OWS Losing Focus & Supporters

[1village]

I am someone who has been doing all I can to promote OWS and the 99D. However, now that Occupy Oakland has started tearing things up and costing the poor city of Oakland millions in damages, cop fees, and such; people who were really on board are losing support, interest, and focus. They are calling for a leader in OO! Not a unilateral leader, but more of a Spokesperson who can say this is why we did what we did. The public deserves to know why we are tearing up Oakland and not Pinole or Rodeo or Hollywood or Beverly Hills. I am not promoting violence, but the feedback is that of the Rodney King riots... "why do they always have to tear up the poor people's hoods? Why can't they tear up the 1%'s hoods?".

Again, I promote no violence. The big issues is of lack of representation from the Occupy Camps. Not a leader, but organization and proper press coverage and such. The public is hollering about the foreclosed home takeover that was botched, and now the recent YMCA and City Hall break ins. They want to know why they keep getting terrorized.

Okay, so my overall questions.....Can someone please tell me how they feel about the lack of a spokesperson and lack of organization within the OO camp? Do we need a committee to go support and help them reorganize, not that we are saviors, but maybe we can help?

I am losing hope in the overall movement with infighting and lack of organization. I will never give up, but I would like to help all I can!

Many blessings to all who read this and to whomever helps me by replying. One love.

[1village]

"The third stage is bureaucratization, in which the movement becomes better organized, with specific roles and responsibilities of its members. This stage is critical because it helps a social movement have a better chance of long–term survival.". (Vessing, 2011)
--> In reference to the stages of social reform as it relates to the stages of a social movement.
--> We are in stage 3 of OWS.......what's next?

Vissing, Y., (2011) An Introduction to Sociology. Bridge Point Education: San Diego, CA

[hendrimike]

i definitely against the violence aspect of this which is what drew me in to the 99D, but i think the problem with us going to them is that they have no spokesperson because they are all spokespeople. there is no leader. direct democracy is what they want and that's what they are doing for better or worse. that is the main difference between ows and 99d.

[forbesmb]

The issue with Oakland is that it is one of *those* spots.

Mind you, let me state I'm not trying to pigeon hole them or be overly critical; however, Oakland's political protests have had a history of some violence and aggressive action. Additionally, they have slipped from the path a bit and started focusing more on an "us versus the police" mentality, which is never the best stance to take.

From the beginning of their protests with Occupy, they've had some difficulty. I was on the Occupy Oakland Facebook page in the early days. They had some good ideas and good people, but there were a hefty percentage that were advocating more violent action. As Michael stated, direct democracy, for better or worse. Once you make the decision for some level of aggression, it tends to escalate until we reach the point where they are now.

Honestly, I understand some people are put off by that level of violence. Still, other Occupy groups and localities can try to minimize the losses by sticking to our original messages and promote better awareness as to what Occupy, as a whole, has accomplished.

It's definitely worth looking into... some sort of national network of Occupiers that works as a positive Press Gang to counter the difficulties created by the work of a handful.

[tdrivertom]

Sorry to hear that something you've been so dedicated to 1village, is coming apart at the seams. This doesn't surprise me in the least.

I have been one of the earliest followers of the OWS phenomenon. Since September 21st I have been watching things unfold. I have been one of the many who have asked OWS to "get a message" and "develop a mission." Our requests have largely been ignored, and they continue to be ignored as newer "occupy" groups like Occupy Oakland came on the scene.

Since early December, I have been suggesting to OWS that it's time to pack away the silly masks, it's time to quiet the drum circles, it's time to get out of the streets, and it's time to stop occupying crap! This is not how you are going to change America. But there are many in the occupy movement and in Occupy Oakland in particular who aren't interested in changing America for the better. They'd like to just burn it all to the ground. This kind of anarchist sentiment doesn't go very far with me, and I don't think it goes very far with the majority of the 99%. Don't try to keep making this about "police brutality." This isn't about the police. It never was. They too, are a part of the 99%.

[wildmother]

yeah, I was born in Oakland and now I'm in Philly. Both rough towns. Philly Occupy seemed gentle but scrape the PR off City Hall and it's vicious.

Sometimes the best thing to do is just go ahead with a good positive idea and keep bringing it to fulfillment and not get distracted by drama.

Keep the faith. Keep on Truckin' This journey will keep morphing.

[billyspudd]

OWS is simply the first articulations of the American people waking from their propaganda induced coma. We all have a LOOOONNNNNNGGGG way to go before those in power become genuinely scared (and thus respectful) of us. We will probably see a lot of enthusiasm fall away this year as well. I can tell you, though, as an historian, the grassroots enthusiasm will come roaring back once the elite make another move to destroy this country. And that is going to happen, because once a group of people is dedicated to subverting a country, they can't stop, otherwise they will end up in jail.

OWS and 99% are eventually going to learn that it is going to be a violent struggle and that all the 'if we only stand up and shout they'll quit' is immature wishing. Revolutions take courage and commitment. That will come as people get more enraged at what is happening. In the meantime, people should talk about the issues, because "IF YOU CAN'T NAME THE DISEASE, YOU CAN'T CURE IT". Those in power know this, and so they seek to censor, minimize, falsify, and mislead the people of this country. The 99% need to let everyone know what is going on and engage people fearlessly in talk.

[1village]

I just want to say thank you to all who replied. I am so honored to have so much feedback, I appreciate it. I am compiling a response with some ideas using all the great suggestions you all made. The spirit of the movement may not stay at a camp or abandoned building, but it will stay alive inside each and everyone of us. We do have the power. Blessings to you all for your help in giving me the perspective I needed. This is why I love peple! <3

[drhank]

Billyspudd is exactly right. I am amused when people are upset that OWS hasn't overcome and replaced the entire socioeconomic system...after all it's been at least 6 months already!

Civil rights took ten years...I wonder how many people told Rosa Parks and her compradres to give it up? And what was the time frame between the bus boycott and a full fledged, well organized, MLK led social movement with clear cut goals?

We have done a great deal in the time that we have been protesting. We have broken though the din of corprotainment and have been dominating the presidential campaign with our ideas and issues.

As a part-time occupier, I am very much looking forward to the plans we are making for this spring and summer...it should be very interesting going forward.

[1village]

Drhank...I totally understand what you mean, however the Occupy Camps seem unwilling to choose a spokesperson. They also refuse to stop this ongoing press that contends that we must be Anarchists in order to believe in Solidarity.

I am not saying that the movement should be way further along. I am just saying that it needs to be open to change, just like our 99D group here. I think that people like me have tried to talk to them about who is their "spokesperson" (instead of the dreaded L word---leader), but they refuse to do so in fear of one person making decisions, but we never asked for a dictator, just a person willing to say "I speak for the 99% when I say we broke into the YMCA and burned the flag because..............". This no longer feels like the camps, at least Oakland, are working towards the main 99% goals anymore. They have created their own violent and destructive agenda. I said it before and I will say it again, violence is not the answer, YET some NOISE will happen!

However, do you agree with them tearing up Oakland instead of big banks? Using police resources to burn the flag and break into city hall while people died in East Oakland because no police were out there to respond---do you agree with that focus? Do you agree with saying you have a set place to build a camp and then getting kicked out because the resident didn't really make an agreement or didn't really own the property? What poor planning. They need help. I can only imagine they are a small core group of vigilant OCCUPYers who are tired and burnt out and their only recourse seems to be violence and destruction. They need our help, all the 99%, to be helping to occupy, donate, give ideas, etc...

My point is simply that having a spokesperson to say this is what happened......might help public opinion of the movement because we are losing supporters period! Having a meeting with people like you and me who are willing to help would make a difference in how theynmove forward....possibly new ideas, support, and goals that match more with the movement and not jumping straight to destruction.

[webe1954]

The Occupy movement focused the spotlight on the problem. We now need to speak succinctly about what we want to have happen. That will mean coalescing our message and getting spokespeople out there to broadcast it. We have to have a clear message to send to people or why would they bother to listen?
Before I found the 99%Declaration, when people I spoke to about the Occupy movement would ask "What do they want?" I didn't really have a clear answer. They shrugged off what I was saying as pointless and unimportant. I knew what I wanted but not what the folks camping out wanted.

[1village]

Webe1954...I think you make a great point.

I say the following always out of love for the movement...

We desperately need a spokesperson...we need some refocusing and someone/many people, to step up and help reshape the image of the movement, especially at the occupy camp level...that which is being plastered on mainstream media for the masses to consume. I know ol G's(elderly freedom fighters), OWS campers, strangers, aquaintances, friends, professionals, etc...in the beginning---shutting down ports, taking tear gas, making a statement, and seeing the Solidarity---they were like "YES OCCUPY OCCUPY OCCUPY! GO OAKLAND! YES SUPPORT OWS!" 

They were in love with the movement, and even the occasional 'noise making', that may have led to some property damage of big businesses and a show of force---but they loved that the people, their people---black, white, yellow, brown, all colors were standing up against the common enemy in the government & willing to lose life, limb, and property to make their point that 'WE'RE NOT GONNA BEND OVER AND TAKE IT ANYMORE'---they loved that their people weren't afraid of a little tear gas or night sticks---THEY FELT A SPARK INSIDE  THAT THEY MAY HAVE NOT FELT IN A LONG TIME, OR MAYBE EVEN NEVER BEFORE---THEIR SPIRIT TO FIGHT BACK CAME ALIVE---show these BEEZWAXES that we're not going to foreclosed, laid off, or played with anymore---We're fighting back MOFOS!---THEY GREW SOME BIG ONES IN THAT MOMENT & FOUND AN -EMOTIONAL- CONNECTION TO THIS MOVEMENT LIKE IM SURE YOU ALL HAVE BECAUSE YOU'RE READING THIS AND YOU'RE DOING THE WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE! 

BUT these wide range of supporters are pulling back because the focus is now on anarchism and violence.  We are losing supporters and all I want is someone to stand up and say, "no this is what we really believe, not this violence and anarchism you see on tv!"

I saw the news pick your typical stereotypical black person who looked high or drunk and had them say...to the best of my quoting, 'I am an anarchist, so I support Solidarity.' ***-->PLEASE UNDERSTAND BEFORE I GET THE VISCOUS EMAILS ABOUT BEING RACIST...I AM A BLACK WOMAN & I LOVE MY BLACK PEOPLE WITH ALLLLLLLLLL MY HEART & SOULD...I AM NOT SAYING ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE HIGH AND DRUNK...BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT'S HOW THE MEDIA PORTRAYS US ....HISPANICS AS DRUNKS...SAMOANS BIG AND SCARY AND MEAN...ETC...IM TIRED OF IT!!! 

Now they are trying to put these stereotypical figures up that are uneducated to the real ways to move a revolution like this.  The news is preying on the weak links in the Oakland & other camps and posting them and their violent deeds all over the news. They (media) have a calculated plan on how to twist facts and fiction together and re-write history.  WE CANNOT LET THEM DO THIS.  THE PEOPLE THEY ARE USING AS PAWNS ARE THE 99% JUST LIKE YOU AND ME.  I WAS A DRUGGIE, EXCESSIVE DRINKER, LOST & MAKING BAD DECISIONS, BUT I FOUND MY WAY TO A NEW PATH WHERE I STILL MAKE SOME MISTAKES, BUT I LEARN MORE FROM THEM AND USE THEM TO MAKE BETTER MYSELF AND THOSE AROUND ME.  

We have to help these lost souls as well.  They are like many of us were when we just needed someone to show us they cared, and that people do care in positive ways.  We have to help our brothers and sisters out their fighting for us, no matter how lost the message & messengers, that we care-appreciate them- & we must help educate them so they CAN USE THAT POWER OF INFLUENCE AND FIRE FOR FREEDOM THEY PUT INTO VIOLENCE, AND REFOCUS IT INTO AN AMAZING ABILITY TO CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTERMENT OF ALL. If we teach them how to truly be freedom fighters at these camps, whether they be at Oscar Grant Plaza or daily meetings at a park or library...but we must help them learn how to PLAN, ORGANIZE, AND EXCUTE BETTER THE ACTIONS THAT WILL ULTIMATELY REPRESENT US ALL!!!  "There is a solution!"  Many blessings.

[nanettejw]

Hi 1village - Coming from California - Oakland has always been a tough town - however, I'm not convinced that those that caused the violence were true Occupiers and not plants. This said, having been to a couple of major Occupy events in Washington DC, the last one being Occupy Congress 1/17/12 - I can say that some people came with the intent of being arrested - the first man, a 60yr old from Tennessee told his bus mates that that was why he was going and low and behold, he was in fact the first to get arrested.

As for the Occupy movement as a whole - I am encouraged at what I read and see happening. They, police/officials may well have taken down the tent cities - the movement as a whole is regrouping. There may never be a 'leader' but I have seen many, many individuals speaking on certain programs about the movement as a whole. Part of the reason they don't want a leader, as I understand, is they don't want 'one' person for the main stream media to crucify or worse.... Look at what happened to previous civil rights spokes people - many ended up dead.

As for the progress - if you go to their web site they have a list of grievances - many of which the 99%D adopted. To which, while the 99%D is a worthy effort - in the end the only way to truly effect change is to call for Constitutional Convention - where the people and states arbitrate the grievances and propose ratification to the Constitution.

This is the direction that the OWS effort is moving towards. They are starting to propose the various Occupy efforts in the various states to petition and promote their respective states to support a Constitutional Convention - if they get 2/3 of the states to support this then congress is compelled to listen - if 2/3 of Americans support the proposed changes to the constitution then it overrules congress.... I offer the following as support:

What is an Article V Convention? The only direct way citizens can propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Why should OWS do this? Because OWS stands for fundamental changes to our democratic institutions and such a convention, an institution unto itself, is our brightest hope towards bringing about these changes.

What would OWS be proposing as amendments? This is something that needn't be answered specifically at this time. We can say now though, that our moniker—Occupy Wall Street—is a direct statement about where we see a fundamental problem, the solution to which must take place outside the current nexus of government and corporate institutions.

The proposal today is not about what amendment(s) to discuss and debate at a convention. It is simply about supporting the idea of holding a convention because we recognize it is the only way we citizens can participate directly in our constitutional form of government.

If OWS gets behind the Article V Convention it will create the awareness and political circumstance necessary to bring it about.

**Inter-Occupy Article V Working-group Acknowledgment Action**
We involved with Inter-Occupy Article V Conference call acknowledge the fact that the States have satisfied the required two-thirds numerical threshold to call for a National Constitutional Convention under Article V of the US Constitution and Congress should call a National Constitutional Convention to order.

(We offer the attached data to support our agreement of fact.
foa5c.org/file.php/1/Articles...entsTables.htm )

So my point here is - do not despair about the Occupy movement - they are in fact moving in the right direction - it may take more time then most of us would like - but then the world was not created in a day and we did not get in this mess over night.... it will take time and patience - but we are moving in the right direction.

"A corruption of our system.. Congress spends 30 - 70% of their time in office trying to raise money for their re-elections...... WE need to call upon our state legislator's to call for a convention to amend the constitution because we can not depend on congress to do what's right." Lawerance Lessig Author of "Republic Lost - How Money Corrupts Congress and A Plan To Stop It" Via The War Room with Jennifer Granholm

"....Because of the corruption of congress its self - The Cancer in that city is so advanced we can't count on them to bring about the change we really.... A constitutional convention is the only way to bring about the change America needs...."

[nanettejw]

99%- Clear Congress- NO Confidence Amendment
‎"For a free society to function in any capacity there has to be transparency of and access to information, as well as a set of rules that are applied equally to everyone. Our society has chosen not to hold those responsible for the financial meltdown accountable. This is destroying our society economically by stopping access to transparent information and is destroying our society socially by not applying the laws equally to everyone. Economists and others can attest to the languishing of our society in this financial quicksand so this commentary focuses on the social side of the scandal.

This blatant and overwhelming example of selective application of the judicial system forces even the most optimistic citizen to recognize that we now live in a society of the few unaccountable privileged and the many to which justice applies. Of course this didn’t happen overnight, but this state of our union has reached a tipping point now. For example, the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s did at least result in an application of the law to put at least 800 white collar criminals in prison. In just a couple of decades we can certainly detect a significant increase in the protection of the privileged class from the justice system. At this point it is difficult to imagine a scenario under which a group of persons within this class would be held accountable by the law. The justice system no longer applies to the few unaccountable privileged in our society.

The social destruction that this is causing to our society is one of despair. When people feel like the societal structure is unjust, unfair or “rigged”, they lose respect for it, withdraw from participating in it and simply don’t care about their communities or others. Once it becomes clear that we do not live in a free society of opportunity, but instead, one in which the privileged elite decide the rules to the game and to whom those rules apply, citizens do not have any reason to hold onto hope.

Just recently (in the context of human history) humanity challenged corrupt authority and introduced the concept of respect for the individual. From this was born the societal constructs of a republic and a democracy with unprecedented economic and social equality and mobility. We are the descendents of these great innovators and can choose to allow this to go down in history as a failed experiment in human society or we can choose to continue its existence with necessary structural adjustments.

Although our society has been hijacked by these few privileged elite, we do still have individual rights and with those historically-important responsibilities. Let’s be clear that the status quo is not an option. We didn’t get where we are today because we have always been like this. Our selective application of the judicial system and resulting immunity of the privileged class from justice has been a path our society has been following for decades. We can either continue along the current path or we can change course. Our society will not stay the way it is today.

Our political system is structured in such a way as to include money and influence as vital and integral components of the process. Any elected official on local or national levels is required to accept money to pay for activities that will get him/her elected. Anyone who has observed human nature knows that when a person receives money from another, they are beholden to that person. Not only does the person receiving feel an obligation, but the person giving has an expectation.

With this indebtedness component built into the structure, how can we expect the political process to be anything other than skewed towards the interests of those with money? Why is money and influence built into the system to begin with? The structure of the political system is flawed and therefore, all decisions and actions resulting from that system are flawed. We have a duty and responsibility to change this structural flaw in our political system to avoid the disappearance altogether of our rare and historic free society."
Opinions by Shelly Bernal
Source: www.occupyyourcongress.info/2012/01/31/financial-crisis-reveals-hopelessly-enslaved/

[nanettejw]

Occupy Wall St.

(H) Occupy Oakland holds anti-police ‘day of action’

Occupy Oakland protesters are planning more demonstrations against police and are pledging to fill city courtrooms during upcoming hearings.

Organizers have called for a "Day of Action" to start Monday morning in the movement's ongoing conflict with police over tactics used during earlier protests.

A rally scheduled for noon in front of Oakland City Hall is scheduled to feature recently jailed protesters speaking out against police.

Activists also say they will pack courtrooms during morning and afternoon hearings where they say attorneys working with Occupy Oakland will present evidence of unlawful arrests.

A late January clash between protesters and police in which City Hall was vandalized and an American flag burned led to more than 400 arrests.

A smaller protest Saturday night was peaceful, and no arrests were made. sacbee.com

FACTS & FIGURES

Oakland police have responded to the Occupy movement with flash grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas and firing of “non-lethal” weapons directly at protesters.

The Alameda Labor Council, the local labor federation in Oakland, has denounced the police crackdowns singling out for criticism Mayor Jean Quan and the City Council. firedoglake.com

The Courage Campaign, a 700,000-member activist organization in California, has gone out with a petition demanding that Mayor Quan investigate the police brutality in Oakland. firedoglake.com

Scott Olsen, 24 and an Iraq war veteran, suffered a fractured skull and brain swelling after he was hit in the head by a police projectile during the clashes on October 25. Guardian

A second Iraq war veteran suffered serious injuries in November after clashes between police and Occupy movement protesters in Oakland. Guardian