Towards a Democratic Rebellion

What is meant by the phrase 'democratic rebellion', and what does this mean for the broader OWS movement? What I have in mind is this: the OWS movement and its offshoots should consider modeling itself on popular insurgencies, revolts, and uprisings. To further define the idea, let me emphasize here that we are currently in a classic struggle to win the "hearts and minds" campaign, and we should study and follow (where applicable) the lessons of historical groups who have found themselves in this position. Make no mistake: our enemies have defined the struggle in precisely these terms, and it would show a level of much-needed maturity for our side to adopt the strategies and tactics of popular revolt. After all, protracted insurgencies have brought down the former U.S.S.R., outlasted the mighty U.S. military in Vietnam, and toppled regimes in numerous countries, to cite a few brief examples.

Balance as a strategic initiative


It is one thing to allocate precious time and energy to the struggle against injustice, but this cannot always be the only reason one gets out of bed in the morning. There is no doubt that a popular struggle against injustice is a good thing, only if there is a clear definition of 'injustice' followed by carefully planned strategies and precisely executed tactics that serve to combat that which has been defined.

Nevertheless, my reason for this short article is to focus on one thing: winning the "hearts and minds" battle. Let's face it: the broader OWS movement in general and the OA branch in particular will only tear itself to shreds (and ultimately disintegrate) if it cannot move beyond the narrow confines of us who already sympathized with OWS tendencies before the movement began. In other words, for this movement to work, we must reach out to people who may be skeptical of our intentions at best, and who may sympathize with our ultimate objectives but decide that our methods are not for them. We must not only reach out to them, but we must win their approval and backing, and possibly even convert them completely to our side. We must show that this movement is a popular movement, and not just another marginal fad. How do we manage this? What is to be done?

Winning the communities


To answer those questions, we must pose two others:

(1) Who can/should we help?
(2) How can we help them?


To win popular support for our cause, we need to do more than just occupy parks, stage flash mobs, provoke cops, and smash the windows of upscale boutiques. We need to evolve into more than that. Those tactics have done an immense amount for our cause; without the occupations, it is difficult to think of how the national discourse about inequality would have ever become so mainstream. And don't get me wrong: we should not abandon occupations or any of the other tactics that have emerged from this movement. But the movement needs to evolve, build up greater popular support, bring out greater and greater numbers and persuade them to take up our banner.

When I talk to people about the OWS movement, attempting to clear up misconceptions and such like, some of the most frequents things I hear are statements like: "What are their specifics? What policies do they suggest?"; "Why don't they do more than occupy parks?" and so on. I'm sure many of you have heard similar things, fielded similar questions. These questions, I admit, have usually caught me flat-footed, and I wish it was the case that such questions did not need to be asked in the first place. The reason that these questions are still being asked is because we have not yet answered them with actions.

Suggestions in search of more suggestions


In my mind, the OWS movement is a long overdue response to economic injustices, unchecked corporate power/greed, and government collusion at the highest levels. It is about overturning the nihilistic plutocracy that has us all under its boot. With that in mind, it seems clear to me that our limited time, energy, and resources should be directed only towards this goal: smashing the plutocratic regime. The entire country, from one side of the political spectrum to the other, is of like mind with this sentiment. Why have we failed to capitalize (for lack of a better word) on this popular discontent?

Bringing the focus in a bit: it is now common knowledge that Georgia has taken an economic body-shot since the crisis began. We at OA should be able to turn this into something; if we can't, we deserve to fail. Instead of wasting time devising a plan to stage some kind of barricades plot or any other nonsense, we should be looking at the readily available economic data and finding out which communities have been most devastated by the crisis, and secondly, how can we help to mitigate the plight of families within these communities, since these people have been largely abandoned by the state.

We should consider:

(1) staging benefits (concerts, art shows, whatever) to build up funds for desperate families;
(2) establishing a tax-exempt, non-profit shell to allow for donations, etc.;
(3) food drives and clothing drives for needy families/individuals;
(4) going out into communities to help in whatever way we can;
(5) perhaps setting up a barter-type network along the lines of the Greek model to help unemployed people make ends meet;
(6) petitioning the GA legislature for extended unemployment benefits (publicity);
(7) drafting referendums that favor our objectives (Yes, GA is a referendum state! Use it!);

and so on. I'm sure other OA members have more and better ideas, but this is all I could come up with tonight. The point is that we should be utilizing our limited resources in such a way that everything we do builds community support, strengthens community ties, prevents communities from collapsing, and puts our best collective efforts in the limelight. Granted, none of these suggestions are as glamorous as plotting the next Battle of Seattle, but then again, what happened to Seattle?

As an aside, I would also like to consider one major project: the Million Person Occupation of D.C. for this year's 4th of July. That would be rather interesting, in my opinion.