The global Occupy movement is much more than an economic or political movement. Occupy is a consciousness-expanding phenomenon.
The same people who mocked us before Occupy started, and said that there would never be a non-violent civil disobedience movement throughout the US, are now the same people saying that Occupy was a once in a lifetime or generational event. What these people fail to grasp or refuse to acknowledge is that Occupy was the first wave of a tsunami of transformation that has just begun to wash over the planet. It’s the first wave of evolution from a quickly maturing Internet generation. We are developing a highly sophisticated collective consciousness that transcends the conditioning of archaic shortsighted greed-addicted forces.
Every day more and more people are using the Internet to become more and more aware of the forces that limit human potential. And as their awareness grows, they are using the Internet to connect, communicate and organize with millions of other aware citizens on a scale unprecedented in human history. Occupy is the first cohesive expression of this evolution. It is the first ray of the new rising sun.
Occupy represents the new world evolving and transforming out of the old world. Occupy shifted mass consciousness and planted a flag in the global mental atmosphere. A critical mass of humanity is now awake and aware of the obsolete systems that limit our potential.Occupy Evolver
Realize Your Potential
David DeGraw
I believe! Back to the Sixties, but at a higher level on an upward spiral. Reminiscent of Mario Savio on Sproul steps. Want some metaphors?
Read this wrt to Strauss & Howe's The Fourth Turning, and Ravi Batra, The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos.
13 comments:
tom, david degraw is a conspiracy theory / libertarian nutcase - not a good person to quote for this site
David Degraw, David Graeber, and other founders/leaders of Occupy play a similar role now to the roles that Mario Savio, Tom Hayden, Tim Leary, the Chicago Seven, Bobby Seale, etc. played then. Whatever one thinks of them, their ideas, strategy, tactics, etc., this is history in the making and as Degraw predicts, correctly I think, this trend is going to be around awhile.
Call it what you will, it's a very big deal, as I said from the outset and have kept saying as people have been writing obituaries for Occupy, or asking "where it went." Degraw is therefore someone to pay attention to.
I am not saying that Occupy or any of its proponents are "right," but rather than they are the manifestation of a new Zeirgeist that is rising among "youth" and that doesn't mean just young people.
Marx & Engles began the Communist Manifesto:
A spectre is haunting Europe--the spectre of Communism. All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.
Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the Opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?
Two things result from this fact.
I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European Powers to be itself a Power.
II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself.
To this end, Communists of various nationalities have assembled in London, and sketched the following Manifesto, to be published in the English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages.
It doesn't take much imagination to update this with new terms like "Occupy" instead of "communism" and "the world" instead of "Europe."
I keep thinking about that ongoing question, which Orwell and Twain asked in their own times and which we all keep asking today: are the elites evil or merely stupid? I tend to think evil and stupidity are not mutually exclusive, so the answer might be both. I think it is a conscious evil that virtually all the elites are singing the austerity song during the biggest financial crisis since the great depression. But at the same time it is stupid. Wouldn't it be smarter for them to just buy us off? Spend enough to get us all happily engaged in our isolated little consumerist cocoons again? In pursuing general austerity they are pushing us into developing the organizational skills to effectively oppose them.
I find it interesting that some of the progressive websites I've visited for the past few years are rather down in the mouth about things in general. Readership is down, donations are down, Google seems to have the ad market rigged, etc. I think they're thinking about it in terms of a "business model" that ceased to exist when Bush left office. All you had to during the Bush years was post a funny picture and a rant with the theme "Bush sucks" and you got a bunch of "hits." They need to realize that those peculiar circumstances won't be repeated any time soon. Many people are poorer now and less willing to invest in traditional political activity. However, as the author states all sorts of opportunities to engage exist and new tools and new ways to use the "old" tools are being developed all the time. The blogs that achieved a degree of financial success during the Bush years need to start thinkingkoinonia instead of "business model" because that is where we are being pushed. Koinonia means when there is no justice in the system we will practice justice amongst ourselves. Although Koinonia is usually translated as "community" I say "practicing justice" because justice has a specific meaning in the Bible. It means restitution of the land of your birthright, your means of free subsistence. Therefore, it is a common sharing of subsistence. If the elites don't smarten up, Koinonia will grow to the point where they will regret that they didn't buy us off when they could have had us cheap .
David,
In my view, they are manifestly made stupid or the Greek word the Lord often used: moroi "stupid ones" or "insipid ones", to describe the ones that had infiltrated the leadership of the house of Israel during his earthy ministry.
The presence of these "stupid ones" or morons in positions of authority is where the chaos all starts and comes from.
To me, it's not that they are using their authority to make bad decisions, these people are somehow made to surrender the authority of the institutional positions they occupy.
#OccupyAuthority ;)
Here's the Lord:
"23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are taking tithes from the mint and the dill and the cumin, and leave the weightier matters of the law, judging and mercy and faith. Now these it was binding for you to do, and not leave those." Mat 23:23
Same thing we see today, our ones who have obtained positions of authority LEAVE these same WEIGHTIER matters of what was for the house of Israel back then 'The Law' ... all that is left is LAWLESSNESS, which is dark and of course leads to chaos, brutality, warfare, death, etc... you name it.
So to me, it's not that these humans are "evil", rather they are made "stupid", and surrender the authority of the positions they occupy and then the "evil" gets the incentive...
So to me looks like the direct way to confront this first requires this "stupidity" to be exposed...
rsp,
I keep thinking about that ongoing question, which Orwell and Twain asked in their own times and which we all keep asking today: are the elites evil or merely stupid?
Read up on social Darwinism and economic liberalism. It's all justified there in these views.
If the elites don't smarten up, Koinonia will grow to the point where they will regret that they didn't buy us off when they could have had us cheap .
Yes, I am amazed that they are apparently making such a huge miscalculation that is going to cost them dearly. People are waking up. Again, read Strauss & Howe and Ravi Batra, who anticipated this and project the unfolding.
tom, never underestimate the "new deal". at the end of the day, all that most people want are 1. a decent wage that keeps pace with staple prices and pays for food on the table and the odd LCD TV 2. decent accommodation and 3. social & personal stability. those are not hard things to provide for - there is only dissent now because these things were taken away from them. keep in mind that there were almost 0 protests during the 2 bush terms (and the 20 years preceding that) in which middle class americans were being robbed blind (albeit slowly under the radar). also keep in mind that mitt romney got 60.8 million votes out of out of 126 million votes cast this time around
I think that this may be true in the US, SR, but Occupy is a global movement and it is going viral. Moreover, this is not limited to the present economic crisis, which eventually will pass, only to be repeated. The real elephant in the room is the effects of global warming that are going to be felt increasingly, changing the nature of the game, I believe.
I don't think that the global economy is on a sustainable course, and so do a lot of other people, especially young people who can expect to live through most of this century. The jaws of the vice are tightening.
I follow various Occupy groups all over the world on Twitter and FB, and this is a trend I see developing. Younger people are much more aware nowadays, and they are a lot "ruder" too.
tom, then shouldn't the question be why is this phenomenon happening in the US, supposedly the most advanced country in the world?
then shouldn't the question be why is this phenomenon happening in the US, supposedly the most advanced country in the world?
"Occupy was not hatched in the US, but Canada by the Adbusters folks, who assembled a group of dissident leaders and came up with the idea of "Occupy Wall Street" following on the Arab Spring and Indignados in Spain. Once these ideas started circulating on the net, they went viral. Anyone interested in keeping up with the global phenomenon can follow it live on Twitter and FB.
Why now in the US then?
First and foremost, I think, massive corruption, which is why it started as Occupy Wall Street, and that is where the focus still is. They see the political process as broken, and a double standard of law and justice, resulting in a privileged elite.
Secondly, Occupy because a focal point for all grievances on the left as Libertarianism/Ron Paul is on the right. In fact, both sides have recognized their fundamentally anarchistic nature (non-hierarchical governance) and libertarian aspirations (social liberalism). they even share fiscal conservatism to a degree, as well as opposition to central banking as a command system susceptible to corruption.
Tom -- I, too, believe. I was a participant in the latter stages of the anti-war, anti-draft movement in the late 60's - early 70's. What an exciting time! We did change the world. And for the better, without a doubt.
As you seem to do, I put my faith in the revolutionary nature of the young. May they be worthy successors. The future belongs to them!
What an exciting time! We did change the world. And for the better, without a doubt.
On balance, it was net positive, IMHO, but I had expected more, especially economically. Maybe the young 'uns coming along can upgrade it. But socially and culturally it was a big win.
I grew up in the Forties and Fifties, and I can report that on that basis, I looked forward to life of boredom in the US. I was intending to expatriate to Europe and then the Sixties broke loose. Changed everything.
BTW, the music was a huge factor. Prior to that the music was, well, Forties and Fifties. Booorrrring.
Rock 'n' Roll will never die! And, in the news, the Rolling Stones are planning a 50th anniversary tour. :) What a long, strange trip it's been.
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