'Where Is the Uprising from the Left?'

[mike_c]

6. yet even here, where support for OWS should be near universal...

...there is constant criticism and derision of the movement. I think he's at least partly correct-- OWS has largely NOT connected with the working and lower middle class yet, especially those with jobs and homes. I don't think that's necessarily OWS's fault-- it likely has more to do with the entrenched power structures in American society and the habit of long subservience to capitalist institutions.

Real reform of U.S. social and political institutions will require lots of sacrifice, and the people who need that reform the most are currently among the least willing to put their perceived social and economic stability at risk. I don't know the answer, but I think the movement is in danger of moving past the opportunity to engage those demographics in any broad sense because it must continue moving forward to avoid stagnation, but moving forward without a broad support base will only empower its enemies.

I also don't think there's much time left. OWS must make real gains THIS SUMMER, before the November elections, in order to have a voice in the national debate during those campaigns. There will be significant repression aimed at OWS this summer. It will need that broad base to weather that repression. Otherwise, like Chicago in 1968, there will be lots of teeth gnashed, but in the end, no real reform.