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
You didn't read it very careful. I support Occupy strongly and am a member of the movement, despite some misgivings about tactics and the fact that I'm sleeping in my own bed.
I apologize that I went to college and have a job. You seem to be unsure of who the real enemy is. Hint: it's not people who have valid questions about what happens next.
Diana
Anonymous
You didn't read it very careful. I support Occupy strongly and am a member of the movement, despite some misgivings about tactics and the fact that I'm sleeping in my own bed.
I apologize that I went to college and have a job. You seem to be unsure of who the real enemy is. Hint: it's not people who have valid questions about what happens next.
Diana
Anonymous
Yes, but now is the time for the people to start leading. Keep in mind the system is broken. I say, work within it if and only if you are taking the initiative to work outside of it. Anything less is lazy or too passive than what we can afford now.
-Seattle
Anonymous
Yes, but now is the time for the people to start leading. Keep in mind the system is broken. I say, work within it if and only if you are taking the initiative to work outside of it. Anything less is lazy or too passive than what we can afford now.
-Seattle
Anonymous
Exactly. Now is the time for us to lead. That's what occupy is about.
Diana
Anonymous
Exactly. Now is the time for us to lead. That's what occupy is about.
Diana
Steven Matherly
Diana:
You do realize, don't you, that the New York Times is THE mouthpiece of the elite. You wouldn't believe anything you read in The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post so why quote the NYT?
I agree that there are many other tactics other than an encampment that can be useful. However, putting our bodies on the line in places where the elite have to step over us to do their nefarious deeds that is WHERE THE RUBBER HITS THE ROAD.
Think about it. These encampments put new ways of running the world front and center. They are run by some sort of consensus and they are right under the noses of elites and government types. Why don't they just ignore us? If they are worried about the safety of the protesters and the public then station police around the encampment to protect them. They won't do that because their real problem with OWS is that it is questioning the very foundations of the society and that can't be tolerated.
The elites really do wish we would form a political party. That way they can ignore us to death and overwhelm us with regulations for ballot access. OWS has a strategy that really gets under their skin because they don't have any way to counter its message without resorting to brute force.
One last point: Bank Transfer Day and such actions are GREAT! I agree, let's do more of that sort of thing. However, the folks who are willing to really put themselves on the line have pretty much already done so. The violence on the side of the protesters pales in comparison to the police violence (remember police are the agents of the elites otherwise they would be turning their guns on the elites themselves). We break an ordinance against camping and we get teargassed and shot with rubber bullets. The police get what for this over reaction? They get to give excuses and blame the protesters. Also, people have their houses stolen by illegal actions of the banks and nothing happens to the bankers. A protester throws a brick through a window and they get what...I mean after the beat down and the tear gas?
Nobody WANTS violence but the system rains down violence every day on poor folks. The violence is already there. We're just fighting back!
Steven Matherly
Diana:
You do realize, don't you, that the New York Times is THE mouthpiece of the elite. You wouldn't believe anything you read in The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post so why quote the NYT?
I agree that there are many other tactics other than an encampment that can be useful. However, putting our bodies on the line in places where the elite have to step over us to do their nefarious deeds that is WHERE THE RUBBER HITS THE ROAD.
Think about it. These encampments put new ways of running the world front and center. They are run by some sort of consensus and they are right under the noses of elites and government types. Why don't they just ignore us? If they are worried about the safety of the protesters and the public then station police around the encampment to protect them. They won't do that because their real problem with OWS is that it is questioning the very foundations of the society and that can't be tolerated.
The elites really do wish we would form a political party. That way they can ignore us to death and overwhelm us with regulations for ballot access. OWS has a strategy that really gets under their skin because they don't have any way to counter its message without resorting to brute force.
One last point: Bank Transfer Day and such actions are GREAT! I agree, let's do more of that sort of thing. However, the folks who are willing to really put themselves on the line have pretty much already done so. The violence on the side of the protesters pales in comparison to the police violence (remember police are the agents of the elites otherwise they would be turning their guns on the elites themselves). We break an ordinance against camping and we get teargassed and shot with rubber bullets. The police get what for this over reaction? They get to give excuses and blame the protesters. Also, people have their houses stolen by illegal actions of the banks and nothing happens to the bankers. A protester throws a brick through a window and they get what...I mean after the beat down and the tear gas?
Nobody WANTS violence but the system rains down violence every day on poor folks. The violence is already there. We're just fighting back!
Anonymous
The NYT infographic was a poll, not an opinion piece. It was quotes from regular Americans about why they do and don't support Occupy. As a member of the movement I found it useful.
Serious journalism, indie media, mainstream media all have their places. I may be willing to live on Twitter and watch ustream videos all night. The general public gets its news from traditional sources. We ignore them at our peril.
Anonymous
The NYT infographic was a poll, not an opinion piece. It was quotes from regular Americans about why they do and don't support Occupy. As a member of the movement I found it useful.
Serious journalism, indie media, mainstream media all have their places. I may be willing to live on Twitter and watch ustream videos all night. The general public gets its news from traditional sources. We ignore them at our peril.
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