<div><br></div>:)) De "we's" moeten nog heel veel leren ... lol <div><br><div>BTW: wat zegt (kennelijke bange:) 'Le Monde'? ;)<br><div><br></div><div>Henk Elegeert<br><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
2011/10/25 Antid Oto <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:protocosmos66@gmail.com">protocosmos66@gmail.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Lessons from #occupywallstreet<br>
<br>
Now that the occupation has lasted more than a month, what have we learned?<br>
<br>
1. We have learned that they are afraid. The top 1% knows that we know, and<br>
that we know that we know, that its stories of "trickle down" and "what's good<br>
for wall street is good for main street" and "free markets" and "new economy"<br>
and all the rest is a sandwich of steaming shit. They know the gig is up and<br>
they are afraid. Evidence: right wing talking heads warning about revolution;<br>
massive police force.<br>
<br>
2. We have learned that they will bend. Eric Cantor's tail behind his legs<br>
retreat is a mighty triumph of the political power of Occupy Philly. How many<br>
more retreats can we force throughout the country? We are legion.<br>
<br>
3. We have learned that people in the US, people all over the world, no longer<br>
accept business as usual. "We are the 99%" resonates because people are sick of<br>
the exploitation, sick of the unfairness, sick of working for a world in which<br>
the very, very few take from us our lives and futures. The occupation movement<br>
is the crack, the rupture, the awakening: all over the world people are talking<br>
about extreme inequality, economic failure, the fact that capitalism is broken.<br>
All over the world people are talking with each other about what comes next,<br>
what to do, what to make--what new world should we demand of ourselves?<br>
<br>
4. We have learned that collectively we are strong. We've learned this in part<br>
through new practices of interacting and building consensus. We've also learned<br>
it more painfully, through experiences of blocking, trolling, derailing, and<br>
sabotage by contrarians who demonstrate neither care nor concern for the movement.<br>
<br>
5. We have learned and will continue to learn how hard it is to build and<br>
maintain these collectivities. This learning is painful. It is divisive. It<br>
involves learning that sometimes exclusion is necessary; it involves learning<br>
when to be decisive, when to coerce, when to say "enough is enough."<br>
<br>
6. We have learned that collectivity is not unanimity; it's almost like we are<br>
learning through experience a lesson suggested by Rousseau: the difference<br>
between the general will and the will of all.<br>
<br>
7. We are learning that the movement exceeds any single occupation. The<br>
movement to occupy, to assert our presence in our world, in the processes and<br>
systems through which we shape it, is now established and strong. We are already<br>
here. The point of occupation is to state that we are here, to make our being<br>
here register--that we are here means that what is here is ours.<br>
<br>
8. We will start learning the different tonalities and variations of this<br>
movement. Some sites might become more intensive as others regroup. Some might<br>
abandon one site in order to occupy new possibilities. Regrouping is an<br>
opportunity: an opportunity to build outside of the prying eyes and presumptive<br>
expectations of a 24/7 media cycle concerned only with pumping content through<br>
feeds.<br>
<br>
9. We will learn to plan--for the winter, for the upcoming election cycle:<br>
Cantor's retreat reminds us of the abundant opportunities we have for occupation<br>
in the upcoming year. How many campaign events? How many primaries? How many<br>
caucuses? What will happen as the fearful millionaries retreat in the face of<br>
the collective strength of those willing to occupy the campaign (or campaign to<br>
occupy)? How many more retreats can we force, demonstrating the bankruptcy of<br>
the political system and its obesiance to capital? How many advances can we<br>
make? Occupying not public squares but spaces claimed as private by the few?<br>
What would a real Bank of America look like? We won't know until we occupy it.<br>
<br>
10. We've learned that we can will differently. We need to learn how to sustain<br>
this will and how to forge it into a collective desire for a collectivity that<br>
can and will persevere.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/i_cite/" target="_blank">http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/i_cite/</a><br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div></div></div></div>