(I heard from a few people they were unable to leave comments…I don’t know what the problem is, so sorry! I miss having an intern for these sorts of technical issues so if anyone is interested, let me know – if you can!)
When the stock market crashed in 2008, I remember talking to friends about the ensuing recession and how long it would last. One insisted it wouldn’t last but a couple years at most, waving off my prediction that in fact it would be long. Time has born out, sadly, my expectations, as we all know. Occupy Wall Street ignited the flame of unrest, but its been slow to have direct impact. I realizes that when none of the parties in the last presidential race acknowledged this constituency, the so-called 99%. Though de Blasio seems to, which means maybe OWS could revive itself and eventually do what the founder of the concept-brand intended. For now it seems to have been appropriated as a brilliant marketing strategy.
Still, I’ve made the same prediction for NYC after Bloomberg leaves, and presuming de Blasio wins: that things will get rough, unemployment will rise, as will crime, and hopefully that will be all (one can imagine energy outtages, and water shortages, too, but I try not to). As if that were a logical statement, for that to “be all”. I imagine there will be more cultural wars coming as well, but I’d like to believe the Tea Party et al won’t ever have much traction here. That 20-somethings would resist. Enough? I don’t know. I don’t want to dismiss the Occupy movement going forward, but I also hope that it evolves into something with more structure. Even anarchic models require a consensual vision. I get that one wants to avoid hierarchy and standardization, particularly when it comes to value systems. I’ve worked in all kinds of collectives, and have experienced the benefits and pitfalls, but to refuse to define an agenda is to disperse energy and focus, to lose, essentially, crucial momentum. IMHO, it was a tactical failure.
Or course, I waited for people to occupy real estate in NYC, take over empty buildings, camp on public monuments en masse, etc. I tend to be all in, or not, and had my moment in the 80s, and again during both Iraq wars, so I’d decided to watch from the sidelines for a while. Let the 20-somethings and lifelong activists take their rightful place in the sun. Taking on the banks pretty much means being willing to put your life on the line or damn near it, IMHO, as I pretty much see them as an international coterie of bandits who live outside the law🙂
Of course, I respect very much those who made it happen, who were in the trenches from beginning to end, and not just site-seeing as so many did, literally and otherwise (at least in Zucotti Park). I tried, naturally, to encourage my students to get involved, but when I proposed having SVA faculty organize students to do the same, I became the satanist in church. WHAT WAS I SUGGESTING?! Students free to leave class and join the occupation?! This was not 1987. So instead we talked about it in class every week, and I saw that many were just ill-equipped to empower themselves, which I tried to counter. I think populist movements should be multi-generational and multicultural, but ultimately youth-driven because its a matter of preparing for battle.
Wow, what a rant, and all because I heard the BBC World News Report tonight discussing unemployment rates rising in Europe, and how crucial a moment it is now for the EU/Euro, etc. and it made me think of NYC, and what’s to come…let’s hope I’m wrong this time. But regardless, think about what you’re willing to do, and how best to harness your energy to do it when the revolution comes, and it won’t be on Facebook. Bodies are the most political tool we have. G’Nite all!
