 |
| Occupy Wall Street protesters take to the streets after their eviction from Zuccotti Park on November 15, 2011. Photo by UPI/John Angelillo |
cross-posted at Open Salon
Peaks in grassroots struggles are often defined by the disconnect between the demands of rising popular frustrations and the indifference or hostilities waged on behalf of the ruling establishment to protect the status quo. Every so often the conditions are primed for tangible expressions of frustration and dissent. 2011 offered us a glimpse of mass mobilization and marked a year of global uprisings from Cairo, Egypt, to Madison, Wisconsin and of course, Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan - otherwise best known as Liberty Square Plaza.
For all of its flaws, hiccups, contradictions, and even arrogance at times, the Occupy Movement tapped into a deep reservoir of disgust of the top 1% of wealth and power in the United States. While it may not be reflected in the 2012 general election, the Occupy Movement seized upon the deep divide between rhetoric and reality in the national political conversation and activated a cross-section of Americans who found political and cultural expression through the movement. Moments like these are ripe for a sustained global solidarity movement and Occupy not be viewed separate from other movements overseas. Last year's Arab Spring inspired the hearts and minds of millions across the globe and in no small way fueled the urgency and momentum of the Occupy Movement.
Though the Occupy Movement, as a brand and force, seemingly rose quickly almost of out nowhere, the greater forces of grassroots struggle and activism that fueled its rise were not created in a vacuum. The United States has a rich history of resistant social movements. These rising frustrations have given a wider voice to the issues of the 99%'s struggle- a battle waged long before Occupy was born. The greater social justice movement and its struggle on behalf of the 99% did not begin with Occupy... and its journey to realization won't end with Occupy either.
No single issue, event, or outrage provided the spark for the rise of the movement last fall. One can point to a combination of factors: income wealth disparities exacerbated by the endless repercussions of the near-collapse of the United States and global economies in the fall of 2008, 10 years and counting of escalated war and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan to project American Empire across the Middle and Far East, or the government engineered worldwide bailouts of major banks and corporations by the Bush and Obama Administrations alike that created the conditions for renewed resistance to empire and austerity measures at home and abroad.
The mainstream media in the United States would often have to go out of its way to ignore the burgeoning Occupy Wall Street Movement, before it paid notice in the form of slander, dismissal, and disdain. Often, throughout Autumn, the tone of the media coverage didn't matter. Being on the receiving end of vitriol and derision spoke to its relevance. It has begun to create a specter of fear over the establishment's media and political agenda. It was on the radar. At year's end, as the media establishment reassessed 2011, no amount of spin or damage control could deny the story of the year: the Occupy Movement. TIME magazine released a cover story in the final month of year, declaring The Protester as its "Person of the Year". American Dialect Society even jumped on the reflections of 2011, naming "Occupy" as the word of the year.
The Occupy Movement has met 2012 with a set of challenges that eventually face all burgeoning grassroots movements. The challenges to remain relevant, effective and able to break the monopoly of what passes for political discourse in this country. Absent a unifying vision of goals, planning and coordination on multiple issue fronts for the Occupy movement, 2012's potential to fully engage the 99% remains untapped and uncertain when there's a learning curve involved. Seemingly, the only certainty in this era favors the major banks, corporations, and the military industrial complex; all who stand to profit handsomely in the new age of austerity, endless war and new machinations that project American Empire.
Peaks in grassroots struggles are often defined by the disconnect between the demands of rising popular frustrations and the indifference or hostilities waged on behalf of the ruling establishment to protect the status quo. Every so often the conditions are primed for tangible expressions of frustration and dissent. 2011 offered us a glimpse of mass mobilization and marked a year of global uprisings from Cairo, Egypt, to Madison, Wisconsin and of course, Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan - otherwise best known as Liberty Square Plaza.
For all of its flaws, hiccups, contradictions, and even arrogance at times, the Occupy Movement tapped into a deep reservoir of disgust of the top 1% of wealth and power in the United States. While it may not be reflected in the 2012 general election, the Occupy Movement seized upon the deep divide between rhetoric and reality in the national political conversation and activated a cross-section of Americans who found political and cultural expression through the movement. Moments like these are ripe for a sustained global solidarity movement and Occupy not be viewed separate from other movements overseas. Last year's Arab Spring inspired the hearts and minds of millions across the globe and in no small way fueled the urgency and momentum of the Occupy Movement.
Though the Occupy Movement, as a brand and force, seemingly rose quickly almost of out nowhere, the greater forces of grassroots struggle and activism that fueled its rise were not created in a vacuum. The United States has a rich history of resistant social movements. These rising frustrations have given a wider voice to the issues of the 99%'s struggle- a battle waged long before Occupy was born. The greater social justice movement and its struggle on behalf of the 99% did not begin with Occupy... and its journey to realization won't end with Occupy either.
No single issue, event, or outrage provided the spark for the rise of the movement last fall. One can point to a combination of factors: income wealth disparities exacerbated by the endless repercussions of the near-collapse of the United States and global economies in the fall of 2008, 10 years and counting of escalated war and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan to project American Empire across the Middle and Far East, or the government engineered worldwide bailouts of major banks and corporations by the Bush and Obama Administrations alike that created the conditions for renewed resistance to empire and austerity measures at home and abroad.
The mainstream media in the United States would often have to go out of its way to ignore the burgeoning Occupy Wall Street Movement, before it paid notice in the form of slander, dismissal, and disdain. Often, throughout Autumn, the tone of the media coverage didn't matter. Being on the receiving end of vitriol and derision spoke to its relevance. It has begun to create a specter of fear over the establishment's media and political agenda. It was on the radar. At year's end, as the media establishment reassessed 2011, no amount of spin or damage control could deny the story of the year: the Occupy Movement. TIME magazine released a cover story in the final month of year, declaring The Protester as its "Person of the Year". American Dialect Society even jumped on the reflections of 2011, naming "Occupy" as the word of the year.
The Occupy Movement has met 2012 with a set of challenges that eventually face all burgeoning grassroots movements. The challenges to remain relevant, effective and able to break the monopoly of what passes for political discourse in this country. Absent a unifying vision of goals, planning and coordination on multiple issue fronts for the Occupy movement, 2012's potential to fully engage the 99% remains untapped and uncertain when there's a learning curve involved. Seemingly, the only certainty in this era favors the major banks, corporations, and the military industrial complex; all who stand to profit handsomely in the new age of austerity, endless war and new machinations that project American Empire.
No Hope in November 2012
The United States, a wounded superpower, now enters an 11th year of endless and illegal war across the Middle East, and a fourth year of unmitigated financial uncertainty for the 99%. After eight years, the United States failed to find Iraq's alleged stock pile of weapons of mass destruction. As a result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, over 1 million Iraqis have died in excess of pre-invasion rates. Nearly 5,000 American troops have paid the ultimate price for the continuity of American Empire and tens of thousands more bear the scars (above and beneath the surface of their skin) they may be burdened with for the rest of their lives. Obama decided to go double or nothing in Afghanistan as he quietly expanded an unchecked drone war over the Middle East as a means to intimidate any country who would dare to challenge its military supremacy in the region.
As the Obama Administration continues into its fourth year, 2008's campaign of hope and change seems like a cruel joke even to his most ardent supporters. Progressives claimed him as one of their own. In part to his experience as a community organizer, long-time self-identified leftists felt a realization for a better world through his candidacy and their passion for such gave him the street cred in his pocket to offset the bundles of cash spent by the likes of Goldman Sachs. But with each passing day, the Obama Administration reflects the behavior of its predecessor. His signing of the National Defense Authorization Act is in lock-step with even the most controversial legislation spearheaded by the Bush Administration. The act contains an extension of the PATRIOT Act, which targeted Muslims and dissent, and now all bets are off. The damage by the Bush Administration's ventures in Iraq left Obama little choice other than to craft a massive public relations effort to salvage some semblance of repair to the American Empire brand. In consequence, he escalated the war and occupation of Afghanistan and expanded a drone war over countless countries in the Middle East. Broken promises, unfulfilled agendas and trademark sell-outs by his administration undoubtedly fueled a tangible disgust previously expressed in the Bush years.
Americans would have expected the continuity of key and seemingly right-ring patented policies and themes under a John McCain Administration, but very few voters seeking fundamental change in 2008 anticipated betrayal from Obama, which in part fueled the rise of Occupy movement. Plus, let's consider the lingering sting from the Bush years and the fact that his administration got away with countless crimes scot-free. By and large, Obama reflects that continuity of the status quo.
The Bush years created an up-kick in class warfare on behalf of the 1%, and inspired nearly a decade of gathering resistance. The Bush Administration's determined rush to war, beginning in 2001, led to the rapid mobilization of activists and citizens across the country and around the world, as it increasingly set its sights on Iraq after premature victory in another imperial venture was prematurely declared in Afghanistan. National mobilizations in April 2002, October 2002, February and March 2003, and afterwards - throughout the latter era of the Bush years - brought hundreds of thousands into the streets of Washington, D.C., New York City, and beyond. In total, millions across the country and around the world pushed back against the drive to war. Bush would go on to casually dismiss the ongoing mobilization as a “focus group.” February 15, 2003 went down on record as the largest day of global protests in history, providing a glimpse of electrifying empowerment when global voices transcend geographical boundaries in common cause and solidarity.
That empowerment in the United
States would be short-lived in 2003 after the Iraq war began and anti-war
activism took a backseat to electoral politics. Grassroots movements often
don't fare well in major election years such as this. Nearly a dozen candidates
entered the field in the Democratic primary race, soaking up a significant
cross-section of numbers and energies, which compromised the vibrancy of
anti-war activity. Even the most seasoned anti-war voices put their chips on
Congressman Dennis Kucinich's candidacy, a fairly consistent but lone voice
within the Democratic Party establishment. Kucinich was under no illusion that
he would be within striking distance of the nomination over Senator John Kerry.
Admittedly, Kucinich conceded in
2004 that, "The Democratic Party created third parties by running to the
middle. What I'm trying to do is to go back to the big tent so that everyone
who felt alienated could come back through my candidacy."
Come that summer, Kucinich deeply
angered his most dedicated supporters when he threw his support to Senator
Kerry and encouraged them to do the same as well. Kucinich had been one of the
few in Congress to oppose the PATRIOT Act and the Iraq war consistently, but he
ultimately channeled his energies for the party's nomination in Kerry, who
voted for it, as well as the Iraq war by "authorization,” No Child Left
Behind, and other issues where the two stood in sharp contrast.
Given Obama's incumbency, he
has not been challenged from the left by any significant measure. Obama has been spared the sharp criticism and outrage previously reserved for his predecessor's imperial endeavors. Liberal America's deafening silence against a gravely expanding unmanned drone war across the Middle East; Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and beyond, leaves an open opportunity for a renewed debate on foreign policy. One of his fiercest critics, perennial
Green or Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, had long signaled the
intention to not run in 2012. His campaigns in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 gave
expression to issues and discourse that often would have no other voice all the
way into the first week of November. But even the suggestion from Nader on high
that Obama be challenged from the left within his own party has fallen on deaf
ears. The idea as a singular strategy of resistance is an end in of itself,
because no illusion should be held that the party power-brokers would entertain
a competing candidacy. 2012, like other years, won't pass without the Democrat party's attempts to co-op
activist energies- building the tent Kucinich spoke about in 2004. The
Occupy Movement would do best by focusing on a tent of its own and channeling
energies outside the limited scope of electoral politics.
The Future for Occupy
The Future for Occupy
So what's next for the Occupy
Movement? What's next for the long, rich and storied history of organized
grassroots resistance and activism in the United States before Occupy entered
the stage?
Noted historian, linguist and commentator on U.S. foreign policy Noam Chomsky offered sage advice to activists last December in Maine during a speech titled, "Arab Spring, American Winter.” While lauding the courageous and "brilliant" tactic of occupying common areas and encampments, Chomsky encouraged the movement to "move on to the next stage" by organizing "face to face" in the neighborhoods where the 99% struggle to live, work and survive. "Don't be obsessed with tactics, but with purpose ... Tactics have a half-life," Chomsky said.
So what is that "next stage"? As occupations continue to adjust from evictions from their encampments, the tactic of occupying physical space may whither away, but there remain infinite reasons for why the cause and struggle should prevail. Millions of Americans are homeless in the richest country on the globe as it spends trillions of dollars on war and worldwide corporate bailouts. While the major banks and corporations are enjoying a cozy economic recovery, ordinary Americans are experiencing quite the opposite. Corporate profit figures have seen their all-time under the Obama Administration and the corporate tax rate is the lowest in 40 years, at 12.1%. The shrinking middle class has seen their income remain stagnant at best and decrease at worst. Rising tuition makes higher education more of a privilege than a right. Young adults continue to be priced out of even once relatively affordable universities, lest they accrue thousands upon thousands of dollars in college debt. Foreclosures continue to mount an offensive against working class families and communities of color. The drive towards privatization of our public school system is increasingly alienating communities from Austin to Chicago. America's war veterans continue to face a war at home. 164 active-duty U.S. Army soldiers committed suicide at a record high last year. Tens of thousands of military veterans in the past decade have been physically and mentally wounded from their tours of duty, but return home to inadequate support systems that are ill-equipped to ease the transition to civilian life. While the U.S. military begins to shift its forces in the Middle East, under Obama's watch it continues to wage a largely hidden drone war across Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and beyond.
Noted historian, linguist and commentator on U.S. foreign policy Noam Chomsky offered sage advice to activists last December in Maine during a speech titled, "Arab Spring, American Winter.” While lauding the courageous and "brilliant" tactic of occupying common areas and encampments, Chomsky encouraged the movement to "move on to the next stage" by organizing "face to face" in the neighborhoods where the 99% struggle to live, work and survive. "Don't be obsessed with tactics, but with purpose ... Tactics have a half-life," Chomsky said.
So what is that "next stage"? As occupations continue to adjust from evictions from their encampments, the tactic of occupying physical space may whither away, but there remain infinite reasons for why the cause and struggle should prevail. Millions of Americans are homeless in the richest country on the globe as it spends trillions of dollars on war and worldwide corporate bailouts. While the major banks and corporations are enjoying a cozy economic recovery, ordinary Americans are experiencing quite the opposite. Corporate profit figures have seen their all-time under the Obama Administration and the corporate tax rate is the lowest in 40 years, at 12.1%. The shrinking middle class has seen their income remain stagnant at best and decrease at worst. Rising tuition makes higher education more of a privilege than a right. Young adults continue to be priced out of even once relatively affordable universities, lest they accrue thousands upon thousands of dollars in college debt. Foreclosures continue to mount an offensive against working class families and communities of color. The drive towards privatization of our public school system is increasingly alienating communities from Austin to Chicago. America's war veterans continue to face a war at home. 164 active-duty U.S. Army soldiers committed suicide at a record high last year. Tens of thousands of military veterans in the past decade have been physically and mentally wounded from their tours of duty, but return home to inadequate support systems that are ill-equipped to ease the transition to civilian life. While the U.S. military begins to shift its forces in the Middle East, under Obama's watch it continues to wage a largely hidden drone war across Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and beyond.
The future is largely uncharted for
the Occupy Movement in the months ahead, but there is shortage of struggles and causes to be championed at the local and national levels. Without a clear direction and focus on
issues on a national scale, the Occupy Wall Street movement will be limiting
its impact. Nothing short of hundreds of thousands in the streets of cities
like New York City, Washington, D.C., and others coast to coast will provide a
visually defining turning point in a new phase of the movement's engagement
with the masses it professes to speak for and aims to empower. The people expect Occupy to provide that next spark to shake the halls of power, but there are no shortcuts.
A sustaining movement will be determined by its diversity of non-violent tactics and strategies and the shape of its evolving civil resistance and politics, not the efficacy of a single idea or tactic of occupying. The Occupy movement's growth and scope in 2012 will largely depend on its outreach efforts to broaden its base in the urban neighborhoods, where the minority populations live the plight of the 99%. This requires in building an identity in the neighborhoods by cultivating relationships and alliances with networks, organizations and coalitions previously activated and oriented to various 99% issues and struggles locally and nationally.
After hundreds of arrests in an Occupy Oakland attempt to take over a building on January 28, there is a vigorous debate within the Occupy movement about tactics and strategies towards mobilizing the 99%. This is a healthy process and a necessary one as well. For the 99% struggle, there are no guarantees. The tides of popular grassroots movements ebb and flow - they don't begin anew or end a slow tortuous death, or even a mercifully quick one either. Movements take on the human qualities we all embody; they stumble, fall, struggle, regroup, progress, learn, and give rise to something else yet to evolve or to develop... and hopefully they even prevail. No single voice come election time will be able to speak viably and prominently for the 99%. A broad, united-front movement, independent from the confines of placed hopes in electoral politics, will have to take up that task if it wants to determine and shape its own fate in history.
A sustaining movement will be determined by its diversity of non-violent tactics and strategies and the shape of its evolving civil resistance and politics, not the efficacy of a single idea or tactic of occupying. The Occupy movement's growth and scope in 2012 will largely depend on its outreach efforts to broaden its base in the urban neighborhoods, where the minority populations live the plight of the 99%. This requires in building an identity in the neighborhoods by cultivating relationships and alliances with networks, organizations and coalitions previously activated and oriented to various 99% issues and struggles locally and nationally.
After hundreds of arrests in an Occupy Oakland attempt to take over a building on January 28, there is a vigorous debate within the Occupy movement about tactics and strategies towards mobilizing the 99%. This is a healthy process and a necessary one as well. For the 99% struggle, there are no guarantees. The tides of popular grassroots movements ebb and flow - they don't begin anew or end a slow tortuous death, or even a mercifully quick one either. Movements take on the human qualities we all embody; they stumble, fall, struggle, regroup, progress, learn, and give rise to something else yet to evolve or to develop... and hopefully they even prevail. No single voice come election time will be able to speak viably and prominently for the 99%. A broad, united-front movement, independent from the confines of placed hopes in electoral politics, will have to take up that task if it wants to determine and shape its own fate in history.
Jonathan Cronin is a student, activist and writer based in Austin, Texas. Time permitting, he blogs at rhetoricandresistance.blogspot.com. He can be reached at rhetoricandresistance@gmail.com or on Twitter @RRpolitics.
