stage, grabbed the mic and expressed his concerns with a lot of anger. This generated fear in the audience. Not over his concerns, but over feeling safe that the space and process would be respected, allowing people to feel safe that they as individuals would be respected. If he could jump up because he was upset, who else could? If he could yell, who else could? People couldn't hear his concerns because they were no longer grounded in trust. They needed the safe structure of process in order to open up to what he had to say. So, they could not hear, his concerns were not addressed and he stormed off believing that this community didn't care.
There was a tense silence for a moment. The facilitator then did a brilliant job of addressing what just happened and speaking to how working within a structure prevents those kinds of things. So, would they agree to empower the facilitators to help them work within a structure? We had consent!
We were on.
The GA went far better than any we'd previously had. It had it's flaws and I made my mistakes, but we actually went through a process and reached consensus on not one, but two proposals.
After successfully working through consensus on the planned proposal, a member of th facilitation working group got "on stack" to propose that we address the man's concerns about the hand signs. (Apparently two signs being used are commonly used by a skinhead biker gang. Yikes!) Having just learned together how to state objections, suggest friendly amendments, allow the proposer to adopt or reject those amendments, we worked together to build a solution to this problem. We reached consensus on new hand signs, even though people were upset about the way the original person brought the topic to community.
Had the young man who brought us these concerns had a little faith, he might have had patience and he might have been able to express his concerns less violently and he might have had a very healing and bonding experience. Instead he was gone. I hope he learns that the group took his concerns seriously and addressed them. Perhaps, he will find his way back.
We continued to work our way through "individual stack" - a time when individual can bring proposals, concerns or information to the community. The rest of the GA was uneventful, until the very last moments.
As we were closing, four young men who came up to express their anger about the GA. From what I heard, they didn't feel that the community was doing what was needed. Their concern was that we weren't addressing the bigger issues that compelled everyone here. As with the earlier young man, they displayed a lack of trust and, therefore, impatience. What ensued, though, was different. The remaining participants asked th men to come down into a circle discussion. After a few moments, they all decided to use the protocols that they've learned in the GA to conduct the discussion. I was exhausted and I only stayed long enough to admit that I made mistakes and we're all learning together and to say, "good night." The feeling of that circle was quite lovely. By moving into circle, they were embracing one another. Those who were upset were not rejected or isolated. By embracing them and taking their concerns seriously, they were, in return able to hear other perspectives on their concerns. People were able to ask them to join into the process of building creative solutions together. I saw their body language transform from stiff and aggressive and shielded to relaxed and interactive and open. The larger group had gained a little trust in one another and this process and they found a way to compel these young men into the circle of trust, where we would all keep talking and working together.
Step by step, building a little trust in each moment, the internal tensions - which are usually about people's fear regarding power and feeling powerless, but are really about feeling alone and disconnected - will dissipate.
Speaking of trust, I will now speak to something else that happened during the GA. A potentially violent man accosted me twice during the GA. The second time was quite frightening.
During the first encounter, I immediately sought out help. I was actively facilitating a meeting and was not going to engage. I told him that I would get help. I went to the first familiar face I saw and told the person that I needed help. I said there was an aggressive person in our facilitation space and I couldn't handle it. I told him to gather enough people to surround the man without touching him and to move him along. They did. I saw the man walk down the gravel pathway towards the food tent. A sweet and clearly protective man, to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude, was sitting by the media tent near the staging area. As I walked back up, he said, "let's have a signal in case something like that happens again." We agreed that I would would raise my hands up in the air. Thank goodness he had suggested this. A few minutes later, the offensive man made a bee line back and rushed me and started yelling in my face. I don't remember his words. I was too struck by the explosive energy of it and I immediately felt physically threatened. I threw up my hands and people were there instantaneously, it seemd. They surrounded him and someon had the presence of mind to pull me away to a safe distance until the he was removed.
In the end, it was explained to me that this man is a homeless alcoholic. He had been sober for a week, while in the camp, and had been doing well. It appears that he had contact with someone outside of the camp who gave him alcohol and his behavior last night was the result. The group of homeless comrades asked if they could let him stay and sleep it off, so that they could talk to him in the morning and let him know that he had to stay dry or he couldn't stay in the camp. One more strike and he's out. I approved that plan, as long as there was this active practice of providing personal security. I hope that things go better for him from now on.
There are a couple of wonderful things about this:
It was clear, as I was leaving, that people were feeling better about things. Thursday evening's GA went well, in terms of working together. They struggled with a proposal which was inherently challenging: to adopt a first demand or declaration which would begin an official document of OccupyBoston. They haven't coalesced around a mission, yet, so setting out specific demands or declarations will be almost impossible. Still, they worked through it via the process we are learning. (I wasn't there. Our household has a tag team system. I watched in on Livestream.) We are learning together and we will refine our process together and we will get to where we feel cohesive enough to come up with a mission. It will be out of that mission that we will then be able to rally around objectives such as demands and declarations. But, we will do so.
What is happening, live and very publicly at OccupyBoston, is a very magical thing. Pay attention. We are putting on full display, all the challenges of changing the fundamental ways a society approaches things. We've been trained to think that there are particular ways in which things should work. We define democracy as a simple majority vote, for instance. All of these ways of thinking are habits we have to break. It's as though the entire population has to quit smoking simultaneously. Imagine what that might be like. 350 million people in withdrawal. Still, with determination and common cause, we can embrace each other. We can pull those who are fearful into a circle and listen and take on their concerns and ask them to help us build solutions. I see it happening with hundreds of people in Dewey Square. I saw it happening in Liberty Square. It can happen in squares across the country.
We simply have to #OccupyOurHearts and #OccupyOurMinds with patience, compassion and vision.
The other day, I wrote about my early experiences of #OccupyBoston and the potentially disheartening dynamics of the General Assemblies.
Today, I'll share with you how close things came to falling apart completely and how, instead, we made some successful strides.
I wasn't sure if I would even go to Dewey Square, Wednesday. The previous night had not proven to be any more successful than Monday. I felt quite strongly that without some foundational shifts in both the way the General Assemblies were structured and the embracing of the assembly model by the entire community, it was a waste of time and energy. It was like getting everybody to build barn, Amish style, except the barn is on a huge tarp where half the people present are ready to pull the tarp out and bring your framework crashing down.
Early in the day some members of the facilitation team had a flurry of emails. Here's a sampling of the mood:
While the GA was tough, it was the hostility of the crowd that got me panicked.
I also think we should take some time at the beginning of General Assembly to go over the above issue and the crowding issue. After you left at one point I yelled "Get back you are freaking me out!" They immediately did so. But, I think it needs to be addressed.
I personally believe that the issue of sexism is very prevalent in our camp. I have personally spoken with about 10 women who feel really uncomfortable and intimidated during GAs and in general in their interaction with some men. Majority grievances were about men who are active in the camp not new visitors.
I am in complete alignment with these thoughts and feelings. I will NOT facilitate again until issues of gender and the difference of empowering someone to do a job in service of the community versus this idea that someone performing a job is abusing power are worked out.Those are snippets from four different women in the Facilitation working group. The last comment is from me. I had missed when the crowd had gotten so hostile that a facilitator quit in the middle of the evening. I missed it because there was a contingent in the crowd who actively undermined moving ahead with an agenda item that the entire community had reached consensus upon the night before. When that happened and there was no structure in place, a young man took the microphone and started to read the NY General Assembly's declaration. I think he was pushing for a vote to proclaim official solidarity with that statement. I don't know because, he was reading as some kind of performance art which meant he was gradually raising his voice until he was screaming in anger into the microphone. I felt assaulted and I left. I later learned that the decision to ratify it was tabled.
In response to the challenges in front of us, several people in the working group were suggesting that we needed do more than plan for each evening's GA. We needed to actually document how to conduct a GA and bring that as a proposal to a GA and take it through a consensus process. Of course, we were in a catch-22 since there was no community buy-in to any process. So, how do you get anything done? We felt stymied.
The facilitation working group meets at 5 each day to prepare for the 7pm General Assembly. After some consideration, I decided I would go to the meeting to help establish a group to work on that document. I was not interested in planning for the GA, much less participating.
I arrived at 5:15. There was no meeting. I found one other person from the group and she didn't know where anyone was. A third person approached and we figured we had a meeting going. There were two insurmountable problems: no group representatives had delivered any agenda items and no one was willing to facilitate the GA.
We were on the verge of saying, "Well, there won't be one then." In the spirit of collective thinking we tried to brainstorm solutions. A fourth person joined us and we did just that: brainstormed. At 6pm, one hour before the GA, this is the plan we had:
- We would begin the GA by explaining what we had planned and asking for a consensus to empower the facilitators to execute that plan. (what we didn't tell the participants was that we were prepared to walk out if they did not reach consensus on empowering the facilitators.)
- the GA would be abbreviated: only time-sensitive announcements, working through one proposal with the full and proper consensus procedure, then individual stack.
We decided that we needed a proposal which we were fairly certain could get to consensus but, was flawed enough to force some of the process to play out. One of us would go around to all the working groups in search of a proposal.
For facilitation, the man who had eloquently and positively constructed a way to request the consensus up front, agreed to present that piece, but couldn't stay past that due to other obligations. We still needed someone to facilitate the proposal process and the individual stack. Of the three remaining people, one could not do it and another didn't feel he had the skills needed or understanding of the process required. Guess who that left. Me.
I was not going to do it. I felt strongly about that. What ensued was the constructive solution building process again: "what would you need?" I was able to articulate that I needed to have the proper infrastructure in place to make the job manageable. That meant: having at least two Floor Time managers out on the floor, at least two Stack Managers on the floor, a Stack Coordinator on stage, a co-facilitator and a timer. It takes a team of at least 8 people to facilitate a GA. The others agreed to find people to play those roles, while I took some personal space to review the consensus steps and prepare myself. We had 40 minutes. I didn't have high expectations.
It was 40 minutes of absolute chaos. Other members of the facilitation working group arrived on the scenes with all their fears and concerns. I simply told them that there was no time to change the momentum and we had a plan. Thankfully, they all decided to help make it happen.
At 6:50, I still wasn't sure if we would have a GA. In a flurry, people approached telling me that we had a facilitation team. In the very last moments, one of our original meeting group arrived with a proposal from the food team to work through. After a bit of frantic processing, we started the meeting just a few minutes late. Our opening gambit had a moment of great tension for us, as we waited to see if empowering the facilitators and working together as a learning process would get approved.
As the request was being made, the facilitator was describing the system and structure of the meeting, including the hand signals to be used. We knew that one of the participants was quite offended by two of the signals and we had told him that we take the time to address that in the meeting. He was very upset, though, and fearful that we wouldn't, so he was impatient. He had no faith that his concerns would be addressed and no faith that if the pre-existing sign system were used a few more times it wouldn't mean that we were eternally associated with what he found so egregious.
In his fearful, non-trusting state he jumped on stage, grabbed the mic and expressed his concerns with a lot of anger. This generated fear in the audience. Not over his concerns, but over feeling safe that the space and process would be respected, allowing people to feel safe that they as individuals would be respected. If he could jump up because he was upset, who else could? If he could yell, who else could? People couldn't hear his concerns because they were no longer grounded in trust. They needed the safe structure of process in order to open up to what he had to say. So, they could not hear, his concerns were not addressed and he stormed off believing that this community didn't care.
There was a tense silence for a moment. The facilitator then did a brilliant job of addressing what just happened and speaking to how working within a structure prevents those kinds of things. So, would they agree to empower the facilitators to help them work within a structure? We had consent!
We were on.
The GA went far better than any we'd previously had. It had it's flaws and I made my mistakes, but we actually went through a process and reached consensus on not one, but two proposals.
After successfully working through consensus on the planned proposal, a member of th facilitation working group got "on stack" to propose that we address the man's concerns about the hand signs. (Apparently two signs being used are commonly used by a skinhead biker gang. Yikes!) Having just learned together how to state objections, suggest friendly amendments, allow the proposer to adopt or reject those amendments, we worked together to build a solution to this problem. We reached consensus on new hand signs, even though people were upset about the way the original person brought the topic to community.
Had the young man who brought us these concerns had a little faith, he might have had patience and he might have been able to express his concerns less violently and he might have had a very healing and bonding experience. Instead he was gone. I hope he learns that the group took his concerns seriously and addressed them. Perhaps, he will find his way back.
We continued to work our way through "individual stack" - a time when individual can bring proposals, concerns or information to the community. The rest of the GA was uneventful, until the very last moments.
As we were closing, four young men who came up to express their anger about the GA. From what I heard, they didn't feel that the community was doing what was needed. Their concern was that we weren't addressing the bigger issues that compelled everyone here. As with the earlier young man, they displayed a lack of trust and, therefore, impatience. What ensued, though, was different. The remaining participants asked th men to come down into a circle discussion. After a few moments, they all decided to use the protocols that they've learned in the GA to conduct the discussion. I was exhausted and I only stayed long enough to admit that I made mistakes and we're all learning together and to say, "good night." The feeling of that circle was quite lovely. By moving into circle, they were embracing one another. Those who were upset were not rejected or isolated. By embracing them and taking their concerns seriously, they were, in return able to hear other perspectives on their concerns. People were able to ask them to join into the process of building creative solutions together. I saw their body language transform from stiff and aggressive and shielded to relaxed and interactive and open. The larger group had gained a little trust in one another and this process and they found a way to compel these young men into the circle of trust, where we would all keep talking and working together.
Step by step, building a little trust in each moment, the internal tensions - which are usually about people's fear regarding power and feeling powerless, but are really about feeling alone and disconnected - will dissipate.
Speaking of trust, I will now speak to something else that happened during the GA. A potentially violent man accosted me twice during the GA. The second time was quite frightening.
During the first encounter, I immediately sought out help. I was actively facilitating a meeting and was not going to engage. I told him that I would get help. I went to the first familiar face I saw and told the person that I needed help. I said there was an aggressive person in our facilitation space and I couldn't handle it. I told him to gather enough people to surround the man without touching him and to move him along. They did. I saw the man walk down the gravel pathway towards the food tent. A sweet and clearly protective man, to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude, was sitting by the media tent near the staging area. As I walked back up, he said, "let's have a signal in case something like that happens again." We agreed that I would would raise my hands up in the air. Thank goodness he had suggested this. A few minutes later, the offensive man made a bee line back and rushed me and started yelling in my face. I don't remember his words. I was too struck by the explosive energy of it and I immediately felt physically threatened. I threw up my hands and people were there instantaneously, it seemd. They surrounded him and someon had the presence of mind to pull me away to a safe distance until the he was removed.
In the end, it was explained to me that this man is a homeless alcoholic. He had been sober for a week, while in the camp, and had been doing well. It appears that he had contact with someone outside of the camp who gave him alcohol and his behavior last night was the result. The group of homeless comrades asked if they could let him stay and sleep it off, so that they could talk to him in the morning and let him know that he had to stay dry or he couldn't stay in the camp. One more strike and he's out. I approved that plan, as long as there was this active practice of providing personal security. I hope that things go better for him from now on.
There are a couple of wonderful things about this:
- I, personally, felt very protected and that is a very, very powerful and healing thing. I have been subjected to violence in my life and this was the first time I ever felt so completely assured that I was not alone and would be taken care of. That's a powerful thing.
- Most people who attended the GA have no idea that any of this happened. He was loud and explosive and potentially violent and, yet, the method of surrounding him contained all of that energy so that it wasn't allowed to permeate things.
- Some of the men came to me afterward and said they realized that there needed to be a security group, using this method to protect people from potentially harmful interactions. This is key to community cohesiveness. If they can get enough people to learn to do this automatically, it will go a long way to building the trust needed to tackle difficult challenges together.
It was clear, as I was leaving, that people were feeling better about things. Thursday evening's GA went well, in terms of working together. They struggled with a proposal which was inherently challenging: to adopt a first demand or declaration which would begin an official document of OccupyBoston. They haven't coalesced around a mission, yet, so setting out specific demands or declarations will be almost impossible. Still, they worked through it via the process we are learning. (I wasn't there. Our household has a tag team system. I watched in on Livestream.) We are learning together and we will refine our process together and we will get to where we feel cohesive enough to come up with a mission. It will be out of that mission that we will then be able to rally around objectives such as demands and declarations. But, we will do so.
What is happening, live and very publicly at OccupyBoston, is a very magical thing. Pay attention. We are putting on full display, all the challenges of changing the fundamental ways a society approaches things. We've been trained to think that there are particular ways in which things should work. We define democracy as a simple majority vote, for instance. All of these ways of thinking are habits we have to break. It's as though the entire population has to quit smoking simultaneously. Imagine what that might be like. 350 million people in withdrawal. Still, with determination and common cause, we can embrace each other. We can pull those who are fearful into a circle and listen and take on their concerns and ask them to help us build solutions. I see it happening with hundreds of people in Dewey Square. I saw it happening in Liberty Square. It can happen in squares across the country.
We simply have to #OccupyOurHearts and #OccupyOurMinds with patience, compassion and vision.
Live Blogging #OWS - 10/7/11
2:43 AM:
As of 2:43 AM, 10/7/11, there are Occupy movements in 837 U.S. cities.
Approximately 10,000 protesters marched in Portland, Oregon.
Numerous arrest reported at #OccupySacramento.
#OccupyMontana group meets in Billings, Montana.
2:53 AM:
by Kumar Ramanathan of The Tufts Daily, an independent student paper.
3:28 AM:
Blondie expressing solidarity:
4:11 PM: This video was recommended by @OccupyWallSt. Obviously, this is a leaderless movement and this is not an official statement. But this framing of the issues is consistent with a good deal of what I hear from many of the occupiers. It's almost two hours long, but interesting in its own right and, I think, useful if you're looking to understand the Occupy movement.
Lifting the Veil from S DN on Vimeo.
On a separate note, I'm definitely hearing a lot of concern about being co-opted from those actually occupying. MoveOn.org is probably the most common target, but also the Democratic Party. I imagine there is a concern regarding unions, but I haven't heard unions mentioned specifically. In fact, this is anectdotal and obviously the movement is broad, but my general sense is that most are pro-union and pro-military, but are leery of political parties and the party machine.
4:30 AM:
Photos from 10/6/11 Occupy Portland protest by Ben Latterell.
5:21 AM: Undoubtedly one of the greatest slogans of all time - even in German.
OccupyTogether Occupy Together
Auf Deutsch :) -"@DJHell: Wir sind die 99%! @OccupyFrankfurt @OccupyTogether #ff"
5:40 AM: Clueless TPM piece: Can #OWS be used by Dems?
6:49 AM: New Anonymous Video:
6:55 AM: Huffington Post piece expressing concern of being co-opted.
@OccupyWallSt reports that October 15 will be a huge day world wide.
7:08 AM: More deserved scorn for Wall Street watergirl Erin Burnett:
7:33 AM: Some of you may have heard a book mentioned on the Ed Show by an #OWS protester. And the book was specifically mentioned in the context of Americans needing to educate themselves regarding the consensus process. I wasn't able to make out the title and author. However, @NebraskaSower was able to track it down (and it took some persistence). Anyway, here is the recommended reading from the #OWS protester:
Consensus: A New Handbook for Grassroots Social, Political & Environmental Groups, by Peter Gelderloos
8:09 AM: (ht Binh) Alliance for Global Justice says it was sabotaged over support for Occupy Wall Street and anti-war occupation.
8:59: Reporting from Occupy DC.
kgosztola Kevin Gosztola
"The ceiling on our expectations has been lifted by these young occupiers." #oct6 #ows
9:05: David Atkins of Hullabaloo re: co-option (definitely the topic of the moment).
9:29: Richard Eskow - #OWS isn't talking to the 1%; it's talking to the 99%.
9:49: Adbusters' Kalle Lasn Talks About OccupyWallStreet.
10:58: Occupy goes global - protests planned for 10/15.
As of 10:58 AM MST, there are Occupy protests in 892 U.S. Cities.
11:21 AM: Occupy Sesame Street Gets Violent.
2:24 PM:
Nate Silver uses statistics to show what we've known - police brutality equals media coverage.
2:51 PM:
As of 2:52 PM (MST), there are Occupy protests in 921 U.S. cities.
3:23 PM:
Naomi Klein on why movement won't be co-opted:
7:14 PM: Occupation Cincinatti begins occupation tomorrow and expects to have more than 500 protesters.
8:19 PM: Missoula, Montana holds its first General Assembly tomorrow, 10:00AM, Caras Park.
8:50 PM: Truthdigger of the Week: Jesse LaGreca.
11:01: One of the original Tea Party groups - FedUpUSA - expresses solidarity with OWS on certain issues.
As of 2:43 AM, 10/7/11, there are Occupy movements in 837 U.S. cities.
Approximately 10,000 protesters marched in Portland, Oregon.
Numerous arrest reported at #OccupySacramento.
#OccupyMontana group meets in Billings, Montana.
2:53 AM:
by Kumar Ramanathan of The Tufts Daily, an independent student paper.
3:28 AM:
Blondie expressing solidarity:
4:11 PM: This video was recommended by @OccupyWallSt. Obviously, this is a leaderless movement and this is not an official statement. But this framing of the issues is consistent with a good deal of what I hear from many of the occupiers. It's almost two hours long, but interesting in its own right and, I think, useful if you're looking to understand the Occupy movement.
Lifting the Veil from S DN on Vimeo.
On a separate note, I'm definitely hearing a lot of concern about being co-opted from those actually occupying. MoveOn.org is probably the most common target, but also the Democratic Party. I imagine there is a concern regarding unions, but I haven't heard unions mentioned specifically. In fact, this is anectdotal and obviously the movement is broad, but my general sense is that most are pro-union and pro-military, but are leery of political parties and the party machine.
4:30 AM:
Photos from 10/6/11 Occupy Portland protest by Ben Latterell.
5:21 AM: Undoubtedly one of the greatest slogans of all time - even in German.
OccupyTogether Occupy Together
Auf Deutsch :) -"@DJHell: Wir sind die 99%! @OccupyFrankfurt @OccupyTogether #ff"
5:40 AM: Clueless TPM piece: Can #OWS be used by Dems?
6:49 AM: New Anonymous Video:
6:55 AM: Huffington Post piece expressing concern of being co-opted.
@OccupyWallSt reports that October 15 will be a huge day world wide.
7:08 AM: More deserved scorn for Wall Street watergirl Erin Burnett:
7:33 AM: Some of you may have heard a book mentioned on the Ed Show by an #OWS protester. And the book was specifically mentioned in the context of Americans needing to educate themselves regarding the consensus process. I wasn't able to make out the title and author. However, @NebraskaSower was able to track it down (and it took some persistence). Anyway, here is the recommended reading from the #OWS protester:
Consensus: A New Handbook for Grassroots Social, Political & Environmental Groups, by Peter Gelderloos
8:09 AM: (ht Binh) Alliance for Global Justice says it was sabotaged over support for Occupy Wall Street and anti-war occupation.
8:59: Reporting from Occupy DC.
kgosztola Kevin Gosztola
"The ceiling on our expectations has been lifted by these young occupiers." #oct6 #ows
9:05: David Atkins of Hullabaloo re: co-option (definitely the topic of the moment).
9:29: Richard Eskow - #OWS isn't talking to the 1%; it's talking to the 99%.
9:49: Adbusters' Kalle Lasn Talks About OccupyWallStreet.
10:58: Occupy goes global - protests planned for 10/15.
As of 10:58 AM MST, there are Occupy protests in 892 U.S. Cities.
11:21 AM: Occupy Sesame Street Gets Violent.
2:24 PM:
Nate Silver uses statistics to show what we've known - police brutality equals media coverage.
2:51 PM:
As of 2:52 PM (MST), there are Occupy protests in 921 U.S. cities.
3:23 PM:
Naomi Klein on why movement won't be co-opted:
7:14 PM: Occupation Cincinatti begins occupation tomorrow and expects to have more than 500 protesters.
8:19 PM: Missoula, Montana holds its first General Assembly tomorrow, 10:00AM, Caras Park.
8:50 PM: Truthdigger of the Week: Jesse LaGreca.
11:01: One of the original Tea Party groups - FedUpUSA - expresses solidarity with OWS on certain issues.
Maybe My Favorite Tweet of All Time (#OccupySanJose, #OWS)
OccupySanJose
to the guy that showed up and not only donated a sweatshirt but pulled the second one off his back and gave that too, you are awesome
to the guy that showed up and not only donated a sweatshirt but pulled the second one off his back and gave that too, you are awesome
Thursday, October 6, 2011
10,000 Turned Out to March for #OccupyPortland (#OWS, #OccupyOregon)
(Photo from ScottMcKeeJR)
Holy Shit! Portland isn't occupying yet, but with numbers like this - at their first march! - their occupation could rival #OWS. (Excerpted):
Thursday, in peaceful solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, the occupation of Portland, Oregon, began. According to reports, approximately 10,000 peaceful Oregonians marched....
The occupation of Portland is modeled after the occupation currently taking place in the financial district of New York City....
Thursday morning, Mayor Sam Adams issued a positive statement concerning Occupy Portland. The following is an excerpt from that statement:
The City of Portland has been preparing for the Occupy Portland event, with a goal of facilitating a peaceful, effective, and orderly event where everyone is safe.
I support Portlanders in their right to protest and exercise free speech rights, and I encourage all who participate to do so peacefully and with respect to the rights of others. Most of the people that are going to participate in Occupy Portland--as with most of the participants in cities across the country--are there to voice their legitimate concerns about national issues. A peaceful event is the most effective way for participants to deliver that message.
Mayor Adams' open and welcoming attitude is a far cry from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s condemnation of the occupation currently taking place in his city. Indeed, Adams briefly joined the Occupy Portland march in order to thank citizens for their peaceful and well behaved protest.
Paul Krugman on #OccupyWallStreet
Paul Krugman, Confronting the Malefactors (excerpted):
Update:
Elitist Me?
Aarrgghh! Yves Smith totally misreads what I was saying in today’s column, which presumably means that I didn’t write it very well. When I said that it was the job of policy intellectuals to fill in the details for the Occupy Wall Street protestors, I didn’t mean “don’t worry your pretty little heads about it, we’ll work it out”. I meant job literally as in responsibility: people like Joe Stiglitz and me have an obligation to work on this, helping to translate what justifiably angry citizens are saying into more fleshed-out proposals. That doesn’t mean taking the public out of the loop; it means putting whatever expertise you have to work on the public’s behalf.
I mean sure, I’m an elitist in the sense that I believe that economics is a technical subject that benefits from study and hard thinking. But that’s very different from being anti-democratic.
There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear, but we may, at long last, be seeing the rise of a popular movement that, unlike the Tea Party, is angry at the right people.
When the Occupy Wall Street protests began three weeks ago, most news organizations were derisive if they deigned to mention the events at all. For example, nine days into the protests, National Public Radio had provided no coverage whatsoever.
It is, therefore, a testament to the passion of those involved that the protests not only continued but grew, eventually becoming too big to ignore. With unions and a growing number of Democrats now expressing at least qualified support for the protesters, Occupy Wall Street is starting to look like an important event that might even eventually be seen as a turning point.
What can we say about the protests? First things first: The protesters’ indictment of Wall Street as a destructive force, economically and politically, is completely right.
A weary cynicism, a belief that justice will never get served, has taken over much of our political debate — and, yes, I myself have sometimes succumbed. In the process, it has been easy to forget just how outrageous the story of our economic woes really is. So, in case you’ve forgotten, it was a play in three acts.
In the first act, bankers took advantage of deregulation to run wild (and pay themselves princely sums), inflating huge bubbles through reckless lending. In the second act, the bubbles burst — but bankers were bailed out by taxpayers, with remarkably few strings attached, even as ordinary workers continued to suffer the consequences of the bankers’ sins. And, in the third act, bankers showed their gratitude by turning on the people who had saved them, throwing their support — and the wealth they still possessed thanks to the bailouts — behind po
liticians who promised to keep their taxes low and dismantle the mild regulations erected in the aftermath of the crisis.
Given this history, how can you not applaud the protesters for finally taking a stand?
Now, it’s true that some of the protesters are oddly dressed or have silly-sounding slogans, which is inevitable given the open character of the events. But so what?...
A better critique of the protests is the absence of specific policy demands. It would probably be helpful if protesters could agree on at least a few main policy changes they would like to see enacted. But we shouldn’t make too much of the lack of specifics. It’s clear what kinds of things the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators want, and it’s really the job of policy intellectuals and politicians to fill in the details.
Rich Yeselson, a veteran organizer and historian of social movements, has suggested that debt relief for working Americans become a central plank of the protests. I’ll second that, because such relief, in addition to serving economic justice, could do a lot to help the economy recover. I’d suggest that protesters also demand infrastructure investment — not more tax cuts — to help create jobs. Neither proposal is going to become law in the current political climate, but the whole point of the protests is to change that political climate.
And there are real political opportunities here. Not, of course, for today’s Republicans, who instinctively side with those Theodore Roosevelt-dubbed “malefactors of great wealth.” Mitt Romney, for example — who, by the way, probably pays less of his income in taxes than many middle-class Americans — was quick to condemn the protests as “class warfare.”
But Democrats are being given what amounts to a second chance. The Obama administration squandered a lot of potential good will early on by adopting banker-friendly policies that failed to deliver economic recovery even as bankers repaid the favor by turning on the president. Now, however, Mr. Obama’s party has a chance for a do-over. All it has to do is take these protests as seriously as they deserve to be taken.
And if the protests goad some politicians into doing what they should have been doing all along, Occupy Wall Street will have been a smashing success.
Update:
Elitist Me?
Aarrgghh! Yves Smith totally misreads what I was saying in today’s column, which presumably means that I didn’t write it very well. When I said that it was the job of policy intellectuals to fill in the details for the Occupy Wall Street protestors, I didn’t mean “don’t worry your pretty little heads about it, we’ll work it out”. I meant job literally as in responsibility: people like Joe Stiglitz and me have an obligation to work on this, helping to translate what justifiably angry citizens are saying into more fleshed-out proposals. That doesn’t mean taking the public out of the loop; it means putting whatever expertise you have to work on the public’s behalf.
I mean sure, I’m an elitist in the sense that I believe that economics is a technical subject that benefits from study and hard thinking. But that’s very different from being anti-democratic.
Naomi Klein: #OccupyWallStreet is the Most Important Thing in the World
Naomi Klein for the Nation (excerpted):
From Nick Pinto of the Village Voice, who did an amazing job tweeting the speech live:
I was honored to be invited to speak at Occupy Wall Street on Thursday night. Since amplification is (disgracefully) banned...what I actually say at Liberty Plaza will have to be very short. With that in mind, here is the longer, uncut version of the speech.
I love you.
And I didn’t just say that so that hundreds of you would shout “I love you” back...
Yesterday, one of the speakers at the labor rally said: “We found each other.” That sentiment captures the beauty of what is being created here. A wide-open space (as well as an idea so big it can’t be contained by any space) for all the people who want a better world to find each other. We are so grateful.
If there is one thing I know, it is that the 1 percent loves a crisis. When people are panicked and desperate and no one seems to know what to do, that is the ideal time to push through their wish list of pro-corporate policies: privatizing education and social security, slashing public services, getting rid of the last constraints on corporate power. Amidst the economic crisis, this is happening the world over.
And there is only one thing that can block this tactic, and fortunately, it’s a very big thing: the 99 percent. And that 99 percent is taking to the streets from Madison to Madrid to say “No. We will not pay for your crisis.”
That slogan began in Italy in 2008. It ricocheted to Greece and France and Ireland and finally it has made its way to the square mile where the crisis began.
“Why are they protesting?” ask the baffled pundits on TV. Meanwhile, the rest of the world asks: “What took you so long?” “We’ve been wondering when you were going to show up.” And most of all: “Welcome.”
Many people have drawn parallels between Occupy Wall Street and the so-called anti-globalization protests that came to world attention in Seattle in 1999. That was the last time a global, youth-led, decentralized movement took direct aim at corporate power. And I am proud to have been part of what we called “the movement of movements.”
But there are important differences too. For instance, we chose summits as our targets: the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the G8. Summits are transient by their nature, they only last a week. That made us transient too....
Occupy Wall Street, on the other hand, has chosen a fixed target. And you have put no end date on your presence here. This is wise. Only when you stay put can you grow roots. This is crucial. It is a fact of the information age that too many movements spring up like beautiful flowers but quickly die off. It’s because they don’t have roots. And they don’t have long term plans for how they are going to sustain themselves. So when storms come, they get washed away.
Being horizontal and deeply democratic is wonderful. But these principles are compatible with the hard work of building structures and institutions that are sturdy enough to weather the storms ahead. I have great faith that this will happen.
Something else this movement is doing right: You have committed yourselves to non-violence. You have refused to give the media the images of broken windows and street fights it craves so desperately....
But the biggest difference a decade makes is that in 1999, we were taking on capitalism at the peak of a frenzied economic boom. Unemployment was low, stock portfolios were bulging. The media was drunk on easy money. Back then it was all about start-ups, not shutdowns.
We pointed out that the deregulation behind the frenzy came at a price. It was damaging to labor standards. It was damaging to environmental standards. Corporations were becoming more powerful than governments and that was damaging to our democracies. But to be honest with you, while the good times rolled, taking on an economic system based on greed was a tough sell, at least in rich countries.
Ten years later, it seems as if there aren’t any more rich countries. Just a whole lot of rich people. People who got rich looting the public wealth and exhausting natural resources around the world.
The point is, today everyone can see that the system is deeply unjust and careening out of control. Unfettered greed has trashed the global economy. And it is trashing the natural world as well....
These are the facts on the ground. They are so blatant, so obvious, that it is a lot easier to connect with the public than it was in 1999, and to build the movement quickly.
We all know, or at least sense, that the world is upside down: we act as if there is no end
to what is actually finite—fossil fuels and the atmospheric space to absorb their emissions. And we act as if there are strict and immovable limits to what is actually bountiful—the financial resources to build the kind of society we need.
The task of our time is to turn this around: to challenge this false scarcity. To insist that we can afford to build a decent, inclusive society—while at the same time, respect the real limits to what the earth can take.
What climate change means is that we have to do this on a deadline. This time our movement cannot get distracted, divided, burned out or swept away by events. This time we have to succeed. And I’m not talking about regulating the banks and increasing taxes on the rich, though that’s important.
I am talking about changing the underlying values that govern our society. That is hard to fit into a single media-friendly demand, and it’s also hard to figure out how to do it. But it is no less urgent for being difficult.
That is what I see happening in this square. In the way you are feeding each other, keeping each other warm, sharing information freely and proving health care, meditation classes and empowerment training. My favorite sign here says, “I care about you.” In a culture that trains people to avoid each other’s gaze, to say, “Let them die,” that is a deeply radical statement.
A few final thoughts. In this great struggle, here are some things that don’t matter.
§ What we wear.
§ Whether we shake our fists or make peace signs.
§ Whether we can fit our dreams for a better world into a media soundbite.
And here are a few things that do matter.
§ Our courage.
§ Our moral compass.
§ How we treat each other.
We have picked a fight with the most powerful economic and political forces on the planet. That’s frightening. And as this movement grows from strength to strength, it will get more frightening. Always be aware that there will be a temptation to shift to smaller targets—like, say, the person sitting next to you at this meeting. After all, that is a battle that’s easier to win.
Don’t give in to the temptation. I’m not saying don’t call each other on shit. But this time, let’s treat each other as if we plan to work side by side in struggle for many, many years to come. Because the task before will demand nothing less.
Let’s treat this beautiful movement as if it is most important thing in the world. Because it is. It really is.
Editor’s Note: Naomi’s speech also appeared in Saturday’s edition of the Occupied Wall Street Journal.
From Nick Pinto of the Village Voice, who did an amazing job tweeting the speech live:
Naomi Klein, the Canadian journalist famous for her anti-corporatist books No Logo and The Shock Doctrine, spoke to the protesters at Occupy Wall Street yesterday evening, telling them their movement can follow through on the promises of the global trade protests she participated in a decade ago.
Speaking through cycles of call-and-response because the protesters have been denied a sound permit, Klein urged the protesters not to lapse into structureless disorganization.
"Being horizontal and deeply democratic is wonderful," she told them. "But these principles are compatible with the hard work of building structures and institutions that are sturdy enough to weather the storms ahead. I have great faith that this will happen."
The complete text of Klein's speech can be found here.
Klein's prepared remarks clearly rallied the occupiers, but some of her most interesting comments came as answers to questions posed to her afterwards. Asked how the movement can withstand the supposed sympathies of establishment politicians with questionable motives, Klein said "Don't worry about it. What will make this movement vulnerable is if it doesn't develop its own democratic mechanisms to speak for itself. Then it's vulnerable to people using your energy to fight for limited small changes. It's in your power to not let this happen. You are not cannon fodder for Washington policy wonks."
And when another protester asked: "Some Democrat leaders say this is the answer to the Tea Party. Why do you disagree with that?", Klein's answer was terse: "I think this is the answer to the Democratic party.
"We can have allies who are elected representatives," she said. "But I don't think that's what this movement is about.
What's the most powerful thing we can do as individuals to spread the movement?, Klein was asked.
"Tell your friends how fun it is," she said. "That's the most dangerous thing about it."
Another protester asked Klein a version of a question on many occupier's lips: "How do we transform the energy of the movement into something that is actually happening?"
"Something is happening," she said. "You're giving the people courage. You're telling them they're not alone and they're not crazy. You're giving them a space to find one another. But this is not group therapy -- we also want to change the world. This movement has to create democratic structures. It just can't happen overnight, but I beg you not to fetishize not having a structure. We made that mistake, and it destroyed our movement."
#OWS Live Blogging - 10/6/11
(Note:yesterday, I went bottom up (to much confusion); today, top down).
Before we get started, I'll recap yesterday's events. Following live feed and twitter, I reported on it as it unfolded, here. The following is a recap as well as events or matters that occurred late in the evening.
Despite massive crowds and widespread support from labor and community organizations, the big news at Occupation Wall Street was once again police violence. According to multiple, contemporaneous twitter reports, large groups of protesters attempted to breach police barricades to go onto Wall Street. The police maced many protesters and well ... here's the video:
There were several claims that the police had plants (agitators?) in the crowd. At approximately 8:15 (EST), journalist Laurie Penny (PennyRed) reported as follows via twitter:
I have tweeted Ms. Laurie requesting denial or confirmation, but she has not responded. There were widespread reports of "planted" police officers, but no confirmation.
By approximately 9:30 EST, #OccupyWallStNYC confirmed 18 arrests (Democracy Now reported 28 arrests). Among the arrested was this armless man:
And this gentleman who wrote the word LOVE on the sidewalk with chalk (which apparently is a crime in NYC):
When the arrested are taken away, the crowd asks their names so they can be located. Ryan Devereaux reported that one woman, with "total[] poise" said:
_______________________________________________________
Alright, let's start live blogging - Day 20 - 10/6/11
(All times Mountain Standard, unless otherwise indicted)
7:52 AM:
Here is Sarah Jaffe reporting that the march was 20,000 strong and that this is only getting bigger. By the way, all of the print and video commentary (that was worth anything - no Andrew Ross Sorkin, for example) is posted to the left - the list is updated at the end of each day.
Democracy Now - the young woman who says she's "Troy Davis, etc." is on film, plus great video of yesterday's march, Naomi Klein and more.
9:03 AM:
Sam Seder's Majority Report and Citizen Radio team up for live broadcast from Liberty Plaza; Naomi Klein is guest.
11:52 AM:
Occupy Together
Today is another big day across the globe with many many more cities in the US and around the world beginning their occupations in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. As the map grows, it would be impossible for us to wish you luck individually so together, we wish all of those fighting for the cause to stay safe, stay peaceful, and to keep marching on.
3:17 PM:
Matt Stoller most recent piece.
Naomi Klein will be speaking at 6:00PM EST - live feed here.
#OccupyDC is reported to have about 1,000.
4:06 PM:
Laurie Penny (Penny Red) compares European anti-austerity and #OWS.
4:14 PM:
#OccupyDC creates human 99%:
4:39 PM:
A couple words about Erin Burnett. If you don't know who she is, she a CNBC anchor who now has a CNN show and, more importantly, she's a devoted Wall Street lackey (she worked on Wall Street, she recently married a Citibank executive, you get the idea). On her very first CNN show, she had a segment on #OccupyWallStreet entitled "Seriously?". It was my impression that "Seriously?" is intended to be a regular segment. As for Burnett's treatment of #OccupyWallStreet, I really don't have anything to add to Glenn Greenwald's take down (and may you never be on the receiving end of a Glenn Greenwald takedown).
I actually have a minor point, which is this: In response to the fact that Burnett has a segment entitled "Seriously?!", I'm tempted to say: Seriously?! But I won't because I fucking hate that phrase (and it's twin "Really?!"). As Richard Dawkins has pointed out, the Argument from Personal Incredulity is a logical fallacy: "You think we're related to apes? Seriously?" is not a valid form of argument. In fact, all it does is make you look like a snide and/or ignorant asshole. So, it's a small point I know, but anyone with a regular segment entitled "Seriously?!" deserves scorn even if she wasn't a Wall Street water girl (which she is).
5:19 PM:
Kevin Gosztola, What Liberals Now Aim to Do With the Movement's Energy (excerpted):
5:39 PM: More #OWS police brutality on video:
6:15 PM (h/t Nebraska Sower)
6:26: Occupy San Fransisco (police violence):
6:28 PM: Reports from Occupy DC:
DustinSlaughter Dustin M. Slaughter
Almost nonexistent police. People continue to filter in. Hundreds here. #OccupyDC #oct6 #StopTheMachine mypict.me/maIeg
DustinSlaughter Dustin M. Slaughter
"Free Bradley Manning! Free Bradley Manning!" Hundreds of candles. #oct6 #OccupyDC #StopTheMachine mypict.me/maIo5
6:36 PM (Occupy Santa Cruz):
OccupySantaCruz Occupy Santa Cruz
The website (occupysantacruz.org) now has up-to-date twitter postings from the camp and will have live... fb.me/OyflkX7F
6:41 PM: Occupy Nashville - for those of you not familiar, "Expect Us" is an Anonymous tagline:
OccupyNashville Occupy Nashville
#OccupyNashville protests kicked off today & are STILL going!!! The occupation is coming Nashville. EXPECT US #OccupyWallStreet
6:43 PM:
Uneditedcamera September 17
#occupywallstreet Liberty Sqaure is alive alive alive! People from one side to another, music, general assembly, working groups, and dinner.
6:48 PM: From Occupy Portland (reports of 5-6 thousand protesters):
MegMcA Meg McArthur
@PlutocracyFiles Local NBC Affiliate reports Portland Police estimate five to six thousand protesters. #OccupyPortland
6:53 PM: Michael Moore says this is a must read. Here's the photo that runs with the article:
7:42 PM: Tim Karr, Portraits of a Protest
8:36 PM: Great Keith Olberman segments on #OWS:
8:44 PM:
henryrollins henryrollins
In DC. Ian MacKaye and I went to Freedom Plaza few hrs. ago. Looking great. People everywhere. Momentum building. Neverletup!
9:49 PM:
There are reportedly more than 1,000 people at Occupy Austin.
9:59:
There have been additional reports (twitter via NeWYorkist) of undercover cops infiltrating Occupy New York.
Before we get started, I'll recap yesterday's events. Following live feed and twitter, I reported on it as it unfolded, here. The following is a recap as well as events or matters that occurred late in the evening.
Despite massive crowds and widespread support from labor and community organizations, the big news at Occupation Wall Street was once again police violence. According to multiple, contemporaneous twitter reports, large groups of protesters attempted to breach police barricades to go onto Wall Street. The police maced many protesters and well ... here's the video:
There were several claims that the police had plants (agitators?) in the crowd. At approximately 8:15 (EST), journalist Laurie Penny (PennyRed) reported as follows via twitter:
Couple of 'protesters' with badges move out of the back of the crowd and join the police.
I have tweeted Ms. Laurie requesting denial or confirmation, but she has not responded. There were widespread reports of "planted" police officers, but no confirmation.
By approximately 9:30 EST, #OccupyWallStNYC confirmed 18 arrests (Democracy Now reported 28 arrests). Among the arrested was this armless man:
And this gentleman who wrote the word LOVE on the sidewalk with chalk (which apparently is a crime in NYC):
When the arrested are taken away, the crowd asks their names so they can be located. Ryan Devereaux reported that one woman, with "total[] poise" said:
Troy Davis, Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, Martin Luther King.
_______________________________________________________
Alright, let's start live blogging - Day 20 - 10/6/11
(All times Mountain Standard, unless otherwise indicted)
7:52 AM:
Here is Sarah Jaffe reporting that the march was 20,000 strong and that this is only getting bigger. By the way, all of the print and video commentary (that was worth anything - no Andrew Ross Sorkin, for example) is posted to the left - the list is updated at the end of each day.
Democracy Now - the young woman who says she's "Troy Davis, etc." is on film, plus great video of yesterday's march, Naomi Klein and more.
9:03 AM:
Sam Seder's Majority Report and Citizen Radio team up for live broadcast from Liberty Plaza; Naomi Klein is guest.
11:52 AM:
Occupy Together
Today is another big day across the globe with many many more cities in the US and around the world beginning their occupations in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. As the map grows, it would be impossible for us to wish you luck individually so together, we wish all of those fighting for the cause to stay safe, stay peaceful, and to keep marching on.
3:17 PM:
Matt Stoller most recent piece.
Naomi Klein will be speaking at 6:00PM EST - live feed here.
#OccupyDC is reported to have about 1,000.
4:06 PM:
Laurie Penny (Penny Red) compares European anti-austerity and #OWS.
4:14 PM:
#OccupyDC creates human 99%:
4:39 PM:
A couple words about Erin Burnett. If you don't know who she is, she a CNBC anchor who now has a CNN show and, more importantly, she's a devoted Wall Street lackey (she worked on Wall Street, she recently married a Citibank executive, you get the idea). On her very first CNN show, she had a segment on #OccupyWallStreet entitled "Seriously?". It was my impression that "Seriously?" is intended to be a regular segment. As for Burnett's treatment of #OccupyWallStreet, I really don't have anything to add to Glenn Greenwald's take down (and may you never be on the receiving end of a Glenn Greenwald takedown).
I actually have a minor point, which is this: In response to the fact that Burnett has a segment entitled "Seriously?!", I'm tempted to say: Seriously?! But I won't because I fucking hate that phrase (and it's twin "Really?!"). As Richard Dawkins has pointed out, the Argument from Personal Incredulity is a logical fallacy: "You think we're related to apes? Seriously?" is not a valid form of argument. In fact, all it does is make you look like a snide and/or ignorant asshole. So, it's a small point I know, but anyone with a regular segment entitled "Seriously?!" deserves scorn even if she wasn't a Wall Street water girl (which she is).
5:19 PM:
Kevin Gosztola, What Liberals Now Aim to Do With the Movement's Energy (excerpted):
What should the Occupy Wall Street organizers do? They should continue on the path they were on prior to all the labor and Democratic Party support. They should put the movement first and not bow to any Democratic Party or liberal organization operatives who seek to channel the movement into electoral politics or compel the movement to lower its sights. It should work to maintain a level of discipline and make sure it establishes what it is not. It should continue to aim for the impossible and remember that they have earned their power because they have occupied the park and stood their ground in the face of a media blackout, police brutality and contemptuous criticisms.
The occupiers did not come together to be the Tea Party of the left. They came together to take on corporate power and address problems that impact Americans who are conservative and liberal, left wing and right wing. And, to continue to grow as a movement that challenges the influence of corporations, special interests and the top 1% in government, they need to make clear this is not about building a better Democratic Party. This is about the war on poor, working class and middle class Americans, the constant attacks on unions and how Americans are begin to have influence over their government so the assaults on poor and working Americans come to an end.
5:39 PM: More #OWS police brutality on video:
6:15 PM (h/t Nebraska Sower)
6:26: Occupy San Fransisco (police violence):
6:28 PM: Reports from Occupy DC:
DustinSlaughter Dustin M. Slaughter
Almost nonexistent police. People continue to filter in. Hundreds here. #OccupyDC #oct6 #StopTheMachine mypict.me/maIeg
DustinSlaughter Dustin M. Slaughter
"Free Bradley Manning! Free Bradley Manning!" Hundreds of candles. #oct6 #OccupyDC #StopTheMachine mypict.me/maIo5
6:36 PM (Occupy Santa Cruz):
OccupySantaCruz Occupy Santa Cruz
The website (occupysantacruz.org) now has up-to-date twitter postings from the camp and will have live... fb.me/OyflkX7F
6:41 PM: Occupy Nashville - for those of you not familiar, "Expect Us" is an Anonymous tagline:
OccupyNashville Occupy Nashville
#OccupyNashville protests kicked off today & are STILL going!!! The occupation is coming Nashville. EXPECT US #OccupyWallStreet
6:43 PM:
Uneditedcamera September 17
#occupywallstreet Liberty Sqaure is alive alive alive! People from one side to another, music, general assembly, working groups, and dinner.
6:48 PM: From Occupy Portland (reports of 5-6 thousand protesters):
MegMcA Meg McArthur
@PlutocracyFiles Local NBC Affiliate reports Portland Police estimate five to six thousand protesters. #OccupyPortland
6:53 PM: Michael Moore says this is a must read. Here's the photo that runs with the article:
7:42 PM: Tim Karr, Portraits of a Protest
8:36 PM: Great Keith Olberman segments on #OWS:
8:44 PM:
henryrollins henryrollins
In DC. Ian MacKaye and I went to Freedom Plaza few hrs. ago. Looking great. People everywhere. Momentum building. Neverletup!
9:49 PM:
There are reportedly more than 1,000 people at Occupy Austin.
9:59:
There have been additional reports (twitter via NeWYorkist) of undercover cops infiltrating Occupy New York.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
VIDEO - VIOLENCE at #OccupyWallStreet - 10/5/11
POLICE VIOLENCE
COP BRAGGING NIGHT STICK WILL GET WORK OUT
KEITH OLBERMAN VIDEO
THIS IS A LIVE BLOG. If you're not familiar with live blogs, you need to read from bottom up. If you want to jump straight to the violence, go to 5:26 mark and read up from there. IT WILL NOT MAKE SENSE IF YOU READ TOP DOWN.
All times listed will be Mountain Time.
10:06:
DustinSlaughter Dustin M. Slaughter
VERY reliable source, just FYI @OccupyWallStNYC: They're pulling all cops back from Bronx, directing them to ... m.tmi.me/gQ1eK
9:43: UK Guardian coverage.
9:40:
OccupyWallStNYC #OCCUPYWALLSTREET
If anybody knows the name of the man with no arms who was just arrested, please call the NLG: 212-683-2490 #occupywallstreet
9:11:
Asher_Wolf Asher Wolf
RT @nyclu: NYPD is barricading Zuccotti and threatening arrests, helicopters hovering
8:51:
Huffington Post article regaarding Occupy San Francisco.
8:38: Arun Gupta (this was also published in first edition of Occupied Wall Street Journal).
8:21:
OccupyWallSt Occupy Wall Street
We got so much shit on the NYPD. Expect a big huge outlash NYPD #OccupyWallStreet
7:24 (from fellow Kossack RiaD):
@OccupyWallStNYC #OCCUPYWALLSTREET We have confirmed 18 arrests tonight. Thousands are sitting at #GeneralAssembly or around #LibertyPlaza. #occupywallstreet
5 minutes ago via web
`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from http://occupywallst.org/...
Posted Oct. 5, 2011, 9:24 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Reports of arrests.
Updates as we get them.
UPDATE 9:35 - Reports of batons used. Mounted officers are present at Liberty Square. Barricades are set up on Liberty and Broadway.
UPDATE 9:48 - Reports of our medics treating several pepper sprayed protesters.
Please call:
1st Precinct: +1 (212) 334-0611
NYPD Switchboard: +1 (646) 610-5000
NYPD Central Booking: +1 (212) 374-3921
NYPD Internal Affairs: +1 (212) 741-8401
Mayor Bloomberg: +1 (212) NEW-YORK or +1 (212) 374-3921
7:13:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Woman being arrested and shoved in her car, asked what her name is, shouts: 'Troy Davis. Emmett Till. Martin Luther King.'
7:07:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
Crowd chanting Peace. #occupywallst
7:00:
studentactivism Angus Johnston
Lots of reports from #OccupyWallStreet of undercover NYPD provocateurs in crowd trying to start trouble. Don't let 'em.
6:55:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Seems to have quietened down. Running around with Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now people doing some interviews #ows
6:50:
studentactivism Angus Johnston
And @DannyDeVito just tweeted 1.5m people supporting #OccupyWallStreet saying "Forgive student debt!" #sothathappened
6:49:
jdobzynski jdobzynski
by davidgraeber
#OccupyWallStreet #ows NYPD once again using pepper spray and making arrests. crowd estimates around 50k.
6:47:
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
.@KeithOlbermann now interviewing @JAMyerson on Countdown. #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyWallSt
6:45:
kristengwynne Kristen Gwynne
No fighting at wall st. Crowd there is shrinking 3 groups in park out front and down st #Ows
6:43:
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @Johngcole: We're approaching critical mass at OWS. More they arrest, more press it gets, more people hear about it, the more come...
6:42:
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @jamiekilstein: Got all from major news show looking for someone to report from #occupywallst will update soon but get ready to tune in.
3 minutes ago
6:38:
@seasonothebitch
Sarah Jaffe
Back in Liberty Plaza. People's mic is calling for ppl who've been pepper sprayed to go to medical area. #occupywallstreet
6:23:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
Cars passing on Broadway honk in support. Why do protesters need permits to march but cops can kettle unprovoked at will? #occupywallst
17 seconds ago Favorite Retweet Reply
nancykric Nancy Kricorian
by codepinkalert
Favorite line from #OccupyWallSreet today: Blue shirt cop says, "Get on the sidewalk, ladies, or the white shirts will be after you."
4 minutes ago
6:20:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
Protesters knocking down barricades, attempting to take Broadway. Chanting
HelloFrances Fran MercantiAnthony
by OccupyWallSt
@OccupyWallSt Whole caravan of cops just sped up broadway. They are coming. #OccupyWallSt
6:17: (got this out of order because retweeted).
OccupyWallStNYC #OCCUPYWALLSTREET
Peaceful protesters are being maced, beaten and arrested on #WallSt right now. Tell the #NYPD 2 keep hands off. #TheWholeWorldisWatching
6:13:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Couple of 'protesters' with badges move out of the back of the crowd and join the police. #ows
6:09:
MikeElk Mike Elk
There are workers getting the shit beat out of them on #occupywallstreet & progs are mourning death of a sweatshop owner
6:04:
miaaculpa miaaculpa
2126796018 Legal help if arrested. #occupywallstreet - #globalrevolution live on livestream.com/globalrevoluti…
5:58
DustinSlaughter Dustin M. Slaughter
Arrests have begun. #NYPD whiteshirt nearly knocked myself and a few others over. #OccupyWallStreet mypict.me/mauC4
5:56 - VIOLENCE!:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Police beating and arresting ppl
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Here they go!They're pepper spraying everyone! #occupywallstreet
3 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
They're calling people to come forward to join the push. #occupywallstreet
4 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Here come the police- people appear to be pushing forward, trying for the Wall Street barrier #ows
6 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Wiggly hands are going up. Is this consensus? #occupywallstreet
8 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
@paulmasonnews I am bloody reporting. Sign: 'the whole world is watching' #occupywallstreet
10 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
People with V for Vendetta masks right at the front. #occupywallstreet @anonops
11 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Hanging off some scaffolding with @rdevro watching the 99 percent storm Wall Street by consensus. Or not. #occupywallstreet
13 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Must be ten thousand here now. They're starting a consensus meeting right here. 'Police protect the 1 percent!' #ows
15 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Chant: 'police! Come join us! They want your pensions too!' #occupywallstreet
20 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Loads of cops kettling the protesters on the other side of the road. Serious police coming. 'What do we want? Justice?'#occupywallstreet
21 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
More are coming. Cops on bikes drive people away. I'm on some scaffolding. They're trying to get through to wall street. #occupywallstreet
24 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
2thou trying to break through to wall street- NYPD try to stop them. 'whose streets? Our streets!' They've taken the road #occupywallstreet
26 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Shout goes up: 'march on wall street!' People seem to be doing just that. Fucking hell. #occupywallstreet
5:46:
@OccupySeattle
Arrest count is up to around 24. #OccupySeattle
5:38: LGBT Group GetEQUAL creates “Occupy Dallas LGBT Caucus” and pledges support.
5:34: BREAKING: 9 arrested at Fannie Mae in LA fighting to save homeowner from eviction #makebankspay #occupyLA #OWS http://ow.ly/i/iBYF
5:29:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
2thou trying to break through to wall street- NYPD try to stop them. 'whose streets? Our streets!' They've taken the road
START HERE AND READ UP
5:26 (form littlelisa8):
5:24:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
#occupywallst is currently discovering the limits of the people's mic's scale capacity.
5:18:
MaxBlumenthal Max Blumenthal
Thousands chanting "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out" in financial district at #OccupyWallstreet yfrog.com/nwbd5orfj
5:14:
NaomiAKlein Naomi Klein
Something wonderfully uncontrolled in the air at #occupywallstreet. Cheers + chants + and horns + police whistles. I love this song.
5:11:
MaxBlumenthal Max Blumenthal
by MikeElk
Group of sex workers at #OccupyWallstreet chanting "hey hey, were ho's, capitalism's got to go" Hear that @davidvitter?
5:04: Glenn Greenwald destroys corporate water girl Erin Burnett.
5:00:
WeOccupyAmerica We Occupy America
On site #ows report - lower Manhattan is overrun at this time. #OccupyWallStreet
4:51:
AshaSandhu1 Asha Sandhu
My Professor is going to let us out of class early to head down to protest on Friday for #OccupyTacoma if we want to! #EducationWin
4:31: J.A. Meyerson:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
The #occupywallst march was the top story on today's MSNBC and CNN 5PM broadcasts.
4:29:
cjohanns C Cryn Johannsen
Wow. 343 CITIES have joined #OccupyTogether. Earlier today it was at 261. bit.ly/nwiBF7 #OWS #usdor #OccupyAmerica
4:13: Kevin Gosztola
kgosztola Kevin Gosztola
#OWS actually does have a goal. They wanted to get 20,000 people to flood Wall Street. That may be happening right now #occupywallstreet
3:41: From Kevin Gosztola:
TWU President John Samuelson at rally in Foley Square thanks Occupy Wall Street for sparking the labor movement and showing labor “the way to do it.” He says the way to do it is not to have conversations in the corridors of Albany or in the corridors of DC. It’s to take the streets.
AND
3:32: Estimations between 10,000 and 20,000 in NYC.
3:27: From Dustin Slaughter.
3:12: More Allison Kilkenny (in my opinion, hands down the best tweeter on #OWS):
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @NidaKhanNY: Foley Sq. Is crazyyyy right now ... Thousands here, old & young, unions, everybody #OccupyWallStreet
3:09:
OccupyWallStNYC #OCCUPYWALLSTREET
This is citizen journalism: Media team giving marchers photography lesson on the fly during the march. How 2 compose a backdrop!
3:05: Seems like media is going out of its way to show button-down (i.e. non-hippie) types today. The movement is diverse and, as it grows, will become increasingly diverse, but it really did start with mostly young people.
3:00: Matt Yglesias comes around (he was an early can't-be-effective-because-there's-no-coherent-goal).
2:52:
studentactivism Angus Johnston
This may be biggest day of coordinated SUNY/CUNY/NY private student protest since the 70s. #occupycolleges #OccupyWallStreet
2:47: :
studentactivism Angus Johnston
Several reports on Twitter/FB of single-student walkouts & actions today. Grassroots at its rootsiest! #OccupyColleges #OccupyWallStreet
My response:
PlutocracyFiles Taryn Hart
@studentactivism something very beautiful about this - it's easy to be part of a group, but to stand alone requires courage and committment
2:40: Allison Kilkenny tweet re: media coverage.
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
Media trucks: CBS, PIX 11, univision, news 12, news 1 #occupywallstreet twitpic.com/6vnfba
2:33: Random tweet:
kennethlipp Kenneth Lipp
This is no picnic movement, it is a fight for personhood, ultimately our lives, and you haven't seen a goddamn thing yet. #opspopuli
2:30: Salon on proposed demand - debt forgiveness.
2:22: Teamsters issue statement of support.
2:19: Vets for Occupy Wall Street via Kevin Gosztola.
2:15: List of unions and organizations marching:
AFL-CIO (AFSCME)
United NY
Strong Economy for All Coalition
Working Families Party
TWU Local 100
SEIU 1199
CWA 1109
RWDSU
Communications Workers of America
CWA Local 1180
United Auto Workers
United Federation of Teachers
Professional Staff Congress - CUNY
National Nurses United
Writers Guild East
And:
VOCAL-NY
Community Voices Heard
Alliance for Quality Education
New York Communities for Change
Coalition for the Homeless
Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP)
The Job Party
NYC Coalition for Educational Justice
The Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center
The New Deal for New York Campaign
National People's Action
ALIGN
Human Services Council
Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
Citizen Action of NY
MoveOn.org
Common Cause NY
New Bottom Line
350.org
Tenants & Neighbors
Democracy for NYC
Resource Generation
Tenants PAC
Teachers Unite
2:03: Occupy San Francisco Reports:
@OccupyFDSF
#OCCUPYSF
Not sure how many people we have but we're at least two blocks long.
1:57: Via twitter, Baily McC:
1:47: From Occupy Wall Street.
superbranch The Superbranch
by Occupy_Boston
Shit is about to get REAL. #occupywallstreet
1:43 PM: From Allison Kilkenny, protester holds up handcuffs from Saturday night arrest:
1:36: From Occupy New York -
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @exiledsurfer: RT @JAMyerson: Just saw @jamiekilstein and @allisonkilkenny of #CitizenRadio at #occupywallst. The energy here is electric
1:19: Received following tweet re: Syracuse University:
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles Made it to @occupy_syracuse for a bit. Their #s are growing. They're putting me up in a tent for Friday night!
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles Seems like the SU occupation is starting over the weekend. They're calling it "Occupy the Hill". No twitter acct yet
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles There may be a Facebook page for it, but they got word of #occupycolleges a little late
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles I'm checking in with them tomorrow, on a break from work, let you know if I see/hear anything else.
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
12:28 PM: Michael Moore at Occupy Wall Street on 10/4/11:
12:27 PM: United Auto Workers endorses Occupy Wall Street.
12:22 PM: Liberty Square video.
12:12 PM: Kevin Drum on #OWS.
11:58 AM: From Angus Johnson of studentactivism.net:
11:46 AM: Just heard estimate of 15,000 for march from MSNBC.
11:44 AM: Russ Feingold endorses Occupy Wall Street.
11:25 AM: For those of you who haven't seen it, here's the first edition of the Occupied Wall Street Journal in PDF.
11:03 AM: Here's a video by Robert Greenwald:
10:41 AM: Chicago traders hang sign saying "We are the 1%."
10:28 From Kevin Gosztola, updated of Colleges participating (Angus Johnson at studentactivism.net believes there are more than the 75 here listed). Report of walkouts are beginning to trickle in:
1 Adrian College
2 Austin Community College
3 Baruch College
4 Bluegrass Community & Technical College of Lexington Kentucky
5 Borough of Manhattan Community College
6 Bradley University
7 Bronx Community College
8 Brooklyn College, City University of New York
9 California State University Long Beach
10 Champlain College–will be meeting in Hauke Courtyard
11 Chapman University
12 City College of New York
13 College of Staten Island
14 Columbia College Chicago
15 Concordia
16 CUNY Graduate Center
17 Duke University
18 East Carolina University 45. Boise State University
19 Eastern Michigan
20 Eastern Washington University
21 Elizabeth city State University
22 Hostos Community College
23 Hunter College
24 Huston-Tillotson- 10/5 Noon in commons area ( march to UT if you want)
25 Illinois State University–will be meeting up with Bradley University and Occupying at Bloomington Normal Illinois
26 Indiana University of Pennsylvania–will be meeting in Oak Grove
27 John Jay College
28 Kingsborough Community College
29 La Guardia College
30 Lehman College
31 Lone Star College Tomball
32 Medgar Evers College
33 Montana State–will be meeting in lawn South of Montana Hall
34 Moreno Valley Community College
35 Mount Holyoke College
36 North Carolina State University–meet in NCSU Brickyard
37 Northeastern University
38 Queens College
39 Queensborough Community College
40 Rutgers
41 Santa Monica College
42 Sonoma State University
43 Southern Illinois University at Carbondale–will be meeting at Old Man Quad
44 State University of New York campuses:
45 University at Albany
46 Stony Brook University
47 University at Buffalo
48 Binghamton University
49 SUNY Cobleskill
50 SUNY Cortland
51 Farmingdale State College
52 Fashion Institute of Technology
53 Purchase College
54 SUNY New Paltz
55 Erie Community Colleg
56 St Ed’s
57 St. Lawrence University in North County
58 Syracuse University
59 Texas State University San Marcos
60 Texas Tech–not confirmed, still a “maybe” 25. Florida Atlantic University
61 UCLA–will be meeting at Bruins Walk
62 UNC Charlotte–will be meeting at UNC Bell Tower
63 University of Colorado Boulder–they are set to “maybe”
64 University of Connectivut at Storrs
65 University of Florida
66 University of Kentucky
67 University of Maryland–will be meeting at College Park
68 University of Massachusetts Amherst–will be meeting at Amherst Commons
69 University of Massachusetts Lowell
70 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill–will be meeting at Wilson Library
71 University of Oklahoma–will be meeting in front of S. entrance of Bizell Library
72 University of Texas Austin–will be meeting outside tower in South Mall
73 University of Wisconsin-Superior
74 West Mount College
75 York College
9:41: For those of you, who missed the post, here is the .
8:15 AM: My morning started out with Mark Ruffalo (and Pam Grier!) retweeting one of my tweets (so, that's amazing). The Live Feed was up and running fairly early. Angus Johnson is live blogging at studentactivism.net. At 3:00 (EST) in the afternoon the residents of Liberty Square will gather to join their union brothers and sisters in solidarity and march at 4:30 (EST).
COP BRAGGING NIGHT STICK WILL GET WORK OUT
KEITH OLBERMAN VIDEO
THIS IS A LIVE BLOG. If you're not familiar with live blogs, you need to read from bottom up. If you want to jump straight to the violence, go to 5:26 mark and read up from there. IT WILL NOT MAKE SENSE IF YOU READ TOP DOWN.
All times listed will be Mountain Time.
10:06:
DustinSlaughter Dustin M. Slaughter
VERY reliable source, just FYI @OccupyWallStNYC: They're pulling all cops back from Bronx, directing them to ... m.tmi.me/gQ1eK
9:43: UK Guardian coverage.
9:40:
OccupyWallStNYC #OCCUPYWALLSTREET
If anybody knows the name of the man with no arms who was just arrested, please call the NLG: 212-683-2490 #occupywallstreet
9:11:
Asher_Wolf Asher Wolf
RT @nyclu: NYPD is barricading Zuccotti and threatening arrests, helicopters hovering
8:51:
Huffington Post article regaarding Occupy San Francisco.
8:38: Arun Gupta (this was also published in first edition of Occupied Wall Street Journal).
8:21:
OccupyWallSt Occupy Wall Street
We got so much shit on the NYPD. Expect a big huge outlash NYPD #OccupyWallStreet
7:24 (from fellow Kossack RiaD):
@OccupyWallStNYC #OCCUPYWALLSTREET We have confirmed 18 arrests tonight. Thousands are sitting at #GeneralAssembly or around #LibertyPlaza. #occupywallstreet
5 minutes ago via web
`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from http://occupywallst.org/...
Posted Oct. 5, 2011, 9:24 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Reports of arrests.
Updates as we get them.
UPDATE 9:35 - Reports of batons used. Mounted officers are present at Liberty Square. Barricades are set up on Liberty and Broadway.
UPDATE 9:48 - Reports of our medics treating several pepper sprayed protesters.
Please call:
1st Precinct: +1 (212) 334-0611
NYPD Switchboard: +1 (646) 610-5000
NYPD Central Booking: +1 (212) 374-3921
NYPD Internal Affairs: +1 (212) 741-8401
Mayor Bloomberg: +1 (212) NEW-YORK or +1 (212) 374-3921
7:13:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Woman being arrested and shoved in her car, asked what her name is, shouts: 'Troy Davis. Emmett Till. Martin Luther King.'
7:07:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
Crowd chanting Peace. #occupywallst
7:00:
studentactivism Angus Johnston
Lots of reports from #OccupyWallStreet of undercover NYPD provocateurs in crowd trying to start trouble. Don't let 'em.
6:55:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Seems to have quietened down. Running around with Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now people doing some interviews #ows
6:50:
studentactivism Angus Johnston
And @DannyDeVito just tweeted 1.5m people supporting #OccupyWallStreet saying "Forgive student debt!" #sothathappened
6:49:
jdobzynski jdobzynski
by davidgraeber
#OccupyWallStreet #ows NYPD once again using pepper spray and making arrests. crowd estimates around 50k.
6:47:
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
.@KeithOlbermann now interviewing @JAMyerson on Countdown. #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyWallSt
6:45:
kristengwynne Kristen Gwynne
No fighting at wall st. Crowd there is shrinking 3 groups in park out front and down st #Ows
6:43:
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @Johngcole: We're approaching critical mass at OWS. More they arrest, more press it gets, more people hear about it, the more come...
6:42:
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @jamiekilstein: Got all from major news show looking for someone to report from #occupywallst will update soon but get ready to tune in.
3 minutes ago
6:38:
@seasonothebitch
Sarah Jaffe
Back in Liberty Plaza. People's mic is calling for ppl who've been pepper sprayed to go to medical area. #occupywallstreet
6:23:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
Cars passing on Broadway honk in support. Why do protesters need permits to march but cops can kettle unprovoked at will? #occupywallst
17 seconds ago Favorite Retweet Reply
nancykric Nancy Kricorian
by codepinkalert
Favorite line from #OccupyWallSreet today: Blue shirt cop says, "Get on the sidewalk, ladies, or the white shirts will be after you."
4 minutes ago
6:20:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
Protesters knocking down barricades, attempting to take Broadway. Chanting
HelloFrances Fran MercantiAnthony
by OccupyWallSt
@OccupyWallSt Whole caravan of cops just sped up broadway. They are coming. #OccupyWallSt
6:17: (got this out of order because retweeted).
OccupyWallStNYC #OCCUPYWALLSTREET
Peaceful protesters are being maced, beaten and arrested on #WallSt right now. Tell the #NYPD 2 keep hands off. #TheWholeWorldisWatching
6:13:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Couple of 'protesters' with badges move out of the back of the crowd and join the police. #ows
6:09:
MikeElk Mike Elk
There are workers getting the shit beat out of them on #occupywallstreet & progs are mourning death of a sweatshop owner
6:04:
miaaculpa miaaculpa
2126796018 Legal help if arrested. #occupywallstreet - #globalrevolution live on livestream.com/globalrevoluti…
5:58
DustinSlaughter Dustin M. Slaughter
Arrests have begun. #NYPD whiteshirt nearly knocked myself and a few others over. #OccupyWallStreet mypict.me/mauC4
5:56 - VIOLENCE!:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Police beating and arresting ppl
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Here they go!They're pepper spraying everyone! #occupywallstreet
3 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
They're calling people to come forward to join the push. #occupywallstreet
4 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Here come the police- people appear to be pushing forward, trying for the Wall Street barrier #ows
6 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Wiggly hands are going up. Is this consensus? #occupywallstreet
8 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
@paulmasonnews I am bloody reporting. Sign: 'the whole world is watching' #occupywallstreet
10 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
People with V for Vendetta masks right at the front. #occupywallstreet @anonops
11 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Hanging off some scaffolding with @rdevro watching the 99 percent storm Wall Street by consensus. Or not. #occupywallstreet
13 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Must be ten thousand here now. They're starting a consensus meeting right here. 'Police protect the 1 percent!' #ows
15 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Chant: 'police! Come join us! They want your pensions too!' #occupywallstreet
20 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Loads of cops kettling the protesters on the other side of the road. Serious police coming. 'What do we want? Justice?'#occupywallstreet
21 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
More are coming. Cops on bikes drive people away. I'm on some scaffolding. They're trying to get through to wall street. #occupywallstreet
24 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
2thou trying to break through to wall street- NYPD try to stop them. 'whose streets? Our streets!' They've taken the road #occupywallstreet
26 minutes ago
PennyRed Laurie Penny
Shout goes up: 'march on wall street!' People seem to be doing just that. Fucking hell. #occupywallstreet
5:46:
@OccupySeattle
Arrest count is up to around 24. #OccupySeattle
5:38: LGBT Group GetEQUAL creates “Occupy Dallas LGBT Caucus” and pledges support.
5:34: BREAKING: 9 arrested at Fannie Mae in LA fighting to save homeowner from eviction #makebankspay #occupyLA #OWS http://ow.ly/i/iBYF
5:29:
PennyRed Laurie Penny
2thou trying to break through to wall street- NYPD try to stop them. 'whose streets? Our streets!' They've taken the road
START HERE AND READ UP
5:26 (form littlelisa8):
5:24:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
#occupywallst is currently discovering the limits of the people's mic's scale capacity.
5:18:
MaxBlumenthal Max Blumenthal
Thousands chanting "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out" in financial district at #OccupyWallstreet yfrog.com/nwbd5orfj
5:14:
NaomiAKlein Naomi Klein
Something wonderfully uncontrolled in the air at #occupywallstreet. Cheers + chants + and horns + police whistles. I love this song.
5:11:
MaxBlumenthal Max Blumenthal
by MikeElk
Group of sex workers at #OccupyWallstreet chanting "hey hey, were ho's, capitalism's got to go" Hear that @davidvitter?
5:04: Glenn Greenwald destroys corporate water girl Erin Burnett.
5:00:
WeOccupyAmerica We Occupy America
On site #ows report - lower Manhattan is overrun at this time. #OccupyWallStreet
4:51:
AshaSandhu1 Asha Sandhu
My Professor is going to let us out of class early to head down to protest on Friday for #OccupyTacoma if we want to! #EducationWin
4:31: J.A. Meyerson:
JAMyerson J.A. Myerson
The #occupywallst march was the top story on today's MSNBC and CNN 5PM broadcasts.
4:29:
cjohanns C Cryn Johannsen
Wow. 343 CITIES have joined #OccupyTogether. Earlier today it was at 261. bit.ly/nwiBF7 #OWS #usdor #OccupyAmerica
4:13: Kevin Gosztola
kgosztola Kevin Gosztola
#OWS actually does have a goal. They wanted to get 20,000 people to flood Wall Street. That may be happening right now #occupywallstreet
3:41: From Kevin Gosztola:
TWU President John Samuelson at rally in Foley Square thanks Occupy Wall Street for sparking the labor movement and showing labor “the way to do it.” He says the way to do it is not to have conversations in the corridors of Albany or in the corridors of DC. It’s to take the streets.
AND
3:32: Estimations between 10,000 and 20,000 in NYC.
3:27: From Dustin Slaughter.
3:12: More Allison Kilkenny (in my opinion, hands down the best tweeter on #OWS):
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @NidaKhanNY: Foley Sq. Is crazyyyy right now ... Thousands here, old & young, unions, everybody #OccupyWallStreet
3:09:
OccupyWallStNYC #OCCUPYWALLSTREET
This is citizen journalism: Media team giving marchers photography lesson on the fly during the march. How 2 compose a backdrop!
3:05: Seems like media is going out of its way to show button-down (i.e. non-hippie) types today. The movement is diverse and, as it grows, will become increasingly diverse, but it really did start with mostly young people.
3:00: Matt Yglesias comes around (he was an early can't-be-effective-because-there's-no-coherent-goal).
2:52:
studentactivism Angus Johnston
This may be biggest day of coordinated SUNY/CUNY/NY private student protest since the 70s. #occupycolleges #OccupyWallStreet
2:47: :
studentactivism Angus Johnston
Several reports on Twitter/FB of single-student walkouts & actions today. Grassroots at its rootsiest! #OccupyColleges #OccupyWallStreet
My response:
PlutocracyFiles Taryn Hart
@studentactivism something very beautiful about this - it's easy to be part of a group, but to stand alone requires courage and committment
2:40: Allison Kilkenny tweet re: media coverage.
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
Media trucks: CBS, PIX 11, univision, news 12, news 1 #occupywallstreet twitpic.com/6vnfba
2:33: Random tweet:
kennethlipp Kenneth Lipp
This is no picnic movement, it is a fight for personhood, ultimately our lives, and you haven't seen a goddamn thing yet. #opspopuli
2:30: Salon on proposed demand - debt forgiveness.
2:22: Teamsters issue statement of support.
2:19: Vets for Occupy Wall Street via Kevin Gosztola.
2:15: List of unions and organizations marching:
AFL-CIO (AFSCME)
United NY
Strong Economy for All Coalition
Working Families Party
TWU Local 100
SEIU 1199
CWA 1109
RWDSU
Communications Workers of America
CWA Local 1180
United Auto Workers
United Federation of Teachers
Professional Staff Congress - CUNY
National Nurses United
Writers Guild East
And:
VOCAL-NY
Community Voices Heard
Alliance for Quality Education
New York Communities for Change
Coalition for the Homeless
Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP)
The Job Party
NYC Coalition for Educational Justice
The Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center
The New Deal for New York Campaign
National People's Action
ALIGN
Human Services Council
Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
Citizen Action of NY
MoveOn.org
Common Cause NY
New Bottom Line
350.org
Tenants & Neighbors
Democracy for NYC
Resource Generation
Tenants PAC
Teachers Unite
2:03: Occupy San Francisco Reports:
@OccupyFDSF
#OCCUPYSF
Not sure how many people we have but we're at least two blocks long.
1:57: Via twitter, Baily McC:
1:47: From Occupy Wall Street.
superbranch The Superbranch
by Occupy_Boston
Shit is about to get REAL. #occupywallstreet
1:43 PM: From Allison Kilkenny, protester holds up handcuffs from Saturday night arrest:
1:36: From Occupy New York -
allisonkilkenny allisonkilkenny
RT @exiledsurfer: RT @JAMyerson: Just saw @jamiekilstein and @allisonkilkenny of #CitizenRadio at #occupywallst. The energy here is electric
1:19: Received following tweet re: Syracuse University:
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles Made it to @occupy_syracuse for a bit. Their #s are growing. They're putting me up in a tent for Friday night!
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles Seems like the SU occupation is starting over the weekend. They're calling it "Occupy the Hill". No twitter acct yet
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles There may be a Facebook page for it, but they got word of #occupycolleges a little late
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles I'm checking in with them tomorrow, on a break from work, let you know if I see/hear anything else.
LeftBehind_CNY Haggs
@PlutocracyFiles And, their operation is coming together. They have the library setup, food setup, they have 2 meetings per night as well.
30 seconds ago Favorite Retweet Reply
12:42: UK Guardian article on Direct Action Committee.30 seconds ago Favorite Retweet Reply
12:28 PM: Michael Moore at Occupy Wall Street on 10/4/11:
12:27 PM: United Auto Workers endorses Occupy Wall Street.
12:22 PM: Liberty Square video.
12:12 PM: Kevin Drum on #OWS.
11:58 AM: From Angus Johnson of studentactivism.net:
Confirmed reports of walkouts in New York, Massachusetts, Washington, California, North Carolina, Texas. More coming in all the time, many states with multiple walkouts.
11:46 AM: Just heard estimate of 15,000 for march from MSNBC.
11:44 AM: Russ Feingold endorses Occupy Wall Street.
11:25 AM: For those of you who haven't seen it, here's the first edition of the Occupied Wall Street Journal in PDF.
11:03 AM: Here's a video by Robert Greenwald:
10:41 AM: Chicago traders hang sign saying "We are the 1%."
10:28 From Kevin Gosztola, updated of Colleges participating (Angus Johnson at studentactivism.net believes there are more than the 75 here listed). Report of walkouts are beginning to trickle in:
1 Adrian College
2 Austin Community College
3 Baruch College
4 Bluegrass Community & Technical College of Lexington Kentucky
5 Borough of Manhattan Community College
6 Bradley University
7 Bronx Community College
8 Brooklyn College, City University of New York
9 California State University Long Beach
10 Champlain College–will be meeting in Hauke Courtyard
11 Chapman University
12 City College of New York
13 College of Staten Island
14 Columbia College Chicago
15 Concordia
16 CUNY Graduate Center
17 Duke University
18 East Carolina University 45. Boise State University
19 Eastern Michigan
20 Eastern Washington University
21 Elizabeth city State University
22 Hostos Community College
23 Hunter College
24 Huston-Tillotson- 10/5 Noon in commons area ( march to UT if you want)
25 Illinois State University–will be meeting up with Bradley University and Occupying at Bloomington Normal Illinois
26 Indiana University of Pennsylvania–will be meeting in Oak Grove
27 John Jay College
28 Kingsborough Community College
29 La Guardia College
30 Lehman College
31 Lone Star College Tomball
32 Medgar Evers College
33 Montana State–will be meeting in lawn South of Montana Hall
34 Moreno Valley Community College
35 Mount Holyoke College
36 North Carolina State University–meet in NCSU Brickyard
37 Northeastern University
38 Queens College
39 Queensborough Community College
40 Rutgers
41 Santa Monica College
42 Sonoma State University
43 Southern Illinois University at Carbondale–will be meeting at Old Man Quad
44 State University of New York campuses:
45 University at Albany
46 Stony Brook University
47 University at Buffalo
48 Binghamton University
49 SUNY Cobleskill
50 SUNY Cortland
51 Farmingdale State College
52 Fashion Institute of Technology
53 Purchase College
54 SUNY New Paltz
55 Erie Community Colleg
56 St Ed’s
57 St. Lawrence University in North County
58 Syracuse University
59 Texas State University San Marcos
60 Texas Tech–not confirmed, still a “maybe” 25. Florida Atlantic University
61 UCLA–will be meeting at Bruins Walk
62 UNC Charlotte–will be meeting at UNC Bell Tower
63 University of Colorado Boulder–they are set to “maybe”
64 University of Connectivut at Storrs
65 University of Florida
66 University of Kentucky
67 University of Maryland–will be meeting at College Park
68 University of Massachusetts Amherst–will be meeting at Amherst Commons
69 University of Massachusetts Lowell
70 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill–will be meeting at Wilson Library
71 University of Oklahoma–will be meeting in front of S. entrance of Bizell Library
72 University of Texas Austin–will be meeting outside tower in South Mall
73 University of Wisconsin-Superior
74 West Mount College
75 York College
9:41: For those of you, who missed the post, here is the .
8:15 AM: My morning started out with Mark Ruffalo (and Pam Grier!) retweeting one of my tweets (so, that's amazing). The Live Feed was up and running fairly early. Angus Johnson is live blogging at studentactivism.net. At 3:00 (EST) in the afternoon the residents of Liberty Square will gather to join their union brothers and sisters in solidarity and march at 4:30 (EST).
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
FIELD REPORT: from #OccupyWallStreet to #OccupyBoston : lessons
FIELD REPORT: By guest blogger Una Spenser:
I left New York, sadly, on Wednesday and took the bus back to Boston. I came home exhausted and inspired and, apparently, invaded by some virus. I had intended to immediately involve myself in #OccupyBoston but had to wait until I was well enough on Saturday. I'll report on experiences in the context of how things were similar and different from #OccupyWallWtreet, the lessons learned from each thus far, and how I imagine myself participating.
Upon arriving, the first glaring difference is tents versus an open space full of people and things scattered everywhere. The Boston Police Department and the owners of the property, the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, have allowed the occupiers to put up tents.
(please note this is a long piece getting to an object lesson. If you get a little discouraged, read the final two paragraphs and then return back to where you left off.)
#OccupyBoston is situated in Dewey Square on Atlantic Avenue. This is convenient for travelers or commuters, as it is across the street from South Station, a major bus and train terminal. It is symbolically powerful as it is also across the street from the Federal Reserve Building.
It was impressive to see a small village of tents on a public square in the financial district of Boston. It immediately gives the impression that something very unusual is happening. It's not a festival or a farmer's market. People aren't just hanging out, they're camping out! In a public square! A rainbow of nylon canvasses creates an upbeat color scheme in contrast to the gray of Liberty Square.
The grass makes for a softer environment than all of the marble and concrete of Liberty Square. However, it also means that rain leads to mud, which leads to a grimy cardboard walkway. (see below for photo of infrastructure upgrade!) Muckier than NY due to the mud, but less cluttered and more contained due the tents.
When you arrive at #OccupyWallWtreet you see everyone buzzing around. You get an immediate sense of intense activity. The energy is abundant and compelling. In Dewey Square, it seemed subdued, at first.
I had to walk around to see that there were people preparing and serving food in the Food Tent and people working at computers in the media tent, etc. There were a few people milling about, but most of the activity was happening inside tents, so the energy was partitioned. Now, I had arrived at #occcupywallstreet a week after the encampment began, so some of this may be the difference between how established the occupations were. Also, there was a march ongoing when I arrived in Dewey Square, meaning that a lot of people were off site. Still, even when marches were underway in New York, there were lots of people scurrying around.
Another notable difference between #Occuppywallstreet and #Occupyboston has to do with a focal point for the protest aspect of the movement. In NYC, the encampment is a few blocks away from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Twice a day, at opening bell and closing bell, they march from the square to the NYSE and back. Its not a long march, but it has several important aspects to it:
#OccupyBoston, from what I could tell, lacks this. When I arrived, there was a march underway but, people seemed confused about why this particular march was occurring. The target of that march was a college fair at the Hynes Convention Center. Nobody I spoke to was even certain of exactly the event was or the purpose of targeting a march to it. It lacked clarity. It was long - 3 to 4 miles round trip depending on the route. It was also a one-off target. There doesn't appear to be a fixed target for ongoing marches or demonstrations. There was a demonstration in front of the Federal Reserve building on Friday night, but I haven't seen that repeated.
There is a cascading effect of having no regular action planned. First, outsiders have no idea when to come and immediately engage. They now think that this is what the General Assembly is for. People are seeking a venue through which they hear rallying cries and express their own anger and frustration at the mess our country has been dragged into. However, a General Assembly is not for that purpose. A General Assembly is for constructing solutions to problems via a consensus process. That is, it's a group decision-making forum, not a speechifying forum. There is a lot of confusion at #OccupyBoston about the function of the General Assembly. For those who attended the three General Assemblies where the planning for the physical occupation occurred, they might notice a difference between how well those General Assemblies went versus how challenging the post-occupation General Assemblies have been.
There are no set actions to participate in and very little work outside of camp subsistence and media interaction taking place. People feel undirected. The frustration at broken systems which compels them to come here isn't channeled into anything. The frustrations is then directed at the occupation itself, which is manifested in an unruly, uncooperative crowd at the General Assembly because there is little understanding of the General Assembly is for and how to conduct one.
The direct, participatory democratic process which has been modeled in Tahrir Square, the encampanadas in Spain, and beyond, is about being active, not passive. It is not about speechifying solely for the sake of evoking emotions or venting or making sure everyone knows what you think. The General Assembly, therefore, is not a pep rally. That model, which dominates our current system of governance, is grounded in a shepherd and sheep approach to addressing societal needs. The consensus building model is grounded in a collective problem-solving approach wherein a specific need is put in front of everyone and together they determine how to address it. Collective thinking to build solutions together rather than individual thinking where we choose a winner who builds solutions for us - which means there are losers.
This concept has been documented by Commission for Group Dynamics in Assemblies of the Puerta del Sol Protest Camp (Madrid). Here they disuss the value of collective thinking:
Since there isn't a clear understanding of the purpose of the General Assembly or the full, timely process of consensus decision-making, there is confusion and agitation amongst the participants. (I'm going to write another diary about how Assemblies work.) With no agreed upon structure to set expectations, each participant is left to self-generate an expectation. With a few hundred participants, you get a few hundred expectations and likely zero of those will be met. What ensues is discontent, which gets aimed at the "facilitators". I put that word in quotes, because this is another structural issue for #OccupyBoston. They don't have people fulfilling the different roles that need to be played in an assembly. Their "facilitators" are actually doing the jobs of Moderator, Vibe Checker, Floor-Time Team, and Coordinators. In fact, they are being denied the power to faciliate. There even seems to be confusion about what the word facilitation means. The job, as it's being defined right now, would be an overwhelming undertaking in a setting where the Assembly process was owned by all the participants. It's an impossible task when you don't even know what you're facilitating and the participants seem to think your job is simply to call out the names of the next person to come to the microphone.
I watched, both in-person and via livestream, several "facilitators" get completely knocked down, dragged out and dis-empowered in Assemblies. It was painful.
When in New York, I had a purpose for being there. I didn't just go to shout and march. I had a "job". I was helping them set up mental health services for the campers, since they were living under the stress of tensions with police, living in a concrete outdoor public space, and getting, or witnessing others getting, arrested and sometimes brutalized. I went straight to the Medic Working Group and dove right in. By having work to do, I immediately felt connected and productive. I had no interest in doing the same job in Boston. The dynamics here are different and I had received personal requests for help in New York. It was a temporary fill in role to get real professionals on the scene and I was done. I'm a mom at home. I don't need to mother anybody else. Still, if I'm to support the movement here, I need to be doing something.
Having sat through several General Assemblies and Working Group Assemblies in New York and being a person naturally interested in group dynamics and how to work together, I did some research to get a better understanding of the Assembly consensus process. I decided to join the Facilitation Working Group to offer my limited experience, what I had learned, and to learn more. I thought I was attending a training, yesterday, when I arrived at 5pm. It turned out that schedules were in flux. There was a 6pm meeting. I was asked to join that. Only it wasn't a training. It wasn't even a regular Facilitation Working Group assembly.
There was a bit of panic in the air about General Assembly (GA) and facilitation, at that moment. The people who usually generates the agenda had all been occupied with other activities. At 6pm, there was no agenda and no plan. Usually, there is an agenda presented to facilitators who plan how to facilitate. (Well, really they decide who is facilitating. I think they offer strategies to those selected, but since there is no buy in to empower the facilitation team, they can't really make decisions with any sense that this is how things will happen.) So, the Facilitation Working Group meeting became a combined agenda creation/facilitator choosing meeting. The GA team informed us that they usually take two hours to create an agenda. Facilitation then usually takes an hour or so to get their act together. We had to do 3 hours of work in under an hour.
There really was no time to deeply consider the best construction of an agenda. From some previous discussions there was a proposed agenda template. We simply worked from that even though we knew it was flawed. We filled in the template, which included a time slot for "A BIG TOPIC". We had hoped that a big topic would come out of proposal ideas from working groups during their report out period. We had to have a back up plan, though. So, it came up that there had been a lot of discussion throughout the camp about the oppression of marginalized voices. This is an issue that our society as a whole faces, so if we could model ways to rectify that, we'd both address an issue in the camp and offer something to the greater society watching us. Setting the agenda took up all of our time. We ended up with about 2 minutes to select facilitators.
We needed two "facilitators", a time keeper and a stack manager. Four people out of a group of about 10. Almost every person had other obligations which precluded them from volunteering. Two people then quickly volunteered for the relatively easy roles of time-keeping and stack management. That left two of us sitting there who hadn't said we absolutely couldn't do it: : myself and a lovely man named Chris. We also happened to be a woman and a black male, representing two classes of marginalized voices. There was excitement about that. By default, we were the volunteer facilitators. In less than 2 minutes, both of us, without any training, were to "facilitate" a General Assembly. I didn't even have time to tell people that I have a disability which may interfere. The time was upon us and the job simply had to be done.
Right off the bat, I was uncomfortable. I knew that the people congregated didn't have a unified understanding of what an Assembly is and how it works and that they continually challenged the idea of empowering anybody. There seems to be confusion between the concept of empowering someone in a role versus someone wielding power oppressively. There just didn't seem any way that things could go well.
After opening remarks and coming to consensus on the agenda, working groups announcements were up. It had been stated that announcements and proposals at this point had to be items that extended beyond the logistics of the encampment itself. Camp-related items would come at the end. As is always the case, people had their own interpretations of that. They also didn't adhere to time limits. Yet, when we as facilitators tried to filter both content and time, we were met with vocal objections from the participants. The objections were couched as though we were being too controlling over people's speech and what could and could not be said. There was zero appreciation for the need for structure and enforcement of structure. We still managed to a little process management, but it was far from perfect. We went about 10 minutes over time, I think. Perhaps more.
Next up was The Big Topic. None of the working groups had put up any proposals. We had explained during the consensus of the agenda that if no proposals were presented we had a topic planned. We presented the topic. Immediately, a man yells out, "who decided that?" So, our topic is to gather ideas on how to include marginalized voices in the decision-making of the occupation and a white male wearing a camouflage jacket and a military-style beret starts to agitate against it. It just so happened that it started to sprinkle rain at the same time and a few other voices rose up saying that they didn't want to do break out groups in the rain.
At this point, I utterly failed as a facilitator. This is partly because I wasn't skilled enough. It was also because there is no infrastructure in place to empower and protect the facilitators. For instance, throughout the entire Assembly, when I would step back while my co-facilitator was front and center, there were people approaching me with their personal criticisms of me and their suggestions of how to run a General Assembly. A couple of them were quite aggressive. Often the critiques were diametrically opposed. "You're too aggressive!" "You need to be more aggressive!" I quite literally had to put my hand up to create space and repeatedly tell them that this was not the time, I was a little bit busy! There was zero infrastructure in place to stop this from happening. There is also no critical mass of people amongst the participants to affirm the process or the role of the facilitators. The facilitators are left to do mob control. If the mob refuses to engage the agenda item on hand, you can't force them. At this point, I thought the Assembly should end, but I did not get agreement from the team, so we pressed on.
We wasted the time in which we would have productively started to address something, talking about what we would talk about. There was never really a consensus on that. At one point, it was so comical that there was some energy about a topic and the suggestion was that we break out into groups. I actually chuckled into the microphone. As that entire time slot was used up in a mild chaos, I proposed that the next evening's big topic be a discussion of what a General Assembly is and is not and how you conduct one. There was a clear consensus to go ahead with that. In an odd way, I felt like that was some kind of community victory. They can't move forward without addressing this. Doing it publicly may help more people gain an understanding of the process and it's value.
I was beyond my energy capacity at this point, too. Sensory overload had set in and, at one point, I wandered off the stage, leaving my co-facilitator up there alone. I was having a seizure, but no one there would have known that, since I don't have convulsive seizures. Later, in a debriefing meeting - which lasted 3 hours! - I was convulsing and that was obvious. But, during the GA, another member of the Facilitation Working Group saw me wandering and finally got my attention and asked, "Aren't you still facilitating." I regained my senses, literally, and stepped back in. (I'm a mess today and am resting, hoping I might make the planning meeting today, though I will come right home and not attend the General Assembly.)
What the participants at Dewey Square really wanted was a rally. They were most excited about the "individual stack". Again, this is not used as it would be in a proper General Assembly. Individual stack is a place for non-working group proposals to be made. For these folks, it's an open mic. Given that they had no other outlet for that energy, it was what it was. What we saw unfold was that during the whole debacle of rejecting The Big Topic agenda item, many people walked away. Those left were those who had agitated against the agenda as set and who pushed to get to the open mic section. Would you be at all surprised to learn that what my co-facilitator and I saw was that after those sitting in front disappeared, we were facing a wall of white males? Yes, there were other people. They were literally on the margins of the group. Standing front and center were all these white males who came off as domineering . At one point, one of them even asked to speak in able to make a suggestion that we didn't need to make decisions via consensus. We should just do a straight majority vote. A consensus process is designed to ensure that marginalized voices have avenues to get their perspectives and needs included in a decision-making process. Can you say, "irony"?
We were using a tool called "progressive stack". This allows the stack manager, who normally calls out people to speak in the order in which they asked to go on stack, to bump up someone who represents a voice not being heard from. Still, the stack ended up with very few people who were not male and most of those were white. It was sad. We let it play out and the meeting ended.
There was, as I noted above, a 3-hour debriefing meeting to critique the process and suggest improvements and to plan for how to prepare for the next night's GA and Big Topic. We agreed that the working groups needed to generate the agenda, that the GA needed to be more about proposals and less about non-essential announcements and open mic and that we might model this by presenting proposals the next evening about how to conduct a GA. It was to be announced this morning that working groups needed to send representatives to a 5pm meeting for agenda creation and then the facilitation group would plan how to manage it.
If I can make it, I plan to bring with me documents which establish a baseline for what Assemblies are understood to be and how they are usually conducted. I will propose that they start with that model and modify as befits this group's needs. I hope others have proposals. We'll see how it goes.
I know that what I've presented here can read as though #OccupyBoston is a hopeless mess. It isn't. That is only a conclusion you would reach if you don't have faith in process which takes time. I found myself feeling that the very public nature of struggling, in this microcosm, with how you get from our traditionally ingrained approaches to governance and politics to something completely different, could be a very meaningful exercise. In New York, we got to see some of the successes of collective thinking, because there was large enough base of people who owned the process already. Hopefully, their successes lead to a little faith in the process or at least some open curiosity. #OccupyBoston hasn't had to live with the serious tensions of the overbearing police presence in NY, which acted like a super glue bonding them as a community. Struggling to bring people into the consensus process may be the bonding experience here. We are the 99% and the people involved in #OccupyBoston are all united in their deep dissatisfaction of the status quo and the utter despair it has generated. They just don't yet know how to channel it into something transformative. If they can persevere and get from a vague sense of this "General Assembly thing" to a strong commitment to the collective thinking and consensus decision making of the participatory direct democracy model, it could be a powerful object lesson for us all. I'd love to see someone document it on film so that it could be an inspiration shared over and over.
So, I'm going to hang in there with them. I have a lot to learn and I'll share as I go. I hope you'll tune in and see what you might learn, as well.
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#OccupyBoston is centered in Dewey Square across the street from South Station:
You can watch their livestream here.
If you'd like to support the occupation, they update a list, daily, of the supplies needed.
I think they're still working out the proper channels for accepting monetary donations.
Hey, look! The cardboard pathway was upgraded to a boardwalk:
I left New York, sadly, on Wednesday and took the bus back to Boston. I came home exhausted and inspired and, apparently, invaded by some virus. I had intended to immediately involve myself in #OccupyBoston but had to wait until I was well enough on Saturday. I'll report on experiences in the context of how things were similar and different from #OccupyWallWtreet, the lessons learned from each thus far, and how I imagine myself participating.
Upon arriving, the first glaring difference is tents versus an open space full of people and things scattered everywhere. The Boston Police Department and the owners of the property, the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, have allowed the occupiers to put up tents.
(please note this is a long piece getting to an object lesson. If you get a little discouraged, read the final two paragraphs and then return back to where you left off.)
#OccupyBoston is situated in Dewey Square on Atlantic Avenue. This is convenient for travelers or commuters, as it is across the street from South Station, a major bus and train terminal. It is symbolically powerful as it is also across the street from the Federal Reserve Building.
It was impressive to see a small village of tents on a public square in the financial district of Boston. It immediately gives the impression that something very unusual is happening. It's not a festival or a farmer's market. People aren't just hanging out, they're camping out! In a public square! A rainbow of nylon canvasses creates an upbeat color scheme in contrast to the gray of Liberty Square.
The grass makes for a softer environment than all of the marble and concrete of Liberty Square. However, it also means that rain leads to mud, which leads to a grimy cardboard walkway. (see below for photo of infrastructure upgrade!) Muckier than NY due to the mud, but less cluttered and more contained due the tents. When you arrive at #OccupyWallWtreet you see everyone buzzing around. You get an immediate sense of intense activity. The energy is abundant and compelling. In Dewey Square, it seemed subdued, at first.
I had to walk around to see that there were people preparing and serving food in the Food Tent and people working at computers in the media tent, etc. There were a few people milling about, but most of the activity was happening inside tents, so the energy was partitioned. Now, I had arrived at #occcupywallstreet a week after the encampment began, so some of this may be the difference between how established the occupations were. Also, there was a march ongoing when I arrived in Dewey Square, meaning that a lot of people were off site. Still, even when marches were underway in New York, there were lots of people scurrying around. Another notable difference between #Occuppywallstreet and #Occupyboston has to do with a focal point for the protest aspect of the movement. In NYC, the encampment is a few blocks away from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Twice a day, at opening bell and closing bell, they march from the square to the NYSE and back. Its not a long march, but it has several important aspects to it:
- If nothing else, there are two actions per day for anybody and everybody to participate in,
- People like to make signs for marches, which:
- gives people something creative to do, and
- inherently communicates to the rest of world why they are doing it,
- and it creates a structural framework for the day.
#OccupyBoston, from what I could tell, lacks this. When I arrived, there was a march underway but, people seemed confused about why this particular march was occurring. The target of that march was a college fair at the Hynes Convention Center. Nobody I spoke to was even certain of exactly the event was or the purpose of targeting a march to it. It lacked clarity. It was long - 3 to 4 miles round trip depending on the route. It was also a one-off target. There doesn't appear to be a fixed target for ongoing marches or demonstrations. There was a demonstration in front of the Federal Reserve building on Friday night, but I haven't seen that repeated.
There is a cascading effect of having no regular action planned. First, outsiders have no idea when to come and immediately engage. They now think that this is what the General Assembly is for. People are seeking a venue through which they hear rallying cries and express their own anger and frustration at the mess our country has been dragged into. However, a General Assembly is not for that purpose. A General Assembly is for constructing solutions to problems via a consensus process. That is, it's a group decision-making forum, not a speechifying forum. There is a lot of confusion at #OccupyBoston about the function of the General Assembly. For those who attended the three General Assemblies where the planning for the physical occupation occurred, they might notice a difference between how well those General Assemblies went versus how challenging the post-occupation General Assemblies have been.
There are no set actions to participate in and very little work outside of camp subsistence and media interaction taking place. People feel undirected. The frustration at broken systems which compels them to come here isn't channeled into anything. The frustrations is then directed at the occupation itself, which is manifested in an unruly, uncooperative crowd at the General Assembly because there is little understanding of the General Assembly is for and how to conduct one.
The direct, participatory democratic process which has been modeled in Tahrir Square, the encampanadas in Spain, and beyond, is about being active, not passive. It is not about speechifying solely for the sake of evoking emotions or venting or making sure everyone knows what you think. The General Assembly, therefore, is not a pep rally. That model, which dominates our current system of governance, is grounded in a shepherd and sheep approach to addressing societal needs. The consensus building model is grounded in a collective problem-solving approach wherein a specific need is put in front of everyone and together they determine how to address it. Collective thinking to build solutions together rather than individual thinking where we choose a winner who builds solutions for us - which means there are losers.
This concept has been documented by Commission for Group Dynamics in Assemblies of the Puerta del Sol Protest Camp (Madrid). Here they disuss the value of collective thinking:
Open Reflection on Collective ThinkingHere, they define what a General Assembly (also knows as a People's Assembly) is:
To our understanding, Collective Thinking is diametrically opposed to the kind of thinking propounded by the present system. This makes it difficult to assimilate and apply. Time is needed, as it involves a long process. When faced with a decision, the normal response of two people with differing opinions tends to be confrontational. They each defend their opinions with the aim of convincing their opponent, until their opinion has won or, at most, a compromise has been reached.
The aim of Collective Thinking, on the other hand, is to construct. That is to say, two people with differing ideas work together to build something new. The onus is therefore not on my idea or yours; rather it is the notion that two ideas together will produce something new, something that neither of us had envisaged beforehand. This focus requires of us that we actively listen, rather than merely be preoccupied with preparing our response.
Collective Thinking is born when we understand that all opinions, be these opinions our own or others’, need to be considered when generating consensus and that an idea, once it has been constructed indirectly, can transform us.
Do not be discouraged: we are learning; we’ll get there: all that’s needed is time.
emphasis mine
What is a People’s Assembly? It is a participatory decision-making body which works towards consensus. The Assembly looks for the best arguments to take a decision that reflects every opinion – not positions at odds with each other as what happens when votes are taken. It must be pacific, respecting all opinions: prejudice and ideology must left at home. An Assembly should not be centered around an ideological discourse; instead it should deal with practical questions: What do we need? How can we get it? The Assembly is based on free association – if you are not in agreement with what has been decided, you are not obliged to carry it out. Every person is free to do what they wish – the Assembly tries to produce collective intelligence, and shared lines of thought and action. It encourages dialogue and getting to know one another.Notice the key defining phrase, "decision-making body", and a key aspect of the decision-making process, time. The overall citizenry of #OccupyBoston don't hold this understanding. There doesn't seem to be a critical mass of the citizenry who do and who can protect the process so that the General Assembly can function as such. At the General Assembly I attended on Saturday night, I saw very few actual decisions made. There were a lot of announcements, a lot of camp logistics discussed and then a discussion on "messaging" which was done via people breaking into groups and then having groups representatives report out their group's thoughts about messaging. (I'll write another time about the "messaging" meme.) This was the only time when people seemed engaged and had energy about what was being said. It ultimately fell flat, though, because it was unclear what the process was leading to. There weren't any proposals on the table or decisions to be made. There were a few "rah rah" moments, but once that cheering dissipated there was nothing of substance left.
Since there isn't a clear understanding of the purpose of the General Assembly or the full, timely process of consensus decision-making, there is confusion and agitation amongst the participants. (I'm going to write another diary about how Assemblies work.) With no agreed upon structure to set expectations, each participant is left to self-generate an expectation. With a few hundred participants, you get a few hundred expectations and likely zero of those will be met. What ensues is discontent, which gets aimed at the "facilitators". I put that word in quotes, because this is another structural issue for #OccupyBoston. They don't have people fulfilling the different roles that need to be played in an assembly. Their "facilitators" are actually doing the jobs of Moderator, Vibe Checker, Floor-Time Team, and Coordinators. In fact, they are being denied the power to faciliate. There even seems to be confusion about what the word facilitation means. The job, as it's being defined right now, would be an overwhelming undertaking in a setting where the Assembly process was owned by all the participants. It's an impossible task when you don't even know what you're facilitating and the participants seem to think your job is simply to call out the names of the next person to come to the microphone.
I watched, both in-person and via livestream, several "facilitators" get completely knocked down, dragged out and dis-empowered in Assemblies. It was painful.
When in New York, I had a purpose for being there. I didn't just go to shout and march. I had a "job". I was helping them set up mental health services for the campers, since they were living under the stress of tensions with police, living in a concrete outdoor public space, and getting, or witnessing others getting, arrested and sometimes brutalized. I went straight to the Medic Working Group and dove right in. By having work to do, I immediately felt connected and productive. I had no interest in doing the same job in Boston. The dynamics here are different and I had received personal requests for help in New York. It was a temporary fill in role to get real professionals on the scene and I was done. I'm a mom at home. I don't need to mother anybody else. Still, if I'm to support the movement here, I need to be doing something.
Having sat through several General Assemblies and Working Group Assemblies in New York and being a person naturally interested in group dynamics and how to work together, I did some research to get a better understanding of the Assembly consensus process. I decided to join the Facilitation Working Group to offer my limited experience, what I had learned, and to learn more. I thought I was attending a training, yesterday, when I arrived at 5pm. It turned out that schedules were in flux. There was a 6pm meeting. I was asked to join that. Only it wasn't a training. It wasn't even a regular Facilitation Working Group assembly.
There was a bit of panic in the air about General Assembly (GA) and facilitation, at that moment. The people who usually generates the agenda had all been occupied with other activities. At 6pm, there was no agenda and no plan. Usually, there is an agenda presented to facilitators who plan how to facilitate. (Well, really they decide who is facilitating. I think they offer strategies to those selected, but since there is no buy in to empower the facilitation team, they can't really make decisions with any sense that this is how things will happen.) So, the Facilitation Working Group meeting became a combined agenda creation/facilitator choosing meeting. The GA team informed us that they usually take two hours to create an agenda. Facilitation then usually takes an hour or so to get their act together. We had to do 3 hours of work in under an hour.
There really was no time to deeply consider the best construction of an agenda. From some previous discussions there was a proposed agenda template. We simply worked from that even though we knew it was flawed. We filled in the template, which included a time slot for "A BIG TOPIC". We had hoped that a big topic would come out of proposal ideas from working groups during their report out period. We had to have a back up plan, though. So, it came up that there had been a lot of discussion throughout the camp about the oppression of marginalized voices. This is an issue that our society as a whole faces, so if we could model ways to rectify that, we'd both address an issue in the camp and offer something to the greater society watching us. Setting the agenda took up all of our time. We ended up with about 2 minutes to select facilitators.
We needed two "facilitators", a time keeper and a stack manager. Four people out of a group of about 10. Almost every person had other obligations which precluded them from volunteering. Two people then quickly volunteered for the relatively easy roles of time-keeping and stack management. That left two of us sitting there who hadn't said we absolutely couldn't do it: : myself and a lovely man named Chris. We also happened to be a woman and a black male, representing two classes of marginalized voices. There was excitement about that. By default, we were the volunteer facilitators. In less than 2 minutes, both of us, without any training, were to "facilitate" a General Assembly. I didn't even have time to tell people that I have a disability which may interfere. The time was upon us and the job simply had to be done.
Right off the bat, I was uncomfortable. I knew that the people congregated didn't have a unified understanding of what an Assembly is and how it works and that they continually challenged the idea of empowering anybody. There seems to be confusion between the concept of empowering someone in a role versus someone wielding power oppressively. There just didn't seem any way that things could go well.
After opening remarks and coming to consensus on the agenda, working groups announcements were up. It had been stated that announcements and proposals at this point had to be items that extended beyond the logistics of the encampment itself. Camp-related items would come at the end. As is always the case, people had their own interpretations of that. They also didn't adhere to time limits. Yet, when we as facilitators tried to filter both content and time, we were met with vocal objections from the participants. The objections were couched as though we were being too controlling over people's speech and what could and could not be said. There was zero appreciation for the need for structure and enforcement of structure. We still managed to a little process management, but it was far from perfect. We went about 10 minutes over time, I think. Perhaps more.
Next up was The Big Topic. None of the working groups had put up any proposals. We had explained during the consensus of the agenda that if no proposals were presented we had a topic planned. We presented the topic. Immediately, a man yells out, "who decided that?" So, our topic is to gather ideas on how to include marginalized voices in the decision-making of the occupation and a white male wearing a camouflage jacket and a military-style beret starts to agitate against it. It just so happened that it started to sprinkle rain at the same time and a few other voices rose up saying that they didn't want to do break out groups in the rain.
At this point, I utterly failed as a facilitator. This is partly because I wasn't skilled enough. It was also because there is no infrastructure in place to empower and protect the facilitators. For instance, throughout the entire Assembly, when I would step back while my co-facilitator was front and center, there were people approaching me with their personal criticisms of me and their suggestions of how to run a General Assembly. A couple of them were quite aggressive. Often the critiques were diametrically opposed. "You're too aggressive!" "You need to be more aggressive!" I quite literally had to put my hand up to create space and repeatedly tell them that this was not the time, I was a little bit busy! There was zero infrastructure in place to stop this from happening. There is also no critical mass of people amongst the participants to affirm the process or the role of the facilitators. The facilitators are left to do mob control. If the mob refuses to engage the agenda item on hand, you can't force them. At this point, I thought the Assembly should end, but I did not get agreement from the team, so we pressed on.
We wasted the time in which we would have productively started to address something, talking about what we would talk about. There was never really a consensus on that. At one point, it was so comical that there was some energy about a topic and the suggestion was that we break out into groups. I actually chuckled into the microphone. As that entire time slot was used up in a mild chaos, I proposed that the next evening's big topic be a discussion of what a General Assembly is and is not and how you conduct one. There was a clear consensus to go ahead with that. In an odd way, I felt like that was some kind of community victory. They can't move forward without addressing this. Doing it publicly may help more people gain an understanding of the process and it's value.
I was beyond my energy capacity at this point, too. Sensory overload had set in and, at one point, I wandered off the stage, leaving my co-facilitator up there alone. I was having a seizure, but no one there would have known that, since I don't have convulsive seizures. Later, in a debriefing meeting - which lasted 3 hours! - I was convulsing and that was obvious. But, during the GA, another member of the Facilitation Working Group saw me wandering and finally got my attention and asked, "Aren't you still facilitating." I regained my senses, literally, and stepped back in. (I'm a mess today and am resting, hoping I might make the planning meeting today, though I will come right home and not attend the General Assembly.)
What the participants at Dewey Square really wanted was a rally. They were most excited about the "individual stack". Again, this is not used as it would be in a proper General Assembly. Individual stack is a place for non-working group proposals to be made. For these folks, it's an open mic. Given that they had no other outlet for that energy, it was what it was. What we saw unfold was that during the whole debacle of rejecting The Big Topic agenda item, many people walked away. Those left were those who had agitated against the agenda as set and who pushed to get to the open mic section. Would you be at all surprised to learn that what my co-facilitator and I saw was that after those sitting in front disappeared, we were facing a wall of white males? Yes, there were other people. They were literally on the margins of the group. Standing front and center were all these white males who came off as domineering . At one point, one of them even asked to speak in able to make a suggestion that we didn't need to make decisions via consensus. We should just do a straight majority vote. A consensus process is designed to ensure that marginalized voices have avenues to get their perspectives and needs included in a decision-making process. Can you say, "irony"?
We were using a tool called "progressive stack". This allows the stack manager, who normally calls out people to speak in the order in which they asked to go on stack, to bump up someone who represents a voice not being heard from. Still, the stack ended up with very few people who were not male and most of those were white. It was sad. We let it play out and the meeting ended.
There was, as I noted above, a 3-hour debriefing meeting to critique the process and suggest improvements and to plan for how to prepare for the next night's GA and Big Topic. We agreed that the working groups needed to generate the agenda, that the GA needed to be more about proposals and less about non-essential announcements and open mic and that we might model this by presenting proposals the next evening about how to conduct a GA. It was to be announced this morning that working groups needed to send representatives to a 5pm meeting for agenda creation and then the facilitation group would plan how to manage it.
If I can make it, I plan to bring with me documents which establish a baseline for what Assemblies are understood to be and how they are usually conducted. I will propose that they start with that model and modify as befits this group's needs. I hope others have proposals. We'll see how it goes.
I know that what I've presented here can read as though #OccupyBoston is a hopeless mess. It isn't. That is only a conclusion you would reach if you don't have faith in process which takes time. I found myself feeling that the very public nature of struggling, in this microcosm, with how you get from our traditionally ingrained approaches to governance and politics to something completely different, could be a very meaningful exercise. In New York, we got to see some of the successes of collective thinking, because there was large enough base of people who owned the process already. Hopefully, their successes lead to a little faith in the process or at least some open curiosity. #OccupyBoston hasn't had to live with the serious tensions of the overbearing police presence in NY, which acted like a super glue bonding them as a community. Struggling to bring people into the consensus process may be the bonding experience here. We are the 99% and the people involved in #OccupyBoston are all united in their deep dissatisfaction of the status quo and the utter despair it has generated. They just don't yet know how to channel it into something transformative. If they can persevere and get from a vague sense of this "General Assembly thing" to a strong commitment to the collective thinking and consensus decision making of the participatory direct democracy model, it could be a powerful object lesson for us all. I'd love to see someone document it on film so that it could be an inspiration shared over and over.
So, I'm going to hang in there with them. I have a lot to learn and I'll share as I go. I hope you'll tune in and see what you might learn, as well.
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#OccupyBoston is centered in Dewey Square across the street from South Station:
You can watch their livestream here.
If you'd like to support the occupation, they update a list, daily, of the supplies needed.
I think they're still working out the proper channels for accepting monetary donations.
Hey, look! The cardboard pathway was upgraded to a boardwalk: