[Street] The Meaning of Last Night and Next Steps

chris messinger chris at bostonmobilization.org
Fri Dec 9 16:44:03 EST 2011


Brian, thanks for sharing your thoughts, and for your hard work these past
few weeks, months and years.  Your email sparked me to share some thoughts
of my own, which have been shaped by many of the discussions I've seen on
this list - but perhaps more often by conversations held off the lists.

First: I've been down to OB about a dozen times in the last 2 months.  I've
brought groups of teens that I work with (day job) and attended some Free
School University events.  I've brought supplies, attended religious
services, sat in GA's.  And... I've been barely active in one working
group.  I've never washed any dishes.  I've never mic-checked.  I've never
been arrested.  I've never spent the night in a tent.  And last night I
went to a bar to celebrate my birthday with some friends, rather than head
downtown to dance and pack.

I say that because I expect some will write me off as not a "real"
occupier.  And despite all the language I've heard dismissing people like
me - this work and movement is *also *mine, and has been all of my adult
life.  And from that staked claim, I offer some feedback based on my
experience as a community organizer (not a movement organizer - I don't
feel there's been effective movement in my organizing lifetime - though
this feels closer to what I have been longing for).

You said that departing Dewey Square had elements of tactical and strategic
errors in judgement.  I would respectfully suggest that it is only the
previous - and even on that point the jury is still out.  Opposing the
"powers that be" is a tactic that is part of strategies designed to achieve
goals that have as yet not been agreed upon.

We don't yet have clear goals (that's ok - we're young), which makes it
difficult to have clear strategies (that's ok -we're young), which makes it
really really hard to have shared and effective tactics.  I think this
moment *could *teach us that actions taken in moments of collective
indecision and disagreement will always be difficult to assess - and that's
not a judgment on last night or you or on Occupy Boston.  I look forward to
more clearly defined goals and strategies in the months to come - before we
can so definitively dismiss our tactics as incorrect.

And, for my two cents, partial disbandment (I would push for even more
significant disbandment of the physical site) seems a smart tactical move
at this moment (to me) given (my) strategies to achieve (my) goals.

Specifically, I think making the police forcibly remove the encampment is a
tactic which diminishes the effectiveness of Occupy Boston for several
reasons:

1. The police are not who I'm interested in strategizing against right
now.  For example: One of my personal goals (which seems shared by a heck
of a lot of people) is a more equitable distribution of wealth.  If I need
to strategize about working past the guard dogs of the current unjust
system (public and private police forces), then so be it.  But I'd rather
target the police who are protecting Bank of America than the ones who are
enforcing a local mayor's limited authority.
2. Police brutality has been well documented on the national stage as part
of this national movement - and any positive influence that public witness
can bring to bear has already occurred.  Putting our bodies on the line to
protect a patch of grass that not too many of us have any claim of
"ownership" over is not likely to add anything to the national conversation
about direct action tactics.  If it's sole purpose is to make us feel good
about ourselves and our willingness to sacrifice - I think there are other
sacrifices we might make that would have a greater long-term impact.
3.  An additional direct altercation/inducement of violence/mass arrests
simply confirms that Boston is no different than any other City in this
country.  Do we need to spend our social and political resources to prove
that?  The Mayor's commentary makes it crystal clear that Boston will obey
the Department of Homeland Security's request quite readily.  Our most
valuable resource (as I see it) right now is our time and energy - not our
books and tents or our bodies in a jail cell.
4.  And many others have said this elsewhere - it will be important in
coming weeks and months to figure out how to support this movement growing
back into the public sphere and public conversation.  This, for me, is
where the jury is still out. Can this movement transition beyond a group of
tents and into a temporary (or sustained) force for change?  Without Dewey
Square - perhaps not - but I certainly hope so.  Disbanding the camp will
force the answer to this question sooner than later.  But to answer that
question, we need to articulate some more clear goals and strategies - then
our tactical choices can be better evaluated.

I want to offer that I feel just as connected as I did - and will be just
as committed if the tents all disappear and Dewey becomes a space for
direct democracy rather than ideal community.

At the same time, I appreciate your continued amazing hard work, and your
tireless efforts.  I hope you're getting some sleep for tonight and beyond.
In peace, with love and community,
--Chris Messinger

On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 1:08 PM, Allison Nevitt <asnevitt at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you for this, Brian.
>
> I'm sorry I cannot be there today to "rebuild". I have vast appreciation
> for those of you with the stamina and the wisdom to do that work this
> morning. I will be there as soon as I am able.
>
> I hope we can all remember that what we're standing up for - to demand the
> end of profound corruption of democracy and the beginning of true democracy
> for the first time in this nation's history - is far more important than a
> pristine encampment which meets codes. As adults, we can make a choice to
> take more risks than we would normally take because we find it worthwhile.
> The city stops us from having sanitation, lowering fire hazards, etc. and
> still we stay because this is about something bigger: a just and
> sustainable society for all.
>
> No one here complained that Egyptians didn't have permits or weren't
> meeting safety codes when they occupied Tahrir Square. I bet their tents
> got dirty, too! We encouraged them to stand up to bullets and fire hoses
> and tear gas, even though there was trash on the ground. They did the best
> they could to manage it while they were protesting and we do, too.
>
> We, the 99%, have had enough of the oppression of the 1%. We will stand
> until they forcibly remove us. Then we will stand again.
>
>  - Allison
> Una at DailyKos <http://www.dailykos.com/user/UnaSpenser><http://bostonlyme.blogspot.com/>
>
>  <http://kossacksnetworking.ning.com>
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 7:00 AM, Brian K <bdubkwob at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Brothers and sisters,
>>
>> I just got home after spending over 2 hours cleaning and renovating the
>> occupation in Dewey Square AFTER all the events of the night, so sorry if
>> this email isn't totally clear....
>>
>> *Last night was a major moment in the development of our movement. It is
>> ripe with tactical and strategic lessons, and we must understand and act on
>> them IMMEDIATELY. What follows is my assessment of what we got right, what
>> we got wrong, and what the next steps are.*
>>
>> *What we got right: *
>> *
>> *
>> *Sensing a major threat to our movement, we mobilized the masses to
>> defend us! *We must have had a thousand people come and rally to support
>> of our movement. There were tons of people following the marching band,
>> tons more in a state of perma-rally by the north wall, tons more practicing
>> civil disobedience, and tons more just milling around, talking, sharing
>> ideas, and showing their solidarity in many ways.
>> We ended up taking the streets and shutting down Atlalntic ave. We had
>> only 2 arrests (that I know of), and everything was peaceful, jubliant, and
>> energizing. People of all kinds, young, old, abled and disabled, people of
>> color, students, union and non-union workers, and all segments of the 99%
>> all came out for unity and solidarity with Occupy Boston. Mobilizing our
>> social base all-out like this was the right thing to do and that is (in
>> part) why it was so successful.
>>
>>
>> *What we got wrong: *
>> As painful as this truth may be, we have to face it squarely and
>> honestly: *we dismantled most of our own occupation without a fight. *In
>> this sense we really punched ourselves in the face. Needlessly.
>>
>> By 4 am, Dewey Square had only about 30% of the tents it did 24 hours
>> previously. There was trash and debris strewn on the sidewalks
>> and perimeter. And there were only about 30-40 people left from the 1,000+
>> who had been there at some point earlier. In other words, we weren't raided
>> by the police, but by 3:30 am, it looked like we had been.
>>
>> This was demoralizing because it looked like a post-apocalyptic occupy
>> that I saw in Denver, after they had been raided twice. But we did it to
>> ourselves. The Mayor/City/BPD/RKG achieved much of their desired outcome
>> basically WITHOUT LIFTING A FINGER.
>>
>> This was a strategic mistake. Period. Things like this sometimes are only
>> clear after the fact: the Mayor said "jump" and we jumped as high as we
>> could. This contrary to the very essence of the movement insofar we are
>> occupying to STAND UP and OPPOSE the dictates of the powerful, not tremble
>> in fear before them...
>>
>> *Next steps:*
>> Luckily, there were about 5-10 of us who were able to salvage the
>> situation a bit. We moved a bunch of tents on "weird street" that had been
>> left for destruction by the (non-existent) police raid, and moved them into
>> the main square to fill in some of the gaping (and depressing) holes.
>> Another 5-10 of us cleaned up the sidewalks, swept, and restored some
>> semblance of order to the outward appearance.
>>
>> But there is more work to be done. This means *anyone who can needs to
>> return to the Square ASAP* to help re-organize the space, re-purpose the
>> tents, re-allocate the pallets and walkway planks. Not for permanent
>> occupation, but for the next 24 to 48 hours of the struggle. Yes, the cops
>> can come Friday night (tonight) or Saturday night or Sunday night. We
>> should be ready for them to come on any one of these nights, but we can sit
>> on our hands and wait; we have to keep struggling, keep assembling and keep
>> speaking out against injustice.
>>
>> I'm not saying we need to bring back everything to the square. We can do
>> without the library books and other valuables in Dewey. But we need to
>> CONTINUE occupying until some decisive event that forces us into another
>> space. Otherwise they can effectively shut down our occupation with merely
>> the ever-present *threat* of shutting it down. Let us not allow
>> ourselves to be paralyzed with fear like that.
>>
>>
>> *Why we messed up: *
>> Part of the problem is that strategically, many of us were thinking in
>> "post-Dewey" mode, yet we were not (and are not) yet there. We are still in
>> Dewey Square. And we must defend it.
>>
>> By dismantling our occupation, we essentially tried to shortcut the
>> difficult and painful midwife between where we are now and the birth of our
>> next phase: the police raid. This reminds me of a quote from Hagakure, the
>> book of the samurai from feudal-era Japan:
>>
>> "There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a
>> sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. By
>> doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet.
>> When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though
>> you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to all
>> things."
>>
>> Pick up on that. By trying to avoid the police raid, we ended up doing it
>> to ourselves. This had the desired outcome of our enemies (a massive
>> dismantling in Dewey), but we got nothing to show for it. Many of us may
>> feel "perplexed," but need not be if we "are resolved from the beginning"
>> to stand our ground.
>>
>> Just like the first raid on us, and so many other raids happening around
>> the country, raids are not pleasant, but they are a necessary part of being
>> an occupation that does NOT jump when the powers that be tell us to.
>> Otherwise we might as go home now.
>>
>> Remember: when people see the violence of the police officers arresting
>> veterans, manhandling priests, hog-tying peaceful 99%ers, this rightly
>> causes OUTRAGE. And it is that outrage that can help feed our movement for
>> the next phase. We must not evict ourselves; make them do it.
>>
>> As of now, we have a damaged (but not un-salvagable) occupation. Please
>> go to Dewey Square ASAP and see why. Especially Logistics and Food. We need
>> your insight, experience, and steady hands the MOST during the day. Today.
>>
>> As for everyone else, see you at tonight's GA...in Dewey Square.
>>
>> Revolutionary love and solidarity,
>> and now sleep.
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> p.s. please forward this to any groups/lists/folks I left out.
>>
>
>


-- 
Executive Director, Boston Mobilization
www.bostonmobilization.org
www.speakupstories.org
617-492-5599

*"Empowering Grassroots Movements for Change since 1977"*
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