Forum Post: OWS Oakland- The Beginning of the End
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 11, 2011, 10:42 a.m. EST by Spankysmojo
(849)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Sadly, the murder of an Oakland man marks the beginning of the end of OWS. Now authorities will have an excuse to break it up. Mark Rudd once said, 'Leaders don't make protests; protests make leaders'. When?
The murder of the student at Kent State university did not stop the movement in 1968. Nor did the muder of people on the front lines at Tahrir Square stop their movement.
You cannot have a revolt without casualties. It is naive to think that no one will die as a result of the protests in the OWS movement. OWS strives to be peaceful, but there are those who meet these requests dispatching riot police to stop it.
When you have armed riot police versus unarmed citizens, the likely outcome is that some of the citizens will be injured, possibly die.
Eventually if the NWO has their way implementing a one world currency, one world army/police force, your choice will be to fight or live in submission. If you fight, you will do so with the understanding that death is a very distinct possibility. At that point, it becomes a choice of live free or die trying because you cannot live under the slavery of tyranny.
OWS is trying to head that scenario off at the pass, change things now, while change is still possible and can happen via peaceful protests. If it fails as a movement, the above scenario will be what your choices are. That's the point.
Lisa, very astute answer. I maintain that OWS should remain peaceful, to keep the government from declaring martial law and making slaves of us earlier than they planned.
OWS has been peaceful, yet they are met with riot police firing rubber bullets at them at the orders of town politicians who just want to put down any form of dissent. I can only imagine how much worse it will be when they want to sell the one world government idea to the world and people say no, that is not okay with us.
[Removed]
Jake and Elwood would be proud of you! 'We're on a mission from God'
I hope you're right. The problem is that unlike Kent State where the authorities killed students, and Tahrir where nothing much changed other than the one leader of the country, Oakland was the scene of a murder of one protester by another. Not a good message. I hope that you are right but the crux is still 'no leadership'. Nothing happening.
There is leadership, just not in the normal, traditional sense. As the movement grows, the individual committees will need to have spokespeople who will be comfortable in those roles. Right now everybody can be in those roles. The movement will need regional faces and people who can explain the positions each city/town movement has adopted and is working towards, as well as responding to progress of their movement.
The lack of faces is being perceived as lack of responsibility and leadership because everyone shares the same leadership roles. Many consider the movement to just be a free for all with people just camping out and marching and protesting with no clear goals of what they want.
Each town/region occupation needs to have consistent spokespeople who do not mind being in that role. It is more than just press relations. They have to represent the movement. People have to be comfortable with them, they have to be accessible to concerns from ALL of the people represented.
I think this is becoming apparent due to the invocation of the Spokes Council. To think that NYC could have a General Assembly when there are 8 million people living here, is not going to meet with success as the movement grows. Now you have 300 people living in the park who come out. How could votes be taken on 50,000 people at a General Assembly? The focus has to change and shift.
One of the problems is, whoever is in the role of being one of the faces of the movement will be held accountable and targeted by those who wish to see it end. If there is a problem during a demonstration, the person identified as one of the leaders of that movement will be sought out and blamed.
Remember the Democratic National Convention in the 60's in Chicago? They had a list of people to arrest, the front runners of the movement. Now if they want to go after someone, they can't, whose in charge? They all are, it's a leaderless movement.
I really hope you're right. Nicely put Lisa.
http://pastebin.com/gm2UV08D
Enough said.
What they need is a Cause. This gives them one.
Occupy Oakland has been co-opted by thugs and gangsters. They just cruise around on their bikes, showing us their underwear, and grinning while they do their deals on their cell phones. I does not feel safe there (and apparently it is not).
So sad. Hijacked protest.....no leadership!
Agreed. The 'no leadership' approach is noble and interesting, but it is showing its shortcomings everywhere we look.
I think it actually worked in OWSs' favor early on. It was impossible to finger-point and arrest. The movement became a movement. Now the movement requires a direction.
The "We have no leader, no demands" thing is not a philosophy, it's an excuse. Everybody's having a great time playing 1968 and pretending they're making a difference but there is no one who is willing to step up and do the heavy lifting. It's laughable even if it is costing taxpayer money to accommodate this little Camp-O-Ree of the Deluded
Actually,
this.
http://pastebin.com/gm2UV08D
Are you asking anyone to believe there is any gravitas to be found in pasting phrases from the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence around whiny OWS claptrap?
It only starts out that way. It slowly evolves the language from "classic" to modern and brings it all into the "now". Please, give it an honest chance and read the whole thing. You'll be glad you did. It's brilliant.
This document is above even OWS. If adopted, it could be the glue to pull EVERYBODY into the movement,
Give it a chance, please.
There are demands.
www.the99declaration.org
The reason for the confusion is there are no regional spokesmen/spokeswomen to be the faces of the movement here in NYC or at the other areas. Even if the Press Relations group would take on that role, it would help educate people that there really are ideas in place that they are working towards and fighting for.
And floundering.