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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Occupy People Are Testy at Occupy Seattle

Posted by on Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 12:59 AM

Despite all the rumors flying around the Occupy Seattle camp tonight, the Seattle Police Department sure didn't seem as though they were about to show up in riot gear and start cracking heads. As with last night, there were two police cars parked on either end of the park, and they made occasional announcements about trespassers in the park being subject to arrest. That van full of riot-gear clad cops, according to a handful of histrionic reports, was waiting around the corner, waiting to launch the attack at any moment. When I asked protesters to identify where they saw this van, they were unable to. I couldn't find it, after walking around the immediate area.

The spectre of (apparently nonexistent) riot cops was the most obvious symptom of an Occupy Seattle camp that's experiencing quite a bit of drama tonight. In response to the General Assembly that Brendan reported on, in which 84.3% of the protesters voted to take Mayor McGinn up on his offer to move to City Hall, other Occupy protesters later in the evening had a smaller assembly in which they rejected, by a less convincing margin, the move to City Hall. The protesters who rejected City Hall then tried to convince Occupy Seattle's media team that they represented the will of the movement, and that the media team should post a statement on their website that the offer has officially been rejected. The media team tried to reason with the anti-City-Hall contingent, but discussions quickly turned into an acrimonious standoff, with those ghostly riot cops used by the anti-City-Hall Occupiers as leverage to suggest that the city wasn't good to its word.

Everyone at the Occupy camp right now is tired, wet, and unhappy. Many of the protesters are looking forward to moving to City Hall, where they'll be able to sleep in the relative comfort of tents. Many others think the movement is about to be sold into irrelevancy. There wil be healthy debates tomorrow; I suspect that the majority will stick with the decision to move camp to City Hall at night and continue the protests at Westlake during the day. But I also don't think that tonight's band of fear-mongering rabble-rousers should be employed as a symbol by naysayers to "prove" that the Occupy Movement is fracturing, or losing its focus. I think it's just proof that they're human beings in a tremendously stressful situation. Everyone down there needs to get some rest; all these problems will seem a lot less insurmountable in the morning. The important thing is that they're still there. Nothing else matters.

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Comments (18) RSS

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1
yo dog, guess you weren't there. the only fear mongering people there were (as you would say) the pro-move-to-city-hall-people. they used the threat of police action to push forward their proposal without allowing very much time for discussion. in the SAME meeting another proposal was made to reject the offer and NOT deal with the mayor at all. that proposal passed.

great journalism, bozo, showing up late and getting your facts wrong. hope you win your own genius award next year.
Posted by bdurruti on October 12, 2011 at 1:38 AM
2
This is why you should not listen to anyone who claims to represent Occupy Wall St. Only the people present at any given time down there make decisions. There are no leaders and it is that way by design. You can't stop this thing precisely because it's so fluid and amorphous. Despite what the general assembly votes on, there are continually going to be groups and individuals who exercise their own set of tactics and I, for one, couldn't be happier about it.
Posted by sgguitar on October 12, 2011 at 1:42 AM
TVDinner 3
I hope you get some sleep too, Paul. Thank you for covering this so well.
Posted by TVDinner http:// on October 12, 2011 at 2:21 AM
4
What a bunch of dumb fucks. How about blaming yourself for your misery?
Posted by Asher123CapHill on October 12, 2011 at 4:42 AM
5
Video of last nights smaller General Assembly....these folks are going somewhere I tell ya, they're gonna change the world!

http://tinyurl.com/3v4kq2y

Now, time to unite and fight the common enemy: the Peoples Front of Judea!

THanks for the laughs guys, please keep it up. Maybe you should just sleep at your headquarters at The Stranger?

MIC CHECK!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Sugartit on October 12, 2011 at 6:50 AM
pdonahue 6
just got back from the best night's sleep yet at OS. When I got there(11pm) the drama was over, safety and legal people kept announcing that police vans have been seen nearby, but most of us had already had a night of chicken little squawking under our belt and ignored them.

As I work swing shift, I have never attended a GA and don't know what goes on there. In fact the majority of people I know at OS really have little involvement in that particular experiment in direct democracy. The people who like to make decisions, print manifestos, declarations of independence are welcome to it, but it doesn't translate into the momentum of the occupation.

The struggle for the leadership of OS is well underway, watch for "leadership" to emerge, get co-opted, and die the death of a thousand committee meetings. Watch for other street generals to be formed, get infiltrated and busted by various law enforcement entities. I've been following the chat room debates at indymedia, and a careful process of leaderless strategy is being formed. I anticipate a revolving door of charismatic personalities to take responsibility for events beyond their control, nothing could be further from the truth.
Posted by pdonahue on October 12, 2011 at 7:07 AM
Rotten666 7
aaaaaaaaaand scene.
Posted by Rotten666 on October 12, 2011 at 7:21 AM
8
"careful process of leaderless strategy is being formed"

Yeah, good luck selling that to the American masses. Sounds like a better idea for a reality TV show though.

You'd better be gone by the time the carousel goes up or I'll come by and mace your asses. Move to City Hall why don't you.
Posted by Sugartit on October 12, 2011 at 7:28 AM
SchmuckyTheCat 9
FWIW, I don't know about last night, but on previous nights (and during the weekend) that van has been parked in front of Vons.
Posted by SchmuckyTheCat on October 12, 2011 at 7:45 AM
gloomy gus 10
@7, you've killed me.
Posted by gloomy gus on October 12, 2011 at 7:53 AM
giffy 11
"The important thing is that they're still there. Nothing else matters."

Why? No, seriously, how does a hundred or so people sleeping in Westlake do much of anything at all?

This is why we continually fail and the teabaggers, despite having little public support, have shifted the debate. The rallies were only step one, where for us they seem the whole point. They are out there taking control of local orgs and parties. They are getting people to the polls, holding classes, harassing electeds, and on and on while the left obsesses over whether it is best to sleep at Westlake or City hall with the usual endless debate and process that results in nothing more than making people feel good for doing nothing.

A waste of fucking time and energy.
Posted by giffy on October 12, 2011 at 8:08 AM
12
Beyond the anger and egos, what many here fail to see is that the movement is already irrelevant, just look at the meager number of participants in what is thought to be one of the most progressive cities in the country. Civil disobedience and arrests in such small numbers is a waste and guarantees that this would barely register a tiny blip on the social scene of this city ... NOTHING would change. The only thing that is going to make this movement relevant is growth, locally, and especially, in solidarity with a national movement. When you can fill every square foot of that plaza, that's the time to take it. Until then, consider the move to City Hall a smart strategy.
Posted by Blue_Rain on October 12, 2011 at 8:11 AM
giffy 13
@12 You mean like when millions marched against the Iraq war and stopped that? Or how demonstrations against the WTO have brought about fair trade over free trade? How about when the RNC protests prevented the reelection of Bush?

We don't need more of the same shit that hasn't worked in decades.
Posted by giffy on October 12, 2011 at 8:18 AM
14
Lots of hay is being made out of this logistical situation (not a bad thing in a democratic movement). However, the entire (as in nationwide) Occupy Wall Street movement won't become irrelevant due to the debate over where to camp in Seattle. This is a nationwide movement going on in many cities. As for the people who want to camp out at City Hall, they aren't sellouts. They are still forgoing a warm bed at night in cold, rainy Seattle. As for the people who want to stay at Westlake Park, all the more power to you for your uncompromising act of civil disobedience. After all, the corporationists and tea baggers won't compromise on anything, and civil disobedience makes the Eric Cantors of the world uncomfortable (Eric Cantor is very uncomfortable with this movement). The movement will continue on strongly in this city and others once the camping debate is resolved (or maybe not resolved). The debate over where to camp is a mere speed bump that will be overcome. We need not let it divide us too much, so that the 1% can continue to divide and conquer the 99%.
Posted by Smell on October 12, 2011 at 9:41 AM
Dexter 15
One of the challenges with OS as I see it is that many people who would support the cause have jobs, families, and other obligations which make it nigh impossible to spend several hours a day hanging at Westlake. I understand that the point is to be ever-present and in-your-face, but 24/7 is too much to ask of everyone, especially when the cause itself is nebulous and difficult to identify or articulate.

The Occupy movement really needs a bona fide mission statement with actionable goals and some kind of long-reaching strategy. A leader, or core group of leaders, would help, too.
Posted by Dexter on October 12, 2011 at 10:08 AM
16
The problem is the cart was put before the horse a bit. It will get straightened out bit it will take time since this is actually a grass roots effort. Its hard to herd cats.
Posted by Kusuriya on October 12, 2011 at 12:08 PM
17
I think there is way too much emphasis on whether folks are able to sleep at Westlake in the local "movement" and not enough on the relevant issues -- and trying to bring in the rest of the community. As shown today, other people would support this cause if only it 1) didn't reject people who don't want to sleep on the ground in a park and 2) had well publicized events with a clear message. The point is to change the political situation, not fight over a piece of concrete. Moving to City Hall Square would allow folks to focus on this instead of just fighting with the police.
Posted by Laura H. on October 15, 2011 at 10:33 PM
18
The real challenge is that the American public does not currently want to give up its electoral system. They believe that a consensus based decision making process will neither function effectively nor truly represent the people. It will not be able to cope with divergent interests.
So, the movement needs to convince the public that it should join.
To do that they will need to put forward some unified plan of action. This would, I guess, need to be approved by the general assembly.
No plan of action is viable with all of the different constituents in the General Assemblies. Not is any particular city, certainly not in all of them combined.
The public, while sympathetic to plights and complaints, is going to be convinced -by the GA's- of the unworkability of the GA's.
Posted by dennymack on November 4, 2011 at 4:03 PM

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