Justin Roczniak
I was really excited for Occupy Wall Street, I really was. Arab Spring seemed so easy. All those people did was stand around in a public square for a few days, and their oppressive and entrenched rulers pulled a Snagglepuss and exited stage left. Surely a few weeks of Occupy would lead our corporate overlords to do the same, and a glorious social democracy would rise in its place with universal healthcare, humane labor laws, universal union membership, a sensible fare system on SEPTA, and the metric system. I started reading Marx and wearing inspirational T-shirts with Che Guevara on them in anticipation of the coming revolution. I truly thought these were historic times.
Four or five months later, Occupy Wall Street hasn’t even gotten a “Heavens to Murgatroyd” out of the U.S. government. Far from the glorious social democracy arising, the government instead cleared the plazas and parks with riot police, an act which would have outraged the American public had the act been committed by any entity other than the American government. Defeated, the protesters resolved to “occupy their homes,” which was difficult for those who didn’t have one on account of being chronically unemployed (despite having a college education and excellent qualifications).
To add insult to injury, the media generally painted a picture of the occupiers as dirty hippies and entitled, spoiled brats and whatnot. Public support for the protests started waning. Finally, they stopped updating the “Timeline of Occupy Wall Street” article on Wikipedia, a sure sign that the movement was dying. I guess everyone’s too busy with spring break and KONY 2012 to worry about their own country’s problems.
So what is to become of the Occupy movement, then? As the weather improves, I expect that we will begin seeing the protests re-emerge on the East Coast, but will they be able to accomplish anything legislatively? Will it, in short, do anything? I think if the Occupy movement is to get anything done, they need to change their tactics.
The Tea Party was remarkably successful in pursuing its political aims (lower taxes, less regulations, more Jesus, etc.) by just flat-out endorsing the Republican Party. Republican candidates even went as far as to call themselves Tea Partiers. Occupy Wall Street, of course, won’t support any established party because they believe the two-party system is inherently corrupt. This is all well and good and principled of them, but it hasn’t really gotten anything done. If the Occupy movement is to get anything done, they’re probably going to have to ally themselves with one of the established political parties.
This won’t be easy, of course. OWS protesters are equal parts honest-to-God 21st-century Marxists, democratic socialists, moderates and Ayn Rand-worshipping Libertarians. If OWS allies itself with an existing party, it’ll probably fracture the movement and lose a lot of existing support. On the other hand, they’ll gain some measure of political power, something they have been lacking.
In the end, it comes down to this: When you’ve protested for months on end, shut down West Coast ports, been violently beaten down by police, ignored by the media and failed to create any kind of social change, maybe you’ve got to try working with the system a bit. It’s either that or nasty, ugly, violent, bloody revolution at this point. Given the size of our military, that probably wouldn’t go so well.
Justin Roczniak is a freshman majoring in civil engineering. He can be reached at op-ed@thetriangle.org.
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"universal healthcare, humane labor laws, universal union membership, a sensible fare system on SEPTA, and the metric system. I started reading Marx and wearing inspirational T-shirts with Che Guevara on them in anticipation of the coming revolution. I truly thought these were historic times."
It's so ironic that you right this, because the conlcusion that you reach, in this article, is correct, but should explain to you how wearing ridiculous things like that make people think you're fringe, and not in the system that you profess to begrudgingly need to work with.
EXPECT US
Before saying "failed to create any kind of social change" I suggest that you step back before OWS and ask yourself how prominent the concerns of income inequity, balanced taxation, banking accountability, and Citizens United vs the F.E.C. were in the national dialogue. Social change only comes after social awareness of the problems. In that regard OWS was already a resounding success by the middle of October. Patience and time will show us what OWS is capable of despite the formidable oppression of the ranking local military (police – but basically "one army under fear"). Don't be so quick to call retreat in long term campaign.
Actually war is the solution.
Did you notice that all the saber rattling started toward Iran at the same time.
Historically when all the money ends up in the hands of the rich or 1% we can't say "Monopoly" and start the game over . What happens is that tensions rise as the rich align the system to get even more . And since humanity hasn't as a group been very smart, a war is started. This lowers population which always creates jobs and leaves lots of empty houses to sell , so to speak.
As part of the 99%, there were rallys last week. But the 1% aren't quite ready to start up the only game card they have, war. So they are painting the economy as finally recovering. Now there is a lull for the 99% but it will pick up in a bit when the wealthy man's game that he has convinced enough people that the economy is fine to raise the rent again.
Listen to the republican candidates. They all are for war with Iran , They all claim that war is better then Iran having nuclear weapons. Now we can continue this argument about if Iran has nuclear weapons. I personally know that a first generation nuke weighs in at our hiroshimas weight of 5000 pounds. And that baby isn't going to get to America is some carryon luggage. But at the moment that is the war card. If we slowly enter another world war, it will solve the economic problems, but in a way that I won't be proud of.
So please hold off on saying the 99% needs to change their tactic.
There is no other tactic . We are headed to war, another global war . Or people will stop pretending like their small piece of the crumb is so great that they should protect the rights of the people that want to live without moral ethics towards others.
The core value of America is whacked. It always has been. We live in a society which evolved from a world of slavery. Our constitution carved a wonderful path from that moment in history, and America played a part in changing the world to one where the idea of slavery is no longer part of acceptable morality.
But look honestly. For example . America allows and promotes circumcision. And all doctor groups and all rational humans know point blank that Circumcision is mutilation. That practice has its focus in the religions of the middle east. And the people that speak like me. Circumcision is mutilation… are growing and mutilating people is clearly something that leads to war. The middle east with their Arab Spring is a fact that can't just grow. It runs into opposition . But it has reached critical mass. And the Occupy movement is exactly the same Earthly feeling.
Your words hit the mass media level. Google's prize. Congratulations, you make an excellent writer, and I hope you consider the wave of thought I put down for you. Things happen in terms of years, not months with these things. .
AS mentioned in some of the other comments Occupy has been important in changing/creating the dialogue regarding class and inequality in this country. The relationships and organizing formed out of this dialogue are influential in shaping society, either in direct reaction to occupy protests or the decisions individuals apart from occupy. While occupy will not endorse a candidate you can see there are many candidates and ideas from the occupy movement taken up by candidates. Occupy doesn't have to claim a candidate to be influential. Instead direct actions and horizontal democracy will continue to develop the movement and faccillitate the efforts of individuals and groups who decide to take on actions for the betterment of society.
"The Arab Spring seemed too easy?" Do you know how many people were injured and/or died as a result of these protests? I understand that's not the point of your article and I think you do make some good points about the Occupy movement, but a statement as ignorant as that instantly diminishes any credibility.