Preface:So, as some of you know, I've helped out certain local protests affiliated with this movement. My contributions have been pretty much obtaining permits (to protest), coordinating logistics, sometimes defending wrongfully arrested people in court to secure release bail and throwing out charges, advisement, and things of that nature. So far the results of my services have been pretty good, the police have a hard time arresting you for doing what a permit says you can do (lawfully), etc, etc, etc. I've done this all for free actually, which is a rarity for an attorney. That said, I don't want to lead anything if at all possible.
Lack of Organization:You know, doesn't have to be a hierarchical thing with one guy or something but.... I'm just finding it hard to work without some sort of structure. Yeah, I'm obsessed with organization: occupational hazard and I say a good thing.... There are some minor annoyance topics, like me getting repaid the $35 the city charges for public protest permits (really if each person paid like a couple cents, as in literal pocket change, that'd cover it so I didn't get stuck with it and nobody'd get arrested). Then there are the sorta more annoying things, like trying to talk to essentially a leaderless mob of 200-300 people: some of whom are now trying to say I'm being an asshole by advising them not to do certain things so they don't get arrested (or to make sure they get out sooner if they are arrested). I'm really not trying to be bossy or anything, but if they do the stuff I'm telling them, then I can keep the police off their ass.... If they don't...
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If you are in a jail cell, then people cannot hear your message....
Additionally, I know I'm not the first to say it, but lack of leadership means less clear goals and also that lots of fringe people can come in and say their message is now part of yours. You might not agree with some of the stuff they say.
Backlash:In addition to some but not all people not liking the help I'm giving, they are also sort of getting upset about other aspects of their support network sometimes. For example... There's a warehouse where we store supplies and the guy who owns it is nice enough to let us use it. People have been giving him flack, which is kinda stupid because if he says he doesn't wanna store your stuff (also for free) then you're screwed. All I do is try to keep accurate records of what we have. This guy is providing floor space to store it and he is under no obligation to do so. Yeah, he doesn't let people come and go as they please, so what. Small price to pay....
Goals and disconnects:Traditionally, politicians can ignore one person, but if you get a group together, they see a voting block. Politicians don't ignore voting blocks; except they now seem to be ignoring OWS, which is weird and counter to precedent. Why?
Ok, so there's a general feeling of "things are not right." Fine, I agree with that. Those few democratic politicians I've spoken too have the following problem: "what would you like me to do about it?" Politicians have power, because they vote on laws. Laws are (supposed to be) practical tools to take what we want and make it a reality. To my knowledge, there aren't any drafted bills (proposed laws) of even administrative policies for politicians to vote on.
This could be something as simple as a law more clearly defining policy brutality, or a departmental rule changing what police may and may not do to be more fair....
Nothing for politicians to vote on; no means of implementing change; stagnation.
Summation: I dunno if I'm there's someone else I should be talking to or what, but I'm finding it incredibly difficult to help this movement lately. The $35 permit fee (keeping people from arrest) is a nuisance, sure. Some protestors ignoring advice meant to keep them from giving the police any reason to get involved is a larger problem. Some people hassling the support network making this possible is a big problem (unless anyone wants to come up with storage space elsewhere). Not using the system to try and change unfair rules... just seems counterproductive to me.
The crappy stuff we have in place now was put into place by the system. That same system can be used to repeal or amend laws and policies, but it if I'm not mistaken, that doesn't appear to be on the radar right now?
What am I missing? Is there some sort of leadership for this stuff? If it's non traditional, fine, how it is set up?
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Topic: Occupying Wallstreet (Read 290636 times)