Occupy Wall Street's Signal from the Heavens

The Occupy Wall Street movement in New York has entered a new era. This weekend, the park was emptied by anti-terror squads, as if something of beauty was being purged of a stain from within. Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated, “We have been saved from one more problem, referring, of course, referring to the protesters who had disgusted the government and the one percent.* An even bigger problem, however, is now upon him.

There was a side to the occupation of the park that was not often reflected in the media. From the outside, it seemed like maintaining a presence the park was an important end for the protesters. From a practical standpoint and from within, however, it was apparent that it was weighing the movement down. There are three reasons for this.

The free food distributed at the park and services offered by the health cooperative became a good opportunity for the city’s homeless and weirdos. The municipal government used this very well. Even before the occupation, the city’s poorest gravitated to the parks. These people, who are used to living an isolated, squalid and often paranoid existence in the tiny park, create serious problems. The press would take pictures of these people and use them to represent OWS as a “losers club.” The real protesters, however, are the despairing middle class. There is another disadvantage to the growth of the occupation. The ideology and sense of camaraderie becomes fragmented. Toward the end, crime started to happen at night. For this reason, the occupation had its own security committee. Violence against women was quickly rising. Since September, there had been 17 cases of attempted rape. Because of this, a tent acting as a women’s shelter was set up in the park. As the movement grew, it became harder to present a positive image to the outside world.

Before the intervention, the police had already been considering how to shrink the OWS occupation. It had become so crowded that there was nowhere to hold a meeting in “New York’s Tahrir Square.” One tent-owner claimed that he stole the general assembly area in order to establish a library.

The increasingly cold weather had also begun to take a toll on protesters’ health. OWS knew that after a while, there would be a danger of death due to the cold and had been thinking about taking precautions. Images of this have been used in other cities as counter-propaganda as if to say, “They can’t manage an occupation.” For these reasons, shrinking the occupation and making it into a symbolic protest became a topic of assembly meetings.

And into this context, Bloomberg’s police came like messengers of God. They took back the park and surrounded it with iron barriers. At the moment, a small, symbolic group has re-occupied the park, but they don’t stay the night. The park is currently closed to the general public. In this way, the movement has gained strength from crisis, which is what people like Bloomberg don’t understand. The occupation of the park was a result of the strength of the movement and the economic problems that are still very much present. The police cannot intervene to stop either of those things.

The movement grows stronger, continuing to build ties at the national and international levels. They approved a $25,000 budget to participate in the Egyptian elections as observers. “With that money, we could make a revolution. Come, sleep on our couches, hotel or whatever,” they said.* Let there be just this little difference between the First World and the Third World. The national movement is also growing. Every city is founding its own general assembly as the despairing middle class feels the need to make a move.

And their feelings are not unjustified. I will write more on this in a later column. The essential problem stems from the failure of the wealthy to adhere to the social contract with the middle and working class. It also comes from the neoliberal attitude of “I, me, mine.” From the end of World War II until 1980, there was a general sense of peace among the classes. If a worker at a company earned one dollar, the general manager wouldn’t earn more than 40. Nowadays, the worker gets one dollar and the general manger gets 400! Now the 99 percent is coming back, just as it will retreat once a general peace between the classes is reached again. OWS says “no more peace,” but what’s the alternative? They don’t know yet. No one knows. The caravan is being lined up on the road. Today from 7 in the morning until 7 in the evening, New York will be in chaos. In the morning, Wall Street will be occupied. In the afternoon, it will be the subways, and in the evening, there will be a dinner occupation at Foley Square. Just as Leonard Cohen sings in his song “First We Take Manhattan,” they got a “signal in the heavens.” God forbid anything should happen, but the workers and revolutionaries will go to heaven anyway. Today is a great day for the world.

*Editor’s note: This quote, while accurately translated, could not be verified.