Intro: "Imagine 50,000 people from all around the world taking to the streets of Chicago, using various non-violent, direct-action tactics designed to disrupt the most powerful nations on earth from meeting. Imagine people from all over the world coming together in the Windy City to say enough is enough; economic inequality must go."
On the twelfth day that Occupy Chicago protesters marched outside the Windy City's Federal Reserve Bank and the Board of Trade.(photo: peoplesworld)
Why Chicago Is Occupy Ground Zero
09 February 12
Reader Supported News | Perspective
he year was 1999, and the world came to Seattle. A loose-knit coalition of direct-action groups, labor, and faith-based activists delayed the start of a meeting of the World Trade Organization, and forced it to end early without any agreements. The potential is there once again to build that kind of coalition, this time to disrupt a meeting of NATO and the G8.
Imagine 50,000 people from all around the world taking to the streets of Chicago, using various non-violent, direct-action tactics designed to disrupt the most powerful nations on earth from meeting. Imagine people from all over the world coming together in the Windy City to say enough is enough; economic inequality must go.
Imagine Rahm Emanuel showing that he is the new Richard Daley, ordering Chicago's finest to crush the protests. Imagine the labor movement coming together and marching as one, the way they did in Seattle, then joining the youth in the street to defend them from over-zealous police.
Imagine leaders of faith-based communities telling NATO that might does not make right, and that militarism is a root cause of poverty.
Imagine young people arm-in-arm sending a message to the heads of eight of the world's most powerful countries that they are ready to build a new world that is not controlled by the wealthy elite.
Let us not just imagine these things, let's make them happen in Chicago this May. It happened once in Seattle: the anti-globalization movement grew after Seattle, but lost momentum after 9/11.
I was in Los Angeles on 9/11. We were organizing what would have been a historic march that was backed by labor, immigrant's rights groups, and dozens of other social justice groups. "The Mobilization for Global Justice" was cancelled, as most groups decided it would not help their cause to be in the streets protesting while the nation was mourning.
It has been a long road back. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq distracted our attention in the United States. It was September 17th, 2011, when we finally got our focus back.
We can once again come together and fight corporate greed. While we must continue to fight to bring the rest of the troops home from Afghanistan, we must recommit to the fight for economic justice here at home and around the world.
We must be inclusive. It's not time for fighting over who should lead, but a time for all groups fighting for economic justice to unite and a build a common mosaic.
We don't have to agree on tactics. Let labor build a massive rally and march, let the Occupy movement attempt to establish an encampment, let faith-based groups hold marches and vigils, and let direct-action groups attempt to disrupt the summits. The anarchists will be there too, let's hope they do not sabotage the work of the organizations that will be working to change hearts and minds.
2012 will be a long year. After Chicago many will be heading to Charlotte and Tampa for the conventions. While important, we will not have the same unity that we can build in Chicago.
Just realized ... I have focused on American groups, ignoring that the World will be coming to Chicago.
Scott Galindez was formerly the co-founder of Truthout, and is now the Political Director of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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Its what didn't happen that made the protests a success...
Re your comment that if it weren't for 9/11, the movement would have become a stronger force.
Good luck, bad luck, who knows?
If it weren't for 9/11 we wouldn't be where we are today with the Patriot Act, the NDAA, TSA body groping or cancer scans, all under the pretext of national security. Not much different than what the Reichstaag fire allowed the Third Reich to do. Who started that fire? Not the Jews as the Third Reich would have people believe.
Then came the financial crisis of 2008 that the gov't knew was going to happen.
So maybe the 99 percent will be stronger and more unified after all that has happened since 9/11 which precipitated Bush's WMD lie so America could gain control of oil in that country. Keep in mind that we now also have the endless fake war on terror due to 9/11. So more national security pretext and also war is profitable for the 1 percent.
We do know that the more the thugs who call themselves cops batter and arrest the 99 percent, the stronger the movement grows. This Chicago event will strengthen the movement unless the anarchists ruin things.
I say anarachists but who knows if they aren't gov't infiltrators or maybe there are both anarachists and gov't infiltrators?
We shall see.
David Graeber, an anarchist, and an original organizer of OWS, responds to Hedges piece about "the [anarchist] Cancer in OWS:"
"I am also writing as someone who was deeply involved in the early stages of planning Occupy in New York. I am also an anarchist who has participated in many Black Blocs. While I have never personally engaged in acts of property destruction, I have on more than one occasion taken part in Blocs where property damage has occurred. (I have taken part in even more Blocs that did not engage in such tactics. It is a common fallacy that this is what Black Blocs are all about. It isn’t.)
I was hardly the only Black Bloc veteran who took part in planning the initial strategy for Occupy Wall Street. In fact, anarchists like myself were the real core of the group that came up with the idea of occupying Zuccotti Park, the “99%” slogan, the General Assembly process, and, in fact, who collectively decided that we would adopt a strategy of Gandhian non-violence and eschew acts of property damage. Many of us had taken part in Black Blocs. We just didn’t feel that was an appropriate tactic for the situation we were in." http://nplusonemag.com/concerning-the-violent-peace-police
1) some Black Blocers have haven't been informed of the policy or have gone astray even though informed; or
2) gov't infiltrators are causing the violence and destruction so Obama & Co. can use this as an excuse to condone (ignore) the police brutality that has been orchestrated by Obama & Co.
Which is it?
FWIW, I'm not an anarchist nor do I engage in BB tactics. Rather, the discussion is upon us, and I felt it necessary to air differences and discussions. Period.
Well, disgusted American, as CandH wasn't claiming to have been there, it seems you may have been asking the wrong person.
I wasn't there either, but I know, that whatever tricks the opposition get up to, and no matter how much angry, naieve people, (including Anarchists), comply with agent provocateurs; we know that the enemy require their victims to abandon personal responsibility. The alternative to a lack of such responsibility, is to accept autonomy, and integrity, and self discipline.
That means NOT BEING GOVERNED.
That means being able to learn lessons, instead of saying, "I'm only following orders", as the opposition,(and their deceived lackies), require.
And it means not being put off by how imperfect everyone is, as though an imperfect world is reason to put up with imperfection. When you get up, in the morning, do you join those saying, "Well, the worlds not perfect, so I'm just going to have to burn the toast"? Or do you get out of bed, and refuse to get on your knees, getting on with the business of doing the best you can do, with the situation you've got ?
If you aspire to the latter, then you have joined those who accept personal responsibility, and refuse to be governed.
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