Doug Henwood wonders what the agenda is, if any.
Certainly the location of the protest is a statement, but when it comes to words, there’s a strange silence—or prolixity, which in this case, amounts to pretty much the same thing. Why can’t they say something like this? “These gangsters have too much money. They wrecked the economy, got bailed out, and are back to business as usual. We need jobs, schools, health care, and clean energy. Let’s take their money to pay for them.” The potential constituency for that agenda is huge.
Instead we have paralysis of the will hidden behind endless discussions of process and principles.
Occupiers: I love you, I’m glad you’re there, the people I talked to were inspiring—but you really have to move beyond this. Neoliberalism couldn’t ask for a less threatening kind of dissent.
However, the Occupy movement is growing, with protests now planned in dozens of cities. It may be a bit inchoate now but that could and probably will change. This is how real grassroots protests always start.
Henwood is a long-time leftie and Polizeros Good Guy. I agree with him. The protests need to get militant and get focused, something we both want to happen.
National site. Occupy Together
