We need to start preparing for the next phase of OWS

[starroute]

I posted this in another thread, but got a couple of suggestions that it deserved its own thread. So here goes:

Information moves fast these days, and Occupy Wall Street has been through the "first they ignore you" and the "then the ridicule you" phases in just a few weeks. But the "then they fight you" phase can go on for a very long time and get very repressive.

The 1% were caught off balance by OWS and haven't been able to fight back effectively so far. Also, the entire elaborate apparatus that they have developed since the 1970s -- all the right-wing think-tanks and public policy groups -- is designed to put pressure on government and politicians and not to deal with popular protest. Even the tactics of marginalization that have made it possible to ignore massive one-day marches and rallies are not as effective against small but sustained occupations.

But you can be quite sure that they're regrouping and working out a strategy, and that we can expect to see the pressure begin by the end of the month. The most obvious tool they can use is to get cities to shut down the encampments -- declare them public health hazards or whatever and sweep them out. And that is not a battle that I think the protesters can or should try to win.

As anybody who's ever played Risk knows, trying to hold territory when you're being attacked from all sides is a losing strategy. It's far more effective to spread out and be in so many places at once that nobody can take you down. In other words, a kind of Anonymous "We are legion. Expect us." strategy.

The occupiers are the vanguard, but they can't do it alone -- and it would be foolish to let the energy that they've generated be diverted into a fight that can't be won. That energy needs to be released into the larger system. Instead of a few thousand occupiers-in-fact, we need a few hundred thousand occupiers-in-spirit. And the marvelous unity of purpose that has been created through the human microphone has to be sustained over a much broader and more diverse community.

But what would it mean to be an occupier-in-spirit? The best model I can think of is the gay assertion, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it." The people who have showed up for the occupations have been here all along, but they haven't been visible because they've tried to blend in to the background and not call attention to themselves. That's what has to end.

People need to identify themselves as OWS-ers. They have to appear in public not as Democrats or liberals or any of the usual labels but as representatives of the principles of OWS. They have to insist that those principles be given top priority in every political debate and they have to reframe ongoing local issues as examples of those principles. They might even dog the Republican primaries this winter and target both the voters and the reporters to inject the OWS principles into the process.

They have to be *everywhere* and be insistent enough, and at times rowdy enough, to make themselves unignorable.

And if that happens, even if the physical occupations are dispersed or whittled down by winter weather, the movement will have seeded itself throughout the country. And at that point, it will no longer be vulnerable to any simple tactics of police repression.

[villager]

1. good starting point, but what is what we're asking people to *do*, if not physically occupy?

It's that physical occupation of "fiscal" space, if you will -- and the refusal to disperse -- that has made this a story and sparked other "occupations."

If everyone eventually disperses and "goes home" -- what's left that the ruling elites will understand? Or even bother to respond to?

In other words, unless you threaten their ability to make money by destroying/exploiting the rest of us, they don't think twice about the rest of us.

[Scuba]

13. There are other venues. n/t

[OHdem10]

2. Continue to encourage and bring attention to groups throughout

the US. For intstance, I dropped my jaw when I heard
5 different "occupations" were reported from Iowa of
all places. This morning I heard(MSNBC) that London(UK)
have Occupation next week.

[FirstLight]

3. Amen!

This is the only thing we have going for us, is that UNIFYING quality of the 99%ers... it is what has made this so powerful. it doesn;t matter what walk of life we are from, what our beliefs are... the CORE is what matters.

In the NYC-GA statement, the opening sums it all up for me...that fact that we must come together because not only do we need eachother, but the planet needs us too. there's a very core concept for all of us to rally behind.

thanks for posting this, i look forward to more discussion!

[Frustratedlady]

4. There is always (I hope) the Internet. Of course, they could shut it down...

But they realize the power of communication and fear communication. It used to be easy to control the masses with a few, well-constructed talking points. Look how the RW fed the media each day. It was like an echo-chamber when you clicked from one news program to another.

OWS has their own type of communication. Pass the word. They could set up a website where those interested in helping from home (me, for instance) could pass the latest (confirmed) news to all my friends/family on Facebook and/or Twitter. That way, the RW sees this spider spreading across the US so fast, they can't control it and that scares them. They've always had control of the message.

Cantor is already running scared. With Halloween so close, he fits right into the landscape.

Just sayin'.

[annabanana]

18. They won't "shut it down".. They will BUY it. PLEASE:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2080396

(just sign & kick please)

[tridim]

5. Fat cats in $5000 suits don't fight, so who is going to fight for them?

They'll just continue to ignore us until we stop paying them to use our money.

[DearAbby]

6. They go in...sweep up the tents

OWS goes back and set up more tents. The people of Egypt didn't give up their square. They stood their ground, and gained support. this will too.

You don't mewl away when they say Shoo! YOU OCCUPY!

[Gregorian]

7. I hate the phrase "critical mass", but it seems that it is crucially important.

The protection of the interests of the 1% is going to happen. Or rather it is not going to not happen. Water cannons, tear gas, tasers, maybe live ammunition. I fear that if this goes only part way, it will give our police state even more leverage to grow and build. We're already in a well established place with respect to police strength. This simply must be large enough that they know they cannot suppress it.

And then, I know nothing. I'm just blabbing. But I want to express my opinion.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. In New York they will just let winter do the sweep.

But I agree that we need to make this a movement that is everywhere.

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. Winter supplies for NYC. Guy Fawkes masks for everyone in NYC.

They can wear them on the back of their heads but the message will still be there.

[Raksha]

10. K & R

[zazen]

11. maybe one to five VERY CLEAR boycotts, with protests on site?

Of course, I'm not willing (yet) to be arrested by occupying a Bank of America parking lot with a large sign that tells drivers-by and visitors, MOVE YOUR MONEY TO A CREDIT UNION.

But, what damage would 20 million people pulling money out of the major banks (already happening, but slowly) and into credit unions do?

What are a few other businesses/operations that if 10 million people boycott, change would happen?

It's got to be clear and simple for people to understand.

In addition to occupying the physical space, we can vote with our dollars. That seems to be the only thing these bastards understand. I don't know that a strike would work.

[L. Coyote]

12. WRONG: Right to assemble guaranted by the Constitution. Where to encamp is the question

and if the correct place is chosen, the courts will defend the protests. There is precedent.

http://www.meetup.com/occupytogether/

[sweetapogee]

14. not to disagree

starroute, not to disagree with your excellent analysis. As I understand it, the plan was to "Occupy Wall Street", to shut it down, to bring the financial industry to it's knees. One simple question, have we Occupied Wall Street yet?

[starroute]

15. "Plans" never work

The cops won't let the protesters near Wall Street. The system is not going to be brought to its knees in that way -- but it doesn't have to be. It's already in free fall.

Instead, the protests are turning into something else. They're spreading to a thousand other cities where there is no Wall Street. And they're becoming an experiment in direct democracy and a reminder to the country at large that a different world is possible.

It's that experiment that I want to see nurtured and expanded. I don't want the protesters to expend their energy in dead-end struggles against either the cops or the weather. I want that energy to go into something that is alive and growing. And I want to see all the different little alternative movements of the last couple of decades come together and realize their power.

So with that in mind, the questions become how to maintain momentum, how to maintain visibility, and how to bring the whole thing to a higher level.

It's like that sign I keep seeing turning up in posts -- the one that says "The beginning is near."

I'm working for that beginning.

[sweetapogee]

17. well then

your answer to the question "have we Occupied Wall Street yet?" is NO and that the occupation is no longer the goal of Occupy Wall Street? Instead, the new goal of this international movement is to change the US form of government from a represenative republic to a direct democracy?

[starroute]

19. Oh, I see now what you mean

Firstly, the *goal* of the movement was never to simply "occupy Wall Street." That was an attention-getting tactic dreamed up by Adbusters -- one that first proved to be unobtainable and then gave way to something far broader and more meaningful.

And as for your second sentence, it seems oddly like you're trying to raise the old specter of the Red Menace by talking about an "international movement" that wants "to change the US form of government."

But leaving that aside and taking what you say at face value, I would respond that the Constitution was written before there were railroads and telegraphs -- let alone more modern methods of transportation and communication -- so that the only way of handling democracy was by choosing representatives and sending them off to Washington.

But the original model of democracy -- as seen in ancient Athens or the New England town meeting -- has always been one in which citizens participate directly in the decisions that affect their own lives. And with the instantaneous communication and access to information that we now enjoy -- along with the increasing corruption of the old representation-based system -- direct democracy is going to have increasing appeal.

[workinclasszero]

16. This is becoming a world movement

Canada, Ireland, Britain and more probably. I see the next phase as just massive growth, worldwide.

Its gonna be a tough winter for those under tarps in sub zero weather. I hope they receive all the help they need, they are fighting for our future.