[Street] [Ob-media] The Meaning of Last Night and Next Steps
Deborah Sirotkin Butler
amberpaw at gmail.com
Fri Dec 9 14:53:48 EST 2011
*Thank you for such a detailed update. However, the metamophosis was none
the less cleansing, and Dewey is more open and inviting today than 48 hours
ago. An "occupation" that may be day-to-day rather than residential, and
which is welcoming, energizing, and dare I say "cleansed by the fire of
opposition and change" is an opportunity, even though there are and must be
some real mourning by those for whom Dewey was as much a tribe and
community as a movement. You are right that this is an OPPORTUNITY and I
thank you for your cleansing energy (on several levels) as this is energy,
in the brawn sense, I simply do not have and cannot provide. I will,
instead, share a poem. Deborah Sirotkin Butler*
**
*OPPOSITION*
**
*Grinding*
*the diamond*
*of the soul*
*until refraction*
*is perfect.*
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.
>
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