Forum Post: Occupy Wall Street’s Next Phase: Avoid Cooptation in Election Season

This is from an article by Glen Ford, from Black Agenda Report: Here's the link: http://blackagendareport.com/content/occupy-wall-street’s-next-phase-avoid-cooptation-election-season

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

“The real ‘phase two’ of Occupy Wall Street’s young career is a perilous period of greatly increased interaction of OWS with local Democratic politicians at the height of the election season.”

“This is Occupy 2.0, not Occupy on the fringe” said Rev. Jamal Bryant, outside the Federal Reserve building on Constitution Avenue, in Washington, DC. “We’re coming to every kitchen table.” Bryant is pastor of a Baltimore mega-church and co-leader, along with former NAACP executive director Ben Chavis and media mogul Russell Simmons, of Occupy The Dream, Occupy Wall Street’s new partners. Defining “Phase Two” of the young movement is a popular pastime. The leadership of Occupy Washington DC, encamped at Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue, say their version of phase two will explore alternative economic models that give power to workers, while also gearing up for an “American Spring” mass mobilization beginning March 30. Back in mid-November, when OWS was barely two-months old, Democratic Party interloper Van Jones announced that his Rebuild the Dream outfit would inaugurate “phase two” of the movement with the recruitment of “2,000 candidates to run for office under this 99 percent banner“ – Jones’ ambitious bid for a wholesale Democratic buyout of OWS. There are lots of “phase twos” and 2.0s” out there. What does Occupy The Dream’s virtual merger with OWS portend? Lots more Black people, for one thing. The clergy-centered group held demonstrations at Federal Reserve Bank locations in 16 cities on January 16, Martin Luther King’s federal holiday, leaving behind walkers and crutches to symbolize the central bank’s role in “crippling America.” At the Fed’s Washington headquarters, the call-and-response was nothing like the usual OWS mic-check. “We pray for a Robin Hood revolution, where there will be more for the poor and less for the rich,” Rev. Bryant preached to the crowd. “Instead of saying Amen, shout Occupy. [Occupy!] The revolution begins today. What do we want? [Justice!] No Justice? [No Peace!] What we gonna do? [Occupy!].” “Bryant and Chavis are now publicly non-partisan, in the sense that they no longer directly advocate for Obama.”

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.