Within progressive and left political circles there's still a lot of talk about "Occupy" as if it is a movement that remains highly active, with mass participation and influence still growing, and the movement increasingly relevant in the day to day American political scene. Is this really the case?
If one surveys the scene right now, one might notice that there really are no "Occupy" actions happening. There are no parks or public spaces being occupied. The kind of town hall dialogue within public space that went on last autumn isn't happening either. Confrontations with police and local government where they are happening are based on attempts to re-occupy this public space (literally and figuratively) by activists, almost immediately met with overwhelming police force. Given the high level of local government and police resistance to attempts to re-occupy, "Occupy" has lost the kind of magnetic effect which brought millions of otherwise "non-political" people into "Occupy" actions and its wider dialogue.
So, that's it, American resistance to capitalism and the 1% is over...
God, I hope not!
While "Occupy" as an active movement winds down, other forms of resistance continue, and some of these have been pretty successful. Here in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest the ILWU (International Longshore Workers Union) has once again successfully defeated an attempt to break the union's job control of the West Coast ports. It should be noted too that the attempt to break the union's control of the ports was very much a combined effort uniting capital (grain shippers primarily) and local and State governments; and they failed...
Another example: Northwest Oregon has also seen a flurry of teachers strikes across a number of rural and suburban school districts. Teachers are currently striking the Reynolds Educational District. Earlier this spring Eagle Point Educational District staff struck for eight days, although finally capitulated to the District's demands.
Likewise, last weekend saw a determined protest of NATO in Chicago. Determined in that demonstrators continued to plan and hold demonstrations in spite of every legal obstruction available thrown in their path, with demonstrators hit with the kind of police violence that Chicago and its Police Department are so famous for. Yet these actions involved thousands.
And it should be mentioned too that resistance continues on university campuses, around local events (Trayvon Martin for instance), and so on. In this sense, "Occupy" might be dead, but resistance continues.
A natural history of movements:
"Occupy" accomplished much. Indeed a lot of the resistance going on now (not to mention further resistance) wouldn't be happening without "Occupy".
The above is a bit simplistic, but "Occupy's" significance and importance comes down to a couple of accomplishments. First, "Occupy" broke the official political apparatus (government, Republican and Democrat politics) and the media's monopoly control of political discourse. Second, "Occupy" directly contradicted the phony 1%'s (or more accurately to .1 %) limited and twisted portrayal of reality.
Yet that which contributed to "Occupy"'s success also contained some serious limitations to the further development of a viable resistance movement.
For instance, "Occupy"'s town hall type general councils, with their emphasis on direct participation and consensus decision making made it possible to bring forward a thousand points of view in a public and political setting (and was basically adequate in running camp affairs), its fluid and anarchic structure made a definition of objectives and supporting actions impossible.
"Occupy"'s insistence on total consensus and its belief in the equality of all ideas also meant that no ideas were subject to evaluation and tests of validity. While educational events covered just about any angle one could think of, the movement itself was unwilling to to criticize or adopt any definition. Here in Salem for instance, the "Occupy" movement displayed a great reluctance to define itself in opposition to the "Tea Party".
As a movement, "Occupy"'s insistence on defining itself around an action, that is camping out in public places; and its style of process, that is open consensus, became too much to bare. "Occupy" as "Occupy" progressively fell apart as police repression and winter set in.
Here's the big question though:
Is "Occupy" the movement? Or is "Occupy" a phase in the development of a wider resistance movement?
If "Occupy" itself is the movement, then we are already dead. This is because there is no "occupying" going on now, and because those who participated will be looking backward trying to re-create, rather than widening and developing as events unfold. Finally an insistence on the equality of all ideas hiding behind consensus would mean perpetrating "Occupy"'s worst internal defect, that is its tendency to devolve into a "Tower of Babel".
On the other hand, if "Occupy" is a phase in a wider development, it leaves us in the position of learning a great deal about how and what to resist.
Last autumn's "Occupy" actions firmly placed capitalism's dirty under belly in the national and international spotlight. The mass nature of "Occupy" meant too that American capitalism's unquestioning mouthpiece, the media, could not stuff this one back into the closet.
The value of the above two factors cannot be minimized. Yet if we stop here, all of last autumn's actions will eventually be forgotten and "Occupy" will cease to be a historical force as it is instead transformed into meaningless nostalgia.
So, I honor "Occupy" as I bury it. Yet bury it we must if the spirit created is to continue and take form.
P.S. Please comment, this is meant as a sort of dialogue
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5 comments:
There is nothing the two political parties would like more than for Occupy to become merely a dull roar while their charade can take center stage for the next 6 months. If there is one thing that Occupy has brought to the fore it is that yes, Virginia there is indeed a class struggle going on (denied by both parties). Historically, our Marxist writers have always pointed out that the anti-capitalist struggle has its ebb and flow but there will be a resurgence. It is like we have been bumped to a new level with a new consciousness and that will not go away
Occupy isn't dead and may (or may not) have a new lease on life after this weekend, after the protests in Quebec and after uniting with people in motion after the killings of Trayvon Martin and other Black people. Or---alternate scenario---maybe the movement forming around Trayvon Martin and the others killed will eclipse Occupy in militance, breadth and being active at the grassroots. Or maybe the energy that went into Occupy will be channeled into political work and the November elections. Or maybe, with the slowly improving economy, we'll see a strike wave that would not have been possible prior to Occupy. Maybe all of that will occur in more or less the same time frame and we'll see a new left emerge. All of these are good and possible scenarios. You can't think of Occupy in isolation from these possibilities and it's not up to anyone to bury it.
Occupy never was "the movement," but it certainly has revived social movements here in the US and abroad.
Whose interests are served by talking about Occupy in the past tense at this particular point?
The point is to leave behind forms that no longer are relevant. To focus on "Occupy" as the defining movement gets in the way of further development. To continue "Occupy" forward is to become attached to a past event... To limit the imagination to a fixed definition.
Certain things will need to happen if a meaningful resistance is to continue For some of these things to happen, the Occupy experience will need to be critiqued with lessons learned.
You say "Occupy" never was the movement. You know that, I know that. The reality is however that many people think Occupy is the movement. Thus, in the national mind radical change becomes synonymous with "occupy" and this vastly limits the definition of what's possible.
Finally, a lot of people who are being opportunist and who are not friends of radical change will co-opt the "Occupy" label and adopt their own particular agenda, calling it "Occupy"
Just for kicks too, I figure understanding how history works is always in our favor.
I suggest reading James Clark's "Occupy Everywhere" piece in the current issue (#158)of Against The Current. If we don't study these questions closely we fall into subjectivism, which is exactly what this article does.
Who gets to call any movement dead?
It's a thin line between continuation and co-optation where Occupy is concerned and it's a question designed to split the movement. For instance, do the "Occupy the Post Office" protests now underway co-opt or continue Occupy? I think they continue it and are as valuable as any previous protests. Does "Occupy the voting booth" as a slogan continue or co-opt the movement? I hope that it continues it. The Quebec student movement embodies everything Occupy has been about at its best without using the main Occupy themes or slogans. You can't call Occupy dead while these are underway or operative.
The on-going actions in Chicago prove the viability of Occupy, which gets the credit for at least some of the actions underway.
If we want to focus on a dead movement, let's focus on the Tea Party.
It does not serve the peoples' interests to raise or debate the viability of Occupy now. This conversation should be postponed to after the November elections and then taken up in relationship to those elections, the movement around Trayvon Martin and the other killings (these are not local issues) and the anticipated rise in labor organizing and activism.
The important thing is that we not just be observers but help build those actions that we believe are important..and definitely do not wait until after November. I am glad that SEIU agrees as there will be a large demonstration in Denver Monday with our allies and they have a strong Occupy there so SEIU will be a big boost to those actions and and in turn it will be an important statement to start the convention on.. How far we have come from the Convention where people had to cross a picket line to enter the convention and were instructed not to talk to picketers or take their leaflets!!!
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