[Street] The Meaning of Last Night and Next Steps
Allison Nevitt
asnevitt at gmail.com
Fri Dec 9 13:08:37 EST 2011
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.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/private/street/attachments/20111209/0a8c5fcc/attachment-0001.htm>
More information about the Street
mailing list