- Joined
- Nov 3, 2010
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Yesterday, I took a couple of hours and went to see what all this Occupy stuff was about firsthand. I wasn't about to head all the way up to NYC, so I checked out the local parts of the movement here in DC. I was surprised with what I saw.
It is true that the OWS movement is lacking a centralized leadership, but that's hardly surprising for a grassroots movement. It seems to be various packets of people, who are slowly coalescing into a more organized affair. There were at least two groups of OWS in DC, staying in two different plazas. The tents were all clustered together, with a few communal ones for cooking and washing things. It actually looked kind of like a refugee camp, but that's not surprising, since most of the people who were there were unemployed.
In fact, the narrative that I've seen about the OWS failed to hold any water with the people I met. The group was about 150 strong, and only a dozen or so were close to my age (20s). The vast majority were older (40-60), working class people, of the same demographic that you'd see at a Tea Party rally, except these people were actually suffering. I spoke with several of these older folks and the story was the same each time. Laid off in the last year or two, and every job they applied for had dozens of applicants, sometimes hundreds. Some told of their jobs being sent overseas. Many had been evicted or foreclosed upon, meaning that they had been living in tents already, or staying with friends. These weren't lifelong hobos (many of whom suffer from mental retardation and have absolutely no means to change their situation because of this), but regular blue collar workers. These were lower middle class people whose livelihoods disappeared.
I spent an hour listening to their general meeting, in which they discussed some of the mundane elements of simply existing together in this setting. They were very dedicated to keeping the plaza clean, and ensuring that other events that were scheduled to take place there weren't affected. They discussed the successes and shortcomings of various protests and planning out future ones. Earlier that day, fifteen or twenty OWS had gone down into one of the metro stations and, at 4:15, had all frozen in place for fifteen minutes. The people at the station immediately took note. Some members of the media showed up and took a lot of pictures of the whole thing. Traffic within the station continued just fine, but a lot of people stopped and took note of what was going on. So, nobody was hurt, or messed with, but the message got out. The police in the station kept a watchful eye for any trouble, but no trouble happened. One cop even commented that he would be joining them in plainclothes the next day. The other events they talked about mainly involved marching and handing out a lot of fliers.
I can't speak to the OWS groups anywhere else, but having seen this group in DC firsthand, I have some healthy respect for them and their cause. They're normal people who have suffered from the recession, and who want to stop it and fix it. They hold the bankers who orchestrated the whole sub-prime system and default swaps and all that crap responsible, as they should. Some outright want to do away with capitalism, but not all. Considering the lives these people are living (as many are essentially homeless), and the vast benefits reaped by the people at the top who caused this recession, I'd want to do away with the system that facilitates it, too. But mostly what these folks wanted was their lives back. They were hard workers who didn't do anything to get caught up in crazy economic bubbles and bursts. I don't know if they're the 99%, but they're certainly the 75%. These folks are Joe the Plumber, only Joe hasn't been able to find work in over a year.
In addition to concerns over the economy and their complete lack of upwards mobility, they also spoke about addressing racism (contrary to the narrative of right-wingers, talking about race and racism isn't what makes you racist, the fact that unemployed black job seekers with similar qualifications are hired less often than their white counterparts makes employers racist), combating homelessness, and opposition to the current wars. Spending all that money on fighting a nebulous enemy while letting the core of America wither doesn't sit right with these folks.
The OWS protesters that I met were kind, older, respectful, blue-collar people. Some were religious, some weren't. Some were anti-capitalist, some weren't. A couple were even Code Pink types, much to my chagrin. But even they weren't screaming out stupidity. They just wanted their little slice of the pie back. They weren't about tearing anything down, but about building people up, so that no one would live in a precarious hand-to-mouth situation. With so much wealth in this country, why shouldn't these fine people be getting a fair share of it?
It is true that the OWS movement is lacking a centralized leadership, but that's hardly surprising for a grassroots movement. It seems to be various packets of people, who are slowly coalescing into a more organized affair. There were at least two groups of OWS in DC, staying in two different plazas. The tents were all clustered together, with a few communal ones for cooking and washing things. It actually looked kind of like a refugee camp, but that's not surprising, since most of the people who were there were unemployed.
In fact, the narrative that I've seen about the OWS failed to hold any water with the people I met. The group was about 150 strong, and only a dozen or so were close to my age (20s). The vast majority were older (40-60), working class people, of the same demographic that you'd see at a Tea Party rally, except these people were actually suffering. I spoke with several of these older folks and the story was the same each time. Laid off in the last year or two, and every job they applied for had dozens of applicants, sometimes hundreds. Some told of their jobs being sent overseas. Many had been evicted or foreclosed upon, meaning that they had been living in tents already, or staying with friends. These weren't lifelong hobos (many of whom suffer from mental retardation and have absolutely no means to change their situation because of this), but regular blue collar workers. These were lower middle class people whose livelihoods disappeared.
I spent an hour listening to their general meeting, in which they discussed some of the mundane elements of simply existing together in this setting. They were very dedicated to keeping the plaza clean, and ensuring that other events that were scheduled to take place there weren't affected. They discussed the successes and shortcomings of various protests and planning out future ones. Earlier that day, fifteen or twenty OWS had gone down into one of the metro stations and, at 4:15, had all frozen in place for fifteen minutes. The people at the station immediately took note. Some members of the media showed up and took a lot of pictures of the whole thing. Traffic within the station continued just fine, but a lot of people stopped and took note of what was going on. So, nobody was hurt, or messed with, but the message got out. The police in the station kept a watchful eye for any trouble, but no trouble happened. One cop even commented that he would be joining them in plainclothes the next day. The other events they talked about mainly involved marching and handing out a lot of fliers.
I can't speak to the OWS groups anywhere else, but having seen this group in DC firsthand, I have some healthy respect for them and their cause. They're normal people who have suffered from the recession, and who want to stop it and fix it. They hold the bankers who orchestrated the whole sub-prime system and default swaps and all that crap responsible, as they should. Some outright want to do away with capitalism, but not all. Considering the lives these people are living (as many are essentially homeless), and the vast benefits reaped by the people at the top who caused this recession, I'd want to do away with the system that facilitates it, too. But mostly what these folks wanted was their lives back. They were hard workers who didn't do anything to get caught up in crazy economic bubbles and bursts. I don't know if they're the 99%, but they're certainly the 75%. These folks are Joe the Plumber, only Joe hasn't been able to find work in over a year.
In addition to concerns over the economy and their complete lack of upwards mobility, they also spoke about addressing racism (contrary to the narrative of right-wingers, talking about race and racism isn't what makes you racist, the fact that unemployed black job seekers with similar qualifications are hired less often than their white counterparts makes employers racist), combating homelessness, and opposition to the current wars. Spending all that money on fighting a nebulous enemy while letting the core of America wither doesn't sit right with these folks.
The OWS protesters that I met were kind, older, respectful, blue-collar people. Some were religious, some weren't. Some were anti-capitalist, some weren't. A couple were even Code Pink types, much to my chagrin. But even they weren't screaming out stupidity. They just wanted their little slice of the pie back. They weren't about tearing anything down, but about building people up, so that no one would live in a precarious hand-to-mouth situation. With so much wealth in this country, why shouldn't these fine people be getting a fair share of it?
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