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TACTICAL BRIEFING #18

Occupy the High Ground!

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Hey you creatives, artists, environmentalists, workers, moms, dads, students, malcontents, do-gooders and aspiring martyrs in the snow:

The last four months have been hard fought, inspiring and delightfully revolutionary. We brought tents, hunkered down, held our assemblies, and lobbed a meme-bomb that continues to explode the world's imagination. Many of us have never felt so alive. We have fertilized the future with our revolutionary spirit … and a thousand flowers will surely bloom in the coming Spring.

But as winter approaches an ominous mood could set in … hope thwarted is in danger of turning sour, patience exhausted becoming anger, militant nonviolence losing its allure. It isn't just the mainstream media that says things could get ugly. What shall we do to keep the magic alive?

Here are a couple of emerging ideas:

STRATEGY #1: We summon our strength, grit our teeth and hang in there through winter … heroically we sleep in the snow … we impress the world with our determination and guts … and when the cops come, we put our bodies on the line and resist them nonviolently with everything we've got.

STRATEGY #2: We declare "victory" and throw a party … a festival … a potlatch … a jubilee … a grand gesture to celebrate, commemorate, rejoice in how far we've come, the comrades we've made, the glorious days ahead. Imagine, on a Saturday yet to be announced, perhaps our movement's three month anniversary on December 17, in every #OCCUPY in the world, we reclaim the streets for a weekend of triumphant hilarity and joyous revelry.

We dance like we've never danced before and invite the world to join us.

Then we clean up, scale back and most of us go indoors while the die-hards hold the camps. We use the winter to brainstorm, network, build momentum so that we may emerge rejuvenated with fresh tactics, philosophies, and a myriad projects ready to rumble next Spring.

Whatever we do, let's keep our revolutionary spirit alive … let's never stop living without dead time.

for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ

394 comments on the article “TACTICAL BRIEFING #18”

Displaying 351 - 360 of 394

Page 36 of 40

Anonymous

I'm glad some OWS leadership is starting to acknowledge, if obliquely, how detrimental a long-term occupation would be. It would only lead to more violence, and trust me, it is doing you no favors with average Americans. Had OWS stuck to reasonable positions, used productive (not destructive) methods, and stayed non-partisan and embraced both left and right, I might have supported it. However, with the extreme far-left tilt of OWS, coupled with the sheer lack of respect for the *real* 99% shown by the local occupations, OWS lost my support early on.

Clean up your act and I might reconsider, but for now, I feel you are doing more damage than good in the world.

Anonymous

I'm glad some OWS leadership is starting to acknowledge, if obliquely, how detrimental a long-term occupation would be. It would only lead to more violence, and trust me, it is doing you no favors with average Americans. Had OWS stuck to reasonable positions, used productive (not destructive) methods, and stayed non-partisan and embraced both left and right, I might have supported it. However, with the extreme far-left tilt of OWS, coupled with the sheer lack of respect for the *real* 99% shown by the local occupations, OWS lost my support early on.

Clean up your act and I might reconsider, but for now, I feel you are doing more damage than good in the world.

Anonymous

Stop making sense. These moronic assholes will never understand. They are unreasonable children, bent on their own self-aggrandizement and nothing else.

OWS is a "movement" in the sense of what occurs inside one's bowels and nothing more.

Anonymous

Stop making sense. These moronic assholes will never understand. They are unreasonable children, bent on their own self-aggrandizement and nothing else.

OWS is a "movement" in the sense of what occurs inside one's bowels and nothing more.

Kara

'more violence' - Oh, you mean cops beating up peaceful protesters?

'average americans' - Given Occupy is polling at 60% (or above) now I am not sure what you define as average.

'productive (not destructive) methods' - Umm, point to how Occupy is more violent than the rest of society.

'non-partisan' - I know liberals, conservatives, tea-partiers, and people in various minor parties who are occupying.

'clean up' - *laugh* probably the cleanest parks I have seen are ones with occupiers in them, even the trash bins are orderly!

Kara

'more violence' - Oh, you mean cops beating up peaceful protesters?

'average americans' - Given Occupy is polling at 60% (or above) now I am not sure what you define as average.

'productive (not destructive) methods' - Umm, point to how Occupy is more violent than the rest of society.

'non-partisan' - I know liberals, conservatives, tea-partiers, and people in various minor parties who are occupying.

'clean up' - *laugh* probably the cleanest parks I have seen are ones with occupiers in them, even the trash bins are orderly!

felicia

we are strong , we will stay strong
why would we stop now,
till we are all free not one of us is free.
peaceful revoloution, for a peaceful elevolution for all the people to come back to the heart of the matter
stop killing the people for greed,
stop poising our water and food,
let us have our medicine to heal ourselves.
we the people are here and standing, winter, spring , summer and fall
i love you brother and sister all around the earth and we all will be free together!
i believe we are magical miracles shine on.
peace in every breath

namaste

felicia

we are strong , we will stay strong
why would we stop now,
till we are all free not one of us is free.
peaceful revoloution, for a peaceful elevolution for all the people to come back to the heart of the matter
stop killing the people for greed,
stop poising our water and food,
let us have our medicine to heal ourselves.
we the people are here and standing, winter, spring , summer and fall
i love you brother and sister all around the earth and we all will be free together!
i believe we are magical miracles shine on.
peace in every breath

namaste

Anonymous

As a participant in the Occupy movement, I hereby commit my whole self to nonviolence. Therefore to the best of my ability:
I am firmly committed to nonviolence as a way of life, not merely as a tactic.
I meet violence with compassion for others and myself.
I walk, talk and act in love and nonviolence.
I refrain from verbal and physical violence.
I do not accept “a diversity of tactics” when those tactics are violent or damage property.
I am open, respectful, and kind with everyone I encounter.
I invite the 1% to join us and will not insult them.
I seek justice and reconciliation so that we are all winners.
I avoid both selfishness and power trips.
I strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health as we work to build a just and democratic society.

Anonymous

As a participant in the Occupy movement, I hereby commit my whole self to nonviolence. Therefore to the best of my ability:
I am firmly committed to nonviolence as a way of life, not merely as a tactic.
I meet violence with compassion for others and myself.
I walk, talk and act in love and nonviolence.
I refrain from verbal and physical violence.
I do not accept “a diversity of tactics” when those tactics are violent or damage property.
I am open, respectful, and kind with everyone I encounter.
I invite the 1% to join us and will not insult them.
I seek justice and reconciliation so that we are all winners.
I avoid both selfishness and power trips.
I strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health as we work to build a just and democratic society.

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