For Now, Occupy Has Just the Right (Lack of) Message
Occupy Wall Street has spread to cities (and even small towns) across the country and has shown itself to be a movement to reckon with.
It began on Sept. 17, with fewer than 50 people assembling in New York City, carrying diverse signs. In the weeks since, Occupy Wall Street has swelled to a tens of thousands in cities (and even small towns) across the country.
Major unions have officially endorsed the movement. Mayor Bloomberg met with Occupiers this week, in part to discuss clean-up plans. Protestors here in New York have formed a "sanitation committee" and are working with municipal authorities to keep the park clean and make sure local bathrooms stay tidy. In Boston, the tent city has a recycling center and a crew dedicated to clean-up.
This might just be a kinder, gentler (cleaner) revolution than any we've seen recently.
But is it in fact a revolution, or the beginnings of one? Could this turn into a political party like the Tea Party?
Not without a central message, critics say.
Huffington Post blogger Andy Olstoy echoed the sentiments of many in his recent blog, saying that he's inspired by the movement but "what concerns me is the messaging, or perhaps the lack thereof. What I hope to see come out of this movement, and soon, is a very clear set of goals. Demands which can be both easily heard and understood in Washington."
Organizers and spokespeople for the Occupy movements--which are deliberately "leaderless" and aim to be democratic -- say there will ultimately be a set of specific demands and legislative priorities. They're working on it, but it's not an easy task says organizer Justin Wedes.
"We claim to be 'the 99 percent' and if we are truly the 99 percent, that represents a very large spectrum of beliefs," he said on the Brian Lehrer Show, a New York-based Public Radio program.
The lack of a specific list of demands is just fine, the writer Naomi Klein told Brian Lehrer on an earlier show.
Responding to a recent New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof, in which he recommended specific demands, Klein said: "it was all good stuff but very wonky and the more time I spend with these young protestors the more inspired I become that their project it really about trying to change the culture that we live in so that it is less focused on greed. Yes, they want to change the banking system too but I think they want more than that," she said.
"We don’t actually know how to achieve the changes that we want right now let’s be honest. You know if you’re a young person in Egypt and you want change, it’s a little bit more straightforward to overthrow a dictator than it is to think about how you challenge this vast, amorphous global system that we are all in," Klein said.
What do you think?
Do you agree with Naomi Klein that Occupiers shouldn't in her words, "foreclose on the big dreams right now because I think it would be really dispiriting if they came up with a bunch of wonky demands that you can read in a very good New York Times column."
Or is it time for a unified, central message and specific demands if the momentum is going to continue?
Weigh in below!
Robert New
It's about time people start confronting the problems in the U.S.A.
November 19 at 12:06am
Gary
It seemed the movement started with an occupation of wall street. What those people were saying is that they were tired of being cheated, and having there retirement funds played with like monopoloy money. But in reality, it had alread begun with the outcry over-seas. It started in Egypy and Syria. And places like Lybia, and Bahrain. And let's not forget England. It's the same worldwide!
The thing really driving all of this though is basically the world's economy. And what it really is, is a fight against corruption. Something that money and power tends to lead too.
What I think brought it about here in the US finally, was when the people saw the representatives of the rich basically saying to hell with the rest of this country. And they voted against having taxes once again imposed on them.
October 19 at 05:16pm
Kennygo
here are just a few of the demands. True Freedom and democracy will include the following:
1. a requirement that all employees and public servants from the president on down in all branches of government divest of all stocks and similar instruments.
2. an end all foreign occupations except those authorized by a Congressional Declaration of War.
3. an end to all PACs and lobbying.
4. a break up of investment banking from conventional banking.
5. a law forbidding derivatives of any kind and their trading.
6. a forgiveness of all debts by the banks, the Federal Reserve and the IMF.
7. the closing of the Federal Reserve, the seizing of their assets and an auditing of their books with a reporting the public including who they are
8. a law requiring that all corporations have as their first duty and responsibility to contribute to the public good.
9. Enforce life liberty and happiness in the Constitution and repeal all laws and pass no new laws that infringe on what we do to our own persons.
10. a law allowing ownership of no more that one media outlet which has as their first duty and responsibility to contribute to the public good.
11. from outside the political arena, representatives gather at a constitutional convention convened every ten years to reaffirm the constitution.
Thanks for your consideration
Kenny Erickson
October 18 at 12:32pm
Guest
I will repeat what Bernie Sanders six point demand. Stop speculation on Wall Street and give us the same low interest rate that foreign investors received. Institutions that are too big to fail should be broken up into little pieces. Put the money into education, public works, and creating jobs. (What did FDR do?)
October 15 at 10:10pm
Kelly McConnell
The central message is, and should be, END the CORPORATE GREED that is destroying our environment and our democracy. That includes all of Wall Street, the oil companies, the coal companies, the nuclear energy companies, the drug companies, ALL of the war profiteers and any company that pollutes OUR environment to increase THEIR profits.
October 15 at 04:33pm
Mark McVay
Nothing gets done until the money is taken out of politics. Nothing.
October 14 at 12:48pm
Billie Sue Blythe
Please give me a canidate - I would like to start phone banking and get moving. I'm ready to go to work on a local level. Don't forget the election is just a year away.
October 13 at 10:17pm
Cryn Johannsen
I have a long response to this question, and was interviewed by First Tier Toilet about OWS. See here: http://firsttiertoilet.blogspot.com/2011/10/brief-interview-about-ows-wi...
October 13 at 07:31pm
Guest
Tax Churches, stop the war, focus on the well
being of the country! Organize now!
October 13 at 07:23pm
Attorney
I think that the movement should stay away from simple policy demands, as that will fracture a big tent. However, I do think it is a salient point that is growing legs to demand that our political leaders listen to the 99% of the country who cannot afford lobbyists and who, quite apart from being rewarded for malfeasance like banksters, seem to be punished for doing all the right things as good citizens. We live in the new Gilded Age, and we stand at a precipice of ending that age, or submitting to being the peasant class and losing our democracy completely other than in name.
October 13 at 05:04pm
Douglas Estes
The main problem is obvious. When you look at various polls related to various policies and issues, it is clear that the Congress, Executive Branch and the Supreme Court are out of touch with the demands of a super majority of Americn people. The reason again is obvious. Our government is controlled by an entrenched minority of wealthy individuals and corporations. Since it appears that our political system is corrupted, we the people must find ways to make this minority realize that oppressing and repressing the will of the American people is just not worth it.
October 13 at 03:09pm
Mike
I think that the target of the protests--Wall Street, the 1%, etc. is the right one. How the people who created the current Great Recession and perhaps the next one, has avoided public culpability till now is an interesting question. The fact is that my information on the Occupy movement has come from friends, from email, from internet sources, not largely the print and TV network media. Those sources are part and parcel of what is being protested.
October 13 at 02:57pm
Guest - AB
Frankly, I doubt that anything the OWS people say, do or advocate will make a bit of difference. This government is and has been for decades a kleptocracy (of, by, and for thieves) and an oligarchy, a plutocracy, etc. Anything but a democracy, or even a republic. What we the people want means nothing to the people who run this show; they see dissent as a joke, or a chance to take names, prepare lists of troublemakers and prep for a crackdown. Only a mass insurrection, involving tax revolt, civil disorder, and general defiance of the rulers would be effective in cracking the solidarity of the Empire. And, as an old 60s radical, I really don't think any of that will happen. We can't even get Obama, the great hope and change loudmouth, to do what he promised. The political leaders in this country, and most of the big business community, are all rotten crooks, and they will not cede power. So there is no real point in defining specific goals. Nobody cares. The hammer of fascism is coming down on America, and the long night of tyranny is just around the corner. Good luck to all of you.
October 13 at 02:51pm
Tod Brilliant
I think this brief piece sums things up, in terms of what Occupy can and perhaps should do, better than anything else I've read:
http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/523782-memo-to-the-occupied-movement-a
October 13 at 02:50pm
Guest
We DON'T want one "defining" demand stupid. Thats not its about. If you honestly believe that then you should not participate. Go home before you ruin everything
October 13 at 02:02pm
Evan McCray
I believe that the most effective route to progress is a radical change in our tax basis. Our economy generates enough income to provide for every person's needs, maintain a reasonably sized military, and support existing government institutions. I propose that every person, company, or profit making enterprise should pay 33% of that income in taxes. There would be no deductions of any kind, other than charitable contributions. 11% of that money would go to the Feds; 11% to the State; and 11% to the local government. There would be no property tax, no sales tax, deduction for Social Security or Medicaire, no local taxes. The Fed portion would pay for a National Health Care system, defense, and the national offices that oversee, food and drug safety, defense, interstate road systems, etc. State taxes would support, intrastate roads, bridges, colleges & universities, state police, etc. Local taxes would support schools, local police forces, trash collection and recycling, inspection and licensing of businesses, etc. Certainly some areas of public intercourse would have to be paid thru a shared methodology. Any company that does business in the US, regardless of whether it has a corporate headquarters in another nation, is subject to the 33% tax.
This formula would bring vastly more money ito the tax base, enabling us to also pay down on the national debt. If we are not willing to redistribute some portion of the wealth, we are sewing the seeds for a revoution in our own nation.
October 13 at 01:52pm
Lissa Squiers
The movement is perfect. Occupy Houston is doing great. Once we reach critical mass, the country will shift its thinking. The attacks on schools, reproductive care, the Post Office, Unions, healthcare, all of it is designed to wear people down and distract them. But we aren't distracted. We know that the Koch brothers, Darryl Issa, Rupert Murdoch, Mitch McConnell and others are DELIBERATELY tearing our infrastructure apart and ruining our country. People have been afraid to speak up and overwhelmed by all the problems. THIS BRINGS THE PROBLEMS TOGETHER! This puts it all into one big picture that people can see goes together in a pattern. THE DECLINE OF OUR STANDARD OF LIVING is a PLAN by the conservatives and super rich. They are such megalomaniacs and kleptomaniacs they can't stop themselves from taking and taking and taking. THEY HAVE TRIED TO SUCK THIS COUNTRY DRY. But the Occupy movement exposes that in a larger way than watching a news show or reading an email can. PEOPLE FEEL IT. PEOPLE FEEL HOPE NOW THAT WE CAN STOP IT. This is a rich country with lots of resources. We are smart and ready to build our futures. NOW WE CAN. OCCUPY HOUSTON IS DOING GREAT. Come see us!
October 13 at 01:26pm
Alexandra Hoffman
The Occupy movement should coalesce and march on Washington, stand in front of Congress and demand that they stop destroying our economy with their poisonos bickering, pass the President's jobs bill -- which isn't big enough as all non-idealogue economists agree -- and work together to find solutions to the country's critical economic problems.
October 13 at 01:12pm
Art Glick
The most important issue, over all, and the one on which we must concentrate is campaign financing, so as to limit the powers of the corporations.
October 13 at 12:11pm
