”Our communities need us. We are all leaders. How could we ask for anything less than the future?” A powerful video of the Occupy Poem by acclaimed spoken word artist Drew Dellinger , shot and edited by Occupy Love’s Velcrow Ripper, set to the music of Saracen by Jef Stott . Filmed during the epic Occupy Oakland general strike. Thanks Drew and Jef - it was a wonderful collaboration!
“We are awakening from the false dream we have been relentlessly sold, and have relentlessly bought. It is, in fact, a nightmare paradigm of a commodified world, a lifeless world of objects, separation and scarcity. We are awakening to a new possibility, where the true abundance of this Earth is no longer hoarded. Where relationships are not transactions. Where your well being is my well being is the planet’s well being. That old dog eat dog eat dog story is a myth. We are celebrating a new story that is as old as life. Collaboration is where it’s at. Co-operation has created this incredible complex ecosystem called Earth that sustains and delights us. The competitive aspect of evolution is for the juvenile species. It’s time we grew up. It’s time we learned to share. From rainforests to coral reefs to human communities, we are inextricably intertwined in gorgeous webs of interdependence. This is what democracy looks like; planet to person, person to planet.” - Velcrow Ripper
Occupy Love
Chronicling the heart of Occupy Wall Street ... and beyond.
Occupy with Aloha.
Last night, APEC held a gala attended by President Obama and his wife in addition to a number of other world leaders.
Hawaiian guitarist Makana, who had previously played at the White House in 2009, was slated to play at the gala. Rather than play his normal routine, Makanadecided to make a statement. He opened his suit jacket to reveal a shirt that read “Occupy Aloha.”
He then proceeded to play his new protest ballad title “We Are the Many,” wherein he blasted corporate lobbyists and called on Americans to occupy “the streets.” He played this protest song for 45 minutes in a room full of the world’s elite, which ends with the refrain: “We’ll occupy the streets, we’ll occupy the courts, we’ll occupy the offices of you, till you do the bidding of the many, not the few.” Audience members included Barack Obama, Stephen Harper and Hu Jintao of China. “My uncle taught me to feel out the audience and play what my heart tells me to,” said Makana. “That’s what I did tonight.”
via Think Progress
This Home is Occupied!
In the last few days a number of Occupy tent cities have been dismantled by the police, including Occupy Oakland, Occupy Portland, and in Canada, Occupy Nova Scotia and Occupy London, among others. How does the Occupy movement continue to grow and flourish in the wake of these foreclosures? Expect surprises - this is an incredibly creative, resilient movement, and it’s here to stay.
Occupy Atlanta has found one effective way to channel the Occupy energy - by directly helping homeowners who face eviction to keep their homes. Last week, Tawanna Rorey’s husband, a police officer based in Gwinnett County, e-mailed Occupy Atlanta to explain that his home was going to be foreclosed on and his family was in danger of being evicted on Monday. So within a few hours Occupy Atlanta developed an action plan to move to Snellville, Georgia to stop the foreclosure. At least two dozen protesters encamped on the family’s lawn, hanging a banner on the railing of the house saying, “This home is occupied” to the applause of neighbors and bystanders. Talk about occupying with love!
This is a great model for what the Occupy Movement could start doing in the future. In Spain, the M15 movement - named because it started on May 15th - is one of the inspirations for Occupy. They have been doing similar kinds of actions to prevent evictions for some time. When they are unable to prevent an eviction, they have occupied abandoned buildings, creating spaces for evicted families to move into, by occupying foreclosed on houses and flats owned by banks. Katherine Ainger told me, “Edifici 15O in Barcelona houses 8 homeless families in a block of flats owned by a bank, very, very inspiring and with the support of lots of neighbours too.” http://edifici15o.wordpress.com/
In both Greece and Spain the movement has evolved into neighbourhood general assemblies and working groups, dealing with concrete solutions to local problems in real time, while still gathering in “assemblies of assemblies” to address and unite around larger issues.
In Spain, when the time for camping ended, one camp left behind an enormous sign that said: ”We have not left: we have moved into your consciousness!”
The movement is growing and evolving in it’s own organic manner. Expect the unexpected. Occupy Consciousness!
At a time when evictions and eviction orders have been served to the Occupy Movement in Canada, here’s my video message to Occupy Canada, expressing what I feel is the heart of the movement, asking us to consider what is Occupy 2.0, and some thoughts about the challenges facing Occupy Vancouver, which is near my home town. Sending love to all those who are working for a just and compassionate world, those who haven’t yet started, and those who stand in the way. We are the 100%.
Open Letter from Starhawk and ACT to Occupy
Open Letter to the Occupy Movement from Starhawk and the Alliance of Community Trainers
The Occupy movement has had enormous successes in the short time since September when activists took over a square near Wall Street. It has attracted hundreds of thousands of active participants, spawned occupations in cities and towns all over North America, changed the national dialogue and garnered enormous public support. It’s even, on occasion, gotten good press!
Now we are wrestling with the question that arises again and again in movements for social justice—how to struggle. Do we embrace nonviolence, or a ‘diversity of tactics?’ If we are a nonviolent movement, how do we define nonviolence? Is breaking a window violent?
We write as a trainers’ collective with decades of experience, from the anti-Vietnam protests of the sixties through the strictly nonviolent antinuclear blockades of the seventies, in feminist, environmental and anti-intervention movements and the global justice mobilizations of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. We embrace many labels, including feminist, anti-racist, eco-feminist and anarchist. We have many times stood shoulder to shoulder with black blocs in the face of the riot cops, and we’ve been tear-gassed, stun-gunned, pepper sprayed, clubbed, and arrested,
While we’ve participated in many actions organized with a diversity of tactics, we do not believe that framework is workable for the Occupy Movement. Setting aside questions of morality or definitions of ‘violence’ and ‘nonviolence’ – for no two people define ‘violence’ in the same way – we ask the question:
What framework can we organize in that will build on our strengths, allow us to grow, embrace a wide diversity of participants, and make a powerful impact on the world?
‘Diversity of tactics’ becomes an easy way to avoid wrestling with questions of strategy and accountability. It lets us off the hook from doing the hard work of debating our positions and coming to agreements about how we want to act together. It becomes a code for ‘anything goes,’ and makes it impossible for our movements to hold anyone accountable for their actions.
The Occupy movement includes people from a broad diversity of backgrounds, life experiences and political philosophies. Some of us want to reform the system and some of us want to tear it down and replace it with something better. Our one great point of agreement is our call for transparency and accountability. We stand against the corrupt institutions that broker power behind closed doors. We call to account the financial manipulators that have bilked billions out of the poor and the middle classes.
Just as we call for accountability and transparency, we ourselves must be accountable and transparent. Some tactics are incompatible with those goals, even if in other situations they might be useful, honorable or appropriate. We can’t be transparent behind masks. We can’t be accountable for actions we run away from. We can’t maintain the security culture necessary for planning and carrying out attacks on property and also maintain the openness that can continue to invite in a true diversity of new people. We can’t make alliances with groups from impacted communities, such as immigrants, if we can’t make agreements about what tactics we will employ in any given action.
The framework that might best serve the Occupy movement is one of strategic nonviolent direct action. Within that framework, Occupy groups would make clear agreements about which tactics to use for a given action. This frame is strategic—it makes no moral judgments about whether or not violence is ever appropriate, it does not demand we commit ourselves to a lifetime of Gandhian pacifism, but it says, ‘This is how we agree to act together at this time.’ It is active, not passive. It seeks to create a dilemma for the opposition, and to dramatize the difference between our values and theirs.
Strategic nonviolent direct action has powerful advantages:
We make agreements about what types of action we will take, and hold one another accountable for keeping them. Making agreements is empowering. If I know what to expect in an action, I can make a choice about whether or not to participate. While we can never know nor control how the police will react, we can make choices about what types of action we stand behind personally and are willing to answer for. We don’t place unwilling people in the position of being held responsible for acts they did not commit and do not support.
In the process of coming to agreements, we listen to each other’s differing viewpoints. We don’t avoid disagreements within our group, but learn to debate freely, passionately, and respectfully.
We organize openly, without fear, because we stand behind our actions. We may break laws in service to the higher laws of conscience. We don’t seek punishment nor admit the right of the system to punish us, but we face the potential consequences for our actions with courage and pride.
Because we organize openly, we can invite new people into our movement and it can continue to grow. As soon as we institute a security culture in the midst of a mass movement, the movement begins to close in upon itself and to shrink.
Holding to a framework of nonviolent direct action does not make us ‘safe.’ We can’t control what the police do and they need no direct provocation to attack us. But it does let us make clear decisions about what kinds of actions we put ourselves at risk for.
Nonviolent direct action creates dilemmas for the opposition, and clearly dramatizes the difference between the corrupt values of the system and the values we stand for. Their institutions enshrine greed while we give away food, offer shelter, treat each person with generosity. They silence dissent while we value every voice. They employ violence to maintain their system while we counter it with the sheer courage of our presence.
Lack of agreements privileges the young over the old, the loud voices over the soft, the fast over the slow, the able-bodied over those with disabilities, the citizen over the immigrant, white folks over people of color, those who can do damage and flee the scene over those who are left to face the consequences.
Lack of agreements and lack of accountability leaves us wide open to provocateurs and agents. Not everyone who wears a mask or breaks a window is a provocateur. Many people clearly believe that property damage is a strong way to challenge the system. And masks have an honorable history from the anti-fascist movement in Germany and the Zapatista movement in Mexico, who said “We wear our masks to be seen.”
But a mask and a lack of clear expectations create a perfect opening for those who do not have the best interests of the movement at heart, for agents and provocateurs who can never be held to account. As well, the fear of provocateurs itself sows suspicion and undercuts our ability to openly organize and grow.
A framework of strategic nonviolent direct action makes it easy to reject provocation. We know what we’ve agreed to—and anyone urging other courses of action can be reminded of those agreements or rejected.
We hold one another accountable not by force or control, ours or the systems, but by the power of our united opinion and our willingness to stand behind, speak for, and act to defend our agreements.
A framework of strategic nonviolent direct action agreements allows us to continue to invite in new people, and to let them make clear choices about what kinds of tactics and actions they are asked to support.
There’s plenty of room in this struggle for a diversity of movements and a diversity of organizing and actions. Some may choose strict Gandhian nonviolence, others may choose fight-back resistance. But for the Occupy movement, strategic nonviolent direct action is a framework that will allow us to grow in diversity and power.
From the Alliance of Community Trainers, ACT
Starhawk
Lisa Fithian
Lauren Ross (or Juniper)
Occupy Samsara ~ Support From Spiritual Teachers
An Open Letter from Buddhist and Yoga Teachers and Leaders in Support of the Occupy Movement
Posted on November 6, 2011
As teachers and leaders of communities that promote the development of compassion and mindfulness, we are writing to express our solidarity with the Occupy movement now active in over 1,900 cities worldwide.
We are particularly inspired by the nonviolent tactics of this movement, its methods of self-governance, and its emergent communities founded in open communication (general assemblies, the human microphone, the inclusion of diverse voices, etc). These encampments are fertile ground for seeing our inherent wisdom and our capacity for awakening. We encourage all teachers, leaders, sanghas and communities that pursue awakening to join with these inspiring activists, if they have not already done so, in working to end the extreme inequalities of wealth and power that cause so much suffering and devastation for human society and for the ecosystems of Earth.
This movement has given voice to a near-universal frustration with the economic and political disenfranchisement of so many. It offers a needed counterbalance to a system that saps the life energy of the overwhelming majority –– the so-called 99% –– generating vast profits for a tiny handful, without maximizing the true potential for widespread wealth creation in our society. While our practice challenges us to cultivate compassion for 100% of human beings without villifying an “enemy,” our practice also calls on us to challenge a system that causes such clear harm and imbalance.
We share in the thoughtful calls to address massive unemployment, climate change, the erosion of social safety nets, decaying infrastructures, social and education programs, and workers’ wages, rights, and benefits.
Moreover, the current legal structure of large corporations compels individuals to act with shortsighted greed, acts for which they are not held personally accountable. If we aren’t encouraged to act with awareness of our connection to the seven billion humans who share our global community, the social fabric of our society is torn apart by legalized acts of selfishness and fear. These acts are performed in human society, by nonhuman entities, oddly granted the legal and political status of people, which have no ability to adequately perceive or react to the negative repercussions of their choices. The whole planet pays the price.
Most importantly, we believe that individual awakening and collective transformation are inseparable. For members of spiritual communities, mindfulness of the situation before us demands that we engage fully in the culture and society we inhabit. We do not view our own path as merely an individualistic pursuit of sanity and health, and we believe it would be irresponsible of us to teach students of mind/body disciplines that they can develop their practice in isolation from the society in which they live. We are inspired by the creative and intellectual work of the Occupy movement as an essential voice in facilitating a more compassionate and ecologically grounded basis for practice.
The Occupy movement has re-ignited our belief that it’s truly possible to build a culture of non-harm, honesty and respect for all creatures. We recognize our human failings and know that we’ll fail ten thousand times in our efforts to awaken. We now vow to bring our practices and methods of teaching more into alignment with our deepest values.
The structural greed, anger and delusion that characterize our current system are incompatible with our obligations to future generations and our most cherished values of interdependence, creativity, and compassion. We call on teachers and practitioners from all traditions of mind/body awakening to join in actively transforming these structures.
Letter Signed, Ethan Nichtern, Shastri, New York, Shôken Michael Stone, Toronto
Supporters: By signing this letter we believe we can unite in our commitment to align our practice and values and work together to help our society.
Sharon Salzberg
Stephen Batchelor
Seane Corn
Roshi Joan Halifax
Testu’un David Loy
Dr. Robert Thurman
Jack Kornfield
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Susan Piver
Dr. Gaylon Ferguson, Acharya
Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara
Tara Brach
Trudy Goodman
David Nichtern
Dr. Judith Simmer-Brown, Acharya
Anne Waldman
Rev. angel Kyodo williams
Adam Lobel, Acharya
Anne Cushman
Eihei Peter Levitt
Sarah Powers
Fleet Maull, Acharya
Ruth Ozecki
Jessica Robertson
Rev. Danny Fisher
Gayle Van Gils, Shastri
Gina Sharpe
Koshin Paley Ellison
Robert Chodo Campbell
Ty Powers
Sarah Weintraub
Dr. Miles Neale
Waylon Lewis
Pamela Bothwell, Shastri
Ted Grand
Maia Duerr
Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey
Ari Pliskin
Seth Freedman
Kate Crisp
Jessica Stickler
Paula Carino
Bodhipaksa
Laura Kuchynka
Elaine Jackson
Rev. Karen Harrison
Kim Stetz
Jessica Li Phillips
Sheryl Lilke
Sherry Sadoff Hanck
Amy Dara Hochberg
Jennifer Musial, PhD
Dominic Tambuzzo
Chap. Mikel Ryuho Monnett, BCC
Elizabeth Gosselin
Roberta Wall
Erica Hamilton
Maria Ciccone
“We are cultivating intimacy, that’s arising out of difference. This the spark that I would call Love. And it’s what’s carrying us, and what’s warming us up. And it’s the reason why we’re going to win.” ~ Michael Stone
Michael Stone is a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, Buddhist teacher, author and activist, committed to the integration of traditional teachings with contemporary psychological and philosophical understanding.
A video by Ian Mackenzie Shot on Nov 6, 2011 at Occupy Vancouver
http://occupylove.org
http://www.centreofgravity.org
http://occupyvancouver.com
Watch his entire speech here
http://vimeo.com/31735800
I love how there are so many altars at Occupy Oakland! I saw at least seven different ones during my visit, every changing and evolving, and well tended. They are sacred spaces, places of remembrance, places of invocation, places of love. From the “Occupy Love” altar (which I didn’t create! Loved finding it there!): “This altar is an offering of realizing our life force, of honoring this force beyond the valuing of material currency. It is a co-creation. It is an invitation to share your prayers, thoughts, meditations, artistic expressions. Your love!”
After a beautiful day of marching and gathering in solidarity at Occupy Oakland, a small group of vandals set fires and destroyed property, some of them to local businesses who had offered support to the movement and participated in the General Strike. In the morning, many members of the movement gathered together to offer support and clean up the mess. I saw signs posted next to broken windows apologizing. A high school teacher who participates in Occupy Oakland said to me “I know who these kids are - and believe me they are kids - they’re the same students of mine who write in the text books.” Others say the worst of it was done by Agent Provocateurs.
One person who spoke to me on camera said that he witnessed a tire fire being started and tried to intervene, only to be assaulted, as were others. Once the fire was raging, the individuals who started it disappeared down an escape route. It’s always to difficult to find evidence of whether these kinds of actions were deliberately designed to undermine the movement, but investigations have revealed this in other protests, particularily in Europe. It is completely and utterly in the interests of the police for demonstrators to engage in property destruction. It justifies a militarized police crackdown, and distracts from the actual issues being expressed.
There is also a contingent of protestors who claim to believe that property damage is a viable means of protest. We’ve been struggling with this issue in our movements for decades. My most recent experience with this was in Toronto during the G-20 protests. A large, peaceful march ended in mass arrests - the largest in Canadian history - after a contingent broke away from the group and set a police car on fire and smashed store windows.
What happens in these cases is that conversation gets completely hijacked. It devolves into the not very interesting conversation of cops versus mobs. We lose our moral capital, and our broad base of support. As someone commented in a working group meeting at Occupy Oakland, “by doing this, they are dominating us, in the same way the 1% dominates us.” The camp was put at risk, and at one point it felt like a raid was imminent.
For those of you who saw the images on the mainstream media, please remember that these were the actions of a tiny minority - even the police recognize that - and is not representative of the hopes and dreams and love of the Occupy Movement. We have the world’s imagination. Let’s do something amazing!
Today is National Bank Transfer Day! Love your brother (and sister!) dammit - and dump your bank! From VintageCore Patterns: “I went to a Credit Union Today thinking it was going to inconvenience us a little, but.. it would be worth it. AS A MATTER OF FACT, it was the best experience ever. They set up Direct Deposit, and I also got my ATM, WITH MY NAME ON IT! Ready to go and regretting I did not do it sooner.” Join a Credit Union and let your money support community business.
Pics of Occupy Oakland, during the day of the general strike. There were an estimated 40,000 of us in total, in the plaza, marching to the port, gathering in community. People around the world, including in New York and Cairo, marched in solidarity with Oakland. It was the first general strike in the city in 46 years.
Newsflash: Occupy Superhero’s descend on New York Stock Exchange firing lightening bolts of awakening. Occupy Halloween!
Angela Davis, legendary black feminist activist, and past leader of the Black Panther’s, spoke to us at Occupy Wall Street last night. She was on fire, clearly enthused and rejuvenated by the burgeoning Occupy movement. “You are re-inventing our political universe. You have renewed our collective passion. You have reminded us that it is still possible to build vibrant communities of resistance. You continue to show us your comitment, your dedication, your collective labour, your refusal to assent to class hierachies, to racial hierachies, to sexual hierachies. We have come together as the 99%. There are major responsibilites that are linked to your decision to assemble in community. How can we be together? How can we be together? How can we be together in a unity that respects and celebrates the differences among us? How can we together in a unity that is not simplistic, that is not oppressive, but rather, complex and emanicipatory. Our unity must be complex and emanicipatory. In this complex unity, we say yes to life. We say yes to community. Yes to happiness. Yes to education. Free education! We say yes to economic and racial and gender and sexual equality. We yes to the imagination! We say yes creativity. We say yes to hope. We say yes to the future.”
She talked of her home town, Oakland, and told of the call out on November 2nd for a city wide General Strike in Oakland, in the wake of the wounding of Scott Olson and police brutality. ”A general strike!” she said, echoing through the human microphone, “This is revolutionary!”
Occupy the Snowstorm! Yesterday was day 43 of Occupy Wall Street, and we were hit by a freak snow storm. As is “the new normal” in this era of rapid climate change, record breaking extreme weather and storms are happening everywhere. It was particularily unusual to have a huge snowstorm like this while trees were still in full leaf, causing serious power outages affecting 1.8 million people, according to the New York Times. At Occupy Wall Street, it also offered a taste of the challenges ahead when a more lasting winter weather settles. Spirits were strong with the people I interviewed, and the love was alive. There is some question as to how long we can stay, especially as conditions worsen. There are those that hope the movement will simply disappear. Not likely. Yes, no doubt we will contract, but let’s use the coming changing season to go deeper, plant our roots and then burst up with the spring sun, and take this movement even further. Indications that we are in for the long run include a planned gathering of Occupy Together movements from all the different cities on July 6th, 2012. There will be some hardy souls who keep on camping through the winter. For those of us who just can’t do that, keep coming down, bring hot chocolate, music, and winter fun. Check out one of the Occupy Winter facebook pages for ideas of how you can help. We are just beginning. The time is now. Stay warm and stay strong!
Speaking to the crowd at #OccupyVancouver, author, mystic, and spiritual activist Andrew Harvey urges everyone waiting on the sidelines to fall in love and GET INVOLVED. A wonderful video by Occupy Love’s Ian Mackenzie.
