General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you understand why Occupy was infiltrated and broken up? [View all]ElboRuum
(4,717 posts)But they had leadership. They had a political agenda. They participated in the legislative process.
Occupy's failure is not in that they say the system is broken. That's true. It is. Great, its been pointed out. It is arguable that this was particularly new because those of us who work for a living have been getting shit on for quite some time.
Their failure is in their failure to recognize what you so helpfully, if accidentally pointed out, and that is that all of the movements of the historical record you describe had organization and clear goals. I think it is safe to say that Occupy thinks it is a statement to operate outside the system. Well, maybe it is. The problem that although this idea is novel, it is not good. Sometimes the past is a warning, and sometimes it is a lesson.
All of those groups in the historical record understood one thing, and that was that the system can't be fixed from the outside. We are all a part of that system regardless of whether we want to be or not. And to fix the system from within, political power must be attained and exercised, leadership must be there to articulate goals, and goals must be cohesive and attainable.
As a liberal, and as a citizen, and as a member of the 99%, I definitely understood OWS's message, in principle, at the beginning. That they have no political agenda to fix the system is the bother. This is not a movement I can support, simply because the opportunities that this present are too damn important to let slide, and this is PRECISELY what they are doing.
To suggest that OWS didn't implode of its own volition, blaming infiltrations and whatnot, is kind of silly now that the "historical record" argument has been opened. In the historical record, successful movements survived, prospered, and achieved in the face of much greater resistance by authority.
Being right isn't enough. Never has been and never will be. If being right was enough, would we have the problems we have?
You need to be vocal and articulate. Why? Because if you aren't, you let your opponents write the narrative. As they have.
You need a leader. Why? Because a million people speaking all at once sounds like noise. One person speaking on BEHALF of a million people, at the fore of those million people is a reason to pay attention.
You can't turn this inward. The American people should be behind you, but they aren't. My own personal straw polls indicate that if you aren't a staunch liberal, you likely think that OWS and all of its splinter groups are at best a nuisance and at worst a joke.
I know OWS is not a joke. You know OWS is not a joke. I would love to see the rise of another liberal force in this country to replace the one that has been steadily been dismantled and marginalized since the 70's. But OWS is dying from self-inflicted wounds. At one point or another, someone has to step in front of the people of this country and say "this is what we are for, this is what we are trying to accomplish, and this is how we plan to do it." To date, this has not happened, and from what I see from OWS and their supporters, this is something they do not want to do.
That all said, I hope you are right. I hope some form of rebirth comes from this. There is real opportunity here and I'd hate to see it wasted on navel gazing and splintering and infighting. If what they are about is what I think they are about, then we are talking about the one issue that cuts to the core of the American sickness, the overtaking of our society by plutocrats from the top to its bottom, the systematic and purposeful redistribution of wealth from the middle class and the poor to the very rich. All because we've watched as the rich have maneuvered, manipulated, and propagandized us into removing an adequate definition of "enough" from our collective lexicon.
This is an opportunity from which we cannot look askance. An opportunity exists to truly change the way our political and social processes work. I sincerely hope you are right.