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Washington Struggles to Keep Occupiers Straight
"Stop the Machine was very top down... Occupy DC and the other Occupy movements are very bottom up"
With so many liberal protesters waving signs in the streets of Washington, D.C., it's not surprising that many news reports have muddled who is in charge of what.
#OccupyDC protesters call themselves the "99%", a reference to individuals who are not in the 1% of wealthiest Americans But activists camping out in McPherson Square with the Occupy DC movement want to make one thing perfectly clear: Occupy DC has nothing to do with a separate set of demonstrations going on at Freedom Plaza. That campout, which has also featured anti-corporate slogans, was mounted by an unrelated group of activists who call themselves the "October 2011 Movement."
It's easy to see how reporters or even casual observers might mix up the two. Over at Occupy DC, an outgrowth of the now national Occupy Wall Street movement, an eclectic band of grass-roots activists is protesting corporate greed and unrestricted political money.
At Freedom Plaza, an equally eclectic group of liberal activists has launched a protest that was six months in the making around the slogan: "Stop the Machine! Create a New World!" Occupy DC organizers convened a special meeting to tackle whether they should try to team up with the Freedom Plaza folks, but decided against it, said Paul Taylor, an unofficial spokesman for Occupy DC — a group which emphasizes that it has no official spokesmen.
"Stop the Machine was very top down," said Taylor. "We at Occupy DC and the other Occupy movements are very bottom up."
Taylor stressed that Occupy DC participants have much in common with the Freedom Plaza protesters, but noted: "We didn't want to be associated with any political organization or established organizations, because we are very broad in our scope."
On Friday, Occupy DC organizers went so far as to send out a press release stressing that their group "is not the same as the October 2011/Stop the Machine rally that is taking place at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C." The release went on to state: "We are a spontaneous upwelling of unrest and frustration, rather than an organization put together with months of fundraising support, steering committees and professional activists."
The release followed numerous press reports that described Occupy DC protesters rallying at Freedom Plaza and marching to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and down K Street. In fact, said Taylor, Occupy DC went over to the Newseum to rally outside the Washington Ideas Forum organized there in conjunction with The Atlantic magazine and the Aspen Institute. October 2011 Movement protesters were the ones who went to the Chamber and K Street, he said.
October 2011 Movement organizer Margaret Flowers said that it was sheer coincidence that the two groups came to Washington at the same time. The October 2011 Movement is also very bottom-up and consensus-driven, she said, but represents months of planning by seasoned environmental, social justice and peace activists, and is endorsed by 150 progressive organizations. That helps explain why the group's crowds have been much bigger, swelling to more than 1,000. The Occupy DC crowds have reached the low hundreds at most.
"We're experienced organizers," said Flowers. "We wanted to create a structure." She added that her group sent Occupy Wall Street a letter of solidarity early on, and that activists from the October 2011 Movement are eager to work with that movement.
"We feel that we really share a common goal and vision and want to see a participatory democracy that benefits human needs," she said. "And we're trying to find ways to work together without stepping on their process."
The complicated relationship between the groups underscores the challenge that faces liberal organizers of all stripes, including labor leaders and even Democratic lawmakers who have sought to tap the energy of the Occupy Wall Street movement and its offshoots.
"I don't have a problem with them endorsing and embracing our message," said Taylor, of recent labor union endorsements. "But we are aware of being co-opted. And of course, we don't want that to happen, because we're trying to build broad consensus."
Whoever is organizing them, the groups are on the same schedule. Asked when the October 2011 Movement planned to leave Freedom Plaza, Flowers said: "We're not sure. It depends on how long the people that are here feel we need to be here."
Similarly, Taylor said the Occupy DC campout has no end date: "The whole point of occupying a space is not to leave it."
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29 Comments so far
Show AllOops - the beginning of the end? In typical lefty fashion, the arguments over who is "more pure" have begun ....
I suggest the folks at occupy DC get off their freakin' high horses - recognize that the concerns of the Oct2011 group are the same as theirs and that the planning for this was in the works before the "occupy" movement was a gleam in anyone's eye ....
That this guy Taylor claims to speak for this "bottom up group" in dissing another group with laudable concerns and aims, makes either him or the group a bit suspect, IMO.
Who knows - maybe this Occupy DC group was set up as a front to redirect support from the Oct.2011 group - whose aims and concerns are indeed similar - check out the DN piece with Margaret Flowers - she's a doc with a history of standing up to power - got kicked out of a Sen. hearing by Baucus - Who's this Taylor guy?
This is an example of how the movement can fall apart - and will, if it devolves into a "holier than thou", or co-optation of the "99%" or "Occupy" label ....
Seems to me this guy Taylor may be succeeding in tainting that label .....
You’re reading a lot in to the article that wasn’t written in it.
I have to agree with your criticism of this "Paul Taylor" guy, Aquifer. He almost sounds somewhat "territorial" when he insists "Stop the Machine was very top down". "We at Occupy DC and the other Occupy movements are very bottom up."
This is unfortunate and such words MUST be avoided. After all, everyone taking part in these protests is giving up a lot of personal comfort. On top of being ignored, ridiculed and misrepresented by the media, the last thing they need is sniping by those who should logically be allies.
So what if the "October 2011" protest is "an organization put together with months of fundraising support, steering committees and professional activists"? How is it inferior or acting contrary to Occupy DC, "a spontaneous upwelling of unrest and frustration"? This is ridiculous. So what if the media messed up on the reporting of who went marching where? Blame the media, but don't diss fellow activists. Especially when this movement can use all the help it can get. Check out some of the people who have committed to attending the October 2011 protest:
http://october2011.org/people
Also check out the "Pledge" of this group:
http://october2011.org/node/469
>>"I pledge that if any U.S. troops, contractors, or mercenaries remain in Afghanistan on Thursday, October 6, 2011, as that occupation goes into its 11th year, I will commit to being in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., with others on that day or the days immediately following, for as long as I can, with the intention of making it our Tahrir Square, Cairo, our Madison, Wisconsin, where we will NONVIOLENTLY resist the corporate machine by occupying Freedom Plaza to demand that America's resources be invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation. We can do this together. We will be the beginning."<<
It's one thing to be "aware of being co-opted" and another thing to use improper words that can be interpreted as being "territorial" when it is still the very early stages of a movement. I hope people realize the importance of linking up with others who may be protesting against the wars or against a dirty oil pipeline if there are overlapping goals.
You can expect the professional liberals of the democratic party to infiltrate, disrupt and/or commandeer whatever and whomever they can in order to save this presidents ass next year. They're the most weaseling of the weasels. Watch out kids!
Actually, I fully expect Obama to try to take credit for -- and take "control of" -- the "movement" at some point in his re-election bid.
I can hear him now playing FDR to the crowds: "I told you to "make me do it" and you did -- and here I now stand, ready to deliver the "hope" and "change" you have been demanding". -- Barack Obama (at some later data in 2012)
Of course, Obama will only try this after he is assured that his coffers are filled to the brim with corporate donations (which they may be already).
But he WILL TRY to tap into this motherlode of discontent . No doubt about it.
And when he does, people SHOULD run as far away from Obama as their little legs will carry them.
If they are smart.
If they are dumb, they will buy into his lies like they did the first time around.
He can try but I think people include him in the 'enough'...sorry Oblahblah.....................
The difference in the messages of these two groups is hardly grounds for discussion or concern. It's like choosing between the WHO and the STONES. Either works and are both worthy of your time.
A lot of those reporters have been working to muddle things as thoroughly as they can, but a lot of this confusion--on the part of the reporters, let's be clear--happens because of some very odd assumptions:
- A group of people involved in one movement (in some sense) are in one place (enough of the time to create a crowd); ergo, surely, there will be one leader with one agenda.
- If there is not one leader identifiable by a reporter external to the movement, one person with one identifiable agenda that the reporter can understand well enough to condense into a prime-time slot, the aims and consideration of the movement are somehow less than completely valid
- What Wall Street, Capitol Hill, or whatever we want to call the ruling class need to respond humanely or usefully is consensus-clarity on the part of a protest movement, apparently as instruction.
I find this last particularly interesting. Certainly some clarity becomes necessary at some point in any administrative project. But the people who ask demonstrators and progressives to spell out the future of various requests act as though the future as determined by the ruling gangsters were known in any great detail or as though there were something approaching useful consensus to their rule. Of course that's ridiculous, and it isn't even interesting that they will generally go on to contradict it in one or another way very quickly.
Another aspect of this previous point is the idea that the business class could not treat people well were they to work on that instead of the opposite. So Don C comes in, takes half the land, hauls off the young women, sets up a tribute system, tortures and kills and tinkers with various modes of slavery, and the (inutterably) domestic press says "The trouble with you people is that you cannot agree on which one little think Don C is doing that so bothers you."
Ms. Carney here is not doing so badly, but some of her colleagues could use a wake-up gong.
Divide and conquer. I, for one, don't know what's going on in DC. I DO know that organized government attempts are most certainly underway to hijack/suppress/diffuse the nation-wide uprising -- both on the street and on sites like this. Trolls abound, so one has to be vigilant. Critical thinking and trusting your own gut are musts.
Obama sides with the financial sector concerning OWS and gives the people of America lip service.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/7/headlines#3
"We at Occupy DC and the other Occupy movements are very bottom up."
Direct democracy in action! Can't be coopted or beheaded!
Hey, Washington hasn't figured out the difference between democrats and republicans...these are just two excellent groups sharing some DC time. Many of us belong to both groups. So.
I was there on Wednesday and Thursday at the October2011 movement. I helped set up chairs, media tent and other things to help and had to leave at noon. The Occupy movement may have some "moles" in it to try to disrupt it and kill the whole protest in DC. Unite dont divide.
This article is complete B.S. I have been at the October 2011 occupation of Freedom Plaza since it began on Oct 6th. We have marched and protested together with the Occupy DC people several times. We marched to the Newseum together where Cheney, Biden, Boehner and others were meeting and today we shut down the Air and Space Museum during our protest of their drone exhibit. They teargassed some of the protestors trying to enter the building. A member of Code Pink got arrested and released. When we heard the news that a member of the Occupy DC joint protest got arrested we went over to the other side of the building and chanted and occupied the steps demanding her release.
We are all the 99%. We are not divided no matter how hard the media try's to.
Thanks, AKmauler, for setting the record straight. More power to the 99% !
If we come back a year from now and examine this discussion at that point, the distinction will probably be clear.
I believe OccupyDC is making the distinction because they're in this thing for the long-haul, which requires them to build community within and, at the same time, relationships with DC authority and media. If you've been at all involved in the Stop the Machine October 2011, well, you most probably haven't been involved. That's the point. A handful of people have made all the decisions. There has not been a democratic process ----- there have been organizers instead. I'm describing, not being critical. I knew it would be that way because the organizers, a few of whom I know personally, are still attached to majority rule when necessary and small group rule when at all possible.
I don't see the OccupyDC statements as hostile, just realistic and far-sighted, perhaps self-protective. The Occupy movement obviously has rejected majority rule and taken on the hard work of consensus. That is a fundamental distinction. And as ezflyer said earlier, they will not be co-opted easily.
Bob Dylan's Ballad of A Thin Man ----- haven't been able to get it out of my head since I saw the first crowds in Egypt ---- "Something is happening . . . "
The tension described in this article is healthy. Again, I'd like to return to this discussion a year from now.
Your characterization is completely wrong. Consensus building is a big part of the October 2011 movement. Everyday there are general assemblies building consensus. Everyone has a voice and a say. There is nothing wrong with people who have experience being involved and teaching others. That is community. Everyone can and should get involved. What is wrong with organizing. That is what has been missing for so long. Co-opting is the danger and the October 2011 & the Occupy DC movement are very aware of that and are guarded. At October 2011, they had many speakers including Chris Hedges, Glen Ford, and today-Ralph Nader. These are not people who are easily co-opted.
Whoops, I remembered I had forgotten to include a link to one of the October2011's blog to make my point:
http://october2011.org/blogs/davidswanson/mic-check-freedom-plaza-day-2
A movement that relies on a few leaders can be destroyed by killing or imprisoning those leaders. Under the circumstances, a headless organization is immune to decapitation and therefore may be the way to go.
I just joined this org. because I want to put in my share of effort to make these changes happen. From nowhere else is hope radiating. Not government, not religion. We have only us, the 99 p"s. But, alas, looking over the comments, all I've seen are in-house attacks between groups, and angry emotional (as opposed to meaningful) rhetoric against vague, unnamed evils in Washington & elsewhere. I guess I've opened the wrong door again.
Dont let it hit you on the way out.
...And you sir, are just sooooo exclusive. The person you dismiss out the door is only leaving the cave that you will inhabit by yourself since most of the comments here make the same kinds of judgments of others. You can all live in your caves and reject everyone to to your exclusivity. Have a wonderfully lonesome day.
You're right, all they do is bitch about the 'other'. Lighten Up folks.