Forum Post: Syndicated Column: My Week at Stop the Machine/Occupy DC, by Ted Rall

I just spent a week at one of the occupation protests in Washington. It was one of the most exciting and enlightening experiences of my life.

History will little note this factlet, but the October 2011 Stop the Machine protest was where the first major civil uprising since the 1960s began in the United States. Timed to begin on October 6, the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Stop the Machine has been in the works since last summer. Its organizers had a simple, novel idea: take over a public space, and don't leave.

Post-Vietnam-era protests have been frustrating exercises of political theater, well-mannered affairs for which marching licenses are received from the police, self-appointed "peace police" patrol the perimeter to discourage left-wing hotheads from taking swings at the cops, and even the arrests are staged in cooperation with the authorities. People chant. They march. They go home. And little changes.

To be sure, the American Left has won some victories over the last few decades. Who, even as recently as 1990, would have guessed that gay and lesbian couples would soon be able to marry with the sanction of the state, that their wedding announcements would be published in the august New York Times? Though largely symbolic (since it will actually increase costs for most patients), Obama's healthcare reform represented a rare concession: despite Reaganism, which asserted that we were all on our own and should expect no assistance from government, society has arrived at a rough consensus that certain basic needs are a human right.

But these have been small wins. The broad strokes of governance have shifted to the right. Much of what used to be considered the outer fringe of the far right is now taken for granted by both major political parties: a state of constant war, a military empire whose hundreds of bases circle the globe, brazen political assassinations that once occasioned Congressional hearings and official denials. And, of course, the economic catastrophe that began in 2008. Had something similar unfolded before the rise of Reagan, it is impossible to imagine the U.S. government ignoring the pleas of the evicted for relief, the shouts of the unemployed for extended benefits and (at bare minimum) a moratorium on housing foreclosures, many of them rushed and in some cases not even legally sanctioned.

It was inevitable, given its marginalization by the mainstream media and the two big parties, that the Left would take to the streets—and that it would do so using new tactics and strategies.

Unlike the standard choreographed protests of the 1980s and 1990s, not leaving—setting up tents and sleeping bags—is a direct challenge to state officialdom. It's illegal. But it takes heavy-handed tactics—pepper spray, tear gas, batons—to evict demonstrators from an encampment. Police brutality arouses the anger of the public and exposes the generalized violence of the government.

A few months after we announced Stop the Machine, the Canadian "culture jammer" magazine Adbusters stole our idea. They invited people to Occupy Wall Street, a spontaneous political be-in which metastasized, and suffered arrests and brutality, and has since generated spinoffs in hundreds of American cities. It is the biggest set of protests since the 1960s.

Occupy wasn't first. But they had a great name and better timing—not to mention the good luck to get brutalized on camera by New York police.

In Washington the occupation movement also includes the Occupy Wall Street spinoff Occupy D.C., eight blocks away from Stop the Machine. Occupy D.C.'s urban campers in McPherson Square are younger and whiter than Stop the Machine's. As you'd expect, they're wilder and more energetic. Stop the Machine is older ("people dress normal here" was one thing I heard a lot), more diverse and better organized. Again, as you'd expect.

We rented Portapotties.

No one should care about who came first. Revolution is open-source intellectual property. Results, not credit, matter. However, our goals are identical: addressing the needs of the 99 percent of Americans who are getting screwed by the political system, an end to America's wars of choice, putting the planet first. The various strains of this movement should merge. The kids should lead. That said, they need the help and experience older activists are able to provide.

I've learned a lot during my last week as an occupier. Some of my basic assumptions about politics and revolt have been challenged.

please read the rest at: http://www.rall.com/rallblog/2011/10/19/bonus-column-think-flexibly-revolt-locally