dagblog - Comments for "Lessons Learned: Living on the Left"

OWS was racially and

Michael Wolraich — Tue, 23 May 2017 13:54:03 +0000

In reply to Criticizing OWS for failing

OWS was racially and demographically inclusive, but I don't think that's what he's getting at. In his experience, many of the organizers shunned institutional support they saw as tainted. I didn't spend enough time there to confirm that, but the organizers I interacted with certainly tried to avoid anything corporate-related. For instance, people weren't supposed to use Microsoft products for OWS work.

I suppose we'd have to read Smucker's book for the details, but here is an earlier essay that offers a little more insight into his perspective: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/4/26/1086534/-A-Practical-Guide-to-...

That said, I agree with you that lack of leadership (which was deliberate) was also part of the problem.

The idea of cooperation with

rmrd0000 — Mon, 22 May 2017 23:15:29 +0000

In reply to We were prepared to work with

The idea of cooperation with political parties is not the memory many people are of OWS

edit to add:

https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2016/09/29/bernie-sanders-and-the-...

We were prepared to work with

HSG — Mon, 22 May 2017 22:10:39 +0000

In reply to If Barbara Lee and Keith

We were prepared to work with Democrats. With very few exceptions - Barbara Lee is one - they weren't prepared to work with us.

Criticizing OWS for failing

HSG — Mon, 22 May 2017 22:06:50 +0000

In reply to Lessons Learned: Living on the Left

Criticizing OWS for failing to reach out or fostering a sense of insularity betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what the movement was about. It's odd that Smucker makes such a mistake since he was apparently very involved in Occupy. In any case, the group was incredibly open-armed and never evinced the slightest concern about identity. Homeless people, city slickers, country bumpkins, trust fund kids, seniors, middle-aged folks, blacks, whites, Asians, and Latinos all rubbed shoulders and elbows.

During a march I joined from Zuccotti Square to Washington Square, we received a wholly reasonable demand from police officers to remain in one lane on the uptown side of 6th Avenue. Not only were there no recriminating words but as we passed the line of blue shirts, the occupiers as one chanted and pointed to the cops at the appropriate times "we are the 99 percent, YOU are the 99 percent. It was beautiful!

The problems that did Occupy in were not, in my view, a misplaced insistence on purity or a limiting enforcement of an insider-outsider dichotomy. Instead, the various groups were too suspicious of concentrated power to rally behind any leaders - even homegrown ones. Thus, the endless and incredibly boring assemblies where hours were spent in vain attempts to reach consensus and the refusal to try to engage in partisan politics in any systematic way.

If Barbara Lee and Keith

rmrd0000 — Mon, 22 May 2017 21:37:40 +0000

In reply to During OWS, I was doing my

If Barbara Lee and Keith Ellison aren't pure enough, I don't know what you want. Cornel West was on Bill Mahrer on Friday. When confronted with the fact that 24 million people may lose health care under Trump, West still could not see voting for Hillary.

During OWS, I was doing my

HSG — Mon, 22 May 2017 21:14:06 +0000

In reply to Lessons Learned: Living on the Left

During OWS, I was doing my daily 3-hour radio show. As I can best recall, I was one of the few, if only, progressive hosts who discussed Occupy Wall Street, participated in protests, and interviewed as many leaders as I could. I specifically remember asking Marisa Holmes (she was one of the protesters who was injured by a cop when he roughly arrested her on or near the Brooklyn Bridge) and Dr. Margaret Flowers, who was involved in a parallel DC protest, about the possibility of working with progressive democrats. They both told me the same thing. They'd love to join forces with well-connected allies but they never saw any. Where were these powerful Democratic friends they asked me?

It's true that I saw Representatives Keith Ellison and Barbara Lee at Occupy McPherson Square, DC. They were walking around talking to some of the occupiers. When I identified myself as a progressive talk show host from California and asked if I could interview them, they both quickly walked away from the park. I chatted with a few of the people to whom the representatives had spoken. I was told they wanted to know what the occupation was about and what the protesters wanted.

My sense then was that the Democratic party had no intention to modify its positions to suit the protesters just as it continues to pay lip service to economic progressives but to comply with the wishes of the rich and powerful.

Just what I needed!!

Obey — Mon, 22 May 2017 21:09:58 +0000

In reply to That did it - music break.

Just what I needed!!

That did it - music break.

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 22 May 2017 17:54:00 +0000

In reply to My first reaction to reading

That did it - music break.

certainly that happened with

artappraiser — Mon, 22 May 2017 17:32:06 +0000

In reply to I don't have a lot to add,

certainly that happened with OWS! It started with a huge number of people of all walks chiming in all across the country, then slowly disintegrated into only the *correct* kinda anarchist need apply! (took a lot of work to understand all the true rules of the new anarchy! exhausting!)

i luv it.

artappraiser — Mon, 22 May 2017 17:26:57 +0000

In reply to Yes - highly disappointing

i luv it, Obey. Beats everything at the art fairs this month by a mile.