TACTICAL BRIEFING #18
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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”
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Anonymous
Occupying the warmer climes seems like a good option. Squatting abandoned neighborhoods in the rust belt north east would afford protection from the elements(Detroit?). Maybe there is a farm (Woodstock?) somewhere that could supply a geographic centre for a temporary utopia? Warm and cold will deliver different kinds of inspiration. Laying claim to a logically defend-able piece of spiritual space is really the only way to ensure long term survival. I think this might be found within the science of climate change.
Anonymous
Occupying the warmer climes seems like a good option. Squatting abandoned neighborhoods in the rust belt north east would afford protection from the elements(Detroit?). Maybe there is a farm (Woodstock?) somewhere that could supply a geographic centre for a temporary utopia? Warm and cold will deliver different kinds of inspiration. Laying claim to a logically defend-able piece of spiritual space is really the only way to ensure long term survival. I think this might be found within the science of climate change.
Occupy the low ...
It is an ominous sign when a self-proclaimed radical progressive magazine follow the lead of mainstream media and urge protesters to give up. Given that mainstream media distorts and perverts the intentions of the occupy movement it is paramount that alternative news sources such as adbusters defend and encourage those that dare stand up for reality and against the corporate mainstream media, instead of taking their lead. Shame!
What does an occupation of the "high ground" mean relative to current occupations. The occupations started precisely because the level of security for the 99% is so low - that there little or nothing protecting the majority of us from ending up on the actual low grounds. The current occupations must remain on a low ground because that is the state of reality. Proposing a "party … a festival … a potlatch … a jubilee … a grand gesture to celebrate" is a slap in the face to the protesters out there who have nothing to celebrate but the unity that occupy has provided the last month - which scaling back would mean an end to. The die hards are angry and impatient because for them neo-liberalism is an eternal winter and the struggle is a constant struggle, not something that changes with seasons. Rather the coming of winter means a intensified struggle for survival for many of us and should call out for intensified efforts not retreat!
If occupying the high ground means celebrating empty victories and retreating indoors when it gets cold, while those that have no choice have to continue to sleep outside but now at the risk of hypothermia and death, then i rather stay on the low ground!
Occupy the low ...
It is an ominous sign when a self-proclaimed radical progressive magazine follow the lead of mainstream media and urge protesters to give up. Given that mainstream media distorts and perverts the intentions of the occupy movement it is paramount that alternative news sources such as adbusters defend and encourage those that dare stand up for reality and against the corporate mainstream media, instead of taking their lead. Shame!
What does an occupation of the "high ground" mean relative to current occupations. The occupations started precisely because the level of security for the 99% is so low - that there little or nothing protecting the majority of us from ending up on the actual low grounds. The current occupations must remain on a low ground because that is the state of reality. Proposing a "party … a festival … a potlatch … a jubilee … a grand gesture to celebrate" is a slap in the face to the protesters out there who have nothing to celebrate but the unity that occupy has provided the last month - which scaling back would mean an end to. The die hards are angry and impatient because for them neo-liberalism is an eternal winter and the struggle is a constant struggle, not something that changes with seasons. Rather the coming of winter means a intensified struggle for survival for many of us and should call out for intensified efforts not retreat!
If occupying the high ground means celebrating empty victories and retreating indoors when it gets cold, while those that have no choice have to continue to sleep outside but now at the risk of hypothermia and death, then i rather stay on the low ground!
Wolffen
Let’s organize “Opt-Out of Health Insurance Day.”
If everybody refuses to pay their premiums, we’ll put those so-called “health insurance” companies out of business. Get all the MDs to strike for an hour in support, and we’ll have universal health CARE in the U.S. overnight. Doctors are sick of pushing paper through the byzantine maze of coding and claims-filing and clearing houses that the private insurers have imposed on medical professionals and patients alike. MDs have to pay health insurance premiums just like anybody else — and malpractice insurance as well! [ http://www.pnhp.org/ ] The insurers are driving up the price of health care from all sides!
These parasites insure the health of their financial statements and CEO salaries by denying treatment to patients who’ve paid premiums and pricing health care out of the financial reach of 1/3 of Americans. And they PROFIT from these practices?!?! Who can’t see what’s wrong with this picture?
Congress isn’t going to do the right thing because there’s too much money involved: at least one health-insurance lobbyist for every member!
Come on, folks! Vote with your wallets: refuse to give them your money and the “health insurance” industry disappears.
Wolffen
Let’s organize “Opt-Out of Health Insurance Day.”
If everybody refuses to pay their premiums, we’ll put those so-called “health insurance” companies out of business. Get all the MDs to strike for an hour in support, and we’ll have universal health CARE in the U.S. overnight. Doctors are sick of pushing paper through the byzantine maze of coding and claims-filing and clearing houses that the private insurers have imposed on medical professionals and patients alike. MDs have to pay health insurance premiums just like anybody else — and malpractice insurance as well! [ http://www.pnhp.org/ ] The insurers are driving up the price of health care from all sides!
These parasites insure the health of their financial statements and CEO salaries by denying treatment to patients who’ve paid premiums and pricing health care out of the financial reach of 1/3 of Americans. And they PROFIT from these practices?!?! Who can’t see what’s wrong with this picture?
Congress isn’t going to do the right thing because there’s too much money involved: at least one health-insurance lobbyist for every member!
Come on, folks! Vote with your wallets: refuse to give them your money and the “health insurance” industry disappears.
Anonymous
Sorry, but I can't afford to lose my health insurance and possibly not get coverage again in the future. (Also I'm happy with my not-for-profit provider.)
Anonymous
Sorry, but I can't afford to lose my health insurance and possibly not get coverage again in the future. (Also I'm happy with my not-for-profit provider.)
mattsawyers
I agree that the movement needs to move. This one has been asymetrical and amazing for that reason. But the movement now should not just be outward and expansive. I think it needs a front. Maybe an online Occupy the Future summit and debriefing for all participants and interested parties. Also, the movement needs milestones - a way to track the number of people who are involved. Facebook's momentum was achieved through the raw numbers of supporters involved. Here's to Adbusters for ideas and meaning - now let's find organization and direction.
mattsawyers
I agree that the movement needs to move. This one has been asymetrical and amazing for that reason. But the movement now should not just be outward and expansive. I think it needs a front. Maybe an online Occupy the Future summit and debriefing for all participants and interested parties. Also, the movement needs milestones - a way to track the number of people who are involved. Facebook's momentum was achieved through the raw numbers of supporters involved. Here's to Adbusters for ideas and meaning - now let's find organization and direction.
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