It kills me that I haven't yet been down to Occupy Boston. Tomorrow night, I'll be there. Any highlights from you folks out there around the country? Updates please!
I've heard a lot of complaints about this movement not having a clear message. I'm not sure that's true, but either way, I'm just so happy that we're finally giving the Tea Party a run for its money. Were we really going to sit back and watch some frightening racist rhetoric-spouters use the tools we created* to thoroughly destroy what little dignity might be left in Washington? Unh uh!! Thank God something is happening. And who knew we'd take a page from the Arab book on revolution? How 'bout that America?
*Tea Party organizers have been known to use Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, among other traditionally liberal organizing texts.
I particularly enjoyed the words of Occupy Boston organizer and Northeastern student Jon Phoenix on today's show of On Point with Tom Ashbrook. Phoenix addressed the question I've been asking all along, what happens three months from now when it's cold outside and the media has stopped covering the protests? He believes the movement might morph into a third party, produce a candidate for the 2012 election, and give Mr. Obama a (perhaps well-deserved) run for his money. It's an interesting idea. We'd also have to consider how a third party candidate might split the vote in favor of the Republican candidate. Of course, four years of Mitt Romney could also help further mobilize the left. But for what? Can we do better than Obama in 2016? I digress.
One of the other guests on the radio show indicated that the third party proposal plays into our existing polarizing political system and would continue to leave a lot of voices unheard. Also a valid concern. I'm excited to see where this goes. I wish I was a grad student in the study of social movements right now and I could spend the next year bouncing around these protests. I just hope there are good people carefully documenting the movement as it unfolds so we can learn from present events and build on them in our quest for the America we really want to see.
Here is some info on the financial implications of Occupy Boston on Boston's municipal services, i.e. the cost of overtime pay for the police patrolling Dewey Square.
Tea Party was never as blatantly racist as this: http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/07/anti-semitism-at-occupy-wall-street/
ReplyDeleteAre we really going to let some frightening conspiracy-theory minded, coded Jew-hating rhetoric spouting grad school drop outs destroy what little dignity the left still has in this country?