Is It Over For Occupy Wall Street?

Nov 16, 2011 18 Comments by Rippa

If you listen to the experts over at Fox News, or the ubber wealthy round table at MSNBC’s Morning Joe, you might be of the opinion that it’s over. If you’re of this opinion, chances are, you never really understood (or cared to) just what this movement is about; and that’s the truth about it.

But that’s OK, because the truth is: it ain’t over. Much oike many movements before its inception, the latest strategically planned national crackdown, will only serve to add fuel to the fire. If anything, I believe this movement will continue to grow in spite of what is being said by naysayers. But hey, maybe I’m wrong; maybe it’s curtains for Occupy Wall Street. Hell, maybe you can convince me of it after watching the following video.

Oh, and about that “strategic crackdown” thing, check this out:

Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict “Occupy” protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night’s move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.

[...] According to this official, in several recent conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules. Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present.

Activism, Justice, Politics

Rippa

About the author

RiPPa is the creator & editor-in-chief The Intersection of Madness & Reality. A finalist in the 2009 Black Weblog Awards, he is also a regular contributor to theFreshXpress.com, voiceofthemigrant.com, and can be found just about anywhere on the internet being a shit-starter or provocateur extraordinaire. Born in Trinidad & Tobago, and having spent over half of his life in the United States, RiPPa’s life hasn’t been, how Langston Hughes wrote “a crystal stair”, but that stairway has enriched him with life experiences that has shaped his point of view on various subjects. Whether he’s writing about the injustices African-Americans face, politics, and the reverent or irreverent, under the pseudonym "RiPPa" he uses his sense of humor and sarcasm to convey his opinion; and whether others agree with him - being the habitual line-stepper - just isn’t his concern.As a strong defender of all things ghetto, & an avid lover of fried chicken & watermelon. he fights for truth, justice, & the Negro way way, but he doesn't wear a cape.

http://thediamondmind.blogspot.com/ Eddie Blue-Eyes

Lat night’s general assembly was one of the largest I’ve seen and I’ve been there almost everyday since day nine (we’re at day 61 and counting).

the truth is (and I should post an article on this) we were debating the necessity of continuing to occupy Liberty Plaza for some weeks prior to the most recent eviction. there are some that feel the emphasis on the location leaves us vulnerable and that we should be focusing our energies into movement building. I was part of the faction that agrees that an emphasis on location rather than movement-building but also recognizes that “Liberty Plaza” is a symbolic occupation for the whole movement (for better or worse.

The occupation had grown much more than expected and the logistics in maintaining the site (there are medical, kitchen, sanitation, safety & security, media working groups, for example) was taking a lot of energy. we were feeding THOUSANDS of people everyday in a city in which soup kitchens are closing due to lack of food. EVERYONE was telling their clients to go to Liberty Square because they could get something to eat.

the City has eenn trying to sabotage the location in many ways. One way was that it was dropping off people recently released from RIKERS ISLAND at Liberty Square. Rikers Ilsand is the largest penal colony in the world and while it’s supposed to be a jail, it’s a de facto warehouse for the homeless and people with mental health issues. Even so, the people at OccupyWallStreet REFUSED to deny anyone regardless of their situation.

another debate was whether we should continue to offer services. A group of progressive social workers, for example, was thinking of erecting a tent in order to address the marginalized and challenged people who were either coming to the occupation in their own, or were being directed there by city officials.

I was definitely against this, since it would mean becoming a services-oriented movement (a “nonprofit”) rather than a movement intent to change the CONTEXT in which services are offered, IOW, my stance (as well as that of others) was that I’m not at OWS to render services, but to begin to envision and create a society in which such services would be obsolete (e.g., it’s immoral to live in a society in which some people unnecessarily go hungry).

We’ve also uncovered “plants” and “agent provocateurs” embedded in the movement in order to disrupt it. One such person was discovered to be an undercover cop and he had been indiscriminately blocking proposals at our general assemblies, threatening other people, and disrupting the process of open democracy. Another infiltrator was a securities “expert” who was funneling information the the FBI/ NYPD.

In spite of all of this, of the overwhelming negative press, the disinformation, the disruptions, the beatings, the macings, we managed to create a micro community of people bonded by the need to to change the paradigm. As we like to say, if you want to know our message, WE are the message!

In spite (or because of) all this the movement has grown and continues to grow in a way that’s a threat to the status quo. I’m not at liberty to discuss our next moves, but take my word: It ain’t over.

You can’t evict an idea whose time has come!

PS: Thanks for posting the article!

http://rippdemup.com/ RiPPa

Bro, this thing, or what you described shows just how much of a threat to the status quo #OWS has become. You really should do a post on this. I doubt whether people are aware of what you’ve described as far as the happenings down there.

Prosepetals

I’ll second that. *hinting face at Eddie*

MaoMaoSaidTheCow

What exactly is the idea? Communism? After which model? How will it work?

http://thediamondmind.blogspot.com/ Eddie Blue-Eyes

Why is there always a mental midget whose sole idea of countering a movement that uses an open, democratic model of governing is to yelp a word he doesn’;t even understand.

“Communism!”

LOL

Prosepetals

What’s messed up is that *through InfraGard*, via DHS (which has confirmed its involvement in the dismantling effots), 4th Amendment rights can be “legally” ignored. Thanks to the Patriot Act.

But…the more Bloomberg, Quan, et al keep up with their attempts to break up the movement (legally or otherwise), the stronger the response will be. As history has shown time and time again.

http://rippdemup.com/ RiPPa

When I think about DHS’s involvement in the crackdown on #OWS. I can’t help but to think of the gov’t selling us on the iodea that democracy must be supported abroad in other countries.

What a crock.

Prosepetals

*nodding* Yep. This is nothing new, either. Been going on since WWII.

http://changecomesslow.com The Storyteller

It is time world leaders sit up and notice before the riots in Britain earlier this year mix with the riots in Oakland and Portland and lower Manhattan. Such a scenario could create something so fast moving and volatile that governments saw coming but refused to address because they were more comfortable living in an old world with new world commodities than addressing new world issues with a type of change that would not only differentiate our present from our past but also distinguish our future.
http://changecomesslow.com/2011/11/16/its-a-different-world/

RonnieReagan

Socialism only works in two places. Heaven where they don’t need it and Hell where they already have it.

http://rippdemup.com/ RiPPa

Are you saying that #OccupyWallStreet is about socialism? If so, wouldn’t it be a great idea since true sopcialism requires workers owning a share of the corporations they are employed by?

Please tell me you knew this!

Reggie

This movement going away is just wishful thinking. With the popular movements going on around the world, its an interesting time to be alive. A hundred years from now common folk may speak of these very times with awe…………..shit could happen.

http://thediamondmind.blogspot.com/ Eddie Blue-Eyes

Exactly, that’s why it’s an occupation, not a “protest.” An occupation is really about retaking public spaces — the commons — so that political ideas coming from the common people can emerge.

ANY dumb twat motherfucker coming here and saying that shit in America is copacetic is either a fool or (hopefully) being paid to say such outlandish bullshit.

PinchALoafItsOccupyingme

It may have had something to do with shootings, murders, rapes, drug use, disgusting sanitary conditions, weapons and needle stockpiling and on and on . What are these the dregs of humanity? What a violent, dirty , hateful uninformed, unintelligent, useless, disgusting, fringe bunch of lunatics whose main mission and goal is what? Free stuff? From whom? Yeah that will work in South Korea maybe.

What happened is Obama backed them, then they turned out to be the nutjobs they are and the MSM media even though hiding it couldnt stem all the news and Obama can’t have the crazy drug addict bums of the country as his peeps so out they go.

http://thediamondmind.blogspot.com/ Eddie Blue-Eyes

First of all, please show some statistics or evidence to back up any of the claims above. Sexual assaults and crime happen in ALL of NYC’s parks ALL of the time. The fact is that we also FED tens of thousands of hungry people. the FACT is that we were inundated by people with mental health issues and homeless people. Why? Because these issues have been criminalized by the Bloomberg administration.

As for sanitary conditions, we were cleaning up the park ON OUR OWN. We had REPEATEDLY asked Bloomberg and the sanitation dept. to come sit down with us and explain their grievances, to no avail. we also offered to PAY for our own porta-potties — again to ne avail.

You’re a fuckin assn hole and the only reason I’m responding is because there are apparently LEGIONS like you believing the bullshit and drinking the Kool-Aid.

Acting out because you lost contact with your doctor and haven’t taken your meds? Rikers Island! Don’t have a place to stay and are afraid to sleep in some of the most dangerous places in NYC, the homeless shelters, so you sleep on a park bench>? Rikers Island!

Your attempt to impersonate a Fox News segment here (OWS are rapists/ criminals + dirty/ unsanitary + backed by Obama) would be laughable if you didn’t believe them so vehemently.

Go back to inserting your head up your ass.

Anonymous

Deja Vu Anyone?
http://primaldata.blogspot.com/ PRIMALDATA

Like most movements the public perception of it is handled in such a way that those who will and are helped by it are made to demonize it. It’s kind of funny that people talk about the crime involved with OWS while we also have a sex scandal going on in the halls of higher education and in the republican primary. I mean if this isn’t the most tired case of “see everybody does it” i don’t know what is. Anytime you get more than 5 people together control of what happens goes out the window. If they really are dumping recent releases from Rikers there then it sounds to me like you have shaken a few too many roots, keep up the good work.

People seem to forget exactly how many protests there really are going on every day in this world of ours because we have over 300 channels worth of bullshit and now even the news is “Pay or get off my air”, the news is just that, if reported honestly you really shouldn’t see any profit off of it, because all you are really doing is aggregating this that are already out there in the public sphere for all to see easily. If you can make a penny or two fine, but trying to make millions, ummm why should I pay you when I can ask aunt Susie who is in the same city? This is how greed destroyed the news and real reporting, as for coordinated efforts hell for people so invested in a system where inequality makes sure there are huge profits how could they allow it to keep going?

If you were someone who THOUGHT about going and it hadn’t gotten bad enough for you yet the last thing they want is you to know that someone is still out there fighting. That when the lights when out somebody kept going, because that is the story of the underdog and we all know how people fall in love with the underdog. The more they claim it is over and the more they have to report all of these continue movements the sooner they usher in the age of people only using the net to find the actual news not just the polished turds that some corporate jackass wants to use to sell another “blue pill” and get another dividend and a private tee time with his other high dollar friends who don’t want a clue they just want to keep milking the system more.