Battle for the Soul of Occupy
Alright you jammers, occupiers and Springtime dreamers,
First they silenced our uprising with a media blackout… then they smashed our encampments with midnight paramilitary raids… and now they’re threatening to neutralize our insurgency with an insidious campaign of donor money and co-optation. This counter-strategy worked to kill off the Tea Party’s outrage and turn it into a puppet of the Republican Party. Will the same happen with Occupy Wall Street? Will our insurgency turn into the Democrats’ Tea Party pet?
It’s up to you to decide if our movement goes the way of Paris ’68, the dust bin of could-have-been-insurrections, or something more daring, more inspiring, something not yet dreamed.
Will you allow Occupy to become a project of the old left, the same cabal of old world thinkers who have blunted the possibility of revolution for decades? Will you allow MoveOn, The Nation and Ben & Jerry to put the brakes on our Spring Offensive and turn our struggle into a “99% Spring” reelection campaign for President Obama?
We are now in a battle for the soul of Occupy… a fight to the finish between the impotent old left and the new vibrant, horizontal left who launched Occupy Wall Street from the bottom-up and who dreams of real democracy and another world.
Whatever you do, don’t allow our revolutionary struggle to fizzle out into another lefty whine and clicktivist campaign like has happened so many times in the past. Let’s Occupy the clicktivists and crash the MoveOn party. Let’s #DEFENDOCCUPY and stop the derailment of our movement that looms ahead.
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
OccupyWallStreet.org / Tactical Briefing #25, #26, #27 and #28 / Check out Oakland occupier Mike King’s take on MoveOn’s 99% Spring
306 comments on the article “Battle for the Soul of Occupy”
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Anonymous
You are offensive, and bringing up women, etc, like they've been slighted out of nowhere, to give credence to your crap totally makes you a phony righteous asshole.
The failing , warring, broke, health care less, broken down country we have right now is the love child of both Dems and Repubs.
We're not playing this stupid game with Dems and Repubs any more.
DEAL WITH IT.
Anonymous
FAIL.
Anonymous
I went to the 99% Spring Training in [a major Midwest city] and it was similar to that of the OP, except that about half of the time a prominent Occupy [a major Midwest city] organizer led the discussion/"training". I know that organizer personally and he is legit and not co-opted.
We learned about the historical context of nonviolent direct actions, what worked back in the civil rights movement, and the logical framework they used when planning their direct actions that we could apply to Occupy-related actions to plan meaningful actions instead of just empty symbolic actions. Most significant was the collaboration and coalition-building between existing community groups, unions, Occupiers, and interested individuals.
The "training" was very helpful to me personally and to the Occupy [a major Midwest city] movement, as we've had a lack of focus after our numbers dwindled over the Winter months. There was no mention of political campaigns or the like at the training; the examples discussed were anti-big businesses and pro-environmental justice. There was no co-opting in my humble opinion.
Continue to be wary, but don't shut down bridges with groups with a similar background and purpose. Build bridges with those who agree with you and can help you. We are the 99% here, guys and gals.
Raghillaigh
Have no illusions. What we have here is a slick but pretty predictable astroturf operation to surf the wave created by Occupy Wall Street, Van Jones, MoveOn, the AFL-CIO leadership and other major organizational players know full well that they have the tacit support of Obama campaign strategists, who see real utility in having Occupiers - and progressives in general - target right wing Republican candidates and their corporate sponsors, leaving the campaign free to court swing voters.
The acid test here has been the willingness of the 99% Spring organizers to challenge Democratic power brokers- and their corporate sponsors. It ain't happening. Note that the key NGO's underwriting and staffing the 99% Spring initative have very pointedly avoided endorsing or supporting efforts to mobilize grassroots opposition to the May 20 NATO summit in Chicago. That's because they know that the NATO summit will not only be a conclave for the military wing of the global 1%, it will also be a major Obama campaign event, which along with the G8 summit at Camp David, has been scripted to highlight Obama's Adminstration's leadership role in global affairs. And nobody calling the shots in the 99% Spring initiative wants to rain on that particular parade.
I'm betting that we'll see a "Occupy the Ballot Box" meme introduced into the mix before the end of the summer by the same players.
zip nomad
"Occupy the Ballot"...you are so right. So predictable, our battle at times seems futile, when we face these industry-backed giants stomp all over and claim our plight as theirs. These so-called 'grassroots' orgs have money to buy movements... old left money. Little do their following sheep know that they are still marching for the 1% who are actively backing the Democratic party agenda. sighs.
Anonymous
We should design report cards detailing everyone's political donors and connections to groups like ALEC to pass out to people waiting to vote. It isn't trying to back anyone if it is detailing how they (almost) all suck so it should be allowed.
Anonymous
It's a good idea. Opensecrets has some relevant info, but it doesn't go nearly far enough.
Anonymous
So, let me get this straight.
You're worried about being co-opted by the so-called Old Left, yet are seriously considering boycotting the 2012 elections or casting a "protest vote" for some no chance in hell third party candidate?
Being co-opted by the Old Left sounds the least of your worries. You sound like you've already been co-opted by some moles sent into OWS by Karl Rove himself.
The next president will appoint at least two, probably three supreme court justices, each who serve FOR LIFE. The two guaranteed to retire or die are current liberals on the court; the third, the moderate "swing vote." If you think who the next president does not matter, you have your head so far up your butt you've lost your ability to think clearly.
Fuck the Democrats
Some of us don't believe in voting, because we don't want capitalism or representative democracy.
You can run around like a chicken with its head cut off, screaming "The Republicans are coming, we must vote, vote, vote!"
But I don't give a FLYING FUCK WHO IS ELECTED in November, because my efforts are devoted towards something else entirely: A global awakening, a global revolution. I want to abolish tyranny and oppression brought to you by your representative government, in cahoots with the capitalist oligarchs. I will never pull the lever for a Democrat or a Republican. It goes against my every principle, my every belief.
When you voted, you gave away all your power. You legitimized a system created to oppress. Our power isn't in voting, it's in the power of our collective voices and collective actions like striking, protesting. The choices that we make with our money, our labor, our lives, our thoughts, our deeds, our words and the work we do in our own communities, are our REAL power.
You're free to be a servile, frightened, manipulated, powerless voter, but don't expect us all to dance along to your tune.
Relinquishing your power to others, will never get the results you want. It only keeps you supplicant.
Anonymous
Astroturf is definitely the term to use in this situation. Consultants are hired for and against so many things and generate so many false campaigns. Even if the 99% Spring supported by MoveOn is "legitimate" in any way and does not conflict with the Occupy movement, its existence spawns territory for astroturffing and worse -- conspiracy. Conspiracies that some group has been infiltrated by some other opposing group and secretly the gears are working against Occupy. I'm not saying any of this is true, but the paranoia and absurdity that often comes with conspiracy is enough to experience a crushing defeat. It's probably best to completely ignore MoveOn and like-minded efforts rather than spend even a minute of your time trying to derail THEIR efforts, because if they receive no attention whatsoever it's unlikely they'll be powerful enough to break the media blackout that Occupy did by taking enough people to the streets.
On the other hand, this post is a little bit out of control. Note: " they’re threatening to neutralize our insurgency with an insidious campaign of donor money and co-optation." I don't have many problems with the implications of this sentence. What I do find problematic is the idea of being "neutralized" and the even wilder idea of the "insurgency." I would not think for a moment to call Occupy an insurgency because it's not nearly large, serious or angry enough. It's impressive to see tens of thousands take to the streets, but the high is washed away in a day or two and things get back to normal. If Occupy wants to be called an insurgency then there needs to be a vast improvement in tactics and an unrelenting, dedicated anger. This doesn't mean violence, but overwhelming conviction. When the public takes Occupy seriously, too, and respects it -- understands it -- then I'll call Occupy an insurgency so long as it never is absorbed by the spectacle of power from which it rebels. Unlikely. For now the word "revolution" is being tossed around in a depthless way, as if it were fresh, fashionable and devious. Even if without violence, to dedicate oneself to any revolutionary ideology is to risk entering the downward, spiraling fall. You don't call yourself a revolutionary or political activist. You become one and the term will follow afterwards. Don't get caught up in the ephemeral glamor of youthful rebellion. Save that energy for when it will come into good use.
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