Disrupting the 1% or Inconveniencing the 99%? #OWSDS May 26, 2012

Saturday, May 26 marked the kick-off of OWS’ Disobedience Summer School, weekly trainings in preparation for Black Monday – the one year anniversary of the Occupy Movement. On the syllabus for the 26^th was “invisible theater,” based on Boal’s “Theater of the Oppressed.” A theatrical form of sabotage, invisible theater hopes to convey its message by slowing down the operation of the antagonist’s machine with low-key disruption. Examples that came up during the introduction at Bryant Park were asking for a large sum of money at the bank window in nickels and dimes (because the banks are “nickel and diming” us); wiping the walls, windows, and counters with a rag (because the bank is dirty); and so on and so forth. Good in theory, but the proof is in the pudding. While Saturday may have been effective as training (and this is summer school), the immediate effect was perhaps counter to Occupy’s goals.

We walked to the Citibank on 42^nd and 9^th in “civilian mode,” or without chants, banners and the usual accoutrements of a march. The police kept us company along the way, but across the street from the bank, the group dissolved, and the police soon left to do whatever police do when they’re not marshalling protesters. About five or ten minutes later, the protesters started to filter into the bank and form a long line. This was at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Not many people, apparently, do their banking on beautiful Saturday afternoons. There were only a handful of customers and bank employees there, well outnumbered by the 20 or so Occupiers. Most of the theater that they did was so low-key that I couldn’t pick it up with my camera from across the room. Mostly it was for the benefit of the people around them – other Occupiers and the increasingly frustrated employees and customers, all of whom are part of the 99%. All the action seemed to accomplish immediately was to throw up a barrier between Occupy and the rest of the Commons. Hopefully it was at least educational for the protesters, and next week’s theater will be more effective.

You can check out my footage of the events here:

The Bloody Butcher of Wall St and the Bull

On February 27, Occupy had a National Day of Action – Occupy Our Food Supply – to protest growing corporate control of the world’s food. The action in New York City included a march, a seed exchange, street performance, and guerilla planting. I’d like to focus solely on the performance, which I’m calling “The Bloody Butcher of Wall Street and the Bull,” for the purposes of this blog.

Pure agit-prop, “The Bloody Butcher” relied on pure symbolism and didactic dialogue. The symbolism rested in the characters and the three places where the play was performed: Liberty Square, in front of the New York Stock Exchange, and in front of the bronze Wall Street Bull. The symbolism of the Butcher figure and the NYSE were clear – they represented the malevolent influence of Wall Street on us the 99%. Liberty Square is the symbolic home and birthplace of the Movement that counters this influence. The Bull, however, has taken on a new complexity of symbolism. It has been used by the Movement since before the beginning in its role as the symbol of Wall Street, but now it is also used to represent stock animals in reference to the way they are abused by agribusiness.  

You can watch the day's proceedings at http://www.lenk.tv/. This particular performance is saved in the Lenk-Atlantic channel at the end of "1-Occupy Our Food Supply" and the beginning of "2-Occupy Our Food Supply".

Ashland, Oregon's 24th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration

Ashland, Oregon’s 24^th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was cleanly divided into two events: the official, city sponsored event, and the Occupy teach-in afterwards.

The first event was hosted by the Historic Ashland Armory. It was a potpourri of art and speeches geared around King and his legacy. There were three kinds of things that happened. The first consisted of specific references to the historic Civil Rights Movement, the second of work that people are doing in Southern Oregon today that continue that legacy, and the third was DeLanna Studi’s recitation of an old Tecumseh speech. The benefit of the references to the Civil Rights Movement was to give young and emerging artists a venue to perform: from Crater High School’s Flag Team and Teen Theater that began with an allegory of segregation to Ben Badden’s rap about MLK, this event was a great showcase for some of the best young artists the Rogue Valley has to offer. The continuing of King’s legacy was represented Mary Farrell, founder of the Maslow Project that helps homeless kids living in the Rogue Valley, and the Ashland Food Project, which organizes long-term food donations for the Valley’s hungry. DeLanna Studi, a Cherokee actor with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, read a speech by Tecumseh. I feel it’s important for Native folks to get their voices heard, especially in events with a focus on racial justice.

I’m not sure how you can talk about one of the most prominent social activists of modern times and not address the waves of activism that are currently sweeping the globe, from Arab Spring to the Tea Party to Occupy. But Ashland’s MLK event said nary a word about any of these things. From where I was sitting, I wouldn’t have even known Occupy was in the area until I got to the plaza to hear King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and saw a few signs and an “Occupy” banner. In admittedly critical terms, it highlights the way that activism can be incorporated into the establishment and historicized, even while this establishment struggles with living activism. Occupy’s event didn’t retain as many people as the City’s. In fact, it seems that many of the folks at their teach-in were in one way or another associated with Occupy. It’s something that I noticed at Occupy Medford’s teach-in on January 11^th – the only people they were teaching were people who already agreed with them. Democracy can’t exist if the only people you talk about our common issues with are those who feel the same way you do. But the fault doesn’t simply lie with the Occupiers of the Rogue Valley. The general citizenry of the Valley seem to have time for activism that can be historicized and is safe, but not for living activism that threatens to change the status quo.

I might even say the same about Occupy Ashland. According to the conversations I had with Ashland’s Occupiers, which are now archived at Lenk.TV, attendance at their General Assemblies surpasses that of either Oakland or New York. So the democracy that I’m not seeing in their direct actions may exist in their GAs. The actions they are putting their hopes in, though, seem in keeping with Ashland’s relative conservatism that became apparent to me at the Martin Luther King event: they are working within the current system to create change in terms of homelessness and City banking practices in the Valley.