Say what you will about capitalism, they know how to make an effictive sign.
I first visited Occupy Wall Street protest on the eve of
what was to be their eviction from Zuccotti Park. It was around 11 at night,
and raining, and the atmosphere at the camp was one of tense preparation. The
group at that time seemed loose-knit and rough around the edges, but everyone
seemed to be on the same page, focused, and serious.
I decided to check out the scene again, to see how it had
changed since the mayor had backed away from the ‘cleaning’ of the park and the
protest had grown to an international movement of sorts. This time I dropped by
the park over my lunch hour on a beautiful afternoon, and to no surprise the
event was much more of a shit show. The hardcore crew from a few nights ago had
remained but was supplemented by a large contingent of attention seekers,
freak-flag-fliers, LOUD TALKERS, goof balls, drop-ins, and people looking to argue about anything they
could.
I was expecting a very energized and increasingly organized
situation, perhaps with some fresh recruits and a growing sense of purpose, but
instead found the already disparate group to appear even more fractured. The
serious political element was getting along fine and showed some progress, but
the large contingent of kooky characters seemed to be stressing the boundaries
of the “all inclusive, non-hierarchical, no leader” structure of the protest.
The begrudging tolerance shown towards the fringe-of-the-fringe
seems likely to fade quickly, and may force the rise of a concentrated and focused
core of leadership. To be effective you have to control your message and to a
certain extent the messenger. With all the media at the site, anyone willing to
go on camera will be interviewed, so
you end up with a guy holding a sign that reads “Fart Smeller Movement” being
treated as your spokesperson.
To be perfectly honest, I left my first visit to
the camp with an increased sympathy and camaraderie for the protesters, and
excitement to see what would come next. My second visit basically reset me to neutral.
If this ‘movement’ is to become a legitimate force, there is going to need to
be some sort of discipline and structure. The problems that the left has faced for 20
years are all on parade (zoo?) here. Cohesion, discipline, intellectual
infighting, and no one willing to tell someone else they are bat-shit crazy and
get the fuck outta here cause you’re making us look like assholes.