CONNECT
Waging Nonviolence / Op-Ed
Published: Thursday 17 November 2011
“It suggested that perhaps the time has passed for the movement to be so focused on encampments, and that it might move on to bigger and better things instead.”
Forced Eviction Takes Occupy Wall Street into Its Next Phase
Liberty Plaza (or Park or Square) looks an awful lot like Zuccotti Park again—aside from the damaged flower beds and a broken plastic peace sign lying in the gutter. At 1 in the morning, hundreds of police in riot gear stormed the plaza, shining floodlights and tearing down tents. Sanitation workers loaded occupiers’ belongings into garbage trucks, including the books of the occupation’s library. LRAD sound cannons were on the scene, and as many as five police helicopters hovered high overhead, where airspace was closed to media aircraft. On the ground, police cornered reporters out of view from the plaza during the eviction of the protesters, some of whom locked arms around the kitchen area and nonviolently resisted removal. They faced pepper spray and batons for doing so.
When I arrived at around 2:20 a.m., riot police were preventing anyone from getting closer than a block away from the site. By the time I returned there just after sunrise, after hours following marches and spontaneous assemblies and affinity groups meeting in the streets, the place had been completely cleared and washed. It was blocked off with barricades, despite a court order that the occupiers should be allowed to return. Back in Duarte Square on Canal Street, though, where hundreds had temporarily gathered, it was surprising how positive the mood actually was.
So, then, what next? What does the Occupy movement do when its flagship occupation is, at least for now, gone?
It happens that just hours before, Adbusters magazine—which originally called for the occupation—promulgated "Tactical Briefing #18: Occupy the High Ground." It suggested that perhaps the time has passed for the movement to be so focused on encampments, and that it might move on to bigger and better things instead. This is a notion that has come up repeatedly in my recent conversations with early organizers; after almost three months, they feel, the movement is starting to outgrow the occupation. Mostly in a good way—the working groups, websites, and other infrastructure are already at such a point that most of the occupation’s business has been happening outside the crowded plaza for weeks. Organized resistance actions are taking place around the country without being specifically tied to occupation sites.
It’s also true that the camps have suffered from problems of health, sanitation, and crime, which were the excuse for what appears to be a coordinated attack on occupations by the mayors of cities around the country. But the occupiers have insisted that they can resolve these problems themselves, and nonviolently, in contrast to their governments’ policies of forced, armed eviction. Now that these coordinated attacks are happening, they seem to call for a coordinated response.
I’m reminded of a conversation I had in the first week of Occupy Wall Street with Monica Lopez, a Spanish journalist who took part in the May 15 movement in Madrid (and who was featured in our video "The Demand Is a Process"). This occupation won’t last forever, she predicted. It shouldn’t. The time eventually came in Madrid that the movement decided it would be better off ending the occupation than keeping it going—on June 12, less than a month after it began. Since, as WNV’s Ter Garcia has reported, the Spanish movement has shifted its attention to direct actions ranging from preventing evictions, to organizing a global day of protest, to engaging the political process. And, as I recently witnessed in Greece, those who occupied Athens’ Syntagma Square are now focusing on cultivating neighborhood assemblies concerned with local issues.
For the rise of the Occupy movement so far, though, the tactic of occupation has been absolutely essential. Mayor Bloomberg suggested in his explanation for the eviction that the encampment was not included in the protesters’ First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly. However one interprets the law, though, from a strategic point of view, the encampment was precisely what made their free speech heard, allowing it to cut through the din of politics as usual and jump-start a public conversation about wealth and corruption.
Still, an encampment alone poses little real threat to the pillars upholding the power of the banks and the corporate elite that the Occupy movement hopes to undermine. Even the encampment in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, for instance, likely couldn’t have brought down Hosni Mubarak without the support of a coordinated general strike that threatened to bring down the Egyptian economy. If focusing too much on encampments distracts the movement from conducting more threatening actions like this, encampment is better left behind.
For those in it and those trying to understand it from the outside, the Occupy movement has never been easy to predict. As it enters this next phase, I’d bet we should be prepared to be surprised again.
46 comments on "Forced Eviction Takes Occupy Wall Street into Its Next Phase"
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That's the perefct insight in a thread like this.
November 24, 2011 11:10am
I doubt anyone will read this as it is an old article. I tend to agree with the articles point that it is time to move on from the encampments. However, having said that I hope that people who participated appreciate the incredible education that they had the opportunity to experience. I certainly, as impressed as I am with most aspects of the occupation, was also impressed with the caliber of speakers, educators and vocal supporters who spoke at various assemblies.
November 20, 2011 5:38pm
Moving into phase 2 means to "Occupy Organized Crime" that will disrupt Wall Street, Big Oil, preditory banking, radicalized State Govonors like Scott Walker and the extreamists in the House of NON-Representitives
November 19, 2011 12:45am
this reminds me an awful lot of the student protests of the 60s and 70s. What worked then will work now. It's about time that the lethargy of the general populace ended.
November 18, 2011 3:14pm
Some next steps:
-Seek to stop private banks from creating our public money out of thin air, and then loaning it to our fed. gov. so we must pay the banksters interest. See book, Web of Debt by Ellen H. Brown for how to do this.
-Each city Occupy should acquire ( get control of) large space(s)/place(s) to set up central services and support for occupiers located throught out the city.
-Organize a common good bank for each city and even neighborhoods. See
http://commongoodfinance.com/ for group leading this effort nationally.
- Work to have each State set up its' own bank. See http://banknd.nd.gov/ for an example to follow.
November 18, 2011 3:12pm
Some next steps:-Seek to stop private banks from creating our public money out of thin air, and then loaning it to our fed. gov. so we must pay the banksters interest. See book, Web of Debt by Ellen H. Brown, for how to do this.-Each city Occupy should acquire ( get control of) large space(s)/place(s) to set up central services and support for occupiers located throught out the city.-Organize a common good bank for each city and even neighborhoods. See http://commongoodfinance.com/ for group leading this effort nationally.- Work to have each State set up its' own bank. See http://banknd.nd.gov/ for an example to follow.
November 18, 2011 11:35am
Let the police show everyone their true colors. The more they hit us and protect the wealthy, the more the public will be disgusted at them and will support us.
November 18, 2011 11:20am
Mr. Matthew Jacobs,
I have not seen it, but assuming if you are telling the truth, so what even if a crazy guy taking dump off the curb? Unlike you, American people are much more intelligent than that to picture only taking a dump off the curb by an individual in their mind about entire OWS movement. For more than several decades our corrupt two parties, our corrupt presidents, our corrupt congress, and yes Wall Street bosses exactly taking dumps off the entire America and its economical and political systems and frankly people have awaken and fed-up with it. Enough is enough and nothing can stop people uprising, not WS bosses, not our corrupt two parties, not our corrupt congress, not our fascist police departments, not even our total fraud president, Mr. Barak Saddam Hussein Obama.
December 03, 2011 1:56am
What does need to stop is the ignorance you speak in attempting to sully the name of our current President. By the corruption of Electoral College vote as well as vote tampering is what fraudulently inducted the previous President == not once but twice -- but you mention nothing about that. You also do not even recognize that it is the policies of the past 8 years as well as the unjustified wars that have brought the country to the state we find it in now. President Obama has not been allowed be create the changes we need due to a recalcitrant Congress. Get your facts straight before you attempt to expound on something you are so confused about.
November 19, 2011 12:37am
"Dr." Mobasheri:
Oh please. Your English is so poor I can't even make out what you are trying to say.
And calling the president "Saddam" is a real insult just because his father insisted on making his middle name "Hussein". I thought that nonsense had stopped among intelligent people.
November 18, 2011 8:30am
Perhaps it is time to RETHINK our core values as society. Any healthy society is based on three pillars: Work, Justice and Compassion. When ANY of these three pillars crumbles the society becomes dysfunctional.1. Work had been outsourced to cheaper labor markets, which enables corporations to rake in larger profits and obscene salaries of top dogs Also those who are parasites on society and game the system get compensations way above what they contribute, while those working stiffs who contribute in goods and services barely make it.2. Justice had been eroded since poor are screwed...rules are such that they favor the rich who can get away with murder, literally and figuratively by paying lawyers and by rigging the rules to make it legal to steal from working people, as it happened with predatory lending.3. Compassion needs to be reserved for those who are weak and cannot fend for themselves rather then supporting generations on the dole and producing babies in order to get government dole. Young able-bodied and minded people need to be taught to fish, rather then giving them fish. We need to introduce responsible behaviors on the top and on the bottom.Then we can live happily ever after, just like we did during Eisenhower time, when the top dogs taxation was 92% so that it did not encourage greed as now when the filthy rich can pay less than their secretaries ;-)!
November 18, 2011 8:15am
Mr./Ms. Bionicknight is absolutely correct, people should boycott buying stuff. If I may add, people should also boycott 2112 election as well. As little as participation of public in most corrupt election system on the face of the earth will minimize legitimacy of White House, Congress, State Governors, Mayors, etc. No matter who gets in, still they are going to be in pocket of corporations and are going to serve their dirty interests, so let they take their bloody office only with very few percentage of voter’s participations rather than high percentage. That totally undermines their legitimacies.
December 03, 2011 2:00am
See above response to Replier. Click on "Show" to read.
There will always be those who profit from power. When democrats vote, we win. Republicans always show up and vote. The election results of 2010 are wholly blamed on democrats not getting out to vote. Republican leaders back in the 80's stated, the fewer the amount who vote, we (Republicans) win. This is a proven strategy amoung top Republican leaders. They want people to be discouraged! That way we won't vote. That would lead to levels of corruption yet to be seen! Wake up America! Vote!
December 03, 2011 1:59am
Astute conceptualization. No benefit will be gained by abstaining from the vote. That is simply another way to allow the corruption to prevail. Somebody or something has to be done to stem the tide. There has been talk of devising a third-party system which will insinuate itself into the current morass to help stimulate the type of societal changes that the 99% can support. Nothing can be gained from noninvolvement. And though a new revolution may be more desireable, it is most practical to begin by operating within the overall political structure that this country has been built upon and change the dynamics of economic and social system from within. This may not be the most desireable but it surely would be the most practical first step in societal change.
November 18, 2011 8:01am
Also, it is time to get the 1% on board with the 99%. There are many people earning over $250,000 who sympathize with the 99% - actors, writers, artist, and others. Let's get them on board.
November 18, 2011 7:58am
Having worked for a municipality, I always wondered why the Police Department with their very strong union - the PBA, were so politically conservative. At the time I worked for our local municipality, the police had non- contributory pension plans, 20 year retirement plans, free medical and many more benefits including holiday pay and if they worked 15 minutes overtime, they were paid for 1 hour overtime. Perhaps it is time to get the PBA on board. Police have a lot to lose also. Governors in both Wisconsin and Ohio took on the police unions, collective bargaining and benefits. It is time to get the Police involved in the movement. Whether they like it or not, they are also part of the 99%.
November 18, 2011 7:41am
None of these illegal, barbarian, brutal, and shameful forced evictions by different police departments in country could not occurs without coordination with White House and specifically without green lights given by Mr. Barak Saddam Hussein Obama himself. Obama proved that totally is in pocket of bankers and is no different than any other clowns in Middle East that violently and brutally running their countries. Well from someone whom ordering assassination of US citizens by assassination planes without having their days in court, we cannot expect anything else but to brutally suppress peaceful demonstrators. It seems NATO planes should protect US citizens from this president. Crimes that Obama is committing, even fascist like Reagan and Baby Bush didn’t dare to commit.
November 17, 2011 10:42pm
@ what now toons: Love your cartoons! I'm wondering if it's possible for me to use some of them for #OWS support videos that I create for both my youtube channel, and our support site, Occupy Unity at www.livestream.com/occupyunity ?
November 17, 2011 9:32pm
(I was writing above when NYPD were bashing folks & communicating ended...) tenters set up on Dalhousie U Campus & occupy freeschool taught...senior ladies occupied time with young organizer at Library, shared wisdom...self-help group occupy discussion to ask why...radio call-in is all Occupy NS chats...general assemblies still occupy time, pro pro same but different...the demand is a process we learn as we go forward demanding no less than JUSTICE FOR ALL ! ... Amy Moonshadow...
November 17, 2011 9:07pm
Two months of we the people speaking out against the one percent's take over of our economic system and the unfair advantage they have wielded over the 99% of us. First the media ignored the OWS, then they said they were hippies and anarchists, then they had to report the truth. Then came the use of force to remove the OWS, but they returned. and the use of force returned as well. This movement is more than those who are doing the actual occupations, it is all of us, it is the wake up call for we the 99%. My latest cartoon is in honor of the Occupy Movement.www.whatnowtoons.comLeft of center independent political cartoons
November 18, 2011 1:03am
So your post is all about your self promotion
November 17, 2011 8:52pm
Research and lobbying by phone, letters, E-mail, in person -- exactly right. Also, we, the 99%, need to put forward and support viable candidates who will get elected precisely because they will make every attempt to pass and implement laws and policies that support the 99%. With regard to the suggestion to convene a Constitutional Convention, we have to be careful what we wish for -- if such a convention were to be highjacked by certain folks who did not have the best interests of the 99% in mind, we could all be in big trouble. A good place to start might be to work very hard with the groups that are organizing to amend the Constitution (but not by a convention) so that clear wording is put into the Constitution that corporations are NOT people. The next step would be to insist that laws be passed so that candidates for political office can only use a set amount of taxpayer money to run for office, after having first proved that they are viable by obtaining a certain fairly high number of signatures of a petition for them to run for office. So, for example, every person who wants to run for the United States Senate and obtains the required number of signatures on a petition might each get $60,000.00 of taxpayer money to run for that office. It would be illegal to use additional funds. Then, the playing field would be leveled; one couldn't buy an election. This approach is used in several European countries with good results; it helps end a lot of corruption and enhances the incentives for elected officials to actually pass laws that benefit 99% of the constituents.
Yay! I have been saying this for years. It is so go of to ser it from someone else.
November 17, 2011 8:51pm
The OWS was a powerful strategy that worked--now millions of Americans are aware of its main grievance: the huge gulf between the 1% and the 99%. To continue to physically protest is important in order to sustain national attention; however, the nightly ritual of bedding down is counter-productive. The focus should now be on demanding specific changes in the body politic that would alter the 1/99 relationship. One critical demand should be to cap dollars spent on elections so every candidate is on an equal playing field; the corporations and rich donors will lose much of their potent influence on decision-making in Congress. I was surprised to learn that a $ limit in candidate spending is established practice in Great Britain.
November 17, 2011 7:25pm
Start doing opposition research on your Representative in Congress. All of them are up for reelection next year. We need to send them a message loud and clear that they have two choices:1. Support us 2. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
November 17, 2011 5:32pm
Hey, Halifax - here's a shout from Oregon. Keep the faith.
November 17, 2011 5:22pm
I am intrigued - what would it take to form our own Constitutional Convention? I'd jump at being part of that in a heartbeat. Once we convened and put together our ideas, pared them down to a workable list, defined the list, WHERE so we go from there? How do we get some of OUR lawmakers to listen, then back us up? How do we get media attention to cover what we come up with? How did the Tea Party get their ideas out "there"?
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we can sit down and hash this out, unlike so many of our illustrious elected officials. WE have learned how to work together, and work out our differences. What does that make US?
November 17, 2011 5:00pm
Redefining the Occupy Movement will be a necessity if the movement is to become a powerful, non-violent political/social/economic/cultural force, and to also maintain and bring more depth to the current political/social/economic/cultural narrative which they're already written upon the public's consciousness.
While occupations of physical space have brought a lot of media attention to the movement, it's time to branch out into the political, economic, social and cultural areas in order to occupy and (ultimately) liberate them from the greedy, unproductive iron hands of the 1% and return them to the 99%, who have the right to use the nation's political, social, economic and cultural systems in order to chart the course of and control their own destinies.
It's time for OWS to work on occupying and winning the hearts and minds of the 99% so they will recognize that OWS speaks for them, and that they will join the movement in order to become the "critical mass" which will be the trigger for a massive re-taking of the nation's political, economic, social and cultural systems which have been so deeply corrupted by the greed of the 1%.
November 17, 2011 4:56pm
I am 70 years old and have seen what once was a Great Country with true Liberty and Justice and Opportunity for all get destroyed by the Rich and Powerful Individuals, Corporations, Companies, Institutions and for Profit Organizations and the Greedy and Corrupt Politicians.
Rich and Powerful and greedy and Corrupt have left the 99%ers no choice but to revolt against them peacefully at first but if that fails then I am afraid that we shall see armed revolt in the United States of America just as we are seeing it in other Foreign Countries.
November 18, 2011 1:10am
The:
I think your scaring the children.
November 17, 2011 4:42pm
I must echo the move from physical occupation to moral and mental occupation. Find the sympathetic political candidates. Organize block voting. Make the candidates nervous.Do your research. Get Politifacts on your side. Keep the fire burning. There is much more sympathy out there than imagined.
November 17, 2011 4:33pm
I agree with what OWS believes. The way they go about forcing change by those encampments did not help. Why not just protest during the day and go home at night. The police are right in forcing OWS to leave their communities - with sani-tation problems etc. that threaten the cities. Keep on protesting but do it intell-igently.Ann
November 17, 2011 4:30pm
I have very mixed emotions around this. As a business owner and part of the 99%, I support the efforts of Occupy Wall Street. The encampents changed the national dialogue. I agree with the sentiment that the more they crack down on OWS the more publicity and the stronger they will get. Easy for me to say, my skull isn't shattered and my eyes aren't pepper sprayed. I fear that this blog may be just a spin on the grim reality that in the United States we can't foster the kind of change that has occurred in Libya or Egypt. I hope I'm wrong. But if I am wrong, then this movement needs a point of engagement for people like me, and it needs it quickly before the momentum dies.
November 17, 2011 4:10pm
WHAT'S NEXT?
HIT THESE BASTARDS WHERE THEY LIVE. IN THE WALLET.
HEY 99%! Are you angry? Use it!
We have POWER! “Buying Power.” And, it’s about time we used it. Here’s how.
STOP BUYING THINGS. STOP BUYING…EVERYTHING.
WE CAN INSTANTLY STOP THE FLOW OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
STRANGLE THE COMPANIES THAT ARE KILLING US!
Companies want our money, but they don’t want to help America get back on its feet?
We are being starved, now let’s starve those greedy corporations who took our money.
We want companies to hire us, politicians to vote for us, and this is how to force it.
We have an incredible mobile army of millions and millions and millions of people!
Let’s combine the power that we all have. VOTE, by NOT spending.
Stop buying as much as you can. Stop buying from ALL of the big corporations, retailers and banks; Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Costco, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Sears, Lowe’s, Supervalu, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Georgia Pacific, RJR, Brown & Williamson, Kraft Global, Sara Lee, Tyson, BP, Shell Oil, Exxon Mobile, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Sprint, Dell, Microsoft, Dow Chemical, Chevron, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Disney, Macy’s, Kohl’s, The Gap, Penny’s, Colgate, Nike, Staples, Office Depot, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Avon, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kellogg’s, Dean Foods, General Mills, etc., etc., etc. All of them!
Add your own companies to our list and pass it on.
Don’t use global banks. Move your money from a big bank to a neighborhood bank.
Don’t use your credit cards or ATM’s…at all.
Don’t shop any retail chain stores. Shop local, or mom and pop shops.
Don’t buy gasoline. Walk, take a bus, car pool, or ride a bike.
Don’t buy any extras like music, movies, electronics, or toys…nothing.
BUY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
STOP SPENDING OUR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS.
Greedy global companies will be left in shock not knowing what to do.
Wall Street, the oil barons, corporate fat cats, stockholders, executives, marketers, retailers, politicians, and President Obama, will be asking us, the 99%, what we want!
“WE” WILL FORCE WALL STREET AND CORPORATIONS TO HELP AMERICA!
We have already started.
V
November 18, 2011 8:18am
bionicknight,
You are absolutely correct, people should boycott buying stuff. If I may add, people should also boycott 2112 election as well. As little as participation of public in most corrupt election system on the face of the earth will minimize legitimacy of White House, Congress, State Governors, Mayors, etc. No matter who gets in, still they are going to be in pocket of corporations and are going to serve their dirty interests, so let they take their bloody office only with very few percentage of voter’s participations rather than high percentage. That totally undermines their legitimacies.
November 18, 2011 1:16am
So V how about a status report on what you are calling on others to do? Let me guess, for the cause you are turning off the night light when you leave the apartment for school.
November 17, 2011 4:10pm
They need to become a POLITICAL FORCE... AS THE TEA PARTY DID.
They should occupy K Street in Washington-home of the lobbyists (aka BRIBERS) for awhile
At this point they need to get ACTIVE in the REAL world
. They need clear objectives expressed over and over in sound bites like:GET THE MONEY OUT OF POLITICS!
OUTLAW LOBBYING !
FINANCED ELECTIONS ONLY!
NO MORE COMMERCIALS ALLOWED DURING ELECTIONS!
OVERTURN CITIZENS UNITED
and to form a Constitutional Convention...listen to Randi Rhodes on the radio and take her suggestions and ACT on them. Just occupying is starting to turn negative, when the 99%... can't get to work or go about their routines.
The Polls show that people who are in agreement are now even starting to turn against the movement
BY JUST STAYING THERE AND OCCUPYING..THEY ARE NOT TOUCHING THE 1% at at all!
Take a lesson from the Tea Party...get focused politically and get active...they took over the Republican Party
November 18, 2011 1:25am
Mil
Your time line is over for you should have lives in the 1930 in then Russia although from what I hear North Korea might offer you a place to lay your head.
Wow and you fool yourself in thinking the American People support you
and suport these off the wall musings.
November 17, 2011 2:43pm
The more they crack down on OWS the more publicity and the stronger they will get.
November 18, 2011 1:29am
Have you seen the video of the protestor Dropping his pants squatting and taking a dump just off the curb at OWC. No! Well millions of Americans have and to them OWS is that picture in their mind.
November 18, 2011 11:14am
Mr. Matthew Jacobs,
I have not seen it, but assuming if you are telling the truth, so what even if a crazy guy taking dump off the curb? Unlike you, American people are much more intelligent than that to picture only taking a dump off the curb by an individual in their mind about entire OWS. For more than decades our corrupt two parties, our corrupt presidents, our corrupt congress, and yes Wall Street bosses exactly taking dumps off the entire America and to our economical and political system and frankly people have awaken and fed-up with it. Enough is enough and nothing can stop people uprising, not WS bosses, not our corrupt two parties, not our corrupt congress, not our fascist police departments, not our corporate media and not even our total fraud president, Mr. Barak Saddam Hussein Obama.
November 17, 2011 2:40pm
I agree that it may be time for OWS not to focus so much attention on occupying spaces. It is time to occupy minds.
November 17, 2011 2:07pm
Greetings from Halifax, NS, Canada. We are temporarily homeless here, but it may be blessing in disguise...redefining occupy is on every mind...tenters