A Winter of Discontent

The evening's facilitators, Anna and Greg, address the Occupy Boston General Assembly. November 26, 2011

Much has been made of the problems that plagued the larger Occupy encampments in their final days. A few weeks ago, I spoke with journalist Chris Hedges, a vocal supporter of the movement, during a visit to Occupy Harvard. He admitted that the New York camp in Zuccotti Park had become mired in problems: “They lost control of the camp in the last three weeks,” admitted Hedges, “when they went inside their own individual tents.”

These camps were created as examples of an alternative society that was wholly inclusive and equitable. They exercised a horizontal democracy in which everyone was represented and no one could accumulate power: consensus ruled.

It was beautiful idea: living, utopian communities existing in the nation’s public squares and parks for anyone to join. However, the scenario that played itself out over the past few months has revealed a reality far more complicated. These camps, which were open to everyone, became a place of refuge for those who had been turned away by virtually every other mainstream community that exists in our society today. They became places that would accept and care for the country’s homeless and those with serious substance abuse problems.

What does this mean? I was chatting with a man in the media tent at Occupy Boston, who said the New York Times had called him to ask one question, “How bad is your homeless problem?” It’s an example of the manner in which the media has trivialized the issue, treating it as a problem of bad optics for the movement, rather than as an indication of the dire need for inclusive communities like the ones Occupy created.

I arrived at Occupy Boston in late November, weeks before the December 10 eviction that cleared Dewey Square of the hundreds of tents that had been there since late September. I arrived after dark as the community gathered against a towering spotlit brick wall to hold their daily General Assembly. That night, a long, painful, and revealing conversation took place about the fate of one particularly difficult resident of the community, a man named Henry.

Henry was a much loved member of Occupy Boston with substance abuse and mental health issues that had become too unweildy for those in charge of safety to handle on their own.

A proposal was made to evict Henry from the camp.

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I recently discussed Occupy Wall Street and my experiences travelling across the United States visiting camps and activists with the Canadian radio show Public Eye. I spoke with political columnist Sean Holman, and our chat was broadcast on Victoria’s CFAX 1070. To listen to our conversation, click here.

Protester Rey Ramirez holds a sign at the Occupy ICE rally in Los Angeles. Thursday, December 15, 2011.

“Aqui Estamos,

Y no, nos vamos,

Y si nos hechan,

Nos regresamos.”

“We’re here, we’re not leaving, and if we do, we’ll be back.” It was a phrase chanted constantly and passionately by the 2000 citizens who marched on the Los Angeles Federal Building this past Thursday as part of Occupy ICE. They gathered to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose policies marchers say split up immigrant families and keep undocumented workers living in fear.

Outreach from the Occupy movement to the immigrant population was seen across the nation this past weekend. “Immigrants Occupy” marches took place yesterday in New York, and there have been rallies over the past few days in support of immigration reform in Orange County, San Francisco, San Diego and Portland, Oregon.

The Occupy ICE march reaches the Los Angeles Federal Buildings.

Undocumented workers are without a doubt a part of the 99 percent, and there are many individuals without legal status in the U.S. that refrain from actively participating in these marches and protests for fear of legal repercussions.

“I know for a fact there are undocumented workers that are not here today because they’re afraid of ICE and being deported,” said protester Rey Ramirez, who is also involved in Occupy Clairmont.   “These people are a part of the 99 percent and are even more taken advantage of than most: they are living in fear.”

Ruth, 29, is a member of the SCIU union and is a long-term care worker. Her brother-in-law was deported to Mexico two years ago, and she now takes care of her sister and niece. “We’re fighting for immigrant rights,” said Ruth. “I’m an American citizen, and we’re here to make a difference.”

Ruth, centre, with two friends.

As has been stated ad nauseam, this is a diverse movement with diverse goals, and, as winter wears on and public interest wanes, it is movement that could clearly benefit from a surge in numbers. Reaching out to the 12 to 20 million undocumented workers in the U.S. who likely strongly identify with many of Occupy’s goals could be a wise move.

Yet this march mirrors a larger trend within the movement: the cooption of smaller splinter groups with specific demands that orchestrate individual direct actions under the umbrella of Occupy. This march was far more organized than any I’ve seen so far, likely due to the support provided by those well practiced in direct action – trade unions like the SEIU United Services Workers West, and social justice organizations like ANSWER, an antiwar and racism coalition. The press release distributed at the march highlighting its agenda was on SEIU letterhead, and both organizations regularly champion the immigration reform issues being addressed.

A protester shouts in Spanish into a bullhorn at the Occupy ICE rally.

Occupy’s new focus on diverse direct actions was born of necessity. The camps, when they existed, provided a focal point and home base from which to grow and disseminate ideologies. They also provided a clearer structure, and were a novel way of challenging authority that eventually resulted in both political and public attention. They also provoked dramatic police action, a narrative of the movement that, for better or worse, has been followed more closely than anything else that has happened within Occupy so far.

Now those camps are mostly gone, and in their place these smaller groups are continuing to champion individual causes. But while people marching in the streets for immigration reform is a valid and important action, it is something the media and the public have seen before. And while those marching on Thursday drew a strong connection between Occupy’s stated goal of ending the greed and corruption of the 1% –  that ICE serves the desires of the corporate 1% by union busting, for example – it may be more difficult for the general public to make that connection.

Specific interest groups performing actions like the march this past Thursday likely aren’t hurting Occupy, but they’ll only contribute to the growth of the movement if they eventually find a way to come together and speak with one voice.

What now? New York has been leading the amorphous, headless beast that is Occupy Wall Street since day one back on September 17, and stalwart occupiers across the nation – now mostly evicted from their tent cities – are turning to the former residents of Zuccotti Park for guidance on what comes next.

This past Friday evening in Times Square provided a glimpse of the shape the OWS of the future will take. At 6pm, in front of the tourist-packed bleachers beneath the unmistakable shimmering Coke sign, a small gathering of boisterous activists stood in a circle. An OWS regular in Lennon-esque sunglasses directed the group in occupy-themed protest songs, flanked by a ring of media that came close to outnumbering them. The humble singalong marked the beginning of Occupy Broadway – a 24-hour performance by bands, theatre and dance companies, puppet troupes and more. The actual performances took place in the privately owned public Paramount Plaza at 1633 Broadway at 50^th, blocks from Times Square and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra kicked off the boisterous proceedings, which occurred with limited interference from the NYPD.

It felt like a party, but with a purpose – to take control of the symbolic centre of the city, a core that has been all but completely coopted by corporate interests. Reverend Billy of the Church of Life After Shopping offered up a typically lively sermon that tidily summed up how those in the crowd view Broadway’s metamorphosis since the ‘90s: “Rudolph Guiliani and Mickey Mouse and the New York Times started arresting the interesting people on our sidewalks here,” shouted Billy through a comically large white megaphone. “The people with uncertain hygiene, the people who thought they were Jimi Hendrix, the Shakespearean monologists with no apparent audience. We love those people…at one time this was an international commons. There were 315 original dramas every season. Now, it’s a Republican theme park. Until today.”

Reverend Billy and his ludicrous megaphone

There is a shift occurring, and though it was forced upon the movement by police actions, it is a necessary shift – from round-the-clock occupation of physical space, to an ongoing series of direct actions that aim at outreach and “reclaiming space.”

A gathering on Saturday morning in Zuccotti Park was also indicative of how OWS plans to grow the movement in the coming months. Many of the city’s religious leaders gathered with occupiers to make an impassioned plea to the heads of churches and places of worship that have yet to open their doors to the movement to do so. “The Occupy is the force that will revitalize traditional Christianity in the United States, or signal its moral, social and political irrelevancy” said journalist Chris Hedges, addressing the crowd. The gathering also celebrated the launch of Tidal, a self-published journal containing essays by intellectuals and occupiers, what the editors described as “a space for our voices to be heard.” On the back of the program for the day’s speakers – which included journalist Chris Hedges and Bishop George Packard – was yet another global call to action, phrased thusly: “Proposed National Call to Re-Occupy: December 17 we call on the displaced occupations across the nation to re-occupy outdoor spaces…we will take space and celebrate victory in our new occupations.”

Chris Hedges chats with an occupier in Zuccotti Park. December 2, 2011.

The intentional communities that were the tent cities were a powerful first step, a place where the process of horizontal democracy that in many ways defines the movement could be developed, and where people ready and willing to work for change could find each other. Yet as time has passed, managing the ongoing logistical problems within these communities – violence, substance abuse, cooption by those in desperate need of social services – was consuming so much time and energy that the broader purpose of the gathering was being forced to the side (at least in the camps I’ve visited).

As the heart of OWS moves from city parks to focused indoor working groups planning purposeful actions, those who have been fiercely committed to the ideological goals of OWS have the opportunity to shift their focus from the day-to-day logistics of running the camps to spreading OWS’s message of economic equality past the metal barriers that line Zuccotti Park, to the rest of the 99 percent.

As I listened to impassioned speeches by inspired activists, it was hard not to notice that the numbers were small. Two challenges now face those who now steer OWS: maintaining momentum in the absence of the 24-hour media coverage that constant police surveillance brings, and growing their numbers by finding a way to appeal to more mainstream demographics. Looking around Zuccotti at the couple hundred people huddled in the cold, was a little discouraging, but listening to them speak was not. One protester, 25-year-old Zachary Kamel, was particularly inspiring. Here’s what he had to say: