OWS effect -- escalation! education?

Those who sit by the sidelines and critique the occupiers can perhaps ponder the following:

OWS has created an opportunity for everyone to escalate their own organizing. People with issues (racism, colonization, imperialism, sexism) need to organizing their OWN NVR direct action to dramatize the injustices they experience.

Some people have figured this out:

e.g.
1.  occupy St. Paul's Cathedral has SPLIT the church of England and made even those who side with the lawsuit to get rid of the tents to ask themselves, "what would Jesus do?"  obviously, be on the side of the occupiers.  several prominent clerics have resigned in protest of their hierarchy siding with London financieers.

"One of the cathedral’s top officials, Canon Giles Fraser, had already resigned, saying he could not accept a forcible dismantling of the camp if the lawsuit is upheld. He was followed by a second cleric at the cathedral. (On Monday, a third official resigned as well.) Quickly, a wide rift opened within the church, with some, like Mr. Fraser, saying that the church’s mission to seek social justice should make it the protesters’ natural ally,"

2 .  PICO is getting behind a divest Bank of America movement


while others have been pushed to the left by the shift in public debate that OWS has effected:
 e.g.
3.  the REPUBLICAN goveror has called a special legislative session to respond to growing popular opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.

lawmakers in Nebraska are being summoned on Tuesday to an unexpected legislative session over the issue, which has stirred up a level of rancor that few had predicted. “The public outcry has just continued to get louder and louder, stronger and stronger,” said Annette Dubas, a state senator who is among those who want to consider how Nebraska might regulate such projects, but who seemed as surprised as anyone last week when Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican, called legislators in to a special session on the issue...

4.  Obama is issuing executive orders (exhibit A and exhibit B) to get around the legislative gridlock caused by Republicans.
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that said...I think that those of us who do believe in the absolute importance of the occupations being disciplined in maintaining nonviolence in the face of escalating police attacks, and attempts to provoke the occupiers into a violent reaction to discredit them, need to start thinking about setting up kiosks at occupation sites to offer education/trainings in nonviolent resistance.

Potential curriculum:
1. history of nonviolence (see: Force More Powerful)
2. the importance of the DISCIPLINE of nonviolence (those who cannot commit to not fighting back with violence, must agree not to participate..or participate in another way)  -- It behooves occupiers to demonstrate to the world that the real savages are the police (this kind of video is not helpful). The only way to do that is to be COMPLETELY nonviolent (not even shoving back!)
3. the movement needs SONG LEADERS (and song writers).  Chanting alienates people!!!!!

Occupy NY Dept of Education

My favorite part of this video is when the protesters point out that the decisions have already been made BEFORE the "open" meeting.  This has always been my pet peeve about school board meetings in general -- the decisions have already been made and the "meeting" is merely a safety valve for the system, allowing people to blow off steam and then feel hopeless, that they can't "fight city hall."

It seems as if the NYC School Chancellor agreed to meet with NYCORE.  I am hoping that NYCORE will have specific demands that the Chancellor has the power to grant.  And that NYCORE can bring people back to meetings, pickets and sit ins until the demands are granted. 

I still prefer singing to chanting as a way to attract more people to the cause.  For this to become a MOVEMENT, it has to gain more followers.  Does NYCORE have a plan to do that?  I sure hope so.

Glimmers of A Real Social Movement in the Making

Okay....I think there's a real movement brewing.  The purpose of nonviolent direct action is to dramatize the injustice so as to attract the sympathy of a wider audience.  Those thus attracted then need to be recruited into action.  (Thanks Traber, Chris and Andrea for these)

1. Attract the sympathy of a wider audience  (and create a vision)

2. then give people something to do



And NEVER forget that, singing is better than chanting:

• The songs.
        The songs elevated our courage,
             The songs bonded us together,
                  The songs forged our discipline,
                       The songs shielded us from hate,
                             The songs protected us from danger,
                                And the songs kept us sane. In terms of political and moral effectiveness, group singing is to group chanting, as an elephant is to a mouse. But songs have to be learned. Moreover, the kind of singing that (trained) protesters do as an act of solidarity in the face of hatred and danger is very different from performance singing done on stage or in school. And just as a choir has to practice, so too do demonstrators. One of the reasons that the singing on modern mass marches is so pathetic and demoralizing is that no one's been doing any training or practice. (from NONVIOLENT TRAINING, by Bruce Hartford)

Key Components for a social movement to happen- build infrastructure, local leadership development, identify the problem, do your homework, coalition building, developing personal relationships, community building, strategic use of nonviolent resistance, strategic use of the arts, dealing with the contradictions within the movement, right historical moment.

OWS: "The process is the message" ??

 It is interesting to see the emerging debate within the OWS movement over whether to formulate demands.  Compare the OWS process with the principles of direct action espoused by The Congress of Racial Equality (the people who came up with the Freedom Rides) -- see below.

Protesters Debate What Demands, if Any, to Make
By MEREDITH HOFFMAN
NY TIMES October 16, 2011

“We absolutely need demands,” said Shawn Redden, 35, an earnest history teacher in the group. “Like Frederick Douglass said, ‘Power concedes nothing without a demand.’ ”

Mr. Redden and other demonstrators formed the Demands Working Group about a week and a half ago, hoping to identify specific actions they would formally ask local and federal governments to adopt. 

Although Occupy Seattle has a running tally of votes on its Web site — 395 votes to “nationalize the Federal Reserve,” 138 for “universal education” and 245 to “end corporate personhood,” for example — Mike Hines, a member of the group, said the list would soon be removed because the provisions had not been clearly explained and because some people were not capable of voting online. 

 VERSUS

“Demands are disempowering since they require someone else to respond,” said Gabriel Willow, a protester strolling past a sleeping-bag pod of young adults in the park last Monday. “It’s not like we couldn’t come up with any, but I don’t think people would vote for them.” 

In Boston, Meghann Sheridan wrote on the group’s Facebook page, “The process is the message.” In Baltimore, Cullen Nawalkowsky, a protester, said by phone that the point was a “public sphere not moderated by commodities or mainstream political discourse.” An Occupy Cleveland participant, Harrison Kalodimos, is even writing a statement about why demands are not the answer.

LATEST POST  FROM OCCUPY TOGETHER WEBSITE

LIVE: Intro to Direct Democracy & Facilitation Training
October 14th, 2011 · Ella · Announcements 26 comments
Today, Friday, October 14th, at 5:45EST there will be an Intro to Direct Democracy & Facilitation Training session streamed on the globalrevolution livestream channel. We encourage you all to tune in.
Q&A followup directly after, provided everything goes as planned. Spread the word!
If for some reason the technology fails, it’s also going to be recorded and uploaded for everyone to reference here: occupytogether.wikispot.org

NO TRAINING IN NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION?

What Then are the Principles of CORE? [i]   

3. CORE believes in direct action . . .

4. In carrying out the action program, CORE first investigates to learn all the facts; second, discusses the grievance with those responsible for the practice in an effort to bring about a change of policy; third, appeal to the wider public for support in the action; fourth, publicizes the unjust racial practice through picketing, leaflets, and press releases; fifth, if all the foregoing fail to end discrimination, uses direct challenge, such as Sit-Ins, Standing Lines, and boycotts.

5. It is the essence of nonviolence that it proceed step-by-step. . . . Although CORE’s distinctive method is direct action, it also employs broad educational techniques, and, occasionally, court procedures.

6. . . . Where CORE members maintain an attitude of persistent goodwill . . . often, not only a change in policy results but also the respect and regard of the opposition is gained. Then a change of policy no longer involves loss of face or a sense of defeat for the opponent.

7. . . . CORE, begun in Chicago as a local group, has functioned as a national organization since l942.

[i] CORE, “What Then are the Principles of CORE,” (New York: Congress on Racial Equality).