Protesters, time for a heart-to-heart talk

[derby378]

You know I love you. You know I admire your spirit and passion.

But, as a collective body, to keep putting yourself in harm's way knowing full well that sadistic and overzealous cops in full riot gear are going to start cracking skulls - while the protest changes nothing at all - tells me that something has gone horribly wrong.

Remember what happened at Kent State. People were gunned down while protesting the Vietnam War, and it continued on without skipping a beat. The whole world may be watching, but they just don't give a shit.

Once upon a time, I was truly awed and amazed by the collective energy of the Camp Casey protests - and I still am. Same goes for the early days of the Occupy Wall Street movement. These moments in time reminded me of Hunter S. Thompson's famous words:

There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda.… You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.…

And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.…

Where is your momentum? Where is your focus? What is your strategy for victory?

Frankly, I am tired of hearing about innocent protesters getting brutalized without achieving anything in the way of change. No more martyrs. No more blood. No more wails of pain and sorrow. No more bodies.

If you're going to protest, then for fuck's sake, prevail. Don't keep feeding the machine with its rows of baton-shaped teeth just waiting to devour you. Reassess your tactics. Do something new. Prevail.

Please. Whether or not you realize it, you may be our only hope.

[TheWraith]

1. Unfortunately, some people enjoy and aim for exactly that.

Not the violence, but the sensation of being oppressed and rebelling against "The Man," without the hard, tedious, and less than glorious work of accomplishment. Simply protesting doesn't require the things like compromise, patience, or gradual change that real world politics do.

[derby378]

4. I prefer to think most protesters are not masochists

These are people who have, for the most part, done extensive research into what's really going on in American society, whether it's the harsh treatment of Bradley Manning or natural gas czar Range Resources putting a leash on the EPA or the continued war against unions and the working class by too many entities to count. I do not fault them for getting angry - it makes them great DUers.

[joelz]

7. That must be why MLK penned so many

mildly upsetting letters to dear Abby all those years or Ellsberg choose to return all the documents filled with government lies to there proper place in the rand safe. They knew given a little time johnston and nixon would have seen the error of their ways

[sabrina 1]

10. Unfortunately you are so wrong, I find it embarrassing, frankly.

What is 'the man' btw? Is this something you have concocted? This movement, which is Global has already prevailed, it has forced politicians to start talking about what we want them to talk about. We no longer hear the Global Capitalist Lingo we were hearing until this movement began. No more talk of 'austerity' here, no more 'sharing the sacrifice'. Thank YOU Occupiers.

And now, with the help of Occupiers across the Globe, governments who enabled the Global Meltdown in Europe are falling, one after the other. And OUR president is, finally, responding to the voices of the people. This weekend he was in agreement with the new French President, who WILL be withdrawing French troops from Afghanistan by the end of THIS year, as promised to the Occupiers and other protesters who removed the Global Capitalist tool, Sarkozy, and put him in office. He remembered his campaign promises to the protesters and voters at this NATO summit. THAT is called 'SUCCESS'.

And our President this weekend, AGREED with Protesters everywhere, and with the new French President and with the newly elected Greeks, that Austerity has to go. That GROWTH (thank GOD, how long did it take and thank YOU occupiers) is the only way to get economies moving again. No more making the people pay for the gambling debts of the Corrupt Wall Street Bankers who crashed the world's economy.

THAT IS WHAT WE WANTED! Hope this helps!

As for your 'man' comment, whatever that means, it makes zero sense to me, so maybe you can clarify?? Sounds like some kind of intended insult, but it kind of doesn't work if no one knows what you are talking about.

[Peregrine Took]

11. + 1.000.000.000 and I thank you! n/

[Swamp Lover]

3. Clashing with the cops for clashing's sake is like a

vertical mosh pit. You jump in, get push around with little result, getting nowhere.

I'd like to marry passion to reason and we'd get somewhere........

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. Interesting simile.

[kayakjohnny]

6. I have always wondered if it's legal for protesters to show up in riot gear for their own protection

And if not, why not.

It could be colored or configured so as not to be even remotely confused with real cops.

For example, and this is only one example:

[Downtown Hound]

8. Suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. n/t

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. Standing up for our rights while standing against what is wrong, and never stopping, is essential.

If they get us to give up and go home, all you'll have left is the bank-owned demopublican show (seven-plus months of utter silence from the democratic party and white house while we are being brutalized...quite telling, yes?) and things will go back to normal (meaning, no more taking back the power, no more people-driven movement, no more telling off the powers that be for robbing us blind and then telling us they have to cut social services to pay for their robbery, no more unity, no more passion for making the bastards pay.

We can never give up no matter the odds.

I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. planned marches in an area with a notably hot-headed police chief, knowing the resulting photos would win support and compassion. Although Occupy has never planned such, it appears to be a similar effect.

Occupy is a people-powered movement. If everyone shows up, if everyone supports it, things will change in an instant. And the opposite. Standing and never backing down from false authority and unConstitutional abuses are required or the idea that is the Constitution will simply fade away (as they fill our skies with killer drones, which they are working on doing right now).

Saying NO! is essential. No matter the possible or actual outcome. That IS a strategy. Enough people need to side with us in saying NO! that the powers that be run away squealing just as Rush Limbaugh has recently. It's that simple. Thank you for your compassion; please channel it into saying NO! along with us, and everything will change for the better!

(Also, Occupy is uniting nation-wide and world-wide. We are meeting each other and seeing ourselves in each other and this unity shall never be broken. Join us at Wall Street on September 17 for our one-year birthday party! Eventually there will be too many people for the cops to take on, then we win!)

[Peregrine Took]

12. The increasingly militarized appearance of today's cops projects a non-human image.

Its very unpleasant to be around them and they set the mood of the demonstration off on the worst footing possible.

You could just feel the tension in the air when these robo-cops were on the sidelines peering at us through the shields with their guns and their clubs at the ready.

What a horribly oppressive atmosphere - but those kids - with their whistles and water bottles and signs - OMG - the city is filled with intense hatred for them.

[bhikkhu]

13. I agree, and think that protesting leads to nothing

If the concern is economic inequality, the concentration of money and power in the hands of a few, and the increase in corporate influence in politics, then one thing would actually work: stop buying what they are selling. All of the above begins with the daily choices of everybody, which gives over money and power from everybody to concentrate in the hands of a few.

Stop buying from big corporations and they lose power; if everybody does it, they would shrivel in a few days. Your money is your vote, and huge corporations are an entirely democratic creation - they exist because we give them our money, we vote for their growth every time we leave the house, more or less.

...so that's my view. Personally, I don't think it will go anywhere, but I hate to see people get the crap kicked out of them for protesting against the same stuff they are voting for every other day of the week.