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- Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
When I quit watching OWS last week, it had become ad nauseam and frankly, painful to watch. I have caught snippets of passionate pundits explaining that the entire movement’s lack of cohesion, lack of shared ideology, lack of political structure, etc. was the whole idea – the protest was about the general malfeasance of the entire system.
Yes and No. Sure it was about the general malfeasance of the entire system – that is an easy observation and conclusion to make. But what are they really saying here? Is the “movement” about general “feelings” against the malfeasance of the establishment towards humanity, its values? Or, should we complicate it further by listing the thousands of individual demands made by the various occupy groups spread throughout the world?
Either way we end up in the same place.
Timing – when a perfect pass happens in hockey and the puck finds the pocket it was meant to go. First there is this intellectual, tactical, and strategic knowledge that it wasn’t a fluke, and secondly, this is also where we jump off our couches and pump our fists. We took part in a exquisite and perfectly timed moment.
The OWS/99% movement, wherever it ends up, missed the pocket. All that was needed was that ever nebulous cohesion. I still sit here and imagine what could have happened if all the world’s occupy groups had decided on a short list of five to ten pivotal remedies and stood in unison to present them. Stipulating remedies such as removing the money from politics, halting currency speculation, anatocism, etc., a short list of well thought out demands would have hit that pocket and resonated with the masses. It was easy to see that as the momentum carried in those crucial days and weeks, and the public was in a state of deciding, the “decision” could have been made by a nonpartisan, democratic, and socially progressive group of thinkers. The world would be in a state of change right now!
Timing – the world’s lenses were all focused on this movement. There were few words of dissent, criticisms, or general negativity. Something was being woken up in people who never thought about things too much anymore. The mind-numbing apathy was exposed and it was the right time. I will always stand by that.
We now wait and watch to see if the next part of the movement builds solid foundations. If so I want to be a part of it. I will always want to be part of this movement if it moves in unison, is able to wake the collective conscious of the world, and will lead to real sustainable change.
While my eyes have turned away from the current OWS/99% movement my ear is still to the ground listening for an awakening within the movement itself. There is a group called Occupy Occupy Wall Street and I haven’t read much about them so I can’t comment on them yet – but maybe they will have the political and ideological cohesion to bring things to the next level. The trouble now will be how to separate the radical elements from the moderate – that is the key to resonating with the masses.
So perhaps the first “Occupy” was only the first act.
I’m back and working on articles. Walt Kego will be back next week, Friday, Dec 2, which will be the regular publication day for “Douch of the Week.”
Much has happened this past week. My studio has a new breath of life and I’m going to take some time over the next few days to upload many pictures of my old work. Within a month I will be posting some pictures of new work and perhaps some pictures of the process of creation.
It is nice to be back.
R.