January 2, 2012
The future of Occupy
As I stumbled through the streets of Portland a few days back, blindly searching for a hot meal and my next scoop on the 99 percent movement, I came across a sign in a window that indicated there was an art show inside featuring photographs of Occupy.
It didn’t matter, though, the door was locked and the shades were drawn.
It was yet another sign that the movement as I knew it was coming to an end. Only a few days before that, in a moment of burnt-out frustration on a soaking wet Portland night when I, initially, couldn’t find hide nor hair of Occupy Portland, I deemed Occupy over. Christmas had killed it, I told a friend as I sulked in the rain.
Then, as I stared blankly at that closed door, something pretty miraculous happened.
The door on that art studio/apartment swung open and the curator/resident noticed me trying to sneak a peak into his window. But instead of calling the police, he invited me in and let me rifle through the photo spread he put together on Occupy Portland. The question was soon asked: did he think the Occupy movement was over?
“It’s really only just beginning,” he said, answering as if anyone even asking such a question really didn’t understand the first thing about the Occupy movement.
I left literally mesmerized by his response.
The encampments may be largely a thing of the past, and so may be – for now, at least – the headlines. But because the Occupy movement spread virally around the globe rather than converging all on Wall Street, the 99 percenters were able to connect in a lasting way, rather than for just a day or a weekend.
I was right, the activists had gone home for the holidays. But when they got there, they found other Occupy activists to network with.
Those connections, and the ones made throughout the first four months of the movement, will likely prove far more valuable in 2012 than all the publicity Occupy garnered in 2011.
Evidence of as much can be seen in Occupy Longview’s plans for a port shutdown in relatively rural Washington state sometime this month when a multinational grain conglomerate attempts to load a shipment without the aid of the local longshoremans’ union. The tiny group of activists in Longview could never have staged such an action pre-Occupy. But in 2012, they are doing so with the help of activists in Astoria, Portland and Oakland. Not to mention the $25,000 that Occupy Wall Street is sending for the effort.
Further evidence of the future promise for movement comes from Rhode Island, where the daily newspaper named Occupier extraordinaire Michael McCarthy one of its 12 people to watch in 2012. Prior to Occupy Providence, McCarthy was as close as one can get to being an unknown quantity. Now, he is widely regarded from all over the political spectrum as being a potential future leader in the state. And even after traveling to Occupies all over the country, I know of no other activist any more committed to the movement, and its ideals, than McCarthy.
In 2012, he told the Providence Journal, he wants to put together “a dream tank of people … to talk about what can be different.”
But maybe the best evidence I have comes from my old friend Randy Dolinger, who has for years made the bold prediction to me that something akin to the Occupy movement was coming. In fact, and this is true, for years he has told me it would happen in 2012.
This morning, he wrote to me recounting a conversation we had while I was still in his stomping grounds of Ashland, Oregon.
“We’ve changed everything, Bob,” he wrote. “Everyone’s talking about the issues now and six months ago nobody was. We’ve crossed the finish line, Bob. We’ve won. We need to downshift and change lanes.”
In 2012, there will be presidential nominating conventions in Charlotte and Tampa, not to mention a G-8 conference in Chicago this May. My guess is when those huge national and global events happen, we’ll again see tents and headlines in regards to the Occupy movement. As well as know better what Dolinger means when he speaks of downshifting and changing lanes.
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Bob,
From reading the comments posted to your blog it seems like your old political Karass from Ashland, OR is still very much alive and well but is now greatly expanded nation-wide Sadly, the old local newspaper office you once worked from is now empty and up for sale. Charles Carreon’s excellent Ashland Free Press folded and died long ago. Art Bullock’s “We the People” is no more… Journalists now seldom attend our council meetings but instead replay their DVRs in the comfort of their homes. Thank you for continuing the tradition of investigative reporting from the front lines. You continue to provide a valuable service that any future changes will sorely need.