Forum Post: – Bloodshed in Freedom Square – ?

I have no new news - I am not in New York City, rather I am in Vermont. I am not on the ground, and have limited access to what is happening. I have not reviewed all of the information that has been brought to my attention, yet what I have read provokes this caution:

There may be those on either side of the vast gulf that divides this nation who have concluded that violence in Freedom Square, or in Zuccotti Park, depending on your point of view and the inclination of your own tongue, who have determined that bloodshed is to their advantage.

The iconography is unmistakable. One side may suppose no one will mind violence done to fringe or radical elements who have taken over a park when that park might be any of one hundred in America. The other may presume that violence done to American citizens in a park named Freedom Square has unmistakable advantages.

I would see no one stake a claim at the intersection of such possibilities without clearly understanding the circumstances that surround them so far as is possible. None of us may predict the future outcome.

I would not engage in senseless emotionalism, nor would I provide a platform for provocation. I would consider the facts, and with clarity provide each of us the opportunity to decide for ourselves what together we must do.

I have read that during an arrest that took place recently someone in the crowd at Freedom Square shouted “grab his gun”. This is a very dangerous example of provocation. It does not serve OWS. The potential consequences are obvious, and must not be understated.

We have seen in the encampments an influx of the impoverished, the outcast, the homeless. It has provided valuable lessons regarding the effects of economic injustice that surrounds us. Yet I insist that among the homeless population you will find not one lamb fit for slaughter. They are but children sleeping. Let them sleep. It is not in our hands to wake them, yet we see they remain vulnerable to influence from the very forces arrayed against us. We must protect them at all costs. They cannot remain on the front line where violence is, or where it may be, immanent.

IF the iron fist of oppression must fall, then I say let it fall on us, and not upon them. Let them be apart, and neither the cause, nor the recipient, of whatever comes.

I have heard there has been an arrest in the city related to terrorism. While the causes of this are unclear, one thing should be obvious: this provides for an increase in tension, an increase in emotional instability. This instability will no doubt be felt at Freedom Square. This instability is a part of what makes the outcome here so uncertain.

Let us be clear - there are those at all levels among the opposition, who would see various forms of brinkmanship as not only desirable but necessary. Make no mistake, if brinkmanship is their desire then that is what they will most certainly have, and I for one will not blink. Yet I insist, we must not throw one life away in haste.

Sun Tzu has written that there is safety in danger. I say that when a situation arises that has a fuse, pinch it. If it cannot be pinched, then embrace it. Let no one go blindly before us. We are Americans, a free people, and there is no straw dog among us.

In this way our opposition will in time come to understand that our system of belief and our will to be victorious is far superior to theirs and that they cannot win. They cannot win because everything they believe is un-American.

If bleed we must then bleed we shall, and upon their heads will rest that stain.

May that thread that permeates the universe and binds us together in peace and in love guide and protect all, and let us take great pride: we are a secular nation. We are a progressive nation. We are not afraid.