Posts tagged society

‎(response to a family member who is concerned about my involvement with occupy)

I see a government that has been at war for every decade since its inception. I see a government that committed a gross genocide against the native populations in order to steal their land. I see a government that has enabled corporations to steal from the public through government contracts and kickbacks.

Furthermore I see a diseased society in which people value money more then happiness, peace, love, understanding, and compassion. I see the United States as it really is, a selfish, indulgent, hateful, ignorant, and violent nation. I see a nation that has destroyed the concept of community and replaced it with institution. I see a nation that has destroyed critical thinking, and replaced it with repetitious thought. I see a nation that destroyed art, creativity, and passion and replaced it with rules, regulations, and formalities. I see a nation who uses wars around the world in order to maintain a peace at home. A peace that isn't built on community, equality and love. No, a peace that is built on material goods, consumerism, and selfish indulgence. 

So what am I doing about it? 
Im no longer participating. My life is an act of rebellion. I will not participate in a society that places thieves and murderers in positions of honor while enslaving for profit millions of people through our bullshit judicial system. 

I cut out all unnecessary expenses. Instead of going out to eat I go to massive community potlucks. Instead of going to a bar I go to a friends house. Instead of going to a show...we throw concerts in backyards, basements, and living rooms. I attend workshops put on by affinity groups. I learn/teach about oppressions of all types. Religious based, Gender-based, Race-based, Sex-based, Economic based...ect. I sit in union halls and help workers strike against mega-corporations that want to strip them of their rights. I hang out with street kids and lawyers. I attend nightly potlucks, I share what I have with those in need. 

I protest, I and thousands with me call out those thieves and murderers in public through civil disobedience. 

I teach. I give classes on American History using 'A peoples history of the united states.'

I give speeches. I sit on panels at churches, libraries, homes, parks, and anywhere else im invited to. 

I speak to the media. I try in the best way I know how to share a revolutionary message that places community over institution. I share my knowledge of americas vast history of oppression. 

I form friendships. I meet people of all types and backgrounds. I encourage them and they encourage me. I help them and they help me. We are dedicated to social change and our friendships are forged through collective struggle. 

We are creative. we come up with creative ways to explain and reveal the vast corruption in the American system. we make posters and costumes. I share ideas. we turn those ideas into essays, actions, speeches, posters, pictures and movies. 

We are fools. We know that society doesn't want to hear our message. We know that society is more then comfortable with genocide, population manipulation, consumerism, greed, pride, hatred and ignorance. But we refuse to play along. We are creating a new world...and we are creating it right now. Our lives are the first casualties in the revolution. We are sacrificing our comfort, privilege, and apathy in order to show people that a new world is possible!

The above was found on Twitter/Pastebin. Great response in my opinion. I don’t partake in all of the things this person does, but I try my best.

My lessons and suggestions from the movement

Things I’ve learned this past week at (not “from”) camping out as OccupySFSU:

1. All #Occupy campers must agree or find a compromise with each other if consensus is not reached at or outside of GA. Work slow, think long, but do not turn a group effort into exclusivity of suggestions/demands/proposals centred on one self.

2. Larger Occupy camps empirically tend to have more tension in pertinence to control, consensus, and community care. 30-50 people is a good number - it promotes a real sense of communal living and allows easier manageability of social norms.

3. Camps must eventually produce a set of realistic short-term and long-term demands/suggestions. They must be written & presentable, as they should not directly towards a non-entity (ambiguous demands common to chants), but crafted towards the concessions of power.

4. Although it should be inclusive to all - a camp’s voted policies & agreements must not be disrespected or broken under any conditions. It is up to the individual who does not abide with rules to practice self-control, open their own minds, or seek assistance from others. Without internal respect towards others’, these obstacles force change from an occupation of public space into a creation of an unwarranted form of private space.